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Kumbhak
Pranayama is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In Sanskrit, ''prana'' means "vital life force", and ''yama'' means to gain control. In yoga, breath is associated with ''prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the ''prana'' ''shakti'', or life energies. Pranayama is described in Hindu texts such as the ''Bhagavad Gita'' and the ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali''. Later in Hatha yoga texts, it meant the complete suspension of breathing. Etymology ''Prāṇāyāma'' (Devanagari: ') is a Sanskrit compound. It is defined variously by different authors. Macdonell gives the etymology as prana ('), breath, + ''āyāma'' and defines it as the suspension of breath. Monier-Williams defines the compound ' as "of the three 'breath-exercises' performed during (''See'' ', ', '". This technical definition refers to a particular system of breath control with three processes as explained by Bhattacharyya: ' (to take the breath inside), ' (to retain it), and ' (to discharge it). T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kumbhaka
''Kumbhaka'' is the retention of the breath in the yoga practice of pranayama. It has two types, accompanied (by breathing) whether after inhalation or after exhalation, and, the ultimate aim, unaccompanied. That state is ''kevala kumbhaka'', the complete suspension of the breath for as long as the practitioner wishes. Breath retention The name ''kumbhaka'' is from Sanskrit कुम्भ ''kumbha'', a pot, comparing the torso to a vessel full of air. ''Kumbhaka'' is the retention of the breath in pranayama, either after inhalation, the inner or ''Antara Kumbhaka'', or after exhalation, the outer or ''Bahya Kumbhaka'' (also called ''Bahir Kumbhaka''). According to B.K.S. Iyengar in ''Light on Yoga'', ''kumbhaka'' is the "retention or holding the breath, a state where there is no inhalation or exhalation". ''Sahit'' or ''Sahaja Kumbhaka'' is an intermediate state, when breath retention becomes natural, at the stage of withdrawal of the senses, Pratyahara, the fifth of the eight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kevala Kumbhaka
''Kumbhaka'' is the retention of the breath in the yoga practice of pranayama. It has two types, accompanied (by breathing) whether after inhalation or after exhalation, and, the ultimate aim, unaccompanied. That state is ''kevala kumbhaka'', the complete suspension of the breath for as long as the practitioner wishes. Breath retention The name ''kumbhaka'' is from Sanskrit कुम्भ ''kumbha'', a pot, comparing the torso to a vessel full of air. ''Kumbhaka'' is the retention of the breath in pranayama, either after inhalation, the inner or ''Antara Kumbhaka'', or after exhalation, the outer or ''Bahya Kumbhaka'' (also called ''Bahir Kumbhaka''). According to B.K.S. Iyengar in ''Light on Yoga'', ''kumbhaka'' is the "retention or holding the breath, a state where there is no inhalation or exhalation". ''Sahit'' or ''Sahaja Kumbhaka'' is an intermediate state, when breath retention becomes natural, at the stage of withdrawal of the senses, Pratyahara, the fifth of the eight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kumbhaka Terminology
''Kumbhaka'' is the retention of the breath in the yoga practice of pranayama. It has two types, accompanied (by breathing) whether after inhalation or after exhalation, and, the ultimate aim, unaccompanied. That state is ''kevala kumbhaka'', the complete suspension of the breath for as long as the practitioner wishes. Breath retention The name ''kumbhaka'' is from Sanskrit कुम्भ ''kumbha'', a pot, comparing the torso to a vessel full of air. ''Kumbhaka'' is the retention of the breath in pranayama, either after inhalation, the inner or ''Antara Kumbhaka'', or after exhalation, the outer or ''Bahya Kumbhaka'' (also called ''Bahir Kumbhaka''). According to B.K.S. Iyengar in ''Light on Yoga'', ''kumbhaka'' is the "retention or holding the breath, a state where there is no inhalation or exhalation". ''Sahit'' or ''Sahaja Kumbhaka'' is an intermediate state, when breath retention becomes natural, at the stage of withdrawal of the senses, Pratyahara, the fifth of the eight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hatha Yoga
Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga which uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel the vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some haṭha yoga style techniques can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Hindu Sanskrit epics and Buddhism's Pali canon. The oldest dated text so far found to describe haṭha yoga, the 11th-century ''Amṛtasiddhi'', comes from a tantric Buddhist milieu. The oldest texts to use the terminology of ''hatha'' are also Vajrayana Buddhist. Hindu hatha yoga texts appear from the 11th century onwards. Some of the early haṭha yoga texts (11th-13th c.) describe methods to raise and conserve bindu (vital force, that is, semen, and in women ''rajas –'' menstrual fluid). This was seen as the physical essence of life that was constantly dripping down from the head and being lost. Two early Haṭha yoga techniques sought to e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hatha Yoga
Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga which uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel the vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some haṭha yoga style techniques can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Hindu Sanskrit epics and Buddhism's Pali canon. The oldest dated text so far found to describe haṭha yoga, the 11th-century ''Amṛtasiddhi'', comes from a tantric Buddhist milieu. The oldest texts to use the terminology of ''hatha'' are also Vajrayana Buddhist. Hindu hatha yoga texts appear from the 11th century onwards. Some of the early haṭha yoga texts (11th-13th c.) describe methods to raise and conserve bindu (vital force, that is, semen, and in women ''rajas –'' menstrual fluid). This was seen as the physical essence of life that was constantly dripping down from the head and being lost. Two early Haṭha yoga techniques sought to e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Mallinson (author)
Sir James Mallinson, 5th Baronet of Walthamstow (born 22 April 1970) is a British Indologist, writer and translator. He is recognised as one of the world's leading experts on the history of medieval Hatha Yoga. Early life Mallinson became interested in India by reading Rudyard Kipling's novel ''Kim'' as a teenager; the book describes an English boy travelling India with a holy man. He was educated at Eton College and the University of Oxford, where he read Sanskrit and Old Iranian for his bachelor's degree, and studied the ethnography of South Asia for his master's degree at SOAS University of London. Mallinson is described as "perhaps the only baronet to wear dreadlocks"; he let his hair grow out from 1988 on his first visit to India during his gap year. He cut his hair in 2019 after the death of his guru, Mahant Balyogi Sri Ram Balak Das, who had initiated him into the Ramanandi Sampradaya at the Ujjain Kumbh Mela in 1992. Supervised by Alexis Sanderson, his doctoral thesis at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ujjayi Breath
Ujjayi (Sanskrit, "victorious") is a breathing technique employed in a variety of yoga practices. In relation to yoga, it is sometimes called "the ocean breath." Unlike some other forms of pranayama, the ujjayi breath is typically done in association with asana practice in some styles of yoga as exercise, such as Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Etymology "Ujjayi" comes from the Sanskrit prefix "ud" (उद्) added to it and root "ji" (जि): "ujji" (उज्जि), meaning "to be victorious". Ujjayi (उज्जायी), thus means "one who is victorious". Technique Ujjayi breath is a type of diaphragmatic breath where the throat muscles of the glottis are slightly constricted, causing the air to produce a whispering, audible vibration as it passes in and out the vocal cords.Richard C. Miller, ''The Breath of Life'', Yoga Journal, May-Jun 1994 Inhalation and exhalation are both done through the nose, and the resultant sound must be audible enough for the user to hear it, but no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial support of Charles Scribner, as a printing press to serve the Princeton community in 1905. Its distinctive building was constructed in 1911 on William Street in Princeton. Its first book was a new 1912 edition of John Witherspoon's ''Lectures on Moral Philosophy.'' History Princeton University Press was founded in 1905 by a recent Princeton graduate, Whitney Darrow, with financial support from another Princetonian, Charles Scribner II. Darrow and Scribner purchased the equipment and assumed the operations of two already existing local publishers, that of the ''Princeton Alumni Weekly'' and the Princeton Press. The new press printed both local newspapers, university documents, ''The Daily Princetonian'', and later added book publishing to it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bhastrika
Bhastrikā is an important breath exercise in yoga and pranayama. It is sometimes treated as a kriya or 'cleansing action' along with kapalabhati to clear the airways in preparation for other pranayama techniques. Bhastrika involves a rapid and forceful process of inhalation and exhalation powered by the movement of the diaphragm. The movement of air is accompanied by an audible sound. One inhale and exhale equals one round of bhastrika, and it may be repeated for many consecutive rounds. B. K. S. Iyengar explains that the similar "process or kriyā of ''kapālabhāti'' is a milder form of Bhastrikā Prāṇāyāma. Swami Sivananda describes the process: "inhale and exhale quickly ten times like the bellows of the blacksmith. Constantly dilate and contract. When you practise this Pranayama a hissing sound is produced. The practitioner should start with rapid expulsions of breath following one another in rapid succession. When the required number of expulsions, say ten for a round, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shatkarma
The shatkarmas (Sanskrit: षटकर्म ''ṣaṭkarma'', literally ''six actions''), also known as shatkriyas,Shatkarmas - Cleansing Techniques in Yoga Magazine, a publication of Bihar School of Yoga are a set of purifications of the body, to prepare for the main work of yoga towards (liberation). These practices, outlined by Svatmarama in the '' |
Kapalabhati (Hatha Yoga)
Kapalabhati ( sa, कपालभाति, kapālabhāti, "Skull-polishing") is an important shatkarma, a purification in hatha yoga. The word kapalabhati is made up of two Sanskrit words: ''kapāla'' meaning "skull", and ''bhāti'' meaning "shining, illuminating". It is intended mainly for cleaning the sinuses but according to the '' Gheranda Samhita'' has magical curative effects. in ''Yoga Magazine'', a publication of Bihar School of Yoga. There are three forms of Kapalabhati: * ''Vatakrama'', a practice similar to the technique of |
