Pranayama The Breath of Yoga

In his third book Gregor Maehle aims at bringing about a renaissance ofpranayama, the yogic school of breathing. For millennia pranayama wasconsidered to be the quintessential yogic limb, yoga’s main motor for spiritualevolution. To show pranayama’s importance, Maehle supports his findings atevery turn with hundreds of quotations from yogic scripture.With unprecedenteddetail, the author shows how pranayama is used to connect posture practice toyogic meditation and why it will accelerate progress in both. Also covered are:· how pranayama creates health and its use in therapeutic applications· mental and spiritual benefits of pranayama· the function of prana and the effects of pranayama· the effect of pranayama on brain hemisphericity and balance of thenervous system· the purpose of breath retentions and their precise technical application· in-depth guidelines for the practice of pranayama· illustrations of the major pranayama and kriya techniques· the use of mantra and digital counting during pranayama· the appropriate diet and postures for pranayama· the importance and use of bandhas and kriyas before and during pranayama· how to set free your breathing pattern through exercising breath waves· descriptions of the classical pranayamas such as Nadi Shodhana, Bhastrikaand Surya Bhedana with detail never seen before· how pranayama relates to raising Kundalini· a workable order in which techniques are to be learned and put into sequencewith other yogic limbs· pranayama as it relates to the stages of life.Gregor Maehle has been practising and researching all aspects of yogasince 1982. He lived for several years in India studying with a variety of yogicmasters and sadhus. He has previously published Ashtanga Yoga: Practiceand Philosophy and Ashtanga Yoga: The Intermediate Series, which havebeen translated into several languages.