Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.2494

c8.2494

PRĀṆAYĀMA. Prāṇa means the wind in the body and āyāma means restraint. Prāṇayāma means restraining or suspending breath. Spread on the floor a piece of cloth, or animal-skin or Kuśa grass and sitting on it cross-legged, controlling all actions of the sense-organs and concentrating on one single object do prāṇayāma for the purification of the soul. There are three different kinds of prāṇayāmas namely Recakaprāṇayāma, Pūrakaprāṇayāma and Kumbhakaprāṇayāma. Holding the nostrils with the left hand and massaging the belly with the other hand one sends out the air within the belly. It is called Recakaprāṇayāma. Doing just the reverse and getting air inside is called Pūrakaprāṇayāma. Then the yogī sits, with his belly full of air. Sitting thus without either letting the air out or letting it in is called Kumbhakaprāṇayāma. Here the yogī sits like a pūrṇa-kumbha (full jar). The body of man is a chariot, the sense organs its horses, mind the charioteer and prāṇayāma the whip. (Chapter 373, Agni Purāṇa).