"The body, the limbs, the psyche, the organs of action and sensory ones are very 'ours'.
Breathing is not as much "ours". However, breathing is more than anything else 'for us'."

Prashant Iyengar, "Pranayama: a Classical and Traditional Approach"

The prāṇāyāma, or the practices of de-automation and control of the respiratory act, are attested since the first textual sources that describe ascetic and yogic paths based on the governance of breathing. The Buddha practiced the extension of the physiological pause at the end of the complete exhalation (today we would indicate it with the bāhya kumbaka technique) and the same technique is included by Patañjali (in Yoga Sutra I.34.) Among the useful practices for the removal of obstacles (viksepa ) which distract citta, the plexus of cognition, preparatory to the consequent achievement of the condition of samāpatti and, therefore, of sabīja samādhi.

Regardless of the philosophical and soteriological substratum to which the various ascetic traditions referred, there is therefore something in breath control that has always attracted the attention of ascetics whose ardent efforts were aimed at governing their own proliferation of thought and to the sublimation of one's asmitā, sense of the Ego. The de-automatization of the breath, similarly and even more so the de-automatization of  body schemes that is experienced in the practice of yog-asanas, centers and reaches the target of higher cognition and, today, the physiological mechanisms underlying this process are beginning to be understood (see for example, Yackle et al., 2017 and Stern, 2017).

Risks and benefits

As is sometimes the case, however, risk and reward are directly proportional. Thus, if on the one hand the government of the breath promises great "ascetic" results, the risks deriving from a gross and incorrect practice of prāṇāyāma are equally well known since that day. Among others, in Haṭhayoga Pradīpikā (II, 16-17), the author warns the practitioner to learn the techniques gradually to avoid being annihilated and, similarly, in a commentary śaiva Nārāyanakantha warns that a practice Excessive prāṇāyāma can lead to abdominal prolapse, labored breathing, insanity and epilepsy (see Mallison and Singleton, 2017 pp. 128). One wonders how they practiced it, exactly, to expose themselves to such risks but, without going too far, anyone who has minimal familiarity with these practices knows how each day (or session) of practice makes history in itself, and as a satisfying prāṇāyāma requires conditions created in a non-random way and cultivated for a long time. I refer to the fact that the stability of the spine, the softness of all tissues (trapezius, internal and external intercostal muscles, diaphragm, lung tissue, abdominal organs, brain), the refinement of the touch of the breath (either with free nostrils or manipulated by fingers in digital prāṇāyāma), the ability to be completely absorbed by the breath is not obtained either in a few days or with exaggerated persistence: it simply takes years of practice.

A gradual and conscious approach

From this point of view, in the tradition of B.K.S. Iyengar prāṇāyāma is approached very gradually, using the practice of yog-āsana in a preparatory way. It is on this less slippery ground, in fact, that the students begin to try their hand at the idea of ​​"inhabiting the body" and with what Iyengar called the intelligence of the body, or rather the ability to feel the body in all its parts: first the coarser ones (feet, legs, arms, hands, shoulder blades, back, chest, chest, etc.) and then the more refined ones (skin, internal organs, sense organs, brain); first one or a few parts at a time and then all, simultaneously, in a complete immersive condition. Gradually, the tissues lose stiffness, acquire elasticity and sensitivity. Regardless of the range of motion possible for each practitioner, new possibilities of movement and coordinated action of body-breath-mind become direct experiences. In āsanas there can be tapas: vigor, determination, volition, you can work on duration (to amplify the psycho-body effects of each posture and the related biochemical processes) and even try your hand at the idea of ​​overcoming one's own limit with respect. In prāṇāyāma it is not so, volition rows against and puts the practitioner at risk and palpitations, a sense of heaviness in the retrosternal area, irritability, shortness of breath, can become common experiences.

Develop stability and softness

During the prāṇāyāma, regardless of the technique one approaches, the lietmotiv should be softness. Apart from the spinal column, which remains stable and alert at all times, all tissues must be in a state of release and softness. The contents of the abdomen are soft during exhalation and inhalation; the contents of the chest are soft during exhalation and inhalation. The contents of the skull are soft during exhalation and inhalation. I constantly repeat to the students (along with my colleagues) not to force either the exhalation or the inhalation and not to see the practice of new techniques as a goal. Excellent prāṇāyāma can be done in a lying position, possibly using various types of chest supports (for example, a folded blanket, bricks or a bolster). When the spine and the back of the chest receive adequate support, the practitioner does not stiffen in an attempt to keep the spine stably extended in its front, as is often the case in a sitting position. Furthermore, in the lying position (with support for the chest), the abdomen empties spontaneously and the conditions for the uḍḍīyana bandha are created, so useful to create a sense of vacuum even in the brain, without the diaphragm or organs of sense contracted in effort.

For all, the first attempts at seated prāṇāyāma are characterized by the compromise between the effort of staying with a straight back and feeling the breath flowing, moving and making space on a soft substrate. If a door is locked, you will have to open it with your shoulders; if it is ajar, a delicate touch will suffice. Similarly, if, as BKS Iyengar said, the chest is "open" (ie the back able to extend, the anterior chest able to open softly, the lung tissue elastic and soft), the breath will permeate the lungs becoming deep and full, like water permeates a fertile, soft and porous soil. If the chest is closed (rigid and not very elastic in the joints, intercostal muscles, diaphragm, etc.), the breath will initially have to slide remaining on the surface, before it can be made deep and full. Forcibly deepening the breath, pushing it on a rigid and dry substrate such as arid ground (as happens to beginners), will only generate frustration and discomfort, irritating the nervous system rather than calming it.

From the gross body to the subtle body and vice versa

In the practice of asanas, the movement proceeds from the gross to the subtle body, which is unknown. The body opens up to proprioception and enteroception and fragments - from a raw and undifferentiated monolith to multiple points of observation, sensitization and feedback - to then re-assemble in its integrity when the mind spreads fully. In prāṇāyāma the movement proceeds from the breath, which is subtle and internal, to the external gross body, which must be ready and adequately prepared to manage and absorb it. While in the āsanas the practitioner is almost totally free from the risk of self-suggestion, in the prāṇāyāma it can happen. In the āsanas it is difficult to confuse a sensation of immersion in the body and "diffused mind" with something else - because there is fatigue and the material and real concreteness of the body is clearly perceived - in prāṇāyāma it is instead easy to delude oneself into being in a condition of proximity to meditation when, on the other hand, one has slipped into a stupor without clarity, in an illusory state.

A receptive and quiet mind

The clarity and clarity of mind to be maintained in the prāṇāyāma, preparatory to the various degrees of absorption (samyama: dhāranā, dhyāna, samādhi), can be learned without risk in the practice of the āsana and become tangible, stable and concrete goals. The practitioner learns the way to achieve this mental condition, which is not "extraordinary" but is certainly "non-ordinary". Prāṇāyāma enhances clarity and mental clarity if there is a substrate and adequate preparation. Otherwise, the practitioner risks self-suggestion or having to manage something that he is not ready to manage. Even simply sitting still in front of the whirlwind of one's thoughts can put a neophyte in crisis. Hence the importance of having a holding point, a support (ālambana) on which the cognition can rest and sit. In Iyengar Yoga the support is the āsana (where the technique is precisely the grip for cognition) and, in the prāṇāyāma, the support is the column. This is why the sealing duration of the āsanas in Iyengar Yoga tries to be extended, even with the use of props (supports such as cushions, bricks, belts, chairs and other specific wooden supports). As Guruji said, "For me the prop is not just for the asana. It should contribute to the position of the body which in turn allows the mind to be calm and in a state of "chitta vritti nirodha". The body is my first prop. The body is a prop for the soul [..]. "

Tips for newbies

The advice I would like to give to those who are not very practical but want to start approaching prāṇāyāma is to allow yourself the time to start with simple observations of the breath in a lying position, savasana, with or without support, or in supine positions (supta baddha konasana, supta swastikasana, etc.). The indications could be: let the support under the back create the conditions of stability of the spine, shoulder blades and opening of the anterior chest, let the abdomen empty, allow the breath to move the chest and not vice versa, to be the object of the breath and not the subject, to be breathed and not to breathe. Only afterwards, start (but without tapas!) With the control of the breath.

References

B.K.S. Iyengar (1981). Light on Pranayama. Eds. George Allen & Unwin Ltd. London.

Mallison J. and Singleton M. (2017). Roots of Yoga. Eds. Penguin Random House.

Prashant Iyengar (2014). Pranayama: A Classical and Traditional Approach. Eds. Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI).

Stern P. (2017). “The calming effect of breathing”. In Science 31: Vol. 355, Issue 6332, pp. 1386-1387.

Yackle K., et al. (2017). “Breathing control center neurons that promote arousal in mice”. In Science 31: Vol. 355, Issue 6332, pp. 1411-1415.