Author: harinam

Yogi Bhajan –  KYB053 841107 Unknown Cause of Sickness
Balancing Life (Prana & Apana) 

People used to understand that there is praana and there is apaana, and the balance of these two energies makes a person a success or a failure 

“God gave you the body with praana and apaana. Apaana are there to eliminate negativity. People who have strong praana and do not have equally strong apaana are very cluttered people. They do not know how to eliminate things and elimination is very important. It is the balance of praana and apaana which creates the power of the Sbiuihinana, the central being, the equilib¬rium being. The Supreme being will awaken in you only when the praana and apaana both work together. One gives the power and the other eliminates negativity; all you will be left with is the plus.” 

To test the praana/apaana balance in yourself: balance on your hands and knees and then lift your left arm out straight and, at the same time lift your right leg out straight. Then change sides to test the other side. 

“Whenever apaana is not working and praana is perfect, you do not act right. Doesn’t matter how intelligent you are. And locks in praariic energy are very, very valid, but locks in apaanic energy are very subtle. If you cannot balance your body (in this posture), it means that your apaanic Shakti, the eliminating force, is not in balance. It is weaker.” 

1. Come onto your hands and knees and raise the left leg up and
raise the right arm up straight in front. This posture -will balance and strengthen the apaanic energy. 3 Minutes. Change sides and continue 2 1/2 Minutes. 

2. Stand on your knees -with your arms straight up over your head. Stabilize yourself by drawing in the navel point so that you can feel the tops of your feet pressing into the floor. Lift your chest and bend backward, stretching away from the lower back. Begin to move your arms and neck in a circle; your shoulders will move but your knees will not move. This is SobagnL Kriya, the kriya of virtue. 2 Minutes. 

3. Sit down and stretch your legs out straight. Grab the bottoms of your feet and bend forward, resting your upper body upon your thighs. Hold the position for 2 1/2 Minutes. At this point Yogi Bhajan played the gong. Remain in the position, concentrating at your third eye point for another 2 1/2 Minutes. 

4. Lie on your back and deeply relax every part of your body, while you project your energy out of your third eye. 6 Minutes. Yogi Bhajan continued to play the gong during this meditation. 

KYB053-841107-UnknownCauseOfSickness-BalancingPranaApana

See Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings

Yogi Bhajan – Los Angeles, April 7, 1993

Breathe one breath a minute, and don’t let the hand get down or up, keep it as straight confronting as you can, and look at the tip of the nose so the optical nerve is locked, and worry not, people have done it for centuries and nobody went to Venus they all remained on the Earth. It will give you a gradual subtlety exactly in three minutes, it will start seeping in, in different level of existence for your experience, but it will take another three minutes to get you set into that area, control your breath, look well, standardize the procedure, don’t give an inch. If shoulder starts hurting you are lucky, but if the elbow and the side of the elbow start hurting, consult your Doctor. That means digestive system has given in too much.

Breath of life whatever, it is okay, keep going. Many, many times, don’t bend the elbows, keep it straight as you started, be with yourself, it is a pure statement of truth, insist to be that way, you have one more minute, each Kriya of this is just three minutes, don’t misunderstand, we are not going to take too much time, but we are going to have fun.

(Tape ‘Aad Sach Jugaad Sach” is played) YB: (Over the tape)

Now ready, change, not to any other extent, but breathe through the nose and fire out your breath like a cannon fire, continuously at your best strength. Inhale through nose and blast it through the mouth, as much you can blast, as much you can heal yourself, it’s simple, cannon fire breath, out. I am giving you a Kriya, anywhere in the world you may be, you require nine minutes to become you. Come on, come on, we have three only minutes, waste no time, harder, harder, harder, blow harder out, breathe through nose, you have one more minute left, do whatever you can do for yourself, stretch out elbow, don’t worry about it, thirty seconds

, now inhale and please start pumping your belly in and out holding the breath, and when you can’t hold, breathe out and inhale at the same time, and keep pumping fast, it is individual when you can let the breath go, we won’t ask you to exhale, you have to do it. Hold the breath and pump faster and then let the breath go and inhale immediately, hold as much convenientlyas you can, fast, the more you pump it, more you will become young, that’s the way to buy youth, vibrate, vibrate, vibrate, by holding the breath vibrate, when you can’t hold anymore you physically inhale and let the breath go, inhale again, you do it again, you have the last minute folks, do whatever you can, forty five seconds, thirty seconds, ten seconds, now, get ready inhale deep, hold tight and stretch out and try to put total pressure on the finger lock, out, out, out, breathe out, inhale again, hold tight, stretch whole body now, with whole thing, total thing, cannon fire breathe out, inhale deep again, hold tight, stretch out with all your strength and might from the toe nail to the top, fire out, relax.

See the video

See Yogi Bhajan Library of Teachings

BREATH OF FIRE
by MSS Gurucharan Singh Fowlis
from the Kundalini Meditation Manual for Intermediate Students 
Meditation for : Relaxation Creativity Guidance
from the Teachings of Yogi Bhajan

This is one of the basic breaths used in Kundalini Yoga. It must be practiced and mastered in the initial stages of yogic study. The breathis fairly rapid (2 to 3 breaths per second), continuous, and powerful with no pause between the inhale and exhale.

As you exhale, the air is pushed out by pulling the navel point and abdomen in towards the spine. In this motion, the chest area stays moderately relaxed.  The focus of the energy is at the navel point. You should fee! the pull of the muscles in that area. Asyou inhale, the abdomen relaxes, the diaphragm extends down; and the breath seems to come in as pert of relaxation rather than effort.

The muscles that are used are the abdominals.  Initially you may have a tendency to involve more muscle groups than are needed. As you do the breath of fire, check your body and relax tension and effort that may build up in the legs, face, shoulders, and chest. The rest of the body is relatively still. Even the upper chest is motionless and in a slightly uplifted position. At first, the navel and solar plexus may feel tired or uncoordinated. If you keep practicing, the breath will become rhythmic and very easy. Most people are not used to breathing this way. It is the antithesis of the shallow, irregular breath characteristic of the emotional states that accompany negative thoughts.

The breath of fire cleanses the blood. It is commonly used whenever there is a blood-related disease in the body such as arthritis, bursitis, circulatory problems,etc. It raises the voltage of the nervous system and produces a global alpha rhythm in the brain when practiced correctly. A person with shaky nerves or an athlete that needs extra endurance will benefit greatly from this practice. Since the navel point is stimulated directly, the breath generates constancy in the mental and physical realms.  Breath of fire can help you if you cannot keep a promise, intention, or train of thought without constant distraction.

In physiological studies, we have found that there is no relation between hyperventilation and breath of fire. Once you are practiced, it is possible to do this breath for 20 minutes or more. There is no accompanying dizziness or large imbalance of oxygen in the blood. The outer circulation does increase as does the nervous energy so the breath should be mastered slowly and methodically.   These increases cause an immediate detoxification reaction in the body. Old toxins and deposits from drugs, smoking, and bad nutrition are released from the lungs, mucous lining, blood vessels, and cells. These toxins leave the body through the blood and lymph systems.

If you are very toxic, the breath of fire may stimulate a very temporary self-toxification. To aid the cleansing process, increase the amount of exercise you do each day and simplify the diet to light vegetables, fruits, and nuts for a few weeks.  This will help your body drop the heavy load of toxins it has carried without activating some sickness to do the cleansing you ignored.

Regular practice expands the capacity of the lungs quickly. If you are expanding the lungs and want to increase the amountof time you can comfortably suspend breathing, such as in underwater swimming or in certain meditation exercises, then practicethe breath of fire before trying to hold the breath longer. Just holding the breath for longer periods does not increase yourbasic capacity, and may sometimescause complicationswith blood pressure.

In most exercises, the breath of fire is done for three minutes orless. Occasionally it is done for seven and a half minutes. Asan exercise byitself, you can start with three minute durations, then slowly build up to 20 minutes. Start by doing breath of fire for three minutes alternating with two minutes of rest for a total of 15 minutes of breath of fire and ten minutes rest.

To focus the mind more efficiently and to channelize the energy this breath creates, mentally vibrate“SAT NAM“with each breath. Hearing this sound in the breath tells your mind what to do with all the energy you generate. Use this energy to explore your sense of the infinite self.

When you practice the breath of fire to perfect it, keep the spine straight and your mind centered. Here are a couple exercises you might try:

1. When you are exceptionally tired and need a lift, sit straight and block the left nostril with the thumb of the left hand. The fingers of the left hand point straight up. Begin breath of fire through the right nostril only, for 3 to 5 minutes. Then inhale and mentally circulate the energy throughout the body and aura.  6 minutes.  Then inhale, hold briefly, exhale applying Mulabhanda, and relax.

2. Sit in easy pose. Put the palms together slightly in front of the chest. Concentrate at the brow point and begin breath cf fire. As you continue, let all thoughts of who or what you may be fall away. If you think you are sitting, let that thought be blown away by the breath. Hear the sound of the breath.

It is infinite. It gives life. As all the different labels.