The Physiology of Pranayama
If you spend any time doing yoga, you learn that how you breathe is an important part of the practice. What Westerners have less appreciation for is that the yoga of breath control — pranayama — is itself an independent field of yoga apart from the asanas and mental work.
The ancient Sanskrit word prana carries with it an almost mystical character. It is more than just air or breathing. Throughout the ancient world, not just India, the concept of moving air was wrapped in wonder. Known as ruah in Hebrew, pneuma in Greek, spiritus in Latin and chi in Chinese it was synonymous with life itself. Listen to this verse from the Gospel of John. Jesus is explaining the nature of pneuma to Nikodemus:
“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” ~ John 3:8
The same word pneuma is translated here both as “wind” and as “spirit.”
Look at the Hebrew version of the creation of Adam:
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” ~ Genesis 2:7
When God created Adam, the ruah he breathed into his creation carried life and created a soul.
