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by Reena Daruwalla, guest writer for Nancy Hayssen.com

If Pilates is a recent buzzword in the West, Pranayam is one in India. Since Pranayam has die hard followers who swear by its health giving and fitness properties, obviously I did not want to miss the boat and wanted to find out more. For those that are not at all familiar with the term Pranayam, it is, simply put, the methodology of breathing, or the breathing component of yoga. Pranayam is also thought to increase immunity and research has shown that it can alleviate the symptoms of asthma.

Pranayam is supposed to relieve the symptoms of many problems such as Diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, Bronchitis, insomnia, thyroid problems, arthritis, flatulence, constipation and acidity. Since Pranayam is of yogic origin, it obviously is related to meditation which is shown to be helpful in centering and focusing the mind, channeling energy, and reducing depression. Supposedly your memory also improves because you have trained your mind to focus better.

So why do we have to learn to breath; we’ve been doing it all our lives, right? Well fact is, we go thru life, hardly using 30% of our lung capacity and in the process the optimum amount of oxygen does not reach the heart, lungs, brain cells, blood, muscles and bowels, which is why these organs do not perform to capacity with the result that we are not as healthy as we all can, very easily be! Try doing this: (I have and I can tell you it feels good, health benefits that will accrue, I am yet to experience)

An empty stomach and after evacuation of the bowel is best time to perform Pranayam. Sit in a comfortable pose preferably in Padmasana (lotus pose). You can even sit on a chair is padmasana is difficult; only make sure your posture is erect and straight. Close your eyes and concentrate on breathing in: deep, slow and steady. Exhaling should be quick and forceful. There are a lot of different and very specific techniques for Pranayam but shortly it consists of these 5 Steps:

1. Kapal Bharati
2. Anulom Vilom
3. Bhramri
4. Omkara
5. Shavasan

My friend who is a regular performer of Pranayam tells me that some minutes of this gives her a great energy boost and that if you do it in the morning at the start of your day you will be active and brimming with energy the whole day. Give it a try and see if it can work for you as well.

(Check here and here for some interesting further reading about Pranayam)