Pranayama- Yoga of better Living

Pranayama is Sanskrit word and is derived from the combination of words "Prana - air or life force" and "Ayama- control mechanism".Pranayama,in its literal sense means control mechanism of the flow of the life force in and out of human body.Old Indian author Patanjali considered father of Yoga has placed lots of relevance of Pranayama in our living.The basic principle employed by Pranayama is that all living beings are given certain number of life breaths during his life cycle.Hence it is important that each and every being utilises his share of life breaths in the most sensible manner to live life longer.To give real life example one can see that the life span of a tortoise averages 200 years as compared to Dog which averages 10-15 years.One can easily see the reason is the duration of the each breath in case of tortoise and dog.Hindus also believed in doctrine of "Food for Thought". Foods were classified as a) Sat''vik b) Rajo''tamik c) Tamasik.The classification was purely on the grounds of the thoughts effected by intake of such food.While Satvik Food consisting mostly of Fruits, herbds and certain vegetables, Rajo''tamik consisted of Brinjal, Drumstick,etc which leads to carnal pleasures and Tamasik included meat and other varities.The Brahmin and others even today practice Pranayama on their daily routine.The 5 major challenges which are faced by human beings today are 1) Lack of good food due to side effects of of food cultivation techniques employed such as insecticides, pesticides etc and non availabilitu of natual food supplmenet 2) Lack of sufficient Sleep 3) Pollution and other hazardous External environment 4) Lack of Positive thoughts leading to low productivity 5)Lack of physical exercising.Pranayama is supposed to relieve stres related disorders, breathing relaed disorders such as asthma,and reducing signs of oxidative stress.It also improves life expectancy provided proper amends are made into food intake.Yoga teachers recommend that pranayama techniques shoule be practiced under the guidance of a trained teacher. This article is only meant to educate the belief behind Pranayama techniques and certain benefits which can be derived from there.