Why change the method of Pranayama?
this is what we were taught…..
Iyengar’s “Light on Yoga”: This is so damaging to the nasal mucosa after 5 minutes and leads to a very short practice.
Iyengar’s “Light on Yoga”
Krishnamacharya
ouch… Looking at this hurts
unsupported knee will cause problems. unsupported elbow will cause long term problems. This is an asymmetrical pose and just changing hands helps only a little.
This picture is from Kripalu Ashram from the 1980’s of our daily morning sadhana. We would start at 4am with asana, and then do kapalabhati and 24 minutes of anuloma viloma in a sitting position with the elbow unsupported. Unfortunately, this Kripalu Ashram practice was so difficult, after a few years, there were barely 15 out of 350 devotees still at morning sadhana. 24 minutes seemed heroic and much too impossible to do everyday. People gave up and the practice faded away.
Swami Kripalu valued Anuloma Viloma/Nadi Shodhana as the “King of yogic practices.” It purifies the all the nadis (meridians) Increases stored prana in the body and leads to spontaneous yoga. Alternating the sinuses was considered the key technique for awakening. Continuity (Abhyasa) of daily morning sadhana was considered vital without taking days off. If you take days off, the stored prana is diminished.
Pranayama by Swami Kripaluvanandaji
“When the soul departs from the body, breath also departs. Soul and breath have a very deep friendship. Among the techniques of Yoga, pranayama is the main one. If any Yoga rejects pranayama, it will cease to be yoga. This means that whatever Yoga is being practiced, pranayama is also being practiced directly or indirectly.
Without the practice of the breath (pranayama) the development of spirit, (the attainment of God, soul, happiness, peace, knowledge or joy) is impossible.
Pranayama is the soul of yoga. It is yoga itself.
Whoever has relied on breath, has obtained the key to Yoga and has taken a good path. If one wants to become intelligent, strong, and brilliant and if one wants to come out of the sea of insignificance, one should practice with the breath.
There are many kinds of pranayama, but they are not of equal use. The one that is the most important to all: anuloma viloma (alternate nostril breath.) It purifies the meridians. It clears the subtle body for the next stages of yoga.”
The time has come to reinvent pranayama!
without the pain and suffering, we begin each day with gratitude and intense focus on many mediation points, studying them left and right, back and forth for long periods of time…..Everyday. the thumbs lead to a hyper mindfulness, constant physical contact with the breath.
Over the last 6 years, our daily morning sadhana has lead to so many Internal discoveries about alternating the sinuses. You must come to the program at Kripalu, Mar 20-22, 2026.
click on picture