“When the breath is irregular, the mind is unsteady, but when the breath is still, so is the mind still and the Yogin obtains the power of stillness. Therefore the breath should be restrained.” (Hatha Yoga Pradipika)

In the beginning of the eighties, the school’s yoga teachers took part in a research project, led by the German doctor Dr. Thomas Schmidt at the University of Cologne. They studied the effects of the yogic breathing exercises; among other things, the pulse, the blood pressure and the activity of the brain (EEG) were measured.

While the yoga teachers did the Psychic Breath (Ujjayi Pranayama), their EEG showed alpha waves, which signifies a relaxed state. But the researchers also wanted to examine how they reacted to disturbances.

Hamsananda, who took part in the experiment, recounts: “I sat in the lotus pose and did Ujjayi, when, without warning, one of the researchers struck the metal table hard. It made a loud crash. But it didn’t affect me.” The researchers were accustomed to the subjects easily reacting and coming out of the relaxed state but, to their surprise, the yoga teachers’ EEG did not change.

While measuring another teacher, the researchers sounded very excited. They discussed among themselves as if there was something wrong with the subject’s EEG, but even then, the alpha activity was not broken.

The researchers concluded, “ when the yoga teachers held their breath, the alpha activity could not be blocked.”

Holding the breath

The breathing exercises in yoga are called Pranayama in Sanskrit. Prana means the body’s vital or psychic energy, and yama, to control or master it. What is unique about the breathing exercises in yoga, whether you breathe slowly and deeply or fast and forcefully, is that you also hold the breath.

In the yoga scriptures, Pranayama is described as the various ways of holding the breath. In one of the most wellknown scriptures, Yoga Sutra by Patanjali, it says: “ Pranayama is cessation of the movement of inhalation and exhalation” and “thus the covering of the light is dissolved and the mind is fit for concentration.”

In certain exercises, you inhale completely and hold the breath and in others you exhale completely and hold the breath.