PRANAYAMA - THE NEXT STEP
Course Curriculum Week1
Introduction and Bandha
Welcome to the course! Here is what to expect. There is a separate page with embedded videos for each week of the course. All you need to complete the course is this page you are on right now. You should bookmark it and save it on your computer or phone. There are password protected links to the next week of curriculum at the bottom of each page.
At the end of the second week, and at the end of the fourth and final week, please write a brief summary of your experience and ask any questions you may have. Email your summary essays to Andrew Eppler okiebaba@gmail.com You may ask questions throughout the course. Andrew Eppler will personally reply. At the end of the course you can write to schedule an online examination with Andrew. After discussing your experiences in person with Andrew, and having an opportunity to ask any final questions you may have, those who wish can have a certificate of completion. This certificate is will be from Ashtanga Yoga Studio and will be signed by Andrew Eppler. If you are interested in certification with Yoga Alliance, this course represents 40 hours of continuing education.
*This course is not intended for beginners or people with serious health issues. Read over the course. If you have any concerns about your physical ability to participate in this course you should consult a medical doctor. EACH PERSON PARTICIPATING IN THIS PRANAYAMA COURSE ASSUMES ANY AND ALL RISKS INVOLVED.
Asatoma sadgamaya
Tamasoma jyotirgamaya
Mrtyorma amrtam gamaya
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti hi
If you are inclined towards Sanskrit chanting, you may recite this prayer before beginning your practice. If you want to know its meaning you can click here. If chanting is not agreeable for you then just take a few deep breaths and try to focus your mind on what you are doing.
If it is possible, begin your month of practice on a New Moon or a Full Moon. Make a personal commitment to practice intensely every day for one month. Prepare a space for your practice. Keep in mind that this is an advanced course in Pranayama. If you need more time to work with each section then take it. The goal of the program is to give you the tools to practice Pranayama for the rest of your life with confidence and a clear knowledge of the techniques you are using. One month is sufficient to learn the techniques, but it takes a lifetime to master them. There is no hurry!
Begin by watching the Introduction to get an overview of the program. Then proceed to the Mudra video. This video will help you to prepare for Pranayama. Depending on your background you may need more or less preparation, but these techniques should be understood and practiced prior to beginning with Pranayama. Watch the videos as many times as necessary to fully understand each small detail. The Mudra Practice Video is something to follow along with at first, but you will soon prefer to practice on your own. Watch the Mudra video for detailed explanations.
Classical suggestions for these types of Hatha Yoga Practices
When it comes to lifestyle and diet and the things a yogi is supposed to do and not do, there is so much information, some of it conflicting. There are more things than anyone can possibly do at the same time. Here are some of the suggestions which I have found helpful on my journey. There is no need to be obsessive. Do what you feel drawn to do. Pranayama makes us all more sensitive. You will get your own messages and ideas about what you need to do. You will get out of these practices what you put into them. It is necessary to make some sacrifices along the way.
Create a space and time in which to practice. Regulate your lifestyle to accommodate your practice. Practice in the same place, at the same, time every day. The best time is the moment of sunrise. If it is possible, position yourself so that the first rays of the rising sun strike your body, particularly your face, each morning. If it happens to be cloudy, no matter just be there practicing at that special time. Practice should come first. That is the main thing. Life will steal every moment from you if you let it. One or the other crisis, opportunity, illness, unusual circumstance etc. will always prevent you from your practice unless you have firm resolve. If you miss a day don’t freak out, just continue with renewed effort. The chaotic influences of life are a great enemy of the yogic practices. For this reason my Guruji always said “conquer nature.”
Diet: Make sure you have enough high quality fat in your diet. Ghee is the prescribed fat. One tablespoon per day. Particularly ghee that is made from the milk of a mother cow who has not had its calf taken away, which for most people is totally impossible to find. A vegetarian diet is strongly recommended. A lactovegetarian diet is the traditional diet which goes with yogic practice. If you are vegan you should consider things like avocados, olive oil etc. In general make sure you get enough fat and protein. Avoid excessively spicy foods, as well as pickled and fermented foods. Diet is a huge subject which I will not go deeply into here. It definitely matters! Treat your body with extra care and nourish it well. Avoid toxins. Both Mudras and Pranayama have strong detoxifying effects and increase our sensitivity to food and substances. We are all made up of different combinations of Prakriti (panacha maha bhutas) and we have different requirements. In general listen to the signals your body gives and avoid things that you know are not conducive to yoga practice. Perhaps even more important than what you eat is when and how much. Try to have regular times for eating and sleeping and also for going to the toilet. Pranayama should be done on an empty stomach. Overeating is a great enemy of pranayama and all related practices. If you can manage to wake up before dawn, to feel rested and good, to empty your bowels and bathe (or shower) before you begin your yogic practices then you are really doing extremely well! This pattern creates great joy and lightness in the personality as well as the body. In those times clear thoughts arise and often we receive the answers to various problems and situations in our lives.
YOUR BODY IS AN ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Apply the same logic to your body that you would to any other electrical system. It is best not to practice Mudras or Pranayama while sitting directly on the ground, cement, tile or any surface that allows electricity to pass from your body into it. Sitting on a rubber or cloth yoga mat accomplishes this very well, but if you happen to have a tiger skin then you can use that too! You are building and manipulating bioelectrical charges in your body. Contact with surfaces which ground you electrically deplete this charge that you are building.
No need to be too obsessive, just be mindful and see what your personal level of sensitivity is. Because Pranayama and Mudra effect our nervous system in a myriad of ways it is better to avoid things which interfere. Place your mobile phone at least 2 meters away…and do not look at it while you practice! Other sources of interference include watches, and bluetooth earbuds are particularly bad because they are right next to your brain. Take off your watch while you are practicing, especially if it monitors your heart rate, number of steps etc. Getting out of wifi is totally unrealistic in the city, but to the extent possible, minimize your exposure while you are practicing.
Bathing is a spiritual practice in Indian culture, as well as many other cultures. When we think of the body as an electrical system, it stands to reason that submerging it in water does a kind of reset to the whole system. It relieves stress and immediately makes us feel better. It “washes away the minor sins” as Guruji BNS Iyengar puts it. The unkind word, the tense conversation, feelings of having said or done the wrong thing etc. Use water that is not too hot. Bathing or showering before practice is ideal.
Avoid cold drinks. They shock the internal tissues. The idea of carrying around ice water and drinking it during any form of exercise in misinformed. Cold baths and hot drinks are encouraged, cold drinks and hot baths are discouraged. This is not my favorite rule or idea! However, after months of jumping into a very cold river before dawn each day I can say it made me much stronger. There are things much worse for us than cold drinks for sure, but if you stop them for a time you will see it is not really kind for the body. The phenomenon of “brain freeze” should make one think twice about constantly putting freezing cold liquids in the body.
These are some of the classical suggestions for the practice of Pranayama. Each practitioner has to decide for themselves what is best and prioritize the things that matter most. It will be an evolving process and you will learn as you go!
Watch the videos and make sure you understand everything you will be doing before you begin. Practice each of the Mudra exercises individually first to gain a personal understanding of what they are and the effects they create. Practice sitting with a straight spine in daily life. Practice sitting on the floor for extended periods of time. Here are the Mudras we will be working with.
Mula Bandha Mudra
Uddiyana Bandha Mudra (two types)
Jalandhara Bandha Mudra
Maha Bandha Mudra
Compression/Vacuum Exercise
Start with the first 4 exercises. Do 5 rounds each for the first 4 days. (See the Mudra video for clear explanations of each exercise)
After 4 days begin the Compression/Vacuum exercise. Do 10 rounds. You may stop the individual Bhanda Mudras except Mula Bandha Mudra. This lower seal is the hardest to accomplish and needs repeated practice.
Continue Mudra practice for at least one week. 4 days practicing the first 4 Mudras for 5 rounds each. Then 3 days with with Mula Bandha Mudra followed by Compression/Vacuum 10 rounds. This period can be extended of course. It can be continued as you proceed into your Pranayama exercises. These exercises are profoundly beneficial to your health and may well contain some of the special ingredients for longevity that yoga is so well known for. The Compression/Vacuum Exercise is a potent combination of all the Bandha Mudras. Once you feel confident with Mula Bandha Mudra you may simply practice Compression/Vacuum as a regular daily addition to asana practice.
One round of Compression/Vacuum consists of 25 Bhastrika breaths followed by Compression (Maha Bandha Mudra) and 25 Bhastrika breaths followed by Vacuum (Uddiyana Bandha Mudra) The count of Bhastrika breaths can be slowly increased over time.
*Take 3 slow, deep breaths between each round.
After asana practice is an ideal time to work with these exercises. They create an excellent experience when done just before shavasana. They should be conducted with an empty stomach at the same time and in the same place each day.
These exercises are not appropriate for women at the time of menstruation. If you have a menstrual cycle during your course, keep up your practice time but spend it in meditation, chanting, reading or watching the videos. Retention of breath is one thing, but to suck in the stomach and create strong intra-abdominal pressure is not advisable. Add time to your month to assure you spend the prescribed number of days with each exercise. As with asana practice, it is better to rest for the first 3-4 days of the cycle at least. At the discretion of each woman, these exercises should be used in a way that supports her health and wellbeing. When practiced during active menstruation, the Bandha Mudras tend to slow down or even stop the flow of blood. This is not a good idea and can cause problems. On the other hand when Bandha Mudras are practiced correctly at other times, these exercises support regularity of the cycle and healthy function of the reproductive organs. There is a strong parallel with intense asana practice such as Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga here. Pranayama itself is not as strenuous on the low abdomen as the preparation exercises. In the case of Upasana it can be done during menstruation, but this is a special time and circumstance. Generally it is advisable to do only half the repetitions of everything during the first 3-4 days of the cycle. Again, each woman should be responsible for her own wellbeing and decide what is best based on her personal experience.
*None of the exercises taught in this course are appropriate to practice during pregnancy.
Depending on prior experience and training, these preparations will be more or less necessary. These techniques should be thoroughly understood however both intellectually and with muscle memory and postural integration. They should be present in your body to the extent that they encourage you to sit with a straight spine and you should have some idea of the way they effect your mental state. At the very minimum, in the case of an advanced practitioner, Compression/Vacuum should be added to the daily routine and practiced thoroughly. It is essentially a combination of all the Bandha Mudras which gives the infrastructure and foundation upon which Pranayama can be practiced. In the same way that we cannot write poetry if we don’t know the alphabet, Pranayama cannot be successful if these foundations are not there.
Refer to video 3 Mudra Practice for a starting point and practice along with it until you are comfortable to practice on your own.
Always finish with Shavasana
Whether is is Asana or Mudra or Pranayama, take shavasana afterwards. Don’t skimp! Cover your body with a blanket or thin cloth and cover your eyes. Nothing should touch your hear or feet (except the blanket of course). Take a full 10 minutes or longer. Try to go into the state between being asleep and awake. This state generally takes about 5 minutes to enter and it cannot be done with a mind full of thoughts. Try to be meditative and direct your thoughts inward. Shavasana is a kind of harvesting of the benefits generated in your practice. It also grounds you mentally and emotionally. It should not be skipped.
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