What are the Eight Supreme Benefits of Pranayama?
There are eight main sidhis or benefits of pranayama: Anima, Mahima, Laghima, Garima, Prapti, Prakamya, Vasitvam and Isitvam.
- Anima is the power to become as small and minute as you want to be.
- Mahima is the power to become as big as you want to be.
- Laghima means that you can make your body feather light and fly for long distances in the sky.
- Garima means that you can make your body as heavy as a mountain.
- Prapti, is the power to see faraway things, hear faraway sounds, sure any disease, understand languages that you do not really know and predict future events.
- Prakamya is the way to shed the old skin and become young and agile for a long time. This is also the power to enter the body of another.
- Vasitvam is the power to control and tame wild animals.
- Isitvam means that you can take on divine powers.
Pranayama instructions: Here are some basic tips for doing pranayama, the precise breath work that is prescribed by yoga.
- To enjoy all the benefits of pranayama, one should do it in an airy, peaceful and clean area.
- Do no perform pranayama under a fan, especially if it in full speed.
- You should perform pranayama in the morning, preferably early in the morning.
- You must have cleaned your body before sitting down for pranayama.
- Do not sit down to do pranayama immediately after your meals. Give a break of 3-4 hours before doing so.
- Pranayama should be done after you have performed all the yoga asanas or postures and before you do meditation.
- Remember not to push yourself beyond your limit.
Benefits of pranayama: There are a lot of benefits of pranayama.
- Pranayama improves the quality of the blood by helping you breathe in more oxygen. This scientific breathing also flushes out toxins from the blood.
- Pranayama improves the digestion of food and keeps the digestive tract in a healthy condition by helping the blood absorb more oxygen.
- Pranayama is good for a healthy nervous system, and nourishes the nerves, spinal cord and brains with more amounts of oxygen.
- More oxygen in the body means rejuvenated glands, like the pineal and pituitary glands.
- The skin becomes smoother and wrinkle-free through pranayama.
- Pranayama includes the movements of the diaphragm, which massages the organs like pancreas, liver, small intestine, and the stomach.
- Pranayama can also cure a lot of respiratory problems by making your lungs healthy.
