Benefits of Doing Pranayama Yoga

Regular pranayama keeps the body healthy and fit and mind fresh and resolute. The dependency of seeking medical help for many types of ailments significantly reduces if proper exercise schedule and diet is maintained along with regular pranayama. Pranayama definitely has a great deal of benefits to people who practice it on a regular basis. For example, pranayama is good for people suffering from chronic motion sickness and have problems traveling long distances by road transportation. They don’t need to take any medicine for this problem, as after a few months of starting pranayama; their problem will completely disappear. Practicing kapalbhati pranayama has wonderful benefits as it pumps so much energy into your body that you start feeling currents passing through your vertebral column as if a new boost of energy has started traveling inside you. When this reaches the brain, you feel to be on top of the world, but the best result in yoga and pranayama is reached when you are practicing bramhacharya (the four stages of life according to Hindu shastras “Hindu law books”).

With pranayama, you attain complete freedom from sinus and dust allergy problems. For people who are frequent visitors to acidity and indigestion, regular pranayama is the ultimate cure. Negative thinking runs away towards event horizon and you feel definite positive change in your mindset. You achieve ultimate glow on your forehead and nose line. With regular practice of different types of pranayamas and yoga, bad habits like drinking, drugs, and lust can be thrown away. If the entire country practices this, then what a great advantage would it be for the country increasing the level of prosperity and contentment. The money that is spent on drugs and liquor can be utilized in consumption of milk and milk products thereby increasing the income of the rural folks and also at the same time gaining better health.

But before deriving the ultimate benefits of doing pranayama yoga, you need to stick to some rules which I have mentioned below:

1. To reap maximum benefits, pranayama should be done before sunrise, so between 4:00 AM to 6:00 AM is the best time.
2. Emptying stomach with clean bowels gives out maximum results of pranayama. Due to time constraints or working hours or other problems, morning will be best time when you get up and pass motion.
3. People working in night shifts like call centers and BPOs should empty their bowels, do pranayama and then go to bed. Otherwise, whenever they get up, after passing motion, they can do pranayama.
4. Next best time is after sunset. Otherwise any time of the day, when your stomach is empty.
5. If you have taken solid foods, give a gap of about 5 to 6 hours.
6. With thick liquid like mango milkshake, milk, etc., you should give about 2 hours gap.
7. With thin liquid like water, juice, etc., you can give just half an hour gap.
8. Food restriction should be strictly followed with kapalbhati pranayama, bahya pranayama, and to some extent bhastrika pranayama.
9. Anulom-vilom pranayam can be done after 2 hours of solid food also and in emergency even after the food.
10. Bhramari pranayama, udgeeth pranayama, and pranav dhyan can be done any time.

How long does pranayama yoga takes to cure a disease?

A very important question which every beginner of pranayama asks is how long does pranayama will take to cure my ailment or disorder. According to me, the effects of pranayama start from day 1 but the benefits are so subtle that they went unnoticeable. Complete cure of small medical problems has been seen to take place as early as three Days. Even on day one, ailments like asthma have been cured. Chronic ailments like partial paralysis have been cured in a few days of treatment. According to a popular religious teacher practicing pranayama in Delhi, our body takes nine months in the mother’s womb to take the complete form from a cell to a body. Our body comprises of billions of cells. Replacement of dead cells with new cells is a continuous process of the body. With time or when diseased, the rejuvenation slows down or even stops and this is the time when you can see the unique benefits of pranayama because pranayama accelerates this cell rejuvenation/replacement process thereby helping the body to throw out toxins or diseased cells and cure the ailment.

Can I do pranayama during periods?

Several women considering to do pranayama have one single question and that is can I practice pranayama during menstruation? For them, the answer is yes, pranayamas can be practiced during periods. You just need to skip bahya pranayama for 5 days till the time menses take place. All other pranayamas can be practiced. A normal person should carry out breathing for 5 minutes in kapalbhati and for 15 minutes in anulom vilom but menstruating women can do anulom vilom and kapalbhati at an interval of 5 minutes only and also do light exercises in between.

So above were a few benefits of doing pranayama yoga and some questions pertaining to this popular breathing technique. At last, it is interesting to note that pranayama is a part of ashtanga yoga which includes Yama, Niyama, etc. which are a set of rules to be followed like ahimsa (nonviolence) satvik bhojan (vegetarian food), satya (truth or no cheating), asteya (honesty and no stealing), and brahmacharya (control of senses) etc. and if a person follows these rules combined with regular practicing of pranayama and other yoga poses, then the person can achieve active and disease free life getting rid of all materialistic things.