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In the May 2002 issue of Dipika, the

Iyengar yoga Maida Vale journal, we
published an intervew with Dr. Geeta
S. Iyengar on the subject of
pranayama by Lois Steinberg. Many
thanks to Lois for allowing us us to
share it here.

LS – Pranayama is not easily taken

up by students to practise. Could
you describe the importance of a
pranayama practice and how to
develop it?

Geeta Iyengar – I understand the

problem. I think students feel
pranayama is of one type just
depending on the breathing process
and therefore monotonous. To get
interested in the subject is difficult
and one really has to go deeper inside
whereas with asana it is not necessary
for a beginner to go straight away into
oneself. That means a beginning is
made from outside in. Therefore, a
beginner as an extrovert can easily
start doing some kind of practice.
Whereas for pranayama , one really
requires the inward-going process.
Not only does one have to become an
extrovert, but one needs intra-vision.
Patanjali very clearly indicated that
pranayama has to come after asana is
conquered. In the asana there is a
process of going from outside in.
Making the body to understand,
getting the sensitivity, the feeling of
equilibrium, inner alignments, etc. If
that understanding comes, then the
pranayama begins.

The problem is that when students

begin to do pranayama, they can’t see
an immediate effect of it. So they feel
that there is not feedback from the
early stages of practice. Whereas from
asana there is an immediate feedback:
you feel nice; you feel something good
happening in you; some life coming in
you, blood getting circulated, feeling
freshness of the mind; you feel that
dullness is lessening. But in
pranayama these things cannot be felt
immediately. It takes its own time.

But still, sometime the beginning has

to be made. So if a beginner has to
make an attempt towards it, first they
have to learn to relax their body, relax
their mind as we do in Savasana. Often
I feel that Savasana is a kind of
threshold between asana and
pranayama. Once they begin to feel
the relaxation in Savasana, students
come closer to their breath. The mind
gets settled inside and the cellular
body settles. Then they come into
contact with their inner energy. And
once they come to know their inner
energy and the breath then I think the
interest in pranayama will begin to
grow like when you put the seed into
the soil – the sprouting has to occur at
that stage.

At this stage, one becomes better

acquainted with that breath. If we just
have some ideas in our mind that
breathing should be long, it should be
very deep, it should be complete, then
we run into so many obstacles
because of our way of thinking. It
doesn’t happen. The breath won’t be
deep; the breath won’t be long. To
reach toward those idealistic views
one has to approach it differently. And
if that is understood, then I think one
will gain interest into the practice of
pranayama. First, a beginner has to
learn to do Savasana properly. And in
Savasana, a beginner has to feel the
movement of the breath, the
inhalation and exhalation. And then,
while exposing that inhalation and
exhalation you gain insight into the
body’s intelligence. A beginner has to
feel the lungs, the ribs, the intercostal
muscles, the abdomen, the very
positioning and the very movement of
it. What kind of inner expansion is
occurring? How one is creating space
in inhalation. How one is getting
quieted in exhalation. How the body is
receding. If this kind of dialogue with
one’s own body and one’s own breath
happens, I think a beginner will begin
to get interested. But if you ask me for
specific types of pranayama, then
Ujjayi and Viloma will be helpful.

“I feel that Savasana is a

kind of threshold
between asana and
pranayama. Once they
begin to feel the
relaxation in Savasana,
students come closer to
their breath.”

LS – In terms of other practical

aspects of pranayama practice,
some people get confused when to
practise it in relation to asana.

Geeta Iyengar – It depends on how

one has progressed in one’s practice. I
would say a beginner always would
prefer to do pranayama after asana
practice.

LS – Even if it’s a strong asana

practice?

Geeta Iyengar – After a strong asana

practice, you give extra time to
Savasana and then the pranayama
can begin. It depends on how much
time one has set aside for practice.
When you say strong asana practice,
let us suppose you have two hours to
practise. One can divide that time.
One and quarter hours, or one and a
half hours of asana practice, ten
minutes of Savasana and then twenty
minutes of pranayama. After an asana
practice the body develops some
intelligence, some understanding.
Even if they have done some standing
poses, some forward bends, or some
backward extensions or lateral
twistings, some inversions like
Sirsasana and Sarvangasana. Then
with this regular, normal, usual
practice, they can certainly do
pranayama for half an hour: ten
minutes of Savasana, and then
another five or ten minutes of Ujjayi
cycles, watching their breath. By that
time the body is relaxed and the
nerves are quieted. The impression of
the fatigue they had in their asana
practice will be removed in Savasana.
Freshness in the body comes up. But
intelligence doesn’t fade. What I mean
by intelligence is, the nerve fibres get
stimulated in the asana practice; there
is a feeling of exhilaration and then
with asanas such as Sarvangasana,
Halasana or Setubandha
Sarvangasana, the feeling of quietness
comes to the nerves. That is a kind of
nourishment to the nerves required
for pranayama practice. So if that
nourishment comes from the asana
practice, then pranayama becomes
easier. These asanas are conducive to
take one’s attention inwards to feel
the body, the breath and the mind.
They pacify the ego and bring
humbleness.

Sometimes your breath will be just

normal and then suddenly you find
your exhalation is becoming further,
longer. It’s becoming somehow deep.
So watch that. Observe that.
Sometimes you find your inhalation is
becoming deeper than normal. So
how can this kind of progress occur in
the inhalation and the exhalation? We
begin to trace how the inhalation is
happening. How the exhalation is
happening. A kind of understanding
and awareness comes. At that point
the question is not whether what
comes is correct or wrong, but it is a
question of whether the sensitivity has
come, whether you understand that
there is some difference between
inhalation and exhalation, there are
some changes, occurring at a certain
stage or not. Even if they begin to
watch only that, I think they are
gradually beginning to proceed
toward the pranayama. One has to
identify and notify what is happening
within, with the body, mind and
breath.

For well-advanced students, this

question doesn’t arise. When you have
got the feeling of pranayama, then
you prefer to give a separate time for
it. Because then you cannot just finish
in a hurry. Then that student feels
from inside that pranayama practice
has to be separated from asana
practice in order to get the proper
effect. Let us say if pranayama is done
for forty-five minutes or one hour, then
obviously it cannot be joined with the
asana practice. Most pupils will not
have the time for a long asana
practice and then a long pranayama
practice. But you as senior pupils want
to watch your pranayama. You want to
learn something. You want to
consolidate what you have learned.
Then you need more time, longer
duration. But as a beginner, I may
suggest that instead of a full
pranayama practice one can just lie
down in Savasana and do some cycles
of breath, watching the movement of
the chest since it can be felt by one
and all.

“Prana is not just the

breath but the energy.
And breathing is the
process by which you
apply that energy to find
out how deep that
energy penetrates and
percolates”

LS – Since we are talking about

pranayama, could you talk about the
significance of Hanuman (Monkey
God) to yoga?

Geeta Iyengar – Actually, Hanuman is

called Prana Dev. He’s the Lord of
Prana. And it is said that all the five
Pranas are existing in him with full
potency: Prana, Apana, Samana,
Udana and Vyana. That means that
Lord Hanuman has control over all
these five Pranas. And through this
control he has certain Siddhis
(supernatural powers). In the tale of
Ramayana, Hanuman really showed
these qualities Hanuman was also a
good musician. He was also a
practitioner of yoga. And to some
extent he was a Prana to Rama, if
Rama was the soul. You see, we say
the soul is the inner potency that we
have, Drsta. And this Drsta has to be
served by Drsya – the (The Seer). That’s
what Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras say. Rama
is considered to be the Purusha and
Sita is the Prakrti. Hanuman is the
Prana because the connection
between the Prakrti and the Purusha
is only on the path of Prana – the
cosmic energy, the cosmic
intelligence.

Prana is not just the breath but the

energy. And breathing is the process
by which you apply that energy to find
out how deep that energy penetrates
and percolates, how divine that
energy is, how much purification of
that energy is possible. How you can
really explore that energy. We have
hidden energy inside. The energy has
to come up. It also serves the Purusha
in different ways. And that is what
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras say – in the
Vibhutu Pada – that you can get
control over the different channels of
energy. They are connected with the
five elements and unless the Prana
unites these five elements, the nectar
from the five elements won’t come
up. Each element has got its own
strength, its own energy. When Prana
gets united, this energy comes
upwawrd. That is how Hanuman
served Rama and Sita, Purusha and
Prakrti, through his energy, through
his own potency.

LS – Pranayama has saved my life,

twice. When I couldn’t do anything
else, I had pranayama.

Geeta Iyengar – It heals. Because you

get some control over these senses of
perception, the organs of action and
through those, the body, of course.
Pranayama strengthens the nervous
system. You begin to feel how the
nerves are carrying the energy. Even if
people do not know anything, if they
begin from Savasana and in that
Savasana watch their breath, it will
enact that healing process.

We have so many varieties of

pranayama. There is Anuloma
Pranayama, Pratiloma Pranayama, or
Viloma Pranayama, and whichever you
take they all have stages. What are
these stages? Pranayama develops
from stage I gradually. It’s like a flower
blooming. The first cycle will not come
at once. It will remain in a seed form
somewhere. Guruji begins from that
seed form in stage I and stage II. Then
the flower blooms completely at
higher stages. That means the stages
of pranayama gradually develop to
that level and you begin to
understand what’s happening. It is a
very safe process. You would be
surprised that Guruji doesn’t
introduce Bandhas (locks) until a
certain stage. He goes very slowly.
Then, as you proceed, the Bandhas
begin to come to you. You feel it
yourself. And from that you develop.

LS – Yes this state happened. How

did it happen?

Geeta Iyengar – For example, simple

Jalandhara Bandha. You do a few
cycles of Ujjayi; a time comes when
the head begins to go down. There is a
period where the head doesn’t come
down. You don’t get a proper position.
The throat has to sort of create the
space; it doesn’t come with a chin
lock. So first the chin-locking process
is physical. But then when you find
something is happening in the inner
walls of the throat. Also, your head is
getting quieted. Your brain cells are
getting quieted. Your senses of
perception are getting quieted. Then
the head comes down further. The
more you become humble and quiet,
the better Jalandhara Bandha comes.
That means the natural way of
Jalandhara Bandha is occurring. But
the pain elements – the neck pain,
muscular pain or strain come later,
after ten, twelve, or fifteen cycles. That
means you have crossed your limit.
You may come to a boundary line
where the neck is paining. But Guruji
says not to go right up to where the
neck pain comes in Jalandhara
Bandha. If you are not getting the
chin-lock use a bandage. So you are so
safe, you are not holding your throat
tight. You are not jamming anything
inside. Because he has given those
safety measures, I don’t think anybody
should feel afraid to practise
pranayama.

The improvement in the techniques as

one begins to understand the depth
of pranayama is quite different to that
of the understanding of a beginner. A
beginner has to stick to a programme
or a format very strictly. He/she may
do Ujjayi or Viloma cycles, but has to
stick to that practice. With this
regimented programme one gradually
begins to get sensitivity. The breath
cycles may go mechanically, but the
mechanical breathing cycles tell you,
“Oh! This is not the way. Let me slow
down and observe.” This is sensitivity.
You begin to learn what needs to be
unlearned. The unlearning process
further leads you to say what has to be
learned. This is the way to educate
oneself.

Read interview with Geeta Iyengar on

yoga for women >

Geeta Iyengar on her family and

becoming a yoga teacher >

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