Yoga Glossary · Breath & Energy
Pranayama
The yogic discipline of breath regulation — working with the breath on purpose.
Pranayama combines prana (breath, life force) with ayama (extension, regulation): the family of techniques that deliberately shape the breath — its pace, depth, rhythm, nostril pattern and pauses. It is the fourth limb of the classical eight-limbed path, practiced after asana steadies the body.
Techniques range from calming to energizing: Ujjayi's slow constriction, the three-part breath's staged filling, alternate-nostril breathing to balance, and brisk Kapalabhati to stoke energy. In modern teacher training, pranayama is taught as nervous-system literacy — longer exhales settle, bright techniques wake up — with the caution that forceful breathwork is powerful medicine taken in small, supervised doses.
In practice
- The breath you can control is a lever on the nervous system — that is the whole premise of pranayama.
- Start gentle: even, unforced techniques like three-part breath before anything brisk or retained.
- Dizzy, tingly or anxious means stop and breathe normally — never push through breathwork.
Related terms
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The Yoga Glossary is an educational study reference. Definitions are standard yoga and anatomy knowledge in plain language; nothing here is medical advice.