Asan – Vajrasan

Duration – 3 Minutes

Steps to Follow –
Sit in Vajrasana / Padmasan / ArdhaPadmasan. Apply Moolbandha. Close your eyes. Start breathing deeply Take care not to make any sound while breathing. Also do not make any movement of the body.Imagine that you are chanting the Sohum Mantra silently. “SO” While breathing in and “HUM”while breathing out. Concentrate fully o breathing, Pranakarshan kriya appears to be very simple but is very difficult to practice. Merely sitting with closed eyes is difficult for some in the beginning. Therefore the benefits of this kriya are experienced only after sufficient practice.

Physical benefits:

Besides obtaining all the benefits of sitting in Vajrasana / Padmasan / ArdhaPadmasan one gets the benefits of mind and spirit too on account of deep breathing and Soham mantra.

The mental and spiritual benefits of Prankarshan Kriya –
The normal rate of respiration is 17 to 18 breaths per minute. This is reduced to mere 5 to 6 breaths per minute if done with full concentration. Meaning – The breath and the thoughts are closely associated. Regulating the breath results into control over the mind. A Yogi achieves stillness of mind by rrestricting the breathig process.

This kriya helps in concentration of mind by consciously attracting the life energy from the organs. The process of introspection is otherwise very difficult and rarely attempted because the organs are always seeking pleasure.

Emotional violence or sudden disruption like lust, anxiety, fear, hatred, jealously are overcome and the presence of the divine life force is realized within self.

The sense of self in terms of physical existence is forgotten for a short while and mind reaches a blissful state. This experience prepares one for the Subsequent yoga sadhana and therefore this kriya is performed in the beginning.

After a good practice of the above kriya, a slight changes may be brought in the same. Sit in Vajrasana, do Rechaka (breath out completely). As you breath in, imagine that the breath is slowly ,extend the imaginary path in reverse i.e. from the brain to the anus. This helps in further slowing down the rate of respiration and better harmonization with the So-ham mantra. Maturity of thoughts and peace of mind is intsantly experienced.

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