By Matt Gluck • August 28th, 2010

Breath is Life. It grows because that’s nature! Cells exhale and inhale. They give birth to new cells according to memory, in the miracle of creation, that we so often oversee when rapt in inner dialogue.

I was always striving for more, seeking to please, as we all do when we forget who we are. A few years ago, I began a daily pranayam practice. Prana is the breath, or life force. It is pure energy which gives and sustains all life in whichever state it presently resides.

Exhale is letting go.                 

Inhale is receiving.

Within this binary, we have all that we need. Pranayam is the art, science and way of wakeful living.

The breath is the hub of all that we are, think and do. It provides access to the mind and its deepest recesses. Pranayam, or yogic breathing practices, enable us to voyage in a steady vessel, to new territories, in order that we may continue to expand in harmony with our ever growing universe.

Breathing practices are combined with asanas (postures and stances), mudras and bandhas (seals and locks), to regulate a balanced flow of prana or chi, within the mind-body. Energy cultivation is simply the art of relaxing in to our natural state of meditation. This is ‘pure beingness’, where the ‘doer’ acts in accord with the divine script, for the good of all other ‘actors’ in this play.

Pranayam teach us that life flows into and out of us, via the breath. This leads to awareness of being, intention and positive acts. When I gaze over my shoulder, I see that all I ever needed came to me. There was no need for effort on my part. Effort always drained me, as it arose from a place of fear and clutching for personal gain.

Exercise 1. Exhale Heavy – Inhale Light

A wonderful key to the breath is to LET GO with the exhalation.

When you breathe out you are re-leasing your life. You are letting go. This takes no effort.

As you breathe out, allow your body-mind to feel heavy, as though it is moving downwards, with the gravitational pull of the earth. Give yourself to your breath.

Exhale Heavy with the feeling of letting go at the end of a busy day, or putting down a load of heavy shopping. How do you feel when you do this?    

Inhalation – As you breathe in, allow your body-mind to feel light,...

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Location:  Barnet City, GB

Matt Gluck started Yoga when he was five, learning the techniques of pranayama, relaxation and meditation from his mother, in order to deal with asthma and allergies. He became dedicated many years later, when life provided...