Pranayama means an extension of the breath, or an extension of your life force. Pranayama is one of the three distinct practices of yoga- it’s one of the things we “do when we do yoga.” Like the postures and meditation, we need to learn to develop pranayama as a stand alone practice. The postures inform us that we need to learn how to stand and move, pranayama teaches us that we need to learn how to breathe. It is a profound experience.
Even though it is a stand-alone practice, pranayama is complimentary to asana and vice versa. Students should have a grounding in asana before commencing the practice of pranayama and a regular practice of head stand and shoulder stand before commencing seated pranayama. It is a subtler practice than the postures, and one needs to be introduced to the practice in a guided and structured format. We need to learn to walk before we run.
Tim has been teaching at CHYS for over a decade and has dedicated a large part of this time to developing his teaching of Pranayama. The pranayama class is taught as a structured course, each week building in a modular fashion to develop the student’s understanding of the practice. Whilst you can attend the class casually, the idea is to introduce and consolidate the subject in an organised fashion so that an individual understanding and personal practice can be developed.