Pranayama and meditation are deeply rooted in the yoga tradition.
Together, and with other tools, they contribute to progressively more profound levels of meditative experiences. These tools are described in Pantajali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga.
It is interesting to see where pranayama is positioned on this list.
It is placed after the physical yogic experience (asanas) and before the subtler practices of internalisation (pratyahara), concentration (dharana), and meditation (dhyana).
Patanjali tells us that breath is the only open the door to meditation and enlightenment (samadhi).
According to Yoga, meditation is about finding inner stillness, liberation, and spiritual enlightenment where the self, the mind, and the object of meditation merge into one.
To achieve this, we must patiently go through different stages and techniques where the breath is omnipresent.
A well-designed plan of numerous methods is required to experience a profoundly satisfying meditation day after day.
This plan has five stages, and we will experience them together in a 22-min meditation starting at 10′:10″.
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