Book Title: Pran and Pranayam
Author(s): Niranjananand Saraswati Swami
Publisher: Yoga Publication Trust

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Page 67
________________ movement during inhalation and exhalation. Ujjayi involves the practice of awareness, concentration and the actual physiological contraction of the throat muscles. During the practice of ujjayi pranayama, which can also be performed with khechari mudra, there is awareness of the movement and sound of the breath as it passes in and out through the throat. This awareness develops the perception of pranamaya kosha. When psychic breathing is practised with total awareness of the movement and sound of the inner breath in the throat, the mind begins to relax and new forms of experience arise within the personality. During the practice of ujjayi the physiological experience is one of tranquillity, relaxation and one-pointedness. This is the gross experience of ujjayi, and then there is the psychic experience. As the practice of ujjayi develops, one begins to move the prana. The first manifestation of mahaprana is the prana located in the chest. The first physiological experience that arises from the movement and awakening of prana is in the form of a stream of white light or as a sort of tickling or burning sensation in the throat, chest and lungs. However, as the concentration becomes deeper and more intense, one experiences prana more acutely and the experience changes. Psychic passage The second key to pranic awareness is the psychic passage. This refers to any pathway in the body through which awareness, breath and prana are directed in one stream of combined force. The psychic passage is not a limited concept; it can be made anywhere to or from any part of the body. Once the passage is visualized, the psychic breath can be moved there, using ujjayi pranayama, and this will bring about an actual pranic transfer. Psychic breathing is an integral part of the science of prana, and it must be mastered to the point where it becomes extremely subtle and spontaneous. In the practice of prana vidya, many psychic passages are created one after the other, so that prana can be distributed to all parts of the body. Some passages are long and complex 61

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