Benefits of Pranayama Yoga Breathing Exercises

Pranayama is the formal practice of breath control in yoga. The regular practice of Pranayama provides many physical, emotional, and mental health benefits. 

In this article, we will let you know the scientifically proven benefits of pranayama (Yoga Breathing).

 Benefits of Pranayama yoga breathing exercises

What are the Benefits of Pranayama Yoga?

Maybe you will aware of Pranayama. It is practiced by many people all over the world and all of them have got beneficial effects from it.

What is Pranayama?

The word Pranayama is derived from a combination of two separate words which are "Prana" and "Yama". These are two Sanskrit terms (prana = energy + Yama = control). Other texts define the meaning of prana, as the “life force” or “vital energy”.

The Atharvaveda, which is one of the earliest Vedic texts on Indian medicine says that prana is “The fundamental basis of whatever is, was, and will be in the future.”

Pranayama is a type of meditation technique that includes multiple ways to control breathing, having a goal to withdraw one's senses from the outside world. This helps to raise one’s prana to the spiritual eye / sixth chakra.
Stay tuned with us for more information. I will try to be very simple as possible to explain my points. Without having any further delay, let's get started.

Benefits of Pranayama

Pranayama yoga works directly on the nervous system which regulates and controls the essential functions of the body such as heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure, etc. There are some scientifically proven benefits of pranayama (Yoga Breathing) for health and beauty:

Pranayama Helps in Weight Loss

Pranayama is considered an effective method to lose weight. Due to our busy schedule, we tend to have less time for looking after our fitness, going to a gym or going for a morning walk. Thus, for this,  pranayama is the best and simple practice that can be done at home.

Most of the weight loss programs require exercise, diet, and probably some gym workout. Pranayama usually takes a back seat in the long list, but the practice of yogic breathing techniques is an effective way to reduce body fat.

One can easily integrate it with their daily routine. Once you have learned this skill, the benefits of pranayama are tremendous.

The practice of pranayama can balance the fat in the body which will make you slim. The excess of fat that is stored in our body gets burned up. You can practice Kapalabhati, Anulom Vilom and Bhastrika. These are yogic breathing techniques that are specifically suited for obesity.

Due to these reasons, pranayama can be an effective way to reduce weight if followed under a daily routine.

Pranayama is Good for Skin Health

In this contemporary era, everyone wishes for healthy, natural as well as glowing skin. It is considered crucial for our first impression. In yoga, there are some breathing techniques (also known as pranayama) and some Asana which helps your skin to glow naturally.

Some of these are as follows:

• Breath of fire (Bhastrika Pranayama)
• Skull Shining Breathing Technique (Kapalbhati Pranayama)
• Alternate Nostril breathing (Anulom Vilom)

Many of us go for facial and face packs which are harmful for our skin as it contains artificial chemicals. This forces us to move towards natural methods for skin treatment. Yoga does not require any type of proof to show it's effects on the skin.

Pranayama and the Gut-Brain connection

Yogic breathing helps to improve an interactive parasympathetic nervous system (also known as the rest and digest system). It also stimulates the vagus nerve. This is the nerve that connects all the organs of the body with the brain and this is also known as the gut-brain connection. The vagus nerve is considered as important for digestion as it stimulates the enteric nervous system. This further prompts the intestinal muscles to move and churn the food we ingest.

The enteric nervous system helps to connect 50-100 nerve cells. It also contains most of our immune system, which accounts for more immune cells than are present in our blood and bone marrow.

Poor digestion, constipation, distention and excessive gas can occur due to lack of stimulation if our vagus nerve is impaired. This can be seen in individuals who have illnesses that affect the brain such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. They slowly lose their ability to control their bladder and bowels.

Pranayama benefits for Lungs

Pranayama has many psycho-physical effects on the body along with its specific effects on respiratory functions. There are many ways that help to reach the ultimate goal of a healthy life. One of which is pranayama. It is also known as the art of controlling the life force of breath.

According to Pulmonary function tests in yoga and pranayama practitioners, the regular practice of these pranayama techniques has proved to be beneficial for the human body. Pranayama causes a marked improvement in lung functions.

Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) performed by using standardized equipment which is known as a spirometer are simple screening procedures to measure lung function. These tests give us information about the minimum levels of lung function.

Pranayama Boost Immunity

The immune system does a remarkable job of defending your body against a disease-causing microorganism. But, many times it is unable to protect you. These bacterias make you sick. To protect yourself from these harmful entities your immune system should be strong enough to fight against.

Simple pranayama helps to reduce the stress level of our brain and also boost our immune system.

 Here are five types of exercises to boost your immune system:

• Bhramari Pranayama (The Humming Bee Breathing Technique)
• Kapalbhati Pranayama (Forehead Shining Breathing Technique)
• Anuloma Viloma Pranayama (Alternate Nostril Breathing Technique)
• Bhastrika Pranayama ( Breath of Fire)
• Udgeeth Pranayama (Chanting Breathing Technique) 

This will protect you from further infections.

NOTE: - I am not a Yoga or Pranayam expert. My aim is to give you information. Try to perform all the mention Pranayama and yoga asana under the expert's guidance.

This was all about the benefits of pranayama. I hope you liked the information.