The Yoga of Breath A Step by Step Guide to Pranayama
For several thousand years, yogis have drawn on the powerful practice of pranayama, a technique of controlling the breath to maximize prana or life energy. Pranayama has been practiced to rejuvenate the body and as a means of self-study and self-transformation. While most yoga practitioners today focus on asanas, or body postures, a growing number of people are learning the complementary practice of pranayama to deepen and enrich their practice. The Yoga of Breath is a guide to learning the fundamentals of pranayama and incorporating them into an existing yoga practice. Rosen’s approach is easy to follow with step-by-step descriptions of breath and body awareness exercises accompanied by clear illustrations. The book also covers the history and philosophy of pranayama, offers useful practice tips, and teaches readers how to use props to enhance the exercises.
User Ratings and Reviews
3 Stars A decent beginning book on pranayama
This is a good book that takes a slow approach to learning pranayama and integrating it with an asana practice. While I think there are better books out there such as Iyengar’s “Light on Pranayama,” many beginners may find this level of detail intimidating. However, this book takes things slow and that is a good thing for people experimenting on their own which is probably not the best way to learn pranayama.
I am a former Teaching Fellow in physiology and an ex-scientist. Currently, I work in psychology and part of my business involves the use of biofeedback. With that said, I want to point out that practicing breathing techniques without appropriate instruction can be dangerous at worst and could cause a variety of physical symptoms such as anxiety and panic. It wise to take things slowly and this book is written by someone who is responsible and has taught this material in a variety of settings over many years.
In general, I am an advocate of a slow and gentle approach to any type of yoga practice, but particularly breathing techniques. I also think that if you get this book, you should also consider “The Science of Breath” which provides a scientific framework for the ideas presented here and a more broad treatment by advanced practioners with psychological and more scientific backgrounds. I’m not saying this book doesn’t have a lot of value, but I agree with the other reviewers that it’s not a standalone text.
If you are only going to buy one book on pranayama, I would say that Iyengar’s “Light on Pranayama” is the best. However, it is an area that is best studied from a variety of points of view and certainly Mr. Rosen has made an important contribution to the literature on this topic for Western audiences.
5 Stars wonderful book - beautiful instruction
The reviewers below fail to recognize there are different schools of yoga - with the attendant different approaches to pranayama. In the Iyengar method - which Rosen employs - the approach is slow. You begin with ujjayi breath, start to incorporate breath retention, i.e., viloma, and well down the road (i.e., months/years) start to incorporate alternate nostril, bastrika, etc.
I began pranayama with an eclectic practice - pasted together from Integral Yoga, Sivanadana, various media (Shiva Rea, etc.), Kripalu.
I find the most fulfillment with the Iyengar method. Pranayama is slow and rewarding - gives me intimacy with myself. Rosen’s book is intelligent and well constructed - a door opening to that path.
3 Stars A bit dense…
A wealth of information, but not geared toward beginners. I’ll keep this book to refer to it later on, but I need something more user friendly to start. Building awareness of internal organs while breathing is covered extensively in this book. I’d like to have begun with general breathing and body scans before getting too focused and specific. As someone else commented; the book is organized somewhat backwards.
5 Stars one of a kind - the book that fills a void
Just as Light on Yoga can be a bit daunting to the beginning yoga student, so Light on Pranayama can feel overwhelming to those trying to incorporate a home practice of pranayama. Having practiced Iyengar yoga for seven years but still finding it challenging to incorporate a regular home pranayama practice, I found Richard’s book was exactly the roadmap I was looking for. If some find the introductory chapters unecessary, it is easy to skip them. I like having them there so that the book is accesible to as many students as possible - plus it is always interesting to see how each new teacher approaches the poses. And of course context is always helpful. However, the book is worth the price for the pranayama sections alone. Deliberate and thoughful instructions make it easy to follow. Also worth mentioning is that this book has recieved excellent reviews in every yoga publication on the newsstand - Yoga Journal, Yoga Internationa, Ascent, and numerous online publications. This book is a must for anyone interested in pranayama practice.
3 Stars Provides a detailed plan for the study of yoga and breath
I have been a home practitioner of yoga for some time now, but I struggle with the breathing, or pranayama, necessary to go deeper into the asanas (postures), and so I was hoping that ths book would provide detailed breathing instruction. Although the author definitely does include step-by-step instruction for how to perform some of the most common types of yogic breath, this information does not come until the end of the book. Instead, the first part of the book focuses on growing accustomed to breathing normally while performing a series of basic yoga poses modified with props (as per the Iyengar tradition). The author offers a planned study guide which first incorporates the basic poses and then eventually works up to the breathing exercises.
This book doesn’t really work for people like myself who originally came to yoga via asana practice alone but then eventually desired to incorporate pranayama into their practice. However, for the beginning yoga practitioner looking simultaneously develop an asana and pranayama practice, this might be a useful reference manual.