Vital Breath and the Five Winds (Prāṇa & the Vāyus)
The life-force itself, mapped as five inner winds — master the breath and you steady the mind.
Prāṇa is the life-force — the vital breath that animates body and mind, far more than mere air in the lungs. The tradition analyzes it into five 'winds,' each with a task: the inward breath, the downward-and-outward breath, the equalizing breath at the center, the upward breath, and the breath diffused throughout the body. To understand and master prāṇa is, in yogic thought, to gain a handle on both vitality and mind, since breath and mind are held to move together.
How it traveled
- Chāndogya UpaniṣadKuru-Pañcāla region · -700explains
- Bṛhadāraṇyaka UpaniṣadMithilā (kingdom of Videha) · -700explains
- Kaṭha UpaniṣadKuru-Pañcāla region · -500explains
- Praśna UpaniṣadKuru-Pañcāla region · -450explains
- Yoga-sūtraKāśī (Varanasi) · 375applies
- TantrasāraŚrīnagara (Srinagar), Kashmir · 1000explains
- Haṭhayoga-pradīpikāKāśī (Varanasi) · 1450explains
Key passages(20)
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
Next follows the consideration of the observances (acts). Pragapati created the actions (active senses). When they had been created, they strove among themselves. Voice held, I shall speak; the eye h
Tap to expand
'Spirit (prâna) is better than hope. As the spokes of a wheel hold to the nave, so does all this (beginning with names and ending in hope) hold to spirit. That spirit moves by the spirit, it gives spi
Tap to expand
Then Prâna (breath, spirit, life), as the best, said to them: Be not deceived, I alone, dividing myself fivefold, support this body and keep it.
Tap to expand
The fires of the prânas are, as it were, awake in that town (the body). The Apâna is the Gârhapatya fire, the Vyâna the Anvâhâryapakana fire; and because it is taken out of the Gârhapatya fire, which
Tap to expand
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)
'Prana (breath) is one Graha, and that is seized by Apana (down-breathing) as the Atigraha , for one smells with the Apana.'
Tap to expand
'Now with reference to the body. Breath (prâna) is indeed the end of all. When a man sleeps, speech goes into breath, so do sight, hearing, and mind. Breath indeed consumes them all.
Tap to expand
Yet some offer as sacrifice, the outgoing into the in-coming breath, and the in-coming into the out-going, stopping the courses of the in-coming and out-going breaths, constantly practising the regula
Tap to expand
He (Brahman) it is who sends up the breath (prâna), and who throws back the breath (apâna). All the Devas (senses) worship him, the adorable (or the dwarf), who sits in the centre.
Tap to expand
Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Whatever there is, the whole world, when gone forth (from the Brahman), trembles in its breath. That Brahman is a great terror, like a drawn sword. Those who know it become immortal.
Tap to expand