Prāna (em sânscrito:प्राण, sopro de vida) é, segundo os Upanishads, a energia vital universal que permeia o micro e macro cosmos. Pura energia Prana é tudo o que nos faz sentir em casa, tudo o que nos religa à nossa natureza essencial.
Ashtanga Yoga
O sábio indiano Patañjali, há mais de 2 mil anos, compilou no Yoga Sutra as oito partes que compõem o Ashtanga Yoga. A palavra ashta quer dizer oito e anga significa partes ou membros. São elas:
Yama: disciplina
Niyama: autocontrole
Asana: postura
Pranayama: controle da respiração
Pratyahara: recolhimento ou abstração dos sentidos
Dharana: concentração
Dhyana: meditação
Samadhi: êxtase ou meditação profunda
Asana só é eficaz se combinado com bandha (bloqueios energéticos), respiração yogui, focalização visual (drishti), concentração (dharana), etc.
O mesmo acontece com Pranayama, que deve ser executada em conjunto com asanas, ao mesmo tempo que se aplicam bandha, drishti, mantra, mudra, etc.
Também a um nível mais avançado, chamado de pratyahara (independência de estímulos externos), esta simbiose de acontecer. Atinge-se Pratyahara quando executamos asanas, durante pranayama, aplicando bandha, mudra, mantra, visualizações, etc.
When zooming deeply into pratyahara, the sixth limb of yoga, dharana (concentration) is revealed. Dharana, too, is a set of techniques that takes place with asana, pranayama and pratyahara and includes mantra, concentrating on chakras, bandha, mudra, drishti, etc. The final two limbs of yoga, dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption) are again not separate practices but are nothing but deeper zooms into the existing lattice of yogic technique that reveal the same patterns and details over and over again.
If you want to harvest the fruit of your asana and pranayama practice you need to combine them with yogic meditation, that is meditation that repeats the same structural elements and architecture as your posture and breathing techniques already contain. In that case you will use the skills you acquired in your asana practice to swiftly progress in meditation. Similarly to the Mandelbrot fractal, all yogic techniques were designed according to the same structural formulae.
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is a precise method of Yoga practice, which was described in the Yoga Korunta, by Vamana Rishi. This method includes hundreds of postures, which are sequentially linked by Vinyasa, the breath-initiated movement between postures. Additionally, the principal actions of Bandhas (locks or energy seals), Drishti (the gaze or looking place in each posture) and Ujjayi Pranayama (a sound induced breath applied to both the inhaling and exhaling breath) are emphasized in the Ashtanga Vinyasa method of Asana practice. This method of Asana practice, enables hundreds of Asanas to be integrated into the body of every practitioner.
By practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga on a regular basis, the body becomes light and strong, the mind rests in a content state and the individual self merges with the eternal.