Anulom Vilom Pranayama: Yogic Science Explained Through Gheranda Samhita and Upanishads In Indian yogic and philosophical traditions, Prāṇa is not merely breath—it is the subtle life force sustaining body, mind, and consciousness. The Upanishads describe prāṇa as the manifest expression of Brahman within the human system. Anulom Vilom Pranayama , also known as Nāḍī Śodhana , is a classical yogic practice aimed at purifying and balancing this vital force. Far beyond a breathing exercise, it is a scientific spiritual discipline rooted in Hatha Yoga and Vedantic wisdom. Scriptural Origin of Anulom Vilom The Gheranda Samhita is one of the principal texts of Hatha Yoga and presents yoga as a sevenfold path. Within its section on Pranayama, Nāḍī Śodhana is described as essential for mastery over prāṇa. यावद् नाडीशुद्धिर्भवेत् तावत् प्राणो न संयम्यते। Meaning: Until the nāḍīs (energy cha...
Our thoughts are like a computer program. The system performs the same type of instructions as we put in the program. In the same way, the type of thought we possess we bring the same kind of behaviour into our lives. Every second there comes hundreds of thoughts in our mind, most of which we neither know nor remember. Out of those we are able to hold only those thoughts which have any importance in our life. Now it is to be seen what kind of thoughts we give importance to. A friend of mine asked me that when we all have different minds and mental strength is also different, then how can the same idea affect everyone. He had asked a very technical and difficult question, it took some time to think but I got the answer to this question. To understand this, we must first understand how the mind works. When anything is experienced by our senses, then that experience is converted into electrochemical waves and signals are sent to the mind. When this information is processed to some extent,...