I am wondering when the seed was planted and it germinated. When did it grow and began to flower? When did this all happen? I am trying to place all that took place chronologically so that I shall get a clear picture.
If initially, Tavayogi introduced us to forceful breathing, and Nadi Suddhi, later Agathiyar, and Ramalinga Adigal told us to observe the breath. The former techniques helped clear the pathway for Prana to come in in larger volumes. Rapid inhaling and exhaling brings more prana within that can be felt expanding to the verge of the body bursting and rupturing. If normal breathing was limited in volume and filled just the lungs, the capacity of one's absorption of Prana after the practice of these Pranayama techniques was tremendous traveling throughout the body reaching every cell. Then one could take in the prevalent Prana around us without placing the effort as before. Just standing outside in nature one could feed on the Prana in the air just as we take food and drink. If walking in nature delivers an abundance of Prana, walking barefoot and grounding oneself with Mother Earth, taps the energy off the ground too. Moving into the sunlight seals the pores of the skin with Prana. Taking a dip in the river or even during our daily showers drenches the body in Prana. Sitting in front of an open fire or during Homam sends in more.
Pandit Gopi Krishna in his book "Kundalini - Path to Higher Consciousness", Orient Paperbacks, 1976, says "Normally the work of extraction of prana to feed the brain is done by a limited group of nerves, but with the awakening of Kundalini, other and more extensive groups of nerves are stirred to activity, leading to the transmission of an enormous and enhanced supply of a more concentrated form of pranic radiation into the brain drawn, from a vastly increased area of the body."
BKS Iyengar in the foreword to "Hatha Yoga Pradipika of Svatmarama", Rieker, the Aquarian Press 1992 writes on what pursues.
"When the nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, endocrine, and genito-excretory systems are cleansed through asana, Prana moves unobstructed to the remotest cells and feeds them with a copious supply of energy. Thus rejuvenated and revitalized, the body - the instrument of the self - moves towards the goal of self-realization."
Swami Vivekananda elaborates in his ‘RAJA YOGA – Conquering the Internal Nature’, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1998, says "The whole world is in motion because of Prana. The most obvious manifestation of Prana is the breath. To reach the subtle we must take the help of the gross, and so, slowly travel towards the most subtle until we gain our point. To get into the subtle perception, we need to begin with the grosser perception. From the external, we move to the internal. Use the breath to slowly enter the body and find out the subtle forces at work in the body."
Agathiyar says that the breath is Uyir or Life. It is this Prana that when it resides in us keeps us alive. Swami Rama in his "Meditation and its Practice", writes, "As long as the body receives the vital force, or prana, through the breath, the body/mind relationship is sustained. When this connection is disrupted the conscious mind fails and the body is separated from the inner unit of life. This separation is called death."
If reciting the names of the Siddhas connected us with them, the mantras chanted energized both the self and the surroundings, and lighting the Homam connected us to the Prapanjam, Swami Rama in asking to simply become aware of the breath, says, "Breath awareness enables us to experience deeper levels of consciousness that cannot normally be experienced. Thus the first step in this process is the development of breath awareness. When the mind begins to follow the flow of the breath one becomes aware of the reality that there is a link between oneself and the center of the cosmos which supplies breath to all living creatures." This is connecting with the Prapanjam. With Prana accessible to us, it is time to learn to bring awareness and sense to it and partake in its richness and wealth.