Pranayama Yoga: The Art of Breathing

Domonique Lonchant

Pranayama is a respiratory technique found in the ancient practice of yoga. By assuming certain physical positions, you can move your breathing to different parts of the thoracic cage—upper, middle, and lower—giving all parts of the breathing system a maximum workout to insure balance and equilibrium.

Most of our physical problems are caused by some form of respiratory deficiency resulting in a degeneration of bodily functions. These breathing exercises can reestablish correct breathing habits, so critical in restoring the whole person, both physically and psychologically.

Pranayama can:

• increase awareness of vital functions of the body
• relieve respiratory and stress-related problems such as asthma, migraine, insomnia, skin allergies, and blood pressure abnormalities
• remove blockages in the respiratory and circulatory systems
• enhance physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Controlling the breath through physical positions is an art to be learned and practiced daily. This series of exercises, grouped according to their function, will increase your awareness of the body's inner nature and will help you maintain good health along the way. The instructions for each posture are clear and concise, accompanied by photographs of the author himself modeling each posture.

About the Author

DOMINIQUE LONCHANT dedicated himself to a vocation in health, fitness, and spirituality at an early age in France, the land of his birth. He received initial instruction in the philosophy and techniques of yoga in a Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka. He then traveled to India to complete his training under Dr. Swami Gitananda, who recognized him as an outstanding and talented student. Convinced of the extraordinary health benefits resulting from pranayama breathing techniques, Dominique Lonchant, for the past eighteen years, has offered his knowledge and care to thousands of his own students all over the world, from Europe, to North Africa, South America, Asia, and the United States.