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Welcome again. We will continue our prāṇāyāma workshop, now the third part. After exploring the breath and the prāṇa, we come to prāṇāyāma itself. What really is prāṇāyāma? I prepared a paper for this purpose, and there is a second paper about mudrās, bandhas, and so on. It was produced afterwards and is good to have, though not critically important. Prāṇāyāma is a very important part of our yoga practice. It is the missing link between the physical aspect, the āsanas, and the spiritual aspect, the meditation. Just as we discussed yesterday, the prāṇa, the prāṇamaya kośa, is the missing link between the physical body and the subtle body. When the prāṇa leaves the body, these two aspects separate, which means, practically and medically, we die. Prāṇāyāma is also very important for another reason. In prāṇāyāma, we influence our breath; we work through the breath. In our body, we have different types of functions: some we can control consciously, and others we usually cannot. For example, the movements of the physical body are under your full control, but your heartbeat and your digestion simply function. The activities of the nervous system, for example, are controlled by the autonomic nervous system. "Autonomic" means we have no access; we cannot say, "Now, digest, please." The breath is a borderline case. We breathe 24 hours a day, even when sleeping or unconscious. So, on one hand, it is an autonomous function. But on the other hand, we can interfere with our breath; we can control it. As we did this morning when I said, "Now, have some very deep breaths," or as we did last night when I said, "Now, after every inhalation, hold your breath, and after the exhalations also, stop your breath." When we manage to give a certain pattern to our breath for a longer time, this affects not only the breath. We give a certain rhythm, influencing our breath in a conscious way, which works only if we do it for a longer time, not just for a minute. The point is that all these systems in our body are very much connected. Most closely, the breath is connected with our heartbeat, with the pulse. When you change your breathing pattern, you start changing the pulse as well. For example, when you sleep at night, your breath is different from now, and your heartbeat is also different. But not only that; all these autonomous functions are connected with the breath, and therefore you can influence them indirectly through the breath. That makes the powerful effect of prāṇāyāma. With prāṇāyāma, we can basically work miracles, achieving effects otherwise impossible. These are the indirect effects through the influence of the breath. Let us look now at what prāṇāyāma is. In our Yoga and Daily Life book, there is a short definition: "Prāṇāyāma is the conscious and deliberate control and regulation of the breath." In brackets: "prāṇa means breath, āyama means to control, to regulate." Yesterday we spoke about prāṇa, so we know this is a provisional definition; it's not really the breath. This is clarified with the next sentence: "With every breath, we absorb not only oxygen but also prāṇa. Prāṇa is cosmic energy, the power in the universe that creates, preserves, and changes. It is a basic element of life and consciousness." As we saw yesterday, a body without prāṇa is simply a dead body. When the prāṇa is gone, the particles of the body, the elements of the body, start to disappear. We will not go back deeply on the point of prāṇa now. We discussed yesterday that it is something which Western science does not really have the heart to grasp the greatness of. It is the divine energy in us; it is the life energy. Without prāṇa, we cannot live. Now understand how great prāṇāyāma is. Even though we cannot fully understand prāṇa, we can control and regulate it. It is very correct, as written here, that prāṇāyāma consists of the words prāṇa and āyāma. It is not the word yama that we know from Rāja Yoga, yama and niyama, though the meaning is, in fact, very similar. To control, to regulate—this is one aspect of āyāma. But āyāma actually means more: to expand. The meaning is a little similar to the word "tantra." It means how far we can reach with the prāṇa, with the energy; this is expanded. I mentioned in the beginning the great effects of prāṇa, of prāṇāyāma. The meaning is also that through prāṇāyāma, the consciousness is expanded. That is most important for us as a preparation for meditation. When we work with the prāṇa, we already prepare directly for meditation. Now, what are the necessary conditions if we want to start prāṇāyāma? I have compiled an overview of four main points for successful practice. The first is āsana. Āsana here means our sitting position: mastering the physical body to be able to remain motionless and relaxed for a long time, especially in a sitting position. When you want to meditate, the first thing you have to work on is your physical body. The same is true for prāṇāyāma. As long as your body makes obstacles, there is no point in prāṇāyāma or meditation. For the sitting position, there are simply two principles: straight and relaxed. For beginners, this is usually a contradiction. They are either straight and stiff, or relaxed but not straight. We have to practice āsanas to come to a good sitting position so we can remain physically motionless. So, the first step is to master the physical body. The second is to master the breath, the energy. Only then are we ready for the third step: to work on mastering the mind. The second point, which many people don't see, is the diet. It should be a healthy, sāttvic, balanced vegetarian diet. We work with our body, and the body is made from nourishment. Nourishment does not just influence the physical body; it also influences the mental level. It is said in Hindi: Jaisā Ann, Vaisā Mann—as you eat the food, so is your mental condition. This concerns mainly the three guṇas. If you have very rājasic food, it awakens rajas guṇa in us, meaning desires and restlessness. That is a problem for prāṇāyāma and even more for meditation. Rajasic food goes to some kind of extreme: very sweet, very fat, very sour, very hot. Certain food items, like raw onions or garlic, also produce rajas. On the other hand, tāmasic food—old food, meat, fish, and so on—makes you lazy and lethargic. You will most probably not be able to stand through a longer prāṇāyāma, not to speak about meditation. We must be aware that nourishment is a very important precondition for successful practice. It is known that saints who really want to go straight for God-realization have very minimal food. Saints who do strong sādhanā often eat only two things: food and milk, and little. Overeating is also a problem. That's why on the fasting day we have the best conditions for practice. Or, the other way around, on a full moon day, which is very valuable energetically for practice, it is good to fast. I'm not sure if everyone is really so aware of the value of fasting. It is an excellent technique to learn to control the mind and to develop self-confidence. When Swāmījī gave us the mantra, this was one of the conditions: to be vegetarian and to keep the fasting day once per week and on the full moon day. The purpose is not that we suffer, but that we improve in our sādhanā. The third precondition for successful prāṇāyāma practice is that we develop a good foundation in the breath itself: a deep natural breath, what we call the yogic breath. This is what we spoke about the whole morning. The first point is discipline: systematic daily practice without straining, which means without going into some kind of extreme, under the guidance of a guru. We know from āsana practice that if we don't practice daily, we get in trouble. If you have back pain and practice from time to time, you will not really be successful in overcoming it. I experienced with one yoga teacher before I came to Swāmījī: he was excellent; every class was different, new, interesting, and really good. But after some weeks, some months, I realized I made no progress because I was doing different things all the time. If you touch on something and then next time touch on something else, the body never can go deeper; it can never develop. So it's very important to stick to a certain practice and go deeper and deeper; then something can develop. On the other hand, I had another yoga teacher who knew that, and we more or less did exactly the same every time. I also found that boring after some time and couldn't see real progress. I think Swāmījī has found exactly the right way to deal with this problem. You practice a certain set of exercises, repeated again and again, until you have really mastered it. Then you move on. Something new opens. We do this on every level: āsanas, prāṇāyāma, meditation. In a small word, it is systematic—to follow a system. A system can only be made by someone who has mastered that, a master. So either you have direct guidance of a master, or you follow a system made by a master, which is our case. Another point is: without straining. That means not to go into some kind of extreme. When we go into an extreme, our ego is involved. We should never force our body. We should work with our body as a friend and not as an enemy. This is what I mentioned in the beginning: this fine sensitivity. You communicate with your body, and it gives you very fine signals. That works on every level, in āsanas and also in prāṇāyāma. When we do kumbhaka, and there comes a point that we have a very strong urge to inhale or to exhale, that's already too much. What is really important is regular daily practice—yoga in daily life. In prāṇāyāma, it's even more important than in āsanas. Because in āsanas, if something goes wrong, in the worst case maybe there is some problem with a muscle. It's not good, but it will heal after some time. But if you make experiments with prāṇāyāma and strain something, the results can be much worse because prāṇāyāma is already on a finer level. Prāṇāyāma quite clearly and strongly influences our psychic and mental state already. That's very good if you do the right practice, but it can also be dangerous if you do the wrong practice. I think the classical scripture, Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā, is here very, very clear. It says: "Just as lions, elephants, and tigers are gradually tamed, so the prāṇa is controlled through practice. Otherwise, the practitioner is destroyed. By proper practice of prāṇāyāma and so on, not just prāṇāyāma, all diseases are removed. But through improper practice, wrong practice, all diseases can arise." I think one cannot be more clear than that. It's like giving a child's hand a sharp razor blade. It is excellent to cut precisely, but if you use it in the wrong way, it can be very dangerous. This is a warning we should always keep in mind, for us and also when we teach. I know many yoga teachers, also famous ones, actually teach strong techniques straight away. I don't want to say names, but it's known. Mostly it works, and many people say, "What's the problem?" Yes, for most people there is no problem. But maybe for one in a thousand, there is a problem. And what will you say if you are that one, or that one is in your class? Our yoga system is so much oriented to be safe. It starts with Nāḍī Śodhana, a purifying technique. It's in level one, level two, level three, level four. That's long. Every level has to be practiced for at least three months. This is a minimum of one year. I tell you, that's already a compromise from Swāmījī's side because he knows that nowadays disciples are all so eager; they want big progress. "I'm the great yogī." If you look in the classical scriptures, you will find Nāḍī Śodhana should be practiced at least two to three years before you attempt, for the first time, some stronger prāṇāyāma. In fact, our Nāḍī Śodhana level 4 is quite strong. I know many disciples who say, "Level one, that's boring. Level two, that's boring. Level three, that's even more boring." And when they come to level four, they say, "Actually, I like the Bhastrikā much better." That means practically they never practiced the real Nāḍī Śodhana, which is level four. So to follow the system is really important, for our practice and also when we teach. Let us look in our book at what Swāmījī writes about the effects of prāṇāyāma. It is divided into three categories: physical effects, mental effects, and spiritual effects. Physical effects: the preservation of the body's health; purification of the blood and improvement in the absorption of oxygen; strengthening the lungs and the heart; regulation of blood pressure and the nervous system; supporting the healing processes and healing therapies; increasing the resistance to infection, that means immunity. These are the effects of prāṇāyāma which go one level down to the physical body. Mental effects: elimination of stress, nervousness, and depression; quieting of thoughts and emotions; achieving inner balance; and releasing energy blockages. The last one is actually directly on the prāṇa level. There is prāṇa blocked, and now it's released. This is what, especially in Nāḍī Śodhana, purification of the nāḍīs, achieves. But this is valid also for every technique with kumbhaka. Kumbhaka is the main technique for opening blockages. In fact, every classical prāṇāyāma has kumbhaka, so we can say it's valid for every prāṇāyāma. These other problems—stress, nervousness, and depression—as we discussed before, wherever there is a problem, there is a disbalance. This disbalance shows on different levels. It also shows in the disbalance between the prāṇas, the five prāṇas we discussed yesterday. Through prāṇāyāma, you work on that; you balance that. So when, through the prāṇāyāma technique, these prāṇas are balanced, it has an effect on the different levels. Depression, for example, feels like you have no energy, but it's in fact blocked energy. Depression and aggression are very closely related, meaning a kind of imbalance. When you start to balance already, you feel much better. And when your thoughts are upside down, that also means some imbalance. Therefore, this effect of inner balance and more quiet thoughts and emotions. Spiritual effects: deepening of meditation—or we could say, a good preparation for meditation, and when you continue, it deepens the meditation; awakening and purification of the cakras; and expansion of the consciousness. In this phrase "expansion of the consciousness," we have exactly that which I mentioned in the beginning: prāṇa and āyāma. Āyāma means this expansion. Awakening and purification of the cakras is also very logical because with prāṇāyāma, we work on the prāṇa. The prāṇa flows through the nāḍīs, the energy channels, and where these nāḍīs meet, there is a cakra, an energy center. So it's very clear that prāṇāyāma must influence the nāḍīs and the cakras. Let us now look at which place prāṇāyāma holds in the context of the different yoga systems. I gave you here quotations from the Patañjali Yoga Sūtras because Prāṇāyāma is one of the eight steps of the Rāja Yoga or Aṣṭāṅga Yoga system. And I gave you also quotations from the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā. Though in Haṭha Yoga the main techniques are the six purification techniques, the ṣaṭkarma—that is what Swāmījī always emphasizes—many who practice or teach Haṭha Yoga don't really know what Haṭha Yoga is. But in the classical Haṭha Yoga scriptures, you find also a lot about āsanas, prāṇāyāma, and so on. These are the classical scriptures. The Yoga Sūtras are most probably about 2,000 years old. Prāṇāyāma in Rāja Yoga: "After mastering posture, one must practice control of the prāṇa, meaning prāṇāyāma, by stopping the motions of inhalation and exhalation." What do you think about that? Is it so clear? It simply says to stop inhalation and exhalation. I would say it's a little bit shocking. It emphasizes one point: the kumbhaka. Swāmījī always says, in classical yoga philosophy, there are only three prāṇāyāmas: Pūrak, Rechak, and Kumbhak. Pūrak means inhalation; it comes from pūr, when you become full. Rechak means exhalation. Kumbhak means holding the breath, which happens two times: either after inhalation (antar kumbhaka, the inner kumbhaka) or after exhalation (bāhir kumbhaka, the outer kumbhaka). We spoke a little bit already about why kumbhaka is somehow the essence of prāṇāyāma. It's the only moment when even the diaphragm becomes still for a moment, and there is, for a short moment, a real physical stillness. That's a very good condition for mental stillness as well. Let's not forget, we speak here about the Yoga Sūtras. Yoga means to bring our citta vṛttis, our mental waves, to stand still. Therefore, we have to achieve first āsana, stillness of the body. And now he speaks here about the stillness of the breath. He explains it: "The breath may be stopped externally or internally." This is what I just mentioned: bāhya kumbhaka, antara kumbhaka. "Or checked in mid-motion, or regulated according to place, time, and a fixed number of moments, so that the stoppage is either prolonged or brief." This is now quite complicated. Basically, he refers here in this one sentence to all the different prāṇāyāma techniques. He simply says there are different ways to practice this kumbhaka. There are, for example, techniques where you inhale a little bit and stop, and then you continue with the inhalation and again stop. This is what he means by mid-motion. Then he says, for example, it can be longer or shorter; it's clear. Kumbhaka can be longer or shorter. So he mentions here, indirectly, all these different prāṇāyāma techniques. Then he says: "The fourth kind of prāṇāyāma is the spontaneous stoppage of the breath, which is caused by concentration upon external or internal objects. As a result of this, the covering of the inner light is removed, and the mind gains the power of concentration, dhāraṇā." He speaks about something which I think most of us have not experienced: not a kumbhaka which we make, but a kumbhaka which simply happens. He says it is caused by concentration upon objects inside or outside. This is actually very good. But now we must be careful again with our ego. This is nothing we can do, nothing we should do, nothing we should even try to do. It is just a hint; it might happen. And if it happens, then don't be scared. Let it happen. Sometimes it feels simply timeless. It can happen after you practice stronger prāṇāyāma and some kumbhakas. There comes a point: "What is next? Should I now inhale or exhale?" The breath is then suddenly like the moon. You know, the moon is moving. After some hours, it is in another place, very clearly. But when you look at the moon, you are not sure: does it move that way or that way? Because the movement is so slow. That is what can happen sometimes when you practice stronger prāṇāyāma or concentration or meditation. This is what is called kevala kumbhaka. Keval means not depending on something—not made, not a prāṇāyāma technique. So it does not mean that we go into extreme withholding of our kumbhaka. We do nothing. Just if it happens, then enjoy. Don't be scared. I guess maybe some of you might now realize, "Yes, I have this. Maybe I already experience sometimes a beautiful, timeless state of mind and real peace in the breath." For Patañjali, this is especially important because he says the stillness of the breath helps us for the stillness of the mind. For him, it is very important because he says that the peace of breath leads to the peace of mind. Let us look at the other scripture, the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā. It says: "Being established in āsana and having control of the body, and taking a balanced diet, prāṇāyāma should be practiced according to the instructions of the guru." Remember, we spoke about the prerequisites for prāṇāyāma? Here you have them all together in one short sentence. First, you have to be established in āsana, which means a good sitting position so you can be straight, relaxed, and motionless for a longer time—mastery over the physical body. Second is the diet, which we spoke about. And the third is the instructions of the guru. Prāṇāyāma is already one of the stronger techniques, so the best is really to have a master who guides you or to follow a system made by a master. Now he emphasizes exactly this point we spoke about already: the connection between the flow of the breath and the flow of the mind. "When prāṇa moves, then citta, the mental force, moves. You can say the mind. When prāṇa is without movement, then citta is without movement. By this steadiness of prāṇa, the yogī attains steadiness." Means: by steadiness of the prāṇa, steadiness of the mind. "And therefore, one should bring under control the vāyu." Vāyu means air or prāṇa. The word vāyu replaces here, somehow, the word prāṇa. The five prāṇas are also called the five vāyus. Or one speaks about prāṇa vāyu, apāna vāyu, samāna vāyu, like that. "As long as the vāyu, meaning the prāṇa, remains in the body, that is called life. Death is when it leaves the body. Therefore, retain vāyu, retain prāṇa." This is a statement we already spoke about two times now. We live through prāṇa, and when the prāṇa leaves the body, that is death. He says, therefore, retain the prāṇa. The prāṇa is so valuable for us. You might remember how often Swāmījī says our life span, which we have, is actually not counted in years, but in breaths. So it emphasizes how important a slow, deep, relaxed breath is. Exceptions are prāṇāyāmas like bastrika, kapālbhāti, which are quick breaths, but they have afterwards the opposite effect. Therefore, they are the exception to the rule. Now he comes to the purification: "Then the vital air, that means vāyu, that means prāṇa—or we could say here also it means Kuṇḍalinī, which is just one form, one appearance, of one aspect of Prāṇa—when the Prāṇa or Kuṇḍalinī does not pass through the middle channel, the Suṣumnā, because of the impurities in the nāḍīs, how can then the state of what he calls unmanī, the stillness of the mind, arise? And how can perfection or siddhi be achieved?" Now he speaks about these traffic jams in our prāṇa system. We feel directly reminded of Nāḍī Śodhana. We know we have 72,000 nāḍīs all over the body. Three of them—Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumnā—are the most important. If we see it like streets, then we would say, "Okay, something is blocked here; there is some traffic jam." So then the energy cannot properly flow. That means we feel weak, or we feel sad, or we feel depressed; we feel we need energy. Often, for example, we start eating a lot, and we go in other ways; we try somehow to fill this gap. But we don't have the most simple idea that the energy is actually there; it's just blocked. So now what we do through prāṇāyāma, especially through the kumbhaka, is to work on that, to open it, to make it flow. But when we start working on that, we might have certain experiences. Because we must be aware that all these five bodies are very strongly connected. When you have a problem or a blockage on one level, you can be sure you have it on the others also. So when you have a prāṇic blockage, then most probably you also have some kind of tension, blockage, or whatever in your physical body, which might show simply as a stiffness, and that also is actually some blockage on the mental, on the psychic level. You have different ways to work on that. You can start working on either level. This is why we say yoga is a holistic science. The power of yoga, if it's really in a holistic way like in Yoga in Daily Life, is that we work on all levels at the same time through the different techniques. To give you examples of these connections: I had in yoga classes two students, one in Germany, one in Canada. They do this exercise from level one, forward, no problem. When they do the same exercise, reverse, it's very hard for them, and both said, "I feel like vomiting." I ask you, is this logical? No, it just says that in this area, something is blocked, which now you touch, you awaken, you activate through this exercise. And now that underlying problem, why it is blocked, comes up. It can also be beautiful sometimes; something happens on another level. Something awakens. Something is being purified. So when we speak about impurities of the nāḍīs, most of that can be caused, for example, through food, a certain lifestyle, or certain emotional, psychic symptoms which are hidden behind. Through prāṇāyāma, the same can happen. For example, Nāḍī Śodhana, level one. Students say, "Oh, it's so boring." My answer is: be happy. If nothing happens, it means no problem. But if something happens, you will also complain. I give you an example. I know one girl in my classes. Whenever she did Nāḍī Śodhana Level 1, she started crying. It was not easy for her, and she continued crying. It continued for about half a year, and then it was over. It means something came up from the subconscious—maybe some unconscious sadness or fear—and now it's activated, being purified, and one day it is purified and it's over. This is what happens through prāṇāyāma. This same can happen through fasting or various techniques. Sometimes it can happen on the mental level and then show on the other levels. You remember Swāmī Jasrāj? He was just here. I don't know if he told you this story about his inner relation to India. I will just repeat it shortly to remind you, because it's a very good example for what I'm trying to tell. He said he studied; he was a physiotherapist, and he was very stiff. Always, when they wanted to demonstrate that someone could really not bend, they took him. Bending down from the standing position, he could by far not touch the ground, which is, for example, one of the positions in Kaṭhūpraṇām. He described the situation in India: he had a really hard time. Then one evening, it was sunset, and he was together with Govind Purī. Govind Purī said, "Look how beautiful." First he was thinking, "What is he telling? What can be beautiful here in India? Everything is hot and dirty, and the food is so strange." Then he looked, and he realized it's really beautiful, and something happened. His heart opened, and suddenly he saw the reality as it is. In his funny way, he said, "And suddenly the food was much better, the weather was much better, everything was better." Of course, nothing had changed; it was just his inner attitude. Then he said, "Next morning, when I practiced kaṭhūpraṇām, a miracle happened. Suddenly, without effort, my hands were on the ground." You see, that is how things are connected. We block something in our heart, and the body shows it. In this case, he got it opened in his heart, in his mind, and the body reflected it. Suddenly his body was flexible because his mind became flexible. But it also works the other way around. Be prepared as a yoga teacher; the same thing can happen the other way around during even the simple āsana practice. And the same thing can happen any time during the prāṇāyāma practice. Prāṇāyāma works down and up. It works on the physical level, on the energetical level, and also on the mental level. Let's continue with the paper. "When all the nāḍīs and cakras, which are full of impurities, are purified, then the yogī is able to retain prāṇa." That means, really, then we can come to this stillness. "Therefore, prāṇāyāma should be done daily with a sāttvic state so that the impurities are driven out of Suṣumnā Nāḍī and purification comes." Here he speaks very clearly about basically the same thing we had in the Rāja Yoga also: the connection between the prāṇa and the mind is this steadiness, stillness, and here, very clearly, about the necessity of purification. So the essence of prāṇāyāma is the kumbhaka. Kumbhaka is the one main technique which helps us to open any kind of blocked energy. When this happens, then, first of all, the prāṇa starts to flow. It influences our nāḍīs, our cakras. Then it radiates to our physical body. Blockages and stiffnesses in the physical body might open, and it radiates to our mental and psychic bodies; something might come up. So this is an aspect we have to look at a little more carefully. He says, "and then purification occurs." What does purification mean? Purification occurs through all the yoga techniques, specifically, for example, also mantra. And when it happens, I know many of us are not prepared for that. We have a little bit of an ideal idea about yoga, that everything becomes easier and easier, like a staircase, and it becomes lighter and lighter, and more and more happiness. That's unfortunately not the case. Because, as he says, purification occurs. That means there are impurities, we can say dirt, and now we start removing that. Let us try to understand the principle of purification. What does it mean? I always give a simple example. You live in a house. It has been a long time. There's one area, the attic under the roof, which you never ever used. Since, let's say, 20 or 30 years, it's been locked. No idea what is there. Now, your life situation changes. New family members, and you need more space. You start thinking about that area and think, why not use that? Do you remember what Swāmījī did just now in Sīlikī? The attic was reconstructed for Swāmījī so he has more space. Now, think practically. After 30 years, you come with a key and open that door. What will you experience? Some kind of shock: layers of dust, spider webs, spiders and other insects, maybe some mice running around, and many things are there which you put long ago and forgot about. It will be hard work to clean that. Of course, you have the choice to say, "Uh-oh," close and lock again. This is what happens sometimes when we start to experience the effect of yoga and say, "No, no, that's too strong, I don't want that." But that means just to postpone it. To clean it after 40 years will not be easier than after 30 years. So one day we have to do it; why not now? So you start cleaning, and you take a broom. All this dust comes in the air, and you start coughing. Maybe some allergic reaction could even come. Many animals are running around and maybe over you. So you are really confronted with this dust, which for many years you ignored. The dust comes up before it goes out. Then you start cleaning the stuff which is there. Some old things you completely forgot. You had some hobby and made things; now you see all these things. Memories from your childhood come up. Memories of your mother come up. Old pictures. Memories of your first lover. Many things come up, and one after the other, you carry them out. One after the other, it's more free, more light. When everything is removed, you make it beautiful. Then you invite your friends for a housewarming party. They say, "Oh, it's so nice here! Why didn't you invite us earlier?" They don't know how hard it was to get it so nice. But you are so happy because finally it's all removed. That is, even on the physical level, the process of cleaning. When we go through this process of purification, through all the different types of yoga practices, this is how it works. We go through our own stuff. We go through our own karmas. But when we do, we feel so happy afterwards. And one day we have to do it. Why not now? And it's not always hard. These memories which come up, the pictures, the memories, can sometimes be so beautiful. You remember certain persons, and your heart is so full with love, for example, for your mother. Sometimes we can have really blissful experiences. It's completely individual. It's like digging in the garden; you don't know what you will find there. It could be a scorpion, or it could be some treasure of gold. But it's your scorpion and your gold. This is how purification occurs, as he says so beautifully. And once purification occurs, then you can really practice. But we cannot avoid this step of purification. So prāṇāyāma is a very powerful technique to achieve this purification.