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Within this body, the most miraculous thing is prāṇa. It is in the ascending and descending breath—the inhalation and exhalation. The entire miracle is in this inhalation and exhalation, that is all. Therefore it is said: My dear, where are you searching for me? You will find me nowhere. My residence is in the forest, not in the city. And we know the city is in Naraka—it doesn't matter which city. It is māyā: tension, competition, challenges, and so on. Peaceful is the forest. My residence is outside of the city, and I live in the breath. My hut is outside of the village, and I am residing in the breath. If you search for me, you will find me immediately within no time—and that means in the breath. In yoga, the prāṇa or the breath is very important. We can do unbelievable things, impossible things, through our prāṇāyāma technique. With our prāṇāyāma technique, of course, we can also damage things. And what you damage through prāṇāyāma also cannot be repaired. Therefore it is strongly advised: we do need a guide. We do need a master; otherwise, no success. Without a master, if you do it, there will be a success—that means you will damage. You will be successful, and that we don't want. The master is also one who experienced all this within oneself. So, the prāṇa. In bhajans we say: God, Prāṇanāth—Lord of my prāṇa. And the cosmic mother energy is that prāṇa. While inhaling and exhaling, we are nourishing ourselves from the Cosmic Mother. And in that nourishment is the Cosmic Tonic. In that nourishment is the Cosmic Light. And the Lord of that Cosmic Energy is God, the Prāṇa. That is what we call all living beings in Sanskrit: prāṇī. It means living beings. Everyone who has prāṇa inside is considered a living being. So it means also the plant is a living being. If you cut off the plant, it will die. We see very soon when we chip the branch of a tree: very soon the leaves are getting sad, because there is no more supply of the prāṇa. There are many health problems we have. Many people have questions about health. Yoga believes strongly and advises that through prāṇāyāma you can solve many, many problems. Now there is some research work that has been done. Even cancers have been cured through prāṇāyāma. Every three hours you practice ten or fifteen minutes of prāṇāyāma—Bhastrikā—and that has given a very positive result. So prāṇāyāma is the most important thing in yoga. The difference between other sports and other techniques and yoga is this: yoga has prāṇāyāma techniques—breath regulation, supplying more oxygen, and reducing the toxins. There is very important Haṭha Yoga. These are all six kriyās of Haṭha Yoga. Śaṅkha Prakṣālana. Of course, the best would be if you do it every month. But our problem is one, and that's eating. Our tongue is spoiled, and there is a lot of temptation. After Śaṅkha Prakṣālana, for at least ten days, you cannot eat those things which you would like to eat. Then you eat twenty-four days whatever you like, and again you make a Śaṅkha Prakṣālana. Therefore, it is said in one bhajan: In this body there are ten senses. These ten senses are under control of only a few yogīs—rare yogīs. But you can't trust the two senses. These two senses destroy your sādhanā. And these two are upastha and racanā. One is the tasting and the second is the sexual. These two indriyas, if you cannot control, then you will be suffering and you can't complete your sādhanā. It does not mean that you kill them—then you will die. They have to live normally, and it is nature. Nature will show its quality. But you have to tell your mind, and you have to say yes or no. So your senses should follow your instruction: yes, yes, no, no. But when you said yes, they said no; and when you said no, they said yes. Then you know where we are. And so, this is prāṇa. Everything is prāṇa. To keep a pure and clean prāṇa, we need a prāṇāyāma technique. Now, many times people ask the question: What is the difference between Yoga in Daily Life and some other systems? In many systems it is like that: only the system is named. It is like if Petra practiced yoga and said, "Now I will stand on my own feet and I will have Petra Yoga." And Parvatī, she gives them a name also: the Parvatī Yoga. And now people say, "What is Pārvatī? How Śiva and Pārvatī?" That must be very correct yoga, because Pārvatī was the first. Śiva gave the knowledge—the first knowledge of yoga. Lord Śiva gave to Pārvatī, and there was no one listening. Śiva told Pārvatī, "I give you beautiful divine signs," and Pārvatī was sitting and Śiva was talking about the science of yoga and how yoga has come. The copyright author of yoga is Śiva. When Śiva completed the science of yoga, they were sitting in the Himalayas on a rock, and there was a water pond—a nice water lake, a small lake. And there was a fish inside, and the fish stopped and was listening to Śiva. After finishing the lesson, Śiva said to Pārvatī, "I told this only to you, and give this to those people who are the worthy people for this." And Pārvatī looked to the water side, and she said, "What about this fish? She also heard," and the fish was listening. Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya, Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya, ... Oṃ Namaḥ Śivāya. So she died. The fish died immediately, and then that fish soul incarnated in a human body, and that became a great yogī, a sage. And his name was Matsya Ṛṣi. There is a Matsyāsana after his name. That Matsya Ṛṣi was doing tapasyā—his meditation in the Matsya posture—so that if he would sleep, he would fall down. So, who doesn't know the Matsyāsana, hands up? We can show you. Very good. Okay, so Matsyāsana is like sitting like this. That's called Matsyāsana. Now you know? That's it. And Matsya Ṛṣi then brought the science of yoga to the humans. So yoga originated from Lord Śiva. The science of mantra, the science of yantra, the science of tantra, the science of maṇḍala, āsanas, prāṇāyāma, mudrās, bandhas, kriyās, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi—all this is taught by Lord Śiva to Pārvatī. And then it came to Matsya Ṛṣi, and after thousands of years—one or two hundred thousand years—then came Patañjali. Why is Patañjali so famous? Because he wrote down his thoughts. Other ṛṣis were only giving master to disciple. That's called śruti and smṛti. Śruti means what you listen. Smṛti means what you remember and you tell. So don't make a difference between listening and speaking. And what Soto said is gossiping. Ill brains—in German we say "Tratscherei". Their problem is they make a big difference between what they heard and what they talk. So pure water comes in the pipe, but that pipe is so dirty, so water comes out dirty. So what you have heard, and now it is filtered by your brain, and you have negative vṛttis, mala, vikṣepa, and āvaraṇa, and antaḥkaraṇa is not pure: mana, buddhi, citta, and ahaṅkāra—and that creates the problem. So there were thousands or millions of great yogīs. They were known as siddhas—siddhas means the perfect one. They were known as avadhūtas—perfect above everything. They were known as mahāpuruṣas—the greatest in humans. And they had all this knowledge of yoga and siddhis, but it was given under confidence to the disciple. Now, Patañjali, who was about 2,500 years before, and it was written down. That's why we think Patañjali is the author of yoga. No. Patañjali put his thoughts. Not only that, Patañjali divided yoga into four branches. Because before Patañjali—before 5,000 years, 6,000 years—was Kṛṣṇa. And in the Bhagavad Gītā is divided jñāna yoga, bhakti yoga, rāja yoga, everything. And before Kṛṣṇa, about 10,000 years before, the Rāma time was, and there was also divided bhakti yoga, karma yoga, jñāna yoga, and everything. So yoga is not limited to Patañjali, nor to some ṛṣis, but the very beginning of this universe and Lord Śiva for the well-being of the humans. Now we people, we don't understand and we don't know completely. Just to make our name or commercialize, they give the name Petra Yoga, Pārvatī Yoga, Joseph Yoga, František Yoga. Now you see: one lion has hunted a very big animal, and now hundreds of other animals attack there and take a little piece and run away. So that big animal is torn into many, many parts. Similarly, yoga is torn in such a way you can't imagine. What do they do with yoga nowadays? I was flying from Washington to Toronto. On the board, they gave a newspaper to read in first class. And on the front page, in big letters, was written: "Yoga for Blondinen." This is really not a joke. If you don't believe me, I can ask Gītā Purī, because she is from America. Is there? Yeah, you were with me from Washington to Toronto. That Śāntī was with us. So I told Śāntī: "I have nothing against blondies, but I cannot bear this discrimination. What about those who are not blondies, those who have black hair? What about them?" And it is like that. So yoga is torn into many, many pieces. And therefore, there is no system. Just do the main postures of yoga: Bhujaṅgāsana, Śavāsana, Dhanurāsana, Halāsana, Kobrāsana, and these Marjārīs, and this and that. And Prāṇāyāmas—some doing more as a stretching and some doing more as a sport, and like this. But Yoga in Daily Life is systematic. So when you do the Prāṇāyāma according to Yoga in Daily Life, you need nerves to practice. You need time, but then you master that. So if you will do this Prāṇāyāma according to the system of Yoga in Daily Life, there is very scientifically described there regulation of the Prāṇa. Understand the Prāṇa, and it is the Prāṇa which is life. It's very hard to divide Prāṇa and Ātmā, or soul. When you die, Prāṇa leaves your body, and when you are still alive, we said you have Prāṇa in the body. The temperature is there, the pulse is there, so that is a sign of life—means the Prāṇa. It is said for everyone is counted how many breaths you will inhale and exhale. And then you have no more credit. So, through the Prāṇāyāma technique, you can prolong your credit with high interest. So interest is very high. And when you see the interest, you will be very happy. Because interest is more than capital. So when you get a grandchild, you are very happy. Because your grandchild is your interest of your capital. That's it. So, prolongation of the breath is a prolongation of the life and health. Yoga, Agni, Karma, Dāgdhanī: through the fire of yoga, you can burn the seeds of the Karma, or the destiny. But who understands this? Who takes it seriously? And who practices? Who has a discipline? After practicing Prāṇāyāma, we open the eyes and there's a nice cake. But dry cake. We open the phrase and we move the bottle and cream on it. Yes, tasty cake and coffee machine. Then what was the sense of doing Prāṇāyāma? After doing Prāṇāyāma at least 45 minutes, let rest your body. The tissues recover. Because doing the Prāṇāyāma is also hard work for your tissues—to release the toxins and to recharge our Prāṇas. Oxygen, and this is very heavy. Like you go in the sauna, 115, 120 degrees. Then you jump into the water which is 10 degrees. And then only one thing remains: you lie down. And you feel regenerating energy. Ten to twenty minutes goes very quickly, so 45 minutes is nothing. So after doing Āsanas and Prāṇāyāmas, when you are doing really seriously, then you should give 45 minutes to your body to regenerate. There are some people who have a lot of fat on the body. And this is only you can treat through this Bhastrikā Prāṇāyāma. But Bhastrikā Prāṇāyāma you should do after first doing all the levels of the Prāṇāyāma. This is exchange of these Prāṇas. Therefore I suggest you, everybody, now to dedicate 45 minutes for Prāṇāyāmas every day. Abyste každý den věnovali 45 minut cvičení Prāṇāyāmy. Ale varuju vás, nezačínejte hned. Projděte systematicky tím celým kurzem. Máme teď čas 8 měsíců, než se setkáme teda na seminař. Oh, I'm looking forward. Or nearly nine months. In nine months, a fresh baby can be born. So when Mother Nature or dear God can prepare the body of a whole human in nine months, then she's the best architect: perfect design, perfectly done, no mistakes, automatic heating system, ventilation, everything, electricity, everything. So we can do in nine months a miraculous work. What we need is a motivation, what we need is interest. We must have our aim. So from today onwards, those who have any kind of health problem, they should immediately begin. Don't wait if your friend is doing or not. And it's your things, it's your interest. Your husband or wife, if they like or not, it's their problem. It's your life, your health, and you cannot destroy yourself. So let us begin and make a new Saṅkalpa: Prāṇāyāma, and of course Āsanas and relaxation and meditation. After Prāṇāyāma, the Vṛttis are very calm. After Prāṇāyāma, if you do your Kriyā and meditation, it's already Samādhi. Already Samādhi. Then it doesn't matter even if it's snowing on you. You are in the divine; you don't feel hot, even if snowing on you, you don't feel hot. I can promise you, you will feel only cold, that's it. So, prāṇāyāma, prāṇa; study something more about prāṇa and begin yourself. Recording location: Czech Republic, Strilky, Weekend seminar