The Editorial
We are quite familiar with breathing, but do we understand it? Apparently "yes" but actually "not". Familiarity breeds negligence. This is the truth that moulds our perceptions, shapes our understanding of ourselves as well of the most common phenomena that surround us. We only watch the outward expression of most of the phenomena that concern us and do not think of what underlies them. This is absolutely true in this case, a very obvious and indispensable phenomenon, the breathing. We know from our common sense as well from scientific knowledge that it is the way we assimilate oxygen and exhale toxic elements such as carbon dioxide. Oxygen is so important for us that a short supply of it for a small fraction of time is disastrous for us. But is it the whole story? No, not at all, say the yogis who know its mystery. It is breathing that sustains our life, know the common men; but it is the breath, the chain, the yogis know, that binds us not only to the body but also to our helplessness, our ignorance of ourselves, our bondage, taken together, termed as our destiny.
While the yoga systems that give emphasis on the externals of this vital aspect of life seek to harness it to achieve physical and mental wellbeing, yoga of a higher order makes use of it as a door to the higher realms of consciousness, even as a path to the final emancipation.
This short article, The Elusive Breath gives a brief but clear description of the latter standpoint.