Although you may at first only appreciate the physical nature of pranayama breathing techniques, with time and practise you will soon be able to experience the more subtle, metaphysical effects of pranic control. You will also discover how pranayama is able to enhance many areas of day to day life.

The Benefits of Pranayama
For Women's Health and Pregnancy
   Pranayamas are important practices for so many areas in which a woman needs to prepare for the demands of motherhood.
·    In terms of general breath training, pranayama teaches how to isolate and manipulate the different parts of the lungs; deepen, lengthen, strengthen and even out the breathing rate; break poor breathing habits and establish new patterns; how to do dynamic breathing through the nostrils rather than resorting to mouth breathing in times of stress; teaches the ability to breath rapidly and deeply without hyperventilat-ing, which is very important during the final stages of birth.
·  Pranayamas are used extensively in the yoga therapeutic management of asthma, bronchitis, sinusitis, hayfever, high blood pressure, stress management, headaches, insomnia, cardio-vascular conditions, constipation and digestive disorders.
·   In terms of energy, pranayamas allow 

you better balance and control of your energy states by stimulating vitality and removing lethargy.
·    Certain pranayamas help greatly to remove emotional conditions such as lack of self confidence, powerlessness, insecurity, defence-lessness, poor self esteem, lack of self control, lack of will power, depression, fatigue, quit smoking, and assists in managing the sorts of fears brought up by childbirth.
·   On the mental level, pranayamas of different kinds help to: create deeply peaceful and healing states; promote concentration and reduce mental scatteredness; sharpen and calm the mind; induce deeper states of relaxation and meditation; focus the mind inwards during labour; put you in touch with experiences beyond the purely physical; balance the flow of breath such that the brain itself becomes relaxed. Pranayama improves dynamism; stimulates body heat; releases lower body energy.
·  During pregnancy, good breathing habits in the mother are doubly important because, like the provision of dietary nutrients, you are also responsible for providing your baby with a good quantity of oxygen and prana, the subtle life force. Pranayama is the easiest way for a woman to increase her own levels of prana and transfer them to her baby. High levels of prana in the womb help a baby to establish his own source of energy. That