Lot has been talked about how Pranayama infuses ‘energy’ into the body, increases oxygen intake, calms the mind… and so on.

Actually Pranayama sharpens the mental focus. Why does it do that?

When you forcefully control the natural flow of air, the body experiences momentary choking. Since intake of air is essential for the body, the brain immediately pays attention to whatever is preventing the normal breathing process and tries to come out of that situation.

Repeatedly subjecting the body to such a situation, trains the attention system in the brain to focus on anything on demand. After some practice, you can ask the brain to focus on whatever you want.

When I gave this reason on how Pranayama works, in one of my books namely “How and why of Yoga and meditation - Yoga scientifically explained”, One of my readers who is a highly qualified doctor, wrote to me that even the great Indian Yogi namely Ramana Maharshi, gave the very same reason! That is surprising since Ramana may not have known much about the brain and also when he said this, neuroscience was not that advanced.

How does this training of the attention system help in Yoga?

The real Yoga is about meditation. And you need to focus (do Dharana) on a chosen target for a prolonged duration without deviating from the target. That is where a focused mind is essential in Yoga practice. That is why Patanjali lists Pranayama as a step prior to meditation (Dhyana).

Having a trained mind also helps you in focusing your mind on whatever you choose to do. So, that helps you in achieving anything in life.

Besides, a focused mind can pay attention to only those thoughts that are useful. Rest of the nagging thoughts gradually die down due to lack of attention. Thoughts proliferate only when you pay attention to them. No attention, no flood of thoughts. That means less stress and better health. So, having a focused mind helps, even when you are not doing meditation.