Pranayama is more than breathing!
A 28-Day Journey into Prana Chikitsa
By Yogacharini Deepika Giri
The Yogic Breath
For several years now, I have had the great pleasure of teaching at the World Yoga Festival, sharing my passion for Pranayama. That passion grew out of my own healing journey.
I suffered from severe asthma for many years, and when I encountered the teachings of the Gitananda Rishi Culture Yoga tradition, they transformed my relationship with my breath and with life itself. Pranayama became much more than a practice I did on a yoga mat. It became a profound part of my life, my study, and eventually my teaching.
How This 28-Day Course Came to Life
In 2025, following my teaching as one of the presenters at the World Yoga Festival, I was invited to develop this work into a structured four-week online program for their community. The original Prana Chikitsa course was hosted by the World Yoga Festival and allowed us to share this progressive 28-day journey with students practicing in their own homes.
The program is rooted in the teachings of Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri and the Gitananda Rishi Culture Yoga tradition. Rather than presenting Pranayama as a collection of isolated breathing techniques, the course progressively explores the lower, middle, and upper regions of the breath before bringing them together into the complete yogic breath of Mahat Yoga.
The Blessing of My Teacher
What made this course especially precious to me was the presence of my own teacher, Rishiputra Dr. Ananda Balyogi Bhavanani, who generously gave his time, energy, knowledge, and presence throughout the program.
Dr. Ananda is the son of Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri and Ammaji, Pudavai Kalaimamani Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani. His contribution meant that students were not simply being shown how to perform a sequence. We were able to explore why these practices exist, what Prana means within the tradition, and how these teachings continue as a living lineage.
For me, having my teacher alongside me in this way was a blessing. His mentorship gives the course a depth that cannot be created simply by collecting breathing techniques together.
What Do We Mean by Prana?
Most of us breathe all day without really experiencing our breath. It happens automatically: the diaphragm moves, the ribs respond, air enters and leaves, and life continues without us having to think about it.
But the yogic understanding of breathing takes us much further. During the course, Dr. Ananda makes an important distinction: breathing exercises work with the physical breath, while Pranayama asks us to become conscious of Prana.
Prana is often translated as life force or vital energy. Dr. Ananda shares his father Swami Gitananda's memorable description of Prana as the cosmic catalyst - that which enables the living experience.
He also invites us to understand Ayama as more than simply making the breath longer. The deeper purpose is an enhancement of our awareness, understanding, and experience of Prana.
"Where the mind goes, there the Prana flows."
This principle runs throughout the entire 28 days. We use breath, posture, Sparsha Mudra or conscious touch, Hasta Mudra, movement, sound, and focused awareness to give the mind a clear place to rest.
Week One - Adhama: Discovering the Lower Breath
The first week begins with Adhama Pranayama and awareness of the lower respiratory region and diaphragm. Through Sparsha Mudra and Ustra-based Hathenas, we explore the lower breathing field from the front, sides, and back.
One of the first discoveries is that breathing is three-dimensional. We are not simply pushing the abdomen outward or lifting the front of the chest. We begin to experience the breath as movement through an entire respiratory space.
Mukha Bhastrika also introduces an important emphasis on exhalation. We are often preoccupied with taking a 'deep breath', yet in Yoga there is profound value in learning to empty and create space before receiving again.
Week Two - Madhyama: The Ribs, the Heart, and the Middle Breath
Week Two moves into Madhyama Pranayama, bringing attention to the middle chest and the intercostal muscles between the ribs. Variations of Matsya Asana are used to help us experience this region directly.
Dr. Ananda makes a beautiful distinction here between a pose and a posture. Yoga is not about producing an impressive external shape. The real question becomes: what can I feel from within? Where is my breath moving? Can I experience the sides and back of my chest as well as the front?
He also offers the memorable image of the heart as a Karma Yogi - quietly and continuously performing its work without asking for recognition. Awareness of the middle chest can therefore become not only anatomical exploration, but an experience of gratitude.
Week Three - Adhyama: The Upper Breath and Yoga in Daily Life
In Week Three we explore Adhyama Pranayama and the upper respiratory region. Through Maha Mudra, Nikunja Asana, Sparsha Mudra, and Adhi Mudra, attention is brought towards the upper chest and the accessory musculature associated with respiration.
But perhaps one of the most important teachings of this week is that Pranayama must eventually leave the yoga room.
Dr. Ananda shares an experience of using alternate-nostril breathing while traveling on an airplane during a difficult, turbulent approach. Recognizing his own response, he turned to the practice and used Pranayama to help restore steadiness and clarity.
This is when Yoga becomes useful. We do not practice simply to become good at Pranayama. We practice so that the tools are available when life happens - during stress, uncertainty, difficult conversations, restless thoughts, or moments when we need to return to ourselves.
Week Four - Mahat Yoga: Returning to Wholeness
For three weeks we deliberately explore the breath in parts: lower, middle, and upper. In Week Four we bring those parts back together through Mahat Yoga - the complete yogic breath.
This brings us back to the title of the course itself: Prana Chikitsa. In the final class, Dr. Ananda describes Chikitsa as a restoration of wholesomeness.
That is a beautiful way of understanding the entire journey. We separate the parts so that we can become conscious of them; then we reunite them. The final practices bring together Sparsha Mudra, Brahma Mudra, sound, movement, Vyaghra Pranayama, Kaya Kriya, and relaxation so that the breath can be experienced as an integrated whole.
Complete Rather Than Perfect
One of the lessons I particularly love in the final week is that Yoga is not asking us to become perfect breathers. It is inviting us towards greater awareness and wholeness.
There will be days when we can give an hour to our practice and days when life simply does not allow it. The course therefore includes both the complete sequence and a shorter alternative. Dr. Ananda reminds us, however, that the complete practice remains the first choice when time and circumstances allow; the alternative is there for the days when it is genuinely needed.
28 Days to Rediscover Your Breath
This course brings together something very personal for me: my own journey with asthma and breathing, my years of study and practice within the Gitananda Rishi Culture Yoga tradition, the original Prana Chikitsa teachings of Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri, and the generous mentorship and presence of my teacher Rishiputra Dr. Ananda Balyogi Bhavanani.
Across 28 days we progressively explore Adhama - the lower breath, Madhyama - the middle breath, Adhyama - the upper breath, and finally Mahat Yoga - the complete yogic breath.
Along the way we work with Hathenas, Sparsha Mudra, Hasta Mudra, Pranayama, Nada, Kaya Kriya, conscious movement, and relaxation.
You have been breathing since the moment you entered this world. But how much of your breath have you actually experienced?
Prana Chikitsa is an invitation to spend 28 days finding out.
Not by forcing the breath. Not by chasing bigger numbers. Not simply by collecting another set of techniques. But by learning to feel, explore, and experience the breath consciously - and through it, beginning a deeper exploration of Prana.
The 28-Day Prana Chikitsa Course is available online through The Yogic Breath and can be followed from home at your own pace::
Comments