"For the one who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for the one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be his greatest enemy."* Always the same choice of being present at the moment or passing trough the life by staying in the past or the imaginary future and actually never living or appreciating the now as always tomorrow seems more attractive. The easiest way to learn to stay present is by focusing on the reality around us and what happens there - the color of the sky, the shape of the leaves on the trees, the people passing by. This is good way, but still consist to much temptation for our mind to connect what we are seeing with our memories or thoughts. The most effective, simple and accessible way is the breath. The breath makes it possible we to exist and as well can make it possible we to bring another level to our existence - being more mindful and present, which opens the eyes, brings the light of seeing the world around and leaving the darkness of the worries about the future and the regrets about the past.
Pranayama is one of the limbs of yoga focus on the breathing. Everything starts with awareness of the breath, passing to control of it in different patterns and going to state of knowledge in which we can use the breath to heal our mental or physical issues, to boost our performance in different sports and activities, to manage our stress, fear and in general all our emotions. Simple way to start is to focus on diaphragmatic breathing - abdominal breath or full yogic breath (deep diaphragm breathing involving the full capacity of the lungs). Can be practice just by itself or during the asana practice, which will increase the benefits of it for the both - body and mind. Maintaining the abdominal breathing during hatha yoga usually is coming naturally as it's the effortless way. The basic rule is inhale with the extensions and exhale with the flexions (in the sense of spin movement), there are some specific exceptions.
*Bhagavad Gita - Sanskrit scripture part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata
Enjoy every breath !
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