1.34 · The Ebb

Or by breathing out and holding the breath.

Word by word

pracchardana

breathing out, expelling

vidhāraṇābhyām

and holding, keeping

vā

or

prāṇasya

of the breath

Where it fits

The first 'or' after 1.33 turns from attitudes to the breath. Vācaspati says this 'or' offers a choice among the means still to come, not a replacement for the attitudes of 1.33. Breath was a sign of scattering at 1.31; here it steadies the mind. Breath control proper comes at 2.49–2.53.

Reading

The word vā, 'or', opens a list of further ways to steady the mind, running to 1.39. Vācaspati says they are added to 1.33, not substitutes for it. The first is the breath: a deliberate exhalation, and a holding. Vyāsa defines holding simply as restraint of the breath; Vācaspati takes it as keeping the breath out. Many teachers today read the sūtra gently, as lengthening the out-breath and resting in the natural pause after it. The breath is always with you, and calming it calms the mind.

Vyāsa

“Breathing out is the expelling of air from the abdomen through the nostrils by a particular effort. Holding is breath control. Or by these two one may make the mind steady.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 72.

Practice

Sit comfortably. Breathe in normally, then breathe out slowly through the nose, a little longer than usual. Rest in the natural pause that follows, without holding or straining, until the next breath comes by itself. Ten rounds.

A question to sit with

Can you let the out-breath be long?

Where commentators disagree

In 1.34, is 'retention' a pause after breathing out, or a hold after breathing in?

Vyāsa

Expulsion is the release of the air through the nostrils by a special effort; retention is prāṇāyāma, the restraint of breath. By these two the mind becomes steady. (Woods 1914, p. 72)

Vācaspati Miśra

The air is let out gradually, by a method taught in yoga books; retention is keeping the breath outside and not letting it rush back in. The body becomes light and the mind steady. (Woods 1914, p. 72)

Bhoja

Since the breath cannot be held after breathing out without first breathing in, retention follows an in-breath. Prāṇāyāma is therefore threefold: breathing out, breathing in and holding. (Tatya 1885, p. 31; Mitra 1883, wisdomlib on 1.34)

Rāmānanda Sarasvatī

Expulsion is letting the air out, and retention is keeping the expelled air outside, as far as one is able. Because breath and mind are not separate, subduing the breath subdues the mind. (Woods 1915, JAOS 34, p. 23)

Key ideas

prāṇāyāma (breath control), citta (the mind-field)