To be able to move into a yogic posture easily and fluently, you have to loosen up the body. The stiffness and tightness have to be removed from the body so that you can practice the asanas. For this, another set of exercises was developed which was known as sukshma vyayama, subtle movements or exercises.

The sukshma vyayama existed throughout the ages as complementary practices to hatha yoga asanas. However, there was no sequence, progression or clarity on how these subtle exercises should be practised.

When our guru, Sri Swamiji, looked into yoga, he put all the subtle exercises, the sukshma vyayama, together and created a new sequence of exercises, which we today know as pawanmuktasana. You will not find reference to the pawanmuktasana series in any of the classical yogic literature, as they do not exist as such.

The pawanmuktasana series are part of sukshma vyayama, the purpose of which is to loosen up the body, to prepare the body for the practice of asanas.

Pawan means wind, air; mukta means to release; asana is a posture or movement. Thus, the pawanmuktasana series of practices are those which release gas, wind and flatulence from the body, and regulate the flow of prana.

Sri Swamiji went one step further. He classified the sukshma vyayama in three categories, which we know as pawanmuktasana part 1, anti-rheumatic exercises; pawanmuktasana part 2, anti-gastric exercises; and pawanmuktasana part 3, the shakti bandha kriyas. These became the primary practices of yoga.

This classification of the sukshma vyayama in three groups also corresponds to the humours that affect the physical body: vata, gas; pitta, bile; and kapha, mucus. These are regulated with the practice of pawanmuktasana.

From the perspective of ayurveda, diseases come in when there is excess or imbalance in one of the doshas, whether vata, pitta or kapha. When you have a cold, kapha or mucus, is activated. When you have indigestion, pitta or vata is activated.

Sri Swamiji devised the pawanmuktasana series as a progression to manage the three humours, the three conditions which affect the body in a negative manner. Pawanmuktasana part 1 is for vata, removing blockages from each and every joint. Pawanmuktasana part 2 is for pitta, with an emphasis on eliminating blockages in the abdominal area. Pawanmuktasana part 3 is for kapha, mucus.

Practising these three in sequence regulates the three humours, the three conditions of the body. When these are managed, health is experienced. This progression and sequence of pawanmuktasana is the contribution of Sri Swamiji in the area of yogasana.

Ganga Darshan Vishwa Yogapeeth, October 2016

From the book “Progressive Yoga Vidya Training, Series 4”, pg. 8-9, Sw. Niranjanananda Saraswati