What Ayurveda says about breath and prana
Ayurveda does not have a breathing manual. What it has is an account of the life-force the breath carries, the channel it travels, and the dosha that governs its movement, and then it takes its techniques from yoga and says so. That borrowing is worth understanding, because it explains why Ayurvedic advice about breath tends to be advice about hour and constitution rather than about counts. Here are eight concepts, with their sources.
Prana — The Life-Force That Animates All Living Systems
Prana is the vital force that separates the living from the non-living, and the breath is named as its main vehicle rather than as the thing itself. Charaka calls it the controller of body and mind.
Charaka Samhita, Sutrasthana 12.8
Vata Dosha — The Force of Movement and Intelligence
Vata governs all movement, and its five divisions split that work up: the inward-moving one governs breathing and sensory intake, the downward one elimination, the pervading one circulation. Breath here is one department of a larger motion.
Ashtanga Hridayam, Sutrasthana 11.1
Prana, Tejas, and Ojas — The Subtle Essence Triad
Beneath the three doshas the tradition names three refined essences: prana the vital force, tejas the light of the mind, ojas the substance of resilience. Breath practice is placed at this subtle end rather than among the physical treatments.
Textbook of Ayurveda, Volume 1
Srotas — The Channels of Circulation and Transformation
The body is described as a set of channels, and the respiratory one is the first named among them. Charaka's account of disease is largely an account of obstructed flow.
Charaka Samhita, Vimanasthana 5.8
Nasya — Nasal Oil Administration for Brain and Sinus Health
Oil in the nostrils is a daily practice, on the stated principle that the nose is the doorway to the head. It is the most literal piece of breath care the tradition has of its own.
Ashtanga Hridayam, Sutrasthana 2.11
Brahma Muhurta — The Hour of Brahma for Spiritual Practice
The pre-dawn hour is set aside for meditation, recitation and breath practice. On this the tradition is far more specific about when to practise than about how.
Ashtanga Hridayam, Sutrasthana 2.1
Yoga Chikitsa — Yoga Therapy as an Integral Part of Ayurvedic Treatment
Where breath techniques are prescribed, they are matched to the imbalance: alternate-nostril breathing for vata, cooling breath for pitta, bellows breath for kapha. One practice is not held to suit everyone.
Science of Yoga
Ayurveda and Yoga — The Sister Sciences
Ayurveda and yoga are described as two halves of one approach, one working on the body from the outside in and the other on the mind from the inside out. This is the tradition's own explanation for why its breath material is borrowed.
Textbook of Ayurveda, Volume 1, Chapter 1
So if you are looking for the Ayurvedic breathing technique, there is not one to find. What this tradition contributes is the question that comes before technique: whose breath, at what hour, in what state. The practice itself it is content to take from its sister.