About the importance of breathing

It's easy to tell what's going on in someone's mind if you pay attention to the way they breathe: rapid breathing usually means they are agitated - for whatever reason. Your breath is the bridge that connects your body to your mind. There are 8 steps in Yoga to reach Moskha, liberation, which is the ultimate goal:

1. Yamas: is your behaviour towards others.
2. Niyamas: is your behaviour towards yourself.
3. Asana or postures: The aim of the many postures in Yoga is to be able to hold a sitting position during a long meditation, without feeling uncomfortable,
4. Pranayama: "breath control".
5. Pratyahara: is the effort to bring the attention inwards instead of outwards: looking at oneself and feeling the body.
6. Dharana: the conscious effort not to give in to distractions, either of the senses or of the mind
7. Dhyana: to be able to remain concentrated, to maintain meditation for long periods of time.
8. Samadhi: the final step: Moksha, liberation, transcending and merging with God. It has been described as a state of ecstasy.

These steps must be attained in order, one first, then the other, one by one. Pranayama is the intermediate step: the one that connects those related to the body with those related to the mind.