Breathing is often taken for granted. To live you have to breathe. It has been noticed that on average a person breathes about 12-16 times per minute. Depending on your breathing rate, this number may increase with physical activity or stress and decrease during sleep. This means that on average a person breathes around 20,000 times a day. Unlike drinking or eating where the body can survive for multiple days, breathing is such an essential part of life that a person must breathe constantly to ensure life. Breathing is not only important for keeping people alive, but it is also linked to who we are as people. It is related to emotions, for example: people breathe faster when they are angry, while people breathe softly when they are calm. Therefore it can be concluded that breathing is not only related to the body but is also related to the mind. In Yoga, pranayama – the fourth branch of yoga – is composed of two words, prana (life force energy or breath) and yama (regulate or cause a pause) (“Yoga and the breath”). The idea of ​​pranayama is to interrupt the normal breathing pattern thus causing the individual to pay attention to the breathing and resulting in the individual taking care of the health of their mind and body. A high level of pranayama means that the body is filled with an excessive amount of prana, thus making the individual feel more positive and more energetic ("Yoga and the breath"). However, having a low level of prana means that the body may experience a greater amount of stress or anxiety. Practicing proper breathing techniques can benefit an individual's health. One of the advantages is, for example, the physical toning of the organs. An exhalation that is longer than the inhalation during a full breath can have a significant impact on the nervous system of the human body. One of the main lessons of yoga is that the potential of the human nervous system goes far beyond the normal regulation of the physical and mental body (Sarley). Pranayama is followed by a short period of meditation. This is followed by increasing connection with inner stillness which will inevitably create a period of rest, stillness and integration in a person's practice. Bottom line, breathing isn't just important, it's essential. Breath is life and life requires breath, energy and movement. This is why the yogic practice of pranayama is important because the practice combines all these elements into one experience. Engaging in a thorough practice of pranayama is beneficial to everyone for various reasons. Physical, physiological, psychoemotional and spiritual benefits can be obtained if practiced every day.