The following video contains a wealth of information on mindbody health with an emphasis on cardiovascular health (the speaker, Dr James Kneller, is a cardiologist).
Many more people practice Kapalabhati, the breath of fire, than Sheetali, the cooling breath. Sheetal means cool and soothing in Sanskrit and that is the effect it has on the mind and body.
Meditation is becoming very popular nowadays but it is mainly mindfulness which is getting a lot of the attention. Trāṭaka is a less known type of meditation which appears in stories such as ‘The Monk who Sold his Ferrari’ by Rabin Sharma and ‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar’ by Roald Dahl.
Western medicine has done wonders for humanity. It plays a very important role in saving lives in emergencies, uses the best technology available to diagnose people’s health issues and bases much of it’s progress on medical and scientific research.
Prana can be translated to mean breath, though in subtle terms it is also associated with ‘life force’, ‘vital energy’. Ayama means control. Together, Pranayama means control of breath.