Pranayam is a breathing exercise that is practiced for purifying and cleansing the nadis, pranas, and chakras. The real meaning of pranayam is a breathing exercise through which the prana can be purified and concentrated.

There are many hand gestures included in Pranayam. Pranayam (प्राणायाम,) or simply Pranayam is a Sanskrit compound composed of two words "Prana" (प्राण) and "Ayama" (आयाम) respectively meaning "life force" and "restraining", thus it is used for restraining the life force.