Śivasaṃhitā 3.22

Instruction descends here to the most concrete level: physical space, posture, and the initiation of prāṇāyāma. Suśobhana maṭha (beautiful, pleasant place of retreat) is not an aesthetic luxury but a functional prescription. The environment directly influences the state of the nervous system; a harmonious space facilitates the concentration required to work with prāṇa.

Maṭha designates a cell, hermitage, or monastic retreat — a space consecrated to practice, separated from the ordinary flow of social life. Padmāsana (lotus posture) derives from padma (lotus) and āsana (seat, posture): the position that mirrors the flower growing from mud toward light, symbol of consciousness rising from the dense toward the subtle. Samanvita (endowed with, equipped with) indicates that the yogin and the posture form a single unit.

The nāḍīśodhana technique initiated here — alternating nostrils beginning with the left (iḍā) — follows the principle of activating the lunar channel first, associated with receptivity and coolness. The instruction not to exhale forcibly underscores that classical prāṇāyāma always operates within the register of gentleness and graduality, never violence toward the body.