Yoga Breathing Techniques -Prana

Prana:

As you can see, there are many reasons for learning to breathe fully and deeply. However, with pranaya we are not just dealing with the breath and oxygen. On a subtle level we are dealing with prana.

Pr = first,
Na = energy,
Yama = control.

Prana is our vital life force, it forms the building blocks for the entire universe. In pranayama we are restraining and controlling this vital life force. For the yogi the body is a representation of the entire cosmos. The material used to build the universe also builds the human body. The vibration or hum of the universal energy is no different from the force that pulsates through the body. At our fundamental level we are all nothing but energy, primordial, cosmic, conscious, energy – prana. Practicing prana causes the mind to think and is the energy of the mind. When our stores of prana are depleted we cannot think clearly or concentrate properly. With the practice of pranayama we increase, restrain and regulate the prana, bringing harmony to this vibration, which in turn produces calm in the mind and thoughts. Practicing pranayama regulates the pranic vibrations within the body’s cells. When the cells work in unison, they bring harmony and therefore health to the entire system. Prana can be directed by our thoughts. With the regular practice of pranayama this healing energy can be stored and transmitted by thought to others in need. Through the touch, or simply by placing a hand over a sick body, healing can occur. In healing, even distance healing, energy is directed, or moved, from one place to another.

As well as obtaining prana from the air we breathe, we can charge ourselves with prana from the food we eat and drink from sunlight and from water. Prana is at its highest if we are in the fresh air, near moving water. Prana is dissipated by ‘too muchness” too much eating. eating too quickly, eating the wrong things, too much sleeping, working, sex, talking, watching television, being too hot, too cold, everything we do uses prana and too much of anything strips us of our vitality. What little prana we have left is all too often used up in uncontrolled, emotional outbursts. The physical body uses a large amount of our pranic store, which doesn’t leave a lot, if anything, for mental activity, let alone spiritual development. If we try to control the mind to meditate, there is no prana to develop this control so all we do is sit and think. When we sit and practice we generate this vital life force. Then, when we meditate, prana moves up for higher purposes. We don’t lie down to meditate because energy is dissipated. when we sit with the spine erect, the spiritual energy that lies dormant at the base of the spine begins to rise up, just like heat.