Prana yoga as a universal energy not only focuses within the subtle channels of your body, but also around it.
Through yoga you can explore how to consciously feel and direct Prana in your body, your breath and the environment around you.
When it comes to Prana, it can be a difficult thing to understand because you can’t see it, yet you can feel it. Through a clearer awareness of what Prana is and what it is not, it is possible to connect more closely with its energy.
When you connect, you connect with the world around you and with your true self.
As for Prana yoga, although Prana is related to the breath, it is not the breath itself. It is based on an energy that pulsates through the body along a network of subtle channels, similar to the central nervous system. The subtle channels connect the body and the mind and act as a conduit for energy.
So, Prana yoga is energy, vitality, power. It is the foundation and essence of all life; the energy and vitality that permeates the entire universe.
Prana flows into everything that exists.
Furthermore, Prana yoga is the connecting link between the material world, consciousness and mind and this is what makes life possible on the material level.
Prana regulates all physical functions, for example, breathing, oxygen supply, digestion, elimination and much more.
The function of the human body is very similar to a transformer, which receives energy from the Universal Flow of Prana, distributes that energy and then eliminates it.
If a person or a room has a healthy and harmonious vibration one could say that there is a good Prana. Disease, on the other hand, disturbs or blocks its flow.
As you develop the ability to control Prana, you gain harmony and health, both of the body and of the mind. Additionally, this with long and constant practice leads to an expansion of consciousness.
Prana Yoga through the years
There are more than 3000 years of references to Prana that transcend cultures and spiritual traditions.
Prana is a mainstay of the Hindu, Ayurvedic, Hatha Yoga and Tantric traditions, but similar references to ‘life force’ are seen in the Chinese Principle of Chi, Ancient Roman Anima, Ancient Greek Pneuma, Ruh from the Islamic tradition, Ruah from the Hebrew tradition and the Christian Holy Spirit.
Sun, Moon and Central Channels
While each person has a physically fit body, one also has a subtle or energetic body. The subtle body, which can be compared to the aura, extends beyond the physical body. This is what makes it possible for people to intuit the energy of others.
The central nervous system of the subtle body is a network of channels, consisting of a main central channel, two main side channels, the sun and the moon, and, according to tradition, 72,000 or more smaller channels.
Feeling the Prana in the body
Physically, in a yoga class, as the Prana moves more freely, you can feel an electric charge passing through your body. When you feel chills or a feeling you are responding to Prana and the sixth sense of the subtle body.
You can also recognise what Prana is doing by observing the breath. When the electricity of Prana runs through the right side channel, for example, it comes out through the right nostril.
At this moment the logical left side of the brain is the most active. When the left nostril is active, it dominates the creative and right side of the brain.
Normally, one nostril or the other is dominant, changing approximately every hour. When you have reached a state of nirvana, samadhi or complete absorption in meditation, you will eventually breathe equally into both sides of the nose, the energy no longer flowing through the side channels.
An easy way to connect with Prana is to notice the sensations felt in relation to the breath. It is no accident that the inhaled breath is related to happiness, greater energy and scattered, vibrant feelings.
The exhalation is related to sadness, disappointment and letting go. This ever-changing and impermanent cycle of happiness and sadness is the cycle in which you exist while you continue to breathe.
Prana yoga and meditation
As yoga pushes, pulls and moves the inner winds into the central channel through physical means, meditation does the same through the influence of the mind.
The classical texts indicate that thoughts ride the Prana like a rider on a horse. Therefore, it is possible to use intentional thoughts to guide the Prana into the centre while the rider guides the horse.
Through meditation and pranayama, one learns to control the flow of breath. Many people have noticed that when meditation is agitated, the breath is agitated too.
When the meditation is quiet, resting, the breath is hardly noticeable.
Because the mind, prana, thoughts and breath are interconnected, they can all change when you focus on one of them.
What is pranayama?
One of the eight limbs of yoga, pranayama or breath control, uses breathing exercises to manipulate prana as an additional tool along with asana, physical postures or meditation.
Ayurvedic pranayama techniques help to cure illnesses and keep you physically healthy.
There are pranayama techniques to increase energy, calm energy, warm the body and clear the mind.
Through the combination of asanas, meditation and pranayama, the latent Kundalini energy or Prana at the base of the spine travels up the central channel and out of the crown chakra, leading you to enlightenment.
This also occurs at the time of conscious death, as the Prana is first directed into the heart chakra and then expelled from the body through the crown chakra.
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