This page on Prana is written by Atreya.   Below, Prashanti and Atreya Talk Prana

Prana is a Sanskrit word that has many profound meanings. The word is composed of two parts - pra = foreword or before, and ana = breath. What is before breath? Life is before breath and is the cause of breath. One synonym of prana in Sanskrit is Ayur. Prana and Ayur also mean soul (Jiva) and are responsible to hold the soul into the body. Nothing can exist before prana.

The following extracts are taken from “Practical Ayurveda: Secrets for Physical, Sexual and Spiritual Health” 1998 Samuel Weiser, Inc.  ISBN: 1-57863-029-0  order this book

What is Prana?
Prana is the source of all manifested matter and as such it is important to understand its actual role in the manifestation. Ayurveda is primarily a pranic system of medicine. The basis of the constitutional methodology in Ayurveda rests with the five elements or five states of matter. These five material states (explained in chapter 3) originate from prana. Therefore, by understanding prana one can understand the primary basis for the Ayurvedic perception.

Prana is the cosmic principal of movement or energy. It is seen as the underlying cause of all the manifestation. Prana is the most subtle element of existence and yet the most apparent in its manifestation around us. Prana empowers all other forces in the universe, everything else is dependent on it, even the very creation itself. Prana is eternal movement, empowering the ever changing cosmos.

Prana has many different manifestations, from the most subtle to the gross manifestation of electricity. It is the power which enables us to think, to feel and to hear. It is the first sound: OM. It manifests in the body as the five pranas: prana, udana, samana, apana and vyana. These five pranic forces govern all types of movement in the body; restrain and impel the mental activity; coordinate all the senses and help in the enjoyment of their objects; holds together different parts of the body; promote speech; enable touch and hearing; they are the cause of joy and courage; they stimulate the digestion; absorb the three humors; expel waste from the body; create the gross and subtle channels in the body; mold the shape of the embryo; and determine the length of the life span.

To sum it up, prana is the prime moving force in our body and in our universe. Prana is not breath, it is the power that enables us to breath. Prana is not "energy", it is what gives energy the power to be energy. Prana is not seen or unseen, yet it is observable by its actions. Prana is the power behind movement.

"The Lord of all creatures is Prana, whose movement in the womb of creation gives birth to the images of all beings in your likeness, yet remaining ever the one unchanging. It is you, prana, alone who endows the power to the senses, everything is perceived through you, for this all creatures bring you gifts."

 “Prana is neutral; its quality is energy without any quality, just pure energy. This pure energy can take on any quality without losing its pureness; just as by putting on clothes we associate with a style of dress, still we remain the same person.
 Prana can be used to exhilarate meditation, sex, combat or healing. Prana gives vitality to the physical body and it also gives us the power to think. Prana is both physical and mental energy. "Movement of thought in the mind arises from the movement of prana; and the movement of prana arises because of the movement of thought in consciousness. They thus form a cycle of mutual dependence, like waves and movement of currents in water." 2

 This quote is from an ancient scripture, one of the most respected in India, it is more than 5,000 years old. The information presented here is not new. Prana, its nature, its influence, and a complete science about the  affects have been in existence for thousands of years.

 Traditionally, Yoga says that there are five kinds of prana in the body. They are: prana, apana, samana, udana and vyana. There is also the cosmic all pervading prana, which is the source of the five pranas that are confined to the body and have specific functions to animate it.

 Of the five pranas in the body, prana and apana are commonly called the most important. Prana is seated in the heart and head and apana is seated at the base of the spine and is known as the "downward breath". Together, prana and apana form the polarity of breath, these to forces are actually what gives us the power to breath. Prana is the solar aspect (masculine) and apana is the lunar aspect (feminine). Of the other pranas, samana is seated in the region of the navel and is known as the "upward breath"; udana is at the throat and moves up and down the whole body; and vyana is defused through out the body holding it all together.3 Throughout this book we will refer to all of the five pranas as prana, when cosmic prana is mentioned it will be stated as such.

ABOUT YOGA
 Prana healing is a branch of yoga, which is one of the Vedic sciences. What is yoga exactly? There are many different branches of yoga, some dealing with the body, some with mind, some with occult powers and some with self-realization or enlightenment.

 Originally, the ancient seers were proficient in all the known sciences: Ayurveda (medicine), yoga postures, meditations, mathematics, astrology, geology, war and religion. Normally a sage would specialize in one field, but was expected to know the fundamentals of the eight branches of knowledge. These were called the Vedic sciences. Ayurveda, hatha yoga and pranayama were concerned with the physical body. Prana healing comes from this tradition of the Vedic sciences.

 Generally, yoga is understood to be a method by which a "union" with the divine or God is achieved. Although one can practice Hatha Yoga without being aware of the divine, this is not really "Yoga" in its purest sense. It is then simply an Indian method of exercise to maintain physical health. If, however, we practice hatha yoga knowing that mind, prana and the body arise from a source unknown to us, and search for that unknown source, that is "Yoga" in its purest meaning.

 It is not the method or the practice that is yoga, rather it is our search for that unknown source that is yoga. Prana healing is simply a method, it can be also be used as yoga, to lead us to the source of our vital force and the source of all that exists.
 Yoga, as used in this book, is the tradition of sages and texts that lead one from the body, the manifestation, to the ultimate, beyond both the manifest and the un-manifest.

 "I salute the Supreme Self. It was the Self which first taught the brilliant knowledge of Hatha Yoga. Hathayoga was given as a ladder so he who has the desire may climb to the highest state of Rajayoga."4

THE APPROACH OF PRANA HEALING
 Prana healing is a non-violent approach to health that anyone can learn. Non aggressive to the body, mind and emotions. There is no interference with the individual, no system, no classification to be put into. By energizing the body with prana it is revitalized naturally,  enabling it to fight off illness and maintain good health.

 This is the method of healing that has existed almost as long as mankind, so natural it is to the human race. Prana healing is a holistic approach, in other words it revitalizes the complete human organism; body/mind/emotion. True healing must work not only on the manifested disease, but on the root problem to be really effective.

MIND AND PRANA ARISE FROM THE SAME SOURCE
 Prana has a natural movement as does mind. What is mind exactly? Mind is the process of thoughts rising and falling, or appearing and disappearing, in consciousness. This is commonly referred to as "thinking".

 Mind is a series of thoughts. Mind and prana are two aspects of the same phenomenon; both exist together and are inseparable. Prana is the principle of movement and mind is the principle of intelligence. Therefore, all actions require prana, including thinking. By slowing down the breath, the thoughts are slowed down. Yoga's pranayama, an effective meditation technique, uses this understanding to still the ever-active mind. "...by control of the life-force the mind is also restrained: even as the shadow ceases when the substance is removed, the mind ceases when the life-force is restrained." 5
 
 This understanding is the basis of all esoteric healing. The consequences of mind and energy being completely interdependent are so vast that few of us realize the potential.

 Consciousness as used here is synonymous with: Existence, Source, Self, Love or God. Mind is often confused with Consciousness. Mind is that which Consciousness is aware of.

  What is Consciousness? "We may roughly put it like this. Existence or Consciousness is the only reality. Consciousness plus waking, we call waking. Consciousness plus sleep, we call sleep. Consciousness plus dream, we call dream. Consciousness is the screen on which all the pictures come and go." 6

2  "THE SUPREME YOGA", YOGA VASISTHA, TRANS: SWAMI VENKATESANANDA, second edition  1991, pg.313 5-78-14
3 "THE SERPENT POWER", SIR JOHN WOODROFFE, GANESH & Co MADRAS, 14th edition 1989 pg. 77
4  "HATHAPRADIPIKA", TRANS; KEVIN & VENIKA KINGSLAND, GRAEL COMMUNICATIONS, 1977, Pg.15 V.1
5 "THE SUPREME YOGA", YOGA VASISTHA, TRANS; SWAMI VENKATESANANDA, SECOND ED. 1991, Pg.229, 5-13-83
6 "BE AS YOU ARE", SRI RAMANA MAHARISHI, ED. DAVID GODMAN PENGUIN BOOKS 1985, Pg.16
 
 

Prashanti and Atreya Talk Prana

Prashanti:  Most people think that Prana is carried in the Air we breathe.  Others say it is carried in the water, for instance, in the humidity of the air. What is your understanding of this?

Atreya: All of the five elements carry Prana as Prana is related to the Rajas guna in terms of manifestation. As the Gunas are born in prakrtui so is the form of Prana that manifests in the material creation. Water is one of the main sources of Prana and the classic texts of Ayurveda say that what you drink becomes Prana (refined Vata) in the body. Prana - if viewed like electricity, which is a gross manifestation of Prana - is carried very easily by water as water is a conduit for all energy and more fluid than earth (which also is a conduit for Prana, but in a lesser sense). Remember that as each element -beginning with ether - is created only 1/10th is passed on the next one - thus water has four of the five elements and contains both ether and air that are the main relations to Prana. Earth has this also, but lacks the fluidity of water to serve as an easy conduit.

Prashanti: What you said about Prana being from Rajas Guna so fits my experience of being on the Ganga and watching the Prana dance as tiny bright lights swirling around.  IT never stops moving and its dance form is known to Physics as Brownian motion.

Atreya:  Remember this is the "gross" manifestation of Prana as related to the five elements - really Prana exists before the elements and even before the gunas as it is latent in Purusha.

Prashanti:  How about using prana for direct healing? You have a lot of eperience in this.

Atreya: Regarding prana work - the sweeping and cleansing are always done hands off and are an integral part of all methods of pranic healing -whether one works hands on or off. This is because the prana get congested in the pranic body (etheric body) or prana vaha srotas (nadis) and causes discomfort or disease. The fastest way to clean the congestion is by sweeping or you can just go hands on as in reiki but it takes longer and is less efficient. Energizing can be done hands on or off as you like as it is the same method. I work both on and off the body depending on what the person needs. But these days I am doing less prana work and am working much more with herbs and Ayurvedic therapies like food and diet.  I do what is needed to help people as I can.