Your Energy Body PRANA - the LIFE FORCE

Your Energy Body PRANA - THE LIFE FORCE

Prana is the vital life force that pervades all of existence. It is the source of life and an expression of the Divine Spirit. This view of creation as energy is supported by modern physics, where the atoms that make up matter and all life are declared 99% ‘empty’ space. From the Yoga perspective, this space is not really empty but is filled with creative potential - Divine energy, which we call prana.

Prana is something that can be experienced within the body. It is felt in various ways: sometimes as a tingling sensation, sometimes as warmth, sometimes as a gentle coolness and often as a sense of moving energy. When prana opens more fully, there is a sense of bliss or euphoria which can flood the entire body producing a state of rapture.

According to Yoga, this state of bliss, combined with a sense of unlimited potential and absolute knowing, is our natural or true state of being, often hidden or eclipsed by the tensions acquired in a life, we believe we are separate and therefore struggle to get what we want and avoid what we fear. Yoga is the process of removing these tensions and the un- derlying thought patterns that sustain them in order to reveal and discover our true nature.

Since prana is the fundamental life force that animates and sustains our physical being, there is a direct relationship between the free flow of prana in the body and our physical health. Where there is a blockage in the flow of energy, there are also possible blockages in the physical systems that are sustained by the energy.

Prana is intimately linked to the breath. The breath is both a major source of prana and serves as a vehicle for regulating the flow of prana throughout the body. For this reason the science of breath is called pranayama, the channeling or expansion of prana. In fact, the Sanskrit word pranayama can be translated in two different ways. PRAN+AYAMA = expansion of the life force; PRANA+YAMA = channelling of the life force. PRANAYAMAYAYour Energy KOSHA Body

The pranamaya kosha, or energy sheath, connects the physical body with the other koshas, vitalizing and holding together the body and mind. Composed of prana, the vital life force, it pervades the entire organism, physically manifesting in the constant flow and movement of breath. Part of the subtle body, prana cannot be seen or physically touched as it moves through thousands of nadis, or energy channels, sustaining the entire physical and energetic system. As long as the vital element exists in the organism, life continues. In practicing pranayama, we can expand and direct this energy to culti- vate a more fluid and harmonious interaction among the koshas, uniting body, mind and spirit. [Stephens 2009:49] GLOSSARYYour Energy Body

PRANA “vital life” Energy permeating the universe at all levels; physical, mental, intellectual, sexual, spiritual, and cosmic energy; physical energy of heat, light, gravity, magnetism, and electricity; vigor, power, vitality, life and spirit; potential energy in all beings.

VAYU “vital current” The vital principles of basic energy and subtle faculties of an individual that sustain physiological process. There are five pranavayus in the Ayurvedic system.

NADI “river/channel” Nadis are the channels through which the energies of the subtle body are said to flow. They connect at special points of intensity called chakras. There is said to be 72,000 nadis running throughout the body with major ones being Ida (moon), Pingala (sun), and Sushumni (central channel).

CHAKRA “wheel” The junctions of the major nadis as they spiral and rise along the spine give rise to chakras, the seven major psycho-spiritual-energetic centers of the subtle body.

BANDHA “to bind or lock” Bandhas are muscular contractions in the physical body that retain the circulation of prana in the subtle body. There are three primary bandhas: • MULA bandha (root lock) is the engagement of muscles at the perineum. • UDDIYANA bandha (drawing/flying upward) is the lifting in and up at the navel. • JALANDHARA bandha (‘jalan’ means net, ‘dhara’ means stream) chin lock.

MUDRA “seal, mark, gesture” A mudra is a symbolic or ritual gesture. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. In yoga, mudras are used in conjunction with pranayama, generally while seated, to stimulate different parts of the body involved with breathing and to affect the flow of prana. A brain research paper published in the National Academy of Sciences in November 2009, demon- strated that hand gestures stimulate the same regions of the brain as language.

DOSHA “bodily humor” As prana manifests in the body, it moves in different ways in different people depend- ing on life’s circumstances. In Ayurveda, the manifestation of prana in the body is described as an interplay of air, water, fire, earth, and ether. How these elements in- teract create patterns in three expressions of prana know as VATA, PITTA and KAPHA. THEYour FIVE PRANA Energy VAYUS Body

THE FIVE PRANA VAYUs are the energies, pranas, of the body that regulate and control all bodily functions. The word vayu means wind, so the prana vayus can be thought of as the ‘energy winds’ of the body. When these energies are balanced, the body is healthy and all of its functions are optimized. Through understanding our own imbalances of these pranas, we are able to restore the balance of these energies and the health of the body.

Prana Vayu - Felt and distributed by the inhalation and organs of respiration from the heart to the throat (upward flow of prana).

Apana Vayu - Felt and distributed by the exhalation and affects the processes of elimina- tion (downward flow of prana).

Udana Vayu - Felt and distributed in a circular pattern around the throat and head and affects the throat, neck, thyroid/metabolism, the power of speech.

Samana Vayu - Circular distribution around the navel from the inside out, affects the small intestine, digestion, especially agni - the digestive fire in the belly. Felt through exhalation and retention.

Vyana Vayu - Felt and distributed by the heart (flow of prana from the heart out to the extremities - hands and feet), within Inhalation retention. Affects the blood, lymphatic and nervous system.