The Power of our Prana
Pranayama is really a tool for optimising our health, and is a wonderful anchor to the present moment of our lives. When we learn to focus on our breath we can start to slow things down, hear the needs of our body and observe our habits or tendencies of our mind and our body - our Samskara’s. We can also start to realise how our actions impact the world around us. Pranayama in modern times is of course based on a lifestyle much different than our ancestors had. We in present times, have to deal with overwhelming distractions towards a sattvic lifestyle. Our environment and our food and water are much more pranic-ly depleted, so we must be aware that we are already starting in a state of toxicity. The Yogic practice and more so the pranayama practice is a means to help cultivate a healthy Pranic reservoir for our vehicle we live in, our body!
Prana is everything and is everywhere. What we eat, think about, listen to, the people or environments we surround ourselves with is all our Pranic diet. Think about what you look at all day, a computer screen? Or something of nature like an ocean, forest or mountain. Being in nature supplies us with a healthy panic diet. Looking at a computer screen all day would not. We even can observe our thoughts, what are they? Are they positive or negative? Calming or stimulating? Serving us or hurting us? This is all our pranic diet. Are you nourishing yourself or poisoning yourself with your prana intake?
Everything in yoga has a gross reality but also a subtle reality. With Gross or Physical, Prana means breath moving in and out. Oxygen in and carbon dioxide out. But from the subtle point of view we have to understand that Prana is life itself! When we breathe in we are not just processing oxygen but we are receiving life into our systems.
Pranayama is the ancient practice of regulating, observing and controlling our breath for the desired effect of greater overall health. Without Pranayama it would be difficult to start working with the level of the mind - citta. Pranayama and breathwork techniques give us tools to help harness the mind and draw it towards our centre and the present moment. Pranayama practice is a wonderful prelude towards a deep state of meditation.
Breathing is typically an automatic process that happens without thought or conscious control. However, breathing is the only autonomic process we can choose to control through voluntary action. Unfortunately a lot of us are not breathing in a healthy way. Which can have serious health complications. Fortunately we can correct that by learning to take functional lower body abdominal diaphragmatic breaths. By shifting the way we breath, we can influence our heart rate, nervous system, digestion, pH, circulation and lymphatic system. By breathing correctly or functionally we can bring our bodies back to balance and our systems back to homeostasis and fill up our Prana bank account! The way the ancient Yogis and nature intended.
