Science of Prana

Prana begins to manifest in our body from the moment of conception, once the first cell of the unborn child is generated. Once a soul has set associative link to its future housing, which is called "body", prana follows this associative relationship and begins to build the body. Woman after that, definitely, becomes pregnant. The process, then develops prenatally for some time, then very nice baby comes out, and yet for some time, he or she continues to shape the body, but in everyday life. Before the maturity, prana is very active.

Children have prana in abundance, because they have to shape their bodies and develop. The middle-aged people have prana at a good level, but once we cross a certain threshold, amount of this “vital energy” begins to shrink, number of failures – to grow, there is not enough prana anymore to patch the holes. The process of decay and aging starts, which eventually leads to death. Death is a end of identification of our Higher Self with the body, which it had used. And the moment of death occurs when the prana flow detaches from the body.

The science of prana is very serious. Like any powerful tool, it requires a longterm practice to master it. Imagine, that you came to learn how to operate a jet airplane in six hours. It might be possible that you would be able to take off and land without a crash. But there are the numerous nuances, and skills for action in diverse range of situation that are developed by long years of practice. It is the same with prana. This yoga requires greater attention.

No wonder this story was started with consciousness and energy. We understand what is energy and what is consciousness. Energy is when we can do something, but consciousness is something that can give us information, a representation of things and events. We deal with them every day and intuitively understand what they are. Now imagine the kind of original power that combines consciousness and energy into one. It can make us see, it can help us to do, and it is impossible to tell where consciousness ends and energy begins, and vice versa. This fantastic thing called prana. Unfortunately, for various reasons, in the West the concept of "prana" equals the concept of "energy." But this is only the part of the truth. Prana is greater than just energy. Prana is energy and consciousness altogether. It is our manifestation in the world, it is our vitality. It is what sustains, develops and transforms our existence. It is a versatile substance, though we would not call it substance. It is something more serious.

Prana is the first manifestation of our Higher Self. We are not aware of it. In addition, prana has two manifestations: consciousness and energy. If you penetrate into yourself, using consciousness and energy, and go up higher, you will reach prana. Here is the essence of yoga techniques: from rough to fine.

The concept of prana is quiet fine: on one hand, imperceptible, on other hand, precise. Prana is not something supernatural; you can perceive it at the moment. Another thing is that you cannot realize and use it yet.

Prana is the first manifestation of our Higher Self in this Universe. The flow of prana is responsible for everything. When a new life is coming into being, prana creates the body. Prana creates body parts of the child at birth and forces the child to mature. When we have some injury, prana is responsible for eliminating all diseases and wound healing. This is our natural force for living and desire to be. It is one of our finest structures. We should maintain our body in order to exist in it. As soon as there is a lack of energy in our body, the associative link between our body and our Higher Self stretches, and we instinctively perceive the inflow of prana. If we feel pain, we hold our breath and squeeze our hands. Just then, we release a portion of prana and direct it to the injury with our hands and mind. This is instinctive self-treatment. However, at the same time, prana cannot only treat us and maintain our body but it can help us grow intellectually. If we run into some misunderstanding we only need to get enough prana and suddenly an insoluble problem gets apparent solution. We start feeling a new level of our mental activity and see many great ideas, how to resolve the problem.

First, we have to remember, prana maintains not only our physical body but the mental process as well, which is a huge consumer of prana. If you start struggling with your thoughts, you release prana. There are thoughts that are necessary for working, communication, and life and there are thoughts-parasites, like rats, which can take away our vitality. With the practice of meditation, we purify our mind from superfluous thoughts, and this contributes to accumulation of additional energy. Further, this energy is distributed to a less number of refreshed thoughts. Therefore, the less thoughts we have in our head, the better we feel the inflow of prana in our body.

Sometimes, when a person is exhausted, when there are troubles, and mess in ahead the person goes to the pub and drinks a shot. The certain chemical process begins. However, it does not solve the problem and leads straight to the drunkenness. I mention it as an illustration. Under the influence of the alcohol, the quantity of thoughts in person’s head reduces for some time. That is how our organism works. Some energy unleashes and the person says, “Oh, I feel better!” However, this person feels better, not because of alcohol, but due to decreased quantity of thoughts and because the energy overflows in your body. If we reach the thoughtlessness state, even for a second, we feel the wave of prana. Prana has been wasted on all these thoughts, which were depressing us. Usually people complain, “This is bad and that is bad”. Every thought eats our energy. If we remove these thoughts, the energy unleashes. First, it unleashes as a good state of health.

The energy, pumped out of the thoughts, gives a push. Affecting one thing, we can increase another. In this case, owing to the energy of thoughts, we increase the amount of prana.

Strangely enough, but many physical diseases can be healed exactly by the changing of our mind’s activity. Our mind stops consuming great amount of prana, it unleashes and goes for recondition our health. That is why doctors sometimes tell people, who are on a recovery period after disease, that it is not recommended to work, that they should relax, not write or read. Because when a man starts to spend attention on reading, the thought process involves in work, recalls it, and immediately prana goes there. It comes from a body, but the body is not well yet. So, prana, our first manifestation is a universal thing.

Do not mix up pranayama with breathing exercises. Pranayama is not related to the oxygen and air. Pranayama is an inflow of subtle energy, prana. Breathing movements are indirect. We can get prana not only from the air but from everything. Prana is not oxygen. These two things get mixed up too often.