Prana

We are delighted to introduce our guest blogger Anandi:

"Inhale and God approaches you. Hold the inhalation, and God remains with you. Exhale, and you approach God. Hold the exhalation, and surrender to God.” Krishnamacharya

This is one of my favourite quotes and I use it regularly in my classes.  Prana is everything.  If there is no prana (breath), there is no life.  I think in general we take for granted the gift of the breath and have no regard for the more subtle aspects of what breath is.  Breathing is the most fundamental process in the human body; it has an effect on every single cell and is intimately linked with the brain.  We breathe about 15 times per minute, which means we are breathing 21,600 times a day.  The breath gives power to the transformation of oxygen and glucose, which is needed for every movement we make, all the glandular secretion and the functionality of the brain.

Deep breathing calms the mind, and a calm mind creates deeper more profound natural breath.  Slow profound breathing nourishes the heart and the body and is the most powerful healing tool available to the human being. If the breath becomes shallow or irregular, apart from our physical wellbeing, it affects our emotional balance.  Correct breathing not only affects our quality of life, but also the length of life, one only needs to look at the life span or an elephant or a tortoise and how they breathe to know that there is a connection between a slow breath rate and a long life!

Pranayama exercises regulate the breathe enabling better absorption of the vital life force of prana.  Pranayama also influences the flow of prana in the nadis, purifying, regulating and activating them.  Our life effects the distribution of prana and our emotions deeply affect the pranic body.  

 “There is an intimate connection between the breath, nerve currents and control of the inner prana or vital forces.  Prana becomes visible on the physical plan as motion and action, and on the mental plane as thought.  Pranayama is the means by which a yogi tries to realize within his individual body the whole cosmic nature and attempts to attain perfection by attaining all the powers of the universe.” Sivananda

It is no surprise that Prana, being the force that creates life and being the energetic force that links everything together, has important deities associated with it.  The predominant deity is of course Vayu, the god of wind.  Fire, the sun and the moon are guided by the power of Vayu, and we are guided by the power of Vayu!

 

Anandi is an inspirational yoga instructor who teaches yoga in its entirety as a means to self-transformation. She is a 500hr qualified yoga teacher, Chopra-certified Primordial Sound Meditation Instructor, and qualified NLP instructor and hypnotherapist, having been a mentee of Georg Feuerstein, who is considered to be one of the most important yogic philosophers of our time.
Visit www.anandi.co.uk for more information.