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WHAT IS PRANA?

Prana is the energy that animates and connects all living beings. You may know this energy by other names such as: life force, liquid light, chi, the force, orgone and cosmic particles. The essence we try to convey with all these words is universal life energy. It is important to understand that with each inhalation, we are taking two things into our body—air and prana. Prana is the energy that drives all of life and is essential to our existence, more so than air.

In yoga, oriental medicine and martial arts, the term prana refers to cosmic energy believed to come from the sun and which connects all the elements in the universe. As the universal principle of energy or force responsible for the body's life, heat and maintenance, prana is the sum total of all the energy manifested in the universe. This life energy has been vividly invoked and described in the Vedas and in Ayurveda, Tantra and Tibetan medicine.

Prana is not only found in air; it exists everywhere. It is within me and you, in plants and animals, in the earth and all the elements that create our planet. There is no place where prana does not exist. It exists even in the spaces we perceive to be void. Pranic energy is closely connected to the energy one might describe as the soul and life cannot exist without it. There is an old saying that a man can live for forty days without food, three days without water, five minutes without oxygen but without prana, not even one second!

Prana is invisible to the human eye and not measurable with our current scientific instruments. Despite this, as spiritual individuals we can feel the truth of its existence all around us.

Prana moves through the body via an energy tube about the size of the circle between your index finger and thumb. This tube begins approximately ten centimeters above your head or crown chakra and continues downward through all seven chakras¹, finishing under the perineum located between the anus and the genitals. Prana is a subtle element pervading each cell in the living tissue and fluid of every organism, much like electricity through atoms in a battery.

Each person naturally maintains a different level of prana which varies from day to day. Generally, when you are in a place where you feel comfortable and in ‘the present moment’, you find you are not motivated to eat from habit or emotional need. For example, when you are happy, content or in love, you may notice your appetite tends to decrease. This is because in higher vibrational states of being, the percentage of prana in your body rises. In contrast, lower vibrational states such as melancholy, frustration, fear and dissatisfaction can cause you to eat much more than is absolutely necessary. As our percentage of prana decreases, we seek comfort in the pleasures of taste and texture.

Our prana percentage also depends on our environment. With air pollution increasing in many big cities, the percentage of prana in the air continues to decrease. Nature, on the other hand provides abundant prana, which is why you may also find yourself eating less in natural settings.

Prana is often discussed in martial art philosophies and many claim it provides conscious individuals with superhuman abilities. In India, yogis are known to practice Pranayama; specific sets of breathing exercises designed to draw additional prana into the body with each breath. Raising your personal level of prana is not very difficult and can be achieved through the regular practice of meditation, deep breathing exercises and conscious intention.

Prana is an important general discovery as we try to piece together the missing links in our human evolution. Because our current scientific instruments cannot measure prana, its existence is largely ignored or misunderstood. This is one of the reasons I decided to write this book after my years of personal research on the subject.

For more information on prana and the breatharian way of life, I have given a list of external resources at the end of the book.