प्रण Prana is the unique subtle phenomenon that lies deep within all living beings that gives and promotes the energetic expression in life. It's much more than extracting energy from the food we eat and the air we breath as you can fill a dead body up with this things and nothing will happen yet we are the essence of our diet and mental persona in a mystic exchange of our external environment with our internal physiological make up. Prana enters mainly through the forms of water, food and air as our bodies extract the nutrients, minerals, and oxygen that are needed to sustain life. It seems in modern day many things are happening all at once (is this not the era of instant internet and cell phone gratification) and the nervous system is bombarded with objects that pull the senses outward thus disturbing the even flow of the pranic energies within. Prana has the tendency to flow where your attention goes and if awreness is directed mostly inward prana will remain calm and even though as attenion is pulled outward it becomes something more irregular and superficial known as vata. This is the case in which prana looses its deep roots within the body and the vata qualities of mobility, lightness, and clearness express themselves as poor memory, spaceyness, and unfortunatly fear. As a side note, think, how many people do you know really have a great memory.



The practice of pranayama is to stretch one's prana bringing it from the superficial level to the subtlest levels of the tissues and to find some kind of control over its flow and possible tendency to become vata. In order to stretch your prana the breath must be elongated and slowed and with awareness directed inward, bringing the outer reality into an inner feeling. This can be experienced by completely empting the lungs of air and focusing the awareness about 9 inches from the nostrils, slowly inhale bringing the awareness along with oxygen from the nose inward to about 2 inches behind the naval. To exhale, reverse the path by slowly following the breath from the naval to a point 9 inches from the nostrils. Start with 5 minutes and increase to 15 minutes with the consistency of practice.

Breathing is both a conscious and unconsious act and will have a direct effect on the flow the prana takes. Like increases like and the quality and pace of breath have a unique relationship with the activity of the mind. Simplcity simply starts with being simple and in my simple opinion, a simple mind is a proundlt inspiring mind.