Today, a friend texted me to ask, “Are you busy right now?” My answer was, “Yes. I am restoring my prana.” As my friend is also a beloved colleague, she knew that meant I was on my yoga mat in my practice. This is one of the main reasons, I get on my mat every day…to provide my system with the energy it needs to maintain vitality and be of service to others.
Your breath is key to your well being and plays a major role in helping your nervous system stay regulated. When you find yourself in moments of stress, notice what is happening to your breath. Chances are you have a shorter breath which then influences your “inner workings” or physiology. Prana is your Vital Life Force and enters the body through breath according to the ancients. Prana animates your structure from inside to outside. Yoga works with this mysterious life force.
When my energy is low, I understand to adjust my breath and postures in practice to create more nourishment in my system. Whereas, if my mind is anxious, I calibrate my breath and movement to work with reducing and calming my system. This understanding comes from my training as a Yoga Therapist. I have been expertly trained to evaluate a student on multiple levels such as structural, physiological, and mental health and then set up practices to address conditions and help students manage, reduce and even in some cases eliminate symptoms over time. An obvious example of a condition that presents with low prana or fatigue/sluggishness is depression, but so can a physiological condition like fibromyalgia as the pain depletes energy.
Ideally, yoga is practiced on a daily basis to give the body/mind the nutrients it needs. When there is a condition present or even obstacles of the mind, a yoga therapist would call those “pranic obstructions”. We practice to remove the pranic debris on multiple levels. Ultimately, the breath needs to flow freely through the system so this life force can move through the body like a “river of vitality”.
And so…I look forward to my daily practice as a way to maintain my health on multiple levels. In the next blog, I will talk about the ancient model of health known as the Pancamaya.