Yoga Teacher Training Forum

Namaskar Starlight,

About Prana: Prana and citta are in constant contact with each other. They are like twins. Prana become focussed where citta is, and citta, where prana is. Yoga suggests that as long as the breath is still, prana is still, and hence citta is still. All types of vibrations and fluxuations come to a standstill when prana and citta are steady and silent. Because of this connection between breath and consciousness, yoga has devised pranayama to stabilize energy and consciousness.

With reference to yoga, prana can be described as something that flows continuously from somewhere inside us, filling us and keeping us alive: it is vitality. In this image, the prana streams out from the center through the whole body.

Pranayama is the measuring, control, and directing of the breath, and thus of energy within the organism, in order to restore and maintain health and to promote evolution.
When you are troubled, restless, or confused, you have more prana outside the body than within. When you feel unwell; the quality of prana and its density within the body is reduced.

Too little prana in the body can be expressed as a feeling of being stuck or restricted. It can also show as a lack of drive or motivation to do anything; you are listless or even depressed. We may suffer from physical ailments when prana is lacking in the body. Yoga Sutra mentions disturbances in the breath, which can take very different forms. On the other hand, the more peaceful and well-balanced we are, the less our prana is dispersed outside the body. And if all the prana is within the body, we are free of these symptoms.

OM