YOGA + FITNESS / In The Practice
PRINCIPLES OF
derstanding the mystery” through wedding both compelling Western gains and compassionate Eastern insights. Before outlining the principles of prana, it’s helpful to describe this term which can often feel abstract and elusive. Prana itself is indescribable, which is why embodiment practices are the most effective in emphasizing its impact on the system. However, analytically, we can feel into the vibrational body and the subtle realms. Prana is vibrational energy. In Sanskrit, pra means with, while na means movement. It’s the galvanizing of foundational awareness as it moves through the subtle body systems. Breath is not prana but merely a vehicle to move prana. We often conflate the two, but in actuality, prana follows the breath. The two are strong allies.
Prana
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oga, as a contemplative science, can be thought of as a laboratory — a space for experimenting with and experiencing the vividness of life, experimentation with the formless dimensions of prana. Deep research into the realms of the subtle body. These energetic constructs are not esoteric; in fact, they are accessible technologies to understand and refine the mindful mechanics of the way the life force is balanced and distributed through the nervous system. It’s been said that this era of practice in the industry of yoga, and the potential awareness and insights that are available,
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is unlike any other time on the planet. As yogis, I really feel we chose to be positioned here and now as practitioners in a collective awakening. As a species, we are at the precipice of groundbreaking, evidence-based research in mindfulness and neurological function (in fact, they called 2010 to 2020 the decade of the brain for all the advancements we made in understanding cognitive development), coupled with thousands of years of introspective and contemplative practice under our collective belt as meditators, practitioners and insight seekers. This means we are at the frontier of “un-
YOGA CIRCULATES PRANA There are specific pathways of pranic circulation called meridians, or nadis, the streams/channels for prana’s path to flow, translated as “little rivers.” Looking close up at a leaf, or the blood vessels of a human or the river networks on Earth, we can see clearly these natural processes all established the same mode of carrying energy, water, prana, blood flow, life force — whatever is essential — through. We use asana to stimulate this circulation. In yin yoga specifically, we hold each shape, practicing stillness to observe the flow of prana through tissues, the inner circulation and inner dialogue of the organs and the streams which nourish those organs. These meridians run through the fascia, or connective tissue, which covers the musculo-skeletal system. As our objective
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Photos by Lauren O'Neill
THE 3 IMMEASURABLES OF PRANA Yoga and prana interact with one another; there are specific ways in which the practice of yoga movements, or asana, relates to our pranic patterns. I call these “the three immeasurables,” because the more you harness this relationship, the more infinite its activity and benefits, a boundless depth of practice life. In short, there are three ways yoga asana stimulates qi, or the movement of prana.