The Breath and Prana

 

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Edited November 26, 2024

Now more than ever—especially in light of the challenges brought by Covid—we’re reminded of the deep value of self-care. Tending to your well-being doesn't have to be elaborate; often, it’s the simple things that offer the greatest support: a soothing cup of tea, a heartfelt conversation with a friend, a few quiet moments to yourself, or simply adding more nourishing vegetables to your meals.

One practice that has supported me over the years is paying attention to my breath. Have you ever noticed how your breathing reflects how you're feeling? Shallow or rushed breath often accompanies stress or anxiety, while slow, steady breathing brings calm and focus. I’ve found that breathing exercises not only help me de-stress and re-energize, but they also enhance mental clarity and expand my lung capacity.

In Yoga, the art of conscious breathing is called pranayama. Prana means life force or energy, and yama means control. When we engage in pranayama, we are learning to guide our inner energy through breath—restoring balance to body, mind, and spirit.

 
 
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The Power of Prana

Prana is simply energy—the life force that flows from our sun and moon. It’s everywhere: in every living thing, in the air we breathe, in the food we eat, in the water we drink. Prana is what makes everything grow, move, and thrive.

In Ayurveda, this vital energy travels through the body via countless vibrational channels called nadis. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, these are known as meridians. The Chinese call it chi, the Japanese call it ki—but across ancient healing systems, its meaning remains the same: the subtle force that animates life.

Prana is absorbed not only through breath but also through marma points—vital energy points all over the body. When we’re surrounded by nature, we naturally feel more alive because we’re immersed in prana. It enlivens us, infusing every cell with nature’s intelligence.

This energy moves within us on a level so subtle it operates beyond our normal perception—in a deep, vibrational, even subatomic world. Yet it’s constantly guiding our body, mind, and spirit in ways we often don’t even realize. This is the realm where prana speaks to us.

As Ayurveda says: deha prana samyoge āyuh—life is the union of body and prana. According to my teacher, Vaidya Rama Kant Mishra, prana is the ultimate healing factor. It is the very essence of health, vitality, and the flow of life itself.

The Threefold Nature of Prana

In Shaka Vansiya Ayurveda (SVA), prana—the life force—is understood as having three interrelated components: soma, agni, and marut.

Soma is the cooling, nurturing vibrational energy emitted by the moon. Governed by the earth and water elements, it stabilizes and sustains. According to SVA, soma is the raw material for ojas, the vital essence that supports immunity, resilience, and biological intelligence. Ojas is formed in the final stage of digestion, after food has nourished all seven tissue layers of the body—plasma (rasa), blood (rakta), muscle (mamsa), fat (meda), bone (asthi), bone marrow (majja), and reproductive tissue (shukra).

Agni is the radiant, transformative energy of the sun. It is hot, sharp, and penetrating, governed by fire and water elements. Agni governs metabolism and the conversion of food, thoughts, and experiences into usable energy and insight.

Marut is the subtle vibrational energy governed by space and air. It facilitates the movement of soma and agni, distributing them intelligently throughout the body. Marut enables flow, communication, and integration.

When prana enters the body, it takes on a more tangible form:

  • Marut becomes vata dosha, responsible for movement and communication

  • Agni becomes pitta dosha, responsible for digestion and transformation

  • Soma becomes kapha dosha, responsible for stability, lubrication, and nourishment

Each dosha is governed by the elemental qualities of its corresponding pranic component. Together, they weave the subtle intelligence of nature into our biology, guiding how we live, digest, heal, and thrive.

Prana and Health: The Living Intelligence of Nature

In Ayurveda, prana is the vital force that sustains life. It is the vibrational energy of the sun and moon, present in food, water, air—and in every living thing. When prana flows freely, we feel energized, focused, and alive. But when it is depleted or disturbed, we experience fatigue, imbalance, and disease.

Prana Is Everywhere—But Not Always Pure

The quality of prana depends on the purity of what we take in. A natural food that is overly processed, packaged, or microwaved loses its prana. Similarly, air polluted with chemicals or EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies) carries disturbed pranic energy. Even water—when chlorinated or filtered to extremes—can lose its life-giving quality.

The more denatured a natural element becomes, the less prana it holds.

For example:

  • Chili peppers are hot because they carry more agni (solar pranic energy).

  • Apples are sweet and soothing because they hold more soma (lunar pranic energy).

These qualities reflect the unique proportions of prana’s three components:

  • Soma – cooling, stabilizing (moon; water + earth)

  • Agni – heating, transforming (sun; fire + water)

  • Marut – moving, distributing (space + air)

According to my Ayurvedic teacher, Vaidya R.K. Mishra, it is the marut component—the space element—that carries the intelligence of nature. Marut governs the flow and distribution of prana. But it is also the most easily disturbed by modern life—especially by invisible frequencies from:

  • WiFi

  • Cell towers

  • Computers

  • Microwaves

  • X-rays

  • Prolonged screen time

In the body, marut—the vibrational energy governed by space and air—manifests as vata dosha. Vata is responsible for movement, communication, and flow. But when we are under constant stress, vata increases beyond its natural limits. This can lead to anxiety, restlessness, fatigue, and a scattered mind.

Today, stress is everywhere. Long hours in front of screens, constant notifications, and exposure to artificial light and electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs) overstimulate the nervous system and disrupt the natural rhythm of prana. These unnatural energies ride the vibrational channels of prana—called nadis in Ayurveda—disturbing the body’s innate intelligence and internal balance.

Over time, this imbalance weakens our resilience and leaves us feeling depleted. That’s why grounding practices, time in nature, and conscious rest are so essential to soothe vata, restore pranic flow, and reconnect us to our natural rhythms.

How to Restore the Natural Flow of Prana

To counter the disturbances to prana caused by stress, screen time, EMFs, and processed living, Vaidya Mishra encouraged returning to nature. These simple, timeless practices help reconnect the body to its natural intelligence and rhythm:

  • Lie or walk on sand or bare earth

  • Walk barefoot on grass

  • Sit beside or hug a tree

  • Spend time in moonlight—walk or simply rest under it

  • Add a few fresh basil leaves to your bath water or drinking water

  • Surround yourself with plants—especially near your computer or electronics

  • Eat freshly cooked meals and drink pure, clean water

Even the ancient Ayurvedic sages recognized that leftovers begin to lose prana after just four hours. They took great care to preserve prana when preparing herbal medicines, understanding that this subtle life force was key to true healing.

By contrast, many modern pharmaceuticals and lab-made supplements—though often necessary and life-saving—may lack prana altogether. Over time, their use can place added strain on the body’s systems.

“If you take part from the whole, it will make the body sick.”
—Ancient Ayurvedic Wisdom

True wellness comes from working with nature, not against it—honouring the wholeness of life’s intelligence. Small daily choices can restore the subtle vibrational balance of prana and support your vitality from the inside out.

Why Prana Matters

Health isn’t just about nutrients or medical diagnoses—it’s fundamentally about prana, the subtle energy and intelligence that sustains body, mind, and spirit. When prana is disturbed, this delicate harmony begins to break down. But when prana flows freely and clearly, we experience true vitality.

This is why preserving prana—in our food, breath, environment, and daily rhythms—is one of the most powerful choices we can make for lifelong wellness. While we may not control every factor, we can take charge of a few key ones: the food we eat, the time we go to bed, and the way we breathe. Conscious breath regulation is a profound way to support the flow of prana.

Breathing with Awareness

There are different types of pranayama, some are relaxing like nadi shodhana-alternate nostril breathing, cooling as with sheetali, and others are heating or stimulating to the body like bhastrika, ujjayi or agnisara. It is highly recommended pranayama is learned by a trained practitioner.

Pranayama gives you the opportunity to experience the connections of body and mind through breathing. In addition to prana entering the top of your head at the adipathi marma point, you also breathe it in through your nostrils- soma energy from the moon through the left nostril travelling down towards the ida nadi, and agni energy from the sun through the right nostril down towards pingala nadi. Pranayama is one of the eight limbs in the traditional practice of Yoga as described in the ancient text, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali:

1. Yamas- ethical morals
2. Niyamas- self-discipline
3. Asanas- postures
4. Pranayama- breath control
5. Pratyahara- withdrawal of the senses
6. Dharana- concentration
7. Dhyana- contemplation and meditation
8. Samadhi- union with you true self, your inner joy and peace


Benefits of Pranayama

  1. Decrease stress

  2. Improve psychological stress-related disorders

  3. Improve autonomic nervous system function

  4. Improve immune function

  5. Improve sleep

  6. Improve executive function of the brain- mindfulness, learning, memory, recall


Listen to your body

If you’re new to pranayama start with just a few repetitions and sets, up to 5 minutes, and if you have a medical condition you should consult with a health professional before embarking on any pranayama. Try this. Start with simply breathing in and out from your nostrils, or breathing out with pursed lips. Pay attention to the quality of your breathing, the length, the rhythm and notice any movement from your belly and chest. The belly should inflate when you breathe in, and deflate when you breathe out. If you feel off, like dizzy or nauseous after doing some rounds, pause until the feeling subsides. Repeat and see what happens. Do less repetitions and less sets if you have to, or stop all together and try again later. Remember to always pay attention to how you are feeling.

Diaphragmatic breathing

Diaphragmatic breathing is often taught by therapists and doctors to help patients relax and recognize the main breathing muscle, the diaphragm, located inside and around your lower rib cage.

  1. Lie down comfortably, head and knees on a pillow. Place one hand on your upper chest, the other just below the rib cage. You can also do this sitting up.

  2. Breathe in through your nose. The diaphragm will engage and you can feel it move with your hand, moving your belly upward if you are lying down, and forward if you are sitting up. In a sitting or standing perspective, the diaphragm moves forward, out to the sides and upwards towards your head, inflating your belly and expanding your rib cage. The idea is to utilize your diaphragm muscle move during breathing, more than any other accessory breathing muscles, like your shoulders or throat.

  3. Breath out through pursed lips or through your nose.

  4. Repeat steps 1-3, five times for 1 set.

  5. Do another set if you feel good, up to 3 sets. You can work your way up to doing 10-20 repetitions with 3 sets. Always listening to how your body feels.

If you would like to do some breathwork and learn more about holistic healing with Yoga, self-care and vegetarian cooking classes, I go live on Zoom every season with my Seasonal Workshops, a series of classes designed to put the knowledge into action.

 
 
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References

Vaidya R. K. Mishra- Notes from Shaka Vansiya Ayurveda Courses, Practicum, Conferences and Lectures 2003-2015

Marianne Teitelbaum, D.C.- Healing the Thyroid with Ayurveda, 2019

Sri Sri Yoga- Notes from Yoga Teacher Training, 2006 & 2020

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3573542/

https://www.healthline.com/health/pranayama-benefits#less-stress

https://youtu.be/Xe4OEg5cLGM

https://youtu.be/hp-gCvW8PRY