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What is 'Prana'? Prana is a Sanskrit word that literally means 'before (pra) + breathe (an)'. In sanskrit and hindi, the words for breath, wind, life-breath, life-essence are same. Prana is both the physical breath and the subtle life energy of the body. In different cultures this is referred by different names: Chi(Qi), Barak, Mana, Logos, Energy, etc. The living force within all creature is the 'consciousness', however, this consciousness is unconscious of the complex and dynamic physiological and psychological process which result from 'consciousness' and mind dwelling in a physical body. Most of these processes continue without any conscious input at all. 

There is, for example, a gap in consciousness between mental intention to walk, and actually walking. The individual consciousness is quite unconscious of the complex nervous, muscular, chemical, electrical, and may other biological processes that are involved in 'simply' walking. All the intermediate process between the conscious decision to walk and walking itself are unconscious. Even the brain function associated with original intention happen automatically and unconsciously. 

All this is due to the presence of the life essence, prana, controlling and activating all bodily processes. Prana is directed by the mind, and the mind is activated by consciousness. In other words, the consciousness or Dweller in the body, functions through mind energy. Prana unites or links the mind to the form or body so that it can function in it. Mind then utilizes this form and functions through the senses, and gains satisfaction, experience and learning through pleasure and pain. In physical aspect, prana is also responsible for the forces that science calls gravity and electromagnetism. These two force-fields are effects or physical manifestation of the implicit order supported by prana. 

In fact, according to Vedic philosophy, the physical universe is really changing patterns in space, and that creation manifests into being through the movement in the stillness that is eternally existent. In subtle body, five key pranas are identified (that govern the major physiological and psychological functions): prana, apana, samana, udana and vyana. Siva Samhita explains: In heart, there is a brilliant lotus with twelve petals adorned with brilliant markings. It has the (Sanskrit) letters ka to tha, the twelve, beautiful letters. The prana live here, adorned with various desires, accompanied by its past works that have no beginning, and joined with ahankra (ego). 

From the different modification of prana, it receives various names. The seat of the prana is the heart; of the apana, the anus; of the samana, the region about the navel; of the udana, the throat; while the vyana move throughout the body. Prana is thus the intelligence or cause lying behind the tremendous order and organization of all body functions, as well as the universe at large. It is not visible to the physical sense organs, and thus can be describes as a subtle form of energy. Pranic Therapy Pranic Therapy is a form of alternate medicine that uses various holistic health treatments in unifying body, mind and sprit to enhance the self-awareness and healing by restoring the balanced movements of prana in the subtle energy channels of the body. 

Holistic Health Holistic Health refers to a alternate healthcare movement which considers health as a dynamic and unified state of the human being. It is based on the principle that symptoms of a disease may be found in certain tissues or organs however, the health and wellness is not a mere removal of such symptoms by the treatment of the affected tissues or organs, but a wholeness of multidimensional experience. The body, mind, spirit and environment are in a state of continuous interactive balance and the maintenance of this balance in an optimum state is the definition of 'health'. Sushruta, an Ayurvedic authority who lived 4,000 years ago, defined a healthy person as "He (who is) in balance, whose digestion, assimilation, and metabolism are good, whose tissues and wastes are created properly, and whose self, mind, and senses remain full of bliss." It is a sense of unified well-being as opposed to dis-ease. 

Holistic health does not reject the orthodox system of western medicine but complements it. In the case of infectious diseases, nutritional and hormonal deficiencies and bodily defects which need surgical intervention, it follows the western system. Psychosomatic dis-eases such as stress, hypertension, peptic ulcer, allergic asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, etc., can be helped by holistic health practices. Holistic health provides a way of life which prevents the recurrence of some of these ailments. 

Holistic health practices gives the responsibility of health in the hands of patient because that is where the awareness and control of the key aspects (diet, stress, exercise, action, emotion and medication) reside. The one person who knows about the patient more than anybody else is the patient himself. In the Holistic Model, the cause of any disease is understood in terms of the whole person and not in terms of a particular organ or tissue. Plato remarked that "the treatment of the parts should not be attempted without treatment of the whole". 

Most of the holistic health practices are based on the model of unified life, i.e. unified body, mind, spirit and environment. Unified-life Views: unifying body, mind, spirit and environment Unified life is the aim of Vedic philosophy. The Seers believed in the fullness of life (materialism and spirituality). They realized the unity of life before the unity of consciousness. 

The complete physical awareness is as important as spiritual awareness. In other words, we have to become self-aware before we can develop the cosmic awareness within us. It is resonates more closely with modern New Age view where material awareness is perceived equally important as spiritual awareness. A more broader view of unified life was developed by Tantras which arose between the 6th and 9th centuries AD. The reality is perceived as the manifestations of Chit-Shakti or Conscious-Mind-Force. Matter, Mind and Self are all regarded as manifestations of this universal field which is personified as the Divine Goddess or Adi-Maya. All activities are carried on by the Conscious-Mind-Force (universe is the playful dance of Conscious-Mind-Force) and all we have to do is to open ourselves to this divine power through self-awareness for the cosmic prana or universal life-force to flow-in. 

The universe displays the beauty of Thy Comeliness! The goal is Thy Beauty - all else is pretext. -- Rumi. A far more encompassing unified view of life is developed by mysticism. Mysticism regards that our consciousness is a tiny wave of supreme consciousness and all the creation is created and sustained by the 'Creative Will' (or Word) of the Supreme Consciousness. Prana is essentially the diffused power of the Word, the presence of 'Creative Will' in everything, which holds all the matter and energies together. 

In this model everything perceived by our mind and senses is considered as veils. Only consciousness is real. Rumi says: Man is a mighty volume; within him all things are written, but veils and darkness do not allow him to read that knowledge within himself. The veils and darkness are these various preoccupations and diverse worldly plans and desires of every kind. In all unified-life views the dis-ease is caused by the blocakges in the flow of pranas within the individual or between the individual and the cosmos. These obstructions are caused by Samskaras, psychic memories or residual traces of our past actions and experiences. Samskaras are of two kinds, those which only produce memories (smriti) of past experiences and those which produce impulses or drives to repeat these experiences (vasanas). 

These two are interlinked to form complex patterns of love, hate, fear, doubt, anger, pride, lust, attachment, greed etc. It is these patterns that obstruct the free flow of pranas in us. Most of these patterns are formed from traumatic or unpleasant experiences. When unpleasant or traumatic experiences take place, our tendency is to suppress them (using unconscious fight, flight or freeze mechanisms) instead of accepting and learning from them. Suppression pushes the energy of psychic memories into the unconscious mind. The growing person may not be able to recollect those psychic memories again, but the suppressed samskaras lodged in the unconscious will manifest as psychological and psychosomatic disorders or painful experiences and forces the person to gain the experience and learning. If the person fails to learn and uses various methods to blunt the pain and suppress the memory then the nature will re-manifest the circumstances/experiences until the learning is complete. 

Charaka Samhita, states "The disturbance of the three doshas are caused by Prajnaparadha, produced by the distortion of the intellect, will and memory ". In other words, the root cause of most of the psychosomatic or constitutional disorders is Prajnaparadha, the misuse of our intellect and cognitive faculties. It is our unbalanced way of living, out of harmony with natural rhythms, that is the cause of dis-ease. Health can be restored by enhancing the self-awareness and promoting the the free flow of prana that improves the coordination, rhythm and balance in working of the whole body. Think of the soul as the source and created things as springs. While the source exists, the spring continually flow. Empty your head of grief and drink from the stream. Don't think of it failing -- This water is endless. -Rumi.