Prāna-Cikitsā: Healing Using Prāna
YS II-49: tasmin-sati-śvāsa-praśvāsayoḥ gati-vicchedaḥ prāṇāyāmaḥ… Pranayama is the conscious, deliberate regulation of the breath, which replaces unconscious and disturbing patterns by creating a new breathing pattern where the breath is conscious, long and smooth.
Excerpt from “The Yoga of Healing: Exploring Yoga’s Holistic Model for Health and Well-being” International Journal Of Yoga Therapy — No. 15 (2005) by K Desikachar, M.S., M.M.S., assisted by Liz Bragdon, M.A., and Chase Bossart, B.A.
Prâna-Cikitsâ: Healing Using Prâna
When prâna is moving freely throughout the human system, we function in a normal, healthy manner, but when it is obstructed, there is sickness. We can work directly with prâna to remove obstructions and promote healing, but before discussing the latter, we should first examine prâna itself.
Prâna is a complex concept that easily could provide enough material for a separate article. For our purposes here, however, our explanation will be simple and brief.
Prâna refers to both the breath and to a kind of vital energy, or subtle life force, that is within the body and which animates us. As long as we have prâna, we have life. If prâna leaves, we die. The ancient yogis identified the close connection between breath and life (if we stop breathing, we die) and connected breathing directly with the vital energy that animates the living body. Every cell of our body, they determined, is imbued with prâna, and all prâna is the same in terms of origin and substance. The ancient yogis gave specific names to prâna residing in different parts of the body, however, and attributed specific functions to each.
Other techniques that work on prâna are mudrâ, or hand gestures, and bhâvana, or visualization. Most mudrâs influence the vyâna vâyu, because mudrâs require consciously directed movement of the fingers and hands. In order to get our hand to hold the desired shape, we have to concentrate, and this conscious effort stimulates the prâna in the area of the hands (vyâna vâyu).
Description of the five prânas
The Yoga masters divided the body’s prâna into ten different types, called vâyus (literally, “winds”) and attributed different functions to each vâyu. We will briefly present five of the most important vâyus, which are called the mahâ vâyu (great vâyu).
Apâna vâyu: Located in the area below the navel, this vâyu is responsible for the vital functions of elimination, reproduction, and fertility.
Samâna vâyu: Located in the area of the belly around the navel, this vâyu is responsible for digestion.
Prâna vâyu: Located in the heart and chest area, this vâyu is responsible for mental functions, thoughts, and emotions. In other words, the ancient Yoga masters believed that the seat of the mind is in the heart, not the head.
Udâna vâyu: Located in the throat region, this vâyu influences communication and expression functions.
Vyâna vâyu: This vâyu is present throughout the human system, but it is specifically responsible for moving prâna throughout the body. It also is responsible for functions in those areas not influenced by the other vâyus. It is responsible for movement of the fingers and toes, for example.
If a student is experiencing a problem in a specific area of the body, one of the ways we can address that problem is by prescribing practices that work on the vâyu responsible for that area.
The most powerful tool for working with prâna is prânâyâma. Patanjali defines prânâyâma as “conscious breathing” (YS II-49).
It is impossible to discuss the application of prânâyâma for specific ailments, because the needs and abilities of the whole person, not just how to treat his or her ailment, must be considered before prescribing a practice. Generally speaking, however, we can use the exhalation and holding after exhalation to work with the apâna vâyu. Inhalation and holding after inhalation influence the prâna vâyu, and breathing ratios in which the inhalation and exhalation are of equal length influence the samâna vâyu.
Another important tool for working with prâna is the set of practices known as bandhas. Bandhas are advanced techniques and should not be used casually or without the guidance of a knowledgeable teacher. If a knife is used correctly, it is a very useful tool, but if used incorrectly it can cause severe damage. Similarly, when utilizing prânâyâma and bandhas, if we force things or apply the wrong breathing ratios, we may agitate whatever problems already exist in the student’s system.
One of the ways we can use visualization is through intention. In Sanskrit this is known as sankalpa: the idea that I am now going to do something, an intention to do something. For example, I might say, “I am now going to work on inhalation to influence the prâna dimension of my system, and I am going to do this by putting my hands on my chest and visualizing the inhalation getting longer and longer.”
Additionally, bandhas do not engage automatically (there are a few exceptions where it may happen automatically, such as jâlandhara bandha in the posture dvipâda pîtham).
The practitioner must engage bandhas willfully, and this is easier to do in certain postures than in others. The ancient texts that discuss bandhas advise that they be done only in samasthiti postures, i.e., when the spine is straight.
Having offered these cautions, generally speaking, we can say that jâlandhara bandha will bring attention to the throat region and thus affects the udâna vâyu. Uddîyâna bandha brings additional attention to the apâna vâyu and to the samâna vâyu, and mûla bandha influences the apâna vâyu.
The Yoga masters claimed that as the breath becomes longer and smoother, prâna flows more freely throughout the human system. So anything that helps the practitioner to smoothly and comfortably extend breathing is a good tool. A long breath by itself is not enough, however the breath must be not only long, but also comfortable. If the breath is long and ragged, or if we have to strain to make our breath long, we are working in the wrong direction and will likely aggravate any problem.
In addition to the bandhas, prânâyâma may be combined with other, complementary healing techniques, including âsana, bhâvana (visualization), mudrâs, oils, and chanting (adhyayanam).
For example, when chanting, we produce sound only while exhaling, so we can use the pronunciation of sounds as a way to help the student extend exhalation.
Chanting is a powerful tool for healing imbalances of the udâna vâyu. Beyond this most obvious application, chanting also has the potential to influence all of the vâyus, as each Sanskrit sound resonates at a specific location in the body. Ha, for example, resonates in the throat, while ra resonates in the belly. The Sanskrit sound hra resonates in both. That is why it is absolutely crucial that when chanting in Sanskrit, we pronounce each sound correctly. The meaning of the sounds and words are secondary: it is most important to master the correct pronunciation.
It should also be pointed out that chanting is not a musical activity; we do not sing the sounds, we speak them. There is a difference between kîrtan and adhyayanam. Singing the sounds changes them, and since the sound has a specific function in adhyayanam, we do not want to alter it in any way.
Other techniques that work on prâna are mudrâ, or hand gestures, and bhâvana, or visualization. Most mudrâs influence the vyâna vâyu, because mudrâs require consciously directed movement of the fingers and hands. In order to get our hand to hold the desired shape, we have to concentrate, and this conscious effort stimulates the prâna in the area of the hands (vyâna vâyu). If we then move our hands to the chest region, we are directing the focus to the prâna vâyu. The point here is that bringing the mind’s attention to a particular area of the body stimulates the prâna in that area.
Mudrâ accompanying prânâyâma would be one possible way to work with someone with Parkinson’s disease, an imbalance in the vyâna vâyu. Bringing one’s awareness to these physical actions (the mudrâs) with prânâyâma focuses and redirects the imbalanced vâyu. For example, we can use the “cin” mudrâ (which is joining the index finger with the thumb) during prânâyâma.
During every breath, the person can be asked to change the finger that links with the thumb. This brings the person’s attention to the fingers and hence facilitates the flow of prâna. As the ancient masters said, wherever our attention is, there flows prâna. What this practice may do is strengthen the vyâna vâyu, whose weakness may be a cause of the trembling of our hands. As is true for every example used in this arti- cle, however, this is merely an illustration, and we must not think of this as a prescriptive way to work with people with Parkinson’s.
Visualization is another powerful technique for working with prâna. When I visualize that I am a mountain or that I am sending the breath to my knee, for example, this is what “happens” during the visualization. And this experience, originating from my visualization, has an effect on me.
One of the ways we can use visualization is through intention. In Sanskrit this is known as sankalpa: the idea that I am now going to do something, an intention to do something. For example, I might say, “I am now going to work on inhalation to influence the prâna dimension of my system, and I am going to do this by putting my hands on my chest and visualizing the inhalation getting longer and longer.” As we engage in this visualization process, the system changes and our breath does become longer.
Excerpt from “The Yoga of Healing: Exploring Yoga’s Holistic Model for Health and Well-being” International Journal Of Yoga Therapy — No. 15 (2005) by K Desikachar, M.S., M.M.S., assisted by Liz Bragdon, M.A., and Chase Bossart, B.A.
All classes at the centre have increased the breath work content in their classes. We would be grateful for any feedback. Let me know via email or fill out the form below.
– Barb and the AYC team