Understanding Prana

So, you have to learn five things about prana.

The first thing is how to increase prana. Like money: how to make more money, how to increase it.

But then, how to conserve it, how to keep the money in savings. You can have a lot of prana, but you can spend it in a moment.

So, you are here for four weeks. Basically, you increase your prana. Then you store your prana. That’s why, on the day off, we tell you to pay attention, because you can increase your prana for one week, and then you go out for a few hours and spend it all.

So, not only increasing prana but also conserving it is an art. We will talk about that.

And then, what else do you need to do?

You need to balance prana, because some people have a lot of prana in one aspect and no prana in another aspect.

Let’s say they have a lot of prana in the mind—thinking, thinking, thinking—a lot of prana. But they have no prana in the heart. They don’t feel anything. They are all blocked; nothing moves there. The prana is imbalanced.

You see children: when you play with children, you become tired very quickly. Why? They have a lot of prana, but their prana is not balanced, so then you become tired.

So, in Yoga, it is very important to learn how to balance your prana: Ha and Tha. We will talk about that another time: the balancing of prana.

But today, we will talk about how to increase prana and how to conserve prana.

Then, what else do you need to do?

You need to channel the prana. That means using it. The more you use the prana, the more prana you have. Do you know this?

It is the same with money. You have to use it to make more money. You know that?

It is the same with a car. You have to use the car, and then it will be good if you keep using it. But if you keep the car in the garage because you are afraid to use it, then it becomes problematic.

It is the same with prana. You are born with it. Prana is your life force. It is a gift from Mother Nature, given to you to live your life—how to eat your food, how to think, how to make decisions about your life, how to enjoy. All of this is a gift from Mother Nature, through the prana, or life force, that has been given to you.

You need to use it. This is called channeling the prana—how to use the prana in such a way that you get more.

And then, the last thing is that you need to purify the prana.

What does it mean to purify the prana?

It means making the prana more subtle—more sattvic, more subtle.

So, just to give an example, let’s say you have one hundred $1 bills. You have a stack of bills that is worth $100. Then, you have one $100 bill.

This analogy shows that you can generate many thoughts in your mind, because prana is related to thought. If you have a lot of prana, the thoughts have a high wavelength. If your prana is low, the thoughts have a low wavelength.

That means the thoughts you produce will always be negative. But if you have lots of positivity, lots of prana, then the thoughts will be very powerful.

So, you can generate hundreds of thoughts, but they are low—not impactful, not important. For example, when you worry, you generate a lot of thoughts: “What about this? What about that?” The mind is restless all the time. There are a lot of thoughts, but you have low prana.

Another person might not think too much. They meditate and have only a few thoughts. But when they open their mouth to speak, their words have lots of prana.

So, that is called purified prana, or changing the wavelength. You need to do that as well.

Let me summarize the five things you need to do:

1. Try to increase prana through your lifestyle choices.
2. Try to conserve prana through your lifestyle choices. We will talk about that in more detail. You can bring the board over, and we can write it down.
3. Balance the prana.
4. Use prana correctly: channel the prana.

What is the fifth thing you need to do?

5. Purify the prana!