What is Prana?

"Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being."

- Genesis 2:7

And that "Breath of Life", "Life Energy" or "Unseen Force" is what in Sanskrit they call it Prana, in Japanese "Ki", in Chinese "Chi", in Hebrew "Ruah", in Greek "Pneuma", and in Polynesian "Mana".

So it is basically what keeps us alive in this body and this world, the quantity and quality of Prana in our body has a direct effect on its health and vitality.

While in the body we can increase it by taking the prana of the Air, Sun, Earth which are called: Air Prana, Solar Prana and Ground Prana. We also can get prana from Water, Trees, Plants, Food, etc, ..

So for increasing prana or life energy in our system we need to carefully choose our life style, a balanced and wholesome lifestyle has massive effect on our intake of prana.

In Yoga there are series of breathing exercises using Air Prana to increase or control the prana in the body, they called Pranayama.

Also deep slow rhythmic breathing can absorb more prana, than short shallow breathing. Air Prana is the most accessible source of prana around us and we just need to know how to absorb more of it consciously.

We can get Solar Prana by sunbathing or exposure to sunlight, of course not for a long time (5-10mins are enough) and not during the times of the day when UV rate is very high, otherwise instead of being beneficial it will damage our whole body.

Ground Prana automatically and unconsciously absorbs through the soles of the feet to the whole body and consciously walking barefoot in the nature can increase it.

That's why when we are in nature, almost immediately feel better! There we can absorb more refine form of all these types of prana, however the degree of absorption also depends on how healthy is our body and energy system to be able to absorb and keep these intakes.

There are also other types of Prana or Life Energy which energy healers use to heal patients from their sicknesses.

I wish you always absorb healthy, positive and uplifting Pranas in your life :)