We're Made of Magic

Dear Yogis.

It strikes me that I should say something about prāṇa. David Williams, subject of the last three Friday Emails, said that the whole game of yoga is increasing prāṇa.

Look at this for a translation… Pra translates as to bring forth and Na is the eternal cosmic vibration!!! Mostly the translation is given as ‘life force energy’ or ‘vital energy’ which implies that harnessing yoga and breath gives you that energy, but it’s more than breathing and it’s more than energy. Breath is not just what we do but who we are, says Bhavani Silvia Maki in The Yogi’s Roadmap. And tapping into the breath via breathing exercises (prāṇāyāma) harnesses the attention – with attention we can achieve anything! Prāṇa will follow attention.

Eddie Stern in his book One Simple Thing says: ‘prāṇa is supreme among all powers that we as have as humans, greater than our mind, greater than the elements, and greater even than hope or reflection’. In the book The Heart Of Yoga, TKV Desikachar, he says that ‘too little prāṇa in the body can be expressed as a feeling of being stuck or restricted… lack of drive or motivation… listless or even depressed’. ‘On the other hand, the more peaceful and well-balanced we are, the less our prāṇa is dispersed outside the body’. Here’s a gem! Desikachar says ‘One definition of the word yogi is “one whose prāṇa is all within his body”’’.

Finally, Paramhansa Yogananda translated prāṇa as ‘lifetrons’ or ‘condensed thoughts of God’. Whichever way you look at it, we carry magic and endless possibilities in us, all day long! 

Zoom Classes 

Yesterday in class we did a Second Series backbend, Parsva Dhanurasana. It’s the one lying on the belly, holding the feet, pushing into the hands and looking a bit like a bow. The only thing is, the sequence involves falling over onto the side, and then the other side. It’s one of the many postures that I thought the teacher was making it up and having a laugh the first time I tried it! No, it’s a real posture! Have a go today at 4.30.

Yoga in the news 

The Evening Standard has: 3D yoga mats: how sensory cues can boost your practice. This mat will guide you to ‘optimal body positioning across the poses yogis identified as the most difficult to master: according to experts, split-like handstands, crow poses and the praying mantis’.

The Telegraph has: I thought raw food diets and yoga for dogs were ridiculous - but then I tried them. There's a dog obesity epidemic, lower life expectancy, stress and anxiety on the rise in dogs and one in four dogs end up with cancer. Against this backdrop, surely there’s never been a better time to explore pet wellness, to see if it makes a difference. See what three dog owners said!

Clocks spring forward. Have a lovely Spring weekend.