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Is prana just oxygen?
Jeffrey
Veteran
Since ancient times it's been noted that the bodies energy is dependent on prana/breath.
Could it be that that is just an option of oxygen in the body. For example deep breathing energizes a person... So is that prana or oxygen?
Could it be that that is just an option of oxygen in the body. For example deep breathing energizes a person... So is that prana or oxygen?
0
Comments
What makes you say that?
taiyaki, same question to you?
Its oxygen and other stuff in the air. But i'm pretty confident it is mostly air which in turn effects blood and energy.
But i guess one cannot know for sure.
the Dragon is a type of gigantic fire-breathing lizard and it is both a creature of the air and the land, and is also closely connected to water. Its scales are a solid and defensive carapace, associated with metal.
Therefore the dragon is connected to all 5 Transformations: Air, Earth, Water, Fire and Metal.
The chi within our systems and indeed characteristic of all matter, can be activated, stimulated, depleted and replenished according to our habits. It is not dependent on the breath for its circulation, but has been more recently associated with lymph... although it's much more complex than that.
I just wondered if it was oxygen. I still think that, but think it is separate from the five elements you mention. I had heard of four of them, but not metal.
Prana is also cultivated and diffused through yoga, just as chi is, with Tai chi or chi kung....
When your mind lacks awareness, it is inevitably propelled into places it doesn’t necessarily want to be. It gets caught up in endless internal chatter, fixates on problems and worries, and gets dragged into anger, guilt, pride, or desire. Whichever destination your mind arrives at there is just one essential force that propels it there: the vital wind known as prana, chi, or (in Tibetan) lung. Prana is the essential energy underlying all of existence. All of the ways you can relate to the world and to your own mind, energy, and physical body are affected by prana and all are inseparable from prana.
To enter the doorway of the mind, therefore, you must harness and guide prana rather than be driven by it. Consciously guiding prana begins with a basic understanding of the energy body. Unlike the physical body, which is made up of flesh, blood, bones, cells, blood vessels, and vital organs, the energy body is made up of mind and energy: a system of spheres of light, sacred winds, channels of light, and chakras.
More of this great explanation here: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Buddhism/Articles/Mind-and-Prana-in-Meditation-Practice.aspx#ixzz1yDAxyjTC
Thanks, great link...!
From the same teacher I cited above, here are some prana analogies I found fascinating and helpful:
The Bön Mother Tantra uses the analogy of the horse, rider, and path to explain the relationship between mind, prana, channels, and chakras:
*Prana is like a blind horse. Without your mind holding the reins, prana gallops unaware in whatever direction karma forces it to go.
*The mind is like a lame rider. Without prana to propel it, your mind is unable to access and connect with higher experiences of freedom, openness, and clarity. It also can’t effectively reach others through prayer.
*When the lame rider catches the blind horse, your mind can go where it intends, experience the right kind of space, connect with the right qualities, and manifest in the right ways. How does your mind catch and guide the prana? Through awareness.
*The channels are the path. Just as a horse will naturally follow a clear trail through a forest, prana travels through a system of channels running throughout the body. There are gross physical channels such as your body’s nerves and blood vessels, subtle energy channels, and very subtle channels that are more related to mind.
I am not involved in this teaching, just a mahayana practitioner.
Really, I'm asking.
Acupuncture studies have shown, for example, that in addition to the "placebo affect" (using dummy needles) which activated the part of the brain that produces natural opiates, when real acupuncture needles were used, that same area of the brain was activated along with a second area, the insular, which is associated with pain modification:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4493011.stm
We may not have developed a machine to measure or qualify dreams, but we know dreams exist--or, at least, we know they exist as much as anything can be known through direct experience, absent a machine that somehow captures the experience.
Does love exist? There's another phenomenon for which there is no proof other than direct experience, and observance of people's behavior (again, no machine).
What does "verifiable" mean? I think we mistakenly assume it means "capturable by machine," but even science doesn't require machine-capture of dreaming to acknowledge it exists. Scientists believe people dream, because people say they dream. They measure the various sleep states and so on, but they only talk about people "dreaming" because people claim to dream.
Though there is this caveat towards the end of the article:
"Professor Henry McQuay, professor of pain relief at the University of Oxford and member of the Bandolier group that looks at the evidence behind different medical treatments, said: "The great bulk of the randomised controlled trials to date do not provide convincing evidence of pain relief over placebo...... ... it is extremely difficult, technically, to study acupuncture and tease out the placebo effect."
I've had acupuncture and didn't notice any positive benefits.
If you search "acupuncture," "JAMA," and then limit the search results to say, the past year, you can find a decent amount of the current research
"The wind energy can be simply described as a wind, but it is difficult to apprehend, as it cannot be perceived by our eyes consciousness. The wind does flow inside the body as well as outside of the body. The general shape of the inside wind is the same as that of the physical body, closed by the skin, because the tissues and organs are completely filled by the wind energy.
The wind is pervasive. Wind is the energy, and body and psychic powers, but it also has physical functions in the nerves, organs, and tissues, because there is no solid tissue in the body without wind. All are produced by the material and sub-material of the wind particles along with the other elements. Therefore, if the wind flows correctly and harmoniously, it brings health, prosperity and clarity of the mind, while when wind is disturbed, the mind and body become disturbed and illness arises.
If the wind energy is contaminated by wrong diet, behaviors and delusions, then the wind can circulate in wrong passages, give hallucinations to the mind and reduce its clarity.
According to tantras, in the 72,000 channels flow 72,000 subtle winds, which impose 72.000 emotions. If these channels are soft, gentle and in the correct way or straight, the wind circulation moves freely and gives creativity and clarity to the mind. If the circulation is blocked or disturbed, 72, 000 negative emotions or related emotions may be produced. Commonly, in animals and human beings, these channels are not fully clear and clean, consequently the body ages, suffers, and death exists because of these disturbed energies in the channels. In fact, this is the identity and image of samsara. Whoever is able to recognize and see this wrong flow of energy in the channels can work on it through the yoga and tsa-rLung practices. That is why these practices focus so much on the wind.
Tantras even say: “The one who knows the channels and their functions, knows the nature of the body. And the one who knows the functions of the wind, knows the functions of the mind.”
More here: http://www.tibetanmedicine-edu.org/index.php/n-articles/vajra-body