Prana in our lifespan
Prana, or life force, is an ancient concept. In most Indian languages, when someone dies they say the prana has left him/her.
Consciousness and prana come into us when we enter the world from our mother’s womb to take our first breath; it leaves us when we exhale for the last time and die. The duration between the first inhalation and the last exhalation is the lifespan during which we are all allotted a certain number of breathing cycles.
Physicians are often perplexed when some patients live longer than others though they all suffer from similar life-threatening conditions. Can the hidden determinants of mystical prana and the autonomous breathing rate explain the differences?
Pranayama
Breathing is an autonomous function, and the respiration rate is inversely proportional to lifespan. The slower the respiration, the longer the lifespan, and vice versa- many examples from the animal world support this assertion.
If we can find a way to slow down our respiration rate, autonomously, our lifespan should increase.
There is a widespread but, mistaken, belief that the sole purpose of breathing is to supply life-supporting oxygen to the body, but this premise is not wholly correct.
Prana also comes into us as we breathe.
In yogic practices, control of prana has been given much prominence. The breathing exercises intended to regulate prana are aptly called Pranayama, not Swasayama (control of breath). These breathing exercises regulate prana and enhance the supply of oxygen to the body.
Pranayama is usually preceded by physical exercises and followed by meditation.
Powerful Evidence of Prana
His Holiness the Dalai Lama explains a Buddhist meditative practice called “Thukdam” “When an ordinary person dies, there is a dissolution of the five principal elements at the moment of clinical death. The body of the person in the state of thukdam can remain warm and free of decomposition for many days implying that some of the principal elements have remained in the body even after clinical death. My senior tutor, Ling Rinpoché, remained in Thukdam for 13 days. Recently, a monk at Kirti Monastery remained in this state for 37 days.”
The five principal elements are Prithvi (Earth), Jal (Water), Agni (Fire/heat), Vayu (Air/Oxygen), and Akash (Space – Consciousness and Pranic Energy).
When Russian scientists examined 104 monks in meditation, they observed a monk in thukdam for 37 days at the Gyutö Monastery in India. They noted that his body in thukdam was in a quite different state from the body of someone undergoing the ordinary process of death.
Measuring Prana
Prana can be seen, but not heard, tasted, smelled, or touched, but it can be measured by a non-invasive technique called Gas Discharge Visualization. A harmless electrical current is applied to the fingers of both hands placed on the glass electrode of the device, called Bio-Well. The finger’s response to this electrical stimulus is a burst of photons which are captured by the computer and analyzed. The intensity of the discharge and its area provides an estimate of the pranic energy being experienced.
I (Pradeep Deshpande) learned to see Pranic energy from H. H. Guru Mahan. When you stare at the sky on a sunny day as far as you can without focusing on anything in particular, in the direction opposite to the Sun, you will see Prana.
Several years ago, I asked Arvind Bhavasar, my software consultant, to step onto the balcony of my Pune apartment and repeat the experiment. What he saw and described was substantially similar to what I saw too, as shown in this clip of a video he made of his experience. This energy that is ubiquitous in the cosmos has been witnessed by many friends here in America and in India.
Our lifespan is determined by the number of breathing cycles we are given. Slower breathing reduces the number of respiration cycles and is supportive of a longer lifespan. An increase in prana slows breathing. There are reports of seers living very long under their yogic practices.
For healthy individuals, the pranic energy remains within an upper and a lower bound for much of their lives reduces to a low value at death. From studies on pranic energy, Prof. Korotkov has shown that the pranic energy of subjects suffering from serious ailments was much lower than that of healthy subjects. He found that the pranic energy of persons after natural death continued to diminish for several days following death.
Explaining differences in lifespan
Pranayama and meditation practices have nothing to do with race, religion, or gender. At a fundamental level, three factors can explain the differences in the lifespan of individuals: (1) genetic traits inherited from ancestors, (2) how the subjects have lived their lives to the present age, and (3) environmental factors.
Some individuals may naturally have enhanced Prana and lower breathing rates due to these factors and are likely to live longer. Most other people will benefit from physical exercises, pranayama, and meditation.
Engaging regularly in the practice of pranayama meditation will help one’s prana and respiration move in the right direction.
These suggestions are intended to be used in conjunction with standard medical treatments and practices.
For additional details, see the article, Is the Mystical Prana the Hidden Determinant of End of Life?
Photo by Le Minh Phuong on Unsplash
Photo by Monstera Production: https://www.pexels.com/photo/young-ethnic-mother-with-cute-children-practicing-yoga-together-at-home-7353061/
Photo by Jeremy Perkins on Unsplash
Photo by Wren Meinberg on Unsplash
