Meaning of prANa:
m. breath - esp. vital breath, vitality
pl. life - the vital organs or organs of sensation

The Prana combines with the 5 vayus (elements) to create and maintain the body. The Seven elements such as blood, bones, flush, inteligence, etc are included in the formation of the body.

Prana is born from Anantam (infinite existence), and it exists everywhere. Our body is filled with this Prana. The removal of Prana from the body is called death.

There are five vayus which are part of the life force energy that do various functions in our body. They are…

1. Prana vayu: From the tip of the nose, it performs breath in and out..

2. Apana vayu: It performs the excretion process.

3. Vyana vayu: The body is filled with this vayu. It processes the food that we intake, combines it with blood, and circulates it to the entire body.

4. Udhana vayu: Takes care of all actions such as thinking, talking, eating… It is also responsible for occasionally pushing inner things out due to actions like coughing, sneezing, etc… During sleep, this takes the jeeva in us to the heart. After death, it separates the stula sharira and sukshma sharira, and takes the atma to the paramatma.

By chanting “OM”, the Udhana which is present in the prana gets activated.

5. Samana vayu: It is present at the navel, and performs digestion.

In general, a deficiency in any of these pancha (five) vayus would give rise to diseases.

By Veena