prana

chi

"Prana is pure force."
        - Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

"Prana is the link between the soul and the physical body."
        - Swami Kripalvananda

"Chi is the activating energy of the universe... In Sanskrit, the word for Chi is Prana."
        - Mantak Chia

"In the universe, there is only one basic energy.  It is called prana."
        - Goswami Kriyananda

"Feel the force", the master taught in Star Wars.  He was not wrong.  Prana (Indian yoga) = the force = Chi (Taoist yoga).

Prana is beyond modern science (though, with the recent discovery of dark energy and dark matter, physicists are getting closer...)

Prana is not air or oxygen.  Prana is not breath.  Prana is not nerve energy.  Prana is a subtle bio-electro-magnetic energy that defines life.  With prana, the body lives.  When prana is gone, the body dies.

Prana is not consciousness.  "Prana and consciousness are separate entities existing in duality, but ultimately they are the opposite poles of the same force.  Consciousness and prana are the positive and negative aspects of the one inconceivable force which is responsible for everything that takes place in the individual and cosmic dimension."
        - Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

Prana is a wonderful treasure, so we should hold onto it and increase it, right?  But how?  First, we hold on to our prana by staying relaxed and in balance, physically and emotionally.  Second, we hold on to prana by not draining it through our sexuality.  One can engage in loving sexual activity without losing prana - an age-old secret of Tantra and Taoist yoga traditions.  Third, one can increase prana through yoga, especially through breath practices.  Fourth, one can draw prana-chi directly and freely from the Earth and from the six directions of the universe, as taught in Taoist chi kung and largely forgotten in Indian yoga.

Pranayama does not mean breath control - a common misunderstanding in Indian yoga.

"Prana yama" = "Chi kung".  These two terms are not similar, they are 100% identical.  Both prana yama and chi kung mean "mastery of your inner energy".

True chi kung (also spelled qigong) and prana yama means building up and then controlling your inner energy.  This is not a vague, touchy-feely concept.  It is a physical fact.  A master can focus his or her pranic energy like a laser, for healing, for circulating in the orbit, and for raising one's consciousness.  It is a beautiful, magical process, filled with joy, love, and power.

Mandhira yoga is all about energy, about prana, about chi.  Each human being is given a body to be his or her kingdom.  Most of us allow the energies of our kingdom to fragment, drain away and dissipate, until our cells degenerate, and we die.  In Sanskrit, this is called "bhoga".

"The purpose of a human lifetime is to learn "prana yama" "chi kung" in its highest, spiritual sense - to master your energy, to raise it, to use it for the highest goal - to become one, in "tao", in "yoga" - a free human living in perfect balance and integrity, fully aware on the physical, astral, and causal levels, with pure self-conscious awareness."
        - yogi tom, mandhira yoga

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