Hello,
My name is Celia Roberts and today we're looking at meditation to awaken or observe prana.
So we're going to start with the sensitive areas of the body where normally people start to engage with this electrical activity in the body.
And so we'll focus a lot on the face,
The hands and the feet,
But initially begin to focus your mind via the breath.
And the breath is what really helps us to bring prana into the body.
So pranic flow happens via the breath,
But is not the breath.
And so we're trying to connect with prana,
Which is energy or life force or the energetic blueprint behind the physical form.
And if you can really observe heavily the hands.
Firstly,
The left hand.
And observe any heat,
Tingling,
Vibration or sensation.
Now,
The idea is that you don't look for this energy,
This prana,
What the Japanese call chi and the Chinese call chi with your mind.
You must really sort of move back into the body,
The form of the body into the formless.
So you're starting to feel the electricity,
The energy,
The life force behind the physical form.
So you're in the left hand.
And the idea is that you're not looking or creating something with the mind,
Rather just observing it.
Now,
If we refer to the science of psychoneuroendocrine immunology,
There is without a doubt the ability for you,
With your attention to increase blood flow and lymphatic flow to that limb,
To that left hand.
But at this point,
What we're trying to do is start to feel and observe something that's beyond the physical.
It governs the physical,
But it's beneath it.
It's the energetic blueprint behind it.
Good.
Move into the right hand and see if you can feel the prana of the right hand.
So a tingling vibration,
A life force,
The electrical currents of the right hand.
Those who are interested in connecting the science to prana will also observe that perhaps this electrical current is travelling via the nerves.
So it's the electricity that's moving through the nerves.
People do try and connect the two.
And whether that connection is valid is debated.
But see if you can kind of almost notice that the nerve sensitivity in the hands is very strong,
As are the cortical maps of the hands in the brain above.
We use them,
We observe them,
We sense the world with our hands,
As well as our face,
Our tongue and our lips.
All again having very high nerve sensitivity and a strong cortical map up and above in our brain.
So very much now observing both hands left and right and observing heat,
Electricity,
Tingling sensation and vibration.
Okay,
Lovely.
Now move up to the lips.
So the lips are very highly sensitive and good neural sensitivity and observe the lips.
Feel into the lips and observe prana.
Tingling vibration,
Energy.
Move to the mouth and the muscles that orbit the mouth.
Move to the tongue.
Feel the electrical activity of the tongue,
Observing the sensation of the tongue.
Move to the face.
Feel the muscles of this face and scan deeply for that deep internal sensation.
Now whatever you can feel is perfect because that brings you currently into this moment.
And the power of now and mind-body medicine as you move into the body in this way are heightened.
So you're observing the experience of this moment through your body by being completely in it.
And by practicing this mindfulness,
You're able to heal the body up to four times faster,
According to one study by mindfulness expert John Kabat-Zinn.
Excellent.
Feel to the left eye,
Then to the right eye.
Feel deeply into the left hemisphere of the brain,
The right hemisphere of the brain.
See if you can observe the electrical activity between the two.
Move more deeply now into the body and into the left foot,
Feeling all the sensations of the left foot.
Heat,
Temperature,
Coolness,
Buzzing,
The sensation of life force within you.
Then move to the right foot,
Feeling deep sensations,
Energy,
Prana,
Enhancing the mind-body medicine link.
Once you have the feeling or sensation of prana in your body,
See if you can observe that sensation in other parts of the body.
So chest,
The back body,
The spine,
The belly.
Now the sensations will be different for each person,
But if we look at the cortical maps of the brain and what's represented most highly in the body in terms of nerves and neural sensitivity,
It will be hands,
Lips and face.
So you might just stay there and really sense into that,
But if you can start to notice the pranic awareness spreading in different parts of the body or opening for you in different areas,
Then stay focused in that region and allow it to spread in its own way,
Wherever it is,
Wherever it goes for you.
Remember you're sitting in the body to realize that you're not the body.
So we attach or identify with our body and our mind and our thoughts and our self,
But this actually helps us see that we are beyond those things,
That we are the formless.
We are a field of energy,
Perhaps much even more than that itself.
And so as you sit in this energetic field,
Which connects each of us,
The same energy that opens the flowers,
Moves the waves,
Changes the weather,
This energy is part of us and it connects us all universally to one another.
So as you sit in this,
Really know that this also has the potential to really bring about healing,
Connecting your mental activity to your body and bringing and harnessing that mental activity,
Which is often wasted on thoughts about past projected into future.
It really brings it and harnesses it and fills up your cup,
Your field.
So the mental energy is dissipated,
Rather it's spent on being in your body,
Observing exactly as things are in this moment.
And as you move away from the past and the future,
You begin to not deny the present moment.
And this in itself means that there is no need for stress.
And as you develop and cultivate that ability to step out of the stress response,
Then this is incredibly healing for your mind and body,
What we might refer to as the embodied brain.
To be fully present in breath and body,
Feeling the formless energetic field.
And this is helpful to many of us who experience that the body is impermanent,
Particularly in ill health,
Disease,
Cancer,
Multiple sclerosis,
To remind ourselves that we're more than the form and to help us disidentify with a body that might actually or a connection to an illness,
Which might actually be perpetuating our identification with that form,
Body or illness or disease.
So see if you can disidentify with the belief and reintegrate your connection to what's going on in the body in this moment.
Of course,
Not denying that the body might be unwell,
But really sitting so deeply in the body that you are able to present your attention to whatever arises in the moment without fear,
Where possible,
And in a complete state of ease and acceptance.
It may be happy,
May be healthy,
May be filled with deep compassion and may be at ease.
