Prana – vital energy, essence of life

Hi there,

In my article about processed foods, I talked mostly about the symptoms of intoxication due to unhealthy food.

Today, I want to take this topic to a more energetic and/or spiritual level. From an early age on, I have always been fascinated by the Indian and Chinese culture. Or Asian culture in general. When I was a kid, I didn’t know why, but now I understand that I was drawn to these old cultures for their ancient wisdom, holistic approach of life and their view on the sense of life, afterlife, the planets, and the stars.

I think I will probably write a series of articles about these fascinating cultures, but today I am going to start with some basics into the Indian culture.

One of the most ancient medicines in the world was born in India, namely Ayurveda. According to Ayurveda, we are born with three doshas (subtle energies within our body) and these doshas can also be found around us, because the macro cosmos is a mirror of the micro cosmos and vice versa. So every symmetry, every balance found in human bodies, can also be find in other life or even in the stars.

I’m cutting short on very complex explanations here… 🙂

Anyhow, we all have one or two more dominant doshas and usually in our Western society, they are out of balance. As a consequence, giving us illnesses, ailments, uncomfortable digestion, etc. By restoring the balance, and maintaining a balance, we feel very healthy, energetic, rested, strong, etc. Ayurveda looks at a person as a whole as well as at the rest of the planet, so Ayurvedic practices for better health include yoga, specific diet plans according to your dosha, supplements based on plants, herbal teas, cleansing, massage, etc. 

One thing, the most basic thing, that struck me as SO important was the concept of Prana. Prana is the Sanskrit name for Vital Energy, life energy or life force. It is the energy that brings life into all living things. It is the force that makes a plant or a child grow. It is the breath of life that keeps us alive.

Since, we are Pranic beings, we need to feed on Prana to stay alive and healthy. If we stop breathing, drinking or eating we die. It’s the same for plants, animals, soil, rocks, etc.

When a living creature is full of life, it is filled with Prana. Likewise, when a plant or vegetable is fresh, crispy and ripe, it is filled with Prana. Fruit that is rotting is a sign that Prana is leaving the fruit and the fruit is dying.

Do you see where I am going?

Since we are also feeding on Prana, the best way to remain alive in a healthy and tonifying way is to feed yourself with food and drinks that are rich in Prana. If you pick a salad in your garden and eat it immediately, you ingest something full of Prana and it will feed every part of you until the tiniest cell or molecule. Eat a salad that’s been pre-cut in a factory and that is being sold in a plastic bag filled with chemicals to preserve the “Pranic” look of the salad, it is not feeding you in the same way! Because basically, you are eating a nearly “dead” salad.

And so it is for ALL processed foods: there is no Prana in processed foods. You are just FILLING yourself with lifeless substances, but you are NOT NOURISHING yourself. 

The same goes for meat: the meat we eat has been long dead by the time it reaches our plate. In fact, the rotting process has already begun, since the life energy left the animal body the moment it was killed. So we demand a very difficult process from our body to understand what kind of substance it is getting from us. Our body seeks to extract the Prana, but can’t find any. And so the digestion becomes an exhausting process.

Moreover, with the example of meat, there is more: every living being has feelings and emotions. When we eat another being, we take over its emotions. So if you eat a steak from a cow that lived traumatic experiences in an industrial maltreating environment, you eat meat that is intoxicated with negative emotions, which you then take over. Your body needs to process all that, but since we are all an endless pit of complex emotions, adding more external negative emotions is really not a good idea.

In fact, I experienced it myself! When I still ate meat, I could become very aggressive, or emotional or angry at times and I didn’t understand why. In periods of BBQs or excess meat consumption it would get worse. Since I’ve quit eating meat, I am much more balanced, calm and cool-tempered.

Last week, we were invited to a spaghetti evening and there was meat in the sauce. I didn’t want to be difficult and it was for a good cause, but after that I felt excited again (but in the wrong way), I lost my patience with the kids and the dogs and I disgusted myself with my reaction.

The past few days, we’ve made some efforts to eat very fresh vegetables (from the garden) RAW and the effect is amazing! It’s as if fatigue is eliminated instantly from your body.

Below are some pictures of what we ate:

So my advice to everyone would be: eat and drink things that are RICH in Prana. Drink dynamised water, do yoga, breath good air! And enjoy good health!

Have a great weekend! And don’t hesitate to ask for the recipes of the above dishes!

Géraldine