Studio Talks with Richard Freeman: Prana

Join yoga master Richard Freeman as he talks about the importance of Prana and Apana.

Prana and Apana are two complementary types of movement coming from the core of the body. Prana is the upward, expanding, blossoming movement characteristic of inhaling. It is said to be centered in the Anahata Chakra (the heart center). Apana is the downward, contracting, rooting movement characteristic of exhaling. It is based at the center of the perineum, the Muladhara Chakra, and is said to tether Prana.

Yoga begins by consciously uniting Prana and Apana, to feel their actions within each other. Prana is breath, life force, inner breath; prana is the substratum of perception. Prana is the substratum of thought, or chita. It is the way that perception is organized into patterns, and it is only through patterns and organization that you know something, that you are consciously aware of something.

Prana becomes intelligence, which is called budhi in Sanskrit, which comes from the root bud, which means to wake up and so it is the energy of waking up. What does waking up mean, but coming out of a state of mind that is like a dream? And so awakening or waking up is coming out of a framework of awareness like fantasy.

Don't miss this opportunity to sit at the feet of one of contemporary yoga's greatest teachers.