It is said that a brick contains so much energy that if released it could destroy a town with a million inhabitants. Like a battery in any gadget, the human body also stores enormous energy at the base of the spine, called - muladhara. It is brought forward and distributed by two natural ways for day to day sustenance of the body. Firstly, by walking or jogging or running or any other exercise involving activation of muladhara. Secondly, by breathing- Ida and pringla are two nadies which commence from muladhara, passing through the six chakras and terminating at the nostrils; Ida at the left and pringle at the right. We breathe through either Ida or pringla, alternating throughout the day at an average of ninety minutes. When we expire, prana the energy resident at the muladhara is sucked up and distributed to various nadies in the body. If the nadies are not obstructed ofcourse, which is so up to a normal age of 30. This is the reason that most discoveries were made by people at age below 30, mostly all athlete retire by this age. Lord Christ passed on so much energy only during three years after he appeared at the age 29 that the same energy still survives after 2000 years.
This energy at the base of the spine when brought forward is known as prana in general and known by ten different names depending on the region of the body it operates or the function it effects. we will talk about these some other time. Yogic exercises and pranayama are the two ways to bring forth this energy in a controlled manner and to nurture it. We will discuss these two methods in detail later some day.
As for pranayam, it is derived from three root words of Sanskrit- prana, ayan and ma. Prana is the life sustaining energy, ayan means to bring forth and ma means to nurture. You bring forth the prana through Ida and pringla and then nurture it. How is it achieved by various pranayama technique will be explained latter, if some body wants.
Yogic exercises are always spine based so as to pulsate the muladhara to generate more prana, never dynamic so that prana is not wasted like when you run and to dilate various chakras, to enable them to start storing energy., commencing from swadhisthana chakra.
I will tell you a simple technique to feel the flow of prana during various state. Gyan mudra- gyan means knowledge, if perfected it will give you knowledge as to how you are progressing in yoga. Gently touch the tip of the thumb by your index finger making a 'o'. with some practice and concentration you will feel the pulsation like the heart beat. Now when you have stared to feel the pulsation, to know about how the prana is released just cross your legs. The frequency of pulsation remains the same the amplitude increases. Meaning that the pulsation is more vigorous. Its not that the blood flow increases or the heart starts pumping more with only shifting your leg. Its that more prana is released by activating the muladhara. You may try this by taking a deep breath also.
So bye for now will be back with more gyan if somebody wants an explanation and scientific explanation of kundalini and its arousal.
..........Raj