Shifting Prana and Anxiety

Do you struggle with anxiety?

Are you familiar with that closed in sense of panic that can inhibit growth, influence the way we architect our life, and activate pain patterns in the body mind? So many people who deal with anxiety on a regular basis have found relief in "alternative medicine,"and modalities related to yoga and mindfulness.

I remember hearing the definition of anxiety years ago and being surprised that a label was needed for something so all pervasive, my constant mental state, it seemed. That clued me in that there must also be something on the other end of the spectrum. I continue to explore what that other can be. Over time our sense of neutral can shift. We are always adapting. What was down regulating or exciting for the nervous system at one time may no longer carry the same charge as it once did.

Certain inputs into our system induce a state of feeling closed in, disconnected, out of synch, small and separate is a pattern which includes physiological responses, behavioral responses, and so much more. How do we shift the conditioning that leads us into this construct?

All of this plays out as an imbalance of prana:

Prana is the energy that drives life, the power that animates the body, enlivens the mind, spurs the soul. Prana is life's inspiration, its foundation, its tenacity; it is the sure hand on the tiller, the wise voice of good counsel, the urge to health and harmony that craves to turn our bodies into havens where we can take shelter from the storms of the hectic modern world.

-Dr. Robert Svaboda

According to Ayurveda, prana also operates in patterns, these are called the vayus, or winds of the body. Even if we are taking prana in through good practices, pure foods, good company, etc. If the patterns are disrupted, imbalance will continue to manifest.

There are many roads to restablishing these panic flows, and volumes can and have been written on it, but the patterns of flow of currents in the diagram above have a lot to do with it. Sound practices can balance udana vayu. Breath practices can balance prana vayu. Movement is a crucial balancer for several of the flows, and so is rest. Deep rest. Restorative yoga, yoga Nidra and savsana meditative

rest are some of the best medicine. Reflection and time spent reflecting - outside of doing and non doing is also key. Being creative and releasing are also restorative of pranic flow. Prana must be honored and cultivated with the remembrance that it's nature is to move as free as the wind in the clear and steady pathways of the body mind.