This two-day experiential workshop on Prana took the participants through a three-step process, first through various joints of the body and later through various chakra regions:

1) Bring in consciousness, gratitude and love to various joints and chakras of the body and commune with them like one would with a child.

2) Consciously infusing them with prana and manipulate / enhance the prana and

3) Elevate them to be suffused and transformed with the Divine light and the presence of the Divine Mother. This is done by invoking the Divine Mother with a sense of devotion and repeatedly offering any and all memories, feelings and emotions that come up from that region.

Through a series of experiential exercises, which culminated in a well-defined regular daily practice, Dr. Yogesh took the participants with nuanced understanding and experience of Prana to heal their body and mind and use this to propel their spiritual journey and transformation.

At the commencement, Dr. Yogesh set the context and background by clarifying that in this workshop he would go far beyond traditional yoga or medical practitioners on prana with the sole focus on experiences and that he would deliberately use words and phrases to evoke the experience regardless of their conformity with medical jargon or traditional context. The workshop started with the bringing prana to various joints of the body and progressed to infusion of prana and Divine light into the region around various chakras. It culminated with a meditation on the psychic and a mechanism to build a bridge between inner and outer beings. Finally, the participants were given guidance for a daily practice for lasting healing and transformation.

During all these practices, Dr. Yogesh made sure that all the participants were comfortable. He encouraged them to be conscious and active participants of the workshop and presented the workshop as a collective yoga done with a sense of conscious offering and surrender to the Divine.

The first session included 5 experiences where the participants learnt to:

1. Feel the toes with love, gratitude and awareness and enter into a subtle communion with them by listening to the emotions of the toes and by speaking to them like one would to a little child without much intellectualisation (this is to be repeated for all joints later). This involved touching and gently massaging the toes with the hand and then inserting the fingers into the toes and gently squeezing and relaxing them in sync with the breath.

2. Breathe in the prana through the toe joints. This involved stretching the legs out and flexing the toes towards the body and away from the body as one breathed in and out. While breathing in, one felt as if the toe joints breathed in the prana and felt energised and as one breathed out, one felt as if the toe joints relaxed and breathed out any toxins and darkness. The space behind the ankles were also gently massaged with love and consciousness and one calmly observed any emotions or memories it released.

3. Feel the sole of their feet and breathe in the prana through them by flexing the feet towards and away from the body in sync with the breath. The ankle joints as all joints are conduits of prana and as one slowly and deeply breathes in they feel energised and feel relaxed as one breathes out.

4. Follow the three step kriya for the knees - feeling and communing with them with consciousness (light), gratitude and love, following by consciously breathing in prana into them as one breathes in and feeling their relaxation as one breathes out. Gentle movement of the knee in coordination with the breath assists in the process. Finally with a sense of devotion invoke the presence of the Divine Mother and Her light to infuse the joints and offer any memory, feeling or emotions that arise to heal them and transform them.

5. This above exercise to be done for the hip as well and done for one leg at a time and repeated for the other leg. The feet - toes and ankles represent the inconscient and knees represent the subconscious. The area around the hip is also an area of darkness and unconsciousness and it is important to infuse it with light, love and gratitude.

6. Finally, the entire leg is relaxed and one infuses prana and divine light into them without any movement - all the way from toes, ankles, knees and hip joints and repeat it for the other leg as well.

The day 2 of the workshop focused on the main chakras - the Muladhara (pelvic region), the Manipura (Naval region) and participants learnt to build a bridge between inner and outer life with a meditation on the psychic heart. The chakras are regions in the subtle body and corresponds to specific areas around our spine. A gentle attention with intention takes our consciousness to those chakras.

The Muladhara is in the space of the pelvic, in the region between the two hip bones that are touching the floor. It is the chakra that roots us to the earth. It is an important chakra for physical well-being. It is an area of darkness and unconsciousness and most of us ignore it due to bias and misconceptions. So, it craves appreciation, light, and love. The participants meditated on this space aided with breath and infusing of prana followed by infusing of divine light and love. All emotions, feelings and memories that came up were offered to the Divine light to be transformed.

The Manipura is the seat of the vital consciousness and that space covers all important digestive and regulatory organs of the body (liver, pancreas and kidneys). This region regulates blood pressure, insulin response and is the seat of all desires, cravings and aversions. Feeling the region, breathing in the prana and infusing it with light and meditating on it, the participants were able to heal by offering the associated memories, feelings and emotions to the Divine Light.

The trials and tribulations of outer life, however dire they may be, whether physical or emotional trauma, touches only our surface consciousness. The inner being is free and is the source of true joy and peace. It is the outer being that suffers. In order to heal it, it is important for the outer being to become in touch with the inner / inmost being and transformed by the Divine light. Dr. Yogesh took the participants on the deep concentration in the inner heart region behind the emotional heart, to the region of the psychic and taught them to feel the golden light of the psychic and the presence, peace and love of the Mother.

He explained that the way to build a bridge between inner and outer is to slowly start small activities while being immersed in the inner consciousness of Vastness, peace, love and joy of the psychic. Done regularly, over a period of time, this connection becomes spontaneous during day-to-day work and the outer being slowly gets transformed. In each of the meditations, Dr. Yogesh encouraged the participants to share their experiences and gently guided them to drop all fear and grow in trust and faith that we are children and instruments of the Divine Mother and it She who heals. Our only job is to invoke her with devotion and offer our feelings, emotions and memories with humility, transparency and surrender.

As a long-term aid, Dr. Yogesh suggested a daily practice:

1. 10 to 15 minutes of feeling, breathing and infusing of prana and consciousness in each joint, progressively from the toes, ankles, knees and hip to the upper body.

2. 10 to 15 minutes of concentrating, infusing with prana and invoking the Divine Mother and offering to her in each of the major chakras.

3. Gradually, bit by bit, continue to build the bridge between our inner and outer being. He reiterated that the key to the success of the practice is to do it with devotion, transparency and awareness and avoid doing it mechanically.

One felt that this workshop was a complete set of exercises in healing, experiential knowledge and yogic practice. All of the participants were existing sadhaks and they were able to take up the practices within two sessions. Newcomers to the path may benefit from one or two follow-up sessions to help refine their understanding and daily practices.

The participants felt healed, peaceful and grateful and the session was concluded by Dr. Yogesh and James Anderson.

Feedback

“My level of concentration was very high and peaceful.”

“Integral health is the way of living. The key to open this way is the consciousness through Prana.”

“Consciousness has increased in many areas. Many areas are feeling lighter and friendlier. The knee instantly felt as if it had more space. Thank you.”

“It was instant healing and calming. Reinforced faith in the Divine.”

“I would say, it was more transformative through healing.”