The breath is indeed the breath of life. Here you are given that it is, as well, the breath of healing...that there is great power to be found in the process of breathing. This natural phenomenon bears further examining.

Latin - Spiritus
The English verb to breathe has a synonym in the verb to inspire, whose literal meaning is to take in spirit. This is rooted in the Latin verb spirare which means to breathe from which is derived Latin's spiritus meaning breath. In English and its derivative Latin we have an explicit connection between the concept of spirit and that of air.

Greek - Pnevmatiko
The word pneumatic pertains to machines activated by air pressure; yet few know it comes from the Greek word pnevmatiko, which means spiritual. Evidently, the word pneumatic weds the concept of spirit to that of air. Anapnevma, the Greek word for breath, means inspiration.

Hebrew - Ruach
The Hebrew word ruach means both wind and spirit. Again, here are strong connections between spirit and air.

Sanskrit - Atma
The atmosphere, which contains the air we breathe, comes from the Greek word atmosfero and means sphere of vapor. Yet, atmos is rooted in the Sanskrit word atma, meaning spirit, and this is further derived from atman, which Vedantic philosophy teaches to be the supreme universal Self…God. Once again, a powerful connection between spirit and the air we breathe.

The association between air and spirit is reflected in the languages of a host of ancient cultures. Clearly, the ancients were far more discerning than we moderns, and far-flung ancients at that.

Hindu - Prana
We know there is power in the breath and we know there is energy in the air. The Hindus, from ancient times, speak of Prana, the energy of healing…the energy of life…the energy of the universe…existing in everything that we touch, in everything we eat, in the very air that we breathe.

Sanskrit - Yoga
This is well taught in a section of the Bhagavad-Gita that is dedicated to the many ways one may be in communion with God. Each is a form of meditation, and know that spiritual meditation is a form of yoga, a Sanskrit word that means in union. Yoga disciplines, then, encompass those practices that bring man to a state of union with The Creator. The ultimate objective of spiritual meditation is to have man experience his oneness with God.

Pranayama
The following is a paragraph from that section of the Bhagavad-Gita, written twenty-five hundred years ago. Referring to the faithful seeking to commune with God, it states: “Some offer their out-flowing breath into the breath that flows in; and the in-flowing breath into the breath that flows out; they aim at pranayama, breath-harmony, and the flow of their breath is in peace.”

Exhibiting poetic beauty, this is a description of breath-healing from two and a half thousand years ago, a practice that began ages before that.

Breath-harmony
Pranayama is spiritual energy control, or breath-harmony. With pranayama one is in harmony with the energy and power of the universe, the creative energy of Prana, an energy to be found in all Earthly things. When your breathing is in harmony (synchronized) with universal energy you become a receptacle for its healing power.

Come here...breathe...and heal.

next page