by
G Kumar,
BSC D COB, Sacred Hearts College for BSC Astrologer & Pranic
Healer.
Mar 2002
Pranic
Therapy Part I - An Introduction
Pranic Therapy is an alternative system of Medicine using therapy with
the Universal Stream of Consciousness, the Cosmic Prana.
Pranic Therapy can be effectuated by proper knowledge of the
psycho-physical organism, physical and mental discipline and opening all
our channels to the Cosmic Prana. This is normally effected in seven
steps
The Seven Stages
of Pranic Therapy
1. Knowledge of the Psychosomatic Machine
2. Regulation of Sleep, food & Exercise
3. Relaxation
4. Attunement to Biorythms ( Circadian Rhythms, Solar & Lunar
Rhythms )
5. Removing mental blocks ( Difficult due to Repression )
6. Overcoming Prajnaparadha ( Fault of Awareness due to misuse of our
cognitive & conative functions)
7. Opening the system to the Cosmic Prana ( Opening all channels to the
Divine Shakti )
Introduction
With the advent of rapid industrialization, urbanization and the
breakdown of family life after the Second World War, social life in the
West became tense & stressful. The spread of materialistic ideas and
ideals and the erosion of faith in Morality & the Law Divine &
the social disturbance caused by the Vietnam War brought a sense of
futility & meaninglessness in the Western psyche.The limitations of
the Western system of chemotherapy & adverse side-effects of
antibiotics, sedatives and certain other drugs and the disillusionment
with the promises of science & technology made millions turn to
Oriental philosophies, divine practices & systems of therapy.
The response from the Orient was benevolent. Favoured by the social
revolution that swept through several countries in the West in the
1960s, these countries, especially the US, came to be flooded with Gurus
and Yogis. Yoga, TM, Reiki, - all attained world-wide popularity.
Three Modern
Movements
As a byproduct three modern movements came into being. They are Neo-humanisn,
interreligious dialogue and Holistic Health. The term 'Neo-humanism'
refers to a basic change in modern man's attitude towards himself and
his fellowmen which is characterised by:
a) the recognition of the essential goodness of man
b) focus on existential problems
c) striving for higher transcendental experience.
The contribution of Ramakrishna Movement to inter-faith dialogue was
immense. Other movements like Maharshi International University &
Self Realisation Fellowship contributed to this change in the human
mindset.
Holistic Health
Holistic Health refers to a modern movement which regards health as a
dynamic state of the total human being. Although the symptoms of a
disease may be found in certain tissues or organs, health is not a mere
removal of such symptoms by the treatment of the affected tissues or
organs, but a state of multidimensional experience, according to this
perspective. The mind, body & environment are in a state of dynamic
interaction & the maintenance of this interaction in an optimum
state of efficiency is what health means. In other words " To be
healthy is to have the ability to live with full use of our faculties
and be vigorous, alert & happy to be alive, even in old age, despite
an occasional bout of illness." This" operational health"
has been defined as wellness. It is a sense of all-round well-being as
contrasted with illness.
The greatest aspects of holistic health is its recognition of the role
played by mind in health. " Mind is omnipotent " said Freud
& he had shown that the Unconscious played a key role in causing
certain diseases which came to be described as psychosomatic diseases.
He looked upon the Unconscious chiefly as the repository of negative
emotions. His early disciple Carl Jung expanded the concept of the
Unconscious to make it include good emotions and even spiritual urges.
Adler, another disciple of Freud showed that the ego could alter
unconscious behaviour.
The connecting link between the body and mind was not clear. The work of
the Canadian endocrinologist Hans Selye brought the much needed
connecting link. In his classic work " The Stress of Life "
Selye showed that mental stress was the root cause of several types of
common illness such as hypertension, hyperacidity etc. The 'stressor'
(the original source of stress ) excites the hypothalamus in the brain.
This vital organ which controls the autonomic nervous system activates
the pituitary to secrete the stress hormone ( known as ACTH ) which
stimulates the secretion of several hormones and steroids (including the
well known, adrenaline or epinephrine). More sugar is released into the
blood & BP increased as a result of these changes. According to
Selye, stress is unavoidable in life. ( The emotional centre in the
brain, when upset, stimulates the oxintic cells to secrete more
hydrochloric acid in the stomach which leads to hyperacidity.) When it
goes beyond a certain tolerance level ( which varies from person to
person ) the system breaks down resulting in illness.
To the scientific picture of body-mind interrelationship given above,
certain new concepts were added. One was the idea that if negative
emotions could cause illness, positive emotions can cause
"wellness". The attention of medical experts & the
imagination of the public was captured by this innovative idea when
Normal Cousins, editor of Saturday Review, published a convincing
account of his recovery
from a debilitating & incurable disease of the connective tissue.
The patient's understanding of the disease & his active
participation in the recovery process was highlighted by his case.
The most difficult and controversial aspect of holistic health is
another idea that by creating proper awareness within himself man could
exercise a certain degree of voluntary control over the healing
processes taking place in his body. After the aftermath of Pavlov's
demonstration of conditioned reflexes, another Russian scientist K M
Bykov and his colleagues in showed in 1924 that several involuntary
processes such as regulation of body heat, heart rhythm, production of
urine, BP etc which were mediated by the autonomic nervous system could
be brought under voluntary control. The above finding was corroborated
later during experiments conducted on animals under 'operant'
(voluntary) conditioning. Hundreds of people found that they could bring
under control their heart rhythm, brain waves etc with the help of the
biofeedback technique. Indian Yogis in the West also demonstrated that
they could alter metabolic rate, heartbeat, body temperature etc simply
by their will power, without the use of any biofeedback instruments.
Holistic health practitioners invaded the scene at this juncture. They
showed that not only certain organs but the working of the whole system
such as the digestive system, the respiratory system, circulatory system
etc ( known as the Systems concept ) could be regulated simply by
changing one's life-style & affinities. It was claimed that even
diseases such as cancer could be cured or held in check be creating
strong faith & the right type of consciousness. Despite the
exaggeration
and the propaganda which accompanied these claims, the basic idea that
man can consciously regulate involuntary and unseen physiological
processes came to be accepted as a fact by the medical community.
Various meditation techniques like Transcendental Meditation, Zen, Yoga
were becoming popular in the West in those days. Apart from the
spiritual benefits, (In Transcendental Meditation, the existence of a
fourth major state of Consciousness called Transcendental Consciousness
was proved by Dr Keith Wallace in his Phd Thesis ) practical Yoga
teachers showed that Meditation also produced other beneficial effects
such as reduction of tension, lowering of BP, relaxation of muscles,
increase of concentration & work efficiency & even increase of
immunological resistance to diseases. As a result, some form of
Meditation has become an essential part of most holistic health
programmes.( Dr Harold Bloomfied says that TM can be used as an adjunct
to psychiatric practice.)
The success of Acupuncture, herbology etc which came to be recognised as
"Alternative Medicine " , lent much support to the holistic
health position. Two great discoveries strengthened this position. One
was the discovery of 'biological clocks' in nature and the existence of
biorhythms in the human body. The other discovery was that the brain
produced certain neuro-modulators called endorphins which have the
property of reducing pain. The production of these natural painkillers
is influenced by our thoughts and endorphins are produced when our EEG
brain waves are in an alpha state ( 8.5 cycles per sec).
(To be continued )
Article by G Kumar, Astrologer & Epistemologist of www.zodiaccomputers.com.
Recently he was awarded a Certificate by the Planetary Gemologists
Association ( www.p-g-a.org) as a
Planetary Gem Advisor. He has 25 years psychic research experience in
the esoteric arts. Kumar is contactable at mailto:zodiac20@vsnl.com?subject=subscribe
The address of his physical shop is Zodiac Computers, 3/528 Tkss Bldgs,
East Nada, Guruvayur Kerala, India 680101. Office Phone +91 0487-552851.
Home Phone +91 0487-422060. He has compiled a Free Ebook on Astro-
Numerology which includes all the Nine Lessons. To get the Free Ebook,
click here - mailto: zodiac20@vsnl.com?subject=NumerologyEbook
Services: 
