Prana, Prana Everywhere…

and why I cannot live without it.

I teach yoga from my home studio pretty much every day. Besides the convenient fact that I do not have to drive to my client’s home or to a sweaty studio, I get the joy of sharing my space with others. One of my pregnancy clients remarked to me the other day how she loved that my home was filled with life in every corner.

While it is certainly true, I had never thought about it in that way. I have plants where ever I can squeeze them, fish in the guest bathroom, birds in the Library, chickens outside my kitchen windows…life is burgeoning in my home. Thank God/dess! Wherever it is not practical to have a living thing, I keep a candle, which for me is another manifestation of life, just better smelling.

Windows and doors are kept open as much as weather allows to permit the flow of prana, or vital life force energy, into my home.

Bells, chimes and gongs pervade my space inside and out and I have a small fountain outside my front door that can be heard inside the bedrooms on balmy nights. These are the harbingers of health and vitality, I believe. These seemingly small reminders of movement, flow and light offer well-being to me and the numerous inhabitants of my home. Most of the time these things are there simply because they are pretty or they just feel nice. There is a lot to be said for simply feeling nice.

Have you ever walked into a room and felt the energy of a fight just ended? Or noticed that crazy high pitched hum of electronics in any room that contains them? I simply cannot abide any electronics store for any length of time, no matter how much I may enjoy the product. The concentrated electrical energy in such places is like the buzzing of mosquitos in my head and makes me feel nervous & restless. Do you really want that feeling in your baby’s room?

Home should be a sanctuary, a respite from the noise and bustle of the world around us which threatens to consume us daily.

Coming home can feel like slipping into clean fresh sheets on the coziest of beds after a well worked day. Does your home feel like that? C’mon, be honest, does it? If not then why not?

Is the arrangement of the furnishings harmonious or frankly, is it stuff you live with but kind of hate? Does the idea of walking barefoot in your home sound relaxing or just another reminder of how awful that carpet is? Big question here—does it smell nice? Does it feel bright and clean or dark and cavern-like? If these are things to ponder, then I suggest that there are a million and two things to do that might begin to alter your space for the healthier that do not involve canned air fresheners—ick. I have a limited word count, so perhaps will leave the million out for now and just give you the two to consider:

> Get rid of stuff you hate.

I know that sounds trite and silly and you may think you actually need that sofa you were gifted with because buying a new one is too expensive. The idea is, get rid of what does not work and live in the emptiness for a while to see what might flow into you again. If you were given that horrid thing, imagine that you might actually create the space to acquire something far nicer. I lived with pillows on the floor more than once until I had the funds to buy a sofa. I actually like sitting on the floor. I am a yogi after all and we have to develop our bodies via our practice to be able to continue sitting on the floor until we expire somewhere in our late 90s, so perhaps your yoga practice can also evolve by some floor sitting for a while.

>Bring life into your home.

It could be as simple as a Siamese Fighting fish in a bowl on the coffee table. They are actually incredibly beautiful and hardy at the same time. I have had some live for years practically being ignored, so they are kind of awesome that way. The life, the movement, the water are all reminders of this energy that we subsist on daily.

Also, I have this fantasy of this gorgeous plant wall that I really, really wish I could have smuggled home on the plane from my Cafe Mom shoot.

Plants detoxify the air, literally removing Formaldehyde, Benzene and Carbon Monoxide as well as making the home feel, well, homey. I would love to have this hanging in my yoga studio! I make do with potted ones for now. However, my biggest fantasy for my future home life?

A rain wall…ahhhh. Now, if you have one of those, I am so coming over to your house for yoga.

~

Edited by Jill Barth