The first step to improving one’s overall health is to recognize that we are made up of four bodies: the physical or etheric, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies. Each one is integrated with the other three and unless all four work together optimally the individual will feel unhealthy, poorly, imbalanced, or sick.

What does one have to do to become aware of these four bodies? The education begins with an introduction to pranic healing, raja yoga, breathing techniques, and massage therapy techniques.

The emotional body is regulated by the limbic region of the brain. The mental body is regulated by the cerebral cortex which, through nerve synapses connects and organizes the various parts of the operating brain to perform the myriad tasks assigned to it every second of every moment. The mental body is connected to the physical body through a network of nerves and muscles which actualize the brain’s commands. The mental body also controls the circulatory, respiratory, crystallizing, metabolizing, catabolizing, assimilating, absorption, excretion, and endocrine systems.

Master Choa Kok Sui who formulated and developed the modern theories and techniques of pranic healing makes the remark that “When the energy body is functioning properly, then the physical body will be healthy”. This is a paraphrase intended to communicate that by manipulating the functioning of the chakras the pranic healer is able to scan, cleanse, and energize each and every chakra which needs it. These chakras or energy distribution centers are connected to the physical tissues, organs, muscles and nervous system via the yin and yang meridians, connected through contact of the tongue to the upper palette. The energy body is held together by our aura which surrounds and connects to the chakras. My source is ” Advanced Pranic Healing” by Grand Master Choa Kok Sui.

There are many colored auras depending on each one’s individual personality based on genetics and past lives. The colours of these auras are analyzed within the four quadrants of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dominating attributes. A great source for this information is from Barbara Bowers book entitled “What colour is your aura?”.

The use of yoga for wellbeing is elaborate and multi-levelled. Yoga means “union with God”. There are many forms of yogic expression but the main ones concern the application of poses or ‘asanas’ which strengthen and stretch the various body parts with the goal of rendering the body stronger, more flexible, integrating the emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions of the being by using mindfulness of the breathing to center the activities down from the mind into the body and chakra centers. This is the active form of Yoga. There is also the meditative part of yoga which is done by sitting motionless, incorporates the breathing mindfulness with the quietening of the mind, an emptying of the mind of all thoughts allowing the mind to rest and become stronger and more focused. Source is:” The Art and Science of Raja Yoga” by Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters).

It is through the practice of mindfulness of the breathing that one is able to ‘be’ in the present moment, of each inhalation, bringing fresh prana into the body, and with the exhalation releasing the body’s toxins and depleted prana through the breath. A great reference is “Breathe! You are alive” by Thich Nhat Hahn.

The Buddhist practice of the principles of inter-being, impermanence, and emptiness allows the ‘being’ to implement the values of shoulds and should nots raising oneself above the suffering of dualism up to the freedom of nirvana or nirbikhalpa, peaceful bliss. It is by learning that you and I are ‘one’, that our happiness can only come when the other’s suffering stops, that our prosperity depends on achieving abundance for all; that there is no birth or death, only transformation and transition from one state of being into another, from the seen to the unseen. The emptiness is achieved by seeing without eyes, hearing without ears, tasting without a tongue, touching without contact, and thinking without concepts, feeling without emotion. My source for this information is “Understand our mind” by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Massage therapy is the method which I use to assist the integration of the four bodies by manipulating tissues, muscles, and moving the energy to remove congestions and depletions and energize and optimize chakras which are overactive or inhibited. I use a variety of massage therapy techniques which release contractures and adhesions and when these do not work the pranic healing techniques using colour prana are most effective to achieve release of tension. The pranic healing is also able to regenerate tissues, cartilage, bones, stop fresh wounds from bleeding, dissolve kidney and gallstones, tumors, regulate high blood pressure, and improve overall wellbeing.