All About That Breath, or What's So Different About Kundalini Yoga & Meditation?
We can live quite some time without food or water — but without breath, we lose life: our soul leaves our body.
We know it's important to take conscious breaths — we notice anger and stress calm when we stop to focus on our breath, and thus conscious breathing is very helpful in managing everyday life on earth.
We practice a significant amount of breathwork in kundalini yoga and meditation classes:
We start every class with breath before tuning in,
We synchronize breath with movement in the warmup,
We practice breathwork before getting into the focal kriya of the class,
We practice breathwork in the kriya and often in the meditation too, and again
We connect to the breath when closing class.
That's a ton of breathwork! And it's by design — kundalini yoga and meditation is a yogic science, and deeply spiritual.
I know I know, every kind of yoga and meditation is "spiritual", but let me explain further.
A common question many people ask is, "what makes kundalini yoga and meditation different from other forms of yoga and meditation?"
“Praana, Praanee, Praanayam”
That's the title of the book I teach from most frequently. This book is the most comprehensive guide to breathwork in kundalini yoga and meditation as taught by Yogi Bhajan, featuring significant explanations and over 90 different practices — I highly recommend it as a resource for home practice.
These three words, Praana, Praanee, and Praanayam, illustrate the key difference between all the other kinds of yoga and meditation, and kundalini yoga and meditation.
Let's dig into the meaning of these words! They're ripe for analysis.
Praana, Praanee, Praanayam
You may have noticed these words are spelled differently than what you've seen before.
More commonly, you'll see the words:
Prana, Pranee, Pranayama
In kundalini yoga and meditation, there's an extra "a", taking the root word prana to praana, and we use the word praanayam rather than pranayama.
Let me break this down for you, one word at a time.
Prana vs. Praana
In Sanskrit, prana means "life" and is commonly used to mean "breath" (Prabhupada).
The similar Hindi and Punjabi word that we use in kundalini yoga and meditation, praana, is a common baby name that more specifically means "soul" (The Health Site).
In English, we know the difference between the words "life" or "breath", and the word "soul" — it’s a significant difference. Life and breath happen here on earth, but the soul is more of a mystery that extends beyond time on earth.
With the rise of atheism and religious trauma, many of us are even intimately acquainted with a soul-less life — so the addition of that extra "a" in the word praana is significant.
Where prana focuses on life in the physical realm, praana deals with the soul in the spiritual realm as well as the physical realm: that God particle of life, the existence that begins on earth as a gift from God, and ends on earth when the breath ends — but the soul continues mysteriously beyond the physical realm.
Thus, prana and praana are not remotely the same terms.
(Of course, one would never know all this unless one studies yoga and meditation through reading, as both the words prana and praana are pronounced the same way. There is also the discussion of the Pranic Body in kundalini yoga and meditation, this time spelled with one “a” and distinctly referring to prana as the breath [3HO International]. This is one example of how kundalini yoga and meditation is an intellectual endeavor — but I digress.)
Pranee vs. Praanee
Pranee is the Thai name rooted in the Sanskrit word for "breathing being" (Ancestry) or “one who breathes”.
In contrast, the kundalini yoga and meditation term praanee means "creature" in Punjabi and Hindi (Shabdkosh).
By nature of being alive, we all meet the definition of "one who breathes" and "creature". But the change of the root word in the kundalini yoga and meditation term praanee from prana to praana adds an element of depth.
Where prana can be considered “one who breathes with awareness of their life”, prana, praanee can be considered “one who is aware of their soul”, praana.
This praanee creature is feeding on the gift of God that is the soul, extending beyond earth; whereas pranee is merely a being aware of life, on earth.
It is a significant difference to be praanee: one who is spiritually in tune, aware of their eternal soul, and experiencing all the implications of that awareness.
Pranayama vs. Praanayam
The commonly known word pranayama is composed of two Sanskrit words: prana, meaning "life", and ayama, meaning "stretching" (MasterClass).
Contrasted with the kundalini yoga and meditation term praanayam, also composed of two words: praana, which we know means "soul", and ayam, meaning "this soul" in Sanskrit (Prabhupada).
Where pranayama means "stretching of life", praanayam means "soul, this soul" - praanayam is the science of this soul, a completely different practice. Where pranayama extends life here on earth, praanayam works on the eternal path of the soul: the individual path to liberation beyond earth and time and space.
Prana, Pranee, Pranayam: Life, One who breathes with awareness of life, The stretching of life.
vs.
Praana, Praanee, Praanayam: Soul, One who is aware of their soul, The science of this soul.
One is significantly deeper in meaning and application than the other.
Where prana, pranee, and pranayam deal with the physical world, praana, praanee, praanayam deals with the spiritual world in addition to the physical world.
Hatha yoga and vinyasa yoga work on the physical body, stretching and healing the physical body and bringing mindfulness into focus.
Comparatively, kundalini yoga and meditation is a technology that clears the karma of the soul, healing wounds from lifetimes past and present, banishing fate and bringing destiny to the doorstep of the practitioner.
The praanayam practices included in the yogic science of kundalini and yoga and meditation classes are eternal in their impact: not just a physical body practice, but a technical working on the soul and the spiritual journey that transcends time and space and life on earth.
References
3HO International. (2024, August 7). The 8th body: The pranic body. https://www.3ho.org/blog-new/the-8th-body-the-pranic-body/
Ancestry. (n.d.). Origin and meaning of first name Pranee: Search Family History on ancestry®. Pranee : Meaning and Origin of First Name | Search Family History on Ancestry®. https://www.ancestry.com/first-name-meaning/pranee
MasterClass. (n.d.). Pranayama breathing techniques: 4 benefits of Yogic Breathing - 2024. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/pranayama-breathing-explained
Prabhupada. (n.d.-b). Meaning Of The Sanskrit Word: Ayam. Best Sanskrit Dictionary. https://sanskritdictionary.org/ayam
Prabhupada. (n.d.). Meaning of the Sanskrit Word: Prana. Best Sanskrit Dictionary. https://sanskritdictionary.org/prana
Shabdkosh. (n.d.). Praanee - meaning in English - shabdkosh. Dhabdkosh. https://www.shabdkosh.com/dictionary/marathi-english/praanee/praanee-meaning-in-english
The Health Site. (n.d.). Praana name meaning, origin, religion numerology - baby name Praana. https://www.thehealthsite.com/baby-names/meaning-of-praana-11814/
