Our bodies draw in energy, or prana, from different sources. The sun provides solar prana, we breathe in air prana via our lungs, subconsciously we draw in prana from the ground via our feet, and nature itself is also a source of prana. Since quantum mechanics tells us that all particles are in fact waves, we can essentially understand that everything around us is constructed from particles of energy. ‘Prana’ comes from the Sanskrit word meaning energy or life force; it is also referred to as ‘Chi’ in Chinese (Tai Chi) or ‘Ki’ in Japanese (Aikido). Generally, if the energy or life force of a person is unclean and low, the vitality and health of that person may be negatively affected. Conversely, if their life force is plentiful, the person will be vibrant and healthy. Given that energy is pervasive, it should come as no surprise that energy can impact every corner of our lives including our health, relationships, finances and spirituality. This is exactly what Grandmaster Choa Kok Sui, the founder of modern pranic healing, set out to understand. With over 30 years of study, experimentation and validation, he developed simple and effective techniques, which we can learn and use today, to harness the energy around us to improve all aspects of life. For two decades, Master Choa travelled non-stop, instructing students in over 60 countries, and authored 25 books which have been published in more than 30 languages. He saw more than 100 pranic healing centres established in over 90 countries, before his passing on March 19, 2007. Complementary therapy Pranic healing is today a highly-evolved and tested non-touch complementary therapy. It is used to heal a wide range of physical and psychological ailments using a ‘cookbook’ approach. It is highly systematic and scientific in its approach, which distinguishes it from other complementary healing therapies and works on the principal that the body is a self-healing organism. In pranic healing, you learn that the energy body is the blueprint for the physical body and therefore illness and health problems result from disturbances to the flow of energy in the energetic anatomy.The energetic anatomy consists of a network of power centres (also known as chakras), pathways and energy fields that interpenetrate the physical body, acting as a blueprint for the physical body overall. When we train in pranic healing, we quickly learn to detect energy at different points along the body using the palm of our hands, thus validating the concept of an energy body. Through the simple and yet powerful techniques taught, we are able to effectively cleanse out the diseased, unwanted energy and replenish it with good clean energy or prana, which helps to rebalance the energy body and hence the physical body too. When focusing on the cleansing and re-energising process we work on 11 major energy centres, their role being to draw in fresh prana and expel dirty or used energy just in the same way as when we breathe in and out. Each supports the organs that sit behind it so in rebalancing these, we can put the body back into balance so that it can heal itself as it is designed to do. The effectiveness of pranic healing and why it is such a comprehensive healing system is that it clears emotions as well as energetic blockages in the body and replenishes these areas with fresh prana. This enables the intelligent systems of the body to kick start again, functioning more effectively. Positive, helpful thought forms replace old, negative ones and the recipient feels ‘lighter’.