Attention & Focus · “You Become What You Hold”
Prana Distribution
Pair rhythmic breath with directed attention and a mental image — draw ‘prana’ on the inhale, send it through the body on the exhale — to feel refreshed, ease a tense area, or support self-healing.
Prana Distribution: Lie relaxed, hands over the solar plexus; settle into the Rhythmic Breath. On each inhale, picture drawing vital energy in and gathering it; on each exhale, calmly send attention and a clear image through the whole body — or to one area (warmth to cold feet, ease to a tense spot). Calm picture, not forced will. Finish with the Cleansing Breath. A relaxation-and-imagery practice — not a medical treatment.
What it is
This is Ramacharaka’s core “psychic” breath: take the steady Rhythmic Breath as a base, then add directed attention and a mental image — on the inhale you imagine drawing in vital energy (“prana”), on the exhale you send it, with the will, to the whole body or to a particular area.
Ramacharaka groups several variations under “Phenomena of Yogi Psychic Breathing”: Prana Distributing (recharge the whole system), Directing the Circulation (send warmth/blood to a cold or aching area), and Self-Healing (send attention to an affected part).
What unites them is one operative move — breath + attention + image + calm intention. He is explicit that the breath is only the carrier: “in each exercise rhythmic breathing is accompanied with the instructions to ‘carry the thought’ of certain desired results,” and the desired thing is produced not by force but by “calm command with the mental picture.” Stripped of its metaphysics, this is attention-and-imagery practice on a slow-breath substrate — the same family as body-scan relaxation and guided imagery.
The Method
Faithful to Chapter XIV. First establish the Rhythmic Breath (see cross-links); then layer the attention. A. Prana Distributing (whole-body recharge):
- Lie down, completely relaxed, hands resting lightly over the solar plexus (“the pit of the stomach, where the ribs begin to separate”). Breathe rhythmically.
- On each inhalation, picture drawing in “an increased supply of prana or vital energy,” gathered and “stored in the Solar Plexus.”
- On each exhalation, picture that energy “being distributed all over the body to every organ and part… from top of your head to the soles of your feet,” invigorating and steadying.
- Use a clear, calm image, not effort. “It is not necessary to use the Will with an effort… Calm command with the mental picture is far better than forcible willing.” Most refreshing when tired or low on energy. B. Directing the Circulation (a cold or aching area):
- Lying or sitting erect, breathe rhythmically.
- On the exhalations, “direct the circulation to any part you wish” — e.g. send warmth downward to cold feet, or down and away from an aching head. “You will often feel a warm feeling” as it moves. (Largely an interoceptive/relaxation effect; see §5.) C. Self-Healing (attention to an affected part):
- Lying relaxed, breathe rhythmically; on the inhale “command that a good supply of prana be inhaled.”
- On the exhale, send attention to the affected part to stimulate it; vary by exhaling with the image that the “diseased condition” is leaving.
- Optionally pass a hand over the area, holding the image that energy “is flowing down the arm and through the finger tips.”
- Finish with the Cleansing Breath. (Sourcing note: faithful paraphrase with short quotations from the 1903/1904 text. The book also gives “Healing Others” and “Distant Healing” variants — those project effects onto other people and are NOT supported; this practice is rendered as a self-directed attention/relaxation method only. See §5/§7.)
Source & Lineage
From Chapter XIV, “Phenomena of Yogi Psychic Breathing,” of The Hindu-Yogi Science of Breath / Science of Breath (1903), by Yogi Ramacharaka (pen name of William Walker Atkinson).
The “draw energy in, store it, will it out with an image” structure is pure Atkinson — the same New Thought machinery of will and mental image found in his Thought Vibration, here wrapped in the yogic vocabulary of prana. → originator; New Thought persona.
The Traditions' versions
Body scan / progressive relaxation — the same systematic moving of attention through the body, without the energy frame.
- Guided imagery for relaxation/symptom relief — the same breath + vivid image pairing.
- Yoga Nidra + sankalpa (Satyananda) — relaxed receptive state + planted intention/image, a close cousin.
- Qigong / microcosmic-orbit “circulating qi” — the Daoist analogue: breath + attention moving “energy” through the body.
- Reiki / “running energy” self-treatment — hands + intention to “send energy” to an area.
- Distinct from Ramacharaka’s plain breaths (Complete, Rhythmic, Cleansing): this one’s defining feature is the attention + image layer, which is why it sits in attention focus.
Common refinements
Forcing the will. Ramacharaka is right: strain “only dissipates force.” Use a calm, clear image and let it be effortless.
- Skipping the rhythm. The whole thing rests on an established Rhythmic Breath; settle that first, then add attention.
- Vague imagery. The effect tracks the vividness and specificity of where you place attention — make the picture concrete.
- Mistaking it for medicine. Felt warmth/ease ≠ cure. Use it alongside, never instead of, proper care.
- Believing the remote-healing claims. Use the self-directed form; treat “healing others / distant healing” as unproven.