Prana is the Sanskrt term for subtle energy that organises and powers the physical body. Most, if not all, traditional cultures have had a concept of subtle energy – the Chinese called it Qi (or Chi), and the Japanese called it Ki.

Ueshiba founder of Aikido

When I was practising Aikido in the 80s and 90s, I often had direct experience of the power of ki. We learned how to cultivate our own ki; and how to sense and direct an attacker’s ki in order to throw the attacker in a variety of spectacular ways. I met elderly people who had practised extending their ki for several years – they were immensely powerful, yet infinitely gentle. Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, practised and taught well into his nineties; in fact until the day he died.

Prana – or Qi or Ki – offer something very exciting for society. The current paradigm is that people get old, weak, diseased, decrepit – and die. We see senior citizens sitting around, exchanging notes about their disabilities and failing health. As they sit around, their health does get worse, because immobility causes stagnation and complications. But this need not be.

The reason for the sad state of our elderly, is our supposedly scientific idea that only that which is measurable exists. Hence only the physical body is real – and concepts of subtle energy are illusory. For those who have plumbed the depths of aikido, tai qi and yoga, this is nonsense. These practitioners have experienced subtle energy, they know it does exist.

So, if we live depending solely on our physical body, we have nothing else to rely on when we age. We become weak and incapacitated. If we practise an art that cultivates subtle energy, such as yoga, we tap into another source of energy – an energy which does not diminish with age, but which can increase, affording us even greater faculties in our mature years.

Open your mind to the concept of prana. When you breathe, visualise yourself drawing in fresh universal prana that envigorates the body. When you move, become aware of the lines and movements of energy in the body. Freely offer your energy to people who need help or need healing.

By doing this regularly, you will start sensing the flow of prana; your awareness will become more subtle; your practice of yoga – or whatever art – will become softer, more stable, and more powerful.

This is the paradox as taught by my aikido teacher, Sensei Kenneth Williams: the more relaxed you become, the softer you get, the more your inherent, natural power is released – the paradox of performing great feats by letting go of your ego.