Prana power

The lush green foliage, vibrant with life, whispered to the flowers, birds and other gentle creatures in the garden his best kept secret.

First a rabbit, then a chipmunk scrambled up to the trunk of the old tree that sat in the center of the garden, to hear his wisdom, uttered ever so closely they could barely make out the sound.

"Do you notice when the breezes dance off your petals or graze your soft fur how good you feel?,"  they heard him ask to the now rapt attention of all in the garden, except the man who had begun coming to visit on his lunch hours.

"See the man who has joined us?  See how he comes in here for an hour? First he is tired and then he is filled with life and energy, all in an hour of sitting here?"  

The old rabbit looked over at the man, who had become his new friend, and agreed the man did indeed seem more vibrant, more joyful after each day he came to sit on the old bench by the pond and waterfall.

"My friends, this isn't a magical garden.  It is just an ordinary garden, but there is something in the air here that is more than magical, but it's everywhere, but maybe just in in a stronger concentration here.  Like Lotus' lovely fragrance, for example.  She contains her scent in the small space of the pond.  If she were in an ocean, her scent would be dispersed throughout the whole ocean and less concentrated.  Here in our walled garden, all our fragrances are just a little bit more concentrated and as the man breathes in steadily, as you have all noticed that he does for an hour with his eyes closed over there, he is breathing in the life energy that we all together are also breathing in and creating. We help make that energy a little bit more powerful here because it increases in our leaves and flower pedals."  

The tallest and brightest of the languid lilies perked up when he said, 'flower pedals.'

"Dear Father Tree, what is it exactly that is in the air that we all breathe that does this for the man and for us?" Lily asked.

"It is life force energy," Father Tree said.

"The entire universe is filled with a subtle energy, a measurable base vibration that runs throughout the universe. It's in the air and in everything.  And, it's not just a dumb energy, it contains a real intelligence of some kind.  It has power. It has life-giving power.  But, since it's invisible to the eye, we can't see it and so we didn't know it was there.  And because we didn't know it was there, we didn't know that we could focus it with our conscious intelligence to direct it for healing.  That's the secret."

The jittery little chipmunk slipped off the acorn at the base of Father trees trunk on which he was sitting like a small child.  Startled, he hopped up, sighed and sat back down.  His tiny foot hurt now.  Father Tree noticed that little chipmunk's foot seemed injured by his slippage.

"Son, you have just provided me with an excellent opportunity to demonstrate exactly what I'm teaching you here," Father Tree said to the chipmunk.

"Son, close your eyes and inside your mind see that tender spot on your little leg.  Now, breathe in deeply, hold it for just the count of three ... one....two....three.  Now, exhale, and as you exhale imagine the sunshine in the air you're exhaling going all the way down from your lungs to your little foot."

Chipmunk sat there and did just as Father Tree told him to do.  He was completely undisturbed when the man got up to go back to work.  He knew he would see him the next day.  The little chipmunk, more monkey than chipmunk, just kept slowly breathing in the magical air and exhaling it slowly allowing it to bathe his foot in the universal life force energy that Father Tree told him was all around and inside him, fully permeating the air, but was especially strong here in the garden.  After a few minutes, he opened his eyes as all the flowers, birds and other gentle creatures of the garden had remained circled around him.

"How do you feel?"  Father Tree asked little chipmunk.

"I feels great!!"  he exclaimed and jumped up, dancing around on the tree's large root as if he'd never hurt himself.

"That's what I'm talking about," Father Tree said.

"That beautiful life force energy that gives us life, that is the measurable energy of the universe, that is throughout everything and in everything has a power in it to heal.  That power is called prana," he said, adding "When you breathe it in, it gives you energy. When you direct it to a hurt part of your leaf, flower pedal, wing or furry foot, you actually use your conscious mind to direct it to that area that needs healing." 

"You've all heard fat Mr. Fred Frog talk for hours about the power of our concentration, that it's like pointing a flashlight or a laser which focuses our conscious power onto something.  I know I've seen rabbit do it to open up the wire fence in the back of the garden to slip through to steal a carrot or two from the old overgrown yard back there."  

"So, when the man comes in here looking all sad and lumpy, and he sits there and breaths for awhile, it's the prana in the air that he's bringing into his body that's refreshing him?  You mean he's actually bringing that power into his body and recharging off it?"  Rabbit asked.

"That's exactly right," Father Tree said tenderly to the wise rabbit.

After a long silence - if you were there you would have heard it - the entire garden took a deep breathe and held it for ......one....two ....three, and then slowly exhaled all together.

And, if you were there, you would agree that it seemed like lotus' fragrance was just a bit more lovely than usual and that lily stood at least an inch taller.  

Then, as almost every afternoon after the man left, a gentle humm seemed to flow in the air, and then soon after, they all felt the breeze again. Chipmunk danced his way back to his mother and brothers and sisters and rabbit slipped through the fence for his afternoon supper. And everything almost went back to normal.  Almost. The only difference now is the prana that was always there, always for trillions and trillions of years, had made herself known.  And now, with each breath, a little tiny hum of worship flowed into their little bodies and the garden became just a little bit brighter, a little bit more radiant and a lot more alive.