Yoga for Energy Vampires

In yoga, prana is our life force and acts as a bridge between universal consciousness and matter.

- Rachael Coopes

Yet "energy vampires" such as distractions, toxic relationships and habits drain and block the flow of prana, leaving us depleted. Through mindful breathing, disciplined practice (tapas) and setting clear boundaries, yoga offers tools to help us protect our energy and strengthen our vitality.

According to Samkhya philosophy, one of the fundamental yogic principles is that everything in existence is made up of energy and matter, or purusha and prakriti.

Purusha is universal consciousness, which is eternal, not subject to change and limitless. Prakriti is matter — dynamic, ever-changing and mutable. The union of prakriti and purusha is only possible via prana, our vitality and life force. Prana acts as a bridge enabling consciousness to move through the physical world of matter, shaping and forming it. In other words, prana moves consciousness, which means from the yogic viewpoint, you, me, and everything in existence are simply energy moving through form, via prana. Or, as Einstein says from a quantum physics viewpoint, “Concerning matter, we have been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter.”

If we are interested in managing how much energy we have, we need to get very curious about the things that drain our prana — the energy vampires. They are the people, places and things that steal our precious life force. When prana is hijacked, our consciousness can't move efficiently through our form.

We get stuck and unwell. Therefore, protecting our energy from thieves should be one of the biggest priorities in our lives. And yet, we treat it as an afterthought, making all sorts of excuses for ourselves and the tricky prana pickpockets.

Don't let them in