प्राणprāṇa · breath, life-force
Prāṇa and the five vāyus
3 min read · Updated October 16, 2026 · sources checked October 16, 2026
In short
Prāṇa means breath and, more broadly, the life-force that animates the body. The Upanishads divide it into five vāyus or breaths: prāṇa in the upper body and senses, apāna moving down for elimination, samāna in the middle distributing food, udāna rising upward, and vyāna pervading the whole body through the channels (Praśna Upaniṣad 3.5-3.7).
प्राण (prāṇa) is one of the great words of Indian thought. In everyday Sanskrit it simply means breath. In the Upanishads it becomes the life of the body, the power that holds the senses together and that leaves at death. The haṭha yoga texts build their whole practice on it.
The word
Prāṇa is formed from the prefix pra-, forward, and the root an, to breathe. It is used in the singular for the breath, the life; in the plural, prāṇāḥ, it can mean the vital functions and the senses together. And it is also the name of one particular breath among five. Context tells you which.
A story from the Praśna Upaniṣad
The Praśna Upaniṣad tells how the powers of the body once quarrelled about which of them was the greatest: space, wind, fire, water, earth, speech, mind, sight and hearing. Prāṇa, the foremost (variṣṭha), told them not to be deluded: "It is I who, dividing myself fivefold, hold up this body and sustain it" (2.3). They did not believe it. So prāṇa began to rise out of the body, and as it rose, all the others were forced to rise with it; when it settled, they all settled again, "as the bees all rise when the king of the bees rises, and all settle when he settles" (2.4). Convinced, speech, mind, sight and hearing praised prāṇa.
The five vāyus
The third chapter of the same Upaniṣad answers a student's question: where does prāṇa come from, how does it enter the body, how does it divide itself? Prāṇa is born of the self, "as a shadow is cast by a person" (3.3), and like a king who appoints officials to different villages, it assigns the other breaths to their places (3.4). Then the text distributes them:
| Vāyu | Devanagari | Place and role in the texts |
|---|---|---|
| prāṇa | प्राण | in the eyes, ears, mouth and nose; the breath of the upper body (Praśna 3.5) |
| apāna | अपान | in the organs of excretion and generation; the downward breath (3.5) |
| samāna | समान | in the middle of the body; it "equalises" and distributes what is eaten (3.5) |
| vyāna | व्यान | moves through the 101 channels of the heart and their countless branches (3.6) |
| udāna | उदान | rises through one channel and leads upward, at death, to the world earned by one's deeds (3.7) |
पायूपस्थेऽपानं चक्षुःश्रोत्रे मुखनासिकाभ्यां प्राणः स्वयं प्रातिष्ठते मध्ये तु समानः
pāyūpasthe 'pānaṃ cakṣuḥśrotre mukhanāsikābhyāṃ prāṇaḥ svayaṃ prātiṣṭhate | madhye tu samānaḥ
Apāna in the organs of excretion and generation; prāṇa itself dwells in the eye and the ear, with the mouth and the nose; and in the middle, samāna.
The list of five is older still: the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (1.5.3) already names prāṇa, apāna, vyāna, udāna, samāna and concludes that "all this is prāṇa".
Five secondary breaths
The haṭha texts add five minor breaths. The Gorakṣaśataka (verse 24 in the Kuvalayananda-Shukla edition) names nāga, kūrma, kṛkara, devadatta and dhanañjaya, which later texts link to belching, blinking, sneezing, yawning and what remains in the body after death.
Prāṇa in haṭha yoga
For the haṭha texts, mastering prāṇa is the whole work. The Haṭhapradīpikā puts it plainly:
यावद्वायुः स्थितो देहे तावज्जीवनमुच्यते । मरणं तस्य निष्क्रान्तिस्ततो वायुं निरोधयेत् ॥
yāvad vāyuḥ sthito dehe tāvaj jīvanam ucyate | maraṇaṃ tasya niṣkrāntis tato vāyuṃ nirodhayet ||
As long as the breath stays in the body, that is called life; death is its departure. Therefore one should restrain the breath.
The same text explains that while the channels are clogged, the breath cannot enter the middle channel (2.4), and that prāṇāyāma purifies them (2.5-2.6). The Gorakṣaśataka (verse 29) sums up the dynamic: apāna pulls prāṇa and prāṇa pulls apāna; the one who knows these two, above and below, knows yoga. The nāḍīs, the chakras and Kuṇḍalinī are all described in terms of this movement of prāṇa.
Patañjali is more sober. He defines prāṇāyāma as the interruption (viccheda) of the movement of in-breath and out-breath once the posture is steady (Yoga Sutra 2.49), and mentions udāna and samāna only among the powers of saṃyama (3.39-3.40).
Prāṇa and modern language
Modern books often translate prāṇa as "energy" and the vāyus as "energy currents". This can help, as long as one remembers that the texts describe an inner, lived reality to be explored in practice, not a physical energy measurable by instruments. They are also distinct from the five sheaths (kośa): the "sheath made of breath", prāṇamaya, comes from the Taittirīya Upaniṣad and belongs to another map (the koshas).
Feeling the vāyus: a simple observation
Without any retention, sitting upright, for five minutes:
- Breathe in and notice the air entering at the nostrils, the chest rising: the region of prāṇa.
- Breathe out and notice the movement settling downward into the belly and pelvis: apāna.
- Rest attention at the navel between breaths: samāna, the middle.
- Hum softly on an out-breath and feel the vibration rise in the throat: the direction of udāna.
- Finally feel the whole body breathing at once: vyāna, which pervades everything.
This is an exercise of attention, not a technique to force anything. The breathing techniques themselves are on pranayama, starting with alternate nostril breathing.
Questions people ask
Is prana the same as breath?
Partly. Prāṇa is the ordinary word for breath, and also the life-force carried by it. In the texts, controlling the breath is the way to work with prāṇa, which is why prāṇāyāma means extension or restraint of the breath.
What are the five vayus?
Prāṇa, apāna, samāna, udāna and vyāna. The Praśna Upaniṣad places them in the senses and upper body, the organs of elimination, the middle of the body, the upward channel and the whole network of channels.
Is prana the same as qi?
They are comparable ideas from different civilisations, but not the same concept. It is better to understand prāṇa from the Indian texts themselves.
Sources
- Praśna Upaniṣad with Śaṅkara’s commentary, Sanskrit text (GRETIL) checked October 16, 2026
- Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (Kāṇva recension) 1.5.3, Sanskrit text (GRETIL) checked October 16, 2026
- Haṭhayogapradīpikā of Svātmārāma, Sanskrit text (GRETIL) checked October 16, 2026
- Gorakṣaśataka, edition Kuvalayananda and Shukla, Sanskrit text (GRETIL) checked October 16, 2026
- Patañjali, Yogasūtra, Sanskrit text (GRETIL, University of Göttingen) checked October 16, 2026