the body, the prana, being no longer under its control, responds only to the orders of the individual atoms, or groups of atoms, forming the body, and as the body disintegrates and is resolved to its original elements, each atom takes with it sufficient prana to enable it to form new combinations, the unused prana returning to the great universal storehouse from which it came.  With the Ego in control, cohesion exists and the atoms are held together by the Will of the Ego.

Prana is the name by which we designate a universal principle, which principle is the essence of all motion, force or energy, whether manifested in gravitation, electricity, the revolution of the planets, and all forms of life, from the highest to the lowest.  It may be called the soul of Force and Energy in all their forms, and that principle which, operating in a certain way, causes that form of activity which accompanies Life.

This great principle is in all forms of matter, and yet it is not matter.  It is in the air, but it is not the air nor one of its chemical constituents.  Animal and plant life breathe it in with the air, and yet if the air contained it not they would die even though they might be filled with air.  It is taken up by the system along with the oxygen, and yet is not the oxygen.  The Hebrew writer of the book of Genesis knew the difference between the atmospheric air and the mysterious and potent principle contained within it.  He speaks of neshemet ruach chayim, which, translated, means “the breath of the spirit of life.”  In the Hebrew neshemet means the ordinary breath of atmospheric air, and chayim means life or lives, while the word ruach means the “spirit of life,” which occultists claim is the same principle which we speak of as Prana.

Prana is in the atmospheric air, but it is also elsewhere, and it penetrates where the air cannot reach.  The oxygen in the air plays an important part in sustaining animal life, and the carbon plays a similar part with plant life, but Prana has its own distinct part to play in the manifestation of life, aside from the physiological functions.

We are constantly inhaling the air charged with prana, and are as constantly extracting the latter from the air and appropriating it to our uses.  Prana is found in its freest state in the atmospheric air, which when fresh is fairly charged with it, and we draw it to us more easily from the air than from any other source.  In ordinary breathing we absorb and extract a normal supply of prana, but by controlled and regulated breathing (generally known as Yogi breathing) we are enabled to extract a greater supply, which is stored away in the brain and nerve centers, to be used when necessary.  We may store away prana, just as the storage battery stores away electricity.  The many powers attributed to advanced occultists is due largely to their knowledge of this fact and their intelligent use of this stored-up energy.  The Yogis know that by certain forms of breathing