If your body is experiencing pain, illness, or less-than-ideal health, the circulation of your energy could be the reason. Prana is our life force. The body is our vehicle. Life force is what keeps the body alive and healthy. Everyone, in their own unique way, acquires blockages of this life force throughout their lifetime. Left unattended, these blockages can lead to discomfort, imbalance, or illness. The good news? You can begin removing these blocks—on your own.

By circulating life force through the body using the breath, these blockages begin to break up, loosen, or even dissolve entirely. When this happens, you may feel a level of health and well-being that you haven’t felt in years—or possibly ever. It all comes down to the quality of our inhales and the fullness of our exhales.

I was a pack-a-day smoker for 13 years, from the age of 18 to 31. When I reflect on that time in my life, I realize that smoking, in its own way, served a purpose. Of course, I craved the nicotine, but more than that, I craved the break. It was the only time I truly paused to take a deep breath. So, while I don’t advocate smoking, I recognize that it gave me something I now practice more consciously: a moment of stillness and breath. The healthier alternative is to focus on deep breathing and full exhaling—where you breathe in so fully that your lungs expand, your belly rises, and even your pelvic floor engages. On the exhale, consciously use your diaphragm and pelvic floor to release every bit of air, rather than letting out a shallow puff.

When you breathe in this way, you’re drawing in air prana—life energy that exists in the very air around you—and jumpstarting the flow of that energy through your system. If it feels uncomfortable at first, that may indicate an energetic blockage. If you’ve spent years clenching your belly or restricting your breath, it can take time and practice to help those muscles relax. But they will. And when they do, healing will follow.

If you have a specific pain in your body, visualize your breath moving toward that area. The prana in your breath will begin to disintegrate energetic congestion, and you may start to experience relief you didn’t think was possible.

As Master Choa Kok Sui teaches: “Where there is prana, there is life. Where there is more prana, there is better health.” Breathwork is one of the simplest and most accessible ways to bring prana into the body. However, when blockages are deep, old, or stubborn, you may need to consult an experienced energy healer. Pranic Healers are trained to scan, disintegrate, and remove energetic blockages—often in a fraction of the time it would take with breathwork alone.

Still, every bit of self-healing you do through your breath matters. Deep breathing with awareness is like jumpstarting the battery of your body. If you feel low on energy, anxious, or off-balance, return to your breath. It is the gateway to restoring flow—and flow is where healing begins.

If you really think about it, criticism doesn’t make much sense. In fact, the deeper truth is that if you have a tendency to criticize others—from your best friend to a political figure you’ve never met—it’s often a reflection of internalized criticism you’ve received, and an unconscious desire to belong or “fit in.”

Let me explain.

Think back to when you were a child—as far back as you can remember. At some point, even if only briefly, you were simply a being of love and curiosity about the world. New people were fascinating, different people might have seemed strange, but they were still fun. Every new experience was exciting, an opportunity to learn.

You likely don’t remember being a toddler, but if you’ve ever been around one, you know their favorite questions are “Why?” followed by “How?” followed by another “Why?” At that stage, we weren’t busy forming judgments about who or what we liked or disliked. We weren’t critical of differences—we were intrigued by them.

But then something changes. Our discriminating mind kicks in. We begin to learn the difference between hot and cold, safe and dangerous. As we grow older, our discernment shifts from physical safety to emotional and social safety. Adolescence introduces the idea of fitting in or being excluded, and most of us begin shaping our identities accordingly. Sometimes we naturally fit in—but more often, we experience rejection, which reinforces the idea that we must define ourselves in contrast to others.

By the time we become adults, these tendencies become deeply ingrained. We rely on our identity—“I come from there, I like this, I do that”—to define our reality. And anything or anyone that falls outside of that identity can feel threatening, unfamiliar, or wrong.

But what if we had never needed to figure out how to “fit in”? What if we could approach people and situations with the same curiosity we had as toddlers? What if the only things we were critical of were truly unsafe—like a hot stove burner—and everything else was met with openness?

Criticism is, at its core, a way to regulate our own discomfort. It’s a mechanism to feel superior, in control, or validated. But when we replace criticism with genuine curiosity, we begin to transform—not just ourselves, but our environment.

Master Choa Kok Sui teaches that “energy follows thought.” When you criticize someone, you don’t just create a thought—you generate an energy stream directed at them, and at yourself. That stream reinforces energetic congestion in the throat and solar plexus chakras, which over time can weaken your aura, your relationships, and even your physical health. On the other hand, curiosity generates openness, and openness is an expression of love. Love purifies, expands, and heals.

There are as many paths as there are people. To assume that someone else’s path is “lesser” than yours simply because it’s different is to miss the point of spiritual growth.

Criticism says: “You’re different, and I don’t like it.”
Curiosity says: “You’re different. I wonder why.”

When we ask that question sincerely, we engage the world with love, compassion, and higher understanding. These small acts—replacing judgment with curiosity—truly can change the world.

In five years, your life will be filled with new challenges, new friends, new leaders. But today, you have a choice: to feed the energy of criticism, or to create space for love.

So ask yourself:

​Where can I extend more curiosity and less criticism—starting right now?

Don’t buy the hype.
Your emotions are like a used car salesman. They’ll do everything they can to convince you they’re the best, most important thing in your life—since sliced bread. But if you buy into the pitch too quickly, you might find yourself headed down a bumpy road filled with regret.

It’s worth inspecting this used-car emotion.
Look under the hood.
Kick the tires.
Start the engine, for crying out loud.

Emotions are energy. We are the feelers of our feelings—not the feelings themselves. That’s a critical distinction.

Now, let’s be clear: there’s a fine line between healthy emotional processing and bypassing. Swallowing emotions, “sucking it up,” or “manning up” doesn’t make those feelings disappear. Instead, they get shoved down—often into the solar plexus chakra, which governs digestion and emotions. According to Master Choa Kok Sui, unprocessed emotional energy can lead to energetic congestion, which, over time, may manifest as ulcers, digestive issues, or even more serious health concerns.

But here’s the good news: you always have a choice about whether or not an emotion serves you.
When you begin to see every emotion as an offering—not a command—you unlock a certain kind of superpower.

Let’s say something makes you angry. That’s normal. But now you have a three-part opportunity:​