Deepen Your Practice 27 - Prana ~ Apana: Prana ~ Apana

About the Deepen Your Practice Series

To study with an enlightened being is a truly rare and special opportunity. It is not a destiny that falls to many people. If it is your great good fortune to have come across the teachings of Mark Griffin, you may find yourself wondering “How do I study with him? How can I put my time to best use?”
Mark’s teaching style is so deep and encompassing that people often wonder where to begin or how to engage in the spiritual training he offers. Is there an order to what you should study, or are there lessons you could turn to? Yes - That’s exactly what the Deepen Your Practice course is – it is a sequential curriculum of study with this profound Meditation Master.
Mark is here to guide us on our spiritual path and illuminate the way, but if you work with him – while he’s working with you – you’ll be amazed at how fast you can progress. How can you do that? Study his teachings. Use the mind, and let the understanding and insights you gain bolster and enrich your sadhana – your spiritual practices.
Each volume of the series can stand on its own as a teaching, or you can approach them in sequence, starting with Volume One and progressing one-by-one through the entire Deepen Your Practice program. You may choose to focus on one volume each month or at whatever pace and tempo seems right to you.

About this Volume of Deepen Your Practice
Prana ~ Apana
Our study this volume focuses on the two principals vital forces of prana and apana. The word prana is used as a general ‘umbrella’ name for ten uniquely different varieties of the life force. The ten are composed of five major pranas, and five minor pranas. Mark Griffin does a wonderful summary in this volume’s talk of all the various opposing forces we experience in our spiritual unfolding, reminding us that all of these actions are designed towards driving the attention into the central nerve of sushumna, and the dawn of enlightenment.
As he says, “When the mind is neither ascending or descending, the prana is neither ascending or descending, the breath neither ascending nor descending, there’s a kind of doorway through. You see not the movement of consciousness, but the source of consciousness itself.
The absence of event is actually full of consciousness, but it’s not moving, it’s not doing anything. It’s just conscious. And it’s actually a doorway to a deeper place.”


About the Author

Yogic Mystic and Meditation Master, Mark Griffin, the founder of Hard Light Center of Awakening, was a student of Swami Muktananda of the Siddha Yoga Lineage who, in turn, was a disciple of Swami Nityananda. Griffin, who teaches in Malibu, CA, exists in states of Nirvikalpa Samadhi and identifies meditation as the core of his teaching.

He presents ancient knowledge of the various strands of Yoga dating back to the Vedas in contemporary terms, both mystical and scientific. As such, his work complements and agrees with many esoteric practices including Taoism, Tantra, Yoga, Shamanism and theoretical physics.

Mark Griffin is a Westerner who was born in the '50s in the Pacific Northwest. His childhood encompassed a usual American middle-class scenario, followed by tumultuous teen and early adult years spent in a very aggressive pursuit of higher knowledge and purpose. Mark's studies in art and music brought him to the San Francisco Bay area where he met his Guru, Swami Muktananda, in 1976.

After six years of full-time immersion in the study of meditation, Mark encountered a milestone of extreme spiritual significance-entrance into an advanced state of consciousness known as Nirvakalpa Samadhi.

Very shortly thereafter, Muktananda died. Great teachers of the Kagyu tradition came to Mark's assistance, and he received continued instruction in maturing and stabilizing his abilities in meditation from Kalu Rinpoche and Chogyam Trungpa.

Mark Griffin founded the Hard Light center of Awakening in 1989, and continues to teach in Los Ang