What Do Panic, Prayer, and Prana Have in Common?

Feeling panicked is anything but fun, but it is helpful! Panic provokes us to accept that something isn’t great and to make a change—or at least, to pray. What does this process have to teach us about ourselves and the prana flowing through everything?

A couple years ago I discovered a pattern in my life: whenever I’m unsure about the future and start doubting, a sense of uncertainty fills every aspect of my life. Not only do I feel uneasy about one thing that might happen in the future, but I begin doubting everything in the present, no matter how trivial or how sure it seems to everyone else. Doubt creeps into everything.

This feeling of being unsure doesn't drop out of nowhere, though. It’s usually connected to feeling stressed, overwhelmed or drained. One or all of those feelings rise up and suddenly I start doubting EVERYTHING; why I'm here, what I'm doing, if we’re going to make it... Nothing feels sure anymore.

During our Island Yoga studio construction, I arrived to this place of uncertainty every few months or so. I would get overwhelmed, lose sight of the big picture and then start worrying about money, about paying the bills, about paying our people. __Where before I only saw opportunity, instead I saw insurmountable obstacles and worst-case scenarios. __

This especially bothered me because it's not in my nature to worry; being fearful is not at all a part of who I am. My greatest strength is my inability to have failure be an option—I know we will always be okay, so we always are. I never take no for an answer and know that absolutely everything is possible. This mindset is why I often succeed at what I do; it's how I manifest.

Energy attracts more of that same energy, something I figured out long ago.

But every once in a while, I drop into uncertainty and doubt, attracting even more of that negative energy. From doubt, if I sit in it long enough, I enter panic. I can't tell you how many times we completely ran out of money while building Island Yoga. When panic arrived, it came at me in full force. I would spend about a day in tears, filled with frustration, cursing the day we decided to put all of our eggs in one basket and take this leap.

But then… Magic would happen.

From my state of panic, I would inevitably arrive at a very different place. It's called prayer. I get so distraught, caught up in my mind and filled with dread that at the end of the day, I pray. I sit down and I pray.

With prayer, panic disappears.

Doubt vanishes.

Suddenly, I'm back to trust.

And here is the thing: after every single cycle of moving through doubt-panic-prayer, I’m able to manifest absolutely everything we need. Money drops out of the sky (I kid you not). In ways I could have never predicted, abundance arrives. It's showed up through unexpected business deals, book contracts, strangers, angels, random events... Within the scope of a day we have everything we need again and life flows.

I realized that this pattern—doubt, panic, prayer—was absolutely crucial to my ability to manifest. Without doubt, there is no panic. Without panic, there is no prayer. I need panic to arrive to get on my knees and pray, meditate and align. No panic, no prayer. It's just how I worked.

I was texting my friend this realization of my panic to prayer cycle, and in the spur of the moment I decided to combine the two for my own secret recipe word. What did I get? PRANIC. Pranic! Prana is the energy and life force of everything in the universe and beyond. Panic, prayer—It's all energy.

Moving from panic to prayer to abundance, and understanding the mechanics of it is the most incredible thing. It’s all one flowing, weaving stream of energy guiding us toward where we need to go and what we need to know.

Knowing this, how can I be anything but grateful for the panic?? The dread, the pain, the frustration... It’s all purposeful. Every challenging moment brings us forward. I'm getting better and better at staying present with this truth. And with time, my moments of doubt and panic become shorter and less frequent. I drop into prayer faster, sometimes without an ounce of panic to get me there.

Because, ultimately and always, I can trust that the universe has my back.

The universe has all of our backs!

All we have to do is trust the process, and as much as necessary, pray.

If you need support through the panic, share on our community board, join and share in our community on Facebook or practice guided meditation and mindfulness classes here.

What’s your cycle that gets you back to trusting the universe and manifesting your dreams? Share your story with me below!

X,

Rachel