Turning a House into a Home
Turning a House into a Home
Home of Prana is a creative community based project by House Mother Rohani. Yes, Home of Prana is birthed from House of Prana. Conceived during the pandemic in the midst of the Ballroom scene of Barbados, House of Prana offered respite to queer family. A place where folx could hang out, dress down, sleep in, eat up. After being so immersed in the Ballroom community and seeing not only the need for space but for nurturing, the feeling of expansion was inspired. During a sisters trip to DC with their Didi, to visit the African American Museum at the Smithsonian, Mother Rohani was gifted a notebook. In this notebook, on the way to the train station, in Didi's car, the structure for Home of Prana entered reality. Since then, 4 years of hosting gatherings in various cities has gone by. Finally in 2026, Home of Prana will open its doors offering programing and community accessible spaces.
Some say Rohani, others say Dana, either way they are The Mother. Born in The Bronx and raised between Barbados and New York City, in a Guyanese household, Rohani knows the importance of Home.
"The creation of Home of Prana is my destiny.
Its ethos is something I have been embodying my entire life. Gathering people and sharing with them, space, food, time, plants, stories, music, love, breath, life.
As an artist I am passionate about creating and as an activist I am passionate about supporting. Ultimately it's all about liberation and how do we achieve that except for with community? Community is really what "home" is. It's where we find comfort, medicine, and devotion. Home was never a place and always a feeling, a knowing, a safety. "
But what does PRANA mean?
प्राण
Prana has been simplified to mean "vital breath, life force" and have been been used interchangeably with "Chi, Qi, Ki, Spirit, Energy, Essence Mauri"
Mother Rohani's first encounter with the word in text was during her first reading of the Upanishads.
At the time they were seeking a House name and asked the book to reveal it, thus House, and Home of Prana was chosen.