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ANCIENT
INTUITIVE
AUTHENTIC
LIFE-CHANGING
Traditional, energetic practises, for anyone, anywhere.
The word nadi means flow or current. In ancient texts, it says that a person's psychic body has 72,000 nadis, which can be seen as light currents by someone who has developed psychic vision. These nadis link the subtle body's chakras and psychic centres together. From a physical sense, the nadis can be likened to nerve endings in the body.
The three major nadis of the energetic body that are commonly utilised in tantric practises are ida, pingala and sushumna. Ida nadi and pingala nadi spiral around sushumna in opposite directions, converging at each chakra from mooladhara to Ajna
They represent the dual forces of mental energy and vital physical energy. At ajna, the nadis converge and flow together up to sahasrara, the crown chakra.
There are various techniques that facilitate and expand one's experience of the pranic body, such as kundalini, prana vidya, yoga, tantric practises, meditation and many more. Initially, subtle sensations such as heat or tingling indicate the presence of prana in different parts of the physical or pranic body. We could visualise the prana as particles of light flowing through the body, like thousands of delicate, wire-like structures conducting shakti or energy. These are the nadis. There are thousands upon thousands of nadis within the substructure of the gross body and they distribute consciousness and prana to every atom within our body
At times these rays of light are actually seen, at other times there is only a memory of this light. The discovery of these passages of light in memory, in dreams, in thought, in visions, or in imagination is the discovery of prana.
Ida and pingala are mirror images of each other. The ida nadi is known as the left channel because it flows to the left as it leaves the root chakra and runs to the left nostril. Pingala flows to the right, from chakra to nostril. Sushumna is the centre channel and it travels straight up the spine through the centre of all the chakras, meeting ida and pingala at each intersection until they all unit at Ajna Chakra and flow together to the crown chakra..
Sushumna Nadi: Sushumna is where the kundalini rises, so it is the foundation for the gradual awakening of higher understanding. Most people, though, don't use this path until they hit a higher level of evolution.
When sushumna is woken, its inner structure is made up of three nadis that are more subtle.
Inside Sushumna is the vajra nadi, and inside that is the chitra or chitrini nadi. In the middle is the brahma nadi, which is the flow that is the most subtle. This channel is called Brahma nadi because it goes straight to the higher centres of awareness and turns them on. When the kundalini shakti moves through this channel, transcendental events happen.
As such it is considered the most important psychic passage that can be seen in the physical body of a person. It starts at the mooladhara chakra, which can be felt between the pelvic root and the anus in men and the cervix or base of the uterus in women. The sushumna moves slightly backwards from mooladhara and goes up to swadhisthana chakra. Just in front of the coccyx, this is where the sushumna goes into the spine. From there, it goes up the spinal column through the manipura, anahata, and vishuddhi chakras. From where sushumna starts at the end of the spinal column in the lower brain, it goes straight up through ajna and bindu until it reaches the middle of sahasrara.
The entire universe is comprised of two forces, consciousness and energy, which are interdependent and opposite, yet complementary. The universe is like a web of interacting forces that are held up and work within the tensions created by this basic polarity. This duality can be seen everywhere, in nature, the body, and the mind, as light and dark, positive and negative, male and female, and so on. At every level, these two big ideas or forces are at work, making the world and giving it life.
When this cosmic duality of prana and consciousness shows up in the microcosmic unit of the human body, it takes the form of chitta shakt and prana shakti, which are the same as ida nadi and pingala nadi. These two mental and physical channels in the body affect all levels of being, from the most obvious to the most subtle. They are the base for everything we see, do, and feel. They show the two different forces in the human world, like the ups and downs of life.
Pingala is the solar force and stands for the positive aspect. Physical vitality, dynamic activity and tension are qualities of pingala energy. It is warm and goes with the sympathetic nerve system. Ida is the moon force and stands for the negative pole. It is cold and goes with the parasympathetic part of the nervous system. Relaxation, inactivity, and doing nothing are all parts of ida. The two mantras that make up the word 'hatha' relate to the ida and pingala nadis. Ham is connected to pingala nadi, and thom or ksham is connected to ida nadi. The two petals of the ajna chakra also have this symbolism.
Pingala, the extroverted force, usually takes over during the day, especially when the body and mind are working hard and when doing things that require attention and contact with others. At these times, the Ida also runs, but it is less important than the Pingala. In order to keep things in balance, ida usually flows the most at night, while pingala flows the most during the day. Ida, the force of introversion, is busy when people are resting, reading, thinking, watching TV, or sleeping.
When we think about this in terms of the breath, we can see that Ida and Pingala control is directly linked to how the breath moves through the nostrils. If you check the flow of breath at any time, you will usually find that one nose is more open than the other. When the flow of breath is stronger in the left nose, ida is more powerful. When the flow is stronger in the right nostril, pingala is more powerful. If you're tired or sleepy, you'll notice that your left nose is running.
When a person is busy, most of the air starts to come out of their right nostril. Seeing this happen, the yogis came up with breathing methods to control the flow of ida, pingala, and sushumna to make the experience of the pranic body stronger.
We can even go on to link ida and pingala with the functioning of the brain!
When the two forces of ida and pingala are balanced, sushumna becomes active. It is a fact that when two opposing forces are equal and balanced, a third force arises. The working of these three forces can also be understood through the analogy of an electromagnetic circuit with the north pole being ajna and the south pole mooladhara. The negative charge is Ida, the positive charge is Pingala, and the neutral charge is Sushumna.
At each node of ida and pingala, there is a mass of energy that makes patterns that pulse in the horizontal plane. These points are the chakras, that grow and shrink based on what you do with your body and mind.
When the energy between ida and pingala is very strong, the chakras show up as light and sound. This happens a little bit when you breathe normally, but a lot more when you do pranayama practises like nadi shodhana and meditate. While ida and pingala carry mental and physical energy, sushumna carries a higher form of heavenly energy. The powers of pranic and mental are limited, but the energy of sushumna is not.
When sushumna is active, the breath flows through both nostrils simultaneously. Usually, this only lasts a few minutes. This happens when the nose that gets the most air changes, which usually happens every 90 minutes. Sushumna flows when someone does yoga, prays, or meditates. It also flows when someone is about to do something bad. When sushumna flows, the whole brain works, but when ida or pingala runs, only half of the brain works. Because sushumna is the carrier of kundalini energy, people feel calm and steady. Even in the middle of a traffic jam, meditative states can happen on their own. For any kind of sadhana, the flow of Sushumna is thought to be the best.
Sushumna is a symbol of how opposites can work together in balance on all levels. It shows how the opposite ideas of ida and pingala are balanced and brought together.
I don’t know about you, but it sounds like heaven to me. See you on the path next week.