Nadi (yoga)

For the village of Nadiş in Sălaj County, Romania, see Cehu Silvaniei.

Nāḍī (Sanskrit नाडी nāḍī = tube, pipe; Tamili/ˈ/naadi) நாடி = nerve, blood vessel, pulse: pronounced with long vowel sounds and a retroflex 'd') is a term for the channels through which, in traditional Indian medicine and spiritual science, the energies of the physical body, the subtle body and the causal body are said to flow. Within this philosophical framework, the nadis are said to connect at special points of intensity called nadichakras.[1]

General introduction

Nadi is an important concept in Hindu philosophy, mentioned and described in the sources some of which have about 3,000 years of history. The amount of nadis of the human body are claimed to be up to hundred-of-thousands and even millions. In regard to Kundalini yoga, there are three important nadis: ida, pingala, and sushumna (for the alternate names, see the section below). Ida (इडा, iḍā "comfort") lies to the left of the spine, whereas pingala (पिङ्गल, piṅgala "tawny (brown)", "golden", "solar") is to the right side of the spine, mirroring the ida. Sushumna (सुषुम्णा, suṣumṇā "very gracious", "kind"[2]) runs along the spinal cord in the center, through the seven chakras. Under the correct conditions the energy of kundalini is said to uncoil and enter sushumna through the brahma dwara or gate of Brahma at the base of the spine.

The Shiva Samhita treatise on yoga states, for example, that out of 350,000 nadis 14 are particularly important, and among them, the three just mentioned are the three most vital.[1]

Early references

Several of the ancient Upanishads use the concept of nadis (channels). Nadi system is mentioned in the Chandogya Upanishad (8~6 cc. BCE), verse 8.6.6.[3] and in verses 3.6-3.7 of the Prasna Upanishad (second half of the 1 millennium BC). As stated in the last,

3.6 "In the heart verily is Jivātma. Here a hundred and one nāḍis arise. For each of these nāḍis there are one hundred nāḍikās. For each of these there are thousands more. In these Vyâna moves."
3.7 "Through one of these, the Udâna leads us upward by virtue of good deeds to the good worlds, by sin to the sinful worlds, by both to the worlds of men indeed." (PU Q3)[4][5]

The Varaha Upanishad (13-16 cc. CE) further describes it as follows:

"The nāḍis penetrate the body from the soles of the feet to the crown of the head. In them is prāṇa, the breath of life and in that life abides Ātman, which is the abode of Shakti, creatrix of the animate and inanimate worlds." (VU 54/5)[6]

Functions and activities

In the yoga theory, nadis are said to carry life force energies known as prana. In the physical body, the nadis are channels carrying air, water, nutrients, blood and other bodily fluids around and are similar to the arteries, veins, capillaries, bronchioles, nerves, lymph canals and so on.[1] In yoga theory, the physical body is often referred to as "the gross body" (Sanskrit Sthula sarira).

In the subtle and the causal body, the nadis are channels for so called cosmic, vital, seminal, mental, intellectual, etc. energies (collectively described as prana) and are important for sensations, consciousness and the spiritual aura.[1]

Yoga texts disagree on the number of nadis in the human body. Hatha Yoga Pradipika and Goraksha Samhita quote 72,000 nadis, each branching off into another 72,000 nadis, whereas Shiva Samhita states 350,000 nadis arise from the navel center.[1]

All nadis are said to originate from one of two centres; the heart and the kanda, the last being an egg-shaped bulb in the pelvic area, just below the navel.[1]

When awakened, kundalini travels upward within Sushumna.[7] The Ida and Pingala nadis are often seen as referring to the two hemispheres of the brain. Pingala is the extroverted (Active), solar nadi, and corresponds to the right hand side of the body and the left hand side of the brain. Ida is the introverted, lunar nadi, and corresponds to the left hand side of the body and the right hand side of the brain (there is a contralateralization). These nadis are also said to have an extrasensory function, playing a part in empathic and instinctive responses. The two nadis are believed to be stimulated through different Pranayama practices, including nadi shodhana, which involves alternately breathing through the left and right nostrils, which would theoretically stimulate the left and right sides of the brain respectively. The word nadi comes from the Sanskrit root nad meaning "channel", "stream", or "flow". Special breathing techniques are supposed to influence the flow of prana within these nadis. According to this interpretation, these techniques will purify and develop these two energetic currents and may lead to the awakening of kundalini.

Ida, Pingala and Sushumna

The Ida and Pingala nadis are often seen as referring to the two hemispheres of the brain. Pingala is the extroverted, solar nadi, and corresponds to left hemisphere . Ida is the introverted, lunar nadi, and refers to the right hemisphere of the brain. Ida nadi controls all the mental processes while Pingala nadi controls all the vital processes.

The medieval Sat-Cakra-Nirupana (1520s), one of the later and more fully developed classical texts on nadis and chakras, refers to these three main nadis by the names Sasi, Mihira, and Susumna.

In the space outside the Meru, the right apart from the body placed on the left and the right, are the two Nadis, Sasi and Mihira. The Nadi Susumna, whose substance is the threefold Gunas, is in the middle. She is the form of Moon, Sun, and Fire even water also; Her body, a string of blooming Dhatura flowers, extends from the middle of the Kanda to the Head, and the Vajra inside Her extends, shining, from the Medhra to the Head.[10]

Other traditions and interpretations

Other cultures also work with concepts similar to nadis and prana.

Chinese

Systems based on Traditional Chinese Medicine work with an energy concept called qi. Qi travels through meridians similar in description to the nadis. The microcosmic orbit practice has many similarities to certain Indian nadi shuddha (channel clearing) exercises and the practice of Kriya Yoga.

Tibetan

Tibetan medicine borrows many concepts from Yoga through the influence of Tantric Buddhism. One of the Six Yogas of Naropa is a cleansing of the central channel called phowa, preparing the soul to leave the body through the sagittal suture. The Vajrayana practice of Trul Khor is another practice used to direct and control the flow of energy within the body's energetic meridians through breath control and physical postures.

European

Sometimes the three main nadis (Ida, Pingala and Sushumna) are related to the Caduceus of Hermes: "the two snakes of which symbolize the kundalini or serpent-fire which is presently to be set in motion along those channels, while the wings typify the power of conscious flight through higher planes which the development of that fire confers".[11]

See also

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Light on Pranayama" (Ch. 5: Nadis and Chakras)
  2. ↑ spokensanskrit.de
  3. ↑ For reference to Chandogya Upanishad 8.6.6 and interpretation as an early form of the occult physiology see: McEvilley, Thomas. "The Spinal Serpent", in: Harper and Brown, p.94.
  4. ↑ Nāḍikās are small nadis.
    Udâna are often translated as "out-breathing" in this context. Perhaps a metaphor for death.
  5. ↑ Prasna Upanishad, Question 3 § 6, 7.
  6. ↑ Varahopanisad V, 54/5.
  7. ↑ Arthur Avalon, The Serpentine Power (collection of yoga-tantric texts)
  8. 1 2 Three fundamental nadis
  9. ↑ Tommaso Palamidessi, The Occult Constitution of Man and Woman, Bio-energy and the energetic ducts
  10. ↑ Sat-Cakra-Narupana, The Muladhara Cakra, transl. Sir John Woodroffe in The Serpent Power: Being the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpana and Pādukā-pañcaka
  11. ↑ C. W. Leadbeater, Chakras, Adyar, 1929

Sources

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