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Ida and pingala go around, sashami goes through the spine. Where in the spine are these channels located? do ida and pingala circle the whole spine? and does sashami go through the center of the spine and they origninate in the base of the spine and end where, the crown or the tip of spine? thanks
seeker |
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| This resource is helpful:
http://www.yoga-age.com/modern/kun4.html
My understanding is that they are not bound exactly to the physical body since of course they are not actual nerves, blood vessels, etc. |
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| Tubeseeker,
It's susumna right?
Ooh - indian anatomy. Very instinctive for us westerners to want to quantify it. But I'm with diyogini on this one. Why not take the mystical approach?
Hard to talk about the nadis (particularly ida and pingala) without talking about prana and apana? Isn't the ideas that the apana gathers at the base of the susumna where the ida and pingala cross and that we want to rid ourselves of the apana to be able to contain prana?
This is not such a hard concept for me - when I look at the needless items in my apartment. Or think about the amazing amounts of useless and possibly harmful info stored in my mind. So it's not such a stretch for me to think that we store crap in our bodies that we need rid ourselves of. Isn't this the importance of pranayama practice. Desikachar talks about this in the Heart of Yoga. We practice pranayama to bring the apana to the agni - for burning. And particularly use a long exhale to rid ourselves of the apana (impurities.) Yeah -  - I roll my eyes at a lot of the more mystical stuff. But when I think about it as a model instead of trying to quantify it - I'm able to appreciate the ideas more.
Definitely one of those yoga concepts best explained by a really good teacher.
Vic |
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| victw - 2008-02-27 7:40 PM
Desikachar talks about this in the Heart of Yoga. We practice pranayama to bring the apana to the agni - for burning. And particularly use a long exhale to rid ourselves of the apana (impurities. ) Yeah - - I roll my eyes at a lot of the more mystical stuff. But when I think about it as a model instead of trying to quantify it - I'm able to appreciate the ideas more.
Vic
Long exhale in pranayama reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood. This allows the blood to increase its oxygen content. (The blood can only hold so much gas, whether carbon dioxide or oxygen.) The cells burn nutrients from food (calories or nutritional prana) using the catalyst of oxygen (also prana). The ash (apana) from this burning is carbon dioxide. By exhaling the carbon dioxide (apana), you make room for more oxygen (prana). Prana (life force) must be replenished on a continuous basis or death occurs (death of the cells or if enough, the entire body). This is really more death of a process rather than death of the body as the body is a process, not a static "thing." You cannot hold on to life (prana), it is something that flows through you. To me, the whole point of yoga is to open the body (which includes the mind and spirit) so that the flow is free and without blockages. |
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| tubeseeker - 2008-02-22 10:44 PM
Where in the spine are these channels located?
In his book on Raja Yoga sutras Swami Vivekananda says that if you look at the spinal column you see the vartibre like 8 (place 8 horizontal) placed one over another. From the left 0 of the 8 flows Ida and from the right 0 of 8 flows Pingala. Sushumna flows from the center of this 8. I am not an expert so cannot comment much but I am just trying to share what I read.
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ida, pingala, sashami
