Channels

After Self-Realization, one starts to feel vibrations on the central nervous system. This phenomenon allows us to diagnose the state of our energy channels and centers (chakras) of the autonomic nervous system and improve them using the methods of Sahaja Yoga. Sections of this presentation relate to specific chakras and channels and describe how to interpret the vibratory sensations.

The general rule of thumb is that the sensation of coolness and lightness indicates that the center or channel is clear and in a good state. Tingling sensations or a warm or hot breeze indicate that the Kundalini energy is working on clearing that specific center or channel.

The human subtle system is a vastly intricate one, made up of thousands of channels which carry energy throughout the body. The concentrations of the energy in the subtle system (the parasympathetic nervous system) are called chakras ("wheels" in Sanskrit) or energy centers.

The entire system is governed by three primary vertical channels of energy (called "Nadis" in Sanskrit) and by seven main chakras. Our subtle system is fully activated only with the awakening of the Kundalini, which cleans and balances the entire system and enlightens the pure qualities of the chakras within us.

This section allows you to learn more about the three main channels in our subtle system. You can click on the channels in the exhibit on the right to learn more about them.

The left channel (“Ida Nadi” in Sanskrit) is also called the Moon Channel. It begins at the Mooladhara (1st chakra) and runs up the left side, crossing over at the Agnya Chakra (6th center) into the temple and superego on the right side of the brain. It provides the conduit for the energy of our desire.

From these desires or wishes, our emotions are triggered. Emotions are actually desires that have not yet materialized. These desires and the attendant feelings about them travel through this left channel to the appropriate places in the body to bring about the actions of fulfillment. Our desires are essential for action. Without their impetus we would have nothing to act upon.

The greatest quality of the left side is to provide joy which is the steady condition of the Spirit. You may remember having this joy as a child, or you may have observed it in small two- or three-year-old children. They usually wake up in the morning happy. While they may experience physical and emotional pain once in a while throughout their day, they do not cling to it with memory. Rather, they cry, recover, and resume the steady state of joy. The desire for this joy is still alive inside us the same as it was when we were infants. It may be blocked or covered with "tarnish" from emotional or physical injuries experienced in living life. Before Sahaja Yoga, we did not have effective techniques for clearing away the hurts and blows that are normal in living active life. The practice of Sahaja Yoga helps us remove those old tensions and recover that joy as a steady state of being.

Problems of the left side tend to result in passivity or emotional extremism whereby we are thrown between elation and depression. With this type of imbalance, self-discipline becomes difficult and bad habits become hard to correct. In the worst case, we become lethargic and self-obsessed. Because this channel feeds also into the skull area, pressure on the brain becomes excessive. This cycle is what causes such problems as mental breakdown, epilepsy, and senility (decay of the brain).

The state of the left channel is felt on the left side of the body. In the beginning it is most easily felt on the left palm.

The right channel (“Pingala Nadi” in Sanskrit) is also called the Sun Channel. It begins at the Swadisthan Chakra (2nd center) and travels up the right side. It crosses over to the left temple (ego) at the Agnya Chakra. It provides the conduit for our active energy. This energy is comprised of our mental and physical activities.

When the demand for energy on this side is too great, the left side is weakened; the desire to have joy of the Spirit evaporates. When the right side dominates, the personality becomes very dry and aggressive. Excess pressure shoots up into the left temple and into the ego, causing it to inflate into a balloon that blocks the central channel. The entire system is thrown off balance. Blinded by ego, sensitivity to our own emotions is diminished. Decisions and actions are taken that dominate or disrupt the lives of others with a firm belief that they are necessary and logical. Taken to this extreme, right-sided behavior leads to heart disease.

The high-tech, high-powered, "fast-track" environments of the Western world's cities and suburbs are generating predominantly right-sided citizens. It is difficult to maintain equilibrium between emotions and action when work, school, and shopping environments are aggressive and stressful. It is difficult to maintain a peaceful home where the imbalances and negativities can be corrected and purified. Instead, most of us go back to work or school with the accumulated negativities of the past clinging to our systems.

Sahaja Yoga practices are effective at removing negativity and balancing the chakras and channels. Using simple meditation and techniques such as footsoaking, lying on the ground, sweeping the aura, and shoebeating, you can begin each day with joy from the open chakras and energetic power from a balanced system. You can revitalize yourself and the relationships around you simply by working on yourself from the inside out.

The state of the right channel is felt on the right side of the body. In the beginning, it is most easily felt on the right palm.

The central channel (“Sushumna Nadi” in Sanskrit) is also called the Middle Path. It begins at the place where the Kundalini resides and passes straight up the spine to the highest charka (the 7th or Sahasrara Chakra).

As the conduit for the parasympathetic nervous system, the central channel coordinates our involuntary or autonomic nervous system activities. We do not have conscious control over these activities. Our heart beats, our lungs breathe, our blood system manufactures plasma, our brain centralizes and coordinates communication, our mind performs "word processing"... all of these incredible functions, and more, operate more powerfully than forty billion computers. These operations are performed regardless of where our attention is focused. They seem to have no need for our conscious control. Yet, miraculously, the involuntary activities of our body function according to an organized operating plan with such complex interactions, syntheses, and communications that our deepest medical scientific research, which is now even probing into the DNA, recognizes that still we have only revealed the tip of the iceberg. We have discovered that the human system is so vast and so ingenious that even to get some type of rudimentary understanding of it requires recognition of our ignorance of it. We are at a new frontier. This is what Sahaja Yoga is about.

The activities that take place through the parasympathetic system are spontaneous happenings. They happen naturally, without our doing anything. The rising of the Kundalini and her work, as well as all spiritual activities, are spontaneous. Hence the term Sahaja was selected to label this type of yoga because it means spontaneous. The implication of the parasympathetic nature of the Middle Path is that the rise of the Kundalini is totally beyond our own volition or control. This is why in actuality Shri Mataji acts as a catalyst.
Once our Kundalini has been awakened and has traveled through this central channel and out the top of the head, we can begin to become aware of the vast internal galaxy of our subtle system. This initial "enlightenment" or realization is only the beginning of our greatest adventure.