The Nadis or Energy Channels
WHAT ARE NADIS?
The Subtle System has three
Energy Channels known as
Nadis in Sanskrit.
The Left Side Channel is called Ida Nadi
The Left Channel is our Moon Side, the Feminine Side of us which represents our desires, emotions and past. As such it is considered to be the cool side and can affect us by making us feel depressed, lethargic, introverted and self pitying.​
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This channel starts at left side of the first chakra and is connected to the right side and back of our brain which is known as the subconscious area of the brain.
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This channel caters to our Left Sympathetic Nervous System
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It is the channel which creates our past. Whatever is present today becomes past tomorrow.
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The sub-conscious mind receives information from this channel.Whatever that is dead or gone out of the sub-conscious mind goes out into the 'collective subconscious mind'.
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This collective subconscious has all that is dead in the evolutionary process collected and stored. Everything that was in the past since creation resides dormant in the collective subconscious.
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The Subconscious area, we call ‘superego’ is a storehouse of all habits, memories, conditionings.
SYMPTOMS of an over exhausted left side
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Feeling of loneliness
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Exhaustion and lethargy
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Excessive focus on past events
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Depression and over emotional feelings
Clearing the Left Side:
Hold left hand out (palm upwards)
Place the right hand on the earth, or palm facing the earth if your are sitting on a chair.
(Fig 1)
Affirmation: Mother, Please cleanse my left channel. Let all the impurities of my left channel be absorbed into the earth.
TREATMENT:
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Practice the Clearing technique (Fig 1 above) for a few minutes everyday during the early part of the meditation.
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Light and heat are two most effective means of combating the problems of a weak left side.
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Sit in the sun or a bright space for as long as possible each day.
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Place a candle near to the outstretched left hand when meditating.
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Use additional candles arranged around the left side of the body when meditating.
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Slowly and carefully move a lit candle up and down the left side of the body during the early part of the meditation using the right hand. This will gently and subtly heat up the channel and restore balance to that side.
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Try to avoid excessive daydreaming about the past.
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Try and eat more protein, and avoid carbohydrates as much as possible without being over zealous.
Be aware that the problems of the left side are very common and can be overcome by gradually warming up the channel as described above. The result should be that we start to recover confidence, feel less moody, stay in the present moment and are able to face our lives in a much more dynamic way.
The Right Side Channel is called Pingala Nadi
The right channel is the sun side, the masculine side of us which represents our action & planning, mental (over thinking) & physical activities and the futuristic attitude. It is therefore very susceptible to over heating, which can easily throw us off balance. If we find that we have become more aggressive, unsympathetic, and stressed then we may be suffering from an over heated right channel.
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This channel starts at the right side of the second chakra and is connected with the left and front side of the brain which is known as the Supra-Conscious area of the brain – we call ‘ego’. This gives us the “I-ness”
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This channel caters to our Right Sympathetic Nervous System.
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This channel creates our thinking, future planning etc. This then gets recorded in the 'supra-conscious mind'.
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The supra-conscious mind is connected to the 'collective supra-conscious mind', which has all that is dead, which happened due to over-ambitious, futuristic personalities aggressive animals or plants.
SYMPTOMS of an over exhausted right side
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Unusual aggressiveness and anger
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General over activity
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Excessive planning and future watching
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Domineering attitude.
Clearing the Right Side:
Hold out right hand (palm up)
Point the left hand upwards, with the palm facing backwards
(Fig 2)
Affirmation: "Mother, please cleanse my right channel. Let all the excess heat of my right channel be absorbed into the sky.
TREATMENT:
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Practice the Clearing technique (Fig 2 above) for a few minutes during the early part of the meditation.
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Cooling is needed, so we should avoid hot temperatures and situations and bright sunlight for a time. Enjoy a little time spent in the moonlight at night time if possible.
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Place both feet in a bowl of cold water with a sprinkling of household cooking salt during the evening meditation.
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Eat less protein and try to increase the intake of carbohydrates.
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Cane sugar is very effective coolant for the right side, as is yogurt in the summer. For serious cases consider trying the Liver Diet (ask us for the details).
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Try to avoid excessive planning and other futuristic actions.
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If possible have a short rest at least once a day.
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The liver is a physical correspondent of the right side and is adversely affected by our overheating. A good method of cooling the liver is to place a cloth covered plastic ice pack (or ice cubes wrapped in a dish towel) onto the liver area on the right hand side of the body (just under the ribs) during the meditation. It should be cold enough to feel without being uncomfortable.
The Left and Right Sympathetic Nervous System
crosses at the 3rd eye level /Agnya chakra.
The Central Path is called the Sushumna Nadi
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Is the channel through which the Kundalini passes through to piece the 'Fontanelle bone area' (little fountain or Brahmarandhra) to enter into the subtle energy of the all-pervading power.
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Medically known as Para Sympathetic Nervous System
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This is our channel of ascent, sustains our evolution and guides us towards higher awareness.
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This is how the actualization of Self-Realisation (Baptism) takes place.
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Firstly one feels a warm or cool breeze on the hands or above the head, and or tingling sensations on the fingertips. Some may feel extremely peaceful and relaxed.
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This is the awakening of the Primordial energy from within. This is Sahaja Yoga.
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The hands are steady, they do not shake, they look normal but the seeker feels the ripples of the cool breeze.
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For the first time he feels the existence of the all-pervading power.
Clearing the Center Channel:
Place both hands on the lap, with the palms facing upwards
(Fig 3)
Affirmation: "Mother,please cleanse my center channel.
Please help me to come into balance. Please help me to be in the present moment."
Before realisation, it is responsible for soothing us down, lowering blood pressure, relaxing us and healing us.
After realisation, it is awakened and provides a channel for the Kundalini energy. It helps us to balance the left and right channels and subtly reduces any excess of lethargy or over activity. As a result, and with meditation, we gradually become more balanced and peaceful. the stresses and concerns in our life gradually fad away and are replaced by peace, joy and complete satisfaction.
Here is a brief overview of the channels, its functions, problems due to imbalances
and how to correct and bring back into balance.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE THE LEFT CHANNEL
The left channel (or Ida Nadi in Sanskrit) is also called the Moon Channel. It begins at the Mooladhara and runs up the left side, crossing the Agnya Chakra into the temple and superego on the right side of the brain. It provides the conduit for the energy of our desire. From these wishes/desires, our emotions are triggered.
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Emotions are actually desires that have not yet materised. 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.
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The greatest quality of the left side is to provide joy which is the steady conditions 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. 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" form emotional or physical hurts experienced in living life. Before Sahaja Yoga, we did not have effective techniques for clearing away the hurts and blows that are normal for those of us living active lives. The practice of Sahaja Yoga helps us remove those old tensions and recover that joy as a steady state of being.
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The problem 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 had to correct. in the worst case, we will 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 mental breakdown, epilepsy and senility (decay of the brain).
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE THE RIGHT CHANNEL
The right channel (or Pingala Nadi in Sanskrit) is also called the Sun Channel. It begins at the Swadisthan Chakra and travels up the right side. It crosses over to the left temple (ego) at the Agnya Chakra and then goes to the Sahastrara chakra. It provides the conduit for our active energy. This energy comprises 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.
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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 behaviour leads to heart disease.
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Sahaja Yoga practices are effective at removing negativity and balancing the chakras and channels. Using simple meditation and techniques, such as foot soaking and lying on the ground, one can begin each day with joy from the open chakras and energetic power from a balanced system. You can revitize yourself and the relationships around you simply by working on yourself from the inside out.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE THE CENTER CHANNEL
The central channel (or 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 chakra.
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As the conduit for the parasympathetic nervous system, the central channel coordinates our involuntary system activities. We do not have conscious control over these activities. Our heart beat, 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 - operates 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 leadership and control. Yet, miraculously, our body's involuntary activities function according to an organized operating plan with such complex interactions, synthesis and communications that our deepest medical scientific research, which is now probing into the DNA, recognizes that still we have only reached 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 may start learning something new. This is what Sahaja Yoga is about.
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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 the other 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. That is why, actually, Shree Mataji has to act as a catalyst.
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Once our Kundalini has been awakened and has traveled through this central channel, 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 realisation is only the beginning of our greatest adventure.
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