The Important of Healthy Nadis
I have always been fascinated by the nadis. I’m not exactly sure why, but perhaps because they remind of portals to an unknown plane of existence (kind of like time travel), or because I am aware that healthy nadis are my key to living optimally and for a long time and that is why I’ve decided to explore them in this blog.
On a literal level nadis are “the subtle channels that run from the chakras to various points on the body and which energize our physiological systems,” as David Frawley explains in Ayurveda and Marma Therapy. “They are not visible nerves but perceptible energy flows.”
On a figurative level however, what Alan Finger, my teacher, says, is that the nadis, when cleared of blockages, become our access to Samadhi, which he describes as “the state of “No Thing--all things at once.”
So how do nadis actually relate to Samadhi? All nadis share one main function; they distribute prana to every area of the body -- assuming that they are clear. Why is it so important that prana flows smoothly and unobstructed throughout our system?
When prana gets stuck in a nadi, stress accumulates at that locus and a srota or blockage forms (much like a blood clot forms in the blood stream). Srotas are the beginning of the malfunctioning of all of our systems.
Over time, unpurified nadis with srotas in them can be extremely detrimental on many levels; energetic, physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual. More specifically, srotas can manifest as muscle, joint and other soft tissue pain, disease, emotional distress, psychological instability and spiritual waywardness. Samadhi can only be experienced when we are in a place of complete comfort so that we can bathe in pure consciousness – obviously, you can’t have blocked nadis if you want to achieve this state.
In one of our sessions, I asked Alan to explain exactly how the nadis came into being. “Brahma Nadi forms from the first movement of creation,” says Alan. As Shakti, Mother Nature or one’s creative manifesting force, moves away from Shiva, consciousness or one’s force of intelligence, a subtle energy field emerges between them keeping them connected. This energy field between Shiva and Skakti forms Brahma Nadi. It is at the base of Brahama Nadi that one’s kundalini (coil of energy) wraps around Shakti to hold her in place sustaining one’s life, and that Shakti produces kanda, a locus, which gives birth to the thousands of nadis that map one’s being.? The nadis radiate throughout the body as do the nerves of our nervous system—they branch out from a central line that runs from the base of the spine to the crown of the head.
Tantric philosophy purports that there are approximately 72,000 nadis in any individual human system, fourteen of which are major. Yet it is around four nadis that most of our work as practitioners is focused; Brahama, Shushumna, Ida and Pingala.
The trip into these four nadis will continue in subsequent blogs where we will discuss how to clean them now that you know where they are. Fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the rest of the ride!
-Julie Wilcox - The Urban Tantric Yogini
