Prana, Nadi and Cakras ('Chakras')

"Prana" is energy, which pools to form currents (nadi) and vortices (cakra). Sometimes these currents are understood as "conduits" analogous to blood vessels, while the cakras are confused with nerve plexuses."

"Some Western medical authorities even went so far as to suggest that the cakra system is merely a poorly conceived anatomical model.
It is true that there are certain correspondences between the structures of the subtle body and the anatomical organs and endocrine system of the physical body, but these are parallel or analogous rather than identical.
Most significantly, while the nerve plexuses are located outside the spinal column, the cakras are described as being inside the central channel, which is situated inside what on the physical level would be the spinal column.
Obviously, the cakras cannot be found by dissecting the body but by entering a meditative state and experiencing the energy field from within or by adjusting one's external perception to a higher frequency (namely, that of clairvoyance).

To clairvoyant vision, the subtle body appears as a radiant, shimmering energy field that is in constant internal motion and is criss-crossed by luminous filaments, or tendrils. Unlike the physical body, which appears solid and stable, it is neither compact nor rigid. Although it contains regions of relative stability, the subtle body is highly responsive to the mind and reflects a person's changing mental states quite faithfully.

The most stable structures of the subtle body are known as "wheels" (cakras) or "lotuses" (padma) because of their circular form and whirling motion and also because of the way in which the prana currents terminate at or issue from them.
These major configurations of our "subtle anatomy" are especially responsive to mental manipulation and therefore are often made the focal points of meditation and visualization.

Many Tantric teachers speak of seven principal psychoenergetic centers, but some schools list five, and others name nine, ten, eleven, or very many more. Some writers have interpreted this divergence as a sign that the cakras are purely imaginary. This is contradicted by most Tantric texts themselves, quite apart from the fact that Eastern and Western clairvoyants have independently provided similar descriptions of these subtle "organs". Furthermore, the Japanese master and researcher Hiroshi Motoyama has been able to objectively demonstrate the existence of cakras by means of an apparatus measuring the body's bioenergetic currents.

In contrast to this, some Tantric works treat the cakras as creations of intense yogic visualization; one such work is the Ananda-Lahari, ascribed to Shankara. However it is possible to reconcile both interpretations insofar as concentration on the cakras energizes them, making them more luminous and hence also more visible to clairvoyant sight. In the ordinary person, as most Tantric authorities would agree, the cakras are functioning at a minimal level and therefore have been compared to drooping, closed lotus flowers. From a yogic point of view, they can be said barely to exist. Through inner work, however, they automatically become more active, opening like lotuses in full bloom and extending upward toward the Light (which is really omnipresent)."

(quoted from the chapter on 'The Subtle Body and Its Environment' in the book 'TANTRA - The Path of Ecstasy' by Georg Feuerstein)

An overview of Kundalini Tantra - and the yogic/ tantric management of our life force energy

[A Tantra teacher who was a participant in my 'Art of Sexual and Spiritual Communion' online Tantra course asked me about the difference between 'prana' and 'kundalini', and this article came as a result. The content of this article is suitable for relatively experienced students of Tantra.
If you wish to read a shorter more introductory article, you can click here.]

Understanding Kundalini, Prana and Liberation...

It can be a little difficult to make sense of the many things that are taught about Kundalini.

'Kundalini' can be understood as a form of Shakti - energy. 'Prana' too is a form of energy.

They are referred to also as Kundalini Shakti and Prana Shakti.

In the Ayurvedic tradition and in the six dharmas of Naropa (Tibetan Buddhist Tantra) we find the several types of energy functions named in the body - the various manifestations of prana - referred to as the 'vayus' or 'winds'.

The Kundalini energy is also a form of prana in a general and loose sense, as well as being the intelligence of Life itself - the intelligence of the Divine Mother, if we express it in traditional terms. 

As such it could be seen as the source and regulator of them all, thus it is referred to as 'Cosmic Intelligence' and 'Cosmic Power' as well as being the 'evolutionary impulse'.

You might ask, how can it regulate the vayus (the inner energy flows) if it is dormant?

This is a crucial point.

It is symbolically, not literally, dormant.

So, really, it is a specific 'function' that is dormant, and not the Divine Intelligence and Power itself.

What is the 'function' that is dormant?

The function being performed by Cosmic Intelligence that is named 'Kundalini' could be referred to as the 'Liberation function'.

It's action is inhibited by our conditioning, in the form of tension.

As Cosmic Intelligence, Kundalini is an omnipresent energy, manifesting as the various vayus and known as 'prana'.

But as a fully, intensely active, guiding force within us that has the function and capacity to awaken us to our original timeless, spaceless self, it is as if 'dormant', waiting for the appropriate conditions to awaken - to perform its function.

What are the conditions?

Equanimity.

What can we do to cultivate this condition?

Deep trust brings about this equanimity - deep trust in life brings this equanimity.

Deep trust in the guru brings about this equanimity.

Deep trust and absolute surrender to the Divine - to the Divine Grace in this moment, brings about equanimity.

Seeing life as sacred helps support equanimity.

Cultivating a non-dual perspective helps support equanimity.

Having a disease-free body, that is neither uncomfortable nor engaged with life-threatening challenges, helps to bring about equanimity.

Having a mind free of anxieties and guilt and projections helps to sustain equanimity.

Being free of superstition helps support equanimity.

Having a mind that is disciplined without inner conflict (in other words which is able to focus on a goal or intention) brings about equanimity.

Also, balancing the vayus (the life-flows in the body) brings this equanimity.

Equanimity is also cultivated by balancing and 'neutralising' the activities of Ida and Pingala (which among other things can be understood as the active and passive, expansive and contractive impulses carried out by the sympathetic and parasympathetic functions of the nervous system).

When the hormonal secretions in the body (influenced directly through the energy state of the chakras), and the pranic currents are calm, then we have the conditions for the Liberation 'current' to come into play.

On another level, feeling that we have performed our 'duties' - and feeling truly fulfilled - also supports our equanimity.

Creative realisation supports our feeling of fulfilment and equanimity.

Caring for others - and thus feeling connected - supports our equanimity.

We can see how actually all the various yogic disciplines are reflected here.

So Kundalini is said to be dormant because there is the unfulfilled potential for energy to be flowing through our bodies, bringing about a profound shift in consciousness - an awakening.

But, ideally, and in a healthy human being, this energy flows only when there is a degree of trust and serenity.

Its flow at any other time (i.e. when we are agitated) can aggravate our agitation, even causing a psychotic episode.

This 'Divine current' in the body is a form of awakening consciousness, bringing life and awareness to areas that were held in the 'darkness' of the unconscious due to fears, traumas, rigid beliefs, and other patterns.

Kundalini, like a flooded river, or high-voltage current breaks down the blockages either in a smooth and gentle process or in a forceful violent way depending on the preparation and the surrender and trust in the process.

This is why Kundalini is known as the 'supreme guru'.

This is why such a powerful energy function is either best left to its natural timing or must be accompanied by a teacher who can help keep the student clear of resistance once the 'Liberation function' - the Kundalini current - has been activated.

Purificatory practices such as shat-karmas, and then intensive energy work such as Kundalini Kriya Yoga is taught along with other yogic disciplines to support the process.

So, the Divine Intelligence, as Kundalini, is the 'life current' whose function is to flow uninterruptedly through the central axis, the core, making the essence of one's being 'light up', revealing one's true timeless self.

The function of the Tantric guru is to facilitate this process.

The symbolism:

If we look at the literal meaning of the word 'kundalini' do things become any clearer?

Not necessarily.

Several different translations have been given for the term.

One frequent translation and interpretation is that 'kundalini' means coiled, and it is described as a serpent which is coiled (either asleep or 'waiting to spring').

The spring analogy implies the discernible energy which is experienced when it springs into action.

As a coiled serpent it is described as having three and a half coils and typically the interpretation is that this symbolises the three states of consciousness - waking, deep sleep and dreaming - plus the half-coil representing a 'stateless-state' the transcendental expanse known as 'Turiya', which we could also understand as being the coiling back to the absolute centre, rather than energy moving to outward awareness.

It is when we are not triggered to 'reactivity', and when we are not preoccupied with our survival instincts (therefore our Ida and Pingala are balanced), that energy is able to flow in this central 'soul' channel.

The kundalini current moving within the most intimate of channels within the finest filament of the central channel (shushumna nadi), instead of being responsible for the sustenance of physical life and a physiological function is actually responsible for the return to a state of consciousness that exists independently of physical life - independently of time and space.

The full flow of the life current is referred to symbolically in Tantra as the reunion and marriage of Shakti and Shiva.

In the left-hand path of Tantra this union is also enacted on the physical plane as a sexual ritual, but even in classical left-hand Tantra, the inner work is the basis for this ritual.

Transcendentalist yogis have been known for choosing asceticism, isolation and giving their full focus to Liberation in the form of this transcendence of time and space and physicality, ultimately releasing all the karmic patterns (conditioning) and their bodies too, hoping to be free from the cycle of reincarnation.

On the other hand, the Tantric Siddhas' (adepts) reverence for the Divine Mother provides a basis for celebrating life in all its manifestations as sacred.

So they have been in less of a hurry to leave the body behind, finding that they were able to 'weave' the transcendental consciousness into a manifested existence, being thereby known as a 'jivanmukta' - one who is liberated while living.

So we could summarise by saying that prana and the pranic currents sustain life, whereas Kundalini is the current that, given the appropriate conditions, reconnects the life forces - the pranic currents - with their source.

There is a common analogy given for the Liberation of the 'individual soul', describing it as being like a river returning to the sea...

The return of the pranic currents to the central channel, the 'shushumna nadi', could be seen as a literal return of the rivers of life to the sea of primordial Cosmic energy - and the result is that the state of consciousness of wholeness, or 'Union', occurs precisely because of this.

Note:

Although the expression 'Liberation function' was used to describe the action of Kundalini, we don't need to see it in 'functional' and 'cause and effect' terms. 

So rather than seeing Liberation as its 'purpose', we could see Liberation simply as the outcome of its full expression, like a flower gracefully blossoming when the natural conditions are favourable.

- Peter Littlejohn Cook