Sahasrara Chakra

John Kaldawi learned that Sahasrara Chakra is situated at the crown of the head.  It is not really a chakra but the abode of highest consciousness.  The word sahasrara means “one thousand”.  Sahasrara is visualized as a shining lotus of a thousand petals, containing the fifty-two beeja mantras of the Sanskrit alphabet twenty times over.

Doing more research, John Kaldawi learned that in the center of the lotus is a shining jyotirlinga, lingam of light, symbol of pure consciousness.  It is in sahasrara that the mystical union of Shiva and Shakti takes place, the fusion of consciousness with matter and energy, the individual soul with the supreme soul.

John Kaldawi also learned that when kundalini awakens, it ascends from whence it originated.  Matter and energy merge into pure consciousness in a state of intoxicating bliss, the goal of yoga.  Having attained this, the yogi gains supreme knowledge and passes beyond birth and death.

Yogasanas, Kundalini and the body-mind connection

John Kaldawi learned that the ultimate purpose of yoga is the awakening of ‘Kundalini shakti’, the evolutionary energy in man.  Practicing asanas stimulates the chakras, distributing the generated energy of kundalini all over the body.  About 35 asanas are specifically geared to this purpose.: bhujangasana for manipura chakra, sarvangasana for vishuddhi, sirshasana for sahasrara and so on.  The other asanas regulate and purify the nadis facilitating the conduction of prana throughout the body.

The main objective of hatha yoga is to create balance between the interacting activities and processes of the pranic and mental forces.  Once this has been achieved, the impulses generated give a call of awakening to ‘sushumna nadi’, the central pathway in the spine, through which the kundalini shakti rises to sahasrara chakra, thereby illumining the higher centers of human consciousness.

Hatha yoga, therefore, not only strengthens the body and improves health but also activates and awakens the higher centers responsible for the evolution of human consciousness.

Furthermore, John Kaldawi learned that Prana, the mind and body are not separate entities although there is tendency to think and act as though they are.  The gross form of the mind is the body and the subtle form of the body is the mind.  The practice of asana integrates and harmonizes the two.  Both the body and the mind harbor tensions or knots.  Every mental knot has a corresponding physical, muscular knot and vice versa.

The aim of the asana is to release these knots.  Asanas release mental tensions by dealing with them on the physical level, acting somato-psychically, through the body to the mind.  For example, emotional tensions and suppression can tighten up and block the smooth functioning of the lungs, diaphragm and breathing process, contributing to a very debilitating illness in the form of asthma.

John Kaldawi also learned that muscular knots can occur anywhere in the body: tightness of the neck as cervical spondylitis, the face as neuralgia, etc.  A well chosen set of asana, combined with pranayama, shatkarmas, meditation and yoga nidra, is most effective in eliminating these knots, tackling them from both the mental and physical levels.  The result is the release of dormant energy; the body becomes full of vitality and strength, the mind becomes light, creative, joyful and balanced.

Regular practice of asana maintains the physical body in an optimum condition and promotes health even in an unhealthy body.  Through asana practice, the dormant energy potential is released and experienced as increased confidence in all areas of life.

Kundalini Shakti (Macrocosmic Energy)

John Kaldawi learned that in the Upanishads it is said, “A man may have ears, eyes, and all facilities and parts of the body, but unless he has mahaprana there is no consciousness.”

Prana is both macrocosmic and microcosmic and is the substratum of all life.  Mahaprana (the great prana) is the cosmic, universal, all-encompassing energy out of which we draw substance through the breathing process.  The various pranas in the body, prana, aprana, samana, udana and vyana, are at once a part of this mahaprana and also separate from it.

The cosmic manifestation of prana or mahaprana in the individual body is represented by Kundalini.  The entire cosmic experience from creation to dissolution is embedded within the folds of kundalini, hence it is known as atma shakti or universal energy.  In all living beings the divine consciousness is first converted into prana or energy and, as kundalini is reservoir for the magnanimous amount of prana, it is also known as prana shakti.

Furthermore, John Kaldawi learned that the word kundalini is derived from the term ‘kunda’ which means a ‘pit’ or ‘cavity’.  Kundalini is the energy inherent within the matter of mooladhara chakra, the dormant center lying in the perineum in males and in the cervix in females.  When the full potential of this energy is released it travels up through the central nervous system, in the physical body, or sushumna nadi, in the pranic body.

John Kaldawi also learned that generally, prana shakti is only partially released from mooladhara chakra through the connecting channels of ida and pingala nadis. Ida and pingala are only capable of conducting a low voltage of energy.  Only the full force of kundalini shakti can awaken all the conscious and vital functions.  Pingala nadi also channels prana shakti, but we should not confuse the two meanings of the term prana shakti.  On one level it is para (macrocosmos), in the form of kundalini shakti; on the other it is pinda (microcosmos), in the form of prana shakti, which is channeled through pingala.

Prana Shakti (Microcosmic Energy)

John Kaldawi            learned that prana shakti also manifests as six main centers or chakras which are located along the spinal column.  The lowest chakra in the energy circuit is mooladhara.  The next chakra, swadhisthana, is two fingers width above mooladhara and corresponds to the sacral plexus.  Above this is manipura, behind the navel, which corresponds to the solar plexus.  In the spinal columns, in the region of the heart, lies anahata chakra which is connected to the cardiac plexus.  In the middle of the neck is vishuddhi chakra which corresponds to the cervical plexus.  At the top of the spinal cord, at the medulla oblongata, is ajna chakra which is connected to the pineal gland in the physical body.

Furthermore, John Kaldawi learned that in order to control the functions of the body, prana shakti also manifests in the five major prana vayus: prana, aprana, samana, udana, and vyana.  In the Upanishads prana vayu is also called the ‘in breath’.  Vyana is the ‘all pervasive breath’.  Prana is inhalation; aprana exhalation; samana, the time between the two; and udana, the extension of samana.

Each vayu is interdependent and interconnected.  In the Chandogya Upanishad it is asked, “On what are you (body and senses) and yourself (soul) supported?  On prana.  On what is parna supported?  On aprana.  On what is aprana supported? On vyana.  On what is vyana supported? On samana.”

John Kaldawi also learned that these five main movements of prana produce five minor or upa prana.  They are known as koorma which stimulates blinking, krikara which generates hunger, thirst, sneezing and coughing, devadatta which introduces sleep and yawning, naga which causes hiccups and belching, and dhananjaya which lingers immediately after death.  Together these ten pranas control all the processes of the human body.

 

Necessity of Prana

John Kaldawi learned that of the five vayus the two most influential are prana and aprana.  Prana is the inward moving force which is said to create a field moving upwards from the navel to the throat.  Aprana is the outward moving force which is said to create a field moving downwards from the navel to the anus.  Both prana and aprana move spontaneously in the body but can be controlled through tantric and yogic practices.  The Upanashads say a method has to be employed to reverse the direction of the opposite moving forces of prana and aprana so that they unite with samana in the navel center.  The result of these forces coming together is the awakening of kundalini.

The moment prana completely leaves the body, consciousness departs because prana and consciousness are the two poles of the same source – the self.  The Prashnopanishad says: “This prana is born of the Self.  Just as there is a shadow when a man is there, so prana is fixed on the Self…”  At death, when breath stops and prana leaves, the force which held the body together deteriorates, and along with it, so does the body.  Breath and prana are, therefore, likened a thread in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: “Verify, by air, as by a thread, this world and all beings are held together.  Therefore, it is said that when an individual dies his limbs have been loosened because they are held together by air, like thread.”  As long as prana is retained, the body will not die.

Furthermore, John Kaldawi learned that from conception up to fourth months gestation, the fetus survives purely on the mother’s prana.  It is like a tumor in the mother’s body.  After four months, prana enters the fetus and individual life begins.  As each prana begins to move, the respective body functions becomes active.  However, the child’s prana only becomes fully independent once it is born and starts breathing.

John Kaldawi also learned that without prana we would be decaying corpses with no ability to see, move or hear and so on.  There is a charming story in the Prashnopanishad which illustrates this: “The deities are ether, air, fire, water, earth, speech, mind, eye and ear.  Seeing their own splendor they boasted ‘We are the rules of the body because we are its supporters’.  But Prana, the chief amongst them, said, ‘Don’t delude yourselves.  It is I alone, dividing myself fivefold, who supports and keeps the body intact.’  But the other deities were incredulous.  So Prana, in a fit of wrath, drew himself out of the body.  Immediately all the deities found themselves leaving it with him and, when Prana returned, the deities found themselves back in their former places.  Just as bees leave the hive when their queen departs and return when she returns, so did the deities behave.  Satisfied with this evidence the deities gave worship to Prana.”