By Stilling the Eyes

By stilling the eyes, thoughts can be stilled.

Kurma Nadi Meditation "Samyama is a state where your awareness has reached a point - where you clearly know - you are fully aware that you are not the body, you are not the mind, you are not the world." - SAD HGURU. Samyama - A Gateway to the Beyond. Samyama is an intensive residential program conducted by Sadhguru. Participants ...

This is a practice to develop steadiness and stillness. The subtle nerve plexus called Kurma Nadi is located about 1” down from the notch in the centre of your collarbone and ½ “ inside. It c an be visualized as an oval tube t ube about ¾ “ long in a cool colour (blue, green, violet) according to your preference. Simply focus the mind there for about 5 minutes before or after meditation, or as a practice apart from meditation. If you have difficulty locating that pre cise spot with just your mind, simply press your finger on the skin 1” down from the collarbone notch and focus on that spot. The result will come just the same. Eventually, through that stimulation, you will be able to focus directly on the Nadi itself.  Note: It is a good idea to do about 10 10 deep breaths before beginning this practice http://www.osho.com/iosho/library/read-book/online-library-breathing-separate-throat224838b8-6d1?p=8f3bd17e3f9722 224838b8-6d1 ?p=8f3bd17e3f972239982ff5a813c67293 39982ff5a813c67293

Vibhuthi Pada – Sutra 32 January 6, 2015 by sivachandana Leave a comment

 Sutra  Sutra 32. 32. K ur urm ma-nad a-nadya yam m sthai sthairr yam yam.. Kurma-nadyam = (By performing samyama) on the kurma-nadi, i.e. the nerve that is the vehicle of the prana called kurma Sthairyam

=

steadiness; immovability.

 By performing samyama on the kurma-nadi kurma-nadi steadiness is obtained. We know that there are a re about 72,000 nadis in our body, the most important being sushumna nadi, then comes the ida and pingala. Though Prana is of many man y kinds, each kind having special functions in the body and a special Nadi is assigned as its vehicle. Kurma is one of the well-known varieties of Prana and the particular nerve which serves as its vehicle is called

Kurma-nadi. This variety of Prana has obviously something to do with the motions of the  body for by controlling controlling it the Yogi acquires the power to make his body motionless. All the physiological devices working in the physical body are meant to carry on their normal activities in an involuntary manner. But since each device is really the vehicle of a principle or Tattva it is possible by gaining voluntary control over its function to express that principle to any extent desired. This control can be acquired, as usual, by performing Samyama on the  Nadi which is its vehicle. kurma prana is a upa prana. This you you will understand in detail when you study the Pranamaya kosa and its working. Let me give a small table for the reference here.

After achieving some measure of equilibrium, the aspirant l earns to perfect that balancing  process and gains the power to stand firm and immovable, preserving an unshakable equilibrium between the pairs of opposites. The nerve, called “kurma“kurma -nadi” or the “tortoise “tortoise tube” is the physical correspondence to the point the aspirant has reached. He stands erect and unshaken before the entrance to the path; he is a t the point in his evolution where he can “escape upward” and function in the head. The tortoise has from the earliest ages been the symbol of the slow creative process, and of the long evolutionary road travelled by the spirit. Lord Krishna in Srimad Bhagavad Gita says that if we can withdraw our senses inwards inwar ds like the tortoise draws all its i ts limbs inside, then the sadhaka’s understanding is well-poised. well-poised. May be this is the reason the idol of tortoise is kept at the entrance of temples, to remind r emind the aspirant of his evolutionary path.

Kurma nadi: the serentity center

Though the Sivananda tradition, as well as many schools, suggest that you meditate at the heart or the eyebrow center, suddenly yesterday discovered that for me it was more soothing to meditate at the throat chakra. Wisdom after I get serenity, I thought. And serenity, so I can appreciate love.

The ajna/eyebrow center is the wisdom/intellectual center (jnana margis) and the heart/anahat center is the love center (ideal for bhakti margis). Since I am seemingly neither, and only struggling with communication yet:) I thought I can shut down the constant blah by focusing o n the throat center. For me at least, it is like coming home. I have tried the heart and the ajna and occ asionally succeed to stay at the eyebrow for a milliionth of a fraction of a millisecond. But at the throat (actually the hollow at the throat), that feels very soothing. While at either of the centers to be calm is frightening, and immediately the mind shakes and flutters into inner chatter, while at the throat center, all the voices in the head clam up. Quiet seems possible, and acceptable and not frightening (Most people get `bored' with meditation because they cannot bear the inner silence:)... And so, yes, there must be something there!

Chakra master Harish Johari, whose book I immediately plumbed for more insight, says that this is the kurma nadi, the tortoise center. (Even Patanjali says that samayama on the throat center gives steadiness). That meditating on this center ushers serenity and calmness. Communication skills are channelised spiritually. The awareness to read other's thoughts and communicate without words. The person who meditates on this center g ains control over the self... It seems to be a `sensible center' to focus on, since I am such a chatterbox (this blog, my classes) and I hope it will shut me up!!

Though the chakra at the throat is vishuddhi (which means to purify), the nadi that is activated by the attention -- and which is at the hollow at the throat is kurma/tortoise nadi. For those who are confused: the difference is that is a one is a charka which which is a plexus/vortex plexus/vortex of nadis -the other is a single channel of energy) The kurmasana, as I have executed above, extends the neck, so though the pressure is all al l over the place (ask those who are still struggling with the first stage of the pose), there is also a continued one at the base and the throat center. I think that may be why Sw Niranjanananda in one of his book says that this is a spiritual pose that can create the state of mind involution that everybody struggles with..

Other poses which in my mind extend the neck in a similar fashion and hit upon this nadi is the Scorpion Locust (classical version) Dhanu (If you lift you head up, to look at the ceiling) Poorna cobra (where the head has to be thrown back) Ushtrasana (Camel) 

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Holding such poses for long can mean spiritual growth in this center -- serenity, is def worth investing in:) Intriguing to me that these poses are rather difficult to hold, or if you can, for long, na?!

Happy sadhana!!