Where is kurma nadi

This also speeds up the process of blood circulation throughout your system. In the process, you are also letting your kurma vayu move, creating heat. That heat is dispersed throughout your body from the kurma nadi, or kurma vayu, through ida, pingala, and sushumna to all the nadis.

In meditation, however, ashvini mudra is not used; mula bandha , the root lock, is pulled up and held. This creates stability in our physical body as well as energetically—the realm of kurma vayu. That is what holding mula bandha, the root lock, does. It should become so effortless that it is held by itself, leaving the mind entirely free, so that all of the mental energy can be fully directed toward the object of meditation.

In mula bandha, heat is generated in a static way, and if the mind is concentrated and sushumna is open, the energy will only move upward. In that state, the heat—the fire, pranic force, or kundalini force—that wakes up from the kurma nadi moves along sushumna, becoming meditative energy and enhancing the beauty of your meditation. Ashvini mudra is for a physical benefit, whereas mula bandha is for a meditative benefit.

The people for whom Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutra did not know anatomy, so he did not describe the kurma nadi, how it works, or why it helps anatomically.

He simply suggested that one sit on a flat seat that is neither too hard nor too soft, be steady, and focus on the breath.

Swamiji has introduced this very systematically: sit with the head, neck, and trunk in a straight line; draw up the root lock; be comfortable and steady.

In other words, the basic practices develop control over the kurma nadi, and thus you purify yourself to prepare for the rising of kundalini. Are you working with your kurma nadi by practicing the usual Himalayan Institute method of meditation? If so, you are already doing it, whether you know the name of kurma nadi or not. So observe how you sit and the way you allow your body to be still.

Remember, by practicing samyama concentration, meditation, and samadhi on the kurma nadi while sitting and breathing in the correct way, you will gain control over kurma vayu, allowing you to attain stability of body and mind. As the author of numerous books, including his autobiography Touched by Fire: The Ongoing Journey of a Spiritual Seeker , Pandit Tigunait offers practical guidance on applying yogic and tantric wisdom to modern life.

For over 40 years he has touched innumerable lives around the world as a teacher, humanitarian, and visionary spiritual leader. You can view more of his teachings online at the Himalayan Institute Wisdom Library. Family tradition gave Pandit Tigunait access to a vast range of spiritual wisdom preserved in both the written and oral traditions. Before meeting his master, Pandit Tigunait studied Sanskrit, the language of the ancient scriptures of India, as well as the languages of the Buddhist, Jaina, and Zorastrian traditions.

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Each Chakra has control and function over a particular centre in gross body. These cannot be seen by the naked eyes. If you silently watch your breathing, not changing its rhythm in any way, neither making it fast nor slow, just leaving it natural and relaxed; if you simply watch it, you will become absolutely still.

There will be no movement in you because all movement comes through breathing, prana. When breathing stops, a person is dead — he cannot move. If you constantly bring your samyama to breathing, to kurma-nadi, by and by you will come to a state where you will see breathing has almost stopped. Yogis do this meditation facing a mirror because the breathing becomes so silent, they cannot feel it. They can only see whether there is some mist on the mirror from their breathing or not.

Breathing almost stops. When consciousness is perfect, breathing almost stops. It is simply stillness. The whole effort of Yoga is to bring you to such stillness that it cannot be broken by anything, to such a state of consciousness that cannot be disturbed. The word yoga means the method of becoming one. Yoga means how to join together that which has fallen apart. Your habits will create trouble because your mind is conditioned for wrong habits — you always divide. Your whole intellect has been trained to divide and dissect and make many out of one.

Man has lived up to now through the intellect, and he has forgotten how to put them together. For example, if you bring samyama to the throat, you will feel that thirst has gone and hunger has gone. It is said about Mahavira that he fasted sometimes even three months, or four months, continuously.

During the whole period of twelve years while he was meditating, he fasted almost eleven years. Three months he would fast and then one day he would eat, then again one month he would fast and two days he would eat — this way.

In twelve years he was eating only one year; that means in twelve days, one day of eating, eleven days of fasting, on average. It is almost impossible, humanly impossible but he could do it. If you concentrate on the throat — try, next time you feel thirsty, close your eyes, sit, and bring your total attention in the throat. Once the attention is there, you will see the throat is relaxing.

Because whenever your total attention is at any point, you become separate from it. The throat is thirsty: you feel I am thirsty. If you bring your witnessing consciousness to it, suddenly you are separate. Your cooperation is broken.

Now you know the throat is thirsty, not I. The third pada of the Yoga Sutras shows us how to unlock the power of connection between the prana of the subtle body and the movements physical body and breath. This gives us steadiness of mind and body and also lets us experience what is beyond the physical. Kurma in Sanskrit means turtle. The turtle is associated with myths and images that speak to slowing down, withdrawing our energies inward, stability, and the ability to move into stillness.

Present in the Sixteen Supports! Shakta literature includes a range of scriptures, including various Agamas and Tantras, although its roots may be traced back to the Vedas. Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

Introduction: Kurmanadi means something in Hinduism , Sanskrit.