Yoga describes the human subtle structure, based on the system of the nadis, that allows a deep understanding of the integral human existence and gives us the techniques we need in order to transform, become balanced, and healthy in all aspects.
THE NADIS ARE THE ARTERIES OF THE ENERGETIC BODY
The nadis are the fine subtle channels through which the energy flows to each part of our subtle body. They are often the subtle “counterpart” of the blood or nervous systems.
From the point of view of the energy circulating through the body, all the nadi extract their energy from Ida and Pingala. They represent the two functional modules that lie at the foundation of all mental, psychic and physical processes.
Sushumna nadi, the central channel around which the two other nadi “revolve” is the royal path that may lead us to the experience of the ultimate state of consciousness and may even lead to our transformation.
Each cell of our body, each organ, the brain and the mind, all the “elements” of our being are interconnected at a physical and subtle level, which allows us to think, talk, act and exist in a balanced, coherent, and synchronic manner, when each part acts for the benefit of the other parts.
Inside our body, there are two energetic systems that control this process. They develop around Ida and Pingala nadi, and if we stimulate one element of this system, through the process of resonance, we will activate the whole system.
The researcher Arthur Deikman, form the psychiatric department of the Colorado Medical Center University, USA, presents the two main existential ways of a human being, who has activated their yin or the yang aspect, from the perspective of modern psychology.
He practically describes the Ida and the Pingala in the terms of modern psychology. Here are his words: “if we consider the human being as an “organization” made of several components of different sizes or “biological and psychological coordinates”, we may discuss an active and a repetitive way of manifestation.
The active, dynamic way represents a state organized precisely upon acting on the environment. The muscular system and the nervous sympathetic system are the main physiological formations that operate in this way.
The main traits of this way are: focused attention, logic based on analysis, the space perception and the dominant of the formal characteristics over the sensorial ones.
The active way expresses a state of desire oriented towards the fulfillment of some personal needs, such as food, shelter, tendency to protect, need for safety, as well as towards obtaining social accomplishments, to which we can add a whole variety of symbolic or sensual pleasures, and the tendency to avoid disturbances and pain.
Deikman describes the “Ida” state, the receptive trait, as a state oriented towards the contemplation of the environment rather than on operating upon it.
The perceptive sensorial system and the parasympathetic function are predominant in this state.
The electroencephalogram tends to indicate alpha waves, which express a state of relaxation, a decrease in muscular tension, a diffusion in attention and forms losing their shapes.
The most suited definition for this state is the non-action state. Although Ida and Pingala and their ways of energetic functioning may appear as opposed, they are in fact complementary and therefore these two tendencies have to reach a balance so that you enjoy perfect health and deep mental health.
Furthermore, inner balance opens the gate to transcendence and to a manner of functioning in which the opposing “contraries” reach a state of harmony and union.