Sushumna Kriya
the central axis
Written by Desmond Olubunmi · Founder of Sunya
The deepest and most complete of all the breath practices: opening the central channel and drawing the life force upward.
Breathing deeply with concentrated awareness up and down the spine pulls the life force upward and opens the central channel, letting it flow freely up the spine. And as the life force rises, consciousness rises with it — into states of heightened clarity and bliss.
Sit with the spine erect.
As you inhale slowly, mentally draw the life force up the spine — pulling it, with your whole concentration, from the base of the spine to the centre of the forehead.
As you exhale slowly, push it back down, from the centre of the forehead to the base.
Keep your entire attention on this rising and falling, moving the energy with your will. It should come to feel as though you are breathing not through the nose but through the spine itself — as though the spine is breathing: drawing up on the in-breath, releasing down on the out-breath.
Continue, breath and life force moving as one, up and down the central channel.
Optional variation: rather than sweeping the whole spine, you may rest the breath on a single centre — breathing into it and out from it — to open and strengthen that centre in particular.
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