Central Energy Channel

Location:  Extends from the sacrum bone at the base of the spine up the spine towards the Sahasrara (the 7th, uppermost chakra).

Essential Qualities:

• the channel of equilibrium and spiritual evolution
• integration, oneness with the collective consciousness, union with the divine
• regulation of autonomous (involuntary) functions (e.g., cardiovascular activity, respiration, digestion, etc..)

Spirituality is the predominant quality associated with the central channel (sushumna nadi), also known as the Middle Path. The central channel is the channel of spiritual evolution and integration with the collective consciousness. It also helps regulate our autonomic nervous system

Nourishing and balancing the central channel improves these personality and character strengths…

• spirituality, including both the private, intimate relationship between an individual and the divine, as well as the range of character strengths that may result from that relationship
• self-respect

• conscientiousness and moral responsibility
• self-transcendence, self-actualization, self-realization, self-forgetfulness (enlightened second nature, spiritual acceptance, strong desire to spiritually evolve, altruistic acts, helping others acquire pure knowledge and self-awareness)
• appreciation of beauty and excellence (awe, wonder, elevation), including renewed appreciation for life’s daily gifts; deep appreciation for the richness, uniqueness, goodness and interconnectedness of all the elements

The central channel is crucial to maintaining daily, ongoing energy balance. As the conduit for the autonomic nervous system, the central channel influences involuntary functions which don’t require conscious control, including the parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) responses of the autonomic nervous system. Autonomic functions are spontaneous, automatic happenings. For example, thanks to the autonomic nervous system, we don’t have to tell our hearts to beat, our lungs to breathe, our digestive systems to metabolize what we eat, or our circulatory system to manufacture more white or red blood cells. Regardless of what our attention is currently focused on, these events simply happen, seamlessly integrated into daily life.

As our attention moves to the central channel through techniques of Sahaja meditation, our self-awareness evolves and our attention gradually stops swinging like a pendulum from the past to the future, from the left channel to the right channel, from sadness to happiness, from lethargy to overactivity. Our attention is then able to remain centered. We exist in the present moment, experiencing true inner peace and joy.

As there can be no “imbalance” in the central channel, there are no associated symptoms.