8. Physiology and practices in Nath yoga texts (1450–1800 CE)

In the yoga texts attributed to Naths, obstacles to yoga (such as overeating), rules of conduct (yamas and niyamas) are explained, as are prohibitions on associating with women and on particular kinds of food.

There are descriptions of yoga postures, breathing exercises, body-cleaning practices, and Tantric physiology that employs the concepts of chakras, granthis and nadis.

Chakras are psycho-physical 'wheels' that are located inconsistently (depending on which text is referred to) in various places in the body (usually six in the body and one just above the crown chakra, on top of the head).

Details of the chakras do not feature prominently in most yoga texts. However, in many Tantric works more detail is supplied. Chakras are also referred to as mandalas and as lotus flowers, each with a different number of petals (or ‘spokes’), which are the seats of deities, both male and female.

The fifty-two phonemes of the Sanskrit alphabet are known as bija (‘seed’) mantras, each corresponding to a deity, which are distributed amongst the petals of the lotuses. Associated with each chakra are particular colours, elements and also geometric figures (with their own colour).

Also described in many works on Tantra is the iconography of deities and further details of their associated animals (their vehicles).

In some texts, up to fourteen ‘knots’ (granthis) are described. In the rising of kundalini, these knots may be pierced. In the Hatha Yoga Pradipika three granthis are mentioned as important: brahma granthi, in the chest; vishnu granthi, in the throat; and rudra granthi, between the eyebrows. However, other texts refer to two important granthis: in the genital area and between the eyebrows.

Throughout the body are nadis (72, 000 in some texts), which are psycho-physical ‘streams’ or ‘channels’, the most important of them being the ida (on the left side, connected with the left nostril), sushumna (the central channel) and pingala (on the right side, connected with the right nostril).

These three nadis pass from an area near the base of the spine to the cranium. According to the Dhyanabindu Upanishad, which is one of the Yoga Upanishads, ten nadis are important for breath circulation.

The usually dormant female 'snake' (kundalini) lies coiled eight times near the base of the spine, and when aroused she travels up the central (sushumna) spinal channel, piercing the chakras, to the cranium, where she unites with the male energy, resulting in an ecstatic experience of drops of nectar dripping into one's head.

An experience also referred to is of the ‘unstruck sound’ (anahata or shabda brahma), which occurs when the kundalini reaches the heart chakra. The kundalini, in her ascent and descent, from chakra to chakra, reabsorbs the elements of the microcosm (the tattvas), which had been brought into manifestation in the ‘unfolding’ of the universe in its corporeal forms. This is why the yogi who masters the kundalini is the ‘Lord of the Universe’.

Attaining bliss, immortality, control of one’s own psycho-physical processes and of the natural world, and liberation while alive (jivan mukta) are the goals of these practices.

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