Sushumna, the Central Channel

Sushumna is, in the yogic and tantric physiology of India, the central channel, the most important of the nadis, running straight up the axis of the subtle body along the spine from its base to the crown, with the lunar Ida and solar Pingala spiralling around it and crossing at the energy centres. It is the channel through which, when the two side-channels are balanced and the breath is stilled, the awakened kundalini energy is said to rise, ascending through the chakras from the base to the crown in the process the tradition regards as the goal of the practice. So long as prana flows in the two outer channels the central one is said to remain closed; the whole apparatus of posture, breath-control and concentration in hatha yoga aims at opening Sushumna so that energy may travel the central path. The nadi doctrine is ancient, set out in the tantric literature and in hatha-yoga texts such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and Sushumna as the central axis of ascent is the pivot of the entire subtle-body model.