Central Channel

[blueadventurer]

In yoga and couple other places I see "activating the central channel energies" is this the same as awakening kundalini?Is this done with practicing NEW also?

[Tom]

The central channel shushumna is in contrast with ida and pingala. When ida and pingala are active your energies flow outward and your awareness is through the senses and directed to the world around you. When shushumna is active and most of your energies are flowing their, the energies and awareness are pulled effortlessly away from the senses and the world around you. You turn inward. Yes, Kundalini is involved with this because Kundalini is also drawn into and up the central channel. She pierces each of the chakras within the central channel and clears and activates them, and with each chakra you gain an ability. Mastery over your emotions is an example of one of those abilities. The usual psychic abilities come as well, but they can actually be obstacles at this point because using them turns your awareness back out into the world and your energies from shushumna back into ida and pingala. As you turn farther into yourself, first away from your senses, you then stop experiencing the elements as your awareness pulls away from the denser ones to the less dense ones and then away from them as well. In Tibetan Buddhism this is described as happening in meditation but it is more commonly experienced at the time of death. The difference is that in meditation it is experienced in full awareness. As the senses and the elements are dropped, they are replaced with an expanding bliss. Finally there is the experience described as the dawn of the clear light. It happens at death as well, but without familiarity and preparation there is a strong tendency to try to escape from the clear light. Fully merging with the clear light in meditation helps to prepare for that moment and that opportunity to attain Buddhahood. Okay. I think I've gone a bit past the scope of the question now.

Yes, with NEW you can direct some of your energies into the central channel, but as long as you are mainly centered in ida and pingala you are not really getting much of the experience. The need to focus your awareness on the world around you is a strong habit. It feels dangerous to let go and turn inward, because "anything" could happen to you if you mentally turn your back on the world, right?