A Scientific Analysis Of The Swara Yoga

Abstract

Yoga is the evolutionary process of integration (yuj = union). In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says “Samatvam yoga uchyate” (yoga is equanimity). The yogic concept of Loma Viloma (balance of the two sides/opposites) encompasses the wide variety of processes that occur in our body, emotions and mind and, in this way, achieves this mental equanimity. Yoga and tantra emphasize the balance between the two halves of the body in terms of Loma and Viloma. The right side of the body is considered to be male in nature, endowed with warm, golden and positive pranic energy and is represented by the nadi pingala (energy channel to the right of sushumna). The left side of the body is considered female and endowed with cold, silvery, negative and apanic energy and is represented by the nadi ida (energy channel to the left of sushumna). The sushumna nadi is the energy channel that runs through the center of the central canal of the spinal cord. (Note: All of these energy channels are found in the pranamaya kosha, although they have related structures in the physical body.) The yogi seeks to understand, harness, and achieve balance between the energies of the two halves of the body. The best practical example of this concept is found in the study of the nasal cycle. The nasal cycle is an ultradian rhythm of nasal congestion and decongestion with a quasi-periodicity between 60 and 240 minutes. Keyser made the first formal description and use of the term nasal cycle in 1895. However, the concept of the nasal cycle and the understanding of its role in our lives existed much earlier in Indian thought. The Vedic science that studies the function of the nasal cycle was known as Swarodaya Vigjnan (swara = sonorous sound produced by the flow of air through the nostrils in the nasal cycle, udaya = state of functioning and vigjnan = knowledge). The Shivaswarodaya, an ancient Sanskrit literary treatise, advises the yogi to undertake more peaceful and passive activities (soumya karya) when the flow from the left nostril is dominant (ida/chandra swara), to engage in strenuous and tiring activities (roudra karya) when the flow from the right nostril is dominant (pingala/surya swara) and to relax or meditate when the bilateral nasal flow (sushumna swara) is operative, as it is considered unsuitable for carrying out worldly activities. The ida swara (left nostril dominance) has been described as feminine, Shakti and moon-like (chandra), while the pingala swara (right nostril dominance) has been described as masculine, Shiva and sun-like (surya). Similarly, the traditional Indian description of Ardhanarishwara is that Shakti (the feminine element) is represented on the left side and Shiva (the masculine element) on the right side of the body. This notion of left-right, feminine-masculine duality was common in traditional Eastern medicine and also in Western alchemy. The nasal loop has been demonstrated not only in humans, but also in rats, rabbits, and domestic pigs.