By stilling the eyes, thoughts can be stilled.

Kurma Nadi Meditation

"Samyama is a state where your awareness has reached a point - where you clearly know - you are
fully aware that you are not the body, you are not the mind, you are not the world." - SADHGURU.
Samyama - A Gateway to the Beyond. Samyama is an intensive residential program conducted by
Sadhguru. Participants ...

This is a practice to develop steadiness and stillness.

The subtle nerve plexus called Kurma Nadi is located about 1” down from the notch in the
centre of your collarbone and ½ “ inside. It can be visualized as an oval tube about ¾ “ long
in a cool colour (blue, green, violet) according to your preference.

Simply focus the mind there for about 5 minutes before or after meditation, or as a practice
apart from meditation. If you have difficulty locating that precise spot with just your mind,
simply press your finger on the skin 1” down from the collarbone notch and focus on that
spot. The result will come just the same.

Eventually, through that stimulation, you will be able to focus directly on the Nadi itself.

Note: It is a good idea to do about 10 deep breaths before beginning this practice

http://www.osho.com/iosho/library/read-book/online-library-breathing-separate-throat-
224838b8-6d1?p=8f3bd17e3f972239982ff5a813c67293

Vibhuthi Pada – Sutra 32

January 6, 2015 by sivachandana Leave a comment

Sutra 32.

Kurma-nadyam sthairyam.

Kurma-nadyam = (By performing samyama) on the kurma-nadi, i.e. the nerve that
is the vehicle of the prana called kurma

Sthairyam = steadiness; immovability.

By performing samyama on the kurma-nadi steadiness is obtained.

We know that there are about 72,000 nadis in our body, the most important being sushumna
nadi, then comes the ida and pingala. Though Prana is of many kinds, each kind having
special functions in the body and a special Nadi is assigned as its vehicle. Kurma is one of the
well-known varieties of Prana and the particular nerve which serves as its vehicle is called
Kurma-nadi. This variety of Prana has obviously something to do with the motions of the
body for by controlling it the Yogi acquires the power to make his body motionless.

All the physiological devices working in the physical body are meant to carry on their normal
activities in an involuntary manner. But since each device is really the vehicle of a principle
or Tattva it is possible by gaining voluntary control over its function to express that principle
to any extent desired. This control can be acquired, as usual, by performing Samyama on the
Nadi which is its vehicle. kurma prana is a upa prana. This you will understand in detail when
you study the Pranamaya kosa and its working. Let me give a small table for the reference
here.

After achieving some measure of equilibrium, the aspirant learns to perfect that balancing
process and gains the power to stand firm and immovable, preserving an unshakable
equilibrium between the pairs of opposites. The nerve, called “kurma-nadi” or the “tortoise
tube” is the physical correspondence to the point the aspirant has reached. He stands erect and
unshaken before the entrance to the path; he is at the point in his evolution where he can
“escape upward” and function in the head.

The tortoise has from the earliest ages been the symbol of the slow creative process, and of
the long evolutionary road travelled by the spirit. Lord Krishna in Srimad Bhagavad Gita says
that if we can withdraw our senses inwards like the tortoise draws all its limbs inside, then the
sadhaka’s understanding is well-poised. May be this is the reason the idol of tortoise is kept
at the entrance of temples, to remind the aspirant of his evolutionary path.
Kurma nadi: the serentity center
 Though the Sivananda tradition, as well as many schools, suggest that you meditate at the heart or
the eyebrow center, suddenly yesterday discovered that for me it was more soothing to meditate at
the throat chakra. Wisdom after I get serenity, I thought. And serenity, so I can appreciate love.

The ajna/eyebrow center is the wisdom/intellectual center (jnana margis) and the heart/anahat
center is the love center (ideal for bhakti margis). Since I am seemingly neither, and only struggling
with communication yet:) I thought I can shut down the constant blah by focusing on the throat
center. For me at least, it is like coming home. I have tried the heart and the ajna and occasionally
succeed to stay at the eyebrow for a milliionth of a fraction of a millisecond. But at the throat
(actually the hollow at the throat), that feels very soothing. While at either of the centers to be calm
is frightening, and immediately the mind shakes and flutters into inner chatter, while at the throat
center, all the voices in the head clam up. Quiet seems possible, and acceptable and not frightening
(Most people get `bored' with meditation because they cannot bear the inner silence:)... And so, yes,
there must be something there!

Chakra master Harish Johari, whose book I immediately plumbed for more insight, says that this is
the kurma nadi, the tortoise center. (Even Patanjali says that samayama on the throat center gives
steadiness). That meditating on this center ushers serenity and calmness. Communication skills are
channelised spiritually. The awareness to read other's thoughts and communicate without words.
The person who meditates on this center gains control over the self... It seems to be a `sensible
center' to focus on, since I am such a chatterbox (this blog, my classes) and I hope it will shut me
up!!

Though the chakra at the throat is vishuddhi (which means to purify), the nadi that is activated by
the attention -- and which is at the hollow at the throat is kurma/tortoise nadi. For those who are
confused: the difference is that is a one is a charka which is a plexus/vortex of nadis -the other is a
single channel of energy)

The kurmasana, as I have executed above, extends the neck, so though the pressure is all over the
place (ask those who are still struggling with the first stage of the pose), there is also a continued
one at the base and the throat center. I think that may be why Sw Niranjanananda in one of his book
says that this is a spiritual pose that can create the state of mind involution that everybody struggles
with..

Other poses which in my mind extend the neck in a similar fashion and hit upon this nadi is the

 Scorpion
Locust (classical version)
 Dhanu (If you lift you head up, to look at the ceiling)
 Poorna cobra (where the head has to be thrown back)
 Ushtrasana (Camel)
 Holding such poses for long can mean spiritual growth in this center -- serenity, is def worth
investing in:) Intriguing to me that these poses are rather difficult to hold, or if you can, for long,
na?!

Happy sadhana!!