titioner’s overall strength such that he or she is able to withstand the force
of transcendental consciousness.
Pranayama is of particular importance. In yogic physiology, a person
is said to be composed of a series of body-sheaths, which range across the
spectrum from the gross anatomy of elemental metamorphosis at one ex-
treme to the subtle, astral aura of the soul at the other. Pran (vital breath)
is said to pervade all of these sheaths, and there is a close relationship, both
metaphorical and metonymical, between air as breath and the vital, subtle
breath of pran. Not only are they alike figuratively, but one has come to
stand for the other. Pran, as cognate with and as related to shakti, is
thought to be the very energy of life, and yogic breathing exercises are con-
ceived of as the means by which one can purify, concentrate, and channel
this energy. In this regard, a theory of pranic flow through the nadis(sub-
tle channels or meridians of the body) explains how cosmic energy is mi-
crocosmically embodied within the individual body.
Most closely associated with the esoteric, self-consciously mystical
teachings of Tantrism, nadi physiology is integral to yoga in general. Al-
though subtle and thereby imperceptible to the gross senses, nadis pervade
the body in much the same way as do veins, arteries, and capillaries, on the
one hand, and nerves on the other. Of the hundreds of thousands of nadis,
three are of primary importance in yoga, the axial sushumna,which runs up
the center of the trunk from anus to crown, and the idaand pingla,which
both start from the anus and intersect the sushumna at key points as they
crisscross from left to right and right to left respectively. These key points
are referred to as chakra centers, which, among many other things, reflect
the energy of pran as the disarticulated pran flowing through all three con-
duits comes together. The ultimate goal of pranayama is to cleanse the chan-
nels, purify pran, and then channel it exclusively through the sushumna nadi
such that it penetrates consciousness and yokes—or harnesses as yogic im-
agery would have it (even though yoke and yoga have a common etymol-
ogy)—the individual soul to the cosmic spirit of the universe.
In this regard asanas are, technically, “seats” rather than postures,
and are designed to anchor, or root, the body in space, thus explicitly fa-
cilitating the practice of “yoking.” The classical padamasana (lotus seat) as
well as similar cross-legged seated positions such as sukhasanaand sid-
dhasana are particularly important, insofar as they enable a person to sit
motionless for many hours and also stabilize the subtle body. Thus, before
a person engages in the four “higher” stages of yogic meditation, he or she
must master these “empowering” ways of sitting. However, apart from
these “seats-in-fact,” the relative importance to yoga as a whole of the
more “vigorous” stretching, bending, and flexing asanas is unclear, since
many of the classical, authoritative works on the subject, such as the Yoga
Religion and Spiritual Development: India 469