It’s time to really partner up with your central nervous system and honor it wholly. First, we need to understand how it works. The nervous system relies on electrical signals, carried by neurons. Some responses are conscious, and some are sub or unconscious. As in most things, “It’s always easier to be the critic than the creator.” However, yogis are creators by facilitating growth. To understand how personal growth really takes shape, we delve into the workings of the central nervous system.
The Central Nervous System
The central nervous system is comprised of the brain and the spine. The central nervous system (CNS), is a system of communication that’s always talking to each other. The spine is the pipeline for input and action signals, and the brain is the control panel of discernment. Thought, emotion, and action all depend on the CNS. “In yoga, the point of being acquainted with the body and all of its parts and functions is to allow us to make them objects, which allows them to become silent” As a whole unit, the nervous system is our interpreter for action and reaction to the world. When we learn to access the CNS, we can put it to work for us. It’s like an interstate to balance during the human experience. This is what allows us to create through the mind-body connection. We filter everything through our brains into our bodies and back again.
The Brain (Chakra 7: Sahasrara)
Second, we need to know the role of the brain. Why do we want to silence the mind? The brain is considered the “fruit” of the tree of yoga. It is also understood to be the “periphery of the consciousness,” but not the whole source of it. Generally, we must learn to purposefully spread brain energy to the other parts of the body. This way, both body and brain are better balanced. If we don’t move inward, we risk losing crucial subtle contact and connection with the physical body. Our job in yoga is to culture, or cultivate, brain, mind, and consciousness by objectifying them. In this, we understand that “consciousness exists everywhere in the body“; through yoga, we train our brains to become, and remain, aware of that (Iyengar, 2002, p.95-119).
Communication in Connection
Markedly, the brain’s primary language is energetic synapse exchange. From that energetic code, it converses continuously with the body. In a sense, it is the bodies electrical circuit board upon which all other things depend. It’s where we synthesize input and output. It is how we take new experiences, subtle influences, old memories, and emotions and make them into something new. Whether you view it as a top-down or bottom-up system, all components are vital to create a state of balance. Chiefly, yoga is a process of alignment practices that allow us to cultivate that balance. From the nonphysical to the physical, we take various influences of what already is and create something new. Bring it into existence. In yoga, the CNS is the operating system from which all modifications are processed to ultimately provide physical, mental, emotional, and energetic balance into the physical plane. Reflect to determine which systems are in check, and which need work.
Spine (Chakras 1-6)
Third, we must understand the significant pathway of the spine. The axial skeleton is made up of the skull, spine, and ribcage. These elements operate as interstate for the rest of the body. The spinal column sends and receives information to and from the central processing unit of the mind. Through these tissues, the data of 16,000 kilometers of human nerve current travels in and out of the brain for interpretation, functional organization, and applied use in other bodily systems. The spinal cord is a relay station for impulses and information about each subdivision of the body. At spinal junctures, all sections of the body extend to and from the CNS, including senses, energy, nerves, muscles, cells, hormone pulses, etc. The Sushumna Nadi runs central and adjacent to the spine.
The Interstate of Energetic Synergy
Next, comes the importance of energy to our being. “Every energetic thing contains energy that’s encoded with information that tells it what and how to be and this energy vibrates. Through amplitude and frequency, these energies vibrate and carry information that is either stored or applied.” (Dale, 2009, p.4). To change or modify the encoded information of the body, we must allow “silence” to re-write former conditioning. Primarily, the “real work” of re-coding is being done in the still space between breaths. When we honor these partnerships and reflect frequently, we are in the driver’s seat of the central nervous system. The CNS communicates the function and the discernment we require to achieve and maintain balance. “Being” is in constant flux; dualities and roadblocks across systems are expected. “Among these are the dualities of conscious and unconscious.” In yoga, we aim to bring all dualities into balance through the lens of “wholeness.” Mind/Body. Right brain/ Left brain. Yin/Yang. Ida/Pingala. Etc.
Opening the Pathways
Altogether, no one part of the body is more critical to functioning than another. To get the CNS in proper yogic order, we need to tap into all the information held in the body. The Sushumna Nadi (starting in the root chakra and ending in the left nostril) and the spine work together in communicating and relaying messages between the brain, and all other subdivisions in the body. Opening these central channels is vital to deliver all messages to the brain for processing. Subsequently, they are then integrated into the mind and limbic systems. Remember, each tiny portion of the body communicates/receives it’s own messages. The Ida and Pingala Nadis form a figure 8 around the chakras and meet in chakras 1 and 6 before relaying into the 7th chakra for processing. Duality is both present and unified before moving into that which is transcendent (unseen). It is through these energetic systems and others that we extrapolate information and relay modified functionality back into the system. This multi-system communication allows us to create. In partnership with the CNS, we learn how to fundamentally steer our being and expand it.
Highlights on the CNS Interstate
Chakra One– Particularly, the root/base of emotion and physical experience. All information starts and ends here in our dense physical existence.
Chakra Six– The third Eye – Encompasses the analytical & reasoning brain. Includes our limbic system and the pineal gland, which plays a role in the bodies internal clock and the entrainment of biological rhythms.
Chakra Seven– The crown, the “top brain,” which is the seat of consciousness. “The central processing unit (CPU) that finds meaning in the images chakra 6 brings forth from the lower realms, and incorporates them into an ever-growing body of understanding” (Judith, 2004, p. 358) before it can modify and send messages back down and across the map.
Put it all to work
Overall, we best put the nervous system to work by understanding it. Only then, can we use those intricacies to communicate ourselves, and our bodies into improved states of being. The layers of the mind-body are deep. Now that we know, we are one step closer to a glorious unfolding.
References:
Alcamo, I. Edward (1997) Anatomy.
Dale, Cindy (2009) The Subtle Body. An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy.
Iyengar, B.K.S. (2002) The Tree of Yoga.
Judith, Anodea (2004) Eastern Body, Western Mind.