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I have a bit of a technical question: it's this quote. I don't understand it very well because in my understanding Sushumna was supposed to finish in the Brahmarandhra; or cavity of Brahma. So I don't understand how it ends up in the middle of the nostrils. Where the nasal septum joins the upper lip, that's the bottom of the separation between the nostrils right? Where some people put a nose ring. Like a bull. My understanding is that Sushumna goes up the spine; crosses in the back of neck where it splits in two. There: one portion of it crosses horizontally to the forehead; while the other part keeps going vertically up the head to Brahmarandhra. And they both meet at Brahmarandhra. Could somebody be so kind to explain this quote. Or is it some sort of extension?

(later edit, note: This thread is in context of the previous A Proposed Generic Outline of the Internal Path.) I've been having a pm conversation with Uroboros about (what I call) the "deep-centers", aka "zero points", "still points", "bindus". They are the still places at the deep-center of each major chakra, where they intersect sushumna. The especially potent points along sushumna that are where the key alchemy skillfully occurs to integrate personal alchemy with Luminous Emptiness, "The Big Light". Quoted the pm conversation below. - Trunk It's not *which* center; it is applicable to *all* of the major centers. What is deep-center? It's the "still" place. For instance, in your heart center, start 'feeling' from nearer the front and move inward. In the outer areas you'll feel something ... then as you get into the deep-center, you won't feel anything; it's a still place, has a special relationship to emptiness and to luminous emptiness (I call it The Big Light). THAT is where the critical alchemy occurs, where you stabilize concentration and refine your personal energy into integration with universal. Tibetan, "enter, abide, dissolve". You might not get that on first try, or not for a long time, but that's the direction that cultivation should be headed. Also there's general peripheral work, "open the tissues and channels", etc, but cultivation culminates in profound development of the deep-centers integration with The Big Light. He envisioned a candle flame. You could do it with anything where you visualize light. The Tibetans visualize mantric syllables as luminous. 1. The visualization gives you something to concentrate on. It's hard to concentrate just on a still empty space; the mind doesn't have anything to hold on to and tends to skitter around ... though it can be done and should be done... but there are various ways to do it. A candle flame is one of the simplest ways to do it. 2. Visualizing it as luminous triggers access to Light and that helps trigger the bindu ~ Big Light integration. You could also just dissolve the personal energy completely and that would lead to a spacious Emptiness experience, but The Big Light is a powerful refining agent. Super, super important topic. Probably the most important topic to clarify in all of esoterica. Various practices that "cultivate the center" ... important to look for as a student. Sifu Matsuo said in one of his videos, (paraphrased as best I remember) "all of the methods I teach cultivate the center". I was pretty clear about this theoretically before I met Sifu Matsuo, I had some experiences, some method ... enough to recognize the importance of where he was going with some of his teachings. Those potent points along sushumna, where the centers intersect it, those are the "still" points, the "deep-centers", the "zero points" ... really important. Those potent places are where the refinement occurs that connects you skillfully to The One Medicine. ok, tired of typing, enough for now. Yup. I guess a key realization for me was that the deep-centers refine until they are empty, 'till they unify with a deeper bigger space. However that works for you. In contrast to ideas I had before, about the body or other channels, that I wanted to fill them or make them flow, wanted to accumulate density in the bones, more energy etc. The deep-centers get more energy, tap into a deeper source of energy, by refining into Nothing. Yup. I've often wondered about the different centers relation to color of Light (as you are finding), and am not clear on that. Personally I tend to discard rote relations of colors that I've seen in various lists, and am just interested in what seems natural/resonant for my body. And I tend to prefer the simpler the better. I've often gone for white/gold for all of them and it does not seem to quite work as well for some as others. (There is a uniform relation to spaciousness, though.) notes for later Sometimes when things are going particularly well, a number of centers going at the same time, the whole central channel ignites in relation to that golden white Light ... and it lights up as a whole, as the filament of a light bulb and the sphere of the whole body is ignited. Like the centers are individual spheres themselves then there is a larger sphere that is somewhat larger than the physical form altogether. It's a later step and I wouldn't worry about it happening right away ... but to let you know the direction that this goes in the longer run. And while you start with the centers inside the physical (different traditions advise different orders, I prefer a balanced approached but find in my own work that the lower centers take more work which is probably fairly common), there's a center between the thighs, between the lower legs, a big one below the feet, several above the head. Tibetan art depicts this stuff well. That's the whole of the broad sketch as I know it. There's some details about how the energies reverse, how the subtle body becomes more cohesive and expansive at the same time, how psychological baggage refines in relation to the Big Light ... you'll find all that as you go along the direction you're headed. p.s. And as you become familiar with this process you'll start noticing how various methods of various schools head in, foster, this direction. (Also, where problems occur when some methods or personal approaches contradict the mechanics of this process.) That's been my strong historical preference. And still is my predominant orientation. I've found that, in this case, a little bit of light visualization triggers integration with Light. ... though, of course, proceed as you see fit.

Hey Drew I have thought about this for a long time now. You keep saying that the right vagus nerve is the central channel. I now disagree. My reasons are as follows: 1) On several occasions you have said that the main aorta in the right side of the neck pulses when you activate the vagus nerve. Well, the central channel goes up the center of the neck, not on the right side of the neck. 2) The right vagus nerve ends in the bowels and is not connected to the tail bone. The central channel starts at the perineum and goes straight up, just in front of the spine. 3) You said the left vagus nerve goes down the left side of the neck and terminates at the heart. What you are describing may be the ida, and the right vagus nerve may be pingala, but they are not definately not the central channel. 4) If kundalini rises up the central channel, starting from the muladhara, and it's first step is piercing the granthi knot, where are the corresponding vagus nerves then? 5) If kundalini must pierce the three granthis knots in order to rise up the sushumna, then ordinary orgasm can't be taking the same path, because ordinary orgasm does not pierce the three granthis. Therefore, the channels must be different. http://www.swamij.com/kundalini-awakening-5.htm Now, I'm not vehement about this idea and I don't think we are going to really prove anything, because science can't prove that a central channel even exists, but it is an interesting theory that the vagus nerve is not the central channel, isn't it? TI