Shiva Center: Shiva Sutra 3.44
“In all the channels left (ida), right (pingala) and middle (susumna) - there is prana sakti. By the constant practice of bringing one’s awareness to this inner state of prana sakti, there abides the awareness of that central Reality under all circumstances, and in all conditions.” Our center is unseen, yet when we rock back and forth in our seat we can find our center of balance without any instruction. It may seem like the center has a central location, but when you lean left and right, you are leaning left and right ‘of center’, and from this perspective our center is always with us. In this Sutra we see that our energetic center, the shushumna, is a central force that energizes the 72,000+ veins of our psychic nervous system, and even though it may seem that some of these veins are ‘far from center’ they are all a part of our center because they are fueled and emanate from our center. What’s more, the Sutra teaches that it is our center that gives life and removes stiffness from our body and actions— ie. when we move or act from our center, our actions are graceful and smooth, this is because the life force is present in these actions. From this Sutra we see that center isn’t a place or location, its the space from which we move and connect, or as the sutra says, its the very difference between yogis and ordinary people.
Bring it Home
A Print-at-Home, Journal-Sized Edition of the Class!