Trika Shakti
What is is Trika Shakti?
Trika means ‘three’ and ‘shakti’ means dynamic power of consciousness. There is an intangible but palpable facet of us that isn’t the blood, flesh, organs, and bone; referred by many names in different traditions: prana kosha, subtle body, dream body, vajra body, rainbow body, or fluid body.
The three midline channels or inner body of light, or rainbow body is neither a metaphorical nor metaphysical concept. While this knowledge has been mostly forgotten, there is increasing evidence today (at least in some areas of medicine and science) that every cell of the human body has the capacity to store, utilize, and create light.
Subtle Body
The prana kosha or subtle body is an aspect of physical reality: we are literally made of light. Siddha Tantra, Ayurveda, Tibetan and Chinese Medicine traditions have known that the body draws light from the macrocosm of the universe and distributes it through the subtle channels or nadi into the microcosm of the organs, tissues, and cells.
In Ayurveda and Oriental Medicine we view body at a more subtle level than the restrictive approach of the ordinary physical body made of flesh, bones, organs and so on. At subtle level the whole being is seen as a network of channels (nadi or mai) organized around three (trika) primary central or midline channels. The channel network has many sub-channels or branches that originate from the three central channels, some are palpable while others are not.
The channels are pathways for circulation of the subtle vital forces (shakti) or winds (qi or prana) and consciousness (shen or chitta). The channels also carry the essence drops (jing or ojas) of the body and they provide space for the inner psychic fire (kundalini shakti or ming-men fire) to flow. The shakti that flows through these channels create different states of awareness.
Importance of Prana Shakti
When our awareness moves towards the primary channels in midline, all our irritation, friction, discomfort, grindings dissolve and a sense of inner silence and emptiness arises.
The mindless chatter and the restlessness of reactive cravings, and frustration go away; instead a deep transformative stillness arises. This is not passive or static stillness but dynamic stillness that is state of fullness, coherence, and joy. It this state of awareness the inner shakti does all the healing work we discover the transformative fullness that resides in our Heart.
The shakti or inner fire or circulating light, or breath of life, moving in and out of each cell is essential to the health, vitality, and harmony of the whole being. The shakti holds our attention, leading to the quietude that has the potency for healing and transformation.
The prana shakti in three primary channels have innate rhythms that transform our state of consciousness, are often described as mysterious woman or dakini or breath-of-life, or winds, inner fire, or kundalini.
Stillness isn’t a practice of quieting the mind but rather a practice of collecting and entertaining of our awareness within midline which leads to quitetitude of heart.
The pranashakti within channels is not limited or bound within the physical boundary, it extends and connects with cosmos, nature, and all life around us.
It is this circulation of light that is the core of alchemy of rainbow body. In Daoist alchemy the circulation of light is rooted in the Mysterious Woman.
“You must know that there is an energy hub in the body called the Mysterious Woman. It is neither the heart, the kidneys, the mouth nor the nose. It is not the same as the spleen, stomach, anus, bladder, elixir field, or Niwan. Once you know this chi center, it becomes the core of everything… However, this center is boundless and neither located inside nor outside. Rather, it is the root of spirit and chi, the valley of emptiness and nonbeing. Just look for it inside the body; you cannot find it outside.” ~Zhang Boduan ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Dao gives birth to One
One gives birth to Two
Two give birth to Three
Three give birth to
ten-thousand things
~ Dao De Jing. Ch. 42.
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu: “May all beings be happy and free” ❤️