Magi & Vagi

The subtle system of सहज  (innate, spontaneous enlightenment) Sahaja योग Yoga.

1.  मूलाधार "Root" Mooladhara चक्र Chakra.
1a. मूल (mūl, Root ) +‎ आधार (ādhār, base) the Mooladhar (perineum).
2. स्वाधिष्ठान "Where the self is established" Swadisthana चक्र Chakra.
3. मणिपूर "Jewel city" Nabhi चक्र Chakra.
3a. the Void.
4. अनाहत "Unstruck" Anahata चक्र Chakra.
5. विशुद्ध "Purest" Vishuddhi चक्र Chakra.
6. आज्ञा "Command" Agnya चक्र Chakra.
7. सहस्रार "Thousand-petaled" Sahasrara चक्र Chakra.

A. कुण्डलिनी Kundalini.
B. इडा: Iḍā नाडी Nāḍī, Left channel.
C. सुषुम्ना: Suṣumṇā नाडी Nāḍī, Central channel.

D. पिङ्गला: Piṅgalā नाडी Nāḍī,  Right channel.

E. Spirit.
F. Ego.
G. Superego.

निर्मला श्रीवास्तव Nirmala Srivastava, the founder of सहज योग Sahaja Yoga, equates

• सुषुम्ना: Suṣumṇā नाडी Nāḍī with the parasympathetic nervous system,
• इडा: Iḍā नाडी Nāḍī with the left side of the sympathetic nervous system and,
• पिङ्गला: Piṅgalā नाडी Nāḍī with the right side of the sympathetic nervous system.

"Did you hear about the midnight rambler?

He'll leave his footprints up and down your hall

And did you hear about the midnight gambler?"

― The Rolling Stones, 1969, Let It Bleed

The Apnea treatment impacts and interferes with the V‧N‧S ― the Two Ἀφροδῑ́τη° ― or इडा: Iḍā नाडी Nāḍī & पिङ्गला: Piṅgalā नाडी Nāḍī** of the Vagi.

The processes in the subtle body would be carried out in the central nervous system by the vibrations - a cool or warm flow on the hands, above the fontanel and around the body.

The yogic practice of Tummo (ancient Tibetan ed., X-XII centuries AD, probably of Milarepa).

གཏུམ་མོ: Tummo,  चण्डाली, caṇḍālī, fierce goddess of heat and passion in Tibetan Buddhist tradition. As a breathing exercise, tummo (Tumo or Chandali yoga) is a part of tantric meditation cycles for yogic heat, developed around the concept of the female deity. It is found in षडङ्ग योग नाडपाद ṣaḍaṅga yoga nāḍapāda, the Six Dharmas of Naropa, Mārgaphala, ལམ་འབྲས: Lamdre (“path": lam with its fruit: ‘bras. In Tibet, the lamdré teachings are considered the summum bonum of the Sakya school), कालचक्र Kālacakra (དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ།) "wheel of time" or "time-cycles" and अनुयोग 'further yoga' Anuyoga teachings of Tibetan वज्रयान Vajrayāna. The purpose of tummo is to gain control over body processes during the completion stage of 'highest yoga tantra' (Anuttarayoga Tantra, Unsurpassable yoga) or अनुयोग 'further yoga' Anuyoga.

Systems based on Traditional Chinese Medicine work with the energy concept called 氣 that travels through meridians similar in description to the nadis. 小周天, the microcosmic orbit practice, has many similarities to certain Indian nadi shuddha (channel clearing) exercises and the practice of Kriya Yoga.

小周天 also known as the Self Winding Wheel of the Law, is a 道教 氣功 Dàojiào qìgōng (lit. 'life-energy cultivation') or 導引² dǎoyǐn (lit. 'guide & pull') 氣 ㄑㄧˋ qì energy cultivation technique, 內功, divided into  陰: lying and sitting positions & 陽: standing and moving positions( cf. 導引圖 Dǎoyǐn tú). It involves deep breathing exercises in conjunction with meditation and concentration techniques which develop the flow of 氣 along certain pathways of energy in the human body as in 中醫 the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), 氣功 qìgōng, 太極拳 (Tàijí quán), 內丹術 (nèidān shù, also known as 金丹 jīndān "golden elixir")) and Chinese alchemy. The exercise can be performed usually at first in a sitting position, but it can also be practiced standing as in 站樁 (lit. 'standing [like a] post') zhàn zhuāng a training method often practiced by students of 内家 Neijia (internal kung fu), or with movements included as with 太極拳 (Tàijí quán). In 內丹術 the human body becomes 鼎 (or "ding") a cauldron  in which 三寶 sānbǎo, the Three Treasures of 精 Jīng ("Essence"), 氣 Qì ("Breath") and 神Shén ("Spirit") are cultivated for the purpose of improving physical, emotional and mental health, and ultimately returning to the primordial unity of 道 the Ta))Dào, i.e., becoming an Immortal. It is believed 修真图 the Xiūzhēn tú is such a cultivation map.

The history of 小周天 the microcosmic orbit dates back to prehistoric times in China, and the underlying principles can be found in 易經 the Yì Jing or 周易 Zhōu yì which according to legend was written by the 伏羲 Emperor Fu Xi approximately five thousand years ago or at least two centuries before the time of 皇帝 the Yellow Emperor. For example, the Chinese character for 易經卦 "Yì Jing guà" the hexagram number 五, 需 "Waiting", depicts a person sitting in meditation and the commentary pertains to the flow of energy from one of the psychic energy channels to another during meditation:

象傳 the commentary on the Image for hexagram 5《 雲上於天，需；君子以飲食宴樂。》 reveals the entire process of meditation. 雲上於天 "The clouds rise up to heaven" symbolizes the meditator's energy rising upward as it evaporates into the head, where it is distilled into a saliva like nectar (referred to in the phrase 君子以飲食宴樂 "the superior man eats and drinks"), which returns to the abdomen. 利涉大川 "It furthers one to cross the great water" alludes to crossing the great water of the abdomen and mouth.

老子 and 莊子 have also alluded to the technique of meditation and encouraging circulation of energy through the psychic meridians in their writings. For example, 莊子 Zhuāngzǐ 's chapter entitled  養生主Yang sheng zhu or "Principles of Health and Longevity" states: "Use your mind to carry the vital energy along your Tu Mo upward constantly" A stone carving in 白雲觀 the White Cloud Temple in 北京市 which bears an inscription "the sixth month of the year Ping-hsu of the Kuang-hsu era" (1886) contains a pictorial representation of some of the symbols which describe the processes involved in the microcosmic orbit meditation technique. These particular techniques are derived from 呂洞賓 the Dàoist Patriarch Lü Dongbin who was born in 798 AD. 呂洞賓 was one of 八仙 Bāxiān, the Eight Immortals.

呂洞賓 Lü Dongbin and his teacher, 鍾離權 Zhongli Quan, were two of the "Eight Immortals”, Bāxiān. While a fugitive after an abortive Chinese military expedition against Tibet, 鍾離權 encountered Master Tung-hua. He "earnestly begged for the secrets of immortality. Master Tung-hua thereupon imparted to him not only an infallible magic process for attaining longevity, but also the method to produce the Philosopher's Stone." 

葛洪 was the first to systematically describe the history and theory of Daoist immortality techniques such as “preserving unity” (shou yi 守一), circulating energy (xing qi 行氣), “guiding and pulling” (dao yin), and sexual longevity techniques (fang zhong 房中, Baopuzi neipian, ch. 2; Lai Chi-tim 1998, 203-204). But his accounts of these techniques clearly reflect an interest in self-cultivation according to broadly Confucian principles. For example, he considered moral self-cultivation a precondition for the search for immortality; self-cultivation included such Confucian virtues as benevolence (ren), trustworthiness (xin), loyalty (zhong) and filiality (xiao). Ge Hong criticized Daoist “pure conversation” (qing tan) and emphasized the importance of both moral virtue and Daoist study. His specifically Daoist writings emphasize the importance of both “mystery” (xuan 玄) and emptiness (xu 虛), and all-embracing unity, which the Daoist must actively preserve by meditation practices, techniques of “preserving the essence” (bao jing 保精) and consuming medicinal herbs (fu yao 服藥).

The exercise itself usually begins with preparation designed to relax the physical body and develop the ability to concentrate. Students may indeed be encouraged to practice Dàoist Yoga exercises or 太極拳 (Tàijí quán), as a way of building enough energy to begin performing the microcosmic orbit exercise as it can induce a strain on the nervous system and cause energy depletion if practiced without adequate preparation.

To begin with the student is encouraged to develop deep abdominal breathing into the primary 丹田 dantian (Lit. "elixir-of-life field" or Dàoist energy centre3) to develop heat and pressure in the lower abdomen or "Golden Stove". A preparatory exercise known by some as the Lesser Heavenly circulation involves moving energy between two areas known as the seat of fire near the heart or the solar plexus where a psychic centre symbolised by the trigram Li from the I Ching is located, and the seat of water in the area of the kidneys where a psychic centre symbolised by the trigram kan is located.

Normally 精 jīng, essence can flow either way through 奇經八脈 qí jīng bā mài, the eight extra meridians4 or energy pathways in the body, but in the microcosmic orbit meditation exercise jing is encouraged to flow upwards along督脈 dū mài, the Governor vessel during inhalation and then downwards along 任脈 rèn mài, the conception vessel returning to 丹田 dāntián on the exhalation. This means that energy flows from 丹田 dāntián downwards to the base of the spine then up the back along the centre line of the body to the crown of the head, then over the head and down the front centre line of the body and back to the starting point again making a full circle or orbit. This prevents the body's natural essences from becoming depleted as they normally flow downwards from the brain or 'sea of marrow' and are lost during ejaculation or menstruation during the reproductive processes. It is this 精 jīng or essence which is responsible for the reproductive processes in the body which allow the body to rejuvenate itself as well as for the reproductive processes which give rise to offspring. Essence is also an important component in the manufacture of 氣 qi which can be translated into English as vitality or energy, the primary motive force which is life itself. This raising and lowering 精 jīng through the microcosmic orbit and returning it to 丹田 dāntián purifies the essence and transforms it into 氣 or vitality.

As well as 下丹田, Xià Dāntián, the lower dantian or 鼎 cauldron there are other important points along the circuit of energy flow which include the 'three gates' which are areas where it is considered that energy may stagnate, these are 尾閭關 the wěilǘ or Tailbone gate, the Dorsal gate on the back roughly level with the heart, and 玉枕 the Jade pillow on the back of the head. Other important areas include the 命門 mìng mén or gate of fire on the back about level with the kidneys and 百會bǎi huì, One Hundred Meetings or Niwan which is directly on top of the head.

小周天 the microcosmic orbit should be viewed in the context of a variety of Dàoist exercises and techniques designed to purify the body physically, mentally and spiritually, improve health and longevity, and prepare the way for meditation, and also including other techniques such as the macrocosmic orbit which means circulating energy into the other psychic energy meridians which flow around the torso and out into the arms and legs. These types of exercises are best practiced under the guidance of suitably qualified teachers who can help the beginner avoid any pitfalls and misunderstandings along the way rather than copied from books, especially if the subject may have a history of mental illness or emotional imbalance. For example, according to Lu Kuan Yu: "It is harmful to pinpoint places in the body, the very idea of which should be relinquished since it hinders the course of the inner fire and of vitality.

內經圖 Nèijīng tú

° Plato, in his Symposium, makes one of the guests assert that there are two Aphrodites, whom he calls Celestial and Vulgar, or, to give them their later titles, Venus Coelestis and Venus Naturalis; and because it symbolized a deep-seated human feeling, this passing allusion was never forgotten. It became an axiom of medieval and Renaissance philosophy. It is the justification of the female nude. Since the earliest times the obsessive, unreasonable nature of physical desire has sought relief in images, and to give these linages a form” by which Venus may cease to be vulgar and become celestial has been one of the recurring aims of European art. The means employed have been symmetry, measurement, and the principle of subordination, all refining upon the personal affections of individual artists. But perhaps this purification of Venus could not have taken place had not some abstract notion of the female body been present in the Mediterranean mind from the first. Prehistoric images of women are of two kinds, the bulging statuettes from palaeolithic caves, which emphasize the female attributes till they are little more than symbols of fertility and the marble dolls of the Cyclades, in which already the unruly human body has undergone a geometrical discipline. Following Plato's example, we might call them the Vegetable and the Crystalline Aphrodite. These two basic conceptions never quite disappear, but since art involves the application of laws, the distinction between the two Aphrodites grows very slight; and even when most unlike one another they partake of each other's characters. Botticelli's Venus "born of the crystalline sea of thought and its eternity" has a piercing strain of sensuality; Rubens' Venus, a cornucopia of vegetable abundance, still aspires to the idea.

Both Aphrodite and Eos were known for their erotic beauty and aggressive sexuality. Both goddesses were associated with the colours red, white, and gold.

The character of Pausanias in Plato's Symposium takes differing cult-practices associated with different epithets of the goddess to claim that Ourania and Pandemos are, in fact, separate goddesses. He asserts that Aphrodite Ourania is the celestial Aphrodite, born from the sea foam after Cronus castrated Uranus and the older of the two goddesses. According to the Symposium, Aphrodite Ourania is the inspiration of male homosexual desire, specifically the ephebic eros, and pederasty. Aphrodite Pandemos, by contrast, is the younger of the two goddesses: the common Aphrodite, born from the union of Zeus and Dione, and the inspiration of heterosexual desire and sexual promiscuity, the "lesser" of the two loves. Paphian (Παφία), was one of her epithets, after the Paphos in Cyprus where she had emerged from the sea at her birth.

Among the Neoplatonists and, later, their Christian interpreters, Ourania is associated with spiritual love and Pandemos with physical love (desire). A representation of Ourania with her foot resting on a tortoise came to be seen as emblematic of discretion in conjugal love; it was the subject of a chryselephantine sculpture by Phidias for Elis, known only from a parenthetical comment by the geographer Pausanias.

* इडा: Iḍā in ऋग्वेद 『(ṛg-vedá, “Veda of praise”), from ऋच् (ṛ́c, “praise, verse”) and वेद (véda, “knowledge”)』the Rigveda, literally means and signifies food and refreshment, personified as the goddess of speech. Idā is also associated with सरस्वती Sárasvatī, the goddess of knowledge.
Muscling Ida means 'stream or flow of praise and worship'. Ida is another name for अग्नि (agní, “fire”) Agni. According to भागवत [(bhāgavata) + पुराण (purāṇá, literally means "ancient, old"⇒“stories of ancient times told in a new manner”, भागवतपुराण: Bhāgavata Purāṇa)], इडा (Iḍā) was the daughter of वायु (Vāyú) wife of ध्रुव (Dhruvá, a Puranic child sage who becomes the pole star) and mother of उत्कल (Utkala)

Ida is described as the Mānavi (daughter of Manu) and Ghṛtapadī (with the ghee-dripping foot) and she is represented by a cow, also known as Idā during a sacrifice.

** पिङ्गल (piṅgala, “reddish-brown, tawny, yellow, gold-coloured”)

कुण्डलिनी योग या लय योग: Kundalini Yoga or Rhythm Yoga

हठ haṭha योग Yoga, योगकुण्डलिनी उपनिषत्: Yogakuṇḍalini Upaniṣad

Yoga (from the root yuj) means "to add", "to join", "to unite", or "to attach" in its most common literal sense. According to Dasgupta, the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga (to yoke) or yuj samādhau (to concentrate).

Kundalini, states James Lochtefeld, refers to "the latent spiritual power that exists in every person". It is a fundamental concept in tantra and symbolizes an aspect of शक्ति: Śakti that is typically dormant in every person, and its awakening is a goal in tantra. The root of the word is kundala (coiled rope). The title "Yoga-kundalini Upanishad" literally means "the secret doctrine of Kundalini yoga".

आसन Asana "to sit down" 體式“坐下” ⇰ confer ध्यान: dhyāna 禪修、坐禪

अमृत (amṛta, “immortal, immortality”). Confer Ancient Greek ἀμβροσία (ambrosía) 甘露

² 導引也包括點穴術、叩齒法、鼓漱咽津法、鳴天鼓、干梳頭、乾洗臉、揉耳運目、擦腳心、兜外腎、自發動、周身拍打等等。常與服氣、存思配合，組成系列功法。

精氣神 jīng-qì-shén

3  Three main 丹田 dāntián are typically emphasized:

1. 下丹田, Xià Dāntián: Lower dantian at the crossing of the horizontal line behind the Ren-6 acupoint and vertical line above the perinium, which is also called "the golden stove" (金炉: Jīn lú) or the namesake "elixir-of-life field" proper, where the process of developing the elixir by refining and purifying essence (jing) into vitality (qi) begins.
2. 中丹田, Zhōng Dāntián: Middle dantian at the level of the heart, which is also called "the crimson palace", associated with storing 神 spirit (shén) and with respiration and health of the internal organs, in particular the thymus gland. This 鼎 cauldron is where vitality or 氣 qi is refined into 神 shén or spirit.
3. 上丹田, Shàng Dāntián: Upper dantian at the forehead between the eyebrows or third eye, which is also called "the muddy pellet", associated with the pineal gland. This 鼎 cauldron is where 神 shén or spirit is transmuted into 無為ㄨˊ ㄨㄟˊ wúwéi or emptiness.

4  The eight extraordinary meridians are of pivotal importance in the study of 氣功 qìgōng, 太極拳 (Tàijí quán) and Chinese alchemy. These eight extra meridians differ from the standard twelve organ meridians in that they are considered to be storage vessels or reservoirs of energy and are not associated directly with the 臟腑 zàng-fǔ, i.e. internal organs. These channels were studied in the "Spiritual Axis" chapters 17, 21 and 62, the "Classic of Difficulties" chapters 27, 28 and 29 and the "Study of the 8 Extraordinary vessels" (奇經八脈考 by 李時珍 [Lǐ Shízhēn] Qi Jing Ba Mai Kao), written in 1578.

The eight extraordinary vessels are (奇經八脈; qí jīng bā mài):

1. Conception Vessel (Ren Mai) – 任脈; rèn mài
2. Governing Vessel (Du Mai) – 督脈; dū mài
3. Penetrating Vessel (Chong Mai) – 衝脈; chōng mài
4. Girdle Vessel (Dai Mai) – 帶脈; dài mài
5. Yin linking vessel (Yin Wei Mai) – 陰維脈; yīn wéi mài
6. Yang linking vessel (Yang Wei Mai) – 陽維脈; yáng wéi mài
7. Yin Heel Vessel (Yin Qiao Mai) – 陰蹻脈; yīn qiāo mài
8. Yang Heel Vessel (Yang Qiao Mai) – 陽蹻脈; yáng qiāo mài