Ida, pingala and sushumna: the nadis explained

The word nadi comes from a root meaning to flow; in ordinary Sanskrit it also means a river. The image is helpful: not pipes, but currents. The nadis belong to the same map of the subtle body as the five vayus and the chakras, and that map sits within the breath sheath of the five koshas.

Why 72,000 nadis?

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the fifteenth-century Hatha manual, gives the number as 72,000, and some Upanishads give far larger ones. Read it as "a vast number", the way English says "a thousand things to do". The texts are not counting; they are saying that prana reaches everywhere.

Of all these, the texts single out ten or fourteen as important, and three above the rest.

The three main nadis

Ida and pingala are said to start at the base of the spine and cross over one another as they rise, meeting at each of the main chakras before ending at the nostrils. Sushumna runs straight up the middle. When prana flows evenly in both side channels, the texts say it can enter the central one, and that is the condition for deep meditation.

What this has to do with the word Hatha

One traditional reading of hatha splits it into ha, the sun, and tha, the moon: pingala and ida. Hatha Yoga, on this reading, is the yoga of balancing the two. It is a teaching etymology rather than a strict one, but it captures what the practice is for, and it is how we introduce the word in our guide to Hatha Yoga.

The nostril cycle you can feel today

Here is the part anyone can check. Breathe gently through the nose and notice which nostril is more open. For most people one is clearly freer than the other, and the dominant side changes every few hours.

Physiologists call this the nasal cycle: the tissue inside each nostril swells and shrinks in turn, under the control of the autonomic nervous system. The yoga tradition noticed the same rhythm long ago and read it as ida and pingala taking turns. Whether you prefer the medical explanation or the traditional one, the alternation is real.

Traditional texts on svara yoga, the science of the breath, go further and recommend doing active tasks when the right nostril dominates and quiet ones when the left does. That is folklore rather than evidence, but it is a pleasant thing to notice.

How pranayama works with the nadis

Nadi shodhana, alternate nostril breathing, is literally "nadi cleansing". Breathing through each side in turn is meant to balance ida and pingala. It is the most important pranayama in our tradition, and it is written out in our guide to nadi shodhana step by step.

Surya bhedana, inhaling only through the right nostril, emphasises pingala, the warming side. Chandra bhedana, inhaling through the left, emphasises ida, the cooling side. Both are taught after nadi shodhana is steady.

The bandhas are said to direct prana into sushumna once the side channels are balanced; see the three locks explained.

Sushumna and kundalini

In the Hatha texts, kundalini is the energy that rises through sushumna when it opens. That is a large subject with a lot of exaggeration attached to it, so we have given it a page of its own: kundalini, explained honestly.

How literally to take all this

The nadis are a map of experience, not of anatomy. You will not find them on a scan, and anyone who tells you they are the same thing as nerves or meridians is tidying the tradition up for a modern audience.

What the map does well is describe how breath practice feels: the left-right balance, the sense of the attention gathering in the centre of the body, the quiet that follows. Test it in your own practice, which is how it is taught on our 200-hour teacher training in Fort Kochi.

Common questions

What are the three main nadis?

Ida, the left channel, linked to the left nostril and cooling qualities; pingala, the right channel, linked to the right nostril and warming qualities; and sushumna, the central channel along the spine.

How many nadis are there in the human body?

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika says 72,000, and some Upanishads give larger numbers. The figure means "a vast number" rather than a count.

How do I know if ida or pingala is active?

Notice which nostril breathes more freely. Traditionally a freer left nostril means ida is dominant and a freer right nostril means pingala is. The dominant side changes every few hours.

Are nadis the same as nerves?

No. Nadis belong to the traditional subtle body and are not physical structures. Comparisons with nerves or acupuncture meridians are modern analogies, not equivalents.

Which pranayama balances ida and pingala?

Nadi shodhana, alternate nostril breathing, is the classical practice for balancing the two side channels.