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nodoubt
India
90 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 06 2011 : 3:31:20 PM
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I ran across this researcher, Dacher Keltner, from UC Berkeley, who has done tremendous research on the relationship between compassion, empathy, altruism and the nervous system in humans.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/a...-the-fittest
The gist is that the vagus nerve is becoming known as "the compassion nerve." It also fires off signals of satisfaction and well-being related to digestion and sexuality. The vagus nerve begins in the cranial nerve cluster at the top of the brain and extends down from the brain stem, down the sides of the neck, the larynx, the heart, the stomach, into the intestines and has some connection to the two lower sphincters. It basically forms knots around these areas by wrapping around the larynx, aorta, vena cava, diaphragmm, the esophagus and colon.
So in the spirit of science, I'm going out on a limb and saying we may need to rewrite our yogic anatomy books, based on this cutting edge research. I would theorize the vagus nerve wraps round the central channel, which is the artery, vena cava and esophagus. The vagus nerves are the two side channels, and where they form knots at the main organs are the physical sites of the chakras. The deep inner silence, love and sense of flow may actually be our vagus nerves doing its thing around our two largest blood channels.
Then why pranayama and kumbhaka work so well makes perfect sense, because we are creating intrathoracic pressure with diaphragmatic constriction causing the heart to pump harder while forcing the oxygenated blood to remain constricted to the regions of the vagus nerve. Then, when we release the hold we are forcing the vagus nerve to send the satisfaction signal as to sex, food and drink.
We might have to rule the spinal cord out, because we don't actually have feeling in the spinal cord. We actually do have feeling in the vagus nerve which is doing lots of vocal, cardio-pulminary and metabolic/gastro-intestinal work; thus, generating much heat and energy.
This is something worth looking into, because the point of yogic practice is to generate love and compassion which is coupled with a deep sense of satisfaction and well-being. The vagus nerve may account for all of this. (Except the brow chakra which, if the other chakras are nerves, then the brow chakra should also be a nerve, and the optic chasm looks like the best candidate. The crown chakra's reputation for being so powerful seems to point to the entire cranial nerve cluster of which there are twelve descending from the top of the brain).
Based on this knowledge we may be able to fine-tune our yogic practice to target the organs and the nerve knots in the vagus nerve to magnify the sense of well-being, compassion and empathy. But, and this might be a big BUT, the job of yoga is very clear, to promote the function of the compassion nerve which all schools agree is the goal of yoga. Then, the practice of hyper-innervating the nervous system with pleasure receptors would be different, like perhaps a recreation.
If yoga is just "touching a nerve" so to speak, then so be it. If it's true and it works, why not reduce all the mysticism into down to earth, even medical terms, and then down to the simplest nerve complex.
If Dr. Kelter is correct, then, we can do serious work to transform into an altruistic, empathetic and compassionate human species. We can zero in on the specific mechanisms that pacify anger and greed, and energize joy and love. |
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whippoorwill
USA
450 Posts |
Posted - Jun 07 2011 : 09:39:20 AM
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| Hi nodoubt! This is seriously cool. Thanks for sharing the article and your thoughts! |
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Medea
Netherlands
115 Posts |
Posted - Jun 09 2011 : 3:28:16 PM
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Hi nodoubt,
Interesting article! But here's another thing: the vagus nerve also misses the muladhara chakra. It doesn't go low enough to reach the area slightly above the perineum :) I have read in several books that there have been attempts in the past to identify the vagus nerve as the main conductor for kundalini energy, but some issues, as the one
I mentioned above, stay unresolved.
Nevertheless, this nerve seems to play a big role in meditation, pranayama and such. Lot's of yogi's agree with you on that issue. It is mentioned often in books about pranayama and meditation. But this nerve being sushumna? My gut says no :) |
Edited by - Medea on Jun 09 2011 3:44:11 PM |
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The Compassion Nerve
