Nadi Yoga is the term used to describe the tools and processes cultivated and developed by Matt over the period of his 25 plus years of practice. Much more than just another style of yoga, Nadi Yoga is a method or process that is employed both within the framework of the traditional toolkit of yoga as well as throughout our daily life.
Patanjali, the composer of the classical Yoga Sutras, tells us that there are three major modes that our consciousness functions through in the day to day world. These are the objective, the instrumental, and the subjective. There is also a 4th state which is beyond the realm of mind. The objective mode is the world of name and form, where we spend most of our waking existence. The instrumental mode is the world of the sensory and action organs, as they express themselves in their purest form. The subjective mode is the pure mode of “I”.
The word nadi means river or “flow corridor”. There are said to be 72,000 nadis in the human body. Some say 720,000 nadis. Regardless, there are many ways for the corridors of consciousness energy to flow in the human. The nadis can be experienced through any of the above said three modes of expression: objective, instrumental, or subjective. If we focus on the name and form aspect, paying more attention to how these corridors are shaped and how they move we are most often in the objective mode. Nadi Yoga works mostly with the instrumental and subjective levels of awareness. At these levels we follow the internal guidance of our sensory and action organs back to the base level of sensation, which is rooted in our authentic self. This practice is accomplished through the traditional techniques of the hatha yoga mudras, powerful tools which align us with a very deep level of sensation.
Nadi Yoga follows the alignment of the teaching of the tantra, which accepts relative truth as equal to absolute truth. In this system we are not so much concerned with the flow in either direction but the balancing of inner and outer expression. With this as our “goal” we come to understand the central pillar as that force which both creates and destroys, that power within us that connects heaven and earth.
The Nadi Yoga utilizes many tools in addition to the classical mudras, such as powerful breath techniques and classical asana formats, done both in the style of tapasic held positions as well as dynamic moving forms. These tools help us to discover the pathways in our life’s expression that are blocked or stuck, helping us to free up bound energy and come into alignment with our authentic expression.