The Subtle Body

Often when we think of the body, we consider just the flesh, blood, and bones that are its physical make up. But our physical body is alive, animated by energy. Aliveness is happening all over. It includes the feeling of the air of your skin, the sense of warmth in and through your muscles and veins, your body’s subtle aches, your digestion, your breath. It even includes your mood.

This vibratory sense of aliveness is called the “subtle body”. It’s called “subtle” not because it is esoteric, but because we’re not in the habit of paying attention to it, so it requires us to tune in, to become more sensitive.

As Lama Willa Blythe Baker says,

“the subtle body is the subjective experience of the nervous system when observed within a deep state of meditative attention. To develop sensitivity to your own nervous system, some kind of special openness is needed. You need to be ready to host your energy.”

The Subtle Body & Dreams

This subtle landscape of moving energy is the setting of our waking life and our dream life. It is the energy that gives rise to our experience of the 6 Realms.

We can think of the subtle body as the surface of the ocean - moving, undulating, reflecting - and our consciousness as the sailor in a boat. Moving between waking life and dream life is like moving from one harbour to the other, one ocean to the next, on the same roiling landscape.

Because this body of moving energy is the basis for both sleep and waking experience, the traditional practice of Dream Yoga gives us simple methods for soothing, smoothing, and clearing this energy before sleep. One such practice is the 9 Cleansing Breaths.

SUBTLE BODY ANATOMY

As we tune in closer and closer to the energy in the body that gives rise to our experience of emotions, cravings, and impulses, we begin to notice patterns. There are areas in the body where this energy naturally congregates - you might be familiar with common feelings like, “a lump in my throat”, “butterflies in my stomach”, “a tight chest”. The yogis who spent their lives specializing in the study of these patterns laid out a variety of anatomical maps that we can use as we explore our own inner experience.

The map of the subtle body and the practice of 9 Cleansing Breaths presented here are from the Dzogchen lineage of Bön yogic practice. They are a simple way of getting in touch with the feeling of emotional currents as they arise in the body.

The Central Channel

Visualize a blue central channel, like a hollow, transparent bamboo tube that begins in the pelvis and runs in front of the spine, up through the throat and opens at the crown.

The Side Channels

On either side of this channel run two, lateral channels about the width of a pencil. They begin at each nostril, wrap up toward the skull, then curve downwards, running parallel to the central channel. Below the navel, they meet the central channel and form a junction.

Variations:

In other traditions the channels are visualized with different colors. Just as different branches of Western science have their own systems of categorization and terminology, these are not in conflict with each other. If you’re used to another method, you’re welcome to continue with that. These visualizations are designed to support your direct experience of the subtlest aspects of your body and mind.

Most important is that you feel a sense of ease and clearing when you do the practice.