Hello Everybody. You have a good thread going here.
Amir,
Kundalini is quite a challenge to illuminate, so I appreciate and respect your enthusiasm here. What you say is partly accurate, but sounds somewhat mental or book-learned, which is ok, but leaves a lot of gray area in understanding. What I hope to do here is help clarify a couple points and not discourage you. I will be the first to admit words are completely inadequate here, including mine.
One can more accurately characterize prana as “ascending” force, and apana as “descending,” and they are both present in both ida and pingala, or ha and tha, and not designated to one or the other as you say here; the positive and negative charges thing also has no bearing to our understanding here and causes confusion (just throw that out).
The whole of yoga is concerned with the union of these forces, prana and apana, and holding them together in both an active state and state of rest: posture, breathing, movement.
[I]“The very nature of Kundalini energy is such, that it can only travel up the sushumna of the spinal cord.”
[/I]This is false. Prana and apana CAN and do come together elsewhere in the body, and can be made to move elsewhere other than in Sushumna, in the major nadis of the extremities. It’s a matter of semantics to say whether or not it’s actually kundalini in this case, or that kundalini is exclusive to sushumna, however the mechanics are the same and can cause “partial” awakening. It can however also be undesirable for this to happen because of the possibility of irreversible imbalance that may prohibit further union of ida and pingala (or ha and tha).
[I]"…there is a third energy which is created which we call “Kundalini” which starts rising up the sushumna, the central channel of the spinal cord, from the muladhara."[/I]
This is also false. There is not a “third energy,” rather there is a unification of two forces that were once alternating between ida an pingala, or ha and tha, that are now working as one. It’s not unlike a boat being pushed sideways through the water: first from one side and then the other. When prana and apana come together in sushumna, the boat sails on an even keel. But that’s only the beginning. (That’s the best I could do today.)
In any case, kundalini does not travel or come into sushumna by itself, by wishing or praying for it, but rather is made to do so, by you, with tremendous strength and control that you build through lengthy asana/pranayama practice, and some luck. It’s not some vague sensation or something you imagine, it’s something you do and have to keep doing. There are no “powers” that come with it, to predict anything or of any other kind, only a clearer understanding of the forces of nature and how they shape all things, including our senses and perceptions.
Keep up the good work. I have to go back to mine.
peace,
siva