Pranic Channels in Tibetan Dream Yoga

As taught by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

There are three root channels.

Six major chakras are located on and in them.

From the six chakras, three hundred and sixty branch channels spread throughout the body.

The three root channels are, in women, the red channel on the right side of the body, the
white channel on the left, and the blue central channel.

In men, the right channel is white and the left channel is red.

The three root channels join about four inches below the navel.

The two side channels, which are the diameter of a pencil, rise up either side and in front of
the spine and through the brain, curl under the skull at the top of the head, and open at the
nostrils.

The central channel rises straight up between them, in front of the spine. It is the diameter of
a cane and widens slightly from the heart area to the crown of the head, where it ends.

The white channel (the right in men and the left in women) is the channel through which
energies of the negative emotions move. Sometimes the channel is known as the channel of
method.

The red channel (the left in men, the right in women) is the conduit for positive or wisdom
energies.

Therefore, in dream practice, men sleep on their right side and women on their left in order to
put pressure on the white channel and thus close it slightly while opening the red wisdom
channel. This contributes to better experiences of dream, involving a more positive emotional
experience and greater clarity.

The blue central channel is the channel of non-duality. It is in the central channel that the
energy of primordial awareness (rigpa) moves. Dream practice ultimately brings the
consciousness and the prana into the central channel, where it is beyond both negative and
positive experience. When this occurs, the practitioner realizes the unity of all apparent
dualities. Generally when people have mystical experiences, great experiences of bliss or
emptiness or clarity or rigpa, they are energetically based in the central channel.

BALANCING THE PRANA

This is a simple practice one can do to balance the prana:

Men should use the left ring finger to close the left nostril and exhale strongly from the right nostril.
Imagine that all stress and negative emotions flow out with the exhalation. Then close the right
nostril with the right ring finger and inhale deeply, very softly and gently, through the left nostril.
After inhaling let all the air, the prana, pervade your entire body while you hold the breath for a
short period. Then gently exhale and remain in a calm state.

Women reverse the order.

Begin by closing the right nostril with the right ring finger and exhale sharply from the left nostril,
emptying the lungs. Then close the left nostril with the left ring finger and gently and deeply inhale
through the right nostril, breathing in the calm wisdom prana. Remain with calm pervading your
body. Then gently exhale and remain in a calm state. Repeating this again and again will balance
one's energy. The rough emotional prana is exhaled from the white channel and the blissful wisdom
prana is inhaled through the red channel. Allow the neutral prana to pervade the entire body. Abide
in that calm.