Shushumna (Hinduism)

Shushumna is the central energy channel in tantra and kundalini yoga which interconnects all chakras which each other. Physiological correspondence is the spinal nerve channel. The life-force at the base of the spine (kundalini) is drawn upwards by tantric ritual and kundalini yoga exercises, and merged with the supreme consciousness at the top of the head, resulting in samadhi. Psychic energy in this channel is the pervasive sustaining power of Self. Shushumna is analogous to the axis mundi, Jacobs's ladder, the stem of the tree of life in Kabbalah, the stem of the tree of the world in shaman drumming, the stem of the tree of Jesse, etc. Mastery of shushumna leads to integration of ida and pingala, a state in which there are neither days nor hours.