What are the Granthis?
The Granthis are psycho emotional knots that are housed along the Shushumna Nadi and correlate with the seven main chakras along the central nerve channel.
The Shushumna Nadi translates to a hollow reed and is a channel that runs through the central axis of our body and is where energy either freely flows or is blocked from the accumulation of our life stories, attachments, rejections, fears, and conditioning.
Imagine the wheels of the chakras freely spinning when our inner life is balanced and harmonious. When we start operating from the unconscious faculties of our minds, misperceptions, and strong identifications with the ever-changing world, we clog the chakras with mud; and we get stuck in unnecessary suffering.
A granthi is a psycho emotional knot that is very difficult to untie. These knots are barriers to internal freedom as they lock us into our misperceptions and the confused knowledge we have about reality. They prevent the life force from freely flowing. These energy knots and physical blocks represent levels of awareness where the power of Maya (illusion), Avidya (ignorance), and attachment to the material world become especially strong.
How do I untie the granthis (knots)?
No amount of physical manipulation, body work, or massage will release the granthis (knots).
Rather a reintegration of our psychology and discerning insight will realign us to the interior world and release these strong knots. When we skillfully learn to use the faculties of our mind and body to serve the life within us, we begin to take charge of our inner landscape and start shaping our relationship with self, others, and the world around us, exactly as we want it.
We realize the things that we have the power to transform and change, and that which is beyond our control. The first step on the path to personal refinement is discriminating awareness — our ability to notice the difference between that which we have identified with and that which is beyond the layers of our personality.
All information is gathered through our senses and downloaded into our being as an impression. These impressions become the software from which we unconsciously operate. When we take personal responsibility for our knee jerk reactions and recognize how we function from unconscious patterns, reactions, and behaviors, we further recognize that we have the power to write conscious software and take charge of our internal life and energies.
Patanjali states that we must first bring the force of habit to the visible field of our consciousness, and then we can tease apart the cords that bind us and unravel our tendencies. The Art and Science of Yoga is the intentional calming and quieting of our self by being careful to not allow our cleverness to assist us in circumventing our issues. If we let avoidance win, the Granthi tighten and our knots get even more difficult to release and untie.
Where are the three granthis (knots) located and what differentiates them?
There are three main granthis in the body. Brahma Granthi is located in the region of the lower two chakras, Muladhara and Svadisthana Chakras. Vishnu Granthi is located in the region of the third and fourth chakras, Manipura and Anahatha, and Rudra Granthi is located in the region of the throat, third eye and Crown, Visshudha, Ajna and Sahasrara.
Brahma Granthi: The Knot of Connection
Brahma Granthi embodies the qualities of Brahma the Creator, the Manifestor. This granthi is housed in the Muladhara and Svadisthana region, correlating with the legs, pelvis, and low belly. This area represents our basic survival needs for food, water, shelter, as well as the most important survival need, the need for Love and Connection. When this area is in balance we feel as though we are part of the tribe, and that we are interconnected. When we feel stuck here, we have strong attachments to physical pleasures, material objects, and excessive selfishness.
Examples of circumstances that may have influenced this area would be situations in which we felt unsafe, emotional, physical or sexual abuse that has built walls of protection. In turn this can present as strong attachments to material things and our need to experience pleasure through unhealthy artifices.
To resolve this granthi we must let go of our defense mechanisms, practice gratitude, foster healthy relationships, and recognize that we can exercise freedom of choice between the pairs of opposites and the apparent pull that they have over us.
Work to untie the first granthi through this yoga flow on YogaToday!
Vishnu Granthi: the Knot of Self-Value
Vishnu Granthiis located in the region of Manipura and Anahatha Chakra, embodying the abdominal, chest, and shoulder area of the body. Vishnu is the god of sustenance, preservation, and maintenance. This area represents a life based on consensus awareness and how you value yourself. This area is about our will and power, the courage to take risks, and embrace challenges, as they are integral in becoming unfettered. The abdominal region is the area of the abdominal brain which produces 70 percent of serotonin in our body. This area is the gateway to our inner voice and our gut awareness. This is also the area of the spiritual heart where we are not only giving of love and compassion, but also open to receive love through the space between the shoulder blades.
The main obstacle here is compassion. Not only the possible lack of, but also the strong need to be overly compassionate to the point that we strip others of their own Kiki’s (crisis/opportunities). This limits people from the opportunity to meet their issues face to face and ultimately grow.
To release this granthi, we must explore the qualities of Vishnu and our own desire to preserve our attachments, aversions, and the walls of ego. We must surrender and let go of our love for power and rather cultivate the power of love.
As Rama Jyotir Vernon Says, "The secret of life is to treat everyone as though they have a broken heart." The untethered light within shines through the cracks around our hearts. With tolerance, patience, trust, and courage, we embrace our broken hearts and sit in the restlessness of our discomfort, only to lean more closely to the tender soft spot within. Our light slowly begins to shine through and widen the cracks in our hearts. If we allow life's betrayals, struggles, and challenges to close us off from life, our protection mechanisms will build walls of self-preservation today, to only build walls if self-imprisonment tomorrow.
Begin to unwind the second granthi on YogaToday!
Ridra Granthi: the Knot of Belief
The final granthi is Rudra Granthi. Rudra is the god of storms and an incarnation of Siva, the destroyer or the transformer. This granthi is housed between the Vishudha, Ajna and Sahasrarachakras — the area from the throat to the crown of the head and felt in the center of the brain, base of skull, neck, and throat. This area is linked to the master glands in the body that regulate our mood and the central nervous system. The main issues that arise here are our strong attachments to our prejudices, opinions, beliefs, thoughts, and everything that we think we know.
We get stuck in a rock logic point of view where the mind is rigid and fixed like a rock, and we fix ourselves and others into our strong points of view. Fear underlies this and creates fundamentalist ways of thinking which result in creating thinking such as you and them, and this or that. Your way is the way, their way is wrong way, and you have fixed conclusions about the way things are and the way things should be. This creates separation and conflict, and ultimately makes our lives smaller, less curious, and more rigid.
To untie this granthi we must tear down the constructs of our opinions, beliefs, bias’s, and begin to notice how they limit us.
We acknowledge that it takes a lot of discipline to develop the technology of practice, but the technology can confine our ability to experience the totality of yoga and more subtle experience. When we get stuck in one technology, one point of view, or one way, we can sorely miss the point of life and the teachings. Remembering that it is about the experience not the technology is key.
We endlessly release what we think we know and our addiction to our way of thinking. We identify with nothing and acknowledge that we do not know and there is always more to learn.We grow more curious andbecome constant seekers. Our ability to forgive, apologize, and take responsibility for our part in any given situation paves a path for release and healing to occur.
As Patanjali states, “Te pratiprasava heya sukshmah," translated as "subtle afflictions of the mind are to be minimized and eradicated by a process of involution, turning inward."
Unravel the third and final granthi with this yoga practice!
The Endless Journey of Releasing the Granthis (knots)
Remember as you peel back the layers of the self and as you discover parts of your being that have been filed away, that any apparent struggle is part of the process and is actually aright of passage to grow and discover something new about yourself.
No realized being awakened without struggle. Take for example Jesus, The Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, or Gandhi. They all weathered life circumstances that were extremely challenging. Life is not happening to us, life is happening for us; therefore, never give up and always let go. This journey is never-ending and takes a skillful balance between consistent effort and radical release.
There is no endpoint, there is no period, there is no destination, there is no perfection. Rather the process is an endless journey towards the discovery and remembrance of the untethered self, that which we have always known, but simply forgotten.
About the AuthorAdi Amar is a yoga teacher and yoga studio owner who embodies the wisdom of a lifetime of practice and study. She teaches Ashtanga, vinyasa, and Iyengar-style yoga classes in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and on YogaToday.
