Ida Pingala Nadis

Left(Pingala) versus right(Ida)

Scientific study of the hemispheres of the brain by Sperry, Myers, Gazzaniga, Bogen
and later researchers, has shown us that the left side of the brain is usually concerned
with speech, logic, analysis, time and linear function, whereas the right side is silent,
dark, intuitive, feeling, spatial, holistic in function, and does not require linear, structured
analysis for its knowledge, though how it does know is a mystery. The right side of the
brain is the physical side of ida nadi, and the left brain, ofpingala. Thomas Hoover, a
researcher comparing Zen with the latest neurological discoveries, sums up the situation
when he states, ''The hemisphere that speaks does not know; the hemisphere that knows
does not speak."
A number of word opposites have been used to describe and help us understand the
new view of brain function. Though the situation is not so simple, and each hemisphere
must work in an integrated fashion, there is a definite trend to separate modes of function
:
Left Brain (Pingala) Right Brain (Ida)
analysis understanding
verbal spatial
temporal "here and now"
partial holistic
explicit implicit
argument experience
intellect intuition
logic emotion
thinking feeling
active passive
And we could also add light versus dark, conscious versus subconscious, talkative
versus silent, solar versus lunar, positive versus negative, mathematics versus poetry,
rational versus mystical, law versus art, objective versus subjective, digital versus analog,
and many other adjectives to aid our understanding.

Emotions in the split brain

Research by Marcel Kinsbourne, neurobiologist and neuropsychologist, director of
the Department of Behavioral Neurology at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center for
Mental Retardation in Waltham, Massachusetts, throws light on brain functioning which
points to the fact that the brain has two main modes of emotional activity. (1) He has
found that the two halves of the brain support different emotional states.
Research indicates that the left hemisphere governs happiness and positive feelings
and the right brain governs sadness and negative feelings. In the abnormal situation,
patients with right brain damage are often cheerful, elated and indifferent to their
abnormal state. Left brain damage, on the other hand, can lead to a gloomy outlook on
life and unjustified anger, guilt and despair. Most of us fluctuate from one state to another
even in the normal situation, though not to the extremes found in brain damaged subjects.
Still the experience of fluctuation can be distressing if we are not balanced and healthy.
The fact that the left brain is associated with bright, cheerful thoughts and the right
with sad and depressing thoughts, Kinsbourne theorizes, points to the conclusion that this
dual action of the brain is designed to handle our likes (pingala) and dislikes (ida). The
things we like are handled by the left brain, which focuses on and then approaches the
object or situation. This fits in with our active mode, the concept of the externally
directed pingala nadi. The things we dislike we try to avoid or withdraw from and we
tend to be much more concerned with the overall picture in this situation. This is handled
by the right brain and fits in with our receptive mode, introversion and ida nadi concept.