Samana Vayu (Equalizing Wind)
Samāna Vāyu
समान वायु
Samāna means "equalizing" or "balancing." One of the five Vāyus (currents of life force), it is seated at the navel and governs digestion and assimilation — metabolizing not only food but breath, impression, and experience, and balancing the inward Prāṇa with the downward Apāna.
Samāna means "equalizing" or "balancing." One of the five Vāyus (currents of life force), it is seated at the navel and governs digestion and assimilation — metabolizing not only food but breath, impression, and experience, and balancing the inward Prāṇa with the downward Apāna.
In the classical five-Vāyu system, Samāna is the wind of the digestive fire, drawing energy toward the center and transforming what is taken in into usable vitality. With Udāna, it completes the five Vāyus alongside Prāṇa, Apāna, and Vyāna. — Praśna Upaniṣad.
Kindled through navel-centered practices such as Agni Sāra, Uḍḍīyāna Bandha, and Kapālabhāti. Awareness is drawn to the solar plexus, the breath gathering toward the center of the body. Instructors relate it to healthy digestion and the "metabolizing" of experience into wisdom.
Present Samāna as the principle of balance and assimilation, not force — the steady fire that integrates. Connect it to the Maṇipūra Chakra and the sense of centered vitality.