Mind Movement Channels – manowaha srotas
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The practitioner and historian, Manohara, paraphrased the commentary by Chakrapani on the classical text Charaka Chikitsa 9.5:

It is not so clear what the text means by “manovahasrotas”. It could mean the ten blood channels (dhamanis) arising from the heart, or the entire body as such. Elsewhere, he [Chakrapani] admits his inability to speak on such topics, probably because he did not practice Yoga (Charaka Vimana 5.8). Yet, in another place, he states that consciousness is all pervading, both inside and outside the body. Spirit (consciousness) is described not in terms of its presence, but only in terms of degrees of manifestation. In its purest aspect, it manifests in the heart when the mind is stilled. It manifests as intelligence through the mind in the head, and as awareness in different degrees in other parts of the body. (Manohara, personal communication, 10/3/00).

Ayurvedic practitioners believe that the mind is an important instrument in manifesting consciousness, while the heart (hridaya) is said to be the seat of consciousness and the ultimate recipient of vitiated doshas: “Thought, the origin of mind, is located in the heart” (Bhela Chikitsa l8.3, trans Manohara, private communication, 6/3/00).

The Chinese metaphor for the heart, the “Emperor of the kingdom”, is elucidated in the classical text, the Huang Di Neijing Suwen: “The heart is the monarch from whom the spirits are derived” (trans Lu, 1978, p 57). The Huang Di Neijing Lingshu Chapter 8, refers to the heart network channels as xin xi:

[Xin xi] is all the connections and networks of animation by which the heart is linked to the whole body, and especially used for the direct influence of the heart as the master on the very inner part of the vitality in the other zang [solid organ]. It is a kind of organisation of the mental, psychological and spiritual life (Larre and Rochat de la Vallee; 1995, p 131).

These classical Indian and Chinese images of the heart as a “house” and “ruler” of consciousness reflect a common view. The Ayurvedic idea of the “mind movement channels” (manowaha srotas) and the Chinese model of the “heart channels” (xin xi) recognise a life force, that of prana and qi respectively, which is believed to circulate and support life functions. The early texts of Ayurveda reflect the view that ten heart channels (dharmani) originate in the heart (Manohara, personal communication, 3/3/00). This idea is consistent with the Ma Wang Di manuscripts (186 BC), reportedly the oldest extant texts of Chinese medicine, in which it is said “the meridians all originate independently from the heart, instead of being an interconnected system for the circulation of qi” (Denmei, 1990, p 112). It is therefore assumed that the heart, prana circulation and the marman have an intimate relationship which resembles the Chinese idea of the heart, qi and jingluo (channel network) or the xin xi (heart channels). Certainly, the Indian concept of spirit (atma) is comparable to the Chinese idea of “divine spirit” (Shen) as “the guarantor of the unity of a person’s existence” (Larre and Rochat de la Vallee, 1995, p 174).