Vasuki – The Serpent of Stillness and Somatic Wisdom.

Picture credit: Lakshmi Ambady

There was a mighty blue ocean that I was enticed by.

What do I tell you about His sheer beauty and brilliance?

I jumped right in without discerning that I couldn’t swim.

I gleefully got abraded and crumbled under His ferocious waves.

But one day...

I plunged in deeper.

And befriended stillness.

In Hinduism, Vasuki is the serpent king who is always wrapped around the neck of Lord Shiva, and most famously, the snake who offered to be used as a rope in the” Samudra Manthan”—the churning of the ocean of milk by Gods and Demons to extract Amrita (the nectar of immortality). To me, Vasuki represents a snake that lies coiled inside all of us with the transformative potential to permute inner tension into stillness and somatic wisdom.

During the churning event, both the celestial (Devas) and hellish (asuras) beings desperately sought after the nectar of immortality hidden in the depths of the cosmic ocean. They first used Mount Mandara as the churning rod to churn the sea and sought a rope strong enough to pull the mountain back and forth. But then Vasuki volunteered to serve as the churning rope. The Devas held Vasuki's head, while the Asuras held his tail, and they began to churn the ocean. As the churning continued, Vasuki endured immense pain, and his body became strained and wounded. Despite the physical torment, Vasuki remained steadfast, fulfilling his role with great sacrifice. The churning eventually led to the emergence of various divine treasures, including the Amrita. After the churning, Vasuki settled himself around Shiva’s neck. Gleefully. Silently. Willingly. Lovingly.

This reading is my attempt to akin Vasuki to the exploration of the coiled intelligence of our autonomic nervous system—the primary conduit of our life force and somatic memory. Just like a serpent that coils and uncoils, our nervous system oscillates between constriction/congestion (fight/flight/freeze) and expansion (rest/digest/connect). And this happens many times in the days of our lives sometimes noticeably and even more, not so noticeably. And all our narratives, revolve around these stories that linger around and replay repeatedly in our minds and bodies. But for now, I will tell you a story about a serpent just like Vasuki that lives in your body.  A serpent of coiled wisdom. He wraps himself around your spine, breathes through your throat, and waits—sometimes silently, sometimes restlessly. He is your nervous system, your fascia and your somatic memory. He is, in fact the sacred serpent of held tension—and only through him, transformation begins. But first...

Let’s go back to the churning of the ocean.

The Gods and Demons, desperate for Amrita—the nectar of immortality—agree to churn the great ocean of milk. Mount Mandara is the churning stick. Vasuki is the rope. Pulled from both sides. Strained. Twisted. Stretched. In pain. Its unbearable. But he endures. The churning continues for years. It seems it will never end. But then something unanticipated happens. Something appears out of the ocean.

And what arises first? Not the nectar. But” Halahala”—a poison so deadly it threatens all creation. Lord Shiva steps in. He swallows the poison, holding it in his throat, not digesting it nor spitting it out. This is not just cosmic drama. This is deliberate action through simple awareness. Halahala does not pass through his system. It does not poison his heart. It most certainly does not burn through his belly. It simply rests in the sacred centre—his Vishuddhi chakra—and turns his neck blue. And here lies a metaphor for the somatic journey of healing because we all carry this story inside us. The ocean is your body. Vasuki is your fascia, your breath, your neural pathway- your somatic chord. The pulling is the river of itself—trauma, desire, resistance, memory, intelligence, relationships, experiences. The poison is what your body has held for years. Shiva is your witnessing awareness, holding it all without collapse. A symbol of integration without reactivity. A symbol we ignore. So then, what does the Vasuki inside you do? Does it want to be pulled and healed? Or stay coiled? The somatic path does not deny the poison—it contains it, witnessing it without swallowing or spitting it out.

To heal, you must churn. And to churn, you must feel.

In your body, Vasuki lives as fascia, wrapping itself around your every inch of your body. And like the serpent, fascia is long, fluid, sensitive, alive and capable of remembering. Every time you have swallowed your voice, every time you have feared to speak your truth, every time you have tightened your jaw, every time you held your breath to survive—that tension remained.  But the fascia doesn’t forget. It freezes. It fights back. And inside us, both the Gods and Demons perpetually grapple.

 As frozen energy, Vasuki tightens. The body goes still but the energy inside still churns. In healing, Vasuki begins to uncoil- in trembling, in breath, in humming, in making sounds the body could not, in gentle unwinding through the somatic wisdom of pure sensation. But on the other hand, …

When the churning is done, Vasuki is no longer being pulled. He rests around the neck of Shiva—symbolizing contained energy, power in repose, a nervous system regulated yet awake. He wraps himself around Shiva’s neck—not as a threat, but as an ornament. A sacred reminder that power, once integrated, does not need to be loud. The throat is where Vasuki rests-the Vishuddhi chakra, the seat of voice and truth. The narrow passage between silence and expression. When Vasuki is honoured, not feared, our voice returns. We no longer speak from pain, but from power.

Vasuki is not only the tension we carry but the wisdom in how we carry it. He is the rope that ties our past to our present, our unconscious to our conscious, our pain to our healing. Somatically, he reminds us- What constricts us also contains our medicine. Vasuki teaches us that what binds us can also awaken us.

Somatic Experiencing® is not about linear healing, straight lines or sudden freedom. It is about honouring the sacred serpent within—coiled, wise, patient, still and waiting for the day you stop fighting yourself with internally and begin to listen. What coils within you is not your enemy. It is memory waiting to discover itself. It is the morphic field that binds you, holding the rope for you. It is the nectar waiting to taste the river of your life.

Vasuki lives in you. And only through your body you can find him.

“If you bring forth that which is within you, then that which is within you will be your salvation. If you do not bring forth that which is within you, then that which is within you will destroy you.” ― Peter A. Levine, father of Somatic Experiencing®.