Third chakra

When we are busy trying to control ourselves, others, or our environment, we cannot experience joy.

Solar plexus

Yellow

Power, control, will

Heart chakra

"A heart that is ready for anything"

"Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are thousands of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." Rumi

Our hands are in service of our hearts. What we do in the world ideally reflects deep love in our hearts.

Color: green

Element: air

Poses: shoulder stretches, chest widening poses

When air element is grounded, we are creative, spontaneous, ready for anything.

When air element is not grounded, we are anxious, scattered, fearful, busy, etc.

Third chakra TED talk

This TED talk on Success talks a lot about third chakra issues.  I highly recommend it.

Check out this great Podcast: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510298

Root Chakra, cont

"If yoga is to make us more healthy it is because it coheres us more closely to our environment." Matthew Remski

Poses for the first chakra include:

those that stretch feet and legs: calf stretch with blanket, hero's pose, ankle circles, dancer, tree
those that are very low to the ground: locust, child's pose, reclining poses
forward bends of all kinds
squats

First chakra is related to the time we spend in the womb and to the first year of life.

- our relationship to our mother
- our survival instincts: warmth, comfort, food, the feeling of being welcomed into existence

"The child learns that a body well-fed, loved and cared for is pleasant to live in, as is the world around it."

"Trauma, abandonment, physical abuse, hardship, hunger, or physical difficulties damage the first chakra.  Our basic survival program is built on mistrust.  Pain and trauma teach us to override our body's needs, to ignore them, sublimate them.  Energetically, the child pulls his energy upward in his body, away from his roots."

quotes taken from The Sevenfold Journey, by Judith and Vega

Root Chakra

"Very little grows on jagged rock.  Be crumbled. Be ground.  So that wild flowers will grow up where you are."  Rumi

Chakras are spinning vortexes of energy that correspond to nerve plexuses in the physical body.  There are seven major chakras, starting at the base of the spine and travelling up the center of the body to the crown of the head.

Learning about the chakras offers us more tools with which to balance the body/mind.

The first chakra is called Muladhara and is located at the base of the spine.  Its corresponding color is red, and it is related to the element Earth.

Muladhara is related to the legs and feet.

Muladhara is related to our feeling of security, safety, rootedness, and being at home.  It is related to our family/tribe, and, especially, to our mother.

When the first chakra is balanced, we feel secure, safe, and at home in ourselves.

When the first chakra is out of balance, we feel insecure and fearful.

To make an altar for the root chakra, consider placing rocks, gems, sticks, pictures of family, potted plants, red candles, etc.  If concern over money is an issue, you could place a checkbook on your altar.

One of the ways to balance the first chakra is to feel your connection to the earth.  In asana practice, come back again and again to what is touching the ground.  Feel the security and rootedness that comes with being steady and connected to the earth.  Hold poses longer than usual, and focus on standing poses.  Poses which are low to the ground and spread out on the ground are also useful to connect with the energy of Earth.

In anxiety, our awareness moves up and out in the form of spiraling thoughts.  Find security and calm by bringing your awareness down to the earth.


"Our bodies know that they belong to life, to spirit. It is our minds that make our lives so homeless." John O'Donahue

Somatic Meditation

"The practice of somatic meditation, on the other hand, does bring us into a state of peace, but it is a profoundly somatic peace-- one that is inseparable from deep relaxation-- which permeates the body like a deeply satisfying, spreading, golden glow.  We feel the peace, not in a primarily mental way, but more in a fully physical way.  It is not our mind that is at peace, but rather our body that is deeply peaceful, relaxed, and at extraordinarily deep ease.  Shamatha, when practiced in a somatic way, can lead to a deep sense of inner well-being and even bliss."

Touching Enlightenment, by Reginald Ray, p. 178-79

"We are so busy managing our lives as to cover over this great mystery we're involved with.  What has happened to our wildness?"  -- John O'Donahue

Ocean class

"If you don't become the ocean, you will be seasick everyday."

Embodiment: rest your awareness on feelings deep inside and you will merge with the great ocean within you.

Water images, ocean images

Side bends, wave shapes, watery qualities in the practice

Backstroke, side angle, leaning tree, side bend over the bolster restorative