Incorporating the Chakras into your Yoga Classes
Deeper Dimensions
Overview of the Chakras
Chakra_Chart – downloadable
(Apologies for the sound quality of the video.)
Chakras = Energy Centers
Many yoga poses focus on flow within a particular energy center. How many times have you heard “open your heart” or “root to rise” or “relax the space between your eyebrows”? These are references to the energy wheels in your body, also known as the chakras. If you know about the chakras, you can share this aspect of yoga with your fellow yogis and yoginis.
As you plan to bring chakra work to your teaching, understand that the line between ancient understanding of the chakras and 21st century practice around the chakras is neither direct nor unbroken. Much of what we in the West “know” about chakras comes not from the original tradition, but rather from a Euro-Americanized understanding of it, as explained by Sanskrit scholar and author Christopher Wallis, also known as Hareesh. Hareesh states, “The educated yogi should know that all associations of the chakras with psychological states is a modern Western innovation that started with Carl Jung.”
1577 to 1918 to Today
It’s important that you know, then, that what we’re talking about is not purely from millennia-long tradition, but rather from a westernized version of that tradition that has resulted from marrying a 1577 text written by Pūrṇānanda Yati, translated into English in 1918, and various 20th century philosophers’ and occultists’ takes on that translation. What follows in our discussions of the chakras may lead back only a hundred years rather than 5,000. Consider letting your students know this as you teach them.
Chakras = Wheels of Light
Chakra (with a hard “ch”) is an ancient sanskrit word meaning wheel. There are seven primary chakras, or energy vortices, that correspond with seven colors of the rainbow, seven notes of the scale, seven Christian sacraments, and even portions of the Jewish mystical Kabbalah. Author and medical intuitive Carolyn Myss, Ph.D., set out to find Truth, hypothesizing that one finds Truth (capital T) in all traditions because Truth emerges out of the essence of our human-ness, our source or divinity that is embedded and embodied in each of us. Much of the information on chakras here comes from her research in Anatomy of the Spirit.
Each chakra, or energy center, influences various organs and parts of the body. Most chakras represent a basic element, like earth, air, fire, or water. The chakras lie along the body’s vertical axis, from the base of the spine to just above the top of the head. The seven major chakras, their locations, associated elements, and bija mantras (seed sounds) are:
For purposes of correct pronunciation:
Ease & Flow in the Energetic Body
It is believed that dis-ease in the physical body first appears in the energetic body (which surrounds the physical body) and can be treated there before the body shows symptoms. Physical and emotional healing can be aided by promoting the flow of energy within and between the seven chakras. Energy blockages create areas of imbalance, with either too much or too little flow resulting, the way a boulder can alter the course of a stream.
What blocks the flow of energy? Contraction and fear.
What promotes the flow of energy? Expansion. Love. Joy. Peace. Harmony. Movement.
In other words, YOGA.
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Bonus video overview: Avatar is faced with challenges of clearing his seven chakras.
1st Chakra | Root | Safety & Security Come From the Tribe
1st_Chakra_Chart– downloadable
1st_Chakra_Theming_Chart– downloadable
(Apologies for the sound quality of the video.)
The Mūlādhāra Chakra
In Sanskrit, mula = root and adhara = basis. So the Mūlādhāra Chakra, at the base of our pelvic floor, is the energy center of our root and basis of existence. Going back to the dawn of human presence on the earth, we have always been tribal beings who are wired for connection to other members of our tribe. Safety and security — our most basic needs — come from being part of a community.
Do any of these statements resonate? *
- I often feel nervous and insecure.
- I wish I had more of an ability to stand up for myself.
- Sometimes I have irrational fears for my safety.
- I seem to have a very strong — maybe even stifling — need for stability or security.
- My physical ailments include chronic lower back pain, varicose veins, leg or foot pain, lower digestive issues.
* This article is not intended to offer advice regarding physical or mental/emotional health issues. Please consult a licensed professional for medical/therapeutic advice.
Tribal Lines
The Root Chakra is where we hold tribal issues. We pick up our tribal thought patterns by osmosis — we assimilate societal ideas as unconsciously as we breathe air. These beliefs are questioned only as we begin to live more mindfully and consciously, choosing thoughts and beliefs that serve us and discarding the ones that don’t.
Tribal messages do serve us — or at least they did at one time. We need to know certain things to live in the harsh world of separation, where strangers bring harm and our ways are best (phrasing?). Think Cro-Magnon man. Think tribes in the Bible. Think Native Americans and Europeans. Think Palestinians and Jews, Tutsis and Hutus, Croats-Serbs-Bosnians, Sunnis and Shiites.
Republicans and Democrats.
Here are a couple of messages I picked up from my tribe. Do you carry any of these beliefs?
- You should save for a rainy day.
- Family is everything.
- Too bad we have to age.
- To be a teenager is to be rebellious.
- You can never be too rich or too thin.
- If you can’t have children, what’s the point of living?
- I would die if he/she ever left me.
- Justice is the cornerstone of society.
We can occasionally reassess the beliefs we picked up from our tribe, each time with intentionality and discernment. We can examine:
Are these beliefs absolutely true, or just tribally true?
And do they serve me now?
Once I started becoming aware of beliefs that had begun to feel constricting and dysfunctional, I realized it might be quite freeing to release some of them. Maybe I already am rich enough and thin enough. Maybe I could choose not to dread my children’s teenage years. I now believe that compassion is equally important as justice, that life has value beyond the ability and desire to procreate. And since the only alternative to age is death, maybe I’d be better served to embrace age, wrinkles, spider veins, and all.
Release Beliefs that No Longer Serve
I am a grown-up now. I wish to live in connection and harmony. Once I become aware of my inherited beliefs, I can choose which ones to hold and honor and which ones to release. I am thankful to my tribe for guiding me as I learn to survive on my own, but I no longer need it to control me.
Here are some more characteristics of the Root Chakra. Much of the information below comes from the research of Carolyn Myss, PhD, in her book Anatomy of the Spirit.
Theming a Root Chakra Class
It’s easy to theme your class around the Root Chakra. When would you want to do so? Whenever you are inspired to offer awareness around tribal issues, around scarcity, around Us/Them thinking. If someone is dealing with being cast out or being shunned, if someone no longer feels they fit in any longer with their community. When people are breaking free of conventions and finding their own authenticity with respect to the tribe.
Here are some ideas for poses, music, scents, and mudras that would complement a Root Chakra-themed class. Of course, the possibilities are endless, but here are some starter ideas.
Note: To find instructions on how to do a particular mudra — hand gesture — please do a simple internet search.
Abraham Maslow’s Take on Basic Needs
Lest you think the ancient construct of the Root Chakra has little relevance to our modern world, the same idea occurred to Abraham Maslow in 1943 when he made First Chakra issues foundational in his hierarchy of needs. In other words, our needs for safety and security must be met before we can attend to higher-level needs like self-esteem (which would be Third Chakra work).
Next: We’ll continue our tour up the spinal channel with a look at the Sacral Chakra, our second sto
2nd Chakra | Sacral Plexus | Creativity, Emotions, Sex
2nd_Chakra_Chart– downloadable
2nd_Chakra_Theming_Chart– downloadable
(Apologies for the sound quality of the video.)
The Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra
In Sanskrit, swa = one’s own (or self) and adhisthana = abode or seat. In other words, here is where we establish ourselves so we can also build connection and relationships with others. The Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra, just below the navel, is the energy center of our sacral area, the seat of our creativity, our power, our ability to support ourselves (money), our emotional body. It’s element is water, which means we aim for flow, keeping the emotions in motion.
Do you struggle with any of these issues? *
- Blame and guilt
- Money and sex
- Power and control
- Creativity
- Ethics and honor in relationships
- Chronic lower back pain
- Dysfunction of the reproductive organs
* This article is not intended to offer advice regarding physical or mental/emotional health issues. Please consult a licensed professional for medical/therapeutic advice.
Soul to Soul
We come into the world with an energetic need to connect, at a soul level, with others. People who come into our lives reflect us to ourselves, and help us find Truth. All is one and honor one another are two such Truths.
Whereas the first chakra is rooted in oneness (the groupmind of the Tribe), the second chakra brings out duality and opposites. From duality and differentiation, we make choices. We create.
One such duality is the feminine/masculine. When we consider such energies, we are not talking about gender, but rather the interplay between two opposing and interdependent energies. Be careful not to interpret “male and female” when you read “masculine and feminine.” These energies flow through all of us at all times with varying intensities.
Choice, Creativity, Control
In this seat of creativity is choice. Every time we make a choice, we are creating our reality. Ultimately, it’s not just the choices we make that matter, but how we make them. For when we choose from fear, there is nothing but our own ego to support our choice. However, when we choose from love, we receive the full support of the Universe. To do so requires the proverbial leap of faith.
The Sacral Chakra is about power and control, and how we eventually come to the conclusion that we can’t wholly control the physical world. What we can aspire to wholly control are our inner responses to the external world. Through our lives, we tend to look for the external “it” that will bring order to our chaos.
I’ll Be Happy Whens
I call this my “I’ll be happy whens.” I’ll be happy when I get the degree; find the dream job; meet my soulmate; have a baby; complete my family; make a little more money.
But when my happiness is pegged to something outside me, there is always another externality to take its place. In the meantime I am not happy — I’m merely looking toward happiness in the future.
Removing Dams in the Rivers of Energy
Blocked energy in the second chakra can manifest as impotence, infertility, endometriosis, depression. But when energy is free to flow through our Sacral Chakra, we are more able to continually renew our lives. Flowing and creative energy frees us from habits and ruts. Such flow manifests when we create music, poetry, visual art, dance, artwork of any medium, and any other manner of self-expression.
On the other hand, gossip, manipulation, and meanness — expressions that come from fear — are also ways to use creative energy, but with a net drain from the Sacral Chakra.
Give some thought to what you create — consciously or not — with your words and thoughts and actions. Are you choosing wisely? Are you choosing consciously? Are you making choices from fear or from love?
Here are some characteristics of the Sacral Chakra. Much of the information below comes from the research of Carolyn Myss, PhD, in her book Anatomy of the Spirit.
Theming a Sacral Chakra Class
It’s easy to theme your class around the Sacral Chakra. When would you want to do so? Whenever you notice an imbalance within or around you between the masculine (doing) and the feminine (being). When emotions are high and need to keep moving freely. When there is a sense of creative “stuckness” that needs to be undammed to flow again.
Here are some ideas for poses, music, scents, mudras, and breath work that would complement a Sacral Chakra-themed class. Of course, the possibilities are endless, but here are some starters.
Note: To find instructions on how to do a particular mudra (hand gesture) or pranayama (breath) practice — please do a simple internet search.
The Sacral Chakra represents choice and duality, symbolized as “2.” Below it is the root chakra, representing the group, conceptualized as “many”, and above it is the solar plexus chakra, representing the individual, symbolized by “1.”
Next? We’ll move up toward the belly, continuing our tour up the spinal channel with a look at the Solar Plexus Chakra, our third stop.
3rd Chakra | Solar Plexus | The Fire Within
(Apologies for the sound quality of the video.)
The Maṇipūra Chakra
In Sanskrit, maṇi = jewel and pūra = abundance. Some translations call this chakra the “resplendent gem.”
The Solar Plexus Chakra is where we discover our true Self, the inner treasure we begin to recognize and operate from. Just above the navel at the solar plexus, this chakra is the seat of our power, the fire in the belly, and the gut sense we attune to.
The element of the Solar Plexus Chakra is fire. Here is our center for developing a strong sense of self (who we are as an individual) so we can also connect with our Self (our timeless and formless eternal beingness).
Adulting
I was once told that being grown up (which is the life transition of this chakra) means seeing the world as it is, not how you think it should be or wish it were.
The clearer I can be in my Solar Plexus Chakra — meaning the more I continually dissolve energy blocks that result from fear and dishonesty — the clearer and louder is my inner knowing. I can tune in to my built-in guidance system that clues me in to people, situations, and decisions.
The muddier I am and the less mindfully I react to people and situations around me, the more difficult it is to feel the guidance in my gut. I am then living in the grip of fear, and that makes everything icky. When I live in fear, I feel powerless. I must then pause to call back my power from all the people and situations I’ve given my power to over the years.
In the past I have violated this guidance in ways that weren’t good for me, preferring to stay in a job or relationship long after an expiration date. With each, I was eventually able to put into practice my favorite phrase: “leap and the net will appear.” It never seems easy to take that leap — it’s flipping scary to leap without a net! But once I align my gut feeling and my actions, the Universe never fails to align in support. Why? Because I’m aligning to the whole freakin’ Universe!
Questions to ponder regarding the Solar Plexus chakra: *
- Do you like yourself?
- Are you honest?
- Do you act with integrity among your thoughts, words, and deeds?
- Are you critical of yourself and others?
- Do you tend to avoid taking responsibility? Do you tend to place blame as a way of protecting yourself?
- Do you tend to over-control or do you take on more than your share of responsibility for others? Have you wondered if you might be co-dependent?
- Do you often suffer from digestion and/or metabolism issues?
* This article is not intended to offer advice regarding physical or mental/emotional health issues. Please consult a licensed professional for medical/therapeutic advice.
In Anatomy of the Spirit, Dr. Caroline Myss talks about the true nature of our physical bodies. “From a spiritual perspective, any and all physical assets and limitations are illusory. Yet a person’s acceptance of or resistance to them is critical to entering spiritual adulthood.”
Then Dr. Myss reflects on the Third Chakra challenges of a person in a wheelchair , with the example applicable to any limiting condition: “The fact that the physical world is an illusion does not mean that the wheelchair does not exist or that her physical problem is not real. Rather, it means that nothing in the physical world can contain or limit the power of the human spirit.”
As I go forward each day, my intentions are to honor myself and to listen to my inner knowing, to integrate my thoughts, words and deeds. To keep my personal power intact and to not give it away to anyone or anything outside me. I invite you to do the same.
Here are some characteristics of the Solar Plexus Chakra. Much of the information below comes from the research of Carolyn Myss, PhD, in her book Anatomy of the Spirit.
Theming a Solar Plexus Chakra Class
It’s easy to theme your class around the Solar Plexus Chakra. When would you want to do so? Whenever you’d like to address issues of the ego, of being either too much or too little. Perhaps at times of feasting, when we need a little fire in the belly to promote metabolism and digestion. Perhaps when embarking on a journey that requires bravery and a strong sense of self.
Here are some ideas for poses, music, scents, mudras, and breath work that would complement a Solar Plexus Chakra-themed class. Of course, the possibilities are endless, but here are some starter ideas.
* See https://bit.ly/RTR-sunflowers for video demo.
Note: To find instructions on how to do a particular mudra (hand gesture) or pranayama (breath) practice — please do a simple internet search.
Next: We’ll continue our tour up the spinal channel by tuning in to the Heart Chakra, our fourth stop.
4th Chakra | Heart | Abundant, Radiating, Unconditional Love
(Apologies for the sound quality of the video.)
The Anāhata Chakra
In Sanskrit anāhata means unstruck, or “sound produced without touching two parts.” Anāhata connotes both purity and compassion, along with a sense of infiniteness or unboundedness. These are qualities we can mindfully — heartfully — access as our natural state.
The Heart Chakra is located at the center of the chest. It is considered a bridge between the three lower chakras (in the more physical realm) and the three upper chakras (in the increasingly metaphysical realm). As yoga teacher Kristen Schneck points out, the Heart Chakra is the only chakra with a horizontal plane: our arms. In fact, we get the word “embrace” from the Latin bracchium for “arm.”
An embrace is one way we show love and compassion.
The element of the Heart Chakra is air. Here is our center for increasing our capacity for self love — accepting without judgment both our shiny and our shadowy parts — so we can own and embrace our timeless, formless eternal beingness.
Unconditional Love Starts with the Self
The Heart Chakra is the home of unconditional love. When balanced, we feel contentment, connection, peace, love, joy, harmony. Imbalance can be both the cause and effect of an inability to forgive, and of holding on to resentments and dysfunctional patterns.
Questions to ponder regarding the Heart Chakra: *
- What emotional memories do you still need to heal?
- What relationships need healing?
- What fears do you have about being emotionally healthy?
- Whom do you need to forgive, and what prevents you from releasing the pain you associate with these individuals or entities?
* This article is not intended to offer advice regarding physical or mental/emotional health issues. Please consult a licensed professional for medical/therapeutic advice.
Connecting through Wounds
Caroline Myss, PhD, discusses in her book, Why People Don’t Heal and How They Can, the concept of “leading with your wounds.” This is when we use our hurt places to connect with each other — hurt places to hurt places, really.
Have you ever noticed a person introducing him/herself with TMI — too much information? “Hi, I’m Jane. My ex is a narcissist, and I had an abusive father.” Maybe you know people who tend to lead with their wounds, perhaps because that’s the best way they know to make a connection. They can seem stuck in their patterns because their sense of identity has been built around their wounds. As long as they are benefiting from their wounds (such as by achieving connection, healthy or otherwise), they are less likely to fully heal from them.
I am saying “they” but really I mean “I.”
It is easy to see this phenomenon in others, but notice as well if you carry such a pattern. Dr. Myss notes that when we benefit from our wounds, we hang onto them fiercely, even as they destroy us. This leads us into a victim mentality.
My Story: Weak Lungs = Needs Met
Here’s a personal example. I grew up with severe asthma. I learned at an early age, on an unconscious level, that this condition got me things and got me out of things. It got me attention and special handling. It got me out of vacuuming at home and out of doing the 600 yard dash in gym class. While it also brought me allergy tests and shots and hospital visits, asthma became part of my identity. After 20 years of being asthmatic, I did not know how to be otherwise.
At the end of a year in Japan during my late twenties, I returned to the U.S. with a case of pneumonia that didn’t clear up. Follow up care revealed places in my right lung that were damaged by an allergic reaction to mold. I was back in the dry climate of Colorado, but my body’s reaction to mold persisted. It was time to deal with this illness on a more conscious level.
Enter Ethel Greene, a modern-day mystic. As the Buddha said, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I was desperate for healing and open to learning a new way to think about my health, and Ethel crossed my path as a co-worker at the same time I was open to noticing my lifelong thought patterns and changing them. She helped me begin to see the connection between victim patterns and my ongoing illness.
With awareness, I began to release my need to cling to “my” asthma. I became aware of times when lung problems worked FOR me. Like when I was dismissed from duties (Your sisters will rake the leaves. We don’t want you to wheeze.). Or when I got attention (Boyfriend, I need you! I can’t breathe you must give me some TLC!). I began to see that there were healthier ways that I could get my emotional needs met, if I were to simply be conscious of what I was really after.
(I am not saying that I was faking symptoms to get attention. Asthma like so many other maladies, is a real medical condition. I believe such real medical conditions can also be treated, or at least addressed, energetically and consciously.)
This healing did not happen in an instant, it was not easy, and decades later it is still an ongoing process. Healing consciously means releasing victim patterns I had carried my entire life. It means parting with a segment of my identity. It means being honest with myself from moment to moment. It means giving up the perks that come with my wounds. It means change, and change takes time.
Creating Space to Aid in Transformation
Here are some characteristics of the Heart Chakra. Much of the information below comes from the research of Carolyn Myss, PhD, in her book Anatomy of the Spirit.
Theming a Heart Chakra Class
It’s easy to theme your class around the Heart Chakra. When would you want to do so? Whenever you wish to focus on opening hearts or transforming suffering. You may wish to open the 4th Chakra in times of pervasive fear, from big-news events such as a pandemic or a terrorist attack or another type of tragedy. A Heart Chakra class may be called for in times when you sense division, resentment, or an inability to forgive by a person or people in your community.
In short, heart-opening can make way for healing.
Here are some ideas for poses, music, scents, mudras, and breath work that would complement a Heart Chakra-themed class. Of course, the possibilities are endless, but here are some starter ideas.
Note: To find instructions on how to do a particular mudra (hand gesture) or pranayama (breath) practice — please do a simple internet search.
Tonglen: A Tibetan Practice to Transform Suffering
The practice of tonglen takes place via the Heart Chakra. Tonglen is a Tibetan way of using the breath to willingly take in the energy of suffering, to transform it in one’s heart, and to send out the energy of love (see the Human Condition Theme of Tragedy). (note: should we link this, Sheri &Tami)?
Pema Chodron, an American Tibetan Buddhist nun in the Shambhala Buddhism tradition, wrote a book called Tonglen. “By embracing, rather than rejecting, the unwanted and painful aspects of experience, we overcome fear and develop greater empathy for others.”
Don Miguel Ruiz speaks of the aspirations of the heart chakra when he says in The Four Agreements, “You must forgive those who hurt you, even if whatever they did to you is unforgivable in your mind. You will forgive them not because they deserve to be forgiven, but because you don’t want to suffer and hurt yourself every time you remember what they did to you.”
I have found tonglen to be a powerful practice in times where people want to “do something” to help the wounded, the grieving, those plunged into unimaginable pain. The next time you think “Go Fund Me” for a struggling person, you might also think to pair donations with tonglen. Here is how I practiced tonglen in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook tragedy.
Next: Making sound, hearing sound. We’ll continue our tour up the spinal channel by tuning in to the Throat Chakra, our fifth stop.
5th Chakra | Throat | Purity of Voice & Alignment of Will
5th_Chakra_Chart– downloadable
5th Chakra Theming Chart-downloadable
(Apologies for the sound quality of the video.)
The Viśuddha Chakra
In Sanskrit viśuddha (alternatively viśuddhi, both starting with “vish”) comprises shuddha for “pure” and vi as an amplifier. Hence, here we are talking (ahem!) about the quality of being especially pure. The 5th Chakra is a center of will, expression, and control.
It is not difficult to guess that the Throat Chakra is in your neck, located midway between the notch in your collarbone on the front and your spinal bump on the back, a bit behind your Adam’s apple. It includes areas of both speaking and of listening.
The element of the Throat Chakra is ether, or space. The focus is on self-expression and aligning our will with that of the Divine. Here is a where we can address addictions of all sorts, because in addition to being a place of expression, this chakra is also a seat of will.
Possible Signs of Throat Chakra Imbalance
Take an inventory. Do any of these physical and emotional characteristics apply to you at this time? *
- Chronic sore throat
- Laryngitis or pharyngitis
- Frequent need to clear one’s throat
- TMJ, or TemporoMandibular joint disorders
- Thyroid issues
- Judgmental or critical nature
- Propensity to gossip
- Frustration with or fear of expressing yourself
- Stubbornness
Attending to and balancing the Throat Chakra may begin to dislodge patterns that no longer serve us well.
* This article is not intended to offer advice regarding physical or mental/emotional health issues. Please consult a licensed professional for medical/therapeutic advice.
Below are some characteristics of the Throat Chakra. Much of the information below comes from the research of Carolyn Myss, PhD, in her book Anatomy of the Spirit.
Sheri’s Story: Finding Her Voice
As a mom with three boys under age 5, our co-founder Sheri felt she couldn’t afford to listen to that small and insistent voice that said her marriage was not healthy and she needed to make a change. How could she break her til-death-do-us-part wedding vows? How could she possibly support her family on her own? How could she cause such an upheaval for everyone?
“At the peak of my indecision I caught a cold and lost my voice,” says Sheri. “I literally could not talk. Not only was this symbolic of what was happening in my marriage, but when I looked up the symptom in Louise Hay’s book, You Can Heal Your Life, I discovered that when you cannot physically talk, it can indicate you are not speaking your truth.”
Sheri continues: “As I started to gain clarity, my voice came back. I found the courage I needed to speak my truth. Finally, I was able to speak these life-changing words to my husband:
We need to be separated. You need to move out.
“As scary as it was to utter these words, I also found them truthful and freeing and I was flooded with relief. I had opened my 5th Chakra, literally found my voice, and did one of the hardest things I had ever done.”
Sheri listened to her Truth and then she spoke her Truth. In doing so, she lost her marriage and gained herSelf. Ultimately her boys (now grown men) benefitted as well, and those around Sheri marveled at the wisdom and courage of listening to one’s inner voice.
Aligning Our Will
Such stories of finding one’s voice resonate with so many people because it’s part of our growth and evolution as humans — to integrate and align our thoughts (6th chakra, our connection to the Divine), our words (5th chakra, how we express ourselves) and our deeds (1st chakra, how we move through the world) along the central channel of our chakras. As people develop a yoga practice, which supports all of this alignment, they begin to hear to their inner voice, to speak their truth and shed habits that no longer serves them.
It may be quiet or silent for a while, but once the Viśuddha Chakra is activated and balanced, changes can be amazing and powerful. Life can feel more purposeful and more guided, less haphazard.
Purpose is Revealed through Listening & Aligning
If you’ve ever wondered about your purpose, or mourned that your life hasn’t turned out the way you envisioned it, Dr. Carolyn Myss has some wise words:
[Questions about one’s purpose] set the stage for aligning our will to the Divine plan — the most profound choice we can make.
That one choice, made in faith and trust, allows Divine authority to enter our lives and reorder our struggles into successes and our wounds into strengths. While we may or may not consciously desire to surrender our personal will to Divine authority, we are sure to encounter numerous opportunities to do so. An incentive to make that choice lied in the life stories — and life struggle — of people who experienced nothing but pain and failure until they said to God, “You take over.” Extraordinary acts of synchronicity then filled their lives, and new relationships their hearts. I have yet to meet the person who ever regretted saying to the Divine, “All yours.”
From Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing, Three Rivers Press, 1996, p. 86.
Theming a Throat Chakra Class
It’s easy to theme your class around the Throat Chakra. When would you want to do so? Whenever you wish to focus on purpose or on aligning thoughts, words, and actions. When working with those who feel blocked regarding self-expression, either through voice, words, images, or other creative endeavors. When you sense people suffering from addiction to any substance or overdone activity or maladaptive way of thinking. When you may observe that people are not speaking clearly or listening well. Such blockages might indicate the usefulness of a class themed around the Viśuddha Chakra.
Focus on the Throat Chakra can promote alignment with the Divine and within each of us, and help dissolve blockages. With that, you can help lead your students toward a greater sense of purpose, ease, and clarity.
Here are some ideas for poses, music, scents, mudras, and breath work to complement a Throat Chakra-themed class. Of course, the possibilities are endless, but here are some starter ideas.
Note: To find instructions on how to do a particular mudra (hand gesture) or pranayama (breath) practice — please do a simple internet search.
Next: Our inner knowing. We’ll continue our tour up the spinal channel by tuning in to the Third Eye Chakra, our sixth stop.
6th Chakra | Third Eye | Intuition & Clairvoyance
(Apologies for the sound quality of the video.)
The Ājñā Chakra
In Sanskrit Ājñā means to perceive or to command, as well as “beyond wisdom.” Also known as the “guru chakra,” the Third Eye Chakra is the home of intuition, insight, wisdom, clairvoyance, truth, imagination, and the ability to visualize in one’s mind’s eye. This energy wheel influences the brain and nervous system, the eyes, ears, nose, and the pineal and pituitary glands. It spans and joins the two hemispheres of the brain and is involved in transcending a dualistic mindset.
More than just clairvoyance (seeing), the Third Eye chakra is where we can develop clairaudience (hearing) and/or clairsentience (knowing). As we align our will with that of the Divine (5th Chakra mission), here we ever more deeply see/hear/know the Divine. We are able to intuit with increasing clarity and certainty how to navigate our lives in both the small and the big issues, for we are seeing with the mind of God.
Possible Signs of Third Eye Chakra Imbalance
Do any of these apply? *
- I fill my time with busy-ness and prefer it to stillness.
- I am known for withdrawing too much.
- I have beliefs that no longer work for me and I’d like to let go of them, but I don’t know how.
- I don’t really rely on my intuition. If I even have any.
- I often feel aimless, purposeless.
- I am afraid of change.
* This article is not intended to offer advice regarding physical or mental/emotional health issues. Please consult a licensed professional for medical/therapeutic advice.
Below are some characteristics of the Third Eye Chakra. Much of the information below comes from the research of Carolyn Myss, PhD, in her book Anatomy of the Spirit.
Ways I Trust My Intuition in Small Things & Big Things (or not)
I exercise clairsentience in small things: which route to take home, the timing to pitch an article idea to an editor, or where I left my car keys.
This inner knowing has also been there for me in the bigger things, as well. Once, I heeded the voice when it told me to accompany a friend to a comedy improvisation show in which he was a cast member. That night I was captivated by another cast member, a blue-eyed, intelligently humored performer, whom I asked to meet and who now is called Dad by my children.
I followed this guidance in choosing our adoption agency, the necessary route to our two children.
But much of the time I don’t stop and listen. I don’t always notice my inner vision, and I don’t always make room for that knowing.
Why? It takes time. It takes space, and it takes stillness. DOing is easy, but BEing, for me, is more difficult. But it’s during the BEing that I am most receptive to the Divine mind.
Activating & Balancing the Ājñā Chakra
Here are a few ways to clear, activate, and balance the Third Eye Chakra.
- Meditate. Even 5 minutes is beneficial. (See Chapter 3: Connection for information on how to meditate). (Sheri, these 3 parts need to be linked when we have something to link to).
- Practice yoga (duh!).
- The more you follow your guidance, the more you’ll get guidance. So begin following it in the small things (whether to go straight or turn right on your path home), then the bigger things (what to do about your career or your “quest,” whatever that may be). (See Chapter 3: Ring of Truth exercise)
- Do a regular practice of freewrite journaling — even if it’s just for a week at a time when you want insight.
- Walk a labyrinth.
- Just before going to sleep, focus on the internal space between your eyes. Observe what images appear, what thoughts arise.
- Ask the Divine to give you guidance. Simply asking opens the channel.
- Whatever your problems are, depersonalize them. In other words, see them as opportunities for you to become whole rather than as punishment, karma, injustice, justice, or bad luck.
- Gaze at the stars once in awhile.
- With intention (I intend to clear my third eye), grab at the space in front of your forehead as if you were clearing a cobweb. Maybe, metaphorically, you are.
You’ll find more in using your intuition in your classes in Chapter 3, Connection.
Theming a Third Eye Chakra Class
It’s easy to theme your class around the Third Eye Chakra. When would you want to do so? Whenever you wish to focus on purpose, clarity, and the ability to turn inward and know. If you feel your community stuck in duality, you may wish to give some attention to the 6th Chakra. If someone is feeling forsaken by God/the Universe, or adrift in their life, they may benefit from attending to the Third Eye Chakra.
Here are some ideas for poses, music, scents, mudras, and breath work that would complement a Third Eye Chakra-themed class. Of course, the possibilities are endless, but here are some starter ideas.
Note: To find instructions on how to do a particular mudra (hand gesture) or pranayama (breath) practice — please do a simple internet search.
1 Judith, Anodea. Chakra Balancing. Sounds True, 2006. p74
Next: Topping things off, we’ll head for our seventh stop along the spinal channel by tuning in to the Crown Chakra, our last stop of the tour.
7th Chakra | Crown | Connection to the Divine
7th_Chakra_Chart-downloadable
7th_Chakra_Theming_Chart-downloadable
(Apologies for the sound quality of the video.)
The Sahasrāra Chakra
In Sanskrit, sahasrāra means thousand-petaled, specifically a lotus with 20 layers of 50 petals each. “Thousand” is not literal, however. Here its meaning is more like infinite. Representing oneness, this chakra offers all colors and vibrations, as it symbolizes the culmination of all, indivisible. Still, colors that have become associated with this chakra include purple and pure white.
Purpose and Mission
The Crown Chakra, located a few inches above the crown of the head, represents our connection with the divine and with our own divinity. Questions of purpose and mission arise and may be resolved within this connection.
If you’ve experienced thoughts like these, you may be ready to deal with issues of the Crown Chakra.
- I just can’t see that there’s a larger pattern than what I see.
- I want answers, but I am afraid of them.
- I want to know the will of the Divine and live by it, but I am afraid it might require me to make changes I’m not ready to make.
I Can See Your Halo
In paintings and other works of art, a Crown Chakra is often evident as a halo or an aura. This signifies human transcendence, of self-realization, of Unity.
Unity exists beyond the realm of duality. The masculine and the feminine are united as one. The physical and the spiritual are united as one. All opposites are conjoined. And in oneness, there is no difference between you and not-you.
This concept is symbolized by the Tao — two opposites joined as one, each with their antithesis embedded in its deepest part.
When we give our attention to this dimension that is both formless and timeless, space and time cease to exist. We are one with the infinite, the eternal, the divine. That is, as long as our attention allows us to be. Our awareness and consciousness connect us with Source.
Connection to Source
The Crown Chakra is where we connect with the Divine. It is where we experience fully merging our physical and spiritual selves and see through the illusions of time and space, where we sense ourselves as the infinite and timeless beings we truly are. This realization enables us to live and love in the vastness of the present moment, knowing we are connected to All.
Expanding the Channel
In energy work classes with my teacher, Ethel Greene would lead the class through guided meditations to open our Crown Chakras wider and wider. Most of the time, she said, people have a thread-sized channel between this chakra and the Divine. With such small bandwidth, it’s not surprising that I would be short on inspiration and physical energy.
While meditating, I often envision opening my Crown Chakra to the width of my thumb, then the diameter of a paper towel tube. I once even got it as big as a dinner plate. This was during an exercise where classmates helped each other experience, energetically, our own physical deaths. The idea was that once you’ve faced your own death, you can live more fully without fear in the present moment. You gain a sense of your infinite and eternal nature.
Ethel helped me understand the importance of living in my physical body. When I’m dwelling on hurts and injustices, I am in my emotional body — in a past that can’t be changed. When I am angsting about events and contingencies yet to come, I’m in my mental body — in a future that exists only in potentiality.
It is only when I occupy my physical body, along with the awareness of occupying my body, that I am in the present. This is why focusing on the breath can be so helpful in bringing consciousness into the body and into the moment. That’s where all the answers are.
The Breath
Years ago I sat with my grandpa for awhile after he died. I had never been with a newly dead body before, and my grandpa seemed not-so-different than he had moments before. A prime difference between a live body and a dead one, I concluded, is breath and flow. Duh!
The breath — respiration — is the process by which we continually join our physical and spiritual selves. Breathing — the act we do a dozen times a minute, every minute of the day — is an exercise of our Crown Chakra. Why not do it mindfully?
Less Distinction; More Integration
Below are some characteristics of the Crown Chakra. Much of the information below comes from the research of Carolyn Myss, PhD, in her book Anatomy of the Spirit.
Note that as we have ascended the chakra column from the more physical (lower) to the more metaphysical (upper) energy wheels, the list of chakra attributes shrinks, as there is less distinction and separation — and more oneness, wholeness.
Activating & Balancing the Sahasrāra Chakra
Maintaining a regular meditation and/or yoga practice are ways to continually activate and balance the 7th Chakra.
When you think “Crown Chakra,” think of your own halo, a reminder of your true nature and divinity and your connection to it. The more we dedicate ourselves to accessing this sacred space that joins us with the Divine, the more easily we can experience serenity and gratitude as we walk through life — even the chaotic parts. After all, we know in our minds and bodies that each of us is a manifestation of an individuated part of the Universe itself, infinite and limitless.
Most yoga classes already include a pose dedicated to the 7th Chakra: savasana.
Every pose is designed to prepare the body for savasana.
— Kaci Yoh
As yoga teachers know, savasana isn’t an afterthought pose or merely a routine ending to a class, but the whole point of integrating all that yoking of mind and body. Of using poses to balance and activate each of the chakras. Of taking moments at the end of class to practice calming the monkey-chatter chitta vritti that happens in our minds most of the time.
Through this peace, we come to know that we are not the clouds, we are the sky.
Theming a Crown Chakra Class
It’s easy to theme your class around the Crown Chakra. When would you want to do so? Whenever you sense your yogis feeling disconnected, hopeless, purposeless. If you wish to raise the vibration out of divisiveness and toward wholeness, give some attention to the Sahasrāra Chakra.
And when you offer a 7-class chakra series dedicating one class to each chakra, this is a natural chakra to end on — supreme connection to the Divine.
Here are some ideas for poses, music, scents, mudras, and breath work that would complement a Crown Chakra-themed class. Of course, the possibilities are endless, but here are some starter ideas.
‡ Teachers must be very intentional and attentive when helping students get into poses like headstand.
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Chakra Series Finale
Thank you for tuning in for this tour of the 7 major chakras of the body. We wish you well in bringing this sacred work to your students.
We have provided a deep dive into the chakras, enough for you to , feel confident bringing discussion of the body’s energy systems into your classes. Of course, more in-depth investigation is encouraged as your interest guides you. We invite you to come back and leave comments on anything new you’d find and would like to see added.
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu. May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the actions of our own lives contribute in some way to that happiness and freedom for all.