Yoga Talk: An Intro To The Chakras

In this 40-minute talk given at a yoga retreat, Cindy discusses the Chakra System, explains the three primary Nadi's and the 7 primary Chakras. She also shares her experiences of opening the Chakras while practicing yoga. Namaste.

Transcript

Chakra and energy channels.

First of all,

Have we all heard of chakras?

Yes,

Yes.

Okay.

All right.

I will tell you when I first started practicing yoga,

I never heard of the term and it was actually a couple of years before I really knew about about chakras.

The thing with chakras is that they're not anything we can physically or tangibly,

You know,

See or touch.

And so,

When it comes to them,

You know,

You might not really,

It's like kind of again twirl your eyes and say it's kind of woo-woo or esoteric,

You know.

But when you experience some energy in your body and especially in a very specific part of your body,

You'll start to realize that,

You know,

There's something there.

And whether you call it chakras or you call it a different name,

There's something going on.

And,

You know,

There's many teachers out there and we can certainly study with a lot of teachers.

But I also want to just say that you are your best teacher and you are your own guru.

And the more that you practice yoga,

Both on the mat as well as off the mat,

There's an inner wisdom and insight that will come and possibly has already come to you.

And the more you practice,

The more there's that insight,

That's that inner wisdom that you'll feel,

You'll realize and you'll experience.

One time I was in a wide leg of forward fold and I was breathing a certain way and all of a sudden,

You know,

Like literally like in the lumbar area,

Which is the second chakra,

It was just like there was like this incredible feeling,

Sensation.

And it was I'm sure it was that area just opening up.

And again,

Whether you call that a chakra,

You you just say it was an opening of energy of some sort.

I experienced that.

And so,

Again,

The more you practice,

The more you'll start to have those types of experiences and whether you can label them and put a name on them or not isn't really as important as just the experience that you've had.

We haven't talked about and learned much about the bandhas yet,

But a bond is is a lock.

And I had been practicing for several years and bond is we're never something that a teacher had talked to me about or anything.

So I didn't really know anything about him.

But again,

I was in a posture.

I was in warrior one and and all of a sudden I just and I didn't it wasn't a conscious decision to like bring I took a breath in and then I I just brought my belly back towards my spine.

And like there was like this burst again of energy that came in there.

And the the feeling that I got,

There was like a feeling of like empowerment,

Right,

Of like,

Oh,

I just felt so confident and strong and and and then I'm like,

Oh,

I'm in warrior one,

You know,

Like,

Oh,

I get it.

I like get it.

How many I've done warrior one were like hundreds of times.

But all of a sudden it was like,

Oh,

I really get it.

And not knowing at the time,

But your third chakras right here,

Solar plexus,

Which is about empowering.

Right.

And that's where this like feeling of burst of energy come from.

So again,

You know,

Just through your practice,

I think that is the real like teacher,

Right?

That inner inner knowing that comes from the practice.

So I can,

You know,

Sit here and tell you all about the chakras.

You can believe what I'm saying or not totally up to you.

But you know,

When you have some experience list like that,

Then you realize,

Oh,

Yeah,

Again,

You might not,

You know,

Label it as such,

You might label it as something else,

But there's definitely something there.

So with that being said,

Chakras,

And the word chakra means wheel,

Or like a disc.

But in in the teachings that I've had with other teachers,

The other thing that that has been revealed to me is they're actually cone shaped.

And so if you think of the middle of your body,

As like a point,

And then from the inside coming out the front,

And the inside going out from the back,

There's like these cones,

Right,

That come out from that from that in inside out,

Coming out,

And,

And then there's the circular motion.

So think of almost like a vortex,

Right?

You know,

So there's that point,

And then it's circling,

The energy is circling out,

And radiating out from that middle portion.

So maybe from a visual standpoint,

That might kind of help you to understand because I know when I first started learning the chakras,

I thought that they were like only the front.

And I didn't realize that,

Oh,

Yeah,

Of course,

There's also an opening in the backside as well.

And so again,

If you just think of almost like a vortex of energy,

Starting from a pinpoint in the middle of your body,

And then radiating out both front and back.

Chakra system originated in India between 500 and 1500 BC.

In the oldest text called the Vedas,

The Vedas are the again,

Earliest Sanskrit records of ancient scriptures that we have right now.

There and I mentioned this yesterday,

There's a total of,

They think 72,

000 nadis and nadis again,

Our energy channels.

But there's also these seven chakras.

These are primary energy centers that run up basically the middle of our of our body.

Yeah,

So let's talk a little bit about this,

This,

The system that runs up the inside.

So think of almost like the base of your spine,

Right that runs up to the crown of the head.

And there's a line of energy that moves all the way through and that's called the Shashumi.

It's almost like sushi.

Shashumi,

Or Shashumna.

Shashumi is one of the most important or the most important nadi and it runs up and down the central axis of the body through the spinal cord.

And individuals may only experience a pure state of mind when prana flows freely through the Shashumi.

And I've mentioned the Pasana before the meditation technique that that I use.

And actually,

When I went to the 10 day,

The first 10 day course that I did was about eight or so,

There was like this shooting energy that ran up my spinal cord.

And I was like,

Oh,

Wow.

And again,

At that time,

I didn't know the name Shashumi or anything like that.

But then later on,

I was like,

Oh,

I think that's probably what it was,

Was this energy just moving through.

Fine.

When impurities or blockages exist in the other nadis of the body,

Prana or energy is not able to flow freely through this Shashumi,

Leading to mental as well as physical imbalances.

The Shashumi nadi connects your root chakra to the seventh or your crown chakra,

And is the path for what we call Kundalini yoga.

And yoga village has a whole Kundalini 200 program as well.

And it's,

It's very much centered around energy and,

And bringing certain types of energy in your body by doing very unique movements.

Can people come in without prior yoga training and do the 200?

Yes,

Yes,

You can.

In case anybody's listening to this,

Can anybody come into that that program without previous experience?

And the answer is yes.

In fact,

Some folks don't go through another 200 yoga,

They do that as their first kind of formal yoga training.

The other thing is,

Too,

Is there's a lot of Kundalini classes at yoga village,

And you don't have to be certified or be a Kundalini student,

So to speak of that program to be involved in any of the classes.

So if you're interested in learning more about,

You know,

Kundalini and how that all works and the energy,

You know,

I encourage you to just try a class.

It is very,

Very unique.

They have kriyas.

And the word kriya is,

Is basically,

I like to think of it as almost like a recipe for your body,

Because it's a very exact,

Exact movements that they're doing in order to release energy in the body.

And they are really unique.

Like there's one where you're just like,

Just going back and forth and back and forth.

You know,

We talked about the immune system and all of the nodules that you have are lymph nodes here.

And so again,

Even from a physical standpoint,

It's like doing a lot to like release energy in your body.

But like I said,

If you're at all curious,

I would,

You know,

Encourage you to try one of the classes.

It's not for everyone.

There are some people that come out of it going,

Oh,

That was different,

You know,

Because they're expecting a usual,

You know,

A very common like hatha yoga or vinyasa yoga or something like that.

And it's not like that at all.

You've got this channel that runs up the very central area of your of your body,

Which is the Shashumi.

And then you've got two other very important channels.

One starts on the left side at the root chakra.

And it's called the Ida Ida Ida.

It's on the left side.

And it here,

It's your feminine female energy.

So when we talk about female energy,

What we're talking about is,

It's cool,

It's calming,

You might want to think of it as the pure sympathetic side of things.

Element is usually considered like water,

Very flowy,

Very gentle.

It can actually be kind of a dark,

You know,

We think of the moon as the feminine energy.

So that's the Ida Ida.

And then on the right side of your base chakra is the Pingala.

And the Pingala is of course the male side,

It's the male energy.

And we think you could think of like an element being like the sun or fire.

And it's intense,

Right?

It's that warming that we get.

So what happens is,

You've got the Ida and you've got the Pingala that are on the base of the Shashumi.

And then what happens is,

They start to come up the body,

And they move out,

But then they come back in.

And whenever they cross is actually a chakra.

Okay,

So they're bringing this energy up.

And then when they cross,

That's that vortex of energy that's then emanating out from the body.

And again,

We've got seven,

Seven of these intersections that happen.

So a little bit more about the Ida and Pingala,

Both originate in again in the root chakra and crisscross over the spine,

Meeting in the center of the Shashumi.

And then within the Shashumi Nadi,

There's said to be three more subtle channels that come out from there.

Yoga practices helped enhance awareness of the flow of prana or energy,

Enabling the practitioner to develop a sense of where energetic blockages occur within the subtle body.

As such,

Yoga can help individuals to distribute energy evenly throughout the chakras encouraging a free flow of prana.

And like I've already mentioned,

Sometimes when you're in a practice,

You'll be in a posture and it doesn't even have to be an intense it could be like in a restorative pose.

And you might have already experienced this where like maybe you're in in like cobbler where you have your your knees bent and out to the side.

And then all of a sudden it's like,

You know,

You're you're you're your knees just like come out like an inch or two more and you're like,

Oh,

You know,

So that's that release again from a blockage that's happening.

A little bit more about the Ida.

The Ida Nadi is one of the three main Nadi source channels in the body.

The body and the Sanskrit term it means comfort or a channel.

So think of,

You know,

Again,

That female energy in yogic philosophy and the sister science of Ayurveda.

It is believed that keeping the Nadi free of blockages promotes the flow of energy,

Which improves physical and mental health.

The Ida Nadi which represents mental energy travels the length of the spinal cord weaving in and out of the chakra or Shashumi.

Ida Nadi is also called the Chandra and Chandra is moon.

It's called moon because it's connected to the lunar energy or also known as like female energy.

It begins at the root and then on the left side.

And then we've got the Pinkula.

Again,

One of the three Nadi or energy channels in yoga and the health science of Ayurveda.

It is believed that keeping these channels again free are helping to free up your mental,

Physical and emotional health.

Pinkula Nadi is also the sun and the Sanskrit word for sun is sura.

You know,

We think of sura namaskar,

Which is the sun salutation.

So sura,

S-U-R-Y-A.

The sun or sura is related to solar energy is considered the male or masculine energy.

And then again,

These weave back and forth up through the the middle Shashumi channel.

The Pingula controls essential life processes and imparts vitality,

Efficiency,

Strength,

And it is associated with more of like the extroversion,

The side of us.

The left logical linear side of the brain and the right side of the body,

The Pingula Nadi energy must be balanced by the Ida energy,

Which is more of like the creative side and also more of the introverted side of things.

Someone with a free-flowing Pingula Nadi who has a blocked Ida Nadi may have lots of energy for a physical yoga practice while lacking the introspection needed to achieve spiritual awakening.

One of the principal ways of balancing the Nadi's and yoga practice is through a form of pranayama.

And one of the best ways and you're going to learn this later on if you don't know it already is alternate nostril practice.

So you're going to learn this from your nostril breathing.

And there's a couple of different ways to do this but basically what that does is it really really helps to balance not only the energies in our brain,

The left and right side of our brains,

But also the the Ida and the Pingula.

Then let's move on and let's talk about each of the chakras.

So we'll start with the root chakra and it represents the foundation,

Right?

So we're going to start with the root chakra.

It's a very very grounding,

Being supported,

Feeling secure.

On the human body it sits at the base of the spine.

Really I would even consider it the base of the pelvic bowl and gives us the feeling of being grounded.

When the root chakra is open,

Challenges and stand and we can stand on our own two feet.

Yet when it is blocked we feel threatened.

You might feel like insecure,

Like we're not supported,

That sort of thing.

So again the location is the base of the spine or really the pelvic bowl.

What it controls.

So it has a lot to do with survival,

Right?

So and it can be other things like financial,

You know,

Stability.

It can be about food,

Right?

You know,

Anything that has to do with our survival.

So getting back to the root chakra,

Every chakra has a color that's represented and so the color for the root chakra is red.

Think of like a ruby red color.

The element is earth.

So you know again think of that grounding.

There's a stone that's associated with every chakra as well and is it hematite?

I think that's how it's pronounced hematite.

And one of the postures,

There are certain postures that help with opening and balancing the chakras.

You can probably think of,

You know,

Easy seated pose,

Right?

When you know like how I'm sitting right now is very rooted,

Very grounded posture.

There's also a sound that's associated with each chakra and the sound is is lam.

It's it's l-a-m mom.

And if you're a musician at all,

It's the tone of c.

So sometimes you'll go to a yoga session and they have bowls,

Right?

Crystal bowls.

And a lot of those are toned to the different chakras.

And so the lowest and the biggest bowl will be the the note or the tone of c.

So it's a little bit about the root chakra.

Let's move up to the second chakra,

The sacral chakra.

This is,

You know,

Think of it,

You know,

Your sacral area,

The lower lumbar area.

It's also again in the front.

So think of like the lower abdominal area,

Like right below the belly button area.

This helps inform how we relate to our emotions,

The emotions of others.

It governs our sexual energy and it governs our creativity.

So we think of creation,

Right?

You know,

Reproduction.

Those that have a block sacral chakra could feel a lack of control in their lives.

Also,

You know,

Sometimes you'll meet someone and they're like,

Oh,

I can't I can't dance or I can't draw or I can't I can't play a musical instrument.

You know,

Those types of comments is usually a second chakra.

You know,

They feel like they don't have any creativity is what that's all about.

Location.

Again,

Lower abdominal about two inches below the navel.

What it controls,

Sense of abundance,

Well-being,

Pleasure and sexuality.

There's a mantra.

Oh,

I forgot the mantra for the root chakra.

There's mantras that are given for each chakra.

So let's go back to the root here for a second.

This this one in the book here says I cannot grow from an unsteady foundation.

I have a better one.

Well,

In my chakra,

Well,

In my chakra class,

We usually use the affirmation.

I am safe and supported.

So I like I like that mantra a little bit better.

I think it's it's it's more more positive in nature.

The sacral,

The one in your manual says I always honor others,

But not before myself.

So you could actually maybe just say I honor myself.

The other thing is,

Is in my chakra class that I do a lot of times we just use the affirmation.

I am creative.

Color is orange.

The element is water.

The stone is tiger's eye.

And one of the yoga poses that works really well for the sacral second chakra is our bound angle or butterfly pose,

Whether you're seated or reclined.

So we're opening,

Opening up that area.

And the sound the sound is V A M.

It's pronounced bomb.

And the tone would be D.

So we're going to up up the scale,

C,

D,

E,

F,

You know,

All the way up.

So it's D is the sound.

OK,

So the third chakra,

The third chakra is our solar plexus.

This controls it's it speaks to our ability to be confident and in control of our life.

So think of being empowered.

Think of courage,

Bravery,

You know,

Those those types of emotions.

Think back to the last time you had butterflies or felt a pit in your stomach.

That's the third chakra at work.

If your solar plexus chakra is black,

You may feel overwhelmed.

You might feel some shame or self doubt.

Those with an open sacral chakra are free to express their true self.

So they feel brave and curry.

You know,

They have courage to really let their self shine.

Right.

So the location of this and there's some you'll read different.

Some people say it's way close to to like the the top of the diaphragm area.

Other people will say it's your belly button.

I seem to in my experience of just,

You know,

Feeling the energy and it might be different for every single person.

I feel mine like almost like right in the middle of between the bottom of the rib cage and the naval center.

So kind of that that area right there.

But again,

You know,

A lot of this is just your experience.

And if you feel like any energy that comes from that area,

That's more than likely your your third chakra.

Again,

Self worth,

Bravery,

Self confidence,

Self esteem,

Being empowered.

These are all what what is involved with that third chakra.

And again,

The mantra that I usually use for my chakra classes is I am brave and courageous.

I am brave and courageous.

The color is yellow,

Which you could probably maybe guess because solar solar plexus,

The sun,

The element is fire,

The stone is amber.

So when it comes to different postures,

You know,

We think of a domino work,

Solar plexus work.

So like plank is in there.

Any type of twisting that we do,

Right,

The thoracic area,

Middle part of our of our body,

So every time we're twisting or if we're bending to each side,

That's what's opening up this third chakra.

The sound is our am rom.

And then we come to our heart chakra.

Our heart chakra is the bridge between the lower chakras associated with the heart chakra and the heart chakra.

And then we come to the heart chakra,

Which is the bridge between the lower chakras associated with material aspects of our life.

And it's the bridge then to the upper chakras,

Which are usually associated more with the spiritual side of us.

As the name suggests,

The chakra can influence our ability to be in the heart chakra.

So someone with a blocked heart chakra will have difficulty opening up to other people.

And if someone's heart chakra is open,

They usually experience deep compassion and empathy for themselves and others.

So center of the chest is the location.

It controls love,

Joy,

And peace.

The mantra that I have in the manual is when I love myself,

Loving others comes easily.

A lot of times in my classes I use,

I am filled with joy and love.

The color might surprise you.

The color is green.

The element is air because next to the lungs we have,

Or next to the heart is our lungs.

So you know,

Think of this whole area is air and space.

The stone is rose quartz.

So with this,

We're opening up the heart.

So you can probably think like up dog,

You know,

We're really opening,

We've got camel pose that we do where we're opening anything where we're bringing those shoulders back,

Shoulder blades in towards each other,

That sort of thing is opening up.

We did yesterday we did supported fish,

Right?

That's very much an opening of the heart chakra.

The sound is yam.

It's yam.

It looks like yam,

But it's yam.

And then we come to the throat chakra.

This gives voice to the heart chakra and controls our ability to communicate our personal power.

When it's functioning in full capacity,

It allows us to express ourselves truly and clearly.

Someone with a block throat chakra will feel like they have trouble finding the words to say how they truly feel.

And again,

The location is the throat but also realize that,

You know,

Again,

This is a vortex,

Right?

And so it's also the backside of the upper spine or neck area here.

So when we bring the chin down,

That's an opening of the also that that throat chakra,

Because we're opening up the backside of it.

When we bring the the the head up like that,

Then we're opening up the front side of it.

It controls communication,

Self-expression,

And truth.

The mantra,

I speak my truth.

That's that's always a good one.

Color is a light blue or turquoise color.

The element is actually sound,

Just sound in general.

And this the stone is aquamarine.

Again,

One of the postures for this is is fish pose again,

Because a lot of times when we do fish pose,

We're not only opening up the heart,

But then we're bringing the head back.

So and camel can also be that way.

A lot of times if you do camel at the very end,

You bring the throat back.

Another one is lion.

So lion is when you're on,

Like in a tabletop,

And then you take a breath in,

And you go.

So you're opening up the throat when you do that.

The sound is H-A-L-E-L-E.

It looks like ham,

But it's hum.

So third eye.

We all probably have heard of the third eye right in the middle of the forehead.

We're getting closer to communication with the divine,

And the third eye controls our ability to see the big picture and connect to our intuition.

So for years,

I'm like,

You know,

What is intuition?

I didn't really know what that that was,

But it's it's really that inner voice.

And sometimes it actually comes more from the gut,

Right?

But it's still that inner voice of feel sometimes more of a feeling that we have about something.

So think of it as the eye of the soul.

It registers information behind the surface level.

Visions and intuitive hits are not uncommon for someone with an open third eye.

Again,

Location is right,

You know,

Right in the middle of the forehead.

And it also controls like imagination.

So sometimes we think of creativity,

You know,

As imagination with the second chakra,

But also that third eye has a lot to do with our imagination.

The mantra that I usually use for this one is is that I trust my inner voice,

Because I know for myself,

When I started learning more about intuition and inner wisdom,

I would second guess myself a lot of times.

And so I trust my,

My inner voice.

But color is indigo.

But a lot of people are like,

What is indigo?

So indigo is,

Is like a dark,

Purplish bluish color.

The element is light.

The stone is amethyst.

And I mentioned this yesterday with child's pose.

So when we go into child's pose,

It's really important that we have some sort of sensation on that third eye.

So if we're in child's pose,

And we our head does not,

You know,

Touch the floor or touch our mat,

Then you know,

You can use your hands here,

You could use a block,

You could use something else,

But it's really important to to have that little bit of sensation from the third eye.

And then the sound is om.

And then we've got the crown chakra at the top of our head,

Highest chakra sits at the crown or top of the head and represents our ability to be fully connected with the divine.

When you are fully open,

When you are fully open,

Your crown chakra,

You're able to access a higher consciousness you feel and are connected to a higher power.

So again,

Top of the head is the location.

The mantra that I usually use for this one is I am connected to the divine color.

Some people when they are opening up and working with the crown chakra will think of the color white,

Other people will think of the color purple.

So whatever resonates with you is what you can use for the color here.

The element is divine consciousness.

The stone is clear quartz,

A yoga pose for opening up the crown chakra that I have in the manual is tree.

So we think of yes being rooted and grounded in the earth but then rising up through the crown of the head.

The other thing that I a lot of times in my chakra class that I use for the posture for the crown of the head is rabbit.

I think it's important especially for the third eye and the crown that we feel that sensation.

And a lot of times and we'll do some experimenting here in a little bit,

Some different postures but one of the things that because let's say you're in child's pose and you stay in child's pose and when you come out of it just bring all your attention to the third eye and because you've had that little bit of pressure there you'll still feel the sensation of the third eye.

And then from that if you just sit and just focus and concentrate right on the third eye a lot of times you will feel other types of sensations.

You might feel like a vibration,

You might feel some tingliness,

Sometimes it actually is it feels almost like ant bites.

You know it can be a little like oh what is what is that you know it might be a little bit uncomfortable.

Sometimes you'll like literally it feels like it's opening.

So these are all different types of sensations that happen with that energy.

The same with the crown of the head because we go into something like rabbit where we have that sensation on the top of the head then when we come out of it sometimes we just sit and just bring all your attention to the crown of the head and just see if you can feel any other types of sensations.

Again sometimes there's like a vibration,

Sometimes there's like a tingliness,

Sometimes you it like literally feels like there's like this opening that's happening.

So again you know all of this is somewhat esoteric right.

It's nothing that we can visually see.

There's nothing that's tangible like you know we can't we can't touch it.

So a lot of this is is the experience that you have that then kind of brings it to light.

So that's a little bit about the chakras.

Any yeah oh the sound is oh what is the one third third eye is also ohm so both the third eye and the crown of the head are ohm.

Yeah there is some really nice books out there on chakras if you if you're if you want to get more into it.

One of the other things is too is that you know that these imbalances sometimes they show up in kind of interesting ways you know.

So for instance throat chakra we think of an imbalance in the throat chakras maybe you know being shy or not not being able to speak you know our mind but also it's just the opposite you know sometimes we meet someone and they literally cannot be quiet.

They are like talking incessantly you know just like non-stop and that's an imbalance as well right.

It's it it's like it's like too open compared to the other chakras.

So you know there's there's like too much energy there within that you know.

So it's not just always a lack of that manifests itself sometimes it's just the opposite folks that their head in the clouds so to speak are very air-headed just can't focus concentrate.

A lot of times when they do talk it's like all over the place it's really really difficult to like follow their conversation.

A lot of times that's actually too much of an opening in in in the in the crown chakra that's what's causing that.

They're not grounded right they're not grounded at all they're just like all over.

So you know it's it's again it's interesting from our own perspective perspective and not that we judge others but sometimes what happens is when we start learning these things we can't help but you know we we talk to our friend we're with our you know loved ones and then it's like oh they need to be grounded a little bit let's just sit for a while you know.

So you know like I said it's just kind of interesting you know how we kind of learn these things and then you know can associate them with other folks in our life.

There are some foods that actually help with the chakras.

So for instance you know someone that that is like very flighty and and not grounded so you think of all your root vegetables right you know the sweet potatoes the carrots the onions you know anything that has a root that would be very very good for someone to help literally ground them to get them to like relax.

So we think of those foods as kind of like comfort foods anyway right so comfort security being supported that grounding that happens they're heavier foods so they they bring us down a little bit you know and then you think of someone someone can be too grounded I find myself sometimes too grounded I'm kind of stuck in the mud I don't want to like move forward and so I'm eating too many of the root vegetables and so more salads more like like foods will help me to you know raise that energy up into you know more of the heart throat third eye and and crown of the head.

So it's kind of interesting how you know again our Uveda the sister of yoga really has a lot to do with not only the foods that we eat but how that represents the energy that comes in our body and helps to balance out the chakras.

Reviews

So much information- this was fascinating. Thank you so much.

this was SO informative, and such a clear and comprehensive overview!

Very interesting! Thank you!