As I’ve been sharing in the last few weeks, for me, yoga isn’t all about rainbows, it’s about being real, being sensitive to what is actually going on in our mind and bodies. And for most of us, what is real can be challenging or unpleasant at times.
I used to see the chakra system as a similar love, light and rainbows kind of thing, mostly useful for the spiritual bypassing of what is real in life.
But I’ve changed. I’ve become a little more sensitive to my body.
I started to feel some aspects of the chakras in my own body. I now think about Chakras as a useful archetype to think about different physical, emotional and spiritual states and ways of being. And it’s funny – when you think of these emotional states, quite often they just seem to equate to a place in the body. Whether you already know about Chakras, or the ‘subtle body’ already, or whether you’re a little bit sceptical, I ask you to just suspend your scepticism for a short while, or for the next 7 weeks, and see what interesting and perhaps useful things might crop up through exploring Chakras alongside our Chakras Series.
You may find, for example, that the first chakra, the root chakra, makes you pause and realise the value of starting whatever it is you’re doing, and wherever you are, with firm roots, stable foundations. You may be able to feel a sense of this weighted, groundedness in your tailbone area.
You may feel the a sense of creativity around the area of your second chakra, which is around the area of our hips. Maybe by dancing, moving your hips you feel more creative, more playful?
I personally find it easy to connect to my third Chakra which is around the solar plexus area. When I become sensitive to this area I feel a sense of clarity, wisdom, a stronger sense of self-esteem and personal power. I definitely feel that when I do, for example, abs and core work. I always feel a surge of power with that!
The fourth chakra is the heart chakra, and we all know how it feels when our heart feels open and loving, and we all know the shut-down or aching feeling of heart-ache. Keeping my heart chakra open, when it would be so much easier to keep shut down, is my life work!
The fifth chakra is the throat chakra. Ever had that feeling that the words are ‘stuck in your throat’? That’s an inability to express ourselves. And when our throat chakra is in balance, we are able to express ourselves clearly, both verbally and creatively.
The sixth chakra is the third eye. This is one I love too because I can sometimes feel my intuition hit me right between my eyes,. This is where, for me, the gold is stored. If something is confusing me, I try to keep quiet, find stillness and tune into my third eye, which knows the answer intuitively, from a big-picture view.
And the seventh chakra is the crown chakra. It’s a lofty one, and becomes alight when all our chakras are in balance and we are in tune and fully awake to all that is (needless to say, I’m still working on this one!).
I do hope you enjoy our Chakra course!
And for those of you who enjoy celebrating the chakras, you’ll be delighted to know that Dirish, our King of the Chakras, is celebrating the Summer Solstice with us! I do hope you’ll come and enjoy solstice celebrations and dance on June 21st.
It’s easy to forget to celebrate all that is good in life, so let’s use this opportunity to come together, connect and dance!
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