Chakras 101

In our classes online this summer, we will be working systematically through all seven chakras with movement, breath and meditation work. As a basis for this teaching, it will be helpful to understand exactly what chakras are in the yogic sense.

Chakra means wheel, literally “that which revolves” and in yogic literature the word refers to the seven vital centres in the subtle body, where important energy lines (nadis) cross. 

The chakras have become a popular topic in New Age thinking, alternative medicine, and yoga, but there is a growing gap between how the chakras are viewed today and how they are regarded in traditional yogic literature.

In new age thinking, the chakras are used mainly for physical healing; in this system each chakra is said to be related to certain organs or bodily functions, which can become diseased or healthy based on the relative clarity of the chakra itself.

The yogic approach is different to this and aimed purely and simply at clearing chakras as part of the process of growing Self-knowledge, spiritual development and enlightenment. The techniques of yoga - asana, mantra, pranayama, and meditation - all lead to towards clearing energy, cleansing chakras and personal development. In yoga, chakras cannot be moved, influenced or opened by another.

According to the yoga system, in the ordinary human state, which is rarely transcended except by sustained spiritual practice, the chakras are closed; that is, they do not truly function. The result of this is not disease, but ignorance, known in yoga as avidya: the mistaken belief that we are separate from everything and everyone else. Someone’s chakras can be closed and yet they can be healthy, emotionally balanced, mentally creative, and successful in many areas of life.

To bring the subtle centres called chakras towards clarity, the body and mind must be put in a state of rest and balance.  You lay the groundwork for this in the all of the work you have done in yoga to create stillness of body, breath, senses, and mind.

Opening chakras requires opening to universal feelings of compassion and devotion and connection with a sense of the universal life force. For example, to open the heart chakra is quite different than being in a heightened, vulnerable, or overly emotional state; rather to awaken this chakra is to go beyond mere personal emotions to understand the cosmic energy behind all emotional fluctuations.  

Opening the chakras requires an open and receptive attitude, it cannot be forced. You may have experienced chakra opening for yourself, those quiet but meaningful inner shifts that take place during the practice of yoga. Conversely, you may only understand ths chakras intellectually, knowing where they are and what has been taught about them and their significance to yoga practice. Either path is valid and seeking sensation for the sake of it won’t get you very far.

The best way to begin chakra work is deep within the quiet, peaceful state that we find ourselves in when we practise yoga. Be alert to that which is shifting within you and learn to be curious about it.

Sarah xx

Peace and Power

A quick word about power. Your power and mine.

There is a way to find your voice and stand up to the bullies and the shouters, those unhappy aggressive types that we all come across from time to time; there is a way to do this with kindness and in peace.

And they don’t always shout, do they? Often we’re facing passive aggression - that controlling behaviour that aims to look like it’s something far more positive and helpful to us. Tricky.

Gentle people can be nervous of the idea of personal power, so I encourage you to distinguish between power in, and power over. This really helps me and runs as follows -

Power over we know all about: it seeks to silence, to dominate and to get its own way. Sometimes it shouts.

Power in is very different: it strives to hold true to personal belief and to do so OUT LOUD, to stand firm in the face of that which would cause pain or drama and to tell the truth in every moment. Power in is the strength to do this without worrying what others will think of you (you will discover that you can tell the truth and continue to be loved) and it is knowing that you still feel warmth and understanding for other person, even when they are acting out or don’t agree with what you are saying.

We all do it in our own heads - say the things we wanted to say (sometimes for days) after the occasion in which we said nothing - speaking it in each moment takes some practice and some deep, rooted calm.

Peaceful people need to get to know their power, because peace, kindness and love are worth fighting for, yet the voices of the gentle are so easily drowned out.

And some things are worth defending: you, your beloveds, your tribe, your beliefs, your knowledge and commitments.

In deeply grounded peacefulness is where you begin.

Sarah x

Angel Visits

We are armed with human brains, which can only see what the human brain has been developed to see.

We cannot see ultraviolet like bees can, or infrared like a python; we cannot see the earth’s magnetic field as a turtle does, or electrical fields like a shark uses to detect its prey. Yet, we are more than we think and more than we know.

Some of us are more ready to accept the existence of things that we cannot prove than others.

Life is full of layers of comprehension, instinct and magic: we touch the consciousness of others and are touched ourselves in mysterious ways. Angels visit us often and sometimes we are the angels. If you have been an angel, you will not know about it, for this is the way of angels.

Be open to the brief and beautiful visits of angels. There in the uplift of your soul at a difficult time, in a shaft of yellow sunshine on an otherwise grey day, a whisper of love from deep within your grief, or the arms of joy that come unbidden and hold you aloft for a while. They are there inside moments of quiet beauty, indefinable gifts, words that explain you to yourself. Sometimes they come from deep within your own tears.

Know that you too have been one and will be again. That the paths of the living and not living, known and not-known cross over and over again and our brains know nothing of it, even as our hearts sing to feel it.