Chakras 101

You may have heard the term chakra being tossed around here and there, but what does it actually mean? Chakra is Sanskrit for “wheel” or “disc,” and refers to the energy centers within our body. Have you ever felt stuck in life, or noticed a feeling of imbalance? The chakras could hold the key. Let me give a very brief synopsis of each.

The Muladhara chakra is our base, our physical connection to the earth. It is solid, our foundation. Our sense of (or lack of) safety and security reside here. The second chakra, located in our low belly, is Svadhisthana. She is water, fluidity, movement; our

connection/relationship to another person. Creativity and desire reside here, as well as our emotions.

Manipura, located at our solar plexus, is our power center. This is our relationship with ourselves, our self-esteem and ability to set healthy boundaries. Its element is Fire and ignitesour ability to take action.

When the earth and water elements combine, they create mud. Mucky, slow, tangible. Water then rinses and becomes more fluid, moveable. As water combines with fire it produces steam, the element of Air, or Anahata, the heart chakra.

Anahata is our center for love and connection to all beings. She is also the bridge between our lower, dense, physical chakras, and the upper, etherial, unseen, limitless chakras; limitless in the sense that there are no physical boundaries as in the words we speaks, the thoughts we think, and the knowing we receive from our connection to the Divine, or God.

The throat chakra is Visuddha, element is sound or ether. It’s not only words we speak, but also those we suppress. Just as importantly, Visuddha is also deep, compassionate listening; listening without speaking, without interrupting. Listening to truly hear.

The sound and the silence of Visuddha lead us to Ajna, our seat of intuition. This is our 6th sense. It is a gift to all of us to hone, unravel and honor and sits at our third eye. This intuition opens us up to the Sahasrara, the crown chakra. Here we have limitless knowledge. We are connected to deep wisdom, to our higher self, to our Creator.

Each chakra has its own gift and responsibility, but they are all interconnected. Meaning, for example, that resistance in the throat chakra to say what’s on our minds, or what is true for us, may come from a deficiency is the manipura, our power center. Having low self-esteem can effect our ability to stand up for ourselves. Or, if as a child you were regularly told to shut up, or be quiet, or that your opinion didn’t matter, you learned to not trust yourself. Maybe you didn’t

even feel safe speaking up. That’s 1st chakra survival keeping you quiet. That can also manifest as the opposite: always talking, speaking over others in order to finally be heard.

Each chakra is said to spin, and they work like a cog and wheel, one turning the next.

Somewhere along the way, a crimp in the cogwheel can pull something else out of alignment. So our work is to get unstuck, to liberate ourselves from the traumas that bind.

There is a beautiful current that flows from the base to the top, around and back down again, over and over as it spins each wheel.

The Liberation Current flows upward taking us from the solid earth and muck through each chakra towards freedom and expansion. The Manifestation Current flows from top to bottom through each chakra bringing our abstract ideas to life in tangible reality. Both are necessary and create a beautiful symbiotic dance of life.

When a chakra gets blocked, it holds up the flow. That flow is prana, or our life-force. As we bring awareness to each chakra, we begin an inquiry to any stagnation. We use movement, breath, and sound healing to get the flow going once again.

So much wisdom is contained along this journey. We invite you to learn more in a safe, relaxing environment with restorative yoga, sound healing, and the meditative practice of yoga nidra.