Chakra 2 Svadhistana: Sensing your World

CHAKRA TWO: Svadhisthana

The sacral chakra governs the abdomen, lower back and sexual organs. It is related to emotional identity and self-gratification. It connects us to others through feeling, desire, sensation and sexuality. This chakra often corresponds to control/ finding a balance of acceptance and rejection. Ideally, svadhisthasana brings fluidity and grace, depth of feeling, sexual fulfillment, and the ability to accept change.

• Focus: Sexual Emotions
• Color: Orange
• Seed Sound: Vam
• Sense Organ: Tongue
• Associated sense: Taste 

ESSENTIAL OILS:

 Frankincense – zaps negative or blocked energy

• Jasmine – linked to creativity
• Sweet Marjoram – absconds guilt
• Cypress – assists in moving on after major life change

CRYSTALS AND GEMSTONES

• Coral – eases PMS and menstrual cramps
• Red Jasper – stimulates sex drive
• Moonstone – enhances female reproductive system
• Bloodstone – helps support difficult transformations
• Carnelian – brings clarity that all things are possible
• Citrine – boosts confidence in search of fulfillment
• Hematite – protects commitments made from outside interference

Incense: Cedar, Juniper

Foods: Water, herb teas, juices, apples pears, peaches, apricots, melons, mangos, oranges, figs, watercress, lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes

The physical body: sacrum, prostate, lumbar, sex organs, spleen, kidney, circulatory system, and tongue

Chakra location: Just below the navel

The second chakra allows for emotional and sensual movement in our life, opening to pleasure, and learning how to “go with the flow.”

No wonder this one is so often out of whack.

Associated with the hips, sacrum, lower back, genitals, womb, bladder, and kidneys, this chakra is involved with sensuality, sexuality, emotions, intimacy, and desire. All watery things about us have to do with this chakra: circulation, urination, menstruation, orgasm, tears. Water flows, moves, and changes, and a healthy second chakra allows us to do so too.

Afer focusing on second chakra in a recent class, a student confided to me how hard it was to allow pleasure in her workaholic life. We created a plan for her to give herself 20 minutes each day devoted just to the healing power of pleasure: listening to music, doing yoga,  getting a massage. Our lives give us plenty of opportunities to express ourselves and be active; in our yoga practiceand elsewhere, we need to make sure we complement this with relaxation and receptivity.

An ideal hot yoga practice combines strength and flexibility, effort and surrender. will be mirrored in your chakras.

In a culture as confused as ours is about sexuality, pleasure, and emotional expression, there are an infinite number of pathways to an imbalanced second chakra. For example, people who were raised in an environment where emotions were repressed or pleasure denied will be more likely to lack energy in the second chakra. Symptoms of a second chakra deficiency include fear of pleasure, being out of touch with feelings, and resistance to change. Sexual problems and discomfort in the lower back, hips, and reproductive organs can also signify that this chakra needs some kind attention. Sexual abuse during childhood can lead to feeling closed down in this chakra or may result in making sexual energy the most dominant part of the personality. An excessively charged second chakra may reveal itself through overly emotional behavior, sexual addiction, or poor boundaries. Excessiveness may also result from a family environment where there’s a constant need for pleasurable stimulation (entertainment, partying) or frequent emotional drama.

Second chakra asanas help us with adaptability and receptivity. Hot yoga poses that can assist include forward bends in poses such as Toe Stand,  Padahastasana, and Dandayamana Biphastakapada Paschimottansasana.  Hip and groin openers like Trikonasana and Janushirasana with Paschimottanasana help as well.

Balance: ability to embrace change, healthy boundaries, ability to enjoy pleasure, the right to feel loved, emotional intelligence, enjoying the flow of life, a greater sense of inner balance, increased vitality and creativity.

More Hot Yoga Poses for Svadhistana

Ardha-Chandrasana

^As you backbend, lift the chest as high as possible.

Pada –Hasthasana 

Forward bends strengthen the 2^nd chakra

Utkatasana 

Squatting strengthens the 2^nd chakra

Garudasana 

Reproductive organs (the sex organs) are associated with the 2^nd chakra, and you are contracting/squeezing/massaging them in this pose

Padanghustasana

More squatting to strengthen the 2^nd chakra

Bhujangasana 

Strengthening the lower back, associated with your sacral chakra.

Salabhasana

Stretching poses strengthens the sacral chakra.

FOODS and RECIPES For SACRAL CHAKRA: Fats and oils, fish (especially wild-caught salmon), tropical fruits, seeds, nuts, orange-colored foods (oranges, tangerines, carrots, etc.)

RECIPE : PUMPKIN SOUP

Credit for this recipe goes to Heidi Templeton, hot yoga teacher and chef of the chakras

Orange foods that vibrate in alignment with Svadhistana balance contain relatively high levels of carotenoids, a nutrient that can protect against free radicals. Mexican Pumpkin Soup has that vibrant orange color and uses herbs that assist the chakra 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 bunch of green onions

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 cloves of garlic, minced

4 cups vegetable broth

1 15-oz. can pumpkin or squash

1 15-oz. can black beans

1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro

A drizzle agave

1 cup brown rice

Directions:

Heat the coconut oil in a soup pot and toss in the onions and spices.

Add the garlic, slightly browning first

Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a high simmer

Cover, lower the heat, simmer for twenty-five minutes until the rice is cooked.

Top with vegan sour cream

Meditation for Svadhistana Chakra: A Better Feeling Thought

Enclosure

Chakra 3 Manipura: Your Personal Power

Manipura is the seat of your personal power. 

The energies of Manipura are focused on self, specifically self-esteem. Manipura is where personality develops and ego resides. It is the intuitive chakra where we receive “gut feelings.”

• Focus: Power, Energy
• Color: Yellow
• Seed Sounds: Ram
• Sense Organ: Eyes
• Associated sense: Sight

ESSENTIAL OILS:

• Chamomile – eases tension, promotes a “sunny” disposition
• Bergamot – helps release stagnant energy
• Juniper – good for emotional balance
• Ginger – helps aid the digestive tract
• Peppermint – balanced manipura energy

CRYSTALS & GEMSTONES

• Topaz – encourages confidence
• Citrine – assists in leaving no stone unturned
• Amber – brings happiness in the realm of relationships
• Sunstone – encourages you to see the “sunny” side
• Adventurine Quartz – boosts well-being
• Calcite – helps develop trust and motivation

Incense: Sandalwood, Nag Champa, and Dragon’s Blood

Food: Spices to build fire; black pepper, cayenne, ginger, cloves, tumeric, melissa. Seeds to cool excess fire: fennel, anise, cumin, flax seed, sunflower seeds. Complex carbohydrates (support fire); rice, oats, millet, pasta, bread, muesli.

The physical body: liver, stomach, small intestine, digestive system, gall bladder, skin, muscles, pancreas,  middle spine, and adrenals

If you are experiencing a blocked manipura chakra you could be overly concerned with what others think, fearful of being alone, insecure and in need of constant reassurance, feeling judgmental.  

Unbalanced

• Digestive problems, eating disorders, feeling like a victim, or experiencing low self-esteem can all be indications of a deficient third chakra.
• Perfectionism, anger, hatred, and too much emphasis on status and recognition reveal an excessive unbalanced third chakra.  

Balanced:

• Positive sense of self, energetic, warm, flexible, self-respect, confidence, ethical behavior, respect for others, ability to take risks, responsible, optimistic, ability to handle life’s challenges.
• Going gently into backbends can cool off the belly’s fire as calming agents for third chakra.
• Gaining confidence comes naurally from flexing your third chakra. Confidence comes in Toe Stand, kicking harder in Dandayamana Janushirasana or Dandayamana Danurasana, stretching to the max in Ustrasana;  for others, it might simply be getting to their first hot yoga class.
• Pavanamuktasana, Arda Masyendrasana twisting and Kaphalbhati breath are all helpful.

RECIPES FOR BALANCING MANIPURA: BUTTERNUT SQUASH

Any yellow foods- Lemons, bananas, corn and butternut squash - help balance your Manipura. This is delicious way to eat more yellow squash 

Credit for this recipe goes to Heidi Templeton, hot yoga teacher and chef of the chakras

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash

1 cup of cooked black beans

1 cup corn

Small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 yellow or red bell pepper, diced

1 bunch green onion

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon fennel

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Vegan pepper jack cheese

Cilantro, salsa, and /or avocado for topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Halve and seed your squash, and then hollow out each side just enough to form a shallow boat. Brush the squash with some coconut oil and roast with the meaty side facing down for 30-40 minutes.

Meanwhile, sauté your onions and garlic in a pan until slightly brown. Add bell peppers and spices, and sauté for about 5 minutes or so. Add beans and corn and green onions then stir. Sauté a few minutes longer and remove from oven and stuff it with your filling. Top with vegan cheese or other topping, return to oven for about 5-10 minutes.

NOTICING MANIPURA CHAKRA

Chakra location: approximately 2” above the navel

HOT YOGA POSES FOR MANIPURA: Focus on Manipura Chakra when in these hot yoga poses and see what you feel

Supta-Vajrasana

Pranayama Breathing for Manipura: be aware of taking deep belly breaths and bringing prana into your digestive organs (liver, pancreas, spleen),  the organs associated with the solar plexus chakra.

Kapalbhati breath for Manipura: forcefully snapping your stomach inward every time you exhale, the location of your solar plexus chakra, an inch above the navel, will activate this chakra.

MEDITATION FOR MANIPURA CHAKRA

Enclosure

Chakra 4 Anahata: The Heart of All Things

Anahata is the chakra at the heart of you.

As the middle chakra of 7, Anahata links the lower and upper chakras. The heart chakra allows you to feel love, compassion and a deep sense of peace. The heart chakra is related to balance in relationships, balancing self and others resulting in a peaceful, balanced life.

• Focus: Love, Relationships
• Color: Green
• Seed Sound: Yam
• Sense Organ: Skin
• Associated sense: Touch

ESSENTIAL OILS:

• Bergamot – assists with grief, boosts joy

• Lavender – emotional balance, calming
• Eucalyptus – awakens the heart
• Lilac – promotes forgiveness
• Rose – enhances compassion
• Neroli – strengthens connection between heart and mind

CRYSTALS & GEMSTONES

• Rose Quartz – helps with empathy and to receive understanding
• Boji Stones – Male and female stones that work together to heal a broken heart
• Malachite – Facilitates patience to resolve issues of love
• Emerald – helps restore beauty, attracts love
• Ruby – gives you courage on a date
• Green Jasper – facilitates feelings of being loved

Incense: Meadowsweet, Nag Champa, Orris Root

Foods: Green tea, green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale and dandelion greens. Air vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and celery. Leafy spices such as basil, sage, thyme, cilantro, and parsley.

The physical body: heart, circulatory system, lungs, ribs, diaphragm, breasts, shoulders, and arms.

Chakra location: center of the chest

If you notice yourself sitting with your head forward, shoulders rounded and chest collapsed, do poses to open your heart chakra

When the heart chakra is deficient, you may experience feelings of shyness and loneliness, an inability to forgive, or a lack of compassion.

Physical symptoms can include shallow breathing, asthma, and lung diseases.

Asanas that enliven the heart chakra include: Ustrasana, Supta Vajrasana, Dandayamana Danurasana, Danuraasana, even Tadasana.

The heart chakra naturally yearns to release and let go. Doing backbends develops trust and surrender we need to open the heart fully.

In many backbending poses, the heart is positioned higher than the head. It’s wonderfully refreshing to let the mind drop away from the top position and lead with the heart.

Some signs that the heart chakra is overpowering your life can include co-dependency, possessiveness, jealousy, heart disease, and high blood pressure.

The most powerful way to open, energize, and balance the heart chakra is to love ourselves. Love is the greatest healer.

In yoga practice, remembering what we love and appreciate as we practice fourth chakra asanas enhances the power of the poses.

NOTICING ANAHATA CHAKRA

Balanced: unconditional love, self-love, accepting, ability to forgive, to be content, peaceful, compassionate, caring.

HOT YOGA POSES FOR ANAHATA:

Pranayama breathing 

the deeper the breath/ lifting and opening the chest, the more opening of your heart chakra.

Ardha-Chandrasana

side bends force energy out of the side channels and back into the central channel overall, especially the Heart Chakra

Dandayamana-Danurasana

When you are stretching forward/leading with your chest, the location of your heart chakra, this pose will balance the energy of the heart chakra

Tuladandasana

Your heart –if done correctly – is pounding after this pose. You are focusing energy on your heart chakra.

Trikonasana 

In this pose, you are lifting your chest upward the entire time, leading with the power of the heart chakra.

Bhujangasana 

pushing your chest up and out focuses on the heart chakra

Poorna-Salabhasana 

pushing your chest up and out focuses the energy of the heart chakra

Dhanurasana

stretching your chest up and out very dramatically here, focusing your energy on waking up and clearing stuck energies in the heart chakra

Ustrasana 

one of the two biggest heart opening poses, this pose focuses completely on opening your heart chakra from the front of your body. There is no holding back in this pose; you are completely pulling open the locks on your heart chakra. If you feel dizzy, lightheaded, nauseous, teary or emotional during or after this pose, know that your heart has just opened and released old wounds. Congratulations.

Sasangasana 

 the second of the two biggest heart opening poses, this pose also opens your heart chakra from its locks located around the back of your body, again relaxing the side channels that loop around the heart and releasing their hold on your heart chakra

MEDITATION FOR ANAHATA CHAKRA

Enclosure

Chakra 5 Vissudha: Speaking Your Truth

Vissudha Chakra, located in the throat, is the center of communication where you develop your voice and speak your truth.

It is directly linked to your personal integrity, your power of choice and your expression of creativity. Its related element is ether with its symbolic color of sky blue. Ether also governs  breath, prana, life force.  Visshuddha supports your unity with all things, and it governs clairaudience.

Focus: Communication

Color:  Blue

Seed Sound: Ham

Sense Organ: Ears and Mouth

Associated sense: Hearing and Speech

Essential Right: To Speak

Essential Oils: Can be used in bath or specified oil burner prior or during meditation

Bergamot – facilitates the ability to express the truths that arise in your heart

Chamomile – allows you to voice the truth calmly

Eucalyptus – aids in rejuvenating creativity

Tea Tree – releases creative energy that helps you reach your potential

Peppermint – assists you in making ethical choices

Frankincense – helps you feel more secure and confident

Sandalwood – boosts confidence

Crystals & Gemstones

Turquoise – improves communication and clarifies intuition

Aquamarine – reduces stress and helps creativity

Amazonite – increases pychic abilities

Lapis Lazuli – acts as a natural antidepressant, raises self-esteem

Flourite – cuts through woolly thinking, assists in the completion of projects

Blue Calcite – fosters trust

Chrysocolla – facilitates stability and serenity

Incense: Myrhh, resin

Foods: Natural sweeteners; raw honey and fruit juices. Liquids in general; water herbal teas. Tree growing fruits; apples, pears, plums, peaches and apricots. Purifying herbs; horehound, slippery elm, salt and lemongrass.

 Physical body: neck, throat, esophagus, ears, mouth, vocal cords, trachea, jaw, shoulders, teeth, tongue, cervical spine, thyroid, and hands.

Chakra location: Throat

The rhythm of music,  dance, singing, and communication through writing and speaking are all fifth chakra expresions.

Visuddha means “pure” or “purification.”

Some yogis notice that drinking more water and letting go of tobacco and dairy helps to loosen up the neck and shoulders and clear the voice of Visshuda.

Singing, reading poetry aloud, scripting all support vibrations and rhythms positively affect your body, down to the cellular level.

Deficient Visshuda chakra leads to neck stiffness, shoulder tension, teeth grinding, jaw disorders, throat ailments, an underactive thyroid, and a fear of speaking.

Excessive Visshuda energy leads to excessive talking, an inability to listen, hearing difficulties, stuttering, and an overactive thyroid.

Depending on the ailments, neck stretches and shoulder opener asanas, including Camel Pose and Pranayama can aid the fifth chakra.

Balanced Characteristics: You communicate articulately, are a good listener, have a good sense of rhythm,  creativity, discover your vocation/career, have integrity and are non-judgemental

Pranayama breathing

breathing deeply, expanding your lungs and exhaling through your mouth focuses energy on your throat.

Dandayamana-Bibhaktapada-Janushirasana 

tucking your chin into the throat chakra also activates your thyroid and parathyroid glands, the glands associated with the 5^th chakra

Sasangasana 

Again, tucking your chin firmly into the spot between your collarbones where your throat chakra is located, as well as your thyroid and parathyroid glands, the glands associated with the 5^th chakra become activated, balanced, healthy with blood flow

Meditation for Vissudha Chakra

Enclosure

Chakra 6 Ajna: Third Eye Open

Ajna: the big picture to live life intuitively

Ajna Chakra opens your psychic faculties. Conceptually, this chakra is about “seeing” the spiritual;  it governs psychic vision, inner knowledge, and inspiration.

Focus: Intuition

Color: Indigo

Seed Sound: Om

Sense Organ: The Eyes

Associated sense: Insight

Essential Oils:

Lemon – cleanses the third eye

Juniper – Helps relieve tension and nervousness, clarifies inner vision

Rosemary – clears your thoughts

Lavender – harmonizes all the chakras, relieves stress and anxiety

Neroli – relieves depression

Geranium – has a harmonizing effect on the mind

Crystals & Gemstones

Amethyst – helps raise spiritual awareness

Tiger’s Eye – helps thread relevant information

Sodalite – frees you from preconceived notions, opens mental horizons

Sugilte – helps maintain our point of view despite pressure or conflict

Azurite – facilitates astral travel

Angelite – facilitates communication with the spiritual realm

Jet – repels nightmares

Selenite – aids in telepathic contact

Incense: Frankincense resin, Sandalwood

Foods: Fasting or other forms of detoxification, consuming water, fruit juices and eating juicy fruits, organic foods, and dark chocolate.

The physical body: governs the eyes, neck, pituitary and pineal glands, forehead, side and back of head and carotid plexus.

Chakra location: Above the eyebrows in the center of the forehead

NOTICING AJNA CHAKR:

Ajna chakra is involved in both the creation and perception of art with a powerful impact.

When the third eye is excessive with too much or blocked energy, we experience headaches, hallucinations, nightmares, and difficulty concentrating.

When this chakra is deficient, we have a poor memory, experience eye problems, have difficulty recognizing patterns, and can’t visualize well.

As a yoga teacher, we guide students to focus on a present-moment, fully engaged experience which supports Ajna chakra: no distractractions. After class, profound insights often come because Ajna vision is directed more deeply inside.

Positive images and visualizations in Savasana create a healthy Ajna chakra. Affirmative feelings draw the imagined into your life.

Balanced Characteristics: Strong intuition, ability to visualize and manifest, greater vision of your purpose, creative imagination, good memory, development of psychic gifts, good dream recall.

Hot Yoga Poses that Support Ajna Chakra:

Dandayamana-Bibhaktapada-Janushirasana 

6^th chakra (third eye chakra) Anja: You are massaging your pituitary gland, the gland correspondening to your 6^th chakra.

Ardha-Kurmasana 

6^th chakra (third eye chakra) Ajna: massaging your pituitary/pineal gland as you press on it physically and bring circulation to these glands associated with 6^th chakra balance.

Janushirasana with Paschimotthanasana 

6^th chakra (third eye chakra) Ajna:  massage your pituitary gland, the gland associated with your 6^th chakra, as you press forehead to knee.

Meditation for Ajna Chakra

Enclosure