Chakras and Yoga By Guest Writer Citrine Sunflower

I hear about Chakras quite regularly: “My Chakras are out of line”, “My Chakras need clearing” and even “I’m going to realign his Chakras if he doesn’t behave!”
Often people are unsure of what it is exactly that they’re talking about.

The word Chakra is a Sanskrit word, from India which translates as ‘Wheels of light’. It is said that we each have 114 chakras of which there are 72000 Nadis connecting to each Chakra. Nadis are channels, like veins, which allow prana, the energy life force to flow between each. Prana is the energy which is needed for us to live, like a battery needs a charge to work.

Although there are 114 Chakras there are 7 in particular which we tend to work with:

• Crown
• Brow (Third Eye)
• Throat
• Heart
• Solar Plexus
• Sacral
• Root

We each have an energy field which surrounds us, this is our Aura. According to how we are feeling, our Aura presents in colour to those who have the ability to see it. Someone who has experienced trauma and who is entrenched in a chaotic lifestyle for example will have a very dull Aura, it may even be grey and be dragging around their ankles.

When pranic energy enters our Aura, it reaches out to the Chakras. If you were to imagine an arrangement of water wheels like a child’s toy. When water is poured over the wheels, they turn like cogs in a machine.

This is not dissimilar to the workings of the Chakras. They can rarely, if ever, be too full of energy but imagine that the energy is stagnant. Imagine you are spending time with a lot of negative people. We have all been in a situation where we have felt overwhelmed by other people’s negative energy, it feels heavy and lingers for a while. That negative energy can build up in our own chakras which can be detrimental to the organs in that particular area.

Over time our Chakras are forced out of line and need a good cleansing. The negative or stagnant energy can lead to illnesses or tiredness, you may feel low in mood and have a lack of motivation, even your sleep can be affected.

There are many ways in which to cleanse your Chakras:

• Aromatherapy
• Crystal Cleansing
• Yoga
• Sound Bath

Each method is a wonderful way to cleanse your Chakras.

Many people typically clear out the negative energy using Crystal Cleansing however Yoga is a good way to do it whilst releasing stress, grounding yourself, completing a mindfulness activity and toning your body.
Hatha Yoga is typically the best type of Yoga to do as it uses poses which require you to be straight which enables the flow of energy to the Chakras.

Water can’t flow through a pipe if there is a kink in the pipe however, if you straighten the pipe the water will flow again. This is the same for our bodies. Prana is unable to flow to the chakras if there are issues in the body therefore completing some yoga poses will straighten the bodies alignment and re-align the chakras whilst grounding unwanted energy to the earth and releasing stress and anxieties.

There are a number of poses you can do to cleanse each Chakra. Take some time to research a Yoga class in your area so that you can learn the poses in a safe way.

“Yoga is when every cell of the body, sings the song of the soul”
B.K.S. Lyengar

In Love and Light – Citrine Sunflower