Anahata-Heart Chakra

Image from Bodhi Yoga Website

The fourth Chakra, Anahata or Heart Chakra is located in the heart and extends to our arms and hands. It governs our ability to give and receive love. It is also where physical and spiritual come together, yin-yang, male-female relationships. The color of this chakra is green. 

From the Bodhi Yoga Website: 

The name Anahata means “un-struck sound” referencing the space for potential.  Your heart is the central hub for rhythms beating between your physical and spiritual life. A healthy “Heart Chakra” is where you find “middle ground” or balanced rhythms in your relationships, your surroundings, people, places and things. Issues in your Heart Chakra usually surface to help you learn to embrace all that life has to teach you more wholeheartedly and trade your grieving for an atmosphere of gratitude, respect and love with a capital “L”.

The shadow of this chakra is grief. Some things that help balance this chakra are:  practicing gratitude, forgiveness, heart opening yoga, hugging, rubbing the sternum, massage, laughing with friends. 

My affirmation for the Heart Chakra: 

I am filled with Love. I am a being of Light and Love. 

Or

I embrace all that life has to teach me, wholeheartedly. I am filled with gratitude, compassion and LOVE. 

Mudra of the Heart Chakra

Manipura-Solar Chakra

Image from Bodhi Yoga website

The third Chakra, Manipura or Solar Chakra is located in the upper abdomen, from the navel to the solar plexus, or core of the body. It has to do with our will, personal power, confidence and sense of self.  The color of this chakra is yellow.

From the Bodhi Yoga website:

Your third chakra governs your personal power to transform and empower your life to become the way you would choose.  When you have a healthy Solar Chakra, you are motivated to make great things happen for yourself and others. This fire element chakra... is the hub of the digestive processes, both physically and metaphorically, transforming raw material into empowering energy... things begin to heat up and get you motivated to shine on your potential.   Issues in your Solar Chakra usually arise for you to learn to take a stand, OWN who YOU are, BIG-TIME, and shed the shame in your life that arises from the distorted use of power.

Shame and pride are the shadow of this chakra, very interesting. We ignite our power center with Kapalabhati breathing, Yoga (specifically back bends and core work), walking, empowered action, sunshine, and laughing.

My affirmation for the Solar Chakra:

I accept myself completely. I fullfill my potential. I am..

Mudra for the Solar Chakra

Swadhisthana-Sacral Chakra

Sacral Chakra Image from Bodhi Yoga website

The second chakra, Swadhisthana or Sacral Chakra is located in the lower addomen and it has to do with sexuality, emotions and creativity. It is where we conceive and create, whether a human body or a blog post (well, not fully a blogpost, since this is mainly instinctual creativity and there's nothing instinctual about bloging...at least for me). The color of this chakra is orange.

From the Bodhi Yoga website:

When you have a healthy “Sacral Chakra”, you naturally enjoy life’s ebb and flow, and have a strong instinct for fun.  This water element chakra holds your instinctual emotions of creativity, movement and playfulness... The vibrational range of orange on the color spectrum, things begin to move in relation to others in your circle.   Issues in your Sacral Chakra usually arise for you to learn to play a more healthy balance between expression and repression of your emotions, sexuality and instinctual creativity, which can flow more easily when you let go of  those over doses of guilt in your life.

So guilt is the shadow, and we nourish the Sacral Chakra by recognizing and expressing our emotions, moving our bodies freely, sensual pleasures and creativity.

Here's my affirmation for the Sacral chakra:

My Life is a pleasure and delight, filled with fun and creativity! 

Mudra for the Sacral Chakra

Muladhara-Root Chakra

Root Chakra image from Bodhi Yoga 

The first Chakra, Muladhara or Root Chakra is found at the base of the spine, perineum, legs and feet.  It is the foundation or root of all the other chakras. It has to do with instinct, security, survival and potential. Red is the color for this chakra. 

From the Bodhi Yoga website:

Your first Chakra governs all beginnings in the physical world, including your money, health, family and survival issues.  When you have a healthy “Root Chakra”, you are grounded in all the goodness of mortality... It is considered the “sleeping place” of Kundalini Shakti—the awakening manifestation we call “Mother Nature”. Your Root holds all your potential in the raw.  

Fear is the shadow of the Root Chakra. How safe and secure do you feel? Do you take care of your basic needs? 

We can nourish our root chakra by attending to our basic physical needs, nourishing and nurturing ourselves. 

I pieced together this affirmation (most of it from the Bodhi Yoga Chakra Deck) for myself: 

"I attend to my body mind and spirit everyday. I rely on God to provide physical support and safety. I manifest blessings into my life continually. All that I need now is here" 

This is the mudra for the Root Chakra

The Chakras

I enjoy learning different languages. I speak English and Spanish fluently and understand a couple of other languages.  I believe languages assist us in understanding the world, they give us a frame of reference, allow us to perceive things in more ways than one, and understand things on different levels and from various perspectives. And it's not just speaking languages, there's computer languages, and the language of art, food, dance, etc, etc. 

I have been studying Chakras with Syl Carson at Bodhi Yoga, and it has been like learning a new language. It has given me a new way of understanding and explaining my experience on this earth. 

Chakra Yoga Therapy with Syl Carson

Chakra means "wheel", or circle. It refers to energy centers in the body. There are many centers of energy, with 7 main chakras. I will write a little about each one. 

The Bodhi Path

The lovely, healing, empowering, Bodhi Yoga Center

Bodhi: 1. the knowledge of awareness by which one experiences enlightenment
            2. the experience of awakening through awareness, pure intent, faith unwavering

From the Bodhi Yoga website: 

“Bodhi” is a sanskrit word that means “Awakening”.  At Bodhi Yoga™ our practice is designed to help you be more aware; better able to notice and understand how your yoga moves your body, mind, emotions and spirit toward a place of balance and abundance.  Over time, the result is that you are able to naturally increase your tolerance for that wonderful awareness.  We honor your yoga practice as a great tool to bring the abundance you learn in class, outward to enrich every other area of your life.

Bodhi Yoga™ is a slower paced yoga, where we teach you to pay as much attention to how you move in and out of the yoga poses, as being in the postures themselves.  Our focus is on creating the space for increased stamina, resilience and awareness in your practice and your life.  When we slow down our breath and movement together, the intensity and focus of your practice deepens into something brand new; a style of practice that fosters both emotional intelligence, maturity and appreciation.

The above paragraphs explain the core reason why, after almost 20 years of practicing yoga,  I chose to do my teacher training through Bodhi Yoga. I began serious study almost a year ago, and it has been an amazing experience of diving deep and becoming immersed in all aspects of yoga. I have loved taking the time to study and explore. As I learned to slow down my breath and movement, and deepen the intensity and focus of my practice, the same happened with my study and preparation to certify as a Yoga Instructor. I have moved (and will continue to move) toward awareness of this place of balance and abundance.

Becoming more awake, more conscious, more present, and thus experiencing more joy, this is the path I seek. As I complete the requirements for my Teacher Training, I will begin teaching at Bodhi Yoga, and that is a dream come true!

Why Bodhi Yoga

Image from Gobodhiyoga.com

I have been asked why, out of all the wonderful options available, I chose Bodhi Yoga to get my Yoga Teacher certification. Here is my answer. 

First of all, Bodhi Yoga offers a Yoga Alliance certified 200 hour course that includes: 

-5 immersion weekends, with a small group
-500 page manual and DVD-CD kit
-5 month Bodhi Yoga class membership
-200+ hours full teacher training streaming online 

Bodhi Yoga website says that "Once certified as a Yoga teacher you will be qualified to:

1. • To teach a complete repertoire of Yoga Postures
2. • A variety of BodhiFlow Vinyasa Power Yoga Styles and Sequencing
3. • A variety of BodhiYin Restorative Styles and Sequencing
4. • A variety of BodhiSpin Chakra Styles with Kundalini Style Sequencing
5. • The twelve Systems of the Body as related to the body of Yoga
6. • Anatomy/Emotions of Yoga Movement
7. • Structures of Sanskrit/Yoga Chant/Ayurveda
8. • Teaching students body awareness, and how to move through beginning through advanced yoga postures using Bodhi Yoga’s Natural Progression™ approach to Asanas
9. • Comprehensive Hands-on-adjusting 
10. • How to develop Specialized Classes from Pre-Natal, Kids to a range of Therapeutic Yoga
11. • Skills for designing individually appropriate private sessions with confidence & authenticity.

I have gained all that is on that list, and more. I am so thrilled, it has been an amazing life changing experience. Totally worth it!