What are Chakras and Why Should You Care?

Chakra itself means wheel or circle in the ancient Sanskrit language. It is a circular energy, and when we think of circular energy we often think of a vortex, whirlpool, or even a tornado. That is exactly what chakras are deep within us – they are spinning energy points that are connected (by Nadi’s) and carry an energy called Prana through the body.

Simply put chakras are the body's energy center. There are technically hundreds of chakras throughout our body, though in the yogic aspect, we pay attention to primarily seven of them. Each chakra is an energy point that spins the energy up and down through your body. They represent our emotions and behaviors connected to our subconscious feelings, habits, and thoughts. When our chakras are open they allow energy to flow freely through the body facilitating balance of energy. When they are closed we find deficiencies in various parts of our bodies, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and mental/emotional selves.

Our chakras are connected by energy channels called nadis (we have tens of thousands of them). There are three main nadis called Sushumna, Ida, and Pingala. Think of channels of a large river, they break off and feed the earth the water it needs to survive and nourish itself. This is what the nadis do for you, connecting to the chakras along the way. The energy these channels carry are channels from which prana flows. Prana is the ultimate life-force energy that is derived from the sun creating all life.

Meditation is used to arouse the energy of the chakras to bring you to kundalini. Meditation is a large part of yoga and regular yoga practice can also enhance and balance the chakra system. That is why this workshop offers a variety of meditations for each chakra, including yoga.

Yoga also activates the chakras. The basic yoga asanas at the beginning of a yoga flow include sukhasana (easy seated pose), ardhasana (half-lotus pose), padmasana (lotus pose), shankhasana (child’s pose), and tadasana (standing mountain pose); it is these four poses that activate particular chakras, as we flow through a yoga class, the movement helps to balane them. We will practice these in this workshop.

Further Study

This is a Chakra workshop meant for those with minimal knowledge of the Chakra system; and for those who are curious and have an idea of Chakras but need more clarification. Because of the targetted audience, the primary focus of the workshop is on the Chakra system and how to identify them and work with them. With this in mind, I will not get into the many details and intricacies of an advanced workshop. If, however, you would like a deeper dive, I will provide some vocabulary words for you to research to help you deepen your understanding, This is completely optional, you do not need a thorough understanding of each to understand this workshop.

Introduction Vocabulary Deepening

Prana

Nadi's

Kundalini

Sacrum

Asana