In many Indian languages, the word hatha means adamant, or with force.ĭon’t worry, though. Ha means sun, and ta means moon masculine and feminine.Įverything you can cast your eyes on has an element of sun in, as it’s our source of life or prana.īut fly too close to the sun and you’ll get burnt, right? So we also need the cooling, calming energies of the moon to bring us into balance. It’s about preparing the body for spiritual practice and growth by optimizing the body’s systems, maximizing our human potential. Sure, there might be side-effects of strength and flexibility, but these are not the goal of Hatha Yoga. These are just a few of the many yoga postures you can do that involves working with movement in your hips and the lower abdominal area.Hatha Yoga is not the exercise that the Western world might have you believe. Here are 3 yoga poses to activate and balance the sacral chakra. The related color is orange and the bija mantra is VAM.

It centers around our ability to welcome change, relate to others, create our deepest desires, and practice both intimacy and sexuality.The element is water, hence the nature of this energy center.It is located in our womb area, between the navel and the groin.Chakra Svadhisthana holds a large part of who we are and how we interact both with ourselves and others, making it a challenging energy center to work on. It centralizes around fluidity, ease of movement, expression, creativity, sexuality and intimacy. Janu Sirsasana: Head-to-Knee Forward Bend.In each posture, focus on your body connecting to the Earth, making you feel stable and grounded. Here are 3 yoga poses to activate and balance the root chakra. The related color is red, picture a glowing red ball at the base of your spine.It centers around basic survival needs – like food, shelter, and money, and deals with emotions like belonging, feeling grounded, safe, and accepted.The element is Earth, hence why it’s referred to as dense and tasked with being the pillar upon which all other chakras rest.It is located at the base of your spine.While there is not a single most important chakra, the root chakra is one of the most important main chakras to keep open and balanced to allow life force energy to flow through you. The root chakra forms the base of our most basic needs, connects us with the ground beneath, and lets us tap into the foundation of our entire chakra system. Through this guide, you’ll learn the basics of each of the 7 chakras, and a few asanas that help to bring them to balance. One of my most enjoyable learning experiences during my 200HR yoga teacher training in India was learning more about each of our chakras and how we can activate and balance each through various yoga poses.

While understanding the chakras takes a lot of time and energy, you can begin with a little at a time. The main chakras, starting from the root chakra (Muladhara) all the way to the crown chakra (Sahasrara), sit on a subtle energy line that serves as a sort of highway for life force energy (aka Kundalini energy).Īnd certain yoga poses can help activate each of the chakras, ultimately cleansing the chakras for a healthy flow of energy in the subtle body. While all of these things can certainly help with healing the chakra system, very rarely do people talk about how chakra yoga poses fit into your yoga practice.īut it’s true. You’ve probably heard a lot about the importance of balancing your chakras, followed up with certain mantras, meditation, essential oils, or breathing exercises.

Hatha yoga sequences pdf