Chakra Class: Root & Sacral...

Monday night is my favorite yoga night of the week at Kula Oakville. There is a teacher (I won't name names just yet) that has three hot yoga classes in a row. What's crazy is that she actually practices along with us during each class.  That's stamina! It's unbelievable how strong she is in her practice. She is defiantly an inspiring teacher and yoga role model.

She concentrates a lot
on core work as she believes, 100%, that the core is your entire being of life. It's a huge area of muscle and we don't use it nearly enough. We tend to use smaller muscles as they are easier to access instead of our core.  In certain poses for example, Prayer Twist, we have a tendency to use the neck for balance instead of the core. Unlike most teachers who tell you to look up, she challenges us to try dropping/relaxing the neck.  Once you do, all of a sudden you become really wobbly in the pose. Now that you are not tensing your neck in Prayer Twist, you engage the core. Mine is weak, so I start to topple really fast. I love her comment after we all start to fall over, which is

"If we use our neck to keep us balanced in tough situations in yoga class, how often do we do it in life outside of class?" 

So true.  Once I started to think about this, there is less tension in my neck everyday.  So not only is she really powerful, she has a lot of interesting perspectives on things too.

Last week she started a seven week Chakra Practice, concentrating on each Chakra each class. Last Monday was the Root Chakra and this week was the Sacral Chakra. I guess I am a week behind on explaining my experience with the Root Chakra class, but my blog wasn't started yet so what can you do?

I am not an expert but I will give you a quick note on each so you know what the heck I am talking about.

Root Chakra
Sanskrit Name: Muladhara
Location: Base of Spine
Color: Red 
Element: Earth
The root chakra is the grounding force that allows us to connect to all the earth's energies and empower ourselves through these energies. It allows us to be present with a feeling of security in situations and a sense of comfort in our physical bodies.

 The class was dark and she spoke very quietly.  The entire practice was spent with my eyes closed and my feet barely leaving the floor while flowing through each pose. Imagining the vibration of the earth and feeling the energy flowing beneath me really set the mood.  Concentration of the entire class was rooted in the legs (they were burning for sure after!) and the upper body was almost completely forgotten. Without using my upper body to assist in the practice, I really got a sense of being heavy and rooted to the ground. I felt as if my tailbone was being pulled down low and was able to touch or tap into some of these energies flowing beneath me. I truly felt a sense of being in the present moment and really stable where I was, even with eyes completely closed.  The practice gave me sensations I haven't experienced before and my Savasana was the most restful it has ever been in the years I have been practicing yoga. I felt a true sense of peace in just laying on the floor absorbing all the earth had to offer me. The practice ended with the teacher reminding us, that the earth has an unstoppable amount of energy to offer us whenever we need it.  All we have to do is to get grounded and accept it. Neato!

Sacral Chakra 
Sanskrit Name: Swadhisthana
Location: Lower Abdomen
Color: Orange
Element:Water
The Sacral chakra helps maintain a healthy balance in life. Although the sacral chakras is considered the sexual energy center, it is also the center where your creativity resides. When it is open, your feelings and ideas flow freely and are expressed without involving too much emotion. 

Unfortunately I did not get the same feeling from today's class as I did last week.  Maybe my Root chakra was not open last week and last class really opened it up??  Possibly my Sacral chakra is functioning fine and I didn't feel a difference from when I went into class from when I came out? Could also be that I didn't open it at all and it is still stuck?? Or maybe it was because the class was insanely challenging and didn't get a chance to concentrate on the actual chakra?   I am not really sure, like I mentioned, I am not a chakra expert.  One thing I do know is I do not like doing a Sun Salutation while holding two blocks in between my legs, then following with another Sun Salutation while being on a sliding blanket. My abs are going to scream tomorrow! The only thing I found really interesting is that the Sacral Chakra is represented by water. The sounds of Hurricane Sandy blasting the studio and the sound of flowing rain thrashing at the skylights was defiantly a very interesting element while practicing with the water chakra.  

Next week will be the Solar Plexus Chakra class. Hopefully I can tune in more to the chakra and really gain some insight and what opening that chakra can do for me.

Namaste xo.