Chakra Class: Crown Chakra...

Crown Chakra
Sanskrit Name: Sahasrara
Location: Top of Head
Color: Violet 
Element: Information

The seventh chakra is the energy center for higher spiritual information. This chakra allows you, as spirit, to know things beyond what your body could know.  When stimulated and clear, it enables one to see the truth concerning illusionary ideals, materialistic pursuits and self-limiting concepts.  It further allows one to experience continuous self-awareness and conscious detachment from personal emotions.

I was really excited for tonight's class because I knew it was the last one and I was really curious as to how

Chakra Class: Third Eye Chakra...

Third Eye Chakra
Sanskrit Name: Ajna
Location: Brow, In Between Eyes
Colour: Indigo 
Element: Light 

The sixth chakra is that of the brow, third eye, or place of "shamanic seeing." This energy centre is closely associated with imagination, inner vision, and intuition. Our mental calculations and thinking processes are functions of the third eye chakra. We are able to evaluate our past experiences and life patterns and put them into perspective through the wisdom of the third chakra's actions.  It is also related to the Pituitary Gland. It functions as a link between the inner world and the outer world.

Tonight's class was to be a silent class. We were not going to use any music but just have the sound of our own breath and her instructions.  Trish is usually a pretty energetic teacher, trying to get us to smile and act silly and not take things so seriously but today she wanted us to be serious. She wanted focus from all of us.  She didn't mean just focusing on the pose, it was focusing on being completely present in the moment. We were instructed to see things but not react to them. I always get the urge to fix my shirt, brush my hair away, drink some water, look in the mirror, wipe sweat from my eye but she just wanted us to observe these disturbances and not react to them. Be aware of them but just leave them. These disturbances aren't just things that are irritating you, they are distractions to take you out of the present moment, which in her class can sometimes be a little uncomfortable...she teaches a really powerful class. 

She was also going to have us keep our gaze or Drishti steady for the entire class. Drishti is a form of concentration. For me it is one of the things I need to balance in a pose. It allows me to zone in on one spot and just be WITH that spot. We were doing sun salutations while keeping a steady gaze along the mid-line of our body, outward. It was like someone drew a line from the ceiling, wall in front of us, floor and wall behind us while we flowed through the poses. This constant flow of my gaze, in a strait line upward, in front, downward and back, kept me really focused.  Seeing as I had just come from a full training weekend, I also spent all class really focusing on the muscular engagement of my body. Needless to say it was a new kind of yoga tonight. Very engaged, very strong, very focused and extremely powerful.

She also had us do sun salutations with our eyes closed. I usually find this really hard and end up peeking. Tonight, because I was so aware of my body, I was able to follow this imaginary strait line in front of me even with my eyes closed. I was even able to keep my eyes closed in Tree Pose with my gaze lifted.  Just try it...it takes crazy focus.  I usually can never do it.

She was really trying to get us to see with our eyes closed. Open up the Third Eye and SEE with out seeing. Observe without reacting.  It was really neat. Being this focused with the eyes, open and closed, really helped me stay focused on my body engagement. Sometimes I do check out and just go though the motions. I find those classes, I don't really walk away with anything extra to think about. Tonight I was plugged in and my body is defiantly going to feel it tomorrow.

This chakra also intrigued me because it mentioned something about the Pituitary Gland.  I had no idea what it is so I looked it up. This is one part of it I read:

"The pituitary gland secretes nine hormones that regulate homeostasis"

  

Then I looked up Homeostasis.  It read:

  "Homeostasis, in simple terms,  is basically a process in which the body's internal environment is kept stable."

Now I am no science nerd but I think that's cool. I may be interpreting this wrong but what I take from this is that this process is creating balance and harmony on the inside of the body.  Maybe I was able to keep my eyes closed in tree pose this time because my Third Eye was open.  The third eye is connected to the pituitary gland, (insert Dem Bones song here lol ) which regulates homeostasis, which is a process which keeps the body's insides balanced. Well eyes and glands must really have been working tonight! The whole beauty of Tree Pose and one of my favourite features is the ability to stay so balanced. Tree pose always bring me inner calm. To do it with my eyes closed...incredible!

I really am not sure what happened in class tonight with any Eyes or glands or balancing processes but class tonight was aces! Next week will be the last one. I will be sad to see this series end. My eyes have really been opened :)

Namaste xo.

Chakra Class: Throat Chakra...

Sorry folks but I didn't go to my Monday Chakra class. I have come down with something have wanted to do nothing but sleep lately.  I think it may be the flu. Funny my throat hurts so much and it's the throat Chakra week. I'll give you the info on the throat chakra anyways. I wish I could have made it. I am so disappointed.

Throat Chakra
Sanskrit Name: Vishuddha
Location: Throat
Color: Sky Blue 
Element: Sound

The Throat chakra is our voice center. It represents self-expression, communication, and talking. When it is open, you have no problems expressing yourself.  The healthfulness of this chakra is signified by how openly and honestly a person expresses themselves. Lies and half-truths energetically pollute our throat chakra. 

Namaste xo.

Chakra Class: Heart Chakra...

Tonight was the Heart Chakra. What a class...I am still awestruck by it. I never know how she is going to represent each Chakra but somehow she manages to blow my mind each week. So here goes...

Heart Chakra
Sanskrit Name: Anahata
Location: Heart, Upper Chest
Color: Green 
Element: Air

The heart chakra,rests in the center of the chakra system, at the core of our spirit. The Heart Chakra connects the bottom three chakras, representing balance and grounding, with the upper three chakras representing love, intuition and spirituality. Anahata, in Sanskrit means “unhurt.” Its name implies that deep beneath our personal stories of brokenness and the pain in our heart, wholeness, boundless love, and a wellspring of compassion reside. 

Tonight the music was more calming and seemed almost romantic. I knew tonight was going to be all about the heart and how much love we allow into our lives. She asked us to remember when our heart had been broken, when we felt defeated. She then asked us to remember the opposite of a broken heart and when we felt utter joy and when our heart was bursting.  She reminded us that the hearts search for bliss is never ending.  Its not something you just find, its something you enjoy while you travel on your life journey. The more times your heart is broken, the better the opportunity to mend, absorb the lessons and allow yourself to fill your heart back up again with the bliss we constantly seek.

The class was to be all back bends though. Hearing this immediately shut my heart down and I felt nothing but fear. My back injury, the one that left MY heart feeling defeated, happened in a back bend. I avoid them as they carry physical limitations as well as emotional ones. I usually don't even attempt them out of fear. I always leave class disappointed in myself but I never want to return to where I was in the past two years. The feeling of constant anger and helplessness is something I never want again. If you have ever had an injury for longer than six months, you can fully understand. 

I didn't think I could do the class and I was actually, for the very first time, thinking of leaving.  Realizing that I would actually leave a yoga class before it even began made me realize I needed to do this. I would trust my body and go back to my roots and listen to my limitations and be OK with them.

The reason she chose back bends to represent the Heart Chakra, is because a proper back bend is about opening you heart high to the sky and not actually compressing your spine. By truly opening your heart, you bring a lightness into your body with allows more room and growth through your spine. I tried to remember this all class.

As class progressed, I felt nothing but frustration. I was afraid to try anything. We were also doing another pose I deeply struggle with due to everyday computer work and that is clasping our hands behind our backs and extending the arms overhead. This pose opens up all those tight, shortened muscles in the chest area. The class was just this  pose and back bends. I was hating it.

I was losing the point of the class and was closing myself off to any possibilities of an open heart.  I realized my heart was not only closed, it was also scarred.  I needed this class and what it represented to allow me to break the emotions and start learning from my experience of pain.  I stopped thinking about what I thought I could and couldn't do and just allowed myself to do it. I allowed myself to bend backwards and express my heart to the sky. I took care to use the right muscles to stay safe in the pose but mainly I trusted my body and my heart and I let go. I let go of my fear and really finally opened my heart and to new possibilities.

I didn't rationalize any of these thoughts or what was really represented until Savasana. I went into to final resting pose still frustrated but once I settled in and fully released, I began to cry. I mistook the tears as sweat at first but then I realized what was happening. I have heard this happening to people but it has never happened to me before. It was a little overwhelming, as I didn't even see it coming.  I realized what I finally allowed myself to do. Yes, I did back bends for an entire class, but mainly I let go. I let go of fear and emotional memories of what it was like to be in constant pain. I let go of compression and allowed length and space instead. I let go of a feeling of being defeated in a part of my life to make room for new possibilities and experiences. I feel amazing.

What I like about these Chakra classes, is not the practice itself but what each one represents.  Each class represents something different to each person in it. I go into each class with an open mind and try to find deeper meaning each time. There always seems to be a different meaning and every time I learn something new. Sometimes they surprise me as I don't know what I am going find when I am in there.

This is why I love yoga.
 Namaste xo.

Chakra Class: Solar Plexus...

Seeing as its Monday, I went to my Chakra class at Kula.  We practiced with the Solar Plexus Chakra in mind tonight.
  Solar Plexus Chakra
Sanskrit Name: Manipura
Location: Naval
Color: Yellow
Element: Fire

The solar plexus chakra defines our self-esteem.  It is associated with action, willpower, assertion, empowerment, and ego mastery. By opening the navel chakra, you may be able to reach deep into your own sense of self and find your balance or boundary point. 

After last weeks insanity class I was a little nervous for tonight. The Manipura Chakra is the fire chakra, located in the navel, representing your power and energy plus your personal willpower. I figured tonight would be all about the core and the determination to spend the entire class doing sit ups and core work. I was mentally prepared to rock it and test my willpower even though I wasn't looking forward to it.

She had jungle drumming music playing in the back ground and tonight's vinyāsa almost seemed like a tribal dance. There was some interesting standing twists and fluid movement back bends set to the breath and many high energy sun salutations. I felt like I was dancing around a campfire in the amazon jungles. I was defiantly getting fired up and feeling some serious energy coming from within. I found myself pedaling my heels in down-dog just waiting to pounce forward to start a brand new sunnie (sun salutation) with even more energy that the last.  It was an awesome feeling. I felt totally empowered and felt like I could do exactly what I was doing for hours!

After firing up all that energy came the test of willpower in form of Warrior II.  While flowing and having fun "dancing" we stopped the flow at Warrior. Warrior II always makes me feel empowered and strong, even though we usually only hold it for 5 breaths or less.

I knew this is were the willpower was going to be tested as we were going to be hanging out in the pose for a while. With all that new found energy burning inside I knew I could hold it for as long as I needed to.  When my arms started to scream, I held with more strength. When my legs began to burn, I sank lower. When my feet began to slip, I dug deeper. I tried not to think about the fact that I would have to do it all over again on the other side.  I didn't want to give up. I was in charge of my strength and my determination tonight. No one could decide for me. I had a hunger to stick with it, and to feel the fire inside begin to rage. It hurt like hell but I wanted the empowerment. It felt incredible and when we were finally released out of the pose you couldn't help but smile. I was rewarded with another amazing Savasana after class where I just felt I was on top of the world and so relaxed all at the same time.

In the grand scheme of things, holding a yoga pose with determination is pretty small and insignificant. People are tested everyday with much harder life struggles. Holding that pose for that long was hard but the difficulty is a direct representation of the shit we may have to deal with in our everyday lives. What makes yoga so amazing, to me, is that something that "small" can make me feel so empowered in my life for weeks to come. Yoga teaches me that all the power I need comes from within myself.  If I want something I can get it. Nothing is easy and it's going to hurt like hell to get there but once I do, the rewards will be amazing.

Namaste xo.

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