When I first flipped through my textbook, I had a glimpse of the 7 Chakras diagram. When
the time finally came for Jessica to teach about the 7 Chakras, I thought, “Are you
serious??”. It piqued my interest greatly and I enjoyed the session immensely. I am a huge
animation and comics fan; I watched both the TV series, Aang: The Last Airbender and the
Japanese animation, Naruto. Both of which seems to take inspiration of Chakras; and refers
to it as is a form of life energy that all individuals produce to some degree, or series of points
throughout the body where energy is concentrated. And of course, no surprise here, the
characters in the animation series are unable to use their powers if their Chakras pathways
are blocked; or dies if they run out of Chakra.
Putting aside my nerd moment and coming back to yoga, the concept of yoga is more
accurately rooted in ancient traditions of Hinduism but is also found in Buddhism; and it has
made it way to spiritual traditions in yoga.
Chakra means “spinning wheel”. According to yogic beliefs, the human body has seven
Chakras, which can be thought of as intersections of different energy channels. Each Chakra
is responsible for our different behaviours and values in life (e.g., security, communication
and love). It is also said to regulate various bodily systems and senses.
What happens when our energy is blocked in one of the Chakras? Unlike fictional characters
who loses their superpower or unable to reach to a ‘higher state’; we might experience
imbalances in physical emotional or mental self. If prolonged, we may develop symptoms
like anxiety, lethargy or digestive problems and become sick.
Different yoga poses stimulate and enables connection to the different Chakras. Perhaps, to
become less stressed and more confident in myself, I can focus more of unblocking my
Naval Chakara (Manipura) by doing more core work (i.e., boat poses and twisting asanas) to
awaken the heat in my body.
Grace
200 Hour YTT Feb-May’21
