Hi there, I was just wondering if their are any guide-lines about the the chakra’s when practicing yoga. What I mean are their any do’s & dont’s about when you add chakra’s to your practice. Such as focusing on the wrong chakra-for the posture. Would this cause any problems to me?
Thanking you in advance for your advice.
Dear Yoda,
No need to worry about chakras, or to be overly preoccupied with them. They will reveal themselves as your practice evolves over several years time. However, holding a focus on either anahata (solar plexus) or ajna (behind the eyes) during meditation or pranayama would be primary helpful for a beginner.
Om
Siva
Thanks Siva, something else you might be able to help with. Do all the chakra’s develop at the same rate. Or do some people, within their bodys have stronger chakra’s than other chakra’s, so they need to focus upon the weaker chakra’s/area’s to option greater harmony within themselves.
But as you said, start by working on the “anahata & ajna” chakra’s and your be on the right path.
yoda,
The anahata and ajna chakras correspond to strong physical landmarks. Anahata is right where the upper and lower spine meet (T12-L1), where the thoracic cavity is divided by the diaphragm, which is attached right there at the spine. A lot going on there, so you can see why it's big one. Ajna is exactly where the skull sits atop the spine. Since these are points where we have some actual articulation and control, they are a good place to start.
Chakras do not all develop at the same rate, nor at the same time. Each of us has at least one dominant chakra, which we may not be aware of. So in the beginning, locating and focusing on it may be hit or miss. This is where hatha becomes very important in developing an overall awareness of your body, and why there's no need to get overly preoccupied. Mental focus is a companion to the physical.
My experience has been that chakras develop in sequence, one to the next. Something happens when you get one chakra working above or below another that sets up alignment with a third, and so on. Like stringing beads.
This is a large part of the research I am personally involved with. Spyrotone is in essense an external chakra: two chakras (wheels) operating on each extremity then connect and align those in between, that alignment happening on an axis along the coronal plane and connecting at an intersection with the sagittal plane. This is part of what is represented by the siva nataraj.
The last piece of the puzzle is the alternating nature of energy, moving from one side to the other (ha & tha) and ascending and descending (heaven & earth) which is where your breathing, physical control and alignment come into play, or "dance" if you prefer.
Great questions!
Peace,
Siva
Excuse me,
Anahata chakra…where the “thoracic and abdominal cavities” are divided by the diaphragm.
my mistake,
siva
Thanks Siva, for your advice, just that there seems to be a lot of concern about the physical practice of yoga of body alignment of the limbs, and should and shouldn?t do. And yet little about the spiritual aspect?s, such as the chakra’s etc. Furthermore, have you any advice of which chakra you should do in forward-bends, inversions, etc. As I sometimes forget which chakra relates to which asana. And will this have any negative effect upon me, for doing this when practicing.
Also sorry for my naivety but what is [I]?hatha?[/I] and how does it relate to yoga practice.
Yoda,
“Hatha” is the yoga we practice: the postures and breath control. Chakras are not “spiritual aspects,” they are physical, “wheels,” pivoting fulcrum points in the body, and much more. As I said before, don’t worry about chakras. Your attention should be on form and breathing.
peace,
siva
They are not added. They are activated.
That activation is achieved in a variety of ways including but not limited to alignment in asana. One facilitates the other.
You needn’t fixate on them. However if you are deeply interested then simply work to feel the residue of each posture (before prancing on to the next one). Over time you’ll cultivate a heightened sense or awareness and begin to understand and feel the subtle body of which the chakras are members.
[QUOTE=yoga-yoda;16428]Hi there, I was just wondering if their are any guide-lines about the the chakra’s when practicing yoga. What I mean are their any do’s & dont’s about when you add chakra’s to your practice. Such as focusing on the wrong chakra-for the posture. Would this cause any problems to me?
Thanking you in advance for your advice.[/QUOTE]
I agree with IA, but would add:
Chakras affect us, but we are hard-pressed to affect them.
Various traditions disagree over the number & precise location ? this may be because their practices awaken only certain.
We have an urge (due to out materialistic/scientific thinking) to put a structure to something which is highly subtle ? a futile attempt since I think they can only be understood via awareness. There are many ways to cultivate this awareness ? Yoga asana just one of the many.
Namaste Siva,
I have much respect for you and your words, but this doesn’t really make sense to me. Do you mind explaining a bit more why you say the chakras are not spiritual aspects? I am trying to understand it in the context of your other replies but miss the point somehow.
Pandara,
Thank you. My regards to you as well.
Yoda’s impression here (of unknown origin), might suggest not only that “spiritual aspects” are separate of the body or physical practice, but that chakras might be too. In this case, I hesitate to supplant the notion with yet another and encourage only action that might lead to his/her own clarity, namely raja and good hatha practice.
“Chakra” literally means wheel. Yes? Is this a symbolic or physical description? It’s both, but the former is derived from the later and not vice versa. And although they are a part of the subtle body, they have a structure cooresponding to the physical. They are pivotal points around which force and energy cross the divisional planes of the body, namely coronal and sagittal (when aligned and connected), in a rotational/counter-rotational fashion: where the static and dynamic are unified, where the two become one, where opposites meet, etc.
How many yogi’s out there have studied the artwork? Why not? In particular the Nataraj? And I don’t just mean what you read about it, but what you see. There are many clues. It is as physically diagrammatic as it is symbolic. See for yourself.
Peace & love,
Siva
Namaste Siva,
thank you, I now understand it better in the light of the context you showed me.
[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;16516]They are not added. They are activated.
That activation is achieved in a variety of ways including but not limited to alignment in asana. One facilitates the other.
You needn’t fixate on them. However if you are deeply interested then simply work to feel the residue of each posture (before prancing on to the next one). Over time you’ll cultivate a heightened sense or awareness and begin to understand and feel the subtle body of which the chakras are members.[/QUOTE]
Thanks InnerAthlete, however, it might seem a strange question. But after the chakra’s are activated can they be turned on/off??? As they might become over-powering or a distraction, if your not used to them being activated (e.g: a dripping tap). Or are they not that strong at the begining, and need to be further developed before this would happen.
Also do you know about the interaction between the chakra’s and the development of the ‘Kundalini’.
I think the usage of the words physical and chakra in conjunction is miselading (to not say, wrong.)
Already there is a materialist perception of yoga’s higher aspects, and this does not help.
Not that I’d really know what I am talking about, but what I become to comprehend.
The artwork is very important. The chakra indeed is the residing place of a spiritual entity (a god). It is not just “artwork” in the sense of giving some food for the mind, but it is a tangible representation of a spiritual reality.
We are living and being supported by these entities, called angels, or devis. Life could not go on without them. When one is able to direct and perform one’s own digestion, for example, than one might say that there is no spiritual entity doing that instead of him. But only than. ( I am not going into what today’s science think to know about it, that would take too long)
Ever questioned why angels are depicted as babies and little children ? Todays emancipated minds assume that in their silly faith, artists have created these naive imagery. They are the silly ones who in their intellectual pride and arrogance, cannot accept anything that does not fit into their self enforced limits.
In babies, and little children, when the Self is just starting it’s descent to become the individual human being, most of the babies and child’s activity, it’s growth, is directed and ruled by these spiritual entities. Seeing them is seeing the angels/devis in action. That’s why angels are often painted as babies or children up to the age of three.
Chakras are the acting places of these spiritual beings. Spiritual advancement is becoming more and more aware how these beings operate. It is a mistake when one pictures the delicate processes of life as “energies”, because when we use this word, we do not realize that there is no dead energy as we picture it in the form of electric energy driven by wires. One might say that this is an animist approach, but this is more close to the truth that the all deadening assumptions of natural science.
So, my question is … how one becomes able to witness and face these beings, and how one becomes a co-worker in their actions ? All siddhis are born through this.
When, after the forty years of fasting in the desert, Jesus is tempted, and than he succeds in resisting the temptations, it is said that God’s angels came and served him. Or when Jesus meets Nathan, and says to him, I have seen thee under the fig-tree, -public use of clairvoyance - and than Nathan believes that he’s the Messiah, Jesus says: Now that I told you I have seen you under the fig tree, now you believe ? This is but nothing … from now on you will see the angels of God coming up and down on the Son of Man.
What does this mean ? That Jesus’ disciples became initiated to a certain degree. Probably to the degree they were capable to bear. To what extent this happened is an interesting question, as the gospels show that until after forty days of being crucified, when the Holy Ghost was granted, most disciples did not have a clue about who Jesus really was. Even Peter who identified Jesus as The Son of God, still denied him when things apparently turned an ugly direction. They might have had theoretic, or an obscure intuitive spiritual knowledge, as result of Christ’s external activity as the teaching Jesus. But that was far from direct spiritual knowledge. They recieved that only after Jesus has been crucified, in the Form of The Holy Ghost.
Those who see in all this some obscure legend suitable for some dumb fishermen, throw the baby out togheter with the bathing water. Important is that for the inquring mind, there are answers, for the thirsty soul there is comfort, for the aspiring soul there are great heights of understanding until all becomes clear, and first hand experience.
Christianity is not any sillier than any other religion, and as all religions, in it’s apperently silly ways and statements, there are great truths hidden. (And because as one of the largest religions, is also one of the latest, it’s more suitable to world karma than more ancient ones Not in i’s orthodox, or external ways, but in the need for a contemporary understanding of it’s main tenets, and the figure of Christ.)
We just need to be able to decipher these truths, as they are always codified. Not to hide things, but because there is no other way to make a mind used to the sensorial world to make much sense of it. Any time when you read, hear something what just does not make sense to you, instead of just throwing it away, keep an open attitude, keep the option open, because comprehension might follow in due time. Flashes of truth, until all is one in a greater glorious picture.
Dear Yoda,
To add to all of the beautiful wisdom already expressed here… yes definitely do not worry about inappropriately ‘opening’, ‘activating’ your chakras. However, if you are interested in exploring your chakras more I might recommend trying a chakra meditation. While sitting in meditation, focus on each chakra one by one moving up from the root towards the crown. Focus on the color and the energy of each chakra as you move up. This will help you not only to become more familiar with the relative placement of each chakra in the body and its energy, but how open/ activated that chakra is for you. Remember, it is a path of exploration and discovery, enjoy.
Namaste,
Julie
Forty years or forty days, Hubert? 
erm … guess you are right. 
I must not try that hard.
[quote=Hubert;16563]
The chakra indeed is the residing place of a spiritual entity (a god)…
…We are living and being supported by these entities, called angels, or devis…
…Chakras are the acting places of these spiritual beings. [/quote]
Hubert,
Just out of curiosity, how did you come to this realization? Is this something we can experience and know?
Siva
By reading Rudlof Steiner’s work.
For me, it makes more sense that the very delicate, complex and uncomprehended processes of life showing up in the activity of the physical body are governed by a much greater wisdom than our own, and thus are being ruled by forces and powers what extend beyond the limits of our coinsciousness and experiencing ability. So I see that higher spiritual entities babysit us in all our unconscious activity, and they leave us only when we develop the necessary qualities to perform these activities on our own. The wisdom of yoga is the wisdom of the realized spiritual man, Atman. Too bad, noone is that developed among us. The cycle of reincarnations end when we develop Manas, Buddhi, and Atman, and thus become able to shed the physical body. Manas is the spiritualized astral(causal) body, Buddhi is the spiritualized vital body, Atman is the spiritualized physical body.
What natural science assumes and propagates, is that only the physical body exists, it is a very-very complex machine programmed through genes, what are the result of a process of trial and error through billions of years.
The theory of evolution today is nothing but ruling our anything suprasensorial, transcendental, pushing the causes to great distances back in time, and identifying these cause by chance. Life is not the activity of a machine set in motion. It is constantly creating, nourishing, flowing, living. Healing is not a complex process of repairing or adapting to a situation, it is the flow of life (prana, but I like the word life better).
Living in this age it is natural that the ancient wisdom of yoga is often comprehended ina shallow, superficially materialist way. Instead of life, they say energy, for example. The deadning effect of matreialism has it’s mark on anything.
We must not forget the fact, that eastern wisdom became popular but also became superficial. My expereince is that those teachers who are genuine, they do not share their expereince publicly, but for their advanced students, and with good reason. Reality is shockingly different of what today’s average consciousness, tainted by a shallow materialism imagines.
We also must not forget that while some gain or have kept a certain level of clairvoyance from their earlier incarnations, there are levels and levels. Today, spirtual expereinces are more dangerous, as one might meet spiritual forces (entities) of what’s goal is hindering human evolution. Indeed, the beinning of spiritual sight is just as dangerous when a child learns to walk without developing correct spatial asessment. One needs to see and identify spatial relations, to avoid dangers. This is much more so in the case of spiritual sight. There are spiritual entities of higher level than human beings who are against human spiritual development. They are gods, and they surpass us in wayst we cannot imagine. How do you differentiate between a benevolent spiritual entity and a decieveing malvolent one, if the latter is a god ? Meaning that it is stronger, more powerful, with abilities we do not posess ? Being not constrained by time, for example ? Indeed, if there were not the helpers, we would not stand a chance.
Those who think that by reading the sutras, and Patanjali, will be able to climb up the ladder of yoga without ever needing to deal with various “daimons” I use the untainted greek word what does not necessarily mean veil (just potentially). The klesahs for example, are not human traits, they are the life and acting of these entities. The various vasanas … they are not energy holes of some kind, they are living forces of the spiritual world, just as thoughts are. Nothing is dead. The world is not made up of interrelating objects, it is populated by acting and reacting beings. Beings, bear life, and consciousness, objects do not. Objects do not even exist … the very rock is but the body of a high spiritual entity. Only that it’s vitality, mentality, and self, are not contained in itself, like in the case of a human being, but outside of it.
If we think this way, ie, all is alive than we cannot do anything we want without breaking ahimsa.
But this is not just a figure of style.
In a car, the forces of nature are tamed to form the wonderful piece of machine what the car is. But doing this, we lost the direct contact with these very forces. Through spiritual discipline, these forces can be approached, but first we need to learn to respect them. How do you think siddhis work ? By learning to know, tame, and cowork with these forces.
By using them to form a car, in a way, we are enslaving them. They would do what they do for us, if we asked them to (and if we knew how) but no, we use them by enslaving them and remaining blind to their true nature.
Same with cell-phones, and electric appliances. Cell phones make telepathy a reality for us. We can talk and see to distant places. What will this all result ? That we gain benefit without really paying due respect to nature. This will make us weak, and prevent developing in us the necessary traits to accomplish things by our selves. Thus, industrialization, the materialist culture we live in, steals from us the possibility to develop a natural relation with the above mentioned forces, it leads to stagnation, and us becoming enslaved by the artificial needs created by this culture.
The former human era, the atlantic one, was destroyed by misuse of natural powers. They had a natural gift to use prana … they were using “flying machines” based on the prana, life force of seeds. That’s why there is no material evidence of this era left for us, because it was a culture where buildings, tools, “machines” they were all organic, and alive. If they were not distroyed in the huge cataclism what destroyed Atlantis, they simply decomposed.
Our culture uses/misuses elemental powers. The downfall of it is inevitable. But as always, there will be a small number of individuals, developed enough to survive that, and of them a new culture will arise. When will this happen ? I have no idea. It makes sense to me, though.
It might sound as an apocalyptic scenario, but remember souls are immortal. We are coming back again and again. JUst as we are usually not fond to remember our passing nature, that our physical body ends in death, in a similar way, we are not fond of the idea of our culture, our civilization will come to an end.
These do not mean we should withdraw from society. Fast changes are always stressful. We need to realize our real needs, learn to be satisfied by less material posessions, and more spirituality. I have three cellphones on my shelf. I only use one. But they give them for free, togheter with the contract. I only recently bought a car. I really needed it … but why ? Because today I cannot tell a client that I’ll meet him in a week, the time needed to travel to certain city on horseback. Or on foot, two weeks. But imagine how more enriching is to just do that. How much more our lives would regain it’s pace, if we said at least from time to time no, to a ride using our car, or we just would not use a cellphone for a few days. Or we would be humble enough to live in smaller houses. When they say we need to respect nature, they use nature as a metaphore. But it is not, it is a living organism, made up of living organisms, and everything has it’s purpose, and aim. We should be careful to affect the lives of these beings nature is made of, because their karma is our karma. We owe them more than we realize.
