teacher training fall 2007

September 14th-16th,

October 5th-8th, and 12th-14th,

November 10th-16th,

December 13th-16th.

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gopimanjari@hotmail.com

Thursday, March 8, 2007

second charka (Svadisthana)


Color: Orange
Function: Sexuality.
Creativity.
Union, ability to relate to others.
Stored emotions, guilt, resentment and blame.


Second chakra is literally and symbolically the birth canal, it is where new ideas, life and creativity are birthed. It resonates union and connection, our relationships with others and the world around us. It corresponds with the water element in the body.
The second chakra is the source of our creativity. Some people may think that they are not very creative, but creativity is within all of us, from how we decide to dress in the morning, to what kinds of food we like to eat. Our free will and choice is birthed from our second chakra. Free will is an expression of one’s creativity. When we pursue our creative desires, our inner passions, then we feel we have a sense of control. But when one is unable to express their will, or make something happen, or if out of fear one’s desires are crushed, then this may results in one feeling they have lost control.
New ideas and creativity are important to express, it is not that one has to fulfill their desire. Attachment to the fulfillment of desire is not the goal. It is more the expression or act to release that energy within. In some cases it means channeling that energy or desire, especially if it is harmful to oneself or another. It is not possible to fulfill or completely satisfy all of one’s desires. To make the endeavor or effort can be enough, or to except and recognize ones urges may be satisfactory.
The second chakra is located in the hips, pelvic region, the lower back and lower abdominals. It covers our sexual organs, which resonates union. On a physical level male and female come together to unite to create life, on a more subtle plain and energetic level this area symbolizes our union with everything and everyone around us. It is the heart of relationships. How we reciprocate with others and how we react in a given situation forms our relationship with individuals and the world around us. From stable and deep relationships we grow and flourish as individuals, our creative power is alive and our ability to flow with life’s challenges is unobstructed.
We seek fulfilling relationships, whether from our parents, friends or spouse, but in many cases we are let down, hurt and disappointed. It is easy to hold guilt or blame another or oneself. If we do not face our emotions and experiences, or if we are unable to process them, then they are stored and held in the hip and pelvic region of the body. In many cases causing illness, tightness and pain in those area.
Fear often prevents that natural flow of our creative energy, and it obstructs us functioning in healthy relationships. Due to bad experiences we build up fears and unconscious negative behavioral patters. These impressions shape our lives and how we react and relate to people and circumstances. Out of fear we cover up, it may be our inner desires that we are unable to birth, or our trapped emotions.
Resentment, blame and guilt are the emotions that relate to the second chakra. The ability to forgive and to except is the heart to letting go.

The hips are the key to flexibility in body and mind. It mirrors our flexibility in our relationships, not getting stuck with our own agenda, it mirrors our creative power and our flexibility to be able to let go of control.
Teaching yoga, I see how individuals are sometimes cut off from the mobility of the hips and pelvic region. It is not a matter of being physically flexible, but of being conscious and aware of the healing energy that can be generated into the pelvis. Through drawing the prana (life) force into the body by activating the Mula bandha lock, this will brings the first and second chakra alive, I often see it in my students when they turn on the energetic power of mula bhanda. There is movement and power (shakti) in the pelvic region.
target specific area that are charged with second chakra issues:
Hip Flexors (tensor fascia latta TFL), quad and upper thigh (psoas), lower abdominals, lower back, sacrum, kidneys and adrenal.

When TFL, hip flexors and psoas, quads are tight they distort the relationship of the pelvis to the spine and the overall relationship of the skeleton to gravity, causing a sway of the back syndrome or hyper-lordosis. This causes the shoulders and head to pitch forward, the tailbone tip up and back, the waist and hip joints are then compressed. (Julian walker, yoga and the charkas)

Opening these specific areas, help bring blood into the sexual organs, preventing and aiding recovery for illnesses related to those areas, e.g.: endometriosis, fibroids, infertility, and for men prostrate related issues.

Out of fear, numbness and bad experiences we become unconscious of our own body and how to move it, how to breathe into it, and how to connect with the life forces within our very being. Yoga ignites that fire of conscious awareness through the breath. In deep hip-openers, the breath is the key to open and tap into our creative power that is beyond our imagination and minds thoughts. The breath is the key to free our hips and pelvis from our trapped emotions of guilt, blame and resentment. These emotions are hidden deep, stuff from many lives may be stored there. We don’t even know what is coming up, that is not important. The release is important, you do not have to analyze it, just let it go, and feel freer, and lighter.

Poses:
*Hero’s pose/reclined/ half heroes pose with variations. (Stenches psoas)
Bridge
*Lunges (quad stench)
Camel against the wall. Strengthens and stenches frontal thigh.
*Half frog reclined on belly version (frontal thigh, Psoas)
*King pigeon, 1,2,3.
Standing goddesses pose
Warrior 2
*Warrior 1
*Cobra (lower back)
Half or full lotus
Hanuman asana in an upright position
*Seated parigasana, seated gate shutting pose (hip flexors)
*Twisting side angle (hip flexor)

*Poses that isolate high charge points for 2nd chakra.

Mantra: Lam

The power of mantra will again take one to a different dimension. Deeper than the breath is spiritual sound vibration. Chanting mantra in a tight hip-opener can empower one to tap into divine power, why struggle alone, when you have access to a power greater than yourself. Mantra immediately connects you to that power. Just like material sounds establishes our relationship with the material forces, for example the sound of the washing machine or the cars outside, these external sounds brings our consciousness to the external world, but when chanting spiritual sound we begin to establish our relationship with the spiritual power in our lives.
For more information on the charkas look at:

5 comments:

The hairy eye said...

thanks you.
very informative.
svadisthana here i come....

The hairy eye said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

This is beautifully written and I've used your insights to help deepen my practice. Thanks for keeping this post flowing on the web!

melissa.j said...

I've been experiencing pain in my hip flexors during my last few days of practice and hadn't connected it to some of the emotional pain and guilt I've been feeling. Thank you so much for this post and for opening my eyes to that connection. Blessings!

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