Reading Assignment

Welcome to the Journey

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Th, pmc<i" of yogo brio!!' m f~' to f = ~ with the extraordinary complexity of our

own being.-SRI AUROBINDO

I first stumbled upon yoga back in early 1975. At that time there were no large classes, workshops, or major magazines on the subject to be found; there

were few teachers or even trainings, and only a handful of esoteric books. Most people thought the word yoga referred to some kind of fermented dairy food that came in little plastic cups. Chakras were even more obscure.

Classes for six to eight stuqents were held i!l',P€,f)ple's living rooms. We wore

baggy white pants and T-shirts. Rather than mats, we,stretched out on towels. Poses were simple and held for a long time, accompanied by slow, deep breaths. I

remember how the teacher burned incense and chanted something in a language

I didn't understand, but it all sounded lovely and left me with a feeling of having just been to church. I was hooked.

I bought what books I could find and spread them out in my attic apartment, trying to copy the poses as best I could-so I know well what it's like to study

yoga from a book. I was lucky if I could even get into one of those pretzel-like configurations, never mind whether I was doing it right, with all the subtle cues

taught today. But I practiced and breathed, chanted and meditated daily until it began to transform me.

I felt so good and couldn't understand why everyone wasn't doing yoga.

I quickly became one of those insufferable converts who could talk of nothing else. It wasn't long before people asked me to show them what I was doing-to

demonstrate some poses. Intrigued, my friends asked me to teach a class. At that time I knew nothing of teacher trainings or even of proper alignment techniques, but, naively, I started teaching what I knew.

Welcome to the journey

I was reading everything I could on consciousness, psychology, metaphysics, mysticism, and spirituality. It was in a classic book by Ram Dass, The Only Dance

There Is, that I first read the word chakra. It was like a shot of energy ran through my whole body. Somehow I knew in that moment that I had found a profound key that simultaneously unlocked and tied together just about everything. I couldn't

stop thinking about it. I was also doing a lot of meditation at the time, having been initiated into

Transcendental Meditation (TM) back in 1972, sleeping only about four hours a night because I was meditating so much. One day, while meditating, I had my one

and only out-of-body experience: I saw myself sitting in full lotus position with a book in my lap. It was on the chakra system, and it had my name on it. I knew

then that the chakra system was to become my life's work. At the time I was making my living as an artist (if you could call it a living),

painting large interior murals of visionary landscapes. I discovered that my state

of consciousness affected the clarity of my painting, so I began a systematic puri- fication of my diet, eliminating coffee, meat, and-much as I hate to admit I ever

used them-cigarettes. I had an application all filled out to go to art school in New York City, but I threw it in th~" trash after my viStoTu.of the chakra book and

abruptly changed course in my life. I started teaching yoga along the lines of the chakra system, creating a

seven-week series that focused on each chakra in turn. People were transforming before my eyes! Four decades later, the chakra system has led me to studying and

teaching all over the world and writing a number of best-selling books, starting

with Wheels of Life, published in 1987, and culminating in the book you now hold in your hands. The chakra system has become my archetype of wholeness and my

holy grail.

Today yoga centers are popping up everywhere, the way churches did in the first few centuries of Christianity. Mats line up wall to wall, with little space to spare in classes of hundreds. A 2012 study conducted by Yoga]ournal1 showed that

20.4 million Americans practice yoga, spending over $10 billion a year on classes,

workshops, products, and media. Some find it merely a means to a healthier, sleeker body. Others use yoga as a method of stress reduction. Some, I'm sure,

find it the trendy thing to do. Yet regardless of what drives a person to their mat,

I http://www.yogajournal.com/press/yoga_in _ america

Welcome to the journey 3

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the deeper gifts of yoga eventually reveal themselves. A healthier body produces a more refined state of awareness and greater sensitivity. Flexibility allows a new kind of freedom, not only in your body but in your life. Strength helps you get

through tough situations. Subtle energies become less subtle, inviting curiosity about our deeper nature. Consciousness emerges as a new frontier. Yoga philos-

ophy creeps into your viewpoint on life. More than just a physical practice, yoga begins to emerge as a life path-an entire tapestry of philosophy, practices, behav-

ior guidelines, and insights-and a doorway into another world. My personal path in yoga has been neither easy nor straightforward. About ten

years after I began to practice, I was struck down by a severe case of Lyme dis- ease that went undiagnosed for five years and had me on the way to a wheelchair,

though it never got quite that bad. My tissues were so sensitive that I couldn't rest my forearms on the edge of a table or clap my hands together, let alone hold

a Downward Dog because of the pain in my hands and elbows. My joints were painful with every move, and everything having to do with yoga was affected:

flexibility, balance, strength, mental clarity, and the ability to endure pressure on

any part of my body. Even kneeling on a mat was painful. It took fifteen years to rebuild my body and strength again, and even lbnger to accept that I would never

be able to touch my feet to the back of my head, w'!-1k across the room on my hands, or grace the cover of Yoga journal in a fancy pose. Yet I believe yoga is one of

the reasons I have been less debilitated than many who suffer from Lyme disease, and for that I am immensely grateful.

Now, in my sixties, I see what a blessing this has been, for it has forced me to discover a deeper level of yoga-the yoga of the subtle body and the discovery of

the inner world of awakening, rather than the outer world of performance. Work-

ing with a compromised body, I was forced to listen intently to the inner teaching of each pose. I've learned to use the postures to move and enhance the flow of my subtle energy more than perfecting the outer form of the pose.

Often too shy to go to classes where I would be expected to perform beyond

my capability, I went deeper into my own practice at home, finding my cues from within. Not that I didn't study with teachers-as I got healthier, I studied every-

thing from Anusara to Zen-but my own body was the fundamental laboratory. My inner guru became my best teacher as I experimented on the mat, coming up with my own discoveries.

Welcome to the journey

In addition, I trained as a somatic psychotherapist with a focus on bioenerget-

ics and trauma work, marrying my love of psychology with the workings of the body and eventually getting my doctorate with a focus on mind-body medicine.

Bioenergetics, which was grandfathered by Wilhelm Reich and his students John Pierrakos and Alexander Lowen, is a therapeutic approach to the human psyche that works through the energetic processes of the body. Bioenergetics seeks to

dissolve psychological defenses and body armor through freeing up the life force of the body, which in yoga is called prana. Through my studies and private prac-

tice as a somatic therapist, I found ways of moving the subtle energy through my

clients and students, then took these techniques into a workshop format to share with others.

What emerged was my unique style of chakra-based yoga combined with bio- energetic techniques, which I have taught for over two decades of traveling the

world as a workshop presenter. This yoga is more about the inner world than the outer. It is focused more on the subtle energy than on the mechanics of a pose.

It embraces the chakras as a profound path to divine awakening within your own inner temple, which is what yoga has always been.

This book is my tribute to the" royal road of yoga and all that'it has taught

me. It is my humble offering of the map I have used to navigate the chakra path. Using this map, you can rise to heights or nestle into delicious depths, blaze

forth in power or open your heart in softest intimacy. Once you understand this map, you can use it for the rest of your life to go wherever you want to go. You

can diagnose and address your imbalances by using techniques and postures that transform you-not instantaneously but systematically over time.

I am honored to offer this guidebook for the inner journey along the mythical

rainbow bridge that represents the seven chakras and connects heaven and earth through the center of each person. I believe that our task as humans is to learn to

create heaven on earth, and learning the stepping-stones of the chakras is a tem- plate for the transformation of individuals and the cultures we live in. This map

tells you how to do it. May your travels take you on a glorious journey.

Namaste.

Welcome to the f ourney 5

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classes. Tadasana (Standing Mountain Pose) and Uttanasana (Standing Forward

Fold), for example, will be referenced in their Sanskrit names. Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) or Table Position (Bharmanasana) are referred to in English, since fewer people are familiar with their Sanskrit names.

Humanity is now being asked to play together

in a grand symphony of creation. But as any

musician can tell you, to play in a symphony

you have to practice, practice, practice.

ANODEA JUDITH

Practice

If you were to enter a temple, a church, a synagogue, or any other holy place, you

would hopefully pause at th11 threshold and take a,Jlloment to adjust your focus from the mundane to the sacred. You would know yo_µ were entering a special

place, one that required focused attention, an attitude of reverence, or at least respect. You would prepare yourself for encountering the Divine.

Getting on your mat is no different. While yoga is a cultivation of attitude that occurs throughout your day, your mat becomes the sacred classroom you enter

whenever you practice. Therefore, your mat becomes like an outer temple, a place

to step onto with reverence and intention, to hold you in grace as you open your inner temple.

So each day before you step onto your mat, think about your intention. Why are you practicing? What do you hope to accomplish today? Perhaps you want to

dedicate your practice toward some purpose-the healing of a friend, the contri- bution to a peaceful world, or the resolution of a difficulty. Perhaps you want to

calm your mind, heal your own body, purify, or develop strength. Set your inten- tion first, then step consciously onto your mat.

When I teach, I ask students to tape a string lengthwise right down the middle of their mat. They can put a little tape at the top and bottom, or some like to take

The Yoke of Yoga

markers and simply draw a line on their mat. This emphasizes the center line, which in turn emphasizes the center line within the body. As we rise and fall in

our various postures on the mat, we continually align our central channel, the sushumna, with the center line down the mat. We can also orient the four corners of our body to the corners of the mat, and in chakra one we will look more deeply

at grounding the four corners of the body and limbs in our practice. I also like to arrange my mat precisely on the floor, whether I practice at home

or in a class, meaning that I place it with regard to the orientation of the room or to the other mats around me. Putting your mat down helter-skelter doesn't

contribute to your alignment, whereas proper orientation to your surroundings, fellow students, floorboards, furniture, windows, or scenery can enhance your

body's relationship to physical space.

Yoga is not about touching your toes or standing on

your head or folding yourself into a lotus pretzel.

It's about Jipw you do what yl'lll 42_ and how you live

your daily life on a moment-to-moflent basis.

ERICH SCHIFFMANN

Creating Your Own Practice

Yoga is fundamentally a practice. While there are many texts that can teach you

its philosophy, guidelines, and principles, you learn yoga from the laboratory of your own body. Your awareness is the inner guru that will teach you. Your prac-

tice is the place where you enter the crucible, heat up your body, and alchemize lead into gold. Through trial and error, effort and surrender, learning and teach-

ing, you gradually discover what yoga is and does. It is through cumulative prac-

tice that you learn yoga. If you made an appointment for a massage or to get your teeth cleaned, you

would likely show up for your appointment on time and not do anything else during that hour. If you actually schedule your practice with the same integrity

The Yoke of Yoga 13

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as if you were going to a class or having an appointment, you are more likely to

keep at it. Find a time that works for you. Practicing in the morning gets your body ener-

gized, open, and balanced for the day. Practicing in the afternoon is great since

your body won't feel as stiff as it does first thing in the morning. Practicing in the evening is a nice way to let go of stress from the day, but it's not a good time for

vigorous or energizing poses. Taking a longer yoga retreat by enrolling in one of the many workshops offered

by qualified teachers all over the world is a good way to boost your yoga to a new level. Practicing for several hours at a time, several days in a row, gives you some-

thing beyond the effects of an occasional class or even a daily practice. You don't have time to slip back to your old ways. Muscles develop, flexibility opens, and

you have new skills (as well as friends) to guide you on your path. You are guar- anteed to end up in a different place than where you started.

Ultimately your practice is like a relationship. It requires time and attention. It must be cultivated with good communication, intimacy, and respect. And like a

relationship, you may need occasional therapy! Engaging a skilled yoga instructor for a private session can1be very helpful, espeCially if you.have injuries or chronic

pain and need some individualized variations on the poses. Yoga therapy can help

you understand the subtleties of alignment in your own body by addressing your own innate tendencies. It can help you understand the "issues in your tissues" with someone who can adjust postures to your individual needs.

There is more in this book than anyone can do in a single session. Therefore,

you will want to have a way of creating your own practice that keeps you in bal- ance. You may want to focus on a particular chakra, or you may want to do a few

poses from each chakra to have a full-spectrum experience. Always let your body and your needs be your guide, but be mindful that most of us favor what's easy

and avoid what is difficult. Make sure you balance your strenuous poses with relaxation and vice versa. Over time, balance your upper-chakra focus with lower-

chakra grounding and movement, your forward bends with backbends, and your strength poses with postures of surrender. Find the poses that bring you the most

benefit and that work your stiffest places and your weakest chakras.

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You must savor the fragrance of a posture. Until

you are relaxed, you cannot savor the fragrance.

B.K.S. IYENGAR

How Long Do You Hold a Pose?

In general, I avoid giving instructions for how long to hold a pose in a written

book. This is for several reasons. In my opinion, most yoga classes move through poses far too quickly and do

not allow the student to really "find" the pose. This makes for slower progress in the long run, as speed can allow bad habits to form and you can miss the "aha"

that comes when alignment falls into place. Muscles and connective tissue take time to release. In your home practice, take as much time as you need to find

your center and develop your ease in the pose. Often that takes longer than you think, so err on the side of holding the pose longer. If possible, wait until you feel

the pose happening by itself-an i~ternal letting gu_t:h-':t takes you to a deeper level. If you are in too much discomfort to remain in the p·ose for more than a few

moments, then back off a bit and take it to a milder level. De~p, effortless breath- ing is a good sign that you are there. As a former piano teacher once said to me, "Practice slow before you try to play it fast."

Everyone's body and abilities are different. Just as it is in a yoga class, what may be too short a time for one person to hold a pose is already way too long for

another. The idea of yoga is to find your center, your stability, and your grace. Push- ing yourself to hold a pose when you are suffering or pushing yourself to move

too fast to really feel the pose negates the deeper purpose of yoga. That purpose

is not performance but increased body consciousness. Our world is full of people who tell you how to look, move, have sex, and be.

This means you shape yourself by outer instruction rather than inner guidance. While good yoga instruction is important, it is more empowering to find out what

your body needs from the inside. Having too many external commands takes you out of your inner temple rather than deeper within it. The ultimate point is to

deeply feel your own body and breath within each pose. Ask your body how long to hold the pose. Follow your own inner timing.

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It is unlikely you will hold a pose for too long unless you are in pain, straining a muscle or injury, pushing too hard, or "spacing out" in the pose. In a home prac-

tice, it is much more likely that you will rush through a pose and not hold it long enough. As you continue your practice and gain skill at the postures, try holding the pose a little longer each time. For balance and strength poses, this will increase

your endurance. For poses of surrender, you will find a deeper letting go.

Yoga is not about self improvement;

it's about selfacceptance.

GURMUKH KAUR KHALSA

Finding Your Edge

Yoga happens whenever your consciousness pays close attention to what you are

doing, whether you are n ia,ching for the pean.ut) mtter jar on a top shelf or hold-

ing a posture. Yoga happens when you bring breat~ to your body, attention to a feeling, or whenever you penetrate that space between your thoughts and enter a deeper presence in the moment. Yoga happens when your actions are conscious,

deliberate, and aligned with your values and virtues. It happens whenever you are connected to grace.

In practicing on your mat, however, yoga happens at your edge. Many poses have beginning, intermediate, and more advanced positions or variations. There

are also a wide variety of possibilities as to how far you move into a pose. For

instance, a standing forward bend like Uttanasana is the same pose whether your hands come all the way down to the floor or you can only reach your knees. In fact, there is a lot more happening for the person who can only reach their knees

than the one who has already opened up their hamstrings to full flexibility. Where

the important "happening" takes place is right at your edge. How do you find your edge?

The Yoke of Yoga

In each pose, there is a delicate place between your comfort zone-that place where you can move easily, without undue effort, strain, pain, or resistance-and

where the efforts become more intense or the natural pain and resistance of your body makes itself apparent. Often pushing into pain will make the body go into contraction, and the whole process of opening will take even longer.

Yet to progress in yoga, you do want to gently push your edge. If you only stay

in your comfort zone, you will not deepen your yoga. The idea is not to jump over your comfort zone but to expand your comfort zone. As you continue to practice

yoga, your comfort zone naturally expands-not only in your body but also in your life. You become less reactive, more centered, and more able to handle the

stress of outer situations. Expanding your comfort zone means that you can move more deeply into a pose and still be without pain, connected with your breath,

and enjoy the pose. Your edge is there for a reason. It was put there at one time to keep you safe.

It may contain unfelt emotions, repressed memories, or physical injuries from which you are still healing. If you can bring your consciousness precisely to that

edge and feel what is happening there, your body-mind can begin to process what you are holding and release it. Be~ ~urious about what Is going on' at your edge.

Explore exactly where you are holding, and feel into it deeply. Breathe into it and

let the breath do the work of opening your body, rather than pushing. Being curious doesn't mean you have to identify the source of the discomfort,

as in the event from your childhood that taught you to contract. That is helpful, but it doesn't always shift the body. What shifts the body is conscious acknowl-

edgment of what is locked and saying inside, "It's okay-you can relax just a little. You don't have to hold on like that anymore."

For instance, if I am bending forward in an open-leg forward bend, I will feel

my resistance at some point in my inner thighs. If I have a curiosity about what muscles are holding, where I am contracting, or what I am feeling, I can gently

begin to relax and let go, little by little, without pushing. My progress may be a quarter of an inch at a time, but over time that amounts to a lot of progress, and it

occurs without injury. Understanding your edge gives you a greater sensitivity to

your body and its boundaries, and it serves you well in other situations.

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Grace is the power of the Absolute

in its infinitely loving emanation

of being. -ANODEA JUDITH

ost of us spend the majority of our time focusing our attention out-

ward. We focus on the road while we're driving, on the television, the Internet, our cell phone, our kids, or any of the myriad things that

grab our attention each day. We concentrate on the tasks we're doing, just as I am looking at a computer screen right now as I type and you are looking at these

words on a page. Even the Pf~ctice of yoga tocii!cy_~ends to focus on the outer form-getting your alignment just right and looking good and often moving so quickly from one pose to another that students don't have time to focus inward.

We are aware of what we focus on, but where does the attention come from? Embracing the source of consciousness is one of the essential purposes of yoga.

There is a very sacred place at the center of you that I call the inner temple. It is a palace of splendor and illumination, a refuge of exquisite peace and tranquil-

ity, the sacred residence of the Divine within. The body is the outer form of this temple. Keeping the body healthy and vibrant is essential for maintaining the inner

temple. But yoga, as the connecting yoke between the worlds, serves both the physical temple and the spiritual reality within.

The chakras can be seen as chambers in the temple of the body. By opening

these chambers, you gain access to the inside of this temple and give the god Shiva (who represents pure consciousness) and the goddess Shakti (who rep-

resents the energy of life) a place to join together. Of course the inner temple is not a literal space; if you dissected someone, you would not find an empty space

inside the body. But it does give you a sense of spaciousness when the subtle

Opening the Inner Temple

energy of the chakras opens up and allows you room to dwell within the temple

of your own being. In addition, the chakras are portals between the inner and outer worlds, con-

nection points between mind and body, acting as resistors and capacitors in the

flow of life energy. As portals, they filter or distill energy from the outside, as well as limit or enhance what gets expressed from inside. Because chakras are the

gateways through which this exchange takes place between inner and outer, it is

essential that you come to understand how to care for them. The purpose of chakra-based yoga is to discover the keys to opening each cham-

ber in your inner temple and awaken the Divine within. The body is the vehicle

you talce to get there. Your consciousness is the driver that will guide the way. The

practices contained herein are the keys. Yoga provides the path. The chakra system

is the map.

What Are the Chakras?

If you are new to studying the chak[il system or if you-:ir~ a teacher yvho wants to teach this subject to your students, you will need to be afile to explain the chakra system in basic terms. I find the best way to do that is through direct experience

of your own subtle energy. In yoga, that subtle energy is called prana, a word that means first unit. Prana is the basic energy of life. It exists in everything-sun-

light, air, food, and the energetic exchanges you have with other people and the

environment. The body handles prana within the cells, through various channels called nadis, and through the chakras.

Here's a simple exercise that helps people have a tangible experience of how it feels to open a chakra and experience the subtle energy. It involves opening

the minor chakras that exist in the hands. Because the hands are relatively unen-

cumbered by the psychological baggage that our major chakras pick up along the way, they are much easier to open and experience, so this tends to work with

almost anyone. I like to start with this exercise before I give the more intellectual knowledge.

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Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes.

If it were always a fist or always stretched open,

you would be paralyzed. Your deepest presence is in

every small contracting and expanding, the two as

beautifully balanced and coordinated as bird wings.

RU MI

Open in g the Hand Chakras

1. Extend both arms out in front of you with elbows straight, preferably with one hand up and one hand down as in position B.

Opening the Inner Temple

2. Open and close your palms rapidly, moving many times from

fully open to fully closed. Make sure you really stretch your

fingers all the way open and then make a complete fist (positions

A and B). Do this until your hands start to feel tired.

3. Then separate your hands as wide as your shoulders

and, with relaxed palms, very slowly bring your

open palms toward each other (position C).

4. As your palms come within a few inches of each other, you

may experience a subtle field of energy between your hands,

almost like a magnetic field. If you tune in very closely,

you might even feel it as a spinning vortex of energy.

~ . I

position s from far Left <11111

a. hands open wide

b, hands in fists. and

c, palms 8 inches apart

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This is what a chakra fe els like- a spinning vortex of subtle energy, reflecting the Sanskrit meaning of the word chakra as wheel. The hand chakras are very simple to open. Once activated, they not only have more energy, but they become more sensitive, so thi s is an easy way to experience what is meant by subtle energy. Some people have trouble feeling this energy because it is so subtle. Don't expect it to feel like plugging into a socket. It's called "subtle energy" for a reason!

This exercise also reflects a basic principle in yoga. You activated your hand

chakras through a process of expansion and contraction-reflecting the basic pul- sation of life, which in yoga is called spanda. Your lungs do this every time you breathe; your heart, every time it beats. You activate the chalaas in your body in a similar way-it's just that it becomes a bit more complicated when it comes to the torso and the major chakras at the core. This is the purpose of yoga asanas, or postures, which use expansion and contraction in a way that moves prana, or energy, into different parts of the body.

So now that you've had a direct experience of feeling the energy generated between your hands, repeat the exercise again and see if you can feel the energy of the chakra itself in your pands. _ .

~ - What does it feel like when your hand gen~erates a field of energy through

the flesh of your palm and fingers? Do you feel a subtle vibration or perhaps a warmth or tingling? Can you feel that your hand chakra not only generates energy but is a living center of energy itself? Can you feel a difference between your two hands? Is one of them more open than the other? What happens when you put your activated hand on your heart or some other place on your body?

Defining the Chal<ras

Now let's develop a deeper understanding of what a chakra is and what it does. It is an energy center, yes, but even more, it is a center that coordinates energy for the system as a wh ole, much like an office coordinates energy for a business . In this way, a fuller definition of a chakra is "a chamber in the temple of the body that receives, assimilates, and t ransmits life force energy." To open your inner temple and gain access to its resplendent interior, you must be able to enter and dwell in each chamber and operate effectively from each chalaa's center.

Opening the Inner Temple

A chakra is a chamber in the temple of the body that

receives, assimilates, and transmits life force energy.

Let's look at the parallel between the chakras in your body and the chambers in your home. Most likely your home has a kitchen-a place where you receive,

process, and deliver food. You sleep in the bedroom and shower in the bathroom.

When guests come to visit, you probably entertain in the living room, which is

designed for that experience. Each chamber is optimally set up for receiving, assimilating, and transmitting

a particular kind of energy. You want each chamber to have what it needs to per-

form that function: a refrigerator, stove, and countertop in the kitchen, places to sit in the living room, and a soft place to sleep in the bedroom. You also want each

chamber to be clean enough to perform its function-not too big or too small to be comfortable. You want each chamber to have a doorway and light from both

outside (through windows) and inside (for when it's dark), as well as good air

circulation. You can definitely have a chamber that isn't well equipped with these ~ ' """""' "· - '

things, but you wouldn't want to spend much time there~· In the same way, your chakras need the necessary internal l;tructures to handle

the type of energy that is related to their function. For example: to handle earth

energy in the first chakra, you need to be able to eat, digest, and eliminate food. To have a healthy relationship (fourth chakra), you need good self-esteem, some

basic relationship skills, and an open heart. The second chakra needs to be able to

receive, accept, and express sexual and emotional energy. The third chakra han- dles power, the fifth chakra processes communication, the sixth chakra receives

intuition and turns it into insight, and the seventh chakra represents conscious-

ness itself. Each chakra needs to be able to receive energy from outside, to assimilate that

energy into the body-mind complex, and to express, or discharge, energy. This

means that each chakra has a kind of gateway where energy enters and leaves

the chamber, as well as a core center where energy is assimilated and distributed

through the body.

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Ba lanc i ng Excess and Deficiency in the Chal<ras

To keep a chakra in balance, it needs to be able to do all three of these functions- receiving, assimilating, and expressing- at its appropriate level. Receiving more

than we can assimilate is like eating more than we can digest: we get indigestion

and can't process all the material. The chakra becomes too full, or what I call excessive, and it doesn't function as well. Eventually, overeating turns into excess body weight-energy that becomes dense and stagnant because we haven't been

able to assimilate the input. You could say we have too much of the first chakra's

element of earth. We get heavy. An excessive chakra results from a defensive pattern in life that is trying to

compensate for something we didn't get enough of, such as safety, pleasure,

attention, power, or love. We become overly attached, fixated at that level, still

trying to obtain fulfillment or healing. However, if we release or express more energy than we take in, we become

depleted, which results in a deficient chakra. If the first chakra becomes deficient,

for example, then we tend to be underweight and ungrounded, and we have trou-

ble feeling like we matter. peficiency can h~pen through. any chakra- through the inability to receive or th'e habit of releasing too much. For instance, too much

activity (an excessive third chakra) will eventually·'.make us feel tired, and the

resulting low energy is characteristic of a deficient third chakra. Being unable to receive love (or even perceive that it's there) results in a deficient heart chakra. That deficiency then makes it more difficult to receive because the chakra closes

up like a flower and it's harder for love to get through the defensive wall.

A deficient chakra results from an avoidance strategy, avoiding something we might not have the tools or desire to deal with, while an excessive chakra is

a compensating strategy. We can avoid taking our power and feel like a victim

(third chakra deficiency), or we can compensate for feeling powerless by being a bully (third chakra excess). We can avoid our emotions by numbing out or com- pensate by focusing on them too much. Both attachment and avoidance are two of

the kleshas, or afflictions, that create obstacles on the path in yoga.4

An unbalanced chakra influences other chakras and the rest of your energy system. Poor grounding makes it hard to be powerful. Lack of power makes it

4 Classically, there are five kleshas described in the Yoga Sutras: (1) ignorance, or avidya; (2) ego, or asmita; (3) attachment, or raga; (4) aversion, or dvesha; and (5) fear of death, or abhinivesha.

Opening the Inner Temple

hard to express yourself. Eventually problems show up, either externally in jobs or relationships, or they manifest in your internal world through illness, limiting

beliefs, or difficult emotional states. Excess and deficient characteristics of the chakras are included in the chart of chakra correspondences shown on the follow-

ing page. More information about the psychological causes of these imbalances can be found in my previous book Eastern Body, Western Mind, 5 while this book

focuses specifically on using yoga practices to awal<en and balance the chal<ras. Like a chamber, chakras have gates through which energy enters and leaves

each center. Those gates serve to keep energy in as well as to keep energy out, according to what is needed. A child may defend against a parent's toxic energy

by trying to keep that energy out of their chakras. Or a child may get the message that their inner emotions are not acceptable, and then use these gates to inhibit

their own vital energy from expressing itself. These defensive strategies, which are formed unconsciously, become like sentry guards who monitor the gates of

the chakras and check everything that enters or exits. This slows down the flow of vital energy between the inner and outer worlds. To heal these unconscious

strategies requires becoming conscious of them.

Energetically, a deficient chakt~ needs to charge ifself up-to receive and assimilate more energy and learn to expand. This requires jncreased focus and

attention, perhaps directing energy from other places that are more excessive. An excessive chakra, by contrast, needs to release energy, or discharge, and even

contract. We need to make that aspect of ourselves a little less important and let go of our attachments in that area.

While a chakra can become unbalanced within itself, the chakras also try to

balance each other out. Someone who is not very grounded in their lower chai<ras may live in their head or try to balance their disembodiment with excessive spir-

ituality. Someone who is emotionally insecure may be excessive in their throat chakra and talk too much. In some cases, we can exhibit excessive and deficient

characteristics in the same chakra. These are just more complex defenses that have been trying to create balance by emphasizing some parts of the chakra but

avoiding others. A person whose second chakra has a high sexual charge and a

5 Anodea Judith, Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self (Berkeley: Celestial Arts, 1997). See also Anodea Judith, Chakra Balancing: A Complete Course in Diagnosis and Healing (Boulder, CO: Sounds True, 2001).

Opening the Inner Temple 37

Chakra Correspondences

Chakra Name:

Location Element Central focus Goals Identity D'emon Excessive Deficient Bija

Meaning Characteristics Characteristics Mantra

7 Sahasrara: Top of Conscious- Awareness Awakening. Universal Attachment Overly Leaming None Infinitely head, ness union, (Self- intellectual. difficulties. Unfolding cerebral realization. Knowledge) spiritual spiritual

cortex emptiness addiction. cynicism. dissociation disconnection, from body depression

6 Aji\a: Brow Ught Intuition, Insight Archetypal Illusion Delusional Poor memory, Om Perceive and imagination intuition, (Self- difficulty poor vision, or

Commaird stillness, Reflection) concentrating denial Ks ham wisdom -

5 Vissudha: Throat Sound Comm uni- Truth, - Creative Lies Loud, overly Fear of Ham Purification cation resonance. (Self- talkative, speaking or

communication, Expression) inability to making noise creativity listen

4 Anahata: Heart. Air Love, Love. Social Grief Needy, Shy, lonely, Yam Unstruck relationships compassion. (Self- co~dependent, isolated, bitter

sound radiance, Acceptanc_e) narcissistic expansion J

3 Manipura: Solar Fire Power, will Power. will. l ' Ego Shame Dominating, Poor self- Ram Lustrous Plexus energy (Self- controlling, esteem,

Gem --· Definition) aggressive, passive, anxious powerless.

tired

s:Vadhisthani: -Sacrci:l Water Sexuality. Fluidity, · Emotional Guilt Indulgent, Rigid, joyless, Varn

',- 9tZ~~~t- area emotions flexibility, (Self- emotional, numb feeling Gratification) addictive

1 Muladhara: Base of Earth Survival, Stability, Physical Fear Heavy, Underweight, Lam Root Support spine grounding grounding (Self- sluggish, spacey,

health, Preservation) dense. ungrounded, steadiness. Overweight fearful

solidity

low emotional charge or someone who is powerful at work but powerless at home

is exhibiting both excessive and deficient characteristics in the same chakra. There are many possibilities in how you arrange energy throughout your

chakras; it all depends on which strategies worked for you in the past and which

ones didn't. Over time you adopted the "successful" strategies and discarded the ones that got you in trouble. However, the strategies you adopted as a child often

work against you in adulthood. The defenses later become blockages, fixating your life force, inhibiting the flow of energy into and out of your chakras, and keeping

you from fully occupying your inner temple. They become hard-wired into your physical structure as body armor in the form of muscular tension, excess weight,

numbness, or disease. Yoga is a good way to combat body armor, not only because it stretches and conditions the body, but because it increases awareness and dis-

tributes energy into places that have been shut off from consciousness.

You gain access through your inner axis. • 0 • • • • • 0 • • • •

~ . ' - . AN ODEA JUDITI'!

Accessing the Core

Everything in life has a core: every blade of grass, every tree trunk, every leaf on the tree, every cell, and every person. Even concepts have a core, as do homes,

planets, and stars. The core is what everything, living and non-living, has in com- mon. For this reason, I think of the core as the divine center from which every-

thing originates-the source of all creation. The core is God/Goddess, or what-

ever name you prefer for the Divine. I like to think of CO RE as standing for Consciousness Organized in Relation

to Energy. Your consciousness developed as you encountered both positive and negative experiences in your life. If you're reading these words, then you survived those experiences. But you survived because you learned to deal with them in some way. You probably closed down some aspects of yourself, while ramping

up other traits. You moved toward or away from things, either compensating or avoiding or some combination of both. In this way, you formed the shape of your

Opening the Inner Temple 39

40

core by how you dealt with life. This happens first in your energy body, then in the structures and tissues of your physical body, then in your behaviors, which are

further reinforced by experience. If the chakras represent the seven chambers of the inner temple, then access-

ing your deepest core is the master key that unlocks these chambers. By core I

don't mean the mid-torso muscle strength that has become the focus in exer- cise classes these days. Instead, I am referring to the vertical channel running

between your crown and your base through the deepest center of you, called your sushumna, or central axis. When your chakras are aligned, the core is an open and

expanding tube of prana in which energy flows easily both upward and down- ward, through all the chakras, into the body, and in exchange with the world.

Think of the sushumna as a pranic tube that distills the subtle energy from its

coarsest form to its finest. It is also your most direct connection between heaven and earth, and your deepest access to Source.

The chakras can be thought of as energetic pouches in the pranic tube for storing energy that moves up and down the core. In addition to receiving, assimi-

lating, and transmitting energy, they also store energy at a particular level for use ~ ' .,,,,,., - ' .

in your life, much the way the stomach stores fdbd to digest slowly and release energy. If you get a nice feeling in your heart from s:haring love with someone,

it's beneficial to be able to keep that energy there when you feel lonely or scared. Expanding your chambers allows you to store more energy in your chakras.

To access your core is to access the Divine within, but that Divine is bigger, deeper, and higher than most of us can allow within our core. In fact, with the

restrictions most of us have, it is even difficult to withstand the full force of divine prana, should we be lucky enough to experience it. For that reason, we need to

open the chakras. If the body is the vehicle and the chakras are the map, the core is the master key that unlocks everything.

Opening the Inner Temple

• c h akras as energetic

storage pouches in t h e

pranic tube

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42

The fulfillment of your highest potential

is directly proportional to your ability to

function as a clean and efficient channel.

ERICH SCHIFFMANN

Clearing the Nadis

In yoga terminology, energy, or prana, travels through us via subtle pathways called nadis, a Sanskrit word that means movement or flow. Nadis come in all shapes and sizes, from major highways like the sushumna going right up the cen-

ter to well-established routes like the ida and pingala making figure eights around the chakras (see figure) to minor nadis flowing through each cell. Just as our

major highways in the outer world serve to transport food and goods to cities, stores, and homes, the nadis distribute prana to the various chakras and through-

out the body. The chakras are places where many nadis .weet, much like a city is an inter-

~ ' ~,.,~ section of highways, phone lines, plumbing, and people. There is more activity and energy in a city than along the back roads, but'~ those back roads are still important.

Yoga is a practice that clears the nadis for the distribution and full experience of prana, or life force. Prana brings vitality and health to the body. It brings con-

sciousness and presence in the here and now. As the nadis are cleared through the practice of yoga asanas (postures), pranayama (breathing practices), right action (karma), and meditation, the chakras are cleared and energized. They begin to shine like polished jewels emanating a light from within. You experience more

spaciousness inside your body and have greater access to your inner temple.

Opening the Inner Temple

.A. the ida and p in gala nadis

flowing around the chakras

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44

At such times I felt instinctively that a life and death

struggle was going on inside me in which I, the

owner of the body, was entirely powerless to take

part, forced to lie quietly and watch as a spectator

to the weird drama unfolding in my own flesh.

GOPI KRISHNA

Kundalini

No discussion of the chakras would be complete without discussing Kundalini, the underlying spiritual force of chakra awakening. Often misunderstood and

always mysterious, this serpentlike goddess of the chakras is the form that Shakti sometimes takes as she rises up the spine. As Kundalini-Shakti, she rises in search

of her eternal lover and counterpart, Shiva. Kundalini is a force that lies latent within each person. Latent, there is little

drive toward awakening o~ perhaps the drive"'is s;;:attered ot sporadic. Spirituality may well exist, practices may be beneficial, but the underlying force that activates these practices may be absent. Many people have said to me over the years, "Oh,

I've tried meditation (or yoga or pranayama or. .. ) and it just didn't do much for me." I've never met anyone with a Kundalini experience who would say that.

Kundalini is like the electricity that runs through a string of Christmas lights. The lights are there, and they may even have pretty ornaments hanging from

them, but until the energy shoots through the wire, there is nothing special about them. Once lit up, they provide a whole new experience. When Kundalini ener-

gizes the chakras, they are no longer an intellectual concept but a direct experi-

ence. Kundalini is an archetypal force that needs to be understood symbolically, if

not experientially. Symbolically, she is said to lie coiled three and one-half times around the root chakra, perhaps holding matter together. (Kunda/a means coiled.) When she awakens, she journeys up the spine, piercing and activating each chakra in turn. Her final goal is to reach the crown chakra and merge with Shiva, then

reside with him in eternal union in the heart.

Opening the Inner Temple

When Kundalini energizes the chakras, they are no

longer an intellectual concept but a direct experience.

Experientially, Kundalini is an electrifying spiritual force that runs through the

body, shaking you to your core. Her power and presence can be invited through prayers and practices, but she is only activated through grace. Whether that grace comes from a qualified guru giving shaktipat (direct transmission), from years of yoga or meditation, from stress that breaks down defenses, or even from drugs or

fasting, once Kundalini awakens she is an autonomous healing force that moves

within you of her own accord. Most people can neither start nor stop Kundalini with their will. She may

appear briefly for moments, intermittently for years, or become a constant pres-

ence that changes your entire perspective on life. Always she is a teacher, seeking to dissolve illusion and blockages in order to reveal the true spiritual nature of

creation. As such, Kundalini is a tricky \orce to play with . .&1~ many years of traveling

and teaching have exposed me to countless people telling me about their Kund-

alini experiences-all of them profound but not all of them pleasant. Awakening is not always gentle. Some have had trouble sleeping, eating, having sex, or doing

many of the mundane things previously taken for granted. Some have been vis- ited by visions, twisted into postures by spontaneous movements called kriyas, or heard sounds or voices in their head. Some thought they were going crazy, as

Kundalini can sometimes resemble psychosis. Some were completely rearranged by the experience, generally for the better, as if the central organizing principle

within their body and their life had suddenly taken charge and pulled everything together in a more cohesive form. Inevitably, Kundalini pushes up against our

blocks. Until those blocks are dissolved, the experience can be very uncomfort-

able. Because Kundalini's spontaneous movements, or kriyas, are often wavelike or

trembling, she is equated with the movement of a serpent slithering up the spine. Kriyas often resemble yoga postures and may be the origin of some of the asanas,

or yoga postures, that we practice today. Practicing the asanas consciously is a good way to prepare the body to tolerate and handle the intense pranic rush of

""' """--~'~·~··-------------------

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Kundalini. This is why people are advised to engage in years of practice and study under a true master before engaging the Kundalini force.

For these reasons, this is not a book on Kundalini per se, but rather a book on opening the chakras themselves and making the way smoother for Kundalini, should she grace you with her presence. As you open your inner temple, she has a larger place to reside and may visit more peacefully, not having any walls to knock down. If so, ground yourself, meet her with openness and gratitude, and rely on your practices. Above all, she should be respected and honored as the divine queen of the evolutionary life force that runs through us all.

The attainment of wholeness requires one to stake

one's whole being. Nothing less will do. There can be

no easier conditions, no substitutes, no compromises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

C. G.JUNG

~ . '

Formula for Wholeness

Carl Jung said that everyone needs an archetype of wholeness to guide their life. As a totality, the chakra system describes a profound formula for wholeness, spanning the full spectrum of human experience-from your physical body to your highest spiritual aspirations-and leaving nothing out. It encompasses your physical and emotional self, your egoic self, your relational and creative self, your intuitive self, your highest self, and your deepest interior soul.

The chakras map onto levels of being that occur both internally and externally, through the archetypal elements that are deeply associated with the chakras: earth, water, fire, air, sound, light, and consciousness. 6 These elements exist within us through the solid, liquid, gaseous, or vibratory elements of our bodies and all around us through the manifestation of these elements in our world-the earth we walk upon, the air we breathe, the light we see through our eyes.

6 Classically, there are only five elements associated with the chakras; from bottom to top: earth, water, fire, air, and ether, with no elements given for the upper two. The seven-element system is my own formulation, now widely accepted.

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In this way, the chakras are portals between the inner and outer worlds-por-

tals through which we access these elements and bring them into balance. In the external world, many of these elements are severely threatened. Our earth has extreme environmental issues; water imbalances show up as droughts or floods.

Power is misused while appropriate use of energy is crucial to our environment. The atmosphere is polluted. We live in a cacophony of conflicting vibrations, where

truth, light, and consciousness are often obscured. It is no wonder that these elements get scrambled inside ourselves as well.

But according to the spiritual maxim as within, so without, we bring these elements into balance in our world as we balance them within ourselves. The reverse is also

true. As we clean up our environment, as we insist on healthy food choices or make our voices heard on the airways, we simultaneously create an environment

more conducive to our spiritual growth.

~ . '

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