The whole Chakra thing
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TheGoblinRoad
Posts: 835 Member
Any of you pay attention to chakras? Although I have practiced the asanas on and off for years, I've never studied the chakras.
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Nope. I don't think there's any evidence that Chakras are real things. I love yoga but I don't like a lot of the "spiritualism", "mysticism" and other quasi-religious accretions. For me, ashtanga yoga is a perfect way to get strong, build endurance, and be flexible.0
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no, chakrahs are make believe like fairies and unicorns.0
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I'm not into the Chakras, but I think some may find comparing them to unicorns a bit offensive.
I think some people find them helpful as a focus or an image. Anyone able to explain a bit better how they are used and why?0 -
A really good book about chakras from a Western viewpoint is Eastern Body Western Mind.
I had to read this for my yoga teacher training. And its been awhile since Ive read it but the woman is basically a psychologist and she talks about the chakras from a psychologists viewpoint. So it's not too "spiritual" for the casual yoga go-er.
It's fairly repetitive in it's structure. Once you get into the meat of the book, it's like - here's the chakra, here's it's characteristics when it's excessive, here's it's characteristics when it's deficient, balanced characteristics. I dont know, again, it's been awhile since I've read it.
The biggest thing I took away is that most people's first chakra never really develops properly. So as the other chakras are developing, they offset each other to create balance within the body. And so you have excessive and deficient chakras becasue the spirit (or whatever) is trying to create balance within the body from this first one being off kilter. And being excessive isnt good - it's not like you have "extra" chakra! It usually means you're like aggressive or a perfectionist or something. It's not really balanced. And your ability to love, to speak, to speak your truth ... all builds upon the first chakra.
Anyways ... a great, thorough introduction to the chakras!
amazon link (I used my associates link but if you dont like doing that you can just search for it from the amazon homepage!): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1587612259/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=individuallyw-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=15876122590 -
I teach Chakra yoga and have had training in it, as well as Kundalini yoga which focuses a lot on the chakras. Chakra yoga comes from the Kundalini tradition actually. I can tell you from my personal practice that there is something to it but from a more scientific viewpoint for those of you not convinced of fairies and unicorns,.... 'Coincidentally' each of the major chakras 'happen' to line up with one of the major nerve plexus areas in the body. Researchers are starting to find evidence that each of the nerve centers behave almost as a mini-brain. As with many spiritual practices, science is starting to 'discover' what has been known by practitioners for thousands of years. If anyone has a specific chakra question I'd be happy to share what I have been taught or point you to some resources for more info. As Shakespeare said...
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.0 -
I teach Chakra yoga and have had training in it, as well as Kundalini yoga which focuses a lot on the chakras. Chakra yoga comes from the Kundalini tradition actually. I can tell you from my personal practice that there is something to it but from a more scientific viewpoint for those of you not convinced of fairies and unicorns,.... 'Coincidentally' each of the major chakras 'happen' to line up with one of the major nerve plexus areas in the body. Researchers are starting to find evidence that each of the nerve centers behave almost as a mini-brain. As with many spiritual practices, science is starting to 'discover' what has been known by practitioners for thousands of years. If anyone has a specific chakra question I'd be happy to share what I have been taught or point you to some resources for more info. As Shakespeare said...
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Nice. I'm starting Maya Fieness' Kundalini Yoga DVDs since I really don't have a chance, nor the money, for actual classes yet. I've been interested in Yoga, Meditation and just dealing with (cleansing/opening) the Chakras for a while now, but I'm just starting to look more into it. If you have any book/video/website recommendations, I'd be happy to hear them!
Right now, I just have the book "Your Aura and Your Chakras: The Owners Manual" by Karla McLaren. 0
