Health Information Guide. » YOGA AND THE SEVEN CHAKRAS

INTERNAL CLEANSING with a five days program

Why choose yoga for well being?

Yoga is a collection of spiritual techniques and practices that integrates mind, body and spirit, achieving an enlighten state that helps manage or control anxiety, arthritis, asthma, back pain, blood pressure, carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic fatigue, depression, diabetes, epilepsy, headaches, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, stress and other conditions and diseases.
In addition Yoga helps:

Improves muscle tone, flexibility, strength and stamina
Reduces stress and tension
mprove sleep problems
Boosts self esteem
Improves concentration and creativity
Lows fat level
Improves circulation
Stimulates the immune system
Creates sense of well being and calm

Browse music styles

Yoga has existed for at least the past 5000 years. Yoga means union in Sanskrit, the classical language of India, and refers to one of the classic systems of Hindu philosophy that strives to bring together and personally develop the body, mind, and spirit. Yoga was originally developed by Hindu priests, (rishis), who lived frugal lifestyles characterized by discipline and meditation. Through observing and mimicking the movement and patterns of animals, priests hoped to achieve the same balance with nature that animals seemed to possess. According to the yogis, true happiness, liberation and enlightenment come from union with the divine consciousness known as Brahman, or with Atman, the transcendent Self. The various yoga practices are a methodology for reaching that goal. In Hatha yoga, for example, postures and breathing exercises help purify the mind, body and spirit so the yogi can attain union.

This aspect of Yoga, known as Hatha Yoga, is the form which Westerners are most familiar and is defined by a series of exercises in physical posture (asana) and breathing patterns (Pranayama). Bedsides balance with nature, ancient Indian philosophers recognized health benefits of Yoga including proper organ functioning and whole well-being. These health benefits have also been acknowledged in the modern-day United States, with an estimated 12 million individuals regularly participating in Yoga.

Pranayama breathing exercises help clear the nadis, or energy channels, that carry prana the universal life force, allowing prana to flow freely. When the channels are clear and the last block at the base of the spine has been opened, Kundalini rises through the spine, through the central channel called the sushumna-nadi, and joins the crown chakra. According to the tradition, the release of Kundalini leads to enlightenment and union.

Yoga in the West, has often been taught as a form of fitness training, and has been separated from its spiritual context; yoga has come to mean the yoga of physical posturing, or Hatha yoga. But the philosophy of yoga is not just physical posturing; Hatha yoga is a branch of the spiritual discipline of yoga, known about its author Yoga Sutra of Pantajali that includes:

The Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga:

Yama (moral observances) non-violence, truth, non-stealing, continence, non-coveting.
Niyama (self-restraint) purity, contentment, austerity, self-study, dedication to god.
Asana (postures) steadiness, health and lightness of limbs; the use of the body to train and discipline de mind.
Pranayama (Breath control) prepares de mind for concentration.
Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) contraction of consciousness from the external world.
Dharana (concentration) binding of consciousness to a single point.
Dhyana (meditation) overcoming mental fluctuation.
Samadhi (absorption) absorption of consciousness into Brahman (Godhead).

Guru, Svatmarama, wrote in the sixteenth century, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the main text on Hatha Yoga that consists of 390 verses divided into four chapters describing physical aspects of yoga and the ethical conduct that is expected of a yogi. The final chapter is dedicated to the spiritual discipline of yoga, including some of the eight limbs of Yoga Sutra. On the practical side, Hatha Yoga Pradpika includes diet, lifestyle and approximately 40 individual asanas, over 100 pranayama techniques, 150 mudras (seals); band has (restraints) and internal cleansing practices.

Hatha Yoga in the West

Viniyoga developed by Sri Krishnamacharya, emphasizes practicing a posture according to one’s individual needs and capacity. Regulation of breathing is an important aspect of the style.

Iyengar, a student of Sri Krishnamacharya, who created one of the most widely, practiced styles of Hatha yoga in the West. The style is characterized by slow precision performance and the use of various props, such as cushion, chairs, wood blocks, and straps.

Ashtanga, Pattabhi Jois is another student of Krishnamacharya, and the creator of a this strong style of yoga that is their own version of the Surya Namaskar, the Sun Salutation, and a set series of postures. This style is not the same of Ashtanga yoga of Pantajali’s Yoga Sutra.

Shivananda. This yoga style adopted the name of Swami Shivananda, a former doctor retired to the Himalayas, and created for one of his students, Swami Vishnudevananda, who opened the first of many Shivananda centers world-wide. This style includes a set series of 12 postures: The Surya Namaskar, the Sun Salutation sequence, pranayama, relaxation, and mantra chanting.

Yoga Integral, developed by Swami Satchidananda, another student of Swami Shivananda. He is famous for his appearance at the Woodstock music festival in 1969. This style aims to integrate the various aspects of the body-mind through a combination of postures, pranayama techniques, deep relaxation, and meditation.

Ananda. Style based in the style of Paramahansa Yogananda, who taught in the United States in the early part of the twentieth century. Ananda was developed by one of his disciples. Swami Kriyananda. Gently style designed to prepare the student for meditation using techniques to consciously direct prana (vital energy) into different parts of the body.

Kripalu. Inspired by Kripalvananda and developed by his student Yogi Amrit Desai. This three stage yoga, created specifically for Western students, emphasizing postural alignment and coordination of breath and movement with short time postural held, in the first stage. The second includes meditation and prolonged postures periods. The final stage comprises meditation in motion.

Bikram, (Heat Yoga) who gained fame as the teacher of Hollywood stars, developed this system of 26 postures, performed in a standard sequence in a room heated to 100-110oF. This approach is fairly vigorous and requires a high degree of physical fitness on the participating students.

Kundalini, created by the Sikh master Yogi Bhajan, aims to awaken the spiritual energy stored at eh base of the spine, through of postures, pranayama, mantra chanting and meditation.

THE SEVEN CHAKRAS

The Seven Chakras

The chakras are energy centers of the body that govern subtle and psychosomatic aspects of body inner being. They are our way of digesting energy. We digest energy life properly when the Chakras are balanced. They are spinning wheels of energy that serve as windows to our souls, balancing our inner and outer worlds. Each one of us is unique and awake, having the awareness within to heal ourselves. We are the vehicles on the journey and must be good to our body.

Chakras are deep inside of us, and we must be able to understand our vehicles in order to make sure they are functioning properly. To “heal” means to make whole or to come in to balance. When our Chakras are in balance, we are in pure health and Heaven and Earth come together within us.

The Chakras or padmas are located along the spine, starting at the base moving up and end at the head crown. Chakra means “wheel,” and padma means “Lotus.” In essence, a chakra is a spiraling vortex of energy at the point where the mind and its physical manifestations meet.
When the charkas are awakened they move in a clockwise direction opening up like flowers and pouring out their qualities reestablishing the body inner balance and restoring health and form.

Each chakra is represented by a color, number of lotus petals, geometrical shape, a mantra, a word with spiritual significance, and is related to a certain internal organs and one of the Five Elements. Each chakra has a corresponding nadi or energy channel that carries its energy to various portions of the body. The lower chakra concerns with the physical plane of existence, while the higher chakra are access to the realms of the spirit.

When you feel tension in your consciousness, you feel it in the chakra associated with that part of your consciousness experiencing the stress, and in the parts of the physical body associated with that chakra. The tension in the chakra is detected by the nerves of the plexus associated with that chakra, and transmitted to the parts of the body controlled by that plexus. When the tension continues over a period of time, or to a particular level of intensity, the person creates a symptom on the physical level.

The symptom served to communicate to the person through their body what they had been doing to themselves in their consciousness. When the person changes something about their way of being, getting the message communicated by the symptom, the symptom has no further reason for being, and it can be released, according to whatever the person allows themselves to believe is possible.

Understanding the charkas system allows you to understand the relationship between your consciousness and your physical body, and to thus see your body as a map of your consciousness. It gives you a better understanding of yourself and those around you.

Chakras history:

The history of chakras comes from an ancient tradition in India: The Vedas, (2,000 - 600 B.C.) that were written mostly by the Indo-European invaders of India, known as the Aryans. This Aryan culture was believed to have invaded India on chariots during the second century B.C.E. bringing with it its culture and beliefs. The word charka as “wheel” is told was a metaphor for the sun, which “traverses the world like the triumphant chariot of a cakravartin” or universal ruler; a title applied to several Hindu emperors, but referring particularly to Vishnu, who in the treta yuga in the form of a universal monarch protected the three worlds. It denotes the eternal cycle of time called the kalacakra, or wheel of time representing celestial order and balance.

The Yogatattva Upanishad (sloka 83-101) lists five and describes these chakras as being interrelated with the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, space (Prithvi, Apas, Agni, Vayu and Akasa.) Over time, less ancient sources have added two or three major chakras to the original list.

Other important texts:

The Serpent Power, the first book to translate chakras into Western use was writen
by the Englishman, Arthur Avalon and published in 1919. The Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, written by an Indian pundit in 1577, and the Padaka-Pancaka, written in the 10th century, contains descriptions of the centers and related practices.

There is also another 10th century text, called the Gorakshashatakam, which is the original instruction book for working with both crystals and chakras together as healing tools, and gives instructions for meditating on the chakras. These texts form the basis of our understanding of chakra theory and Kundalini yoga today.

In other traditions, there are a variety of other models of chakras particularly in Chinese medicine, and also in Tibetan Buddhism. In Jewish kabbalah, the different Sephiroth are sometimes associated with parts of the body. In Islamic Sufism, Lataif-e-Sitta ( Six Subtleties: Nafs, Qalb, Sirr, Ruh, Khafi, and Akhfa) are considered as psychospiritual “organs” or faculties of sensory and suprasensory perception, thought to be parts of the self in a similar manner to the way glands and organs are part of the body.

Still between such diverged traditions as Shakta Tantra, Sufism and Kabbalism, where chakras, lataif and Sephiroth can ostensibly represent the same archetypal spiritual concepts to reconcile the systems with each other, apparently there are some extraordinary successes.

In Surat Shabda Yoga, initiation by an Outer Living Satguru (Sat - true, Guru - teacher) is required and involves reconnecting soul to the Shabda: inner sound or the essence of God and stationing the Inner Shabda Master (the Radiant Form of the Master) at the third eye charka.

The idea of chakras as understood in Eastern philosophy does not exist in medical science. In Eastern thought, the chakras are thought to be levels of consciousness, and states of the soul, and “proving” the existence of chakras is akin to ‘proving’ the existence of a soul. A mystic deals that are talking about “energy centres”, they are generally talking about subtle, spiritual forces, which work on the psyche and spirit, not about physical, electrical, or magnetic field.

In these traditions, there are seven basic chakras within the subtle body, overlaying the physical body. In the course of modern physiology these seven chakras match up precisely to the seven main nerve ganglia which originate from the spinal column. There are two minor chakras mentioned in the ancient texts, the soma chakra, located just above the third eye, and the Anandakanda lotus, which contains the Celestial Wishing Tree (Kalpataru) of the Heart Chakra.

The arrangement for the chakras (including the additional perineum chakra) that are directly related to the spinal column and CNS nerve pairs emanating from it is as follows:

Throat:16 Petals, 8 Nerves pairs and Revised vertebrae grouping: C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, T1

Heart: 12 Petals, 6 Nerves pairs, and Revised vertebrae grouping:T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7

Solar Plexus: 10 Petals, 5 Nerves pairs, and Revised vertebrae grouping:T8, T9, T10, T11, T12

Sacral: 6 Petals, 3 Nerves pairs, and Revised vertebrae grouping: L1, L2, L3

Root: 4 Petals, 2 Nerves pairs, and Revised vertebrae grouping: L4, L5

Perineum: 2 Petals, 1 Nerves pairs, and Revised vertebrae grouping: S5

Total: 50 Petals, 25 Nerves pairs