Differentiating the Lower 2 Chakras

Posted on July 13, 2015 by admin

As we continue to rest in stillness, while the universe flows through us, in the on going stream of karma and creativity, we somatic explorers can also use the yoga postures to help with the flossing the chakras, creating a more clear channel for the light. Always cycling through the heart, the energies of the asanas can be very helpful in both differentiating and integrating the various modes of energy associated with each of the seven main chakras, allowing our creativity to unfold and flower at more and more interesting levels.

For most modern humans with a confused upright posture, the bottom two chakras are squashed together with almost no differentiation. We will use our supported bridge pose to begin the process of opening space between them and developing a sense of fluid differentiated movement. Then we will integrate this opening and new sense of space into our play in the rest of the standing poses, and then all the rest of the poses in your repertoire. The water element makes for very juicy yoga!

Structurally, the pelvic bones are the first and most obvious link, as they connect with the femurs to form the hip joints, powerful 1st chakra centers, and also with the sacrum at the sacro-illiac joints to motivate the 2nd chakra. As you can see above, there are numerous nerves, ligaments and muscle fibers here, so this is very dynamic space. There is another hidden link, the elusive joint between the sacrum and the coccyx, much more obvious in animals with a larger tail. For most, the L5 – S1 joint, where the sacrum connects to the lower lumbar, is hypermobile, leading to excess movement and injury here. If you can ‘stabilze L5 – S1, and mobilize the sacral-coccyx joint, you will have very different spianl experience! Your imaginary tail will make this link more accessible, and this will help open up the center channel with what we will call a bit later ‘lateral space’.

One observation we can make, before we go further, is that chakra 1 represents the element earth and stability, while chakra 2 represents the element water and mobility. As students of asana, sthira sukham asanam comes immediately to mind. If we can find the dynamic balance of stability and mobility through the structures and energy fields of the two lower chakras, we have the perfect foundation for all subsequent movement needs. Eric Franklin’s very helpful book, “Pelvic Power” is full of great imagery, exercises and education. I love the fountain!

A second observation is that one can be very integrated in structure and movement down there and still be emotionally dysfunctional. There is no shortage of highly skilled professional athletes who fit this profile. The element water is also associated with emotions, and the second chakra is also the center of sexual energy, so as we begin to release the bound energy of the second chakra, we need the grounding energy of the first chakra to stabilize us, and the wisdom of the heart chakra to make sure our actions are always expressions of the heart.

Place the block directly under the sacrum. I prefer a wooden block, as the feedback is clear and the block is stable. I find the foam blocks less stable unless you stack them, and then you lose the precision of the narrow edge. However, your body has to be safe and comfortable.

Feet are alive, continuing to ground the energy, even though the primary grounding is now through the block. Gently press the feet forward to create a rebound energy coming back towards your head. Channel it through the center of the pelvis. To do this, the pelvis is neither tucked, nor untucked, but floating in neutral, parallel to the floor. This pose is not about how much height you can create up to the ceiling, but about how accurately the energy flows through the core. The block gives you feed back for exactly where the sacrum is. As you press the feet, feel that action is coming from the pelvic bones reaching toward the knees, right and left evenly. This would be grounding if you were standing. Let the rebound move in the opposite direction through the sacrum so you feel the double action centered right where the hips and sacro-illiacs are located. Allow a space to emerge between the bones, without a sense of ‘stretching’ anything. Just energy flow, ground and space. Feel the diaphragm and heart expanding to receive the pelvic energy. Feel the fountain.

Now begin to grow a tail that extends out past the knees. Try a mammal tail and oscillate between flexion and extension, forward and back bending actions, just with the tail, but let the fluids of the whole body respond. The other spinal vertebrae may also move in a wave like motion. Let them feel the fluid motion, but try to not help by contracting any muscles. This is the beginning of differentiating the front and back body from the center and opening up the inner ‘volume’ of the body. Inhabiting this inner space is key in the somatic awakening process.

Then take the feet up without losing the tail so there is no ‘gripping in the lumbar sacral area. There will be some engagement of the deeper muscles as they align with the flow. Experiment with slowly moving up and down to involve different regions of the spine as the legs and sacrum adapt to the changing angles, and then land gently without losing the awareness.

Next, try a fish tail with side to side wave motion. Big fish! Let the whole ‘chakra line’ feel fluid, let all the vertebrae have a chance to feel the integrated flow. The fish tail action is the beginning of finding the lateral space that opens up through the second chakra as the two pelvic bones differentiate. That the right and left feet and legs can move independently is obvious. When the two pelvic bones can differentiate, at the pubic bones and at the sacro-illiacs, the second chakra can begin to breathe and the side to side or lateral differentiation and volume awakens.

With one leg extending upward you can explore this new awareness. Let the pelvic bones follow the legs, leaving the sacrum floating above the block. This can help release tension in the deep spinal muscles along the length of the spine. The other leg remains in hip extension and you can begin to sense space in the center plane of the torso with the help of the tail. The legs stay alive as the fluidity supports the expanding of diaphragm, intercostals, mesentery and mediastinum. The pelvic bones and spine are often ‘confused’, meaning they are stuck together perceptually. So as the fish body awakens, the spine becomes more and more free to feel like a fish because the legs, from pelvis to feet, float away. This is more obvious in the next stage.

It all comes down to water, collagen, physics and sacred geometry: Now, with legs and pelvis free of the spine, play in this ‘Continuum’ exploration of the inner world that is opening. The balance of water (compression) and collagen (tension) build the tensegrity field, where every fiber feels connected fluidly and elastically to every other fiber, whether muscle, bone, organ, cell or fascia. Let the body take on any shape it desires. If the arms want o float upwards, let them go with it. Drop habits and holding and be as free as an anemone. There is a spectrum of of learning and freedom of expression, of course. It builds over time as Hebb’s Axion deepens the integration. When you are ready to carry this into other poses, retain the inner balance of fluidity and stability. Stay grounded and sing and dance your heart away!

Grounding: Lessons from the Muladhara

Posted on July 6, 2015 by admin

Now that we have landed in Ojai and are starting to grow some permanent (?) roots here, the muladhara, source of all rooting, has begun to reveal many new layers and levels of meaning to me.

There is something about mountains that is very grounding. They announce ‘stable presence’ quietly and elegantly. This view looking north from our front yard shows the Nordoff Ridge, an extension of the Topatopa Mountains, the range that gives the Ojai valley such a powerful spiritual energy. The region provides a habitat for thousands of species of living beings, including us newcomers, the humans. The Topatopas may be 15 -20 million years old, as they were formed as a result of the Pacific Plate first colliding with the North American Plate 20 – 25 million years ago. The collision is still taking place, of course, so even here, stability is relative. Tadasana, mountain pose, is the yogic expression of roots and rooting, and the foundation for all standing asanas. Here the legs, an extension of the muladhara, are trained to channel energy from the body to the core of Mother Earth and back again, like the two prongs of an electrical plug. How, in our lives, can we be a stable presence, as life passes through us in waves of change and transformation?

Trees are masters of grounding. Quercus agrifolia, the California Coastal Oak, is the dominant tree hear in the ‘Arbolada’ section of Ojai. This beauty, just by our front door, is but one of a dozen on the land, and is easily over 100 years old. Because of the Mediterranean climate here in California, the coastal oaks need a deep root system that often mirrors the canopy. I am surrounded by my teachers as I sit here typing away and I feel their presence. They are very patient, stable and mature, and also provide homes for the local birds and tree squirrels. They inhabit the land with grace and elegance, and invite others to join. The oak trees told Kate that this was to be our habitat when she first saw the property several years ago. How can we allow this precious gift of a human body become a safe haven and place of nurturance for the other beings who share our space?

Now, we have have only been here a few weeks, so our roots are not quite as deep as the Topatopas or the oaks, but the sage plants you see above have been in place for only a few months themselves. Like us, they are new to the neighborhood, and also need a lot of nurturing while their roots are getting established. Once settled in they will be quite self sufficient, but for now they need to be watched and watered. What aspects of ourselves need special treatment these days, to help their roots to become strong?

In our asana practice, what does it mean to ‘ground’ this human body we have inherited? What does it mean to inhabit it, to invite in new forms of aliveness, to help it thrive? We can answer this from the three levels of embodiment we have been exploring, structure, energy and fields.

Structure

The structure is simple on the surface. Can we allow the weight of the body to be carried effortlessly by the legs, from pelvis to toes? Every bone, every joint, every muscle and collagen fiber has a role to play. Standing poses are the teachers. They request and teach strength and flexibility, power and elasticity.

As we have inherited our feet from our mammalian and reptilian ancestors, the use of the tarsal bones, especially the talus, navicular and cuboid to transfer weight and integrate movement is crucial. (Remember, the heel bones are secondary when it comes to grounding the energy flow. Quadriped’s heels never touch the ground.) Can we fully inhabit our feet so we can feel and move every bone and joint? Can we open the energy channels of the heel bones without jamming the ankle joints, or losing the grounding through the tarsals – metatarsals – phalanges? Grounding is not necessarily weight bearing. Old injuries of course inhibit free flow, but life finds ways around the injuries if we can only slow down and explore the subtleties. Hands on help, self administered, or from a friend or somatic practitioner can nurture the bony pathways into more life and flow. Nurturing the roots is always a good thing.

On the structural plane, we also have our old friend, the Deep Front Line, from Tom Myers’ Anatomy Trains, as a fascial highway of perception and action, of monitoring and modulating the energy and information flow. As best possible, feel the DFL as a continuous elastic band that can shorten and lengthen as the demands of posture and movement change. When we explore the ‘drop and glide’ in a few minutes, this is the highway we want to travel.

Energy

From the energetic perspective, can our legs channel energy like a river flows into the sea. Can we find flow from core to feet and back again? Can our legs become one with the whole body, including head and hands, and not just appendages that hang out or hold on in unnecessary tension? How would your cells ‘feel’ if your trikonasana looked like this? Can the leg energy liberate the spinal column, so it regains the freedom of a fish in water?

Here, imagining a new tail can be very liberating. There are three energy channels emanating downward from the muladhara: leg, leg and tail. Humans have long legs and tiny tails and that is very confusing to them. The tail energy disappears early on in development, when the anal rooting reflex is no longer being utilized for stability. But infants and toddlers are really good at using the tail energy for staying connected to Mother Earth while being engaged in activity. Adults can use the leg energy, as well as imagination, to awaken the tail aspect of the muladhara. We will use this simple movement exploration to help find this, and also open up the fields.

Fields

“Drop and Glide, or “Load and Lengthen”

To work from the field level, we will add the chakras in the ‘drop and glide, load and lengthen’ movements we have worked on before. One foot/leg grounds with weight as the other lengthens down and out, like a skaters action. Complete the action through the inner back heel, which has a direct link to the tail energy, through the floor, and on to infinity. Do not stop or block the flow when it meets the floor. Follow the energy through the DFL. Because this is a bi-lateral action, we will be feeling the side dimensions of the chakras, and also the posterior, as there is a slight backwards components also. There is a lot of tension and resistance in the structural components here, so awakening the field energy will eliminate a lot of unnecessary strain.

By chakra field, I am referring to all of the energies emanating from that particular chakra. They all overlap, of course, but like colors in the rainbow or notes in a chord of music, each chakra can be differentiated, as can the layers of energy associated with each chakra. As somanauts, we utilize movement to awaken the fields, but we also have to open our lens to resonate with the other possible dimensions. As well as grounded movement, the muladhara is associated with the color red, the sense of smell, the element earth, the physiological function of defecation, survival at the most primal, organismic level. The four petals surrounding the square at the center represent the four cardinal directions. The downward pointing triangle shows the direction of the energy flow. According to tantra, the muladhara’s associated animal is the elephant, the deity, Ganesh. Lots going on here! Have some fun with this.

From tadasana, shift your weight onto one foot (load) and bend the opposite knee to the chest. Lengthen from the 1st chakra field/space as you extend down, back and slightly sideways, in a curving path of grounding energy. Open the tail, legs, pelvis and sacrum. Find space and flow. Imagine the chakra energies are like cars waiting at a traffic light. The ground is across the intersection. When the light turns green, make sure the intersection is clear of tension (relax!) and release the 1st chakra energy down the DFL. The 2nd chakra is the second car, etc. Each car has to wait for the one in front to move. A healthy car length between is good. Make sure they all travel at the same relative speed so there are no fender benders inside. If there are obstructions, slow down, work more subtley. The habit is to fight from the knots at the structural level. Resist this patiently and calmly. Stay in the field level and melt the tension.

Return to tadasana and repeat from 2nd chakra, and then from each subsequent one up through 7. Change legs and repeat. Or, as an alternative, do 1st chakra both legs, then 2nd chakra both legs, etc. Clear out the channels as best possible. Every chakra needs grounding, just as every part of a plant needs connections to Mother Earth through its root system.

You can also recreate this in ardha chandrasana or one legged dog pose. In the classical standing poses, you do this energetically, once you are in the posture; back leg, front leg, and then both, grounding each chakra as best possible. Many of our chakras have weak root systems and need lots of nurturing. The chakras fields are loaded with memories, emotions and stored traumas, as well as light and healing energies. Grounding is an important part of their healing and the integration of the whole.

This is an open ended mystery that we are just beginning to awaken to. And for some more fun, check out ‘our new friend from Ojai’ Meredith’s short video on sacred geometry and sciatica. She is a delightful person with a visionary sense of somatics.

http://neuralresonance.kajabi.com/funnel_events/36288-sciatica-segment?pt=z19cFmvGmEJEt9vl253J&art=http://www.kajabi.com/admin/funnels/23963

2014 YLT, 11th Weekend Summary

Posted on February 10, 2015 by admin

Working with the Prana Vayus:

This is the eleventh entry in a series of twelve posts summarizing the basic material covered in the year long training which began in January of 2104 and will come to a completion on February 15th. Previous posts can be found on this blog page. A lot has been covered over the past year. If any questions arise, please feel free to contact me.

We are now working with the subtle energies, so some quietness and reflection is needed, even in dynamic postures. Meditation is primary in all poses, and the heart is the place to start. We are cultivating subtle streams of perception in both the fluid body and the etheric or spatial body, so some patience and persistence is required. Developing the skill of resting in stillness will allow the more subtle energies to reveal themselves.

Vayu means air or wind and the term Prana vayus refers to the five fundamental organizing movements of the energetic body. We will be working from the tensegrity/fluid body/pressure cavities perspective to make these movements both tangible and integrated. For anyone living in their body with sensitivity and intelligence, three major pressure cavities can be experienced, the cranial vault, the thoracic region, and the abdominal/pelvic region. Relative to the outside world, the head and abdominal cavities have positive or higher pressure and the thoracic cavity has a lower pressure. To present this in a more dramatic way, if you puncture the head or belly, stuff squirts out, but if you puncture the chest, it collapses inward, as in a collapsed lung. The basic point here is that this pressure gradient of the body is constantly moving energy toward the heart, i.e., pressure draws energy from higher to lower to create an internal equilibrium that is a major player in all of the fluid movements of the body.

This equilibrium can cover a whole spectrum from very dynamic, vital and healthy, to highly restricted and pathological. Our process in yoga physiology is to maximize the dynamic relationships for optimum health. And, it also turns out that in doing so we cultivate a deep inner presence in the heart center that is a place of infinite stillness and wholeness. Tada drashtuh svarupe avasthanam. We have to make it stable, of course, through practice and surrender, abhyasa and vairagyam.

We’ll begin with our Hoberman spheres and begin to feel the energies of the two directions: opening the sphere, expanding out from a center, which we can call the yang or centrifugal energy; and closing the sphere, condensing from the perimeter into the center, the yin or centripetal energy. When they are in balance, we can find a dynamically stable state of the sphere at any where along the spectrum from open to closed.

When we come to the body and the Prana vayus, we first come the first, also known as the prana vayu, which governs the process of taking energies into the body/mind. (I’ll use a capital P when refering to the general term including all five, and a small p when referring to the intake. The prana vayu ,or prana, is an expanding field that creates space and invites energy to move into the body. This expansion is centered in the mid chest at the heart and balances the negative pressure usually felt in the chest which causes the outer world to press in upon the chest. If you hadn’t noticed, as people reach middle age and older, the chest has more often than not sunk in a bit from this pressure. Gravity and the aging belly energy also play a part in this sinking. By consciously finding, feeling, creating an expanding field from the heart, the chest opens, the heart lifts, and we are ready to be present to whatever the world offers us in the moment. If your connective tissues have fallen into a collapse of any level, it may take a while to reconfigure them. The intercostals and other chest muscles, as well as the diaphragm and mediastinum are involved. The prana vayu is usually associated with respiration, but on a sublte level governs everything you take in, from emotions to ideas, sensations and images.

As we are open systems, we have to balance taking in with moving out. The second vayu, apana, governs elimination, or what we let go of, at all levels. Apana is a squeezing or condensing energy, complimenting the expanding of the prana vayu. Expand to take in, squeeze to move out. Very simple. Most commentators focus on the downward flow, as solid and liquid wastes are eliminated predominantly out through the pelvic floor, but the apana is more complex than that. Sweating takes place throughout the body. Exhalation of the breath takes place through the nostrils or mouth. Regurgitation, a hopefully infrequent form of expelling unwanted material, moves out the mouth.

Ultimately apana is a radiallly condensing energy. However, it also has an unusual role in that the downwards aspect is also what governs the action of the legs and tail, real or imaginary. So we might say the the abdominal/pelvic cavity also can be expanded to include legs and tail. As we saw with the prana vayu, aging often takes a toll on the connective tissue structures of the body. The apana is a squeezing energy, but the belly has a positive or outgoing pressure. Aging often leads to this positive pressure creating the pot or beer belly, giving many middle agers the look of being slightly pregnant. With this state, the ‘sqeeziness’ is also much weaker, creating all sorts of problems from poor elimination and digestion, to lower back problems. From the perspective of Ayurveda, the medical wisdom of the Vedic tradition, poor elimination is the beginning of the disease process.

The samana vayu, classically associated with digestion, governs absorption. It is the decider or mediator between what comes in and what goes out. When healthy, we retain the ‘good stuff’ and eliminate the ‘bad stuff’. From the perspective of the pressure cavities, samana sits between the expanding center of prana in the chest and the squeezing center of apana in the pelvis. When healthy, the expanding nature of the abdomen is carefully directed away from the abdominal wall and aligned with the spinal axis. Some of the energy lifts up through the diaphragm and into the heart, supporting the prana vayu; some of it extends downward to grow legs and tail, supporting the apana vayu. This action can be felt as a natural, mild uddiyana bandha. Here Krishnamacharya is demonstrating a slightly stronger version as part of pranayama practice.

The vyana vayu circulates the energies throughout the body. First felt as the fluid flow of the blood, vyana also governs the nerve currents circulating information throughout the body and the flow of Prana through the subtle energy channels known as nadis. There are fourteen principal nadis, of which three are most commonly known. Ida is the lunar or cooling nadi associated with the feminine and parasympathetic nervous systems. Pingala, the solar or masculine nadi, works with the sympathetic nervous system. Susumna, the center channel, works with the central nervous system. There are some parallels with the meridian system in Chinese medicine.

The vyana vayu has both expanding and condensing energies and also governs movement. The grace and elegance of the limbs in movement is an indication of healthy vyana.

The udana vayu is a fascinating one. An upward moving energy, udana governs growth and development at all levels of reality. At conception it facilitates embryological development and triggers the urge in the baby to move out of the womb and into the world by extending out through the crown chakra. This same energy takes the soul out of the body through the crown chakra at death. During your life, udana is a sustaining field of intelligence that integrates the other four pranas in an on-going urge to grow physically, emotionally and spiritually. When udana gets stuck, it feels as if our whole life is ‘stuck’. Coming back to the heart center and resting there is always a way to get ‘unstuck’.

In any poses you choose, find these energies. In dynamic postures such as standing poses and back bends, to much muscular energy is a sign of blockage in all the vayus. Start with opening the prana vayu and follow it through the others. In more restorative of meditative poses, find the udana vayu as a field of integration and stillness, where the whole body mind is awake and relaxed simultaneously.