Welcome, Exhalo Fortis readers! As we transition into fall and winter, I would like you to check in with yourself by looking inward. Not only checking in with your feelings but also checking in with all aspects of who you are and what you are.

• Where is your thinking mind?

• How does the physical body feel?

• Are you holding tension emotionally, mentally, physically, or spiritually?

• What do you need more of?

• What do you need to release?

• How is your sense of self?

When we bring awareness to all aspects of ourselves, we can better understand what we truly need to thrive. This improved mind-body connection then allows us to nourish ourselves appropriately- be it with food, water, yoga, meditation, therapy, hobbies, or movement in general. As a yoga teacher, I enjoy using the chakras as a tool to help me understand the different parts of myself and draw attention to each specific energetic body. I invite you to learn about the chakras in this post so you can also look inward, identify what you need more or less of, and thrive in your life.

What are the Chakras?

The Vedas are considered ancient Hindu scriptures written around 4,500-2,500 Before Common Era (BCE). Yoga came into being around 1,000-100 BCE. A lot of yoga philosophy is influenced by the Vedas. However, yoga does not necessarily follow any religion. Yoga has a rich history that can enlighten our everyday lives. Now let’s get into the chakras, specifically.

In yoga philosophy, the koshas are sheaths or layers that makeup who we are and what we are. The second layer or sheath is the pranayama kosha, which is also known as the energetic sheath. The pranayama kosha consists of energetic channels where life force/prana/energy flows. We can nourish the pranayama kosha with breathwork. Prana or breath energy flows through small channels that are found throughout the body. The smaller channels found throughout the body are called nadis and the larger central, energetic centers are called the chakras. Picture the chakras as glowing, spinning balls of light.

There is a specific color associated with each chakra because there are different frequencies in the light spectrum for each color. If this concept seems strange, consider the color of a green leaf. Plants use the sun’s light to make sugars via photosynthesis. White light from the sun can be fragmented into its components: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet -the colors of a rainbow. A leaf wants to efficiently harness the energy of the sun, so it absorbs colors that have the frequencies that can help it photosynthesize. Green is not one of those colors so it rejects the green wavelength. Hence, we see the color green for most plants.

To sum up, the chakras have unique vibrations, frequencies, and anatomical associations.

7 CHAKRAS 

These are the seven chakras within our bodies. I included where they are located, what each energy center influences, the color associated with each, and recommendations on how to unblock or balance out each specific chakra.

Unblock Your Chakras

There is so much more information regarding the chakra system and how prana (energy) flows within our chakras, how having a yoga practice can rectify energetic blockages, and how mediation can help us balance our chakras. I will cover that in the future. For now, my intention behind this blog post is to demystify the basics of the chakra system.

I think it’s very interesting that thousands of years ago, humans knew that we were energetic beings that required a balanced life. It's even more astonishing that their discoveries still hold today to at least some degree when you consider the central nervous system’s role in our physical health, sense of self, and overall well-being. The central nervous consists of the brain and spinal column.

You don’t have to buy into the ancient philosophy of the chakra system just as you don’t have to buy into scientific studies on light absorption and wavelength (but I implore you to understand that science is a methodology we use to understand our world with measurable, repeatable, peer-reviewed experiments) - what I ask from my readers, clients, and community is to find a means to connect with your body. Check-in with yourself at least once a day. Consider checking in with each chakra specifically during your yoga practice or while you meditate. Once you begin having an open and honest dialogue with yourself, you will learn to provide it with the nourishment it craves.

I offer online and in-person yoga classes, by the way. Join my virtual yoga class! Now (October 2024) through December 2024, each class will be dedicated to unblocking a specific chakra.

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Sources: Please note that different sources may follow slightly different philosophies or practices. This is why you may notice some discrepancies in information regarding the chakra system and yoga in general. That said, for this blog post I used the following sources:

• “Light on Yoga” by B.K.S Iyengar (all quotations taken from this text)

• “The Heart of Yoga” by T.K.V Desikachar

• “Integrative Application of Yoga” by Michelle Young founder of My Vinyasa Practice

• Photo Credit: Painting by Egon Schiele (my favorite artist)