The new year is a good time to do an emotional-baggage check, to clear out what no longer serves you and make room for what will. And your chakras— the seven energy centers that run along your central channel—are a tool to help you repack. Here, yoga teacher Giselle Mari shows you how to use your chakras to resolve any negativity holding you back so you become a lighter, brighter version of you.
WHEN GISELLE MARI graduated college with a degree in clinical and counseling psychology, she thought she’d done the work to resolve issues from her childhood. “It was just me and my mom—my dad wasn’t really in my life—money was tight, and life felt unstable,” says Mari. “I was convinced I had processed how growing up in that kind of challenging environment impacted my beliefs about myself and the world.”
Then, Mari started doing chakra work and realized how deeply rooted some of those beliefs were—and how that old anger and resentment were keeping her from the ultimate goal of yoga: a feeling of oneness (versus otherness). “Working with the chakras using asana, mantra, and observation is an efficient way to eliminate old hurt and bad patterns,” she says. “When I looked at— and let go of—my inner turmoil and pain, my life shifted for the better. I don’t carry around that emotional baggage, and as a result, that old karma isn’t driving how I operate in the world.”
It’s a bold promise, and working with your chakras is no easy task, says Mari, but the results are worth the effort. Read on as Mari shows you how to look at the karmic relationships associated with each chakra so you can examine any issues that surface and start to rewrite your old stories into new ones that serve you on your yogic path.
STORY BY MEGHAN RABBITT • SEQUENCE BY GISELLE MARI • PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF NELSON
YOUR INNER LIGHT, BRIGHT
Meet the seven chakras. By looking at how these energy centers relate to our physical and emotional selves, we can shine a light on our deep, dark subconscious, bring any unresolved issues to the surface, and take the first steps toward healing ourselves.
SAHASRARA CHAKRA
Translation: “Thousand-petaled lotus”
Location: Hovering above your head
Related organ: Pituitary gland
Karmic relationship: God, the Divine
ANAHATA CHAKRA
Translation: “Unstruck”
Location: Center of the chest
Related organs: Heart, thymus
Karmic relationship: Others who have hurt you
SVADHISTHANA CHAKRA
Translation: “Her favorite standing place”
Location: Below the navel, at the sacrum
Related organs: Reproductive organs
Karmic relationship: Romantic, sexual, creative, or business partners; spouses, partners, or children
AJNA CHAKRA
Translation: “Command center”
Location: Between your eyebrows in the deep interior of your brain
Related organ: Pineal gland
Karmic relationship: Guru and teachers
VISUDDHA CHAKRA
Translation: “Pure”
Location: Throat at the base of the neck
Related organs: Thyroid gland, vocal chords, ears, skin
Karmic relationship: How you see yourself
MANIPURA CHAKRA
Translation: “Jewel in the city”
Location: Solar plexus region, above the navel
Related organs: Stomach, liver, spleen, pancreas, intestines
Karmic relationship: Others you have hurt
MULADHARA CHAKRA
Translation: “Root place”
Location: Base of your spine, or the coccyx
Related organs: Adrenal glands
Karmic relationship: Mother, father, family, environment, home, workplace, money, job, career
THE TUNE-YOUR-CHAKRA
PRACTICE
READY TO RELEASE what’s not serving you anymore and chart a new path forward? Get your journal and yoga mat handy. “As you answer the questions for each chakra on these pages, write down who and what come up for you and let yourself feel the range of emotions that may surface,” says Mari. Then, chant the bija mantra—a seed sound that activates the energy of the chakra—as you practice the corresponding pose, and again note what’s been revealed. “Each mantra is like the passcode to the chakra,” says Mari. “Each sound helps awaken our consciousness to what we’ve packed away in the recesses of our body. The mantras combined with the poses and your awareness create these openings so that the things you haven’t yet dealt with can emerge.” If you’re working on a specific issue, you can go right to the related chakra; or, you can work through all of the chakras as a sequence, starting with a seated meditation.
MULADHARA CHAKRA
KEY WORD Stability
BIJA MANTRA Lam (pronounced lum)
ASANA Standing, balancing poses. “How your beginnings began determines how you operate in the world,” says Mari. “Working with this chakra can help you see if you’re always in survival mode and on guard—and help you move into a more peaceful, balanced state.”
ASK Did you have stability when you were growing up? What was your financial situation? When you think of your childhood, what comes up?
VIRABHADRASANA II Warrior Pose II
Stand on your mat with your feet 3 to 4 feet apart, your back foot turned in about 45 degrees and your front heel in line with your back arch. Raise your arms to shoulder height as you bend your front leg toward a 90-degree angle. As you stretch your hands away from your midline, feel the stability in your legs and feet. Stay here for 8 to 10 breaths, then repeat on the other side.
SVADHISTHANA CHAKRA
KEY WORD Creativity
BIJA MANTRA Vam (pronounced vum)
ASANA Forward bends and hip openers. “This area of the body relates to any creative endeavor or partnership, including your sexual relationships,” says Mari. “Forward bends and hip openers offer deep release, which can be particularly helpful when dealing with the resentment, anger, and blame that have a tendency to surface when we work with this chakra.”
ASK Is there anyone—a current or former sexual partner or business associate—toward whom you harbor great resentment, anger, or blame? Is there anything inhibiting your ability to feel free and express yourself?
PASCHIMOTTANASANA (Seated Forward Bend)
Sit on the floor, with your legs extended in front of you in Dandasana (Staff Pose). Inhale, and keeping your torso long, lean forward from your hip joints, lengthening your tailbone away from the back of your pelvis. Hold onto the sides of your feet with your elbows fully extended; if this isn’t possible, hold onto a strap looped around your feet. With each inhalation, slightly lift and lengthen your torso; with each exhalation, release a little more fully into the forward bend. Stay in this pose anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes.
MANIPURA CHAKRA
KEY WORD Confidence
BIJA MANTRA Ram (pronounced rum)
ASANA Twists. An imbalanced solar-plexus chakra can manifest as fear and dis-empowerment, says Mari. It’s also a space where people we have hurt reside. “In some, an imbalance in this chakra manifests as aggressive or controlling behavior, whereas in others it can lead to neediness and lack of direction or self-esteem to take action,” she says. The goal? To feel comfortable with your own inherent power, so you can fully step into the ways you can positively impact the collective without harming others.
ASK Are there areas of your life in which you feel powerless? If so, how does this manifest? Who do you dis empower in order to feel more powerful yourself?
ARDHA MATSYENDRASANA
Half Lord of the Fishes Pose, variation Sit on the floor in Staff Pose. Bend your right leg and place your right foot outside your left knee. Press your right hand against the floor just behind your right sitting bone, and set your left elbow on the inside or outside of your right thigh near the knee (depending on how deeply you want to twist). On an exhale, twist toward the inside of your right thigh. Press your inner right foot into the mat as you lengthen your torso. With every inhalation, lift a little more through your sternum; with every exhalation, twist a little deeper. Stay for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then release with an exhalation, return to Staff Pose, and repeat on the other side.
ANAHATA CHAKRA
KEY WORDS Compassion, unconditional love, forgiveness
BIJA MANTRA Yam (pronounced yum)
ASANA Backbends. When most yogis think of the heart chakra, they assume “opening” it is the goal. And while heart-opening poses can remind practitioners of the compassion and joy that’s inherent in them, Mari says it can be just as beneficial to see this chakra as a bridge between the lower and upper chakras. “It’s how we integrate the manifest with the spiritual,” she says. “It’s how we feel self-compassion and unconditional love toward ourselves, and then share it with others.”
ASK What are the ways in which my pain or fear of being hurt by others has shut me down?
SETU BANDHA SARVANGASANA (Bridge Pose)
Lie on your back, bend your knees, and bring your heels toward your sitting bones. Then, press your feet into the mat and lift your pelvis toward the ceiling. Tuck your shoulders underneath themselves and rotate your palms so they face upward; you can also interlace your fingers underneath your pelvis. Press your upper arms and feet into the mat, isometrically squeeze your thighs toward one another, and lengthen your tailbone toward your knees while keeping your chin off your chest. Hold here for 5 breaths, and then lower back to your mat from shoulders to hips. Rest for 2 breaths, and then repeat 2 more times.
VISUDDHA CHAKRA
KEY WORD Communication
BIJA MANTRA Ham (pronounced hum)
ASANA Salamba Sarvangasana (Supported Shoulderstand) and Matsyasana (Fish Pose). The throat chakra is all about expressing our truth—both our inner truth and choosing the words we use to reveal that truth, says Mari. “How we speak and what we speak is a representation of the mind,” she says.
ASK What does your inner voice tell you? Do you see yourself as capable of being enlightened? Do you believe you are worth it, or is your internal dialogue limiting and negative?
MATSYASANA (Fish Pose)
Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet on the floor. As you inhale, lift your pelvis slightly off the floor and slide your hands, palms down, below your sitting bones; rest your buttocks on the backs of your hands or slide them out from underneath you, as shown. Keeping your forearms and elbows close to your torso, and pressing firmly against the floor, inhale and lift your head and upper torso away from your mat. Then, release your head back onto the floor and straighten your legs if you can. Stay here for 15 to 30 seconds, breathing smoothly. To come out, on an exhale lower your torso and the back of your head to the floor, then draw your thighs up into your belly and squeeze your legs into your chest.
AJNA CHAKRA
KEY WORD Humility
BIJA MANTRA Om (pronounced aum)
ASANA Balasana (Child’s Pose).
Commonly known as the home of the third eye, this chakra is associated with humility. “The teachers we have in our lives, who come in the form of parents, spiritual teachers, and even our children, are simply us—outside ourselves,” says Mari. “We often think a teacher is one we love and adore, but sometimes the best teachers really give us the business.”
ASK Who are your gurus? What are they here to teach you? Who pushes your buttons? Who loves you and kicks your proverbial butt?
BALASANA (Child’s Pose)
From Tabletop (on hands and knees, with your knees under your hips, and wrists under your shoulders), bring your big toes to touch and separate your knees to hip width; as you exhale, lay your torso down between your thighs. Lengthen your tailbone toward the back of your mat as you stretch your arms in front of you, or reach back and hold your heels. In this version, place the center of your forehead (home to your third eye, or ajna chakra) on the mat. Stay anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes.
SAHASRARA CHAKRA
KEY WORDS Enlightenment, yoga
BIJA MANTRA Silent Om (pronounced aum)
ASANA Salamba Sirsasana (Supported Headstand). Sahasrara means “thousand-petaled” and represents a thousand-petaled lotus flower thought to reside just above the crown of your head, says Mari. “This chakra is the gateway to enlightenment—the place where it’s no longer possible to experience yourself as separate from anyone or anything,” she adds.
ASK Who or what represents that which is beyond my egoic self? How do I realize my highest Self?
SALAMBA SIRSASANA (Supported Headstand)
From Tabletop, interlace your fingers and set your forearms on the floor, elbows at shoulder width. Roll your upper arms slightly outward and press your inner wrists firmly into the floor, then set the crown of your head on your mat. Come off your knees and onto your toes, carefully walking your feet closer to your elbows. Exhale and lift your feet away from the floor, taking both feet up at the same time, even if it means bending your knees. As the legs (or thighs, if your knees are bent) rise to perpendicular to the floor, turn your upper thighs slightly inward and press your feet activ\e
ly toward the sky. Do this pose close to a wall at first, which will keep you safe should you lose your balance. Also, keep in mind that you should place very little weight on your head; instead, use the strength in your arms, shoulders, and core to lift up through your toes, almost as if you could lift your head off the ground. Remain in Supported Headstand for 10 seconds or longer.
This article was first published in the print edition of Yoga Journal Singapore, which is now Yogahood Online.
