Dwelling Place of the Self*

I’ve always thought all that stuff about the chakras was a bunch of hooey.  Somewhat interesting in a fanciful sort of way, but not practically applicable to my life.

Yesterday’s yoga class was all about the second chakra.  That’s the orange one that is seated in the pelvic area.

My teacher ran down a checklist for an excessive second chakra.  I didn’t identify with a single characteristic -- things like addiction and excessive drama.  But then she started down the list of characteristics for a repressed second chakra and I found myself going CHECK, CHECK, CHECK.  Things like loss of creativity, passion, sensuality.

Then it hit me that’s where my hips and lower back reside.  Those are the parts of me that struggle to work well, to keep me walking.  It made sense.

The class was all about hips.  We tried multiple approaches to opening up these essential joints.  We breathed deeply into tight places.

Next week we will move on to the solar plexus, the yellow chakra.  I’m now curious to see what I will learn as we make our way slowly upward in this body that is such a complicated thing.

*  Svadhisthana in Sanskrit