Yoga to Strengthen and Support You

What supports you in your life? What gives you the strength to live a heart-felt and authentic life? This week in class we have been focusing on Muladhara Chakra, the subtle energy centre that helps you to create strong and stable foundations, both physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and in very practical ways in your daily life.

Muladhara Chakra is also known as the foundation  or root centre. The bodily parts associated with it are the legs, feet, the pelvic floor, and the sexual organs. Its associated element is earth. In your yoga practice you can work with Muladhara by focusing on where your body is in contact with the floor, relaxing into the support of the earth beneath you, and rising up from that strong, stable foundation.
 
Below is my aide memoire for the Muladhara Chakra yoga practice that I created over the holidays. Please excuse the unpolished nature of the drawings as originally they were intended for my eyes only. However, for those of you attending my yoga classes, they will help jog your memory about what we did in class this week, just in case you want to try it out at home.

Another way of invoking the earthy energy of this chakra is to bring images of the natural world into your yoga practice. For example this week in class we visualised images of spring flowers such as crocuses, snowdrops, or early daffodils, coming into bloom. In supine Tree Pose (Vrksasana) we pictured a tree that we felt a connection with. In Mountain Pose (Tadasana) we pictured the strength and stability of a majestic mountain. 

Recently I've really enjoyed reading Anodea Judith's Chakra Yoga. Other chakra themed books that I recommend are: The Book of Chakra Healing, by Liz Simpson, and Chakra Workbook by Pauline Wills. I hope like me that you will find the chakras provide you with a real treasure trove of creativity and inspiration.