Chakras? What are those?

Ah, chakras. Commonly assumed to be eclectic neo-hippie nonsense involving healing crystals and solstice celebrations (not that there’s anything wrong with that approach), chakras are actually rooted in the Hindu religion, which in turn integrates them into yoga.

Simply put, chakras are points of life-force that receive and transmit energy in the physical body. They can be used as “spiritual indicators” of the balance or imbalance of mind, body, and soul – and we all know the importance of balance in yoga.

I briefly touched on chakras here in an earlier post.

As with the rest of these blog entries, I am here to offer a condensed overview of each chakra and its function, along with it’s relation to yoga and the asanas.

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Yoga Lingo

Practicing yoga means becoming acclimated with a wide array of terminology, and standing in the middle of your class with a confused look on your face is probably not going to help you relax.
Yoga vocabulary varies from person to person, and region to region, so it can be hard to figure out exactly what you’re supposed to be doing when your instructor tells you to move into Savasana.
This is a brief overview of some of the most common words in the yoga dictionary (for you to impress your friends with, of course).

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