Chakras are energy sources within your body.
When the chakras are discussed it’s in terms of flow or being blocked. Think of the energy as a river and when one chakra is blocked, it builds a damn and stops the flow. The chakras travel from the base of your spine at your tailbone to the crown of your head. There are many ways to open these imbalanced chakras!
I admit the first time I heard of chakras was with yoga. I didn’t give it much thought. I wasn’t ready to hear what it could do for me. Then I began to learn more and said there’s something here. I was intrigued. As I thought more about it I saw a correlation with Pilates!
We experience a lot of emotions in our bodies. If we hold onto emotions and resist feeling them this contributes to a block in our chakra. The more we begin to feel and let the emotions flow through us, the better we feel.
Each chakra has a color associated with it and together they make up a rainbow. The root chakra is red and starts at your tailbone. The crown of your head is purple or white. If one particular chakra is blocked, you say mantras to open and release it. You also eat the food of that color. So for the root chakra that includes beets, raspberries, strawberries, red beans, and includes black-colored food. Wearing the color of the chakra also helps balance it.
If you experience a sense of insecurity or lack of safety, it affects your root chakra. Feeling guilt impacts your sacral chakra. These mantras are ones I’ve found useful when noticing where the tension builds in my body. They change your energy from a negative one to a positive one!
Root/Tailbone Chakra: I am safe. I am safe within my body. I am not alone.
Sacral/Sacrum which is the keystone of your pelvis: I am free. I let go. I let go of guilt.
Solar plexus/area between navel and sternum: I am enough. I am worthy. I am accepted.
Heart: I am loved. I am love. I love my body. I love unconditionally.
Throat: I am truth. I am authentic.
Third eye/forehead: I see clearly.
Crown Chakra/top of head: I surrender.
So what do chakras and Pilates have to do with each other?
Well, in Pilates I teach you to feel. There are times you may have trouble feeling certain parts of your body. Simply thinking ‘let go’ can release tight spots and open them. I remember many times my Pilates instructor telling me to ‘let go’ and thinking ‘let go of what?’ It truly doesn’t matter what you let go of. You don’t need to know what you are letting go of. It’s easier to let go than to hold on.
Together with focusing on images where you feel stuck during Pilates releases emotions and tension. After, you feel open and free. Can you think of a time in your life when you felt a tightness in a particular area of your body? Then after a specific event, the tension went away? I had this happen when planning my wedding. My hips were so tight and then when I came back to Pilates they were free and loose. (Make all the jokes you want, it’s fine!)
There are many ways to balance your chakras.
When your chakras are balanced it feels like a waterfall flowing down your back. Or a geyser coming up from the root chakra through the crown of your head. One way is with meditation. My favorite instructor for Chakra is The Wong Janice and she plays the cello along with each area. You can find it on insight timer: https://insighttimer.com/meditation-courses/course_the-wong-janice?_branch_match_id=777561927665257182&utm_campaign=app-share&utm_medium=Course
Another way is to attend Pilates and Chakras at Artisan Culture.
Each month we’re focusing on a chakra and Intuitive Colors Chef Rae creates a chakra juice. The juice is the color of the chakra and includes tuning forks. The tuning forks are also used to provide balance with vibrations. Think of these vibrations as the same you feel in a massage chair. They allow you to relax and let go. Sign up for class here: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=19670923&appointmentType=21748465
And if you’d like to read more about the chakras, I’d recommend this book: Chakra Healing. https://amzn.to/32BU0nJ