Food and Sex Issue
Got your attention now? Actually, Svadhisthana, which in Sanskrit means "Sweetness" or "the place of the Self", really is the energy center governing our appetites and desires. The 2nd of the 7 "Chakras" or wheels of energy lined up within your spine, it spins and radiates from within your pelvic cradle, in front of the sacrum, and right above the "Root" or 1st Chakra at the perineum and working closely with it.
First: the Food. While the 1st, or Root Chakra, forms prenatally and in the first 12 months of life, and governs survival (health and wealth), the 2nd, or Sacral Chakra, forms from 6 months to 2 years, and governs pleasures and feelings. An emaciated person may suffer from 1st Chakra deficiency (inability to retain food/health) but may also have a deficient 2nd Chakra - lacking a desire or pleasure in food.
Obesity is a 1st Chakra excess - the body hoarding food - but may stem from 2nd Chakra imbalance too - uncontrolled desire for taste pleasures/sensations. My relationship with chocolate and all tastes delicious remind me constantly of 2nd Chakra's tendency to let senses overwhelm sense.
I've noticed an abundance of food education programs recently that teach a balanced approach to food as fuel (1st Chakra) and pleasure (2nd Chakra) to end the rollercoaster of excess and deficiency in these two centers. These programs - in churches, gyms, yoga studios - are seeking to balance Root Chakra and Sacral Chakra, whether or not they are not using the language or reference.
Nutrition Program at Yoga Works
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Stuck on Sensations
So: the sex part? A student on the brink of marriage asked, "So what do you think is better - monogamy - or - polygamy?" Not Mormon, I think he was searching for a word. "I married because otherwise I'd be all over the place," I answered. In my early twenties I realized I wanted an external control to help regulate my emotions. Yoga's answer to that is in the Yamas and Niyamas - the ethical principles held in the classic eight limbs of Yoga.
"Sacral" refers to the 2nd Chakra's location in the pelvis - and to the sacredness of the primal life force. Svadhisthana, out of control, creates addictions: to substances, relationships, behaviors, compulsions, with their high drama and pain-pleasure adrenaline rushes.
How does Yoga help? The meditative focus, breathing and postures all help to balance the Chakras' energies. In particular, hip openers releasing tensions stored in hamstrings, gluteals, piriformis, quadraceps, tensor fascia latae, iliopsoas, etc., help free the flow of the Sacral Chakra. Yoga can augment any intelligently chosen, active program of addiction rehab.
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Owning Your Feelings
A student freqently goes out to dinner, and her husband orders for them to share, saying "I can't finish the whole thing." What he orders is never what she would choose. She feels stymied at first, ogling the menu, and now has begun to give up even thinking what she would order. I ask her if they can take turns doing the choosing, or each order and bring home doggy bags. To not claim, to eventually not know, our feelings, is a blockage of our life-giving 2nd Chakra. It can make us cold, rigid, numb, deadened to our emotional self. I tell her to take turns ordering - or take home doggy bags! - as price is not a problem in their dining out.
Affirm: "I have the right to feel. I have the right to want."
Chant: "Vam" softly or silently, directing the energy to your low belly.
Visualize: In pelvic basin, upward-pointing silver crescent moon, in saffron orange background.
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Schedules
For July and August, Eve Seltzer, Ishta teacher/chanteuse, will sub my Fri. ES 10:45 L1 class; however I will teach my Thurs. noon L1 through the summer as well as my NY Health & Racquet Mon. 1:15 Vinyasa Flow at 23 St./6th Ave.
In Sept. I'm seeking a change of Fri. AM's class to a "Sweat and Surrender" format: 45 minutes Power vinyasa, 15 minutes Restorative. If you like this idea, or have other scheduling suggestions, the scheduling contact person at Yoga Works is Melanie Salvatore: Melanie@YogaWorks.com.
Look for future details on my Feb. 2007 Tropical Escapes Yoga Retreat on the island of St. Lucia in the West Indies!
Hope to see you June 10 - in the meantime stay cool, stay centered, enjoy your luscious senses - the delicious sunrise/sunset orange glow of Svadhisthana - Sweetness - the Place of the Self! Try a little self-pampering, a little touchdown toward the base of what it is you love, like, enjoy!
Mango? Papaya? Passionfruit? Tequila Sunrise? Saffron? Salmon? What is your favorite flavor of orange?
Vam Vam Vam ...
Shanti, peace,
Mary
Yoga Works Schedule
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Chakra Tuning 6/10
Come play Yoga with me on a weekend! Next Saturday, 6/10, Yoga Works Eastside 1-3 pm. $30 pre-register, $35 at the door. Register online below!
Bring a favorite poetry verse if you'd like to explore which Chakras it addresses!
All levels. Handout sheets to take home.
June 10 Workshop |
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Our Creativity=Our Children
All our work, deeds, and actions in the world are our creative "children":
"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."
Kahlil Gibran
From "The Prophet"
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