Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning spinning wheel. These are a system of seven energy centers located along the spine. Each chakra corresponds to an area of the body, a set of behavioral characteristics and stages of spiritual growth.

Practicing yoga and focusing your energies during different postures can help you to align your chakras and get all the wheels spinning in the same direction and speed. Understanding how to fine tune and control your chakras through yoga and meditation can help bring balance and peace to your mind, body and spirit.

There are seven chakras, each associated with a different part of the body along the spine from the perineum to the crown of your head. Each chakra is associated with a particular body location, a color, a central emotional/behavioral issue, as well as many other personal aspects including identity, goals, rights, etc.

The seven chakras are: Muladhara- base of the spine; Svadhisthana- abdomen, genitals, lower back/hip; Manipura- solar plexus; Anahata- heart area; Visshudha- throat; Ajna- brow; Sahasrara- top of head, cerebral cortex.

Through the movements and postures of yoga, you can learn to focus your concentration and energy to and from the various chakras in your body. This can allow you to compensate for areas that may be out of synch with the rest of your body or not active at all.

By balancing the energy among all seven of the chakras, balance can be achieved. This spiritual energy is known as Kundalini energy. In its dormant state, it can be visualized as a coiled up snake resting at the base of your spine, the Muladhara chakra.

Since the chakras act as valves or pumps regulating the flow of energy through your system, controlled and purposeful movements such as yoga can be extremely beneficial in realigning your chakras in a way that can cause great benefits to you in your physical and emotional well-being.

Meditation is a great way to clear your mind of the worries and stresses of the day. If you’re not familiar with this method of relaxation, you may think it’s difficult, however with practice, you’ll find that it’s not hard at all.

Starting a Meditative Practice

Want to know what the hardest part of meditation is? Here’s a hint: It has nothing to do with meditation at all!

The hardest part is simply making the time to meditate. Once you believe in its power and see its results, you won’t let anything get in the way of you and your peaceful practice. It might be tough in the beginning, but stay with it! It’ll be well worth the effort.

Make a goal for yourself and evaluate your progress as you go. Commit to at least weekly meditations for four weeks. After this time, evaluate whether the meditation has made a positive difference your life.

These meditation tips will help you in your quest for obtaining inner peace:

1. Choose a time to meditate. Find a good time for you to meditate. You can start with shorter sessions in the beginning, but generally you should shoot for between 30 minutes to an hour during each session. Right when you get up or before you go to bed are good times to practice.

* Make meditation a priority for yourself just like you would for everything else that’s important in your life.

2. Keep an elevated posture. If you slouch, you won’t be in a good position for meditation and you’re more likely to feel like falling asleep. Elevate your posture and you’ll feel more open to the world. Relax in a crossed legged or other comfortable sitting position and rest your hands in your lap.

3. Focus on your breath. Your main goal is to keep your attention on your breath as you breathe in and breathe out. It may help to say a mantra and visualize breathing in good energy and letting out the bad energy with each cycle.

* Breathe at a pace that’s comfortable for you. Work toward deep, long breaths.

4. Acknowledge your thoughts. You want to remain fully present while you’re meditating, and there’s no doubt that thoughts are going to enter your mind while you’re trying to concentrate.

* Don’t be frustrated by these thoughts, but at the same time don’t let thoughts take your attention completely away. Acknowledge your thoughts and then bring your focus back to your breath.

5. Fight the urge to sleep. Many people complain of the urge to sleep during meditation sessions, mainly because it’s relaxing and you’re meditating during early morning or late evening hours. Try to remain awake with focus and good posture.

6. Maintain your practice. After you discover the many benefits of meditating, it will most likely become a part of you forever. You may not have time to do this every day, but it’s important to keep up with regular meditation sessions.

Meditation will help you keep a peaceful perspective on life and can tell you a lot of things about your true self. You can use it to relax, motivate, or energize you, depending on your purpose for each session. As you get more experienced with meditation, a more joyful and peaceful life will be yours!

Guest Writer: Amber Platt

Many people are now recognizing the benefits of yoga and the number of individuals practicing the different styles of yoga is increasing. Individuals may assume the only means of practicing yoga is at a yoga studio, classroom, gym, or retreat.

However, one of the easiest, most convenient, time and money saving options is one’s own home. In order to make the yoga experience meaningful and valuable at home, all an individual has to do is the following:

Location

The main purpose of yoga is to create relaxation, harmony, and self-awareness while reaping the benefits of flexibility, agility, and maximizing the body and mind’s potential. In order to successfully practice yoga, an individual needs to find a location where they will have quiet and solitude, which provides an opportunity for self-reflection, relaxation, de-stressing, and meditation.

In addition to a quiet atmosphere, the area must also be able to accommodate the individual in their yoga poses without causing harm or break in concentration. The designated area needs to be able to accommodate a yoga mat or towel, any additional tools, ensuring when an individual is practicing a pose they do not hit furniture, objects, or figurines, and if the individual opts to practice with the guidance of an exercise video, easy access to watch the television.

Clothing

In order to successfully practice and enjoy yoga, an individual needs to wear the correct clothing. The best types of clothing for yoga practice are comfortable, breathable clothing, such as cottons, sweats, and similar exercising garments. An individual does not want to wear anything too constricting nor too baggy, otherwise the clothing will be uncomfortable and impede the ability of properly reaping the benefits of meditation since discomfort and bothersome clothing will distract the individual. The clothing should be form fitting and easy to maneuver in without being too tight, riding up or down, or too loose. In addition to the proper clothing, distracting jewelry should be removed and if the individual is more comfortable exercising with their hair up rather than down, they can place their hair in a ponytail near the nape of the neck or French braid to minimize interaction with particular poses. Individuals do not wear shoes during yoga, rather barefoot is preferred but cotton socks or socks with grips can also be used.

Tools and Accessories

The most important tool of yoga outside of an open mind and able body is the mat. The sticky mat, which can be found at most retail stores in addition to specialized yoga sites online and studios, is a thin rubber mat that provides cushioning when you lay down on it, protection from the floor, is the length of your body to ensure your entire body is protected, and provides a grip during poses to ensure your hands and feet do not slide, which prevent harm. If you do not currently have a mat and want to practice yoga in the meantime, you can use a beach towel. It will provide protection from the floor, but does not provide a sticky surface to ensure grip is maximized. Ultimately, the purchase of the mat is essential to your yoga practice.

Many yoga positions take months and years to acquire perfection. In the meantime, we are teaching our bodies how to mold, flex, and become limber to attain those poses. A prop often used to assist in maximizing this body training are foam yoga blocks. These blocks allow you to lean a body part on them to imitate the pose if your body is unable to reach to complete position. This allows you to attain a pose without strain or harm to your body until you can graduate into the pose without the prop. Another tool is the strap, which provides a means for an individual to grasp or touch parts of limbs where flexibility is not present. The straps help the individual train the body how to make a particular area flexible and limber.

Yoga balls provide another means for attaining yoga poses; especially back poses and abdominal poses. The ball is not a required tool, but will add intensity to some poses since the body has to focus more to maintain balance while performing a pose while in other poses, the ball provides more support and ease for the individual to attain the pose. There are several different types of props an individual can purchase to help maximize their yoga regimen, but the most important tools are the quiet room, mat, and for the individual to be ready for their yoga practice.

An individual can practice poses by watching an instructional DVD, memorize poses from yoga books and sites, review books while practicing, access the internet for sites which demonstrate or explain poses, have an instructor come to the house, or access yoga course information from cable programs. There are different avenues to access the information and not all of them entail funds to learn or access from the sources. An individual can purchase DVDs at stores, online, gyms, and studios. There are varying types of instructional DVDs yoga based on age, level, style, and some are even geared for family participation.

Food and Water

An individual should not eat anything heavy at least two hours before their yoga regimen since this will make the body heavy and uncomfortable and can cause indigestion, nausea, and heartburn, and with the varying poses, can result in discomfort and vomiting. If an individual feels they need to satisfy hunger and increase their energy levels before the yoga regimen, they can eat a light snack such as fruit, yogurt, or crackers.

Individuals should drink plenty of water, preferably purified, to maintain a hydrated body. Drinking frequently throughout the yoga regimen, especially when sweating, will keep the body hydrated since they are losing water through exertion. Individuals need to remember to drink water throughout the day to keep hydrated, balance their body, and flush toxins accumulated from exercising, resulting in a healthier mind and body.

Know your Body

Before anyone begins a physical regimen, they should discuss with their doctor their current ailments and how their ailments and medications can impact their yoga practice. Their doctor will advise them if they have any limitations, which the individual should adhere to in order to prevent any harm to their body during their yoga practice.

In addition, when practicing a pose, the individual needs to listen to their body to determine if they are in a pose correctly and feeling the warm stretch or if they are in discomfort. If they find they are in discomfort, they need to stop the pose immediately, regroup, and attempt the pose again correctly. Knowing their body’s limitations to ensure they do not overdo a pose, resulting in harm is essential to successful yoga practice.

Remember the purpose of yoga is to learn to relax, have fun, and better the mind and body. Learn different poses, reap the benefits, and enjoy the moments of solitude and mediation the practice provides everyone, which will continue to benefit the person throughout the day. Individuals need to establish a schedule for their regimen, remain motivated, and ensure they make time for themselves and their health. Everyone can enjoy a successful yoga regimen at home without the expense and time management required of other locations if they commit to the basics of yoga.

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I’m sure you’ve heard before that you can reduce stress with meditation. What comes to your mind when you think of the word meditation?

You may have seen comedy shows or skits where someone is practicing meditation. The person was probably sitting on the floor cross legged, eggs closed and “ohm”ing.

A second person was near by making snide remarks or imitating them. This is one of the reasons why many people used to look upon meditation as being funny, ridiculous or just plain odd. Thinking this could reduce stress was unthought of.

Over the years we have learned that mediation offers a lot of benefits. It’s commonly used to help us reduce stress, and live longer, happier healthier lives.

How does meditation help us reduce stress?

• It helps focus the mind on something that is deeply and spiritually rooted.
• By focusing on one thing you are forced to forget the stressors in your life
• You filter out sights and sounds that my stress you when you close your eyes and sit in a quiet room
• Chemicals present in your body actually change making you more relaxed and peaceful
• Meditation helps repair physical and mental damage caused by stress

The relaxing benefits from above are only the short term benefits. You are relaxed during and after mediating by filtering out stress that you have already experienced.

The REAL benefit of meditation is the long term affect.

When you make mediation part of your daily routine it can actually balance the levels of hormones and other stress related chemicals on a day-to-day basis – even when you’re not meditating. The result is that you will remain more peaceful and less stressed during your long day. Therefore to reduce stress before it starts, you’ll want to set aside a time each day to meditate.

Unlike yoga, meditation requires no special physical skills. Although it does require mental skills. Here’s how to get started …

• Find a quiet room and sit in a comfortable position. Any position that makes you feel comfortable where you can relax.
• Close your eyes and begin to relax your muscles. Focus on each muscle – tense it a little, then let it relax – mentally saying “relax”. You can either begin at your feet and end at your head or vice-versa.
• Take deep breaths in and out while you repeat your mantra. Your mantra can be anything that you choose “I am happy, healthy and wealthy” “Ohmmm” or just repeating the number one. If you are religious you can chant a prayer or something else related to your beliefs.
• When your mind begins to wander (it will – and it’s normal) just refocus on your mantra

To gain all the benefits and reduce stress you’ll want each meditation session to last 15 to 20 minutes.

Regularly practicing mediation trains your mind and your body to be more relaxed, peaceful and focused. You’ll reduce stress and gain mental focus.

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