What is the Connection Between Yoga and Chakras?

The basic connection between yoga and chakras is that certain types of yoga can be utilized to manipulate and properly balancea person’s chakras. Chakras are points on a person’s body at which his or her energy naturally congregates, like a vortex. Yoga can be used as a means of manipulating the chakras, often by opening them or balancing them, which then allows the person to better harness and utilize his or her own natural energy. A common association between yoga and chakras is through the practice of kundalini yoga, which is used to awaken energy located at the bottom of a person’s spine and awaken each chakra.

One of the most basic connections between yoga and chakras is an understanding of how yoga can be used to balance and activate the different chakras. Yoga is a form of exercise with foundations in Hinduism and Buddhism, which takes the form of a number of different poses a person assumes throughout a yoga regimen. These positions allow a person to stretch and become more flexible. Some yoga positions can also be utilized through meditation and practice to help a person connect with his or her chakras while practicing the positions.

Chakras are seven points of energy found throughout a person’s body. By focusing on these points of energy, a person can balance and align them to come into better physical harmony with his or her own body. Yoga and chakras can be used together, through a practice often referred to as kundalini yoga.

This type of yoga utilizes certain positions that help a person connect with his or her chakras, opening or awakening each one in order from the base of his or her spine up to the top of his or her head. As a person practices this type of yoga, energy builds up at the base of his or her spine, known as kundalini energy. This moves upward through the body as each chakra is opened, and finally releases through the top of the person’s head. Experienced practitioners often warn that this type of yoga can be dangerous for newcomers, and that the power generated and released can cause physical harm for those unprepared to control it.

Yoga and chakras can be used together to not only help a person feel more relaxed, but also more powerful and in control of his or her life. By using yoga to better control and release energy in his or her body, some people claim that yoga and chakras can be used to cure both physical and psychological illnesses. Since each chakra is associated with a certain part of the body and various physiological functions, balancing a particular chakra can be used to help combat maladies affecting that part of the body.