What is Chakra Flow Yoga?
Chakra Flow Yoga is a style of yoga of my creation that is informed by my studies of Hatha Kundalini Yoga with Master Guru Dr. A.K. Atre. Under his twice-daily supervision for one month, I was taught a series of flowing kriyas and Pranayamas designed to awaken Kundalini energy. Kriyas are cleansing practices, or purifying actions that remove physical and energetic blocks in the body. The practice of Kundalini Yoga focuses on moving energy through the Chakras, or the energy centers of the body, the primary seven chakras run the length of the spine and head.
I went to India in the summer of 2013, and since then I have been incorporating and adapting what I learned from Dr. Atre into a practice that continually challenges me, but allows me to keep the meditative focus that I never found in a fast-paced flow class. I have found great depth in slowing down, and integral strength from relaxation. Part of my agreement to be Dr. Atre’s shishya (deciple to a guru) was to never teach the sequence exactly as I learned it, as it is a very powerful and mysterious practice, and can be taught only by a guru. He told me that I would know when it was time to share it. For the first year after my trip I continued to practice the sequence exactly as I was taught daily. It only takes approximately 45 minutes, so I would usually elaborate on it, and started weaving in postures from Astanga and Shivananda, the styles of yoga that I love the most. I just kept moving slower and slower, and getting stronger and more focused, but more importantly, I started to break down the kriyas and the postures into further and further refinement. I started to notice imbalances in my body, and started the process of correcting these. And now, after two more years of dedicated daily solo practice, I find myself doing Chakra Flow, and I believe that I am at last ready to share it. I believe with all of my heart that it is at last time for me to pursue teaching yoga again. I feel as though my authentic voice as a teacher has come from these years of being my only student, and that I will be able to teach from a place of direct knowing and direct experience.
The very defensible and sensible side effect of focusing on the chakras is that you are able to target movement of the spine in highly specific areas. When asked to perform a twist or a forward bend, we typically think about moving the spine as a unit, but to break it down, (and ultimately get more out of it), we have to actually think and then feel specific articulations of the spine. Mental and physical awareness is essential to getting maximum mobility and flexibility. Chakra flow takes the spine through its’ entire range of motion: forward bends, backbends, side bends, and twists, but in a series of relaxing, restorative, but ultimately strength building and mind-taming slow flows.
One of the best arguments for learning a set sequence of yoga postures is that once memorized, it is easier to keep more of an internal focus, and keep with the meditational aspects of the practice. One of the drawbacks, however, is that the body gets really good at those poses, and not others, or other approaches or transitions into to the postures. The goal of chakra flow yoga is to incorporate both of these, with the kriyas unchanging, but the rest of the flow sequences structured, but open to variation. In short order, students will learn the kriyas, and can experience the liberation of a learned sequence: to meditatively flow with their own breath at their own pace and internal focus, as well as having the benefits of learning new postures and techniques, and keeping the class fresh.
Emphasis on the Midline of the Body:
The purpose of yoga is to yoke, to unite, to move towards Non-Duality. Certainly the loftiest goal is to stop seeing the duality of the Self and the Divine, or the Self and the Other, and to see all as one. In order to reach that higher plane, you can seek to unite the mind and the body, you can unite breath and movement, and you can even unite the two sides of the body. We have two of almost everything: we are bilaterally symmetrical beings (or working towards that goal.) If you choose, you can see that everything is symbolic, every action done for higher purpose. To join the two eyes together towards the third eye is symbolic of the desire to unite our two sides, to literally look towards the unity of the Third Eye.
Viewed in this light, the midline of the body takes on incredible significance. I imagine it as though I have been split right in half, and in order to stay alive I have to forcibly will the two sides to hold together. This requires immense amounts of concentration, as there are many complex systems and layers of muscles to draw attention to, and it takes a lot of practice to keep it all engaged. It seems that as soon as you bring your attention to one area, that you lose your grip on another, and you’re just playing energetic Whack-a-Mole, and leaking energy all over the place! BUT!!! When the midline is fully activated, you feel powerful and weightless; the sensations that run through the body are incredible, and you realize your spine to be the antennae of consciousness that it was intended to be all along!
Meditation:
Far too often in typical American yoga classes it’s all about asana, and mediation is inserted into the last couple of minutes of relaxation, and that’s all you get. I believe firmly that it is the most important aspect, and therefore it happens first. I find that guided mediations demand external focus, rather than internal awareness, and therefore silence is best. The focus is on the breath. Sit up as straight and as still as you can. That is plenty of instruction: it’s hard enough as it is.
Visualization. Perception. Imagination. What is the difference? How do we experience things unseen? All of these exist in the life of the mind, and are legitimate sources of information. If you “see” the rippling effect of energy patterns in your body, or colored patterns behind the eyelids, informed by sensation but experienced as a visualization, what difference does it make if you are actively creating this experience in your imagination or passively perceiving it? How else do we translate, or understand what is going on in the minds’ eye without using the imagination? Ultimately, what difference does it make, as long as you benefit from the experience? I find as my ability to enter the privileged palace of meditation increases that I can go beyond even just “seeing” energy and can actually direct it, something like lucid dreaming.
Pranayama:
Pranayama is a wonderful way to transition from seated meditation to meditative flow. With internal awareness peaking from the mediation, it is prime time to get the most out of each breath. I typically do the slow (but increasingly intense) chakra activating breath retention sequences that I learned from Dr. Atre, or variations of Kapalabhati or Bhastrika, which involve vigorous stomach pumps to exhale. I take mudras, and utilize alternate nostril breathing techniques as well. The pranayama warms up the body, preparing to move from seated to physical practice, while maintaining the mental discipline and internal awareness of the meditation. Since respiration is by nature an involuntary action, choosing to breathe makes it a voluntary action; therefore Pranayama is life affirming.
When practicing Pranayama, I like to envision the High Striker games that you play at carnivals, where you hit the lever with the hammer and with strength and accuracy on your side, the puck shoots up the tower, the lights go up and up and you ring the bell! I like to think that the spine is the tower, the chakras are the lights, the breath is the hammer, and the bell is Kundalini awakening. It makes each breath potentially very important, requiring focus and effort because the intended purpose is so magnificent.
Mirror Sequence:
The primary idea behind the Mirror Sequence is to move the left and right side of the body in perfect symmetry. This seems like an obvious goal in yoga, but when you are moving incredibly slowly and with awareness, you will undoubtedly notice how one side of the body dominates over the other, and how going through these motions always favoring one side just reinforces what feels natural. Consider how probable it is that you always mount a bicycle from the same side each time. Try getting on from the other side, and you may find yourself asking “whose body is this?” Mirror Sequence is designed to make you become aware of your normalized lopsidedness, and to create a more balanced whole.
The other major emphasis in the Mirror Sequence is the focus on the Midline. As you move in perfect symmetry, you also continuously are to imagine that area where the two sides of the body meet, as though you were cut in half, and only way to keep the two sides together is through force of continuous muscular exertions and mental focus. You cannot allow any energy leaks, which takes great concentration and continuous re-engaging of the all muscles throughout the two sides, but leads to an immaculate long spine where energy can flow freely.
Mermaid Sequence:
Throughout the duration of the Mermaid Sequence, the goal is to keep the legs solidly together, as though you had a very powerful tail. Keeping the legs squeezing in towards one another activates the power of the Midline of the body right from the base. This powerful series is mostly on the floor, and features supine backbends, core strength balances, and a couple of inversions. Again, the slowness is key, as is holding postures for a substantial amount of time. These days I regularly declare: “that was the best experience of _____________ asana, ever!!!!” but never when it is rushed. Slowing down has allowed me to discover the fathomless depths of postures, giving me time both to fine-tune and to relax, not to mention building integral and internal strength.
Moon Sequence:
One of my major criticisms of regular asana flow is that it is very one-sided. How many more times do we lower down into Chaturanga rather than pushing back up, or really pulling back up? We overdevelop muscles to do actions in one direction, but not the other. Moon sequence flows like the phases of the moon, slow and unhurried from New Moon to Full Moon, and back again. And so the flow (phase) goes from pose to pose to the Keystone Breath, and then, as if someone hit the rewind button, you flow (phase) backwards through it to return. I have found that reversing the directions of the flow has opened up new worlds of transitions and also creates very refined awareness of how movement progresses when I have to consider how I will return.
The Keystone Breath (Full Moon) happens right at the point when the first phase is ended and the second phase is about to begin. It is at this moment that I make a promise to myself to keep the flow as slow and steady and smooth as the first time through. We all have a tendency to rush the second side or the second set of a flow, and so I use the Keystone Breath as an opportunity to commit to the grace of the return trip. I also consider the breath between the right and left sides as a Keystone Breath (New Moon). Any time spent focusing on the breath is time well spent, but this seems to be a particularly potent opportunity to bring it back to center, and create an overarching rhythm to the practice.
Ultimate Dream for Chakra Flow Yoga:
Most of the kriyas have a sound vibration component to them. Each chakra has a sound associated with it, a distinct vibration or tone. The way that I learned from Dr. Atre was to chant these sounds silently as I practice. The goal is to get singing bowls that are tuned to the chakras, to minimize the amount of talking as the instructor, and yet keep the flow going. When I imagine my dream class, everyone would flow through the full series with only the sounds of the bowls to guide us through and keep the timing (more or less) in sync together. There is nothing quite like flowing through a series with other yogis, flowing with the love and support of a community, but each person enjoying their individual journey as well. It would not be a class, but a ceremony, a ritual. It would be on the Lunar Calendar, happening on either the Full Moon or the New Moon, or both. The rest of the time, it would be a class with instructions, but the goal would be to learn the structure in order to participate in the ceremony.
Chakra Flow Yoga is a style of yoga of my creation that is informed by my studies of Hatha Kundalini Yoga with Master Guru Dr. A.K. Atre. Under his twice-daily supervision for one month, I was taught a series of flowing kriyas and Pranayamas designed to awaken Kundalini energy. Kriyas are cleansing practices, or purifying actions that remove physical and energetic blocks in the body. The practice of Kundalini Yoga focuses on moving energy through the Chakras, or the energy centers of the body, the primary seven chakras run the length of the spine and head.
I went to India in the summer of 2013, and since then I have been incorporating and adapting what I learned from Dr. Atre into a practice that continually challenges me, but allows me to keep the meditative focus that I never found in a fast-paced flow class. I have found great depth in slowing down, and integral strength from relaxation. Part of my agreement to be Dr. Atre’s shishya (deciple to a guru) was to never teach the sequence exactly as I learned it, as it is a very powerful and mysterious practice, and can be taught only by a guru. He told me that I would know when it was time to share it. For the first year after my trip I continued to practice the sequence exactly as I was taught daily. It only takes approximately 45 minutes, so I would usually elaborate on it, and started weaving in postures from Astanga and Shivananda, the styles of yoga that I love the most. I just kept moving slower and slower, and getting stronger and more focused, but more importantly, I started to break down the kriyas and the postures into further and further refinement. I started to notice imbalances in my body, and started the process of correcting these. And now, after two more years of dedicated daily solo practice, I find myself doing Chakra Flow, and I believe that I am at last ready to share it. I believe with all of my heart that it is at last time for me to pursue teaching yoga again. I feel as though my authentic voice as a teacher has come from these years of being my only student, and that I will be able to teach from a place of direct knowing and direct experience.
The very defensible and sensible side effect of focusing on the chakras is that you are able to target movement of the spine in highly specific areas. When asked to perform a twist or a forward bend, we typically think about moving the spine as a unit, but to break it down, (and ultimately get more out of it), we have to actually think and then feel specific articulations of the spine. Mental and physical awareness is essential to getting maximum mobility and flexibility. Chakra flow takes the spine through its’ entire range of motion: forward bends, backbends, side bends, and twists, but in a series of relaxing, restorative, but ultimately strength building and mind-taming slow flows.
One of the best arguments for learning a set sequence of yoga postures is that once memorized, it is easier to keep more of an internal focus, and keep with the meditational aspects of the practice. One of the drawbacks, however, is that the body gets really good at those poses, and not others, or other approaches or transitions into to the postures. The goal of chakra flow yoga is to incorporate both of these, with the kriyas unchanging, but the rest of the flow sequences structured, but open to variation. In short order, students will learn the kriyas, and can experience the liberation of a learned sequence: to meditatively flow with their own breath at their own pace and internal focus, as well as having the benefits of learning new postures and techniques, and keeping the class fresh.
Emphasis on the Midline of the Body:
The purpose of yoga is to yoke, to unite, to move towards Non-Duality. Certainly the loftiest goal is to stop seeing the duality of the Self and the Divine, or the Self and the Other, and to see all as one. In order to reach that higher plane, you can seek to unite the mind and the body, you can unite breath and movement, and you can even unite the two sides of the body. We have two of almost everything: we are bilaterally symmetrical beings (or working towards that goal.) If you choose, you can see that everything is symbolic, every action done for higher purpose. To join the two eyes together towards the third eye is symbolic of the desire to unite our two sides, to literally look towards the unity of the Third Eye.
Viewed in this light, the midline of the body takes on incredible significance. I imagine it as though I have been split right in half, and in order to stay alive I have to forcibly will the two sides to hold together. This requires immense amounts of concentration, as there are many complex systems and layers of muscles to draw attention to, and it takes a lot of practice to keep it all engaged. It seems that as soon as you bring your attention to one area, that you lose your grip on another, and you’re just playing energetic Whack-a-Mole, and leaking energy all over the place! BUT!!! When the midline is fully activated, you feel powerful and weightless; the sensations that run through the body are incredible, and you realize your spine to be the antennae of consciousness that it was intended to be all along!
Meditation:
Far too often in typical American yoga classes it’s all about asana, and mediation is inserted into the last couple of minutes of relaxation, and that’s all you get. I believe firmly that it is the most important aspect, and therefore it happens first. I find that guided mediations demand external focus, rather than internal awareness, and therefore silence is best. The focus is on the breath. Sit up as straight and as still as you can. That is plenty of instruction: it’s hard enough as it is.
Visualization. Perception. Imagination. What is the difference? How do we experience things unseen? All of these exist in the life of the mind, and are legitimate sources of information. If you “see” the rippling effect of energy patterns in your body, or colored patterns behind the eyelids, informed by sensation but experienced as a visualization, what difference does it make if you are actively creating this experience in your imagination or passively perceiving it? How else do we translate, or understand what is going on in the minds’ eye without using the imagination? Ultimately, what difference does it make, as long as you benefit from the experience? I find as my ability to enter the privileged palace of meditation increases that I can go beyond even just “seeing” energy and can actually direct it, something like lucid dreaming.
Pranayama:
Pranayama is a wonderful way to transition from seated meditation to meditative flow. With internal awareness peaking from the mediation, it is prime time to get the most out of each breath. I typically do the slow (but increasingly intense) chakra activating breath retention sequences that I learned from Dr. Atre, or variations of Kapalabhati or Bhastrika, which involve vigorous stomach pumps to exhale. I take mudras, and utilize alternate nostril breathing techniques as well. The pranayama warms up the body, preparing to move from seated to physical practice, while maintaining the mental discipline and internal awareness of the meditation. Since respiration is by nature an involuntary action, choosing to breathe makes it a voluntary action; therefore Pranayama is life affirming.
When practicing Pranayama, I like to envision the High Striker games that you play at carnivals, where you hit the lever with the hammer and with strength and accuracy on your side, the puck shoots up the tower, the lights go up and up and you ring the bell! I like to think that the spine is the tower, the chakras are the lights, the breath is the hammer, and the bell is Kundalini awakening. It makes each breath potentially very important, requiring focus and effort because the intended purpose is so magnificent.
Mirror Sequence:
The primary idea behind the Mirror Sequence is to move the left and right side of the body in perfect symmetry. This seems like an obvious goal in yoga, but when you are moving incredibly slowly and with awareness, you will undoubtedly notice how one side of the body dominates over the other, and how going through these motions always favoring one side just reinforces what feels natural. Consider how probable it is that you always mount a bicycle from the same side each time. Try getting on from the other side, and you may find yourself asking “whose body is this?” Mirror Sequence is designed to make you become aware of your normalized lopsidedness, and to create a more balanced whole.
The other major emphasis in the Mirror Sequence is the focus on the Midline. As you move in perfect symmetry, you also continuously are to imagine that area where the two sides of the body meet, as though you were cut in half, and only way to keep the two sides together is through force of continuous muscular exertions and mental focus. You cannot allow any energy leaks, which takes great concentration and continuous re-engaging of the all muscles throughout the two sides, but leads to an immaculate long spine where energy can flow freely.
Mermaid Sequence:
Throughout the duration of the Mermaid Sequence, the goal is to keep the legs solidly together, as though you had a very powerful tail. Keeping the legs squeezing in towards one another activates the power of the Midline of the body right from the base. This powerful series is mostly on the floor, and features supine backbends, core strength balances, and a couple of inversions. Again, the slowness is key, as is holding postures for a substantial amount of time. These days I regularly declare: “that was the best experience of _____________ asana, ever!!!!” but never when it is rushed. Slowing down has allowed me to discover the fathomless depths of postures, giving me time both to fine-tune and to relax, not to mention building integral and internal strength.
Moon Sequence:
One of my major criticisms of regular asana flow is that it is very one-sided. How many more times do we lower down into Chaturanga rather than pushing back up, or really pulling back up? We overdevelop muscles to do actions in one direction, but not the other. Moon sequence flows like the phases of the moon, slow and unhurried from New Moon to Full Moon, and back again. And so the flow (phase) goes from pose to pose to the Keystone Breath, and then, as if someone hit the rewind button, you flow (phase) backwards through it to return. I have found that reversing the directions of the flow has opened up new worlds of transitions and also creates very refined awareness of how movement progresses when I have to consider how I will return.
The Keystone Breath (Full Moon) happens right at the point when the first phase is ended and the second phase is about to begin. It is at this moment that I make a promise to myself to keep the flow as slow and steady and smooth as the first time through. We all have a tendency to rush the second side or the second set of a flow, and so I use the Keystone Breath as an opportunity to commit to the grace of the return trip. I also consider the breath between the right and left sides as a Keystone Breath (New Moon). Any time spent focusing on the breath is time well spent, but this seems to be a particularly potent opportunity to bring it back to center, and create an overarching rhythm to the practice.
Ultimate Dream for Chakra Flow Yoga:
Most of the kriyas have a sound vibration component to them. Each chakra has a sound associated with it, a distinct vibration or tone. The way that I learned from Dr. Atre was to chant these sounds silently as I practice. The goal is to get singing bowls that are tuned to the chakras, to minimize the amount of talking as the instructor, and yet keep the flow going. When I imagine my dream class, everyone would flow through the full series with only the sounds of the bowls to guide us through and keep the timing (more or less) in sync together. There is nothing quite like flowing through a series with other yogis, flowing with the love and support of a community, but each person enjoying their individual journey as well. It would not be a class, but a ceremony, a ritual. It would be on the Lunar Calendar, happening on either the Full Moon or the New Moon, or both. The rest of the time, it would be a class with instructions, but the goal would be to learn the structure in order to participate in the ceremony.