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Part 1: A Practical Session on the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra Good evening, everybody. Welcome. We begin our program. For the last four days, we have been covering the particular subject of Kuṇḍalinī, Cakra, and meditation. Every cakra has its own aspects and qualities. We have been working to activate the cakras, and their qualities have already been explained. Today, we will practice in a practical way. The practice of Yoga Nidrā is a very easy exercise with a great effect. It is systematic. Today, we will do the exercise for the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra. This is the second cakra from below. We will do and practice certain exercises. Very good. Please lie down on your back, with your head towards my side. Just follow the instructions and practice. Open your legs completely and join them. Relax your whole body. Take one deep inhale and exhale. Again, take a deep inhale, and while exhaling, withdraw thyself from the external world and become one with thyself here in this hall. The cakras are energy centers. This energy has different qualities and influences on our body, our breath, our glandular systems, and our mental levels, harmonizing body, mind, and soul. Out of the eight cakras, the first is Mūlādhāra at the end of the spinal column, at the bottom. Svādhiṣṭhāna is about three or four centimeters above. Maṇipūra is at the navel, the solar plexus, where the prāṇa and the apāna join together. Prāṇa is the life energy we inhale; all those centers, muscles, and glands help us to inhale or receive the energy. Apāna is that energy which helps to reduce or helps to exhale, as well as with urine and stool. These two prāṇas are very important for our comfortable daily life; we feel relaxed and free. The fourth one is the Anāhata Cakra, located between the chest. It helps our heart cakra and supports the respiratory system and diaphragm. It helps the lungs to expand more to have more volume for the air, the prāṇa. The fifth one is at the vocal cords near the throat, which controls the thyroid function, the thyroid gland. It helps us to relax and be free from depression. It gives the freedom to speak, to express thyself in a proper way, your voice, and the energy and power in your words. These are the five cakras, coordinated with the five elements. Then comes the sixth one, the Ājñā Cakra, which helps us to create activities, intuitions, imaginations, and clear visions and thoughts. The seventh one is on the top of the head; that is the Bindu Cakra, which produces the nectar in the body. The eighth one is the Sahasrāra Cakra. These cakras control our whole body and all its functions. In yoga, we can awaken, harmonize, and balance them to have a healthy, happy, relaxed, and harmonious life. The Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra has many qualities, which we spoke about yesterday and the day before. Now, feel your whole body from the toes to the top of the head, and from the top of the head to the toes. Slowly, take a deep inhale, and while inhaling, raise your hands up above your head. On the ground, stretch your whole body. Keep your legs together, toes towards the body, and stretch your heels out. With your hands on the ground, stretch the whole body. Exhale and bring your hands back parallel to your body. Relax. Feel the whole body. Go ahead and do it yourself, please. Repeat slowly. As slowly as you do, you will be aware of your body, your breath, your mind, and your being here. Bring your hands up again, close to the body. Once more, inhale. Feel the side muscles, feel your chest expanding, feel the stretching of the stomach muscles, and feel your calf muscles stretching. Bring the hands back and slowly turn over onto your stomach. The positive effect of the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra and the negative, in short, I will tell you. The positive is to develop the willpower called Icchā Śakti and Kriyā Śakti. It motivates our thoughts to do positive things, exercise, influences the glands' functions, and the digestive system. Digestion is very important. If we have good digestion, we are healthy. Good food. Therefore, it’s called alpāhāra in yoga. Alpāhāra means little. Don’t eat too much. Eat only that much which makes you feel good and allows you to survive. Too much eating means our stomach cannot digest. We know now how many millions of people, for example in the USA, have constipation and digestion problems because of junk food. First, the food is digested in the body. So, Icchā Śakti and Kriyā Śakti. This develops through the awakening of the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra. The negative energy is more active if we don’t exercise, if we don’t practice. This is first, egoism. Ego takes over, which is not good. The position of pride, that very proudness, that very prideful feeling. Envy: if someone is doing good, you also would like to do it, but you can’t, and you envy the people. In our own activities, in our own abilities, we have doubts. Where there is doubt, our willpower becomes weaker. Further, the biggest enemy of the human is laziness. When these qualities appear, then we are in trouble and lost. So, let us come to the positive side of the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra. These postures will concentrate on the Mūlādhāra and Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra. So prepare yourself. Inhale nicely, place your chin on the ground, and place your palms near your chest. We are going to do one posture called Bhujaṅgāsana. Bhujaṅga is a cobra, the cobra posture. We will do it very slowly, as slow movements make us aware of the whole body and improve concentration. You know, that is called Tai Chi, where they move very slowly and very concentrated. So feel your body, your breath, your movements, and your being here. Keep your legs together. While inhaling, slowly raise the front part of your body up—the head, the chest. Go a little more, and a little more, and a little more. Look in front of you at the ceiling. Breathe normally. Remain there with normal breath. Why do we call this a cobra? Why do we call this a snake? When the cobra feels attacked, when it feels that someone is attacking or is angry, then it raises up. When it raises its body up, it looks like we are now in the posture. As long as it remains, its anger, its fear, its uncertainties all slowly, slowly disappear, and it goes back again on the ground and rolls away. So, slowly it comes back. This posture, Bhujaṅgāsana, is to remove our ego, remove our doubts, remove our laziness, and remove our envy and ego. It develops Icchā Śakti and Kriyā Śakti, which will take over all these negative energies. Once more, inhale, slowly come up, and look up in this position. Every day when we come home, if you practice this, or with the Kathā Praṇām posture, it removes the tension, it removes the tiredness, it removes the doubts, it removes the laziness, and it develops in the body and improves our immune system. Slowly come back. When we come down, we exhale. When we go up, we inhale. When we remain longer up, then have a normal breath. Now, like a meditation, I will say only "one" and "two." "One" means going up and then having a normal breath. Follow my words. So, slowly, "one"—while inhaling, come up. Feel thy being here. Feel your whole body from the toes, the foot soles, heels, ankle joints, calf muscles, yes, your knees, thighs, buttocks, abdomen, stomach. The whole back muscles are pressed together, contracted. The chest is expanding. Our lungs are expanding, creating more volume for the air. The thyroid gland will come into better function. Look up. You will feel that your nose, the nostrils, will become free. Slowly feel the whole body. Everything is slowly, slowly releasing the tensions and getting relaxed. The Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra is a beautiful cakra. We need to support it to reduce the negative energy. Once more, turn. Now close your eyes and concentrate on the whole body. Which muscles are influenced, which joints? How do you feel in your spinal column? You can go a little more to stretch your elbows, but don’t raise up your abdominal muscles. Now, slowly again, come back. Try to relax your hip joints and muscles. Try to relax your buttock muscles. Relax your neck. Bhujaṅgāsana is influencing our Svādhiṣṭhāna, Mūlādhāra, and Viśuddhi Cakra. Now, the second posture has a very strong effect on these cakras, as well as strengthening the back muscles. Feel thyself being here, physically, mentally. Be aware of being thyself. Now, place your palms under your thighs. You can put your chin on the ground or one side of your cheek, depending on your comfort. Keep your legs together, with your fingers supporting your thighs to lift up, so your palms are under your thighs. We do not put the palms on the ground, but the palms are touching the thighs. If we were to do another posture that comes higher and changes the āsana from Śalabhāsana to another āsana, then the palms should be on the ground. Inhale and exhale. Take a deep inhale and exhale. Prepare thyself mentally. The essence of yoga in daily life is like a cosmic dance. It influences our body and mind, and it gives a beautiful feeling to our soul. Yes, take a deep inhale, hold the breath, and slowly raise both your legs up. Keep your legs together with your knees stretched, and go as high as you can. Remain there with normal breath. Yes, feel which muscles are mostly in tension and contracted. Slowly bring your legs down. Relax. This posture is very good for our digestive system. It protects from constipation. It is very good for the stomach muscles, and it is a prevention against hemorrhoid problems. This is a classical posture in yoga; there are 84 classical postures. We create many sub-postures in order to become comfortable, to practice comfortably. Yes, dear ones, again. Inhale and exhale once, feel the whole body. Be aware of the body and feel the energy when you lift both legs up. The energy constantly flows from the Mūlādhāra and Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra through the spine towards the head. "One," come up. Now you will feel that it is very good for our face muscles. It is a wonderful, beautiful exercise for the face muscles, shoulders and shoulder muscles, and the back muscles. Breathe normally, and relax. If someone has any kind of eye problems, bleeding, or has had an operation, then this posture should be avoided for three months until the eyes are healed again. This is one of the best ways to harmonize and control the blood circulation. Meditation means the blood pressure. So once more we will repeat. Concentrate on the whole body from the toes to the top of the head and feel the awakening of the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra. Inhale, "one," up. Remain there as long as you feel comfortable, then you can come back. Perfect. Slowly come back. Turn over on your back and relax. Feel your whole body from the toes to the top of the head and from the top of the head to the toes. One by one, try to relax the limbs of your body. Yes, I am relaxing. Feel the breath ascending and descending—breath energy. Both cakras, Svādhiṣṭhāna and Mūlādhāra, are working actively. Relax. Keep positive thoughts in your mind. In your imagination, anything that you imagine, give light to it. See the bright thing. If you see birds, see them as white. See the mountains, beautiful, green, and nice plains or snow. At the origin, the dawn, in the whole body, all the glands are functioning and working properly. These postures are very important, very effective. Now we will have some counter postures. So please bend your knees and hold your ankle joints. Let your feet be on the ground. Take a few deep inhales and exhales. Feel comfortable. This also influences all five cakras, the Mūlādhāra and Svādhiṣṭhāna specially, and Viśuddhi. But generally, all the cakras which are located at the spinal column. So, hold your ankle joints. If you can’t reach the ankle joints, then hold your calf muscles or calves. Take a deep inhale and raise your buttocks up, high up—yes, Setu Bandhāsana. Raise your back as much as you can, and try to keep your knees a little together. Ūrdhvamūlam—ūrdhva means opposite, contrary. Now the energy which flows down is already turning upwards. From the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra, the energy is flowing through the Maṇipūra and Viśuddhi Cakra near the throat. The thyroid gland is responsible for many hormones in our body, especially as we get older. This posture is very good for balancing the thyroid gland. Slowly come down, stretch your legs, relax the body, and feel the ūrdhva energy flowing like Viparītakaraṇī Mudrā. Part 2: Harmonizing the Chakras: A Gentle Yoga Practice Once more, bend your knees and hold your ankle joints, keeping the soles of your feet on the ground. Press your shoulders onto the floor. Try to keep your knees together as much as you can. Inhale and raise the trunk of your body up. Both the Mūlādhāra and Svādhiṣṭhāna begin to become active, and positive energy begins to flow towards the head. It’s flowing, coming to the Viśuddhi Cakra near the throat, and then it goes towards the higher cakras. If it is too much for you, of course, you can come back and relax. Don’t overdo. Slowly come back. Yes, please turn over onto your stomach for the counter pose. Raise your head up and fold your elbows on the ground. Keep your chin or your face in your palms. Slowly, one after the other, move your legs. Bend the knee and stretch the leg again, slowly. Relax. This is harmonizing the chakras, which we had a very strong influence or stretching on, but this one will harmonize them again. The back muscles also. Good. Relax. Put your hands beside the body, one side of the cheek on the ground. Relax. Once, take a deep inhale and exhale, giving the chance to your body to circulate the energy freely throughout the whole body. Also, the blood circulation and relaxation to the muscles, so that blood circulation is more towards the muscles, and the glands are harmonizing and balancing the glandular systems. Feel thyself relaxed, very light, and full of energy. With closed eyes, whatever you imagine, imagine with the light, energy, and relax. And now slowly move your body. Slowly move your body and sit up, please. Stretch your legs. Sometimes it’s dangerous to ride on two horses at the same time. So, please be on one blanket. Yes, thank you. Good, good. You can stretch your leg. That’s okay. Very good. Otherwise, one blanket goes over, and the other goes over, and you will fall down. So, place the hands on the backside and the fingers on the blanket, my dear. Yes, thank you. You are on two blankets. It’s not good. You should have such a yoga mat, or fold it together. Good. Okay. Khaṇḍrāsana, or the Setu, like a bridge. You have big bridges here in San Francisco. So we will do this counter posture now. You see, so deep inhale and exhale. Slowly lean back and raise up your whole trunk of the body, also buttocks and your legs. Touch the toes. We want to have a bridge, very nice and gentle, that we can drive up and come down also. Toes are touching the ground. Feel, feel the energy. Slowly come back. Now, in this way, the first of all these chakras, Mūlādhāra Chakra, when we do this posture, and the Svādhiṣṭhāna Chakra, then our perineum and anus muscles are pulling in. That means it takes with the energy of the two chakras, Mūlādhāra and Svādhiṣṭhāna. At that time, the three nāḍīs—Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Suṣumnā—which is connected and going parallel to the spinal column, is pulled up. And that is the effect of how the chakras, the energies, awakening, and the glands are influencing. We go, and our neck is hanging. If you are holding like this, then you will have tension. And there is no effect except getting muscles tensed. When we relax like this, then the thyroid will be influenced. The Viśuddhi cakra is here. Those who have some problem with the thyroid should do this exercise. In the book Yoga and Life, which you have, there are more exercises for the glandular systems. And the glands there, we know, are for the hormones. So many people have a thyroid problem; you’re taking some extra tablets for the hormones or for the calcium, etc. So this is very, very good for us all, especially for those who are above 40 years, or even more. We will do this every day, so we will go below the 40, not in the years, but in our body condition. So yoga in daily life is not a competition or a challenge. It is not just for a while that you move quickly and do this and that. This is not yoga. Yoga is very gentle, very careful, and targeted to the particular muscles and glands. And if we remain there, then it is affected. For example, we often do one experiment. What we can do now, once again, is to show how it functions well. Well, sit comfortably, hands on the thighs, and right hand up, and look at your palm. Of course, we have very good faith lines and life lines and everything. Very good. We are lucky. Our palm is beautiful, and our hand is nice. Now we close the fist. We are squeezing the mango or lemon, okay? Not boxing. And now, with the left hand, we hold our wrist tight, very strong and tight. And only the palm open, and look to the palm. What we have done is we have blocked the circulation. The palm is pale. This is the condition, the position of our gland. And now, what will we do? The gland will become aggressive. The gland will start to do extra work. And now, release your left hand. What happened? And how light is it? Different, both hands. Similarly, let’s try with the left one. Otherwise, there is a disease. Yeah, we have to be careful with the body too. So, this time we will do a little extra. Pump your hand and fist strong. Hold strong the rope, and we tie it to our wrist. And now we open the palm. Yes, look from the tip of the fingers, palms, yes, and now you feel like needles beginning on the tip of the fingers. That is exactly the condition, functions, or effect or influence on the glands. And so again, the glands come to function normally. So, look to the palm, and now release. This is what, according to this principle, the yoga and life postures, exercises, nicely done smoothly, then you feel the whole body is really, we call, "My body is the temple of my soul." Yes? The same thing. Then, now you feel your hands. It’s nice and warm. But now we will awaken extra energy, extra energy, so you feel it. Close the palms, and now rub your palms. When it’s cold, we can use this. Let it become hot. Take care that the fire fangs don’t fall down. Hot. Purījī, Purījī... This is a healing power. If you do like this, my God, the needles are also moving with it. And so is the happening with our nerve systems, gland systems, the cakras, and awakening. Now we close the fists, hands down, energy slipping. Now look, there is not. It’s gone. So, how to keep this energy? Every morning, you do two or three minutes. You will see, anyone who has pain anywhere in the body, you place your hand, do it like this, and place your hand on your knees. Immediately, the person will feel release. And when this energy is beginning to function, either in the glands, chakras, or body, then when you put your hand on someone’s hand like this, where your pain is, after three minutes, you will feel a pulse from your hands to the other’s body, like a pulse, you know what I mean? Yes. So now, you became one, one soul, oneness. So your skin and this skin have united in such a way that now you are transmitting your positive energy to that one, and automatically that energy is neutralizing; pain is disappearing, or illness, or certain things. So, this is what happens in healing: when someone is doing the healing techniques, it goes like this. Yeah, so where have we been? Once again. Setu āsana. Inhale and raise your whole trunk up. Let your neck hang, support your body with the two pillars of your hands, and slowly come back, slowly come back, and place your hands on your thighs, one after the other. Stripes are coming, masses, how nice, and this and that, people, and how nice, many rudrākṣa, okay. Now, we sit in Vajrāsana. So, there is one posture called Cakrāsana. Of course, we are talking about Cakrāsana, no? So, Cakrāsana, do you know the Cakrāsana? Yes. So, our Prem Sāgara, Amṛta Sāgara will demonstrate Cakrāsana. Head to my side. And, yes, today is her birthday. That’s why I gave her the priority to demonstrate. There are no words to tell anything, no? Except perfect. Slowly come back, please. Very good. And now, your turn. Please be only on one blanket, otherwise you can slide. So, we have the juniors here for demonstration. Come here, juniors. You stay there, they will come here. Very good. So, everyone, please lie down on your back. Take a deep inhale and exhale. Yes, feel the whole body. If you cannot, don’t do it. Don’t force your body; just relax. Mentally imagine and prepare thyself for the next exercise. Anandikam, you do also. Very good. My God, this is our future of your Vedic life. So, bend your knees and hands over the head, and place the palms on the ground, fingers facing towards the shoulders. Perfect. Now, with the help of your hands, support your head down on the ground. With the help of your hands, lift your shoulders up. Yes. Yes. And now try to lift the whole trunk of the body up. I would come down once more. Please yourself. Yes. Remove the blanket. That other also, yes. Yes. Now you will be more comfortable. And the socks. Thank you. Perfect. And slowly come down. What’s your name? Peggy. You will have all these shoulders on the ground. Yeah. Like the first one we had. Yeah. So amazing. Puri Sagar, please, will you make a little correction? If they don’t mind, go and touch their back to lift it or something, yes, support. So again, hands near the shoulders, and lift your body up. Very good. Slowly come down. Once more we try, yes, slowly. Don’t mind, please, when your teacher is making corrections, yes. Shoulders should go down, yes, slowly, slowly... Go up, Nirvāṇ Purī. You can do your sirsāsana. Lift her up. Yeah, more. Yes, that’s it. It’s not easy to control the Mūlādhāra in Svādhiṣṭhāna. Thank you. Slowly come back. Relax. Anandī, you come here. You did very well. You tried very hard. Yeah. Now we will see how the sisters are doing. Good. Okay. Your head is there, and your legs are here. Sophie, head. Head there, yes, and legs here. Good. And Annapurna, your head this side and legs there. Come there. Not so far, near each other. Your head here. Yes. Thank you. Yes. Once more. Juniors and seniors, okay, good. Learning is learned. Amit Sagar? Yes, that’s it. Oh, children, look. Hari Om, sit down. Very good. Sit up in Vajrāsana, and we will do something to make our chakras and glands happy. Okay? So, who said the yoga in their life is so simple? It is simple but powerful. Now, raise your hands up and slowly bend forward. Go down to the ground. Touch your forehead and lead your hands to the back. Interlock the fingers or hold one of the wrists. Relax. Relax. Those who have problems with the stomach should make their knees a little apart. Normal breath, relax. This is called Pavanmuktāsana. Now, place your hands on the ground, parallel to your thighs or calves. Hands parallel to your legs, elbows stretched, yes. Feel the circulation of the energy in the form of light. A beautiful cycle, the light is rotating throughout the whole body. Beautiful. If you feel discomfort, of course, you can come back and sit up. Otherwise, stretch your hands towards the legs on the ground. Just relax. Feel the stretching of the back muscles and the spine, and energy is flowing towards the head. Urdhv, it’s going in a circle like the sun rotating, and slowly bring your hands to the front. With the hands and head at the same time, raise the upper part of the body up to come up and make a beautiful arch, a golden bridge, and slowly bring the hands down. This, what we did, had three combinations: relaxing, then postures to influence the glands for chakras, and meditative. So, this is all three in one, and in all three in one, we did only five—four, one, two, three, four, five, six postures, that’s all. So, slowly, exactly, and you feel like you have been doing many, many postures. The body is harmonized now. Your gland systems, you will see how you will get good sleep tonight. And tomorrow, then you tell your teacher, if there is a class, "Tomorrow I am going." So, thank you. This was for the Svādhiṣṭhāna and Mūlādhāra. At the same time, we influence our thyroid gland. So, those who have a problem with the thyroid, there are a few more exercises. Look into your book, Yoga and Life. They have everything, no? Who doesn’t have it can have it. Hari Om. Be blessed. Oṃ Asato mā sad gamaya, lead us from unreality to reality. Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya, lead us from the darkness to the light. Mṛtyor mā amṛtaṁ gamaya. Lead us from mortality to immortality. Sarveśāṁ svastir bhavatu. Everywhere should be health. Sarveśāṁ śāntir bhavatu. Peace be everywhere. Sarve saṁ maṅgalaṁ bhavatu. Harmony should be everywhere. Sarve sam pūrṇam bhavatu. May we all achieve the fulfillment of our life. Loka samastha sukhino bhavantu. The whole world should be healthy, happy, harmonious, and have a long life. Na’ham kartā. I am not the doer. Prabhudīp karatā mahāprabhudīp he karatā he kevalam. Mahāprabhudīp karatā he kevalam. Only God is doing. I am not the doer. Oṃ Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. Peace, Peace, Peace.