Category: Essential Oils

Getting to the root of things

1/6/2019

It's January and I'm getting ready to begin the first block of yoga classes for 2019. This will be the 3rd year I am working with the chakras as our theme at this time of year - I think bringing ourselves into balance is a fabulous way to start the new year whether you set goals and/or intentions or not.

What are the chakras?
They are part of our energy body and Chakras are energy centres in the body. Chakra is the Sanskrit word for wheel and these spinning wheels of energy are usually pictorially represented by lotus flowers. These wheels spin creating a vortex, attracting or repelling activity – anything the chakra encounters on its particular vibrational level gets drawn into the chakra, processed and passed out again.

Just as we have a physical body we also have a subtle body and the chakras serve as a bridge between and transmute energy from one level to another, distributing pranic energy to the physical body. Chakras can be open or closed, in balance or out of balance; affecting different aspects of ourselves and lives. Each of these chakras contain bundles of nerves and connect to major organs as well as our psychological, emotional, and spiritual states of being.

There are seven main chakras located roughly along our spines from our perineum to the crown of our head - each with a different role and purpose. Each can be in balance or out of balance - perhaps with too much energy or too little. As with all linked systems - if one is out of balance it will impact on the others. Each chakra is linked to different part of our body's systems through the endocrine glands. Our chakras influence our behaviour, our mood and our thoughts as well as our physical body.

The chakras are pictorially represented by the image of the lotus. I love this - the lotus has its roots firmly in to the mud - from here in the muddy, smelly, rich darkness it draws nutrients as it stretches upwards reaching for the light before emerging as the most beautiful bloom. And I think this image translates so well for us too - unless our feet and ourselves are firmly attached to the earth we become ungrounded. By delving into our own shadowy, mud we can investigate our own dark corners - take a look at what presses our buttons, what we hide from, what makes us uncomfortable about ourselves - as we do this with with love and support we can begin to bring light to what was perhaps once scary - our personal monsters (I have a whole list of my 'not enough' monsters) and begin to heal - this lightening of our load brings new perspectives and fresh energy - it is like nature - if we offer that which no longer serves us (our personal shit) - perhaps our frustration and anger - to the earth, she will compost that shit and return it as fresh nutrients - fresh energy.

What has this got to do with yoga?
Yoga is so much more than just the postures and gives us amazing tools to bring us back in to connection with ourselves - our body, mind and spirit. Here, in Argyll, January can be a dark, damp, raw kind of place - most cafes and visitor attractions are closed and we can often feel like hiding except that in today's society we're not really given permission to take that opportunity or to fully recharge and reset - so we push through and this can add to feeling sad from lack of daylight, letting our bodies stiffen as we don't feel inspired to get outside and move; and becoming mentally drained from trying to fit everything in we didn't manage to complete before the end of the year as well as all the 'new' projects we had been putting off until the new year.

As each chakra links to the elements, the body's systems, our senses etc - we can link our yoga practice with this - the different postures and ways in which we move our body in yoga work hand in hand with our energy body - bringing fresh prana along the energy channels - the nadis and meridians (more on them another time); clearing stuck energy and tension. We can use postures, sequences, meditations, visualisations and affirmations to rebalance and support these little spinning wheels of energy in our subtle body.

And so we begin our journey with the chakra system with the root chakra - the muladhara.

Associated with security, food and shelter – all the requirements for us to feel safe, it is closely linked to our survival instinct and therefore our sense of fear when this is threatened. This chakra develops from birth – 2 years old and is connected to our sense of self and our place in this world. The chakra system works in partnership with our endocrine system and the Muladhara chakra is connected to our adrenal glands.

The muladhara is linked with the element of earth and so it is vital to get outdoors and reconnect with nature. As our connection with mother earth becomes tenuous so does our connection to ourselves. By reconnecting with ourselves and our own self care we instinctively reconnect with nature and take better care of our home - planet earth and by reconnecting with nature we will instinctively reconnect with ourselves - win win :) Both are deeply intertwined.

In terms of our senses it is associated with our sense of smell. I had fun making essential oil sprays for each of the chakras using blends from the gorgeous doTERRA essential oil range. With the root chakra we will be working with doTERRA Balance which is a blend of spruce, ho wood, frankincense, blue tansy and blue chamomile.

When this chakra is in balance we are grounded, in control, and at ease with life. When it is out of balance we can become easily annoyed with people and situations, lash out at others, or materialistic. Excessive attachments may develop and lead to rigidity in our body and behaviour. We may be obsessed with money and possessions or our health, unable to allow change or to let go, and as a result we get stuck in the same routines, same old job, same old patterns and feel stuck. Physical problems including bladder issues, constipation, fatigue, anaemia and depression may occur.

Each chakra has a beautiful symbol with each part representing different aspects. With the muladhara the symbol has:

4 red petals and yellow square representing earth and the 4 directions
a red downward triangle representing 3 nadis, creative energy and shakti
an elephant with 7 trunks - strength, grounding our fundamental survival needs and related to Ganesha (hindu deity associated with removal of obstacles), guardian of this chakra. The 7 trunks represent the sapta dhatu – the 7 minerals that are vital for the body to function according to Ayurveda (ancient science of medicine).
a shiva linga (stone) and a snake – the stone represents the subtle body and the snake represents the limitless potential energy lying dormant in this chakra – kundalini.

The sanskrit character is LAM and this is the seed sound for this chakra.

I'm so excited to be revisiting this theme that we are going to spend 2 weeks working around balancing this chakra and exploring the physical movements in ways that support our own individual bodies. I invite you to join us with focussing on our connection to the earth and practising the fabulous Dru yoga energy block release one sequence - designed to do exactly that and create a strong foundation for our practise.

Energy block release sequence

We'll be working with vrksasana (the tree) and taking it further to set intentions and call back our power with the Dru sequence - Tree of Transformation. The tree is a great posture to visualise roots connecting us down into the earth - giving us a stable anchor to rise up and create space in our bodies and connect to the sky above. This posture helps us with strengthening our ankles and legs, brings flexibility in our knees, hips and shoulders and aligns our spines - enabling us to develop balance and concentration. Regular practice of this posture helps us to see the world as it really is.

We will of course also be relaxing in savasana (corpse pose) to integrate and heal; and enjoy some guided mediations - prithvi dharanam (earth focus) and a muladhara chakra rainbow kriya.

The great aspect of yoga is that is works on all different levels and you can focus on whichever level you wish - your physical, mental, emotional, energetic or spiritual. It is entirely up to you - make your practice your own, take from my blethers what you wish and most of all, practice yoga for you, keep an open mind and observe the magic.

Wishing you all balance, grounded connection to the earth and a transformational 2019
xox

Books I've enjoyed learning from which you might enjoy too include:
Wheels of Life by Anodea Judith
The Elements of the Chakras by Naomi Ozaniec
Chakra Meditation by Swami Saradananda

1 Comment

Essentially experimenting

10/24/2018

0 Comments

It’s a whole year since I signed up as a Wellness Advocate with doTERRA essential oils and I think it’s time to begin to own this impulse decision from a year ago and begin to share them more – I’ll be offering new and additional ways of wellbeing linked to these oil from now on – keep an eye out on Facebook and sign up to my email list to find out when and where.

I’ve always loved essential oils – for me they are part of plant medicine – I love plants and love connecting with their very essence – through hanging out with them in my garden, growing herbs and drinking herbal tea, taking flower essences, and working with essential oils. I wholly believe that plants carry their own unique vibrations and love their place in my life.

As a woman of many talents ;) I can get very easily distracted – drawn to this, drawn to that – there are so many choices out there that it is hard not to have a go at all of them – which is fine but actually is exhausting and means I tend to be a ‘jill of all trades’ rather than settling and going deeper with one or two. And so it is with all the different ways with which to work with plants - perhaps it is time to focus more with the essential oils.

I kind of fell in to the Wellness Advocate thing – a friend and I got swept up in a wave of enthusiasm – doTERRA essential oils are gorgeous, certified therapeutic grade and not available except online or via a Wellness Advocate. However, doTERRA runs as a multi level marketing business and I’ve been shy about building it as a business. This means that I have taken this year to gradually begin to work with them in greater depth, experiment, build my own collection, share them with friends and get feedback.

One of the main reasons I got involved is I would love to use essential oils more in my yoga classes and workshops. May people don’t like the smoke from incense and find it irritating but I love using incense as a way to purify the air and cleanse the space both aromatically and energetically. Scented candles generally contain 'scent' or 'perfume' which are chemical based. But by working with essential oils in diffusers or a spray bottle I can gain the same effects and probably go further with different blends to link to the themes of the class.

During my year of experimenting, learning and taking things at an unhurried pace, I have discovered that I love working with the oils and am using them in many different ways. I've been diffusing different oils, experimenting with room spray blends, making my own natural cleaning products and taking some of the different doTERRA wellness supplements.

I've been sharing the experience with holiday guests at Elder Cottage (a gorgeous holiday cottage in Craobh Haven) using a diffuser to freshen the air, gifting tiny sample bottles as part of their welcome pack and using the natural cleaning products I've made to minimise use of chemicals.

A few weeks ago, I attended training for the doTERRA AromaTouch technique – this is an oil application technique involving 8 essential oils which can help relieve stress and support the body’s natural immune system. There is also a hand massage technique and we will be sharing this as part of lovely nurturing yoga workshops this autumn and winter. I am really excited to be able to share the oils in this way and I loved the training where we all received a treatment as well as learning the technique. I will be offering AromaTouch technique treatments from November onwards.

Please get in touch to find out more.......

my doterra website

join Facebook group

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Getting to the root of things

Essentially experimenting

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