Fish     Yoga Mudra     Shoulder Stand

Sukh-Purvak     Meditation     Chanting

There is a separate page devoted to each of these in the Postures series (you will find this title in the navigation menu on every page, upper left). This page is only a summary of specific postures for the Ajna Chakra. You can click on the links below to get the full instructions for each posture. There are many other reasons for practicing these other than to work with the Chakras, which are given in detail.

I suggest printing these pages to practice the preliminary stretches before you attempt any of these Yoga postures. Once you have stretched your muscles to the point where you can do a posture, you know you have come a long way in healing your body and making it stronger.

Remember, these links—which are always a turquoise color on this site—will take you to the detailed instructions for each posture.

 

Seated Yoga Mudra (Mudra = sealed)

Yoga Mudra is a classic Yoga posture that vitalizes many part of the body at the same time. It is a wonderful way to learn to sit with your legs crossed, or in the lotus posture (as shown here), to be stable for meditation with the back straight. This image is from my YogaNata DVD where I dance slowly to music until the energetics in the third section, when my body shakes loose like a dog coming out of water. It is available in the Products section of this site (see navigation menu above left), and there is also a link on every page in the left column with more details. Yoga Mudra is shown in various postures on this site. This link is specific to Mudras and Bandhas. To learn how to do the preliminary exercises to sit in this posture (lotus), go to Padmasana.

 

Fish Posture
Matsyasana (Matsya = fish)

The back is fully stretched (the dorsal especially). The chest is expanded like a rooster. Strong and quick abdominal breathing opens up the entire body in a beautiful way. The neck and throat are stretched. This opens up the entire region of the heart and the throat, which is the area of the Anahata and Visuddha Chakras. And this helps this 6th Chakra to become loose and flexible. Click on the link for complete details with preliminary stretches.

 

Shoulder Stand - Sarvangasana

There are many variations to this posture, and all of them are provided in the Shoulder Stand series (which includes the Plough above). Again, this brings the flow of blood directly into the neck and head, just as it did the throat in the 5th Chakra.

 

Sukh-Purvak

An entire series is devoted to Breath on this site, so this link takes you to the Sukh-Purvak page of that series. This is a powerful breath method to open the Chakras.

 

Meditation

The Meditation series if often referred to on this site, because it is just as important to find a way to open and relax your mind to joy as it is to exercise your body for health and strength. There are too many meditations to list on this page. There are also links to meditations in other series on this site. If you haven't been there yet, check it out. Find the meditation that works for you and stick with it until you have released tension from your mind completely.

 

Chanting

I wrote about chanting in the Vissudha series (5th Chakra). I have no idea what this image means, but it is Sanskrit script. To my knowledge, the entire Sanskrit language was created intentionally with sound frequencies in mind. It is not an easy language to learn. I wrote in My Story (provided on every page of this site in the upper left navigation menu) how my teacher, Eugenia Basilewsky, read ancient Sanskrit texts and then translated them for me in Swedish or English for many years. She had studied the Sanskrit language for 30 years.

The Headstand is usually given for this Chakra, but that is one of the postures that requires personal attention from a teacher for beginners. If you have been practicing Yoga for a while, then you have probably already learned how to do it right. One word of caution though: If you have hypertension, heart problems, serious eye or ear conditions, or it just feels uncomfortable when you do stand on your head, it's better to let this one go. As I repeat over and over again ... Yoga is about feeling joy. One should be happy when practicing, not moaning in pain.

 

If you want to review the Ajna Chakra, the links are provided below. If you are ready to continue to the 7th Chakra, that link is also provided below, or in the images in the right column.