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june 2016yogajournal.comSTORY BY CHRISTINE CHEN • TEACHING BY MARY BETH LARUE • PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURA AUSTINSPARK
YOUR
Unleash your creative potential with this hip-opening
sequence that will ignite your second chakra.
IMAGINE WADING THROUGH A RIVERchoked with
mud and fallen branches. For many of us, this is how
reaching toward our life goals can feel. We get blocked—
by dead-end career paths, robotic daily routines, or too
much drama in our relationships—and feel stranded, with-
out the momentum to make change. That’s because we can’t
fl ow toward the life we want until the debris is cleared. To
demolish that dam you need creativity, the power to turn
dormant, dusty thoughts and dreams into actions and reali-
ties, and to fi nd clever solutions to relationship, work,
and other life challenges.
So how do you tap into that truly transformative, but
often elusive, energy of creativity? Via the chakras, fi rst
mentioned thousands of years ago in
sacred Hindu texts called the Upani-
shads. Described as interconnected
nodes within the subtle-energy body,
the chakras run along your spine and
essentially map to your endocrine
and hormonal systems. It’s the sec-
ond chakra, svadisthana chakra, that
holds the key to unlocking and har-
nessing the energy you need to be
innovative and to make change. Energetically, the second
chakra rules creativity, emotions, joy, enthusiasm, and sen-
suality. Physically, it’s located near your sacrum and hips,
below your navel, and is said to be the seat of your repro-
ductive organs. When svadisthana energy is in balance—
not too intense and not too laid-back—you can access
feelings of abundance, joy, and pleasure, and clear the way
for creative energy to fl ow freely.
However, when svadisthana is blocked, by emotional
trauma or chronic stress, for example, you are unable to
connect with your passions. You also tend to try to control
everything, and your life might lack zest. In addition tofeeling like you’re in a rut, you might be unable to connect
intimately or embrace deep self-love, explains Christiane
Northrup, MD, a board-certifi ed OB/GYN and author of
Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom, a woman-centered book
about the unity of mind, body, emotions, and spirit. Physi-
cally, the body can manifest these shackled emotions as
unexplained lower-back pain, tight hips, sexual-organ
dysfunction, and reproductive challenges.
Unfortunately, our modern, predominantly desk-
and car-bound lives can exacerbate imbalance in the
second chakra. We sit more, and for longer periods, than
ever, resulting in restricted (and sometimes weakened) hips
that inhibit the second chakra’s creative energies. To that
end, one of the most accessible ways
to undo these restrictions and fi nd sec-
ond-chakra balance is through asana.
Yoga’s physical postures allow prana (or
life-giving breath) to fl ow, activating and
directing energy appropriately, accord-
ing to yogic philosophy.
“A hip-focused yoga practice
can release discomfort and help you
look at everything as an opportunity,”
says Mary Beth LaRue, a Los Angeles–based yoga teacher
and co-founder of Rock Your Bliss, a yoga-inspired coach-
ing business that helps people craft creative lives. “Ulti-
mately, hip-opening asanas teach you to loosen your grip
on life and let things ebb and fl ow. And fi nding a sense of
fl uidity in your day-to-day life transforms all of your rela-
tionships, including your relationship with yourself.”
Try the hip-opening sequence on the following pages,
designed to help you spark svadisthana and tap into your
creative potential. “If your second chakra is balanced, it is
much easier to go into the world and create the life of your
dreams,” says Northrup.“If your second chakra
is balanced, it is much
easier to go into the
world and create the life
of your dreams.”