Seventh Chakra
Sahasrara (Thousand Petaled Lotus)

Location: crown of the head

Deals with: intuitive knowing, connection to spirituality, duality, emotional feelings, integration of the whole, conscious awareness

Governs: top center of the head and midline above the ears, brain, nervous system, pineal gland

Element: thought
Colors: violet/white
Sense: empathy, unity
Mantra: silence

Physical Dysfunctions: chronic exhaustion, sensitivity to light and sound

Psychological and Emotional Issues: lack of purpose, loss of identity, disbelief in any spiritual realities, trust, selflessness, apathy, devotion, inspiration, values, ethics, sense of fear, materialism

Balanced Seventh Chakra:
feeling at one with the universe, open-minded, intelligent, thoughtful, understand and learn information more easily

Postures that Balance Seventh Chakra:
Balancing poses that bring awareness to the body and the consciousness like Tree and Eagle, also sitting in Yoga Mudra

Related Gemstones: Amber, Diamond, Moldavite

Related Essential Oils: Blilbanum or Lotus

Fourth Chakra
Anahata (unbeaten)

Location: situated on the cardiac plexus in the region of the heart

Deals with: social identity, trust, forgiveness, unconditional love, wisdom, stability, mental patience, compassion, emotional empowerment, issues of the soul

Governs: heart, rib cage, blood, circulatory system, lungs and diaphragm, thymus gland, breasts, esophagus, shoulders, arms, hands

Element: air
Colors: green or pink
Sense: touch
Mantra: YAM

Physical Dysfunctions: thoracic spine, upper back and shoulder problems, asthma, heart conditions, shallow breathing, lung disease like pneumonia

Psychological and Emotional Issues: difficulty with love, lack of hope, compassion, confidence, despair, moody, envy, fear, jealousy, anger, anxiety

Balanced Fourth Chakra:
feeling of completeness and wholeness, compassionate, empathic, friendly, optimistic, motivated, nurturing, outgoing

Postures that Balance Fourth Chakra:
Chest openers like Camel (Ustrasana), Cobra (Bhujangasana), Fish (Matsyasana)
Also Pranayama (breathing exercises) like Deep Breathing, Kapalabati, Alternate Nostril Breathing (Analoma Veloma)

Related Gemstones: Emerald, Green Jade, Green Tourmaline, Malachite, Rose Quartz

Related Essential Oils: lavender, jasmine, marjoram

The changing work environment increasingly places demands and stress on employees. This work related stress leads to depression, drop in work performance, and anxiety. The pressure of the work environment has cost businesses well over $250 billion dollars a year in absentee-ism, reduced productivity, low morale, employee turnover, and accidents.

Searching for ways to deal with the stressful work environment, corporations are discovering the enormous benefits of yoga-based wellness programs.

Taking breaks in the workday with yoga has proven to be one of the most effective ways in helping employees relieve stress and become refreshed and more focused. Employees will then be able to make better decisions, be more productive, and have a more positive attitude with co-workers.

My Yoga Online has designed mini yoga flows to meet the needs of the corporate environment. Our Yoga at Work practices can be conveniently and discretely done within the office space and in a short period of time. We provide employees with powerful tools needed to manage everyday challenges and to optimize health and well being.

Yoga at Work practices can provide numerous benefits:

* teaches individual stress management

* improves the immune system and overall health, resulting in decreased absenteeism and sickness levels

* increases productivity, motivation, and work performance

* improves decision making and creativity

* increases energy, mental alertness, and clarity

* improves stamina

* improves morale, job satisfaction, and positive thinking patterns

* improves memory, focus and concentration

* reduces muscle tension and pain due to sedentary working positions

* improves flexibility and physical strength

* improves breathing

* decreases headaches

* improves confidence

Autumn has arrived and we're getting winter sweaters and jackets out of storage. Many of us also find we are craving warmer foods that "stick to your ribs" like stews, hearty soups and porridge at breakfast. Are you someone who laments the end of summer and shivers at the mere thought of falling leaves and cooler weather? Are you finding it hard to eat cold yogurt in the mornings and cool salads at lunch now that's it's colder outside? If so, Ayurveda would classify you a "Vata" dosha, a body type that is generally cold and dry. If you want to stay healthy and energetic, you would do well to follow the sensible advice of what's best for your dosha.

Ayurveda is India's ancient system of natural healing. Like Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurveda has been around for thousands of years and is a comprehensive method of preventing and treating all manner of diseases. The word Ayurveda means "knowledge or science of life" and it involves understanding and nurturing the "prana" or "life force" within each of us, to foster lifelong health.

According to Ayurveda, each of us has a body that contains a combination of energy types or doshas. Health is achieved when the body maintains its state of equilibrium. This is accomplished through doing what is best for your body type, thereby ensuring the doshas do not get out of balance. Contrary to modern times where we are encouraged to push against our natural urges to achieve success, Ayurveda asks that we respect our natural tendencies. Vata types are cold and have a tendency to be high-strung and they need to keep warm or they may fall ill. These types are often in constant motion, and need rest and routine to keep them focussed.

When foods or external forces don't supply us with a means to counterbalance our natural characteristics, we fall out of balance, which can lead to weakness and poor health. Modern medicine provides pills that silence symptoms of disease, whereas Ayurveda prescribes complementary foods and routines that keep us our doshas in check. For example, Ayurveda dictates that a Vata type will get off-kilter in the face of less sun and colder weather or too fast a lifestyle, and so rest and warm foods are one way to prevent this from happening. This in turn will prevent illness.

Ayurvedic texts talk a lot about seasonality and the effects that the sun and the rain have on our doshas. However, the old texts are written for India's seasons which involve wet, cool summers, warm dry autumns and springs and cold winters, so some adaptation is required for North America.

Ayurveda speaks of cold weather's effect on "agni" or our digestive "fire". It strengthens agni to allow us to digest ,heavy dense foods. We are encouraged in winter to take oil baths, stay indoors where it is warm and sleep when it is dark, as artificial lighting can throw our systems off-balance. Most of this sounds like sensible advice to follow during winter, but how many of us do?

It's interesting to observe how rarely we listen to our internal triggers; instead we reach for food or drinks that catch our eye on menus or at the checkout counter, clothes that are "hot this season" as opposed to comfortable, and we stay up well past dusk doing household chores or watching TV. Focussing on foods that are specifically recommended for our dosha-type goes a long way towards restoring our inner balance. And that may make us more ready to take on the stresses that life throws our way.

Cool fall and winter weather aggravates and increases Vata. While each person is made up of each of the three doshas in differing amounts, even those who score low on the Vata scale may find themselves out of balance when the thermometer drops or when life causes them to rush around. Warm, liquid foods and rest and a good routine will help everyone have a more relaxed autumn.

Find out more about Ayurveda and take a quiz to find out your dosha on About.com's website

Here are some foods that help balance Vata: the preferred tastes are salty, sweet and sour, and for heavy and soothing foods, such as Mexican or Moroccan dishes, sweet fruits, avocados, banana, berries, fully cooked vegetables, stewed fruits, cardamom, cinnamon, clove and warm wet cereals such as porridge.

Here are some foods that help balance Pitta: cool, dry, sweet, bitter and astringent foods such as milk, raw foods, fully ripe sweet fruits like grapes, cherries, melons, avocados, coconuts, pomegranates, mangos, and sweet, fully-ripened oranges, pineapples and plums, dry cereal, crackers, granola and cereal bars, and rice cakes.

Here are some foods that help balance Kapha: warm, light, dry foods that are lower in fat and not sweet. Food flavors should be stimulating, bitter and pungent such as hot spices, garlic, brussel sprouts, cabbage, onions, peppers, some raw foods, cherries, cranberries, prunes, pomegranates, pumpkin and sunflower seeds.

Anatomy of the Spine
A basic vertebra is comprised of a bony block and a bony ring. The block is sandwiched between disks. The ring houses the precious spinal cord. The ring consists of 2 pedicles, 2 lamina, 1 spinous process, and 2 transverse processes. Processes are levers that attach to muscles. Each vertebra has 4 facets [joints], 2 superior, 2 inferior attached on the lateral posterior side of the vertebral body. A thoracic vertebra has 4 more facets attaching to the ribs. Facets are the synovial joints of the spine. This means they have a synovial membrane that secretes synovial fluid, and a capsular ligament that holds the synovial fluid. The angle of orientation of the facets changes with each vertebra. The angle influences the direction of movement.

The spine is segmental, consisting of 7 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 sacral [fused], and 4 coccygeal [fused] vertebras. We must consider that each vertebrae has any direction of movement. The image of vertebra floating in all directions is useful. We categorize each vertebra movement as flexion, extension, rotation, and side bending. Some vertebras move less, some more. This is called the relative flexibilities/inflexibilities of the spine.

Lumbar vertebras are massive for weight bearing. The facets have a sagittal orientation allowing little rotation, but a lot of flexion, extension.

Thoracic vertebras are medium size with ribs attached. Ribs are the armor of our vital organs. We have 4 more facets per vertebrae. These are more facets to become hypomobile and restrict spinal movement. The spinous processes are sharply angled down to prevent excessive back-bending.

Cervical vertebras are the smallest, designed for mobility of our head. Facets are angled at 45 ? from the horizontal.

Spinal ligaments allow efficient passive joint stabilization. They limit and direct vertebral movement. These ligaments have many pain receptors. The anterior longitudinal ligament [ALL] is thin stretching from the occiput to the sacrum. The ALL stretches with backbends. The posterior longitudinal ligament [PLL] is thick, but tapers from the lumbar to the sacrum. The PLL stretches in forward bends. There many more spinal ligaments connecting vertebras to each other in every imaginable direction.

Disks are fluid filled cylinders. Their water content decreases with age. Most disk surgery is performed on people in their 30's to 50's when the water content is enough to make them bulge. Normal spinal curves allow even disk compression. There is 3x more interdiscal pressure in sitting than in standing.

Muscles are divided into 2 types. Deeper, postural muscles sustain posture with lower energy. Surface, phasic, 2 joint muscles are quick and explosive. The muscle contractions can be concentric [shortening], isometric [same muscle length], or eccentric [lengthening] contractions.

Normal weight bearing through the spine is a tripod design. The 2 facets in the back and the disk to the front. The disk / facet weight bearing is [80 / 20] through the lumbar spine and [50 / 50] in the cervical spine.

Ideal Human Posture and Movement
Hatha Yoga can be defined as conscious, skillful movement. Movement can be efficient, graceful, fluid, and functional. Victor van Kooten teaches that we need a clear vision, a well defined mental image of space within and around us to allow energy to flow in the direction of our awareness. This manifests as movement of our human form. With our intention of posture or movement, our energy body, also called inner body or pranamayakosa, can move our physical body, also called outer body or annamayakosa. We need to be aware of kinesthetic [body] sensations. We interpret sensation as the perception of posture and movement. We can interpret intense sensation as injurious pain or therapeutic release of restrictions. We need to let go of our muscular surface body enough to allow the inner body guide our physical body in an efficient, fluid, graceful way. Or we can let the muscles strongly impose movement upon ourselves.

We can set ourselves up to let go into the support of the earth in restful restorative poses. Breath is our vehicle into the inner body. As we inhale, we can allow expansion [space] from our center outward. As we exhale, we can release, let go of our blocks and restrictions.

We can intend our extremities to ground through the earth, as we support and move our centers in the up/down dog continuum. Our vision as quadrupeds keep us concerned with connecting to mother earth, no lofty aspirations.

In standing poses, inversions, or upright sitting, we soar skyward through the crown [or feet] because of our vision of the foundations into earth supporting and our centers expanding and ascending. Lofty visions of lightness in stance and in sitting. Our vision facilitates our nervous system to organize our skeletal and muscular system to move us skillfully. The foundation of rooting is the skill of connecting downwards into the earth. Our relationship with earth is to acknowledge her as our support. We move from our center through our trunk and extremities. As bipeds we need to appreciate the vertical. We need to find neutral in terms of our bony alignment, our joints. We need to ground and lift [or be lifted] along the vertical.

We after all are upright beings.

As we ground [root], we connect and move upon mother earth. The direction of grounding is directly opposite to the direction of movement of our center. For example, as we push down and forward through the ball our hand, our bellies move up back away in down dog. If we root straight down through our feet, we lift [or are lifted] straight up through the crown of our head.

Rajasic rooting pushes the earth away or towards us. Inner spirals of "rocket pose" propels us upward. Tamasic rooting releases our outer body into the earth, in widening mountain pose, as we receive the lift through our centers upward. Victor?s image of the cosmic egg works well here. (The image of the "cosmic egg". We attend to space, expanding outward from our center, we release our surface body downward through the corners of our feet through the earth and allow the roots to curve into a center that rises back through the earth into our center of arches, perineum, pelvis, and head creating lightness and length of spine).

As bipeds we are designed to be upright, though connect to the earth, we lift towards the vertical or soar to the heavens. We ground in standing by reacting [ in a rajasic or tamasic quality] to the increased weight [therefore sensation] in one or a few of the 4 corners of each foot / hand. We press or release into that sensation to keep center of gravity [usually belly / heart] within the support extremities. We visualize extending from ones center downward through center of leg / arm through the 4 corners of each foot /hand into the earth. We could visualize roots descending, in a downward direction beyond the physical extremity [tamasic root.] Or we could visualize pushing of mother earth away [rajasic root.]

We ground in sitting through the 4 petals [sit bones, tailbone, pubis] and lower extremities to allow a rising through the muladhara. The direction and degree of rooting through the tailbone and pubis determines the orientation of the pelvis therefore trunk and head.

We ground in quadruped through hands and feet, directing the movement from crown to root and beyond into down dog. Or we could ground through our hands and feet, directing the movement from root through crown and beyond into up dog.

Western science says our nervous system allows us to balance in space, using our righting and equilibrium reactions in this upright world. Closed chain reactions of weight bearing and weight shifting cause a sequence of biomechanical events to start from the ground upwards. Open chain reactions as countermovements, as in protective extension or staggering. Or as Victor says, we can release into the earth and rise along the limitless energy into lightness along Shiva?s lingam. The West has studied the transitions of movement to and from positions of supine, prone, sitting, all fours, and standing, as well as locomotion in each of these positions. We have studied the quality of tone, primitive reflexes, righting and equilibrium reactions in movements such as rolling, come to sit, crawling, rise to standing, cruising, and ambulation.

Hatha Yoga also looks at how easy and comfortable poses can be as we move in and out of them as in surya namaskar. Angela Farmer has said that asanas are pauses in a continuum of this skillful conscious movement.

Developmental therapists evaluate disassociation from primitive or habitual movement, by influencing tone, primitive reflexes and facilitating equilibrium reactions. They can treat people from this perspective very effectively.

The goal in the West is purposeful, functional posture and movement, stable yet mobile and mobile yet stable, holding midranges to moving towards extremes of range.

Yogas citta vritti nirodhah.

Hatha Yoga is to quiet the mind, to prepare the yogi or yogini with skills of concentration to enter dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. Hatha Yoga prepares one to handle the rigors of sitting meditation. The health benefits are secondary. But the West sees Yoga as exotic exercise, as prescription for healing faulty posture and movement, as stress relief.

Pathological Posture and Movement of the Spine
In Western Culture, we are subjected to the ravishes of chairs, shoes, computers, soft sofas, and cars. We rely too much on our visual orientation. We are "in our heads" much of the time. We are intellectual and emotional but not very kinesthetic. The mechanical stresses of too much sitting tightens our hips, dulls our spine, tenses our neck and shoulders muscles. Cultures that don?t use chairs, but rather sit on the floor, as we did as infants and toddlers, maintain normal ranges of motion in their hips. We sit too much in our culture with all the time we spend in cars, computer workstations, and easy chairs. Our spines have relative inflexibilities. We typically have a tight thoracic area with relatively hypermobile cervical and lumbar spines. Cultures, whose people wear sandals or go barefoot, have much less incidence of foot pathologies as those who wear shoes. Unfortunately we tend to be unskillful in rooting during stance and sitting. Just watch people stand with dull spines in banks or grocery store lines. Watch the collapsed hips in lordosis or obliquity, locked knees, flat feet.

Dull sitting causes prolonged spinal flexion and posterior pelvic tilts. Most chairs do not support the pelvis towards neutral or the lumbar spine out of flexion. Therefore uneven compressions in weight bearing lumbar disks pushes the fluid of the disk posteriorly. The front of the vertebral body pinches more, so the fluid migrate backwards, pressing against the posterior lateral wall of the disk, where there is the lack of PLL. There is [3x] increased interdiscal pressure in these lumbar disks by slump sitting in chairs [compared to standing]. Eventually lateral posterior disk wall degenerates under this pressure causing herniation. The bulge lowers the height of the disk and decreased disk height lessens space between adjoining vertebrae. This abnormal compression or pressure on the facets causes bone spurs [osteophytes]. These bone spurs then can impinge upon the nerve root causing more pain.

A common diagnosis today is sciatica [inflammation of the sciatic nerve]. One typical way the sciatic nerve is inflamed is by nerve root impingement. A lumbar disk bulges out into the space where the sciatic nerve roots exit out through the foramen between adjoining vertebras. This bulge presses against the nerve root inflaming it, causing paresthesia. Paraesthesia is numbing and tingling down the back of the leg.

Muscles are irritated as well and reflexively respond with tension and spasm. Inflammation of soft tissue is very painful. Muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia are irritated by the bulging disks. The chemical process of inflammation produces substances like free radicals that irritate surrounding tissue. Also lactic acid is a by-product of the chemical reaction of muscle contractions. These are all irritants to soft tissue. Muscles respond to the irritants by reflexively spasming as a guarding to attempt to immobilize the back. When one "throws their back out" when already tensed, vulnerable back muscle strain or tear upon loading. Simple activities like standing up out of a chair, raking, shoveling snow can be life altering events.

Yoga for Discogenic Low Back Pain
Robin McKenzie is a famous New Zealand physiotherapist who designed an extension protocol for discogenic back pain. He would suggest no sitting, no seated forward bends, no standing forward bends for someone with acute sciatica from herniated lumbar disks. He felt that spinal flexion was the cause of the herniation and would perpetuate the symptoms. If the back was not too acute, he would immediately start a regiment of spinal extensions [backbends]. His "press ups" were similar to cobras, his "press backs" were similar to a preparation for a drop back. His protocol would be for 3 sets of 10 press ups every waking hour once the patient could build up it this level. He sees backbends as "rest time" for a disk. Extension would not push the disk fluid to the weakened or cracked posterior disk wall as spinal flexion would. One would also avoid stretching the back of one?s leg that would stretch a highly inflamed sciatic nerve causing more sciatica.

If the soft tissue in one?s back is acute, inflamed, and in spasm, resting in neutral is first. Supine with calves on a chair seat is a supportive restful position. But once the back musculature is not so reactive to movement, extension should start as soon as possible. Yoga adds to McKenzie?s ideas with the lengthening, lightness, space within the spine. Yogis know that the energy within the trunk, rising along the vertical is very important. Length and space in the lumbar spine in cobra and up dog are necessary as so not to compress the lumbar facets or S/I joints. Be careful so as not to stretch an inflamed sciatic nerve if stretching [padangustasana I] causes sciatica.

Typically in low back pain, there is soft tissue inflammation. The muscles are tensed, spasming as a result of the nerve root inflammation. Muscles respond with spasming to immobilize the lower spine guarding the back from inflaming more. So rest has its place. Supine with calves on chair seat is a time-tested favorite. Improving circulation with heat, cold, massage helps process the irritants out the soft tissue. Very gentle stretching to start the person moving. Knees to chest, legs up wall, jathara parivartanasana [flexed knees] are a start towards movement. Many protocols stop here. But these are only the beginning, done during the acute phase.

The primary work of spinal extension [backbends] are an absolutely necessary. Supine Bolster Work is a personal favorite of mine. It is passive, releasing, calming, energizing, massaging all at the same time. Prone Mechanzie activities like press ups and press backs work well. Yoga adds bhujangasana [cobra], urdhva mukha savanasana [up dog], setu bandha sarvangasana [bridge], ustrasana [camel], and urdhva dhanurasana [wheel].

Upright vertical spines decompress the disks, normalize the curves, regaining the tripod support of weight bearing. Standing Poses are great forms to learn the liveliness of the spine. The foundation to the lower extremities, centering of the belly/ pelvis, and directing the energy through the spine and out the crown are valuable skills to learn. Eventually one can move towards drop backs from tadasana with long, energetic spines.

Sitting continues to be a provocation. Even though there is 3x the interdiscal pressure in sitting, it can be tolerated. It is better tolerated with upper sacral and lower lumbar support, recline, and good foundation for sit bones, thigh bones, and feet.

This article was reprinted with the permission of Stan Andrzejewski and Greater Baltimore Yoga Center. This article is the Copyright of Greater Baltimore Yoga Centre and may not be reproduced without prior written permission.

Stan Andrzejewski is the founder of Greater Baltimore Yoga & Monkton Village Yoga centers. He was certified in the Iyengar tradition in 1988 while a student of John Schumacher, but now considers Victor van Kooten as his inspiration. He integrates 32 years of experience as a physical therapist into his 20 years of teaching yoga. He works with people with orthopedic and neurological problems in his private practice. He has trained many yoga teachers through his apprenticeship program. Learn more about the classes, workshops, and teacher training at the Greater Baltimore Yoga Center & Monkton Village Yoga Center: www.marylandyoga.com

Not Medical Care
MYO is not a substitute for medical care, and offers no health warranties or guarantees of any kind. The information provided on these pages is not meant to be a substitute for medical advice from your doctor or health care provider. Users of MYO are advised that health advice is often subject to updating and refining due to medical research and developments. MYO is committed to bringing you the most up to date information, however, we make no guarantee that the information herein is the most recent on any particular subject. You are encouraged to consult with your health care provider with any questions or concerns you may have regarding any health condition that you may have before starting any Yoga, Pilates or exercise program or making changes to your diet.