I have spent my pandemic just like everyone else, trying desperately to process the trauma of death on a massive scale alongside the personal loss of individuals. I’ve lost friends, celebrity heroes, and fortunately, no family, to the pandemic. The world has lost incalculably more. On the other hand, I’ve been gaining weight. The news tells me a lot of us have.
The main thing keeping me active has been yoga, and I was slacking mightily in that department before I started my 200 hour online yoga teacher training with Arohan Yoga. It’s a wonderful school in Rishakesh, India offering Yoga Alliance certifications during the lock down. It’s the first formal education I’ve delved into since college. So it has been equal parts challenging and invigorating.
I’ve been learning a lot. Building on old knowledge, picking up entirely new things, cementing things I already know within a better framework. One of the biggest challenges I find with being self taught is that I only know the things that are interesting to me. Someone else teaching me ensures I learn something completely.
I also feel like the pick and choose effect can lead to cultural appropriation. I don’t think that’s something I’ve done (it wouldn’t really be my call, anyway), but I want a more complete education from indigenous experts on their culture’s heritage because I want to make sure it’s something I don’t do. Even if in the fullness of time I choose not to implement certain parts of yoga philosophy or practice, I will be doing it purposefully from an informed perspective. Instead of just waving my hand and dismissing what I don’t use as ‘unimportant’.
Chakras are one of those things I’ve been exposed to but never delved into actually learning (to pull this post back around to it’s point, which I swear it has). After my Hatha Yoga Instructor suggested that my final would have benefited from better knowledge of them, I resolved to buckle down and take his advice. To assist myself in this, I created some digital flashcards to help me study. I’ve also been listening to people much smarter and more knowledgeable than I am about yoga talk about them.
Discussions
- Christopher Tompkins on Tantra, the original Chakras, and the Real Age of the Asanas, Chitheads, Episode #9.
- Phil Hine on the Chakras & Western Esotericism, Chitheads, Episode #76
I’m sure someone else out there in the ether is doing their own studies into the chakras. Whether it’s for yoga, Ayurveda, or witchy pagany learnings, I’m happy to help. ♥
Use the right arrow to advance the cards and reveal the meaning of the vocabulary or the answer to the prompt. I’ve grouped the flashcards, so make sure to page through the entire set! Happy studying!
