3 Yoga Practices to Awaken Courage and Passion - Sacral Chakra

What is the SACRAL CHAKRA TEMPLE?:

The Sacral Chakra Temple is associated with the emotional body, sensuality, and creativity. This energy inspires freedom, joy, and pleasure. It is the second Chakra located below the navel and around the genital area. It is represented by a golden-orange six petal lotus flower. The second Chakra of physical sanskrit name; Svadhisthana translates to; ‘One’s own place’, you access your ‘own place’ through sensation, through feeling. Sva means self and adhisthana means seat, residence, or dwelling place.

The Sacral Chakra represents change, flow, life, pleasure, creativity, and emotional relationships. It’s a sensual energy center that helps you by giving you the courage to ground you in your own body, your capacity for pleasure, your reproductive health, and the way you connect with the relationships in your life both physically and emotionally.

Courage and Passion:

Imagine this energy center as a river. When the river is free flowing the current can flow bringing life force energy down the stream. When blocked by fallen branches, debris, or its been damed the water is blocked and becomes stagnant. When we feel stuck or blocked by jobs we don’t have passion for, become robotic in our routines, lack of energy to push through, or are in unhealthy relationships that create stress or drama we tend to lose the ambition and courage to make change. This debris in the flow of life causes the Sacral Chakra to become blocked and stagnant. The flow of life is calling for you to take action by clearing out the debris, by demolishing the dam that is blocking your creative force and your ability to harness the courage to pursue your passions in all areas of life.

Yoga’s Passionate Wisdom:

Yoga poses that are focused on strengthening and opening the hips help move stagnant or stuck energy to move energy through the Sacral Chakra. Yoga poses that support these goals bring more balance to your intimate relationships in your life in all areas, and increase your potential to flow with courage  with life’s natural ups and downs with ease and grace. Finding pleasure in the flow of all life brings. How you feel in your hips is a good indication of how  you body is trying to tell you if Svadisthana is balanced or unbalanced.

Here are a few strengthening and opening poses to spark courage and passion in your life:

1. Supta Baddaha Konasana - Reclined Butterfly Pose:

This pose helps to release tension in the hips and groin, and promote a sense of openness and fluidity. You can practice Supta Buddha Konasana supported by blankets, blocks, pillows, or bolsters. It can be practiced in stillness or motion by moving the legs like butterfly wings. Reclined Butterfly Pose has a stimulating effect on the parasympathetic nervous system. It opens the hips to release emotions that are blocking our passionate drive and the courage to take action to live life to the fullest.

Guidance to Explore Supta Baddaha Konasana - Reclined Butterfly Pose:

• Come down on your mat and lie down on your back with your arms by your side and your feet flat on the floor.

• Gently guide your legs to fall open into butterfly pose with the soles of your feet touching. 

• Tuck blocks or blankets under your knees for added support. 

• Take mindful, slow, and deep breaths becoming aware of the energy moving more freely through your sacral chakra.

Affirmation: Creative energy flows through me freely.

Essential Oil: Clary Sage

Stone or Crystal: Orange Calcite

2. Utkata Konasana - Goddess Pose:

Goddess pose is a big hip opener, which fires everything beneath the waist. Utkata Konasana stretches your inner thighs' adductors and develops your calves, quadriceps, glutes, and core. This pose will connect you with the creative force and feminine energy.

Guidance to Explore Utkata Konasana - Goddess Pose:

• Stand with your feet wide apart and your feet turned outwards (45 degrees).

• Place your hand on your hips.

• Inhale spine and crown of head up towards the sky.

• Exhale and bend your knees deeply working towards having your thighs parallel to the floor (honor your body)

• Align your knees over the center of the feet. 

• Ensure that the shoulders are stacked above the hips.

• Lengthen the tailbone downwards while lifting through the crown of the head.

• Pull your belly button to your spine so that your lower back is supported.

• Bring the arms out to a cactus or goal post position with you index finger and thumb touching facing up toward the sky or hand at heart center.

Affirmation: I am radiant, beautiful, creative, and enjoy a healthy and passionate life.

Essential Oil: Bergamot

Stone or Crystal: Critine

3. Eka Pada Rajakapotasana - Pigeon Pose:

Pigeon Pose is ideal for losing tension and retaining hip stability since it extends both the short hip rotators and the hip flexors. It increases the external range of motion of the femur in the hip socket. It open the hips by lengthens hip flexors. It’s a great stretch for the whole lower body and stimulates the nervous and endocrine system. Pigeon pose is great for the sacral chakra because, it tunes you into your emotional Resilience or create the space for emotions stuck in the hip to surface to be released. We hold emotions in our hip. In saying this Pose may even trigger an emotional release and make you cry by bringing up repressed anxiety, anger, or fear.

Guidance to Explore Eka Pada Rajakapotasana - Pigeon Pose:

• From a tabletop position, square your body and align your hands beneath your shoulders and knees bent beneath the hips. OR From downward facing dog rise the right leg into one leg downward facing dog and guide the leg into the body

• On an inhale, bend your right knee and bring your leg forward until the knee is just behind your right wrist.

• Next, slide the right foot under the left side of your body.

• Slide your left leg straight backward with the left foot facing the ground. This back leg remains straight out on the floor behind you with the left thigh slightly engaged throughout the pose. Slide it backward until your right ankle is beneath your left hip.(You will become aware of the sensation through the outer hip of your front leg externally rotating.)

• Adjust the right foot as needed to find a comfortable position. (Be very mindful of your knees, you shouldn’t feel any sensation in them. If the knees hurt, bring the right foot closer to the left hip or even underneath the right hip.)

• Keep your hips square and level toward the front of the mat. Do not allow your hips to twist or rock to one side.

• Your right knee should be aligned under your right armpit and the right heel should be directly under your left hip.

• Inhale spine straight

• Exhale and let gravity draw your upper body down over the bent knee.

• Options to stay on the hands or folding your chest forward for a deeper stretch placing your elbows on the floor or a even deeper stretch allowing the heart-center/chest to come down to the mat guiding your arms over head racing for the top of the mat or down the side body. 

• Keep your weight evenly distributed, feeling a compression on inside of the right hip and a deep stretch throughout the outside of the hip abductor.

• Switch sides and repeat the process with the left knee bent and left foot under the right hip.Keep the right foot flexed and  out through the ball of the foot. 

Affirmation: I let go of past feelings that no longer serve me.

Essential Oil: Ylang Ylang

Stone or Crystal: Amber

Yoga to Awaken Courage and Passion:

Yoga is an incredible practice to awaken courage and passion in our lives, to be in the flow of life, and out of a blocked stagnant state where we can feel stuck. Come back to these Svadhisthana - Sacral Chakra poses to release what no longer serves you in this realm and open the flood gates to creativity. Creativity tears down debris by living in passionate practice of life. When your nervous system is calling for peace, when your feeling stuck, lacking joy, and feeling unworthy, these poses will awaken the courage in you by clearing the emotions that are keeping you from your full potential to live a passionate life.

May you have peace in the mind, strength in the body, and love within your heart…Namaste