Prenatal Yoga & Exploring the Chakras
If you take a class as part of the Nurture: Prenatal Yoga & Wellbeing series that my Community Partner is launching later this month, it certainly won’t be your ordinary yoga class. Ivory is anything but your ordinary human and the intentionality, wisdom, and love she brings to her classes is second to none. I loved hearing her gush about how excited she is to lead pregnant people through this yoga series while connecting them with the chakras throughout their bodies. Below you can learn more from Ivory herself about why she’s doing the series the way that she is and what amazing things you’ll encounter along the way.
Exploring the chakras over the last couple of years through my perinatal journey has provided such a meaningful sense of groundedness + purpose through the highs and lows of everyday life. It consistently serves as a guide for me to center and return home to myself. As I began designing my 7-week prenatal yoga series, I knew immediately that I would incorporate this ancient practice for birthing parents to experience for themselves.
Chakra is the Sanskrit word for "wheel" and is used to describe the way energy moves throughout the body. Each of the seven chakras, from root to crown, is said to correlate with different abilities, expressions, and types of health. While chakras have not been backed by scientific data or evidence, yogis have explored the subtle body for thousands of years with knowledge of some of the earliest texts in 1700 BCE. Chakra exploration provides an intentional path to explore the subtle body through self-inquiry by bringing our attention to different areas of our life surrounding our sense of worth, fear, connectedness, creativity, sensuality, intuition + more, and how those emotions settle in the body and impact how we show up in the world. While chakra exploration can be beneficial for any period in your life, it can be especially during major transitions of life such as pregnancy and early postpartum.
Although I find all 7 chakras valuable to the perinatal journey, I believe these 3 are most foundational + necessary to navigating the highs and lows of this unique period of life.
Root Chakra: The root chakra explores our connection to groundedness, safety, security, and trust. When our root chakra is in balance, we feel a sense of safety and belonging in the world and can navigate the world from a state of thriving over surviving.
Root Chakra Affirmations: I am safe with myself, I am nurtured and protected, I have appropriate and secure boundaries, I have everything that I need
Root Chakra Asana Poses: Garland pose, Warrior 2, Child's Pose, Side Angel
Sacral Chakra: The sacral chakra explores our connection to creativity, desire, sensuality, and emotions. When our sacral chakra is in balance, we feel comfortable exploring our own pleasure, creativity, and presence with our emotions as they arise.
Sacral Chakra Affirmations: I am enough just as I am, The spark of creativity lives within me, All of me is whole
Sacral Chakra Asana Poses: Goddess pose, Bridge pose, Bound Eagle Pose, Happy Baby pose
Throat Chakra: The throat chakra explores our connection to courage, expression, and truth-telling. When our throat chakra is in balance, we are able to speak authentically, manifest our vision(s) to the world, and listen intently to ourselves and others.
Throat Chakra Affirmations: I speak my truth courageously, I express myself with ease, My voice matters
To learn more about Ivory and Rise and Bloom Yoga, click here. Share her info with someone you know who might benefit from her classes, if it’s not for you at this time.
