Yoga, and more specifically, Fertile Yoga is not all about poses (called asanas in our yoga practice). What we do with our arms, legs, head, and torso is not as important as our breath, our mind, or our spirit. In that same vein, expanding or exploring energy is just as important as movement, and perhaps even more so! In this blog we will explore the foundational principles of Fertile Yoga, and how chakra work can be a powerful connection to yourself, your center, and your fertility.
The Focus of Fertile Yoga
Fertile Yoga is based on three fundamental premises
- The focus of Fertile yoga is to help the yogi who is trying to conceive and perhaps struggling.
- All classes and poses offered are safe and created specifically for those in fertility treatment or having trouble conceiving.
- Research (through an Institutional Review Board and accepted by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine) has shown that Fertile Yoga can decrease sadness and stress and increase hopefulness and optimism.
In Fertile Yoga, we move with the poses and with the breath into the realm of energy, and there, we discover chakras. Chakras are energy centers, sometimes referred to as energy wheels (the literal translation of “chakra” means wheel). Similar to their counterparts in Chinese medicine, meridians, these energy centers are undetectable with any scientific testing method that exists today.
And yet, chakra work is powerful. Combined with mudras, chakra work can open the doors to concepts of healing and gratitude, leaving practitioners feeling complete, spiritually nourished, and content. Through chakras and mudras, thoughts are often infused with color, air, and light that we may never have experienced before.
What is a Mudra?
The simplest description of mudra is “yoga, done with your hands.” Hand gestures and versions of sign language have been in our various cultures for thousands of years. You can think of it as a mantra for the hands, and a way of connecting to specific organs or systems, similar to reflexology, where each area in your foot corresponds to a system or set of organs.
Chakras, Mudras, and Fertility
Your second chakra, the Sanskrit “Svadhisthana,” exists in your lower abdomen about two inches below your navel. It is related to your emotions and desires, and also to reproduction. It is also associated with specific glands, your gonads. (Your gonads are your sex glands - ovaries, uterus, and testes.)
Orange is the color of the second chakra – interestingly enough, orange is also the color associated with infertility and fertility awareness. This orange chakra, Svadhisthana, is also referred to as the sacral chakra. According to one description of the sacral chakra, it is related to “self respect; having the ability to give ourselves the freedom to be ourselves…Brings joy to our workday and strengthens our appetite for life!...It connects us to our senses and helps to remove inhibitions and makes us independent and social."
When this chakra isn’t functioning with a clear energy, according to chakra theory, one physical manifestation of dysfunction can be infertility. Thus, replenishing our second chakra could promote greater capability in our reproductive organs. The spleen (also known as the “venting” organ) is also affected by this chakra, which allows us to express emotion.
The Fertility Chakra in Action
The movement of a chakra is that of a wheel, spinning or rotating. How slowly or quickly, how balanced or out of control is that wheel? This energy is also key to understanding the balance established between people in the realms of the physical and emotional. While we sometimes feel at odds with one another because of different focuses, we still acknowledge the strength and power that we give each other.
Finding the spirit, heart, breath, compassion, and love in Fertile Yoga begins by allowing all of this to swirl around us, and by resisting any desire to make absolute sense out of it. As a teacher of Fertile Yoga, I trust that from this amorphous, cloudy haze, I will assist my students in discovering their own clear path.
The goal of balancing our second chakra, Svadisthana, is to let it spin more quietly and smoothly, allowing the orange to glow more sweetly. Forgiveness and love that begins with self-compassion is able to surface from deep within.
Combining a Chakra with a Mudra - Let’s Do it Together
So how do we find that balance, and allow that self-compassion to emerge? There are specific mudras connected to our second chakra. One favorite mudra to recharge actually combines three chakras, a colorful trio of red, orange, and violet. Taken from a book called “Healing Mudras - Yoga for Your Hands,” by Sabrina Mesko, “this mudra builds up energy throughout our system and gives you a greater capacity for dealing with life’s challenges and tasks. The hands in this mudra activate and recharge the main energy channel in your spine, filling it with new vibrant force.”
To learn the specifics of doing this mudra, check out the short video linked below to follow along with me as we activate the fertility chakra. It will take only a few minutes of your time and could give you a tool that will serve you well on your fertility journey.
As always, we are here for you. To find more fertile yoga and support, click here to connect with our community and see all upcoming events. I lead free weekly Fertile Yoga classes here at Illume Fertility that are open to all. Please join us!