I had a regular yoga practice for years before I was introduced to the chakra system. Incorporating the knowledge of this system into my daily yoga and vocal practice has given both disciplines greater meaning. It took me almost three years to understand the chakras and bring them into my daily life. For best results, you should approach knowledge of the chakra system like a good fiction book to read over time, not as a vocal pedagogy textbook.
The word “chakra” comes from the Sanskrit word for wheel. Chakras are energy centers located along the spine, and each chakra is associated with a specific nerve, gland, and organ system in the body. They are nexuses for moving energy throughout the body, like CDs or vortexes spinning at the corresponding energy centers of the body. When your chakras are spinning, the energy centers of your body are open and balanced.
Chakras may become blocked through life experiences. When you open up your chakras, energy can flow through them more efficiently, creating harmony within your body, mind and spirit. As you work with the chakras, you will become more aware of the subtle changes in your body, much like learning a pose in yoga or an aria in singing. The more you practice, the more your body is able to receive the pose or song.
As you learn the access routes to the chakras, the circuits become clearer and stronger. The energy is able to run through the body with less forgetting. Chakra yoga poses allow for the free flow of energy through all the energy centers, creating new sensations and heightened body awareness.
The following poses are a sequence of natural movement patterns designed to systematically open up your root chakra. Different types of music may assist in the opening as well. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced student of yoga, these poses will stimulate your energy centers and ultimately contribute to a general sense of well-being and health in your whole self.
Chakra One: The Root Chakra
The root chakra is at the root or base of the spine. When your root chakra is in balance you feel safe, secure, grounded, and at home with yourself. You are confident you can provide for life’s necessities and stand on your own.
It is important for singers to have a balanced root chakra. To perform at their best, singers need to be rooted and grounded on the stage. Cynthia Lawrence, a Metropolitan Opera singer, practices a grounding exercise on stage each night before she performs. It helps her to block out all the swirling energy and focus on connecting to her role on stage. In addition, on the day of her performance she does her yoga routine while visually working through every aspect of her role. This enables her to realize the areas in the opera where she may lack concentration. The physical and mental exercise helps her to find her center as a person and performer.
Another reason the root chakra is so important for singers involves the lifestyle of a performer. Many singers travel from city to city and are only able to be at their own “home” for a few months out of the year. A balanced root chakra enables you to be at home with yourself, even while traveling.
To ground yourself, either at home or on the stage, begin with getting present in your body. The corpse pose is helpful for body awareness. Lie flat on your back, palms facing the sky, feet gently apart. Focus on each part of the body that has contact with the earth and tell yourself to sink down as you breathe. Do a progressive relaxation by tightening and releasing each part of your body, from the feet up to the crown of the head. Check in with yourself. See how you feel in your physical body, mind, and spirit.
Next, the bridge pose (see picture). Bend your knees, with the soles of the feet on the earth. Tilt your pelvis, making sure there is no space between your lower back and the earth, then slowly lift the buttocks toward the sky. Press your palms into the floor and breathe deeply into your stomach. Release back down. You may stay in this pose up to three minutes. This pose also opens your heart chakra, and provides a helpful, mild inversion (head below the heart).
Next, come up into the squat pose. Feel yourself connecting with the earth and sink your tailbone down. From squat pose go into standing forward bend pose (see picture) by straightening your legs and dropping the crown of your head to the floor while bringing your hands as close to your feet as possible. Exhale as you go back into squat. Inhale as you return to standing forward bend. Do this sequence four to five times at the pace of your own breath.
From standing forward bend, come into runner’s lunge pose (see picture). In runner’s lunge, keep your knee directly above the ankle. Come back into standing forward bend and then up into mountain pose (see picture). I call this the singer’s pose: standing straight with hands dropped to your sides.
Visualize yourself at home on the stage in this pose. Belly breathe. Move your hands above your head into extended mountain pose. Go up on tiptoe, and release down. Take a deep breath and feel at home with your body and surroundings.
Many more poses address the root chakra. The yoga poses described above serve as an introductory route to assist in attuning and grounding your body.
