Tools for Balanced Living:  The Chakras with Doug Keller (Online)

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De-bunking the myths of the chakras and yoga

Tools for Balanced Living: The Chakras – Online workshop with Doug KellerSaturday June 21 + July 12 - 2:30pm-5pm PDT (Recording available for 12 months)In times of great stress, it is more vital than ever to maintain a balance between our ‘inner’ self: our grounding, center, and compass — and ‘outer’ self: our engagement and interaction with the world. We need both.The Chakras as they developed as part of yoga practice were tools for addressing both in practical ways as well as in meditation, but New Age language (which started a while ago) has obscured that understanding, and with it, their practical value. As it stands now, chakras are thought of as some-thing to be ‘healed,’ or ‘opened,’ or ‘energized,’ especially through external means.This webinar bypasses the confusing and often distorted language of ‘working on’ or ‘opening’ the chakras, to get back to the practical value of these tools and how to use them simply, and in a way that works for you.In terms of how they come to be described in the earlier traditions of practice, the chakras have two aspects:<ol><li>In our experience of our embodied, ‘outer’ self, our thoughts and experiences are influenced not just by the impressions or ‘samskaras’ from previous experiences, but by the influence of our environment upon the way thoughts and emotions arise through the chakras in our outer activities.</li></ol><ul><li><ul><li>When ‘stuff’ comes up, in other words, where is it coming from? In our conscious, active life, our chakras are actually ‘open’ as lenses through which we ‘see’ the world, and they affect our perception — often in ways that we are not conscious of.</li><li>As tools of interoception, the chakras are tools for tuning into where our reactions are coming from, for recognizing those patterns, and for altering them.</li></ul></li></ul><ol><li>Our ‘inner’ self, experienced within the ‘sushumna,’ or the inner space of deep meditation, in which our consciousness is transformed — freed of contracted ways of thinking and experiencing.</li></ol><ul><li><ul><li>The inner process of clarification is an ‘opening’ of the chakras inwardly that is different from the functioning of the chakras in our outward activities.</li><li>And we go through the inner process, coming to a firmer grounding in the experience of our inner self, in order to act with greater clarity in our ‘outer’ world. The tools of breath and visualization are given to support that inward journey.</li></ul></li></ul>This webinar is in two parts. Part 1 – Saturday June 21 2:30pm-5pm PDTThe first part deals with the ‘lower’ chakras, at the level of our ‘gut’ in dealing with the outside world, influencing our actions and perspectives in ways that we don’t fully realize. As such, the tools of interoception (awareness of our inner states, including states of the body) provided by visualization, breath, mudra, drishthi, mantra, and more, bring these influences into conscious awareness, through a process of ‘bhutashuddhi’ or ‘clarification’ of the elements and their influences. This is true of the ‘upper’ chakras as well, but the lower chakras require a different kind of work, since we are tuning into a level that is usually below conscious awareness.Along with this process of clarification that benefits our outward life, the Muladhara Chakra, the root chakra, is also the entryway into the inner path of meditation and transformation, an inward ‘opening,’ One path leads to the other.This will bring us to the level of the heart, which is the balance point between unconscious influences represented by the lower chakras, and conscious intention represented by the upper chakras.This first stage of bringing the unconscious into consciousness corresponds well to our evolving understanding of the vagus nerve and its function for maintaining our health — physical and emotional. The tools we practice will be grounded in that understanding, and will provide a firm practical foundation for working with our outward responses to stress, as well as finding the inner doorway to deeper meditation that is opened by the breath.Part 2 – Saturday July 12 2:30pm-5pm PDTThe second part proceeds from the heart chakra — and all the complexities it represents — into the ‘upper’ chakras, and the realm of conscious participation in the process of breath and meditation to regulate our inner states.Part 1 was about ‘tuning in,’ and will touch upon the subtle awareness of the ‘vibrations’ rooted in the elements as they influence our samskaras below the conscious mind. This awareness is the root of a deeper understanding of mantra, and Part 2 explores more deeply the conscious use of mantra with the breath, visualization, and intention, to clarify our expression of self to the world outwardly, as well as to direct our inward path of meditation.In the hatha yoga tradition, along with the idea of the chakras, there was an awareness of the obstacles that arise in the path of meditation. These were called ‘granthis’ or ‘knots,’ which are physical as well as emotional, blocking is from going further. Often the modern language of ‘opening’ of the chakras is really a confusion with the original understanding of how we ‘untie’ these knots, or overcome the blocks to the inner revelations of the chakras.The subtleties of working through these ‘knots’ with the tools of alignment, breath, and focus will also introduce us to the subtler experiences of meditation at the levels of the higher chakras, and how to navigate them. This will bring us into an expanded understanding of ‘mudra’ and drishthi, beyond hand gestures and the gaze of the eyes, to the experience of spiritual ‘vision’ represented by the Ajna chakra, and ultimately the experience of the ‘brahmarandra’ as a state of deep absorption. Both sessions will contain guided practices, with context for working with these tools in ways that you can grasp and appreciate. There are many dimensions to the chakras as tools for progress in yoga, and working with these tools provides an opportunity for discovering the approach and practice that works best for you!This two-part webinar is your opportunity to find that path for yourself. Technology: Zoom will be used. You will receive the zoom link in the confirmation email.Reminder emails: will be sent 2 days, 30 min and 10min before the event.About Doug: Doug Keller’s background reflects a lifelong commitment to studying, imbibing and sharing the vast field of knowledge and practice known as yoga.After receiving honors and graduate degrees in philosophy from the top Jesuit universities in the United States, Georgetown and Fordham Universities, and teaching philosophy at a college level for several years, he then pursued his ‘post-graduate’ education in the practical experience of yoga at the Siddha Meditation Ashram, Gurudev Siddha Peeth in India, for seven years. He spent a total of 14 years doing service, practicing, training in and teaching yoga in Siddha Meditation Ashrams worldwide. He received intensive training in the Iyengar system in New York City, mainly with senior certified Iyengar teacher Kevin Gardiner. He also practiced Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in India, and became one of the first certified Anusara Yoga teachers, producing three highly respected books on asana, pranayama and yoga philosophy.His further expansion in learning is reflected in his latest and most in-depth work, ‘Yoga as Therapy,’ which is truly one of the most comprehensive, innovative and useful treatments of the structural aspect of yoga therapy available. And for three years he was a regular columnist for Yoga+ Magazine (formerly Yoga International, published by the Himalayan Institute), writing the ‘Asana Solutions’ column that addresses specific therapeutic problems. He is at the highest level of certification with Yoga Alliance, E-RYT 500, and a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists.Doug is also a ‘distinguished professor’ on the teaching faculty at the Master’s Degree program in Yoga Therapy at the Maryland University of Integrative Health, a state-approved institution of higher learning.Doug’s teaching is rooted in a vast and inclusive perspective of study and practice that honors the insights of the many streams of wisdom that flow into the river of yoga.Website: www.doyoga.com

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Tools for Balanced Living: The Chakras with Doug Keller (Online)

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