March Focus - Throat Chakra (Vishuddha) & Shoulder/Arm Mobility (strength & flexibility)

Throat Chakra for March

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Yoga

We have made it to March!! We will be incorporating a little more focus on our shoulders & arms this month as well as our Throat Chakra.  If you have any Yoga blocks (or paperback books) & a long resistance band - we will also be using these in class.  If you don’t then don’t worry the class will work without them, just use your imagination!  If you would like some links on where to buy resistance bands scroll down to the bottom of this post.
Our throat chakra is located in our throat & is related to sound, self expression & self confidence plus listening to & receiving information & others thoughts.  It is the 5th chakra.  Its colour is a bright blue, aquamarine & is also associated with our jaw, neck, tongue & thyroid gland.  Common feelings of imbalance are insecurity, introversion, shoulder pain, an inability to express ourselves, jaw pain (TMJ), sore throats.

A Mudra (there are over 500 mudras or hand gestures) for this chakra is The Akasha Mudra - it is formed by touching the tip of your thumb & middle finger whilst keeping the 3 fingers straight & relaxed.  The middle finger is said to represent the element ‘ether’ which is the element for our throat chakra.  

We can also add in some sound vibrations & different pranayama practices for our throat chakra.  Don’t worry I definitely won’t be singing at you!!  Think more of the humming bee breath & breath of fire.  Feel free to sing to yourself though!

​Our other focus for March is on our shoulder & arm strength & mobility.  So yes - naturally pushups will be featuring somewhere ?!  But also working on hour shoulder mobility in all directions - do you remember the tea cup flows that we have done (in the distance past) with blocks, we can do those with blocks or (light) books.  Some of stretches & movements for shoulders from Hypopressives will appear.

Having a good controllable range of movement in our shoulders will help with our day to day life.  Building strength & movement into the musculature around our shoulder blades & finding some really nice stretches for our chest area.  Check out your own neck range of movement.  Look over your right shoulder & notice how far round your can turn your head.  Then look over your left should - do. You have the same range side to side, or can see further round on one side?  If you have a different side to side, then maybe make a note of where your range is at the start of March & see if there’re is any change by the end of the month?

Here are some links for resistance bands, which need to be 2 meters long (or as close to) & Yoga bricks.  Please note with the bricks,  you seem to get 1 of each colour! 

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Taking Your Practice off the Mat

Taking your practice with you, off the mat

• Sing or hum - as well the vibration being cleansing for this chakra, singing is a great exercise for your diaphragm & the vibration from humming is great for increasing our para sympathetic (rest & digest) nervous system.
• Really listen (without interrupting) to other people.  Sometimes when we are talking to other people we just want to be heard without having an opinion.
• Spend at least 1 day a week without criticising anyone (yourself included), instead give positive responses only.
• Wear something blue & or eat something blue (think blueberries!) to remind you of this months Chakra.

Throat Meditation

Humming Bee Breath (Brahmari) - we will be practicing this one in class as well (Zoom classes work really well for this as only you can hear yourself!)

1. Sit comfortably & scan your body for your stress & tension levels
2. If you are happy to, gently close & cover your eyes with your fingers & close your ears with your thumbs (to close off external intrusions)
3. Close your mouth, without clenching your jaw
4. Breathe in through your nose
5. As you exhale make the sound of the letter M.  Keep exhaling for as long a you can, without making yourself gasp for breath
6. Repeat for a few minutes
7. Sit & scan your body again for your stress & tension levels - noticing any changes