How Do You Work With Chakras During Practice?

This is Ashtanga Yoga Tech Support. Real questions from the community, answered.

The Question

How do you work with chakras during yoga practice?

Our Response

Honestly? Not the way most people think. You don’t “activate” a chakra by wishing at it. The chakras are a map of where attention and breath collect along the central axis — not glowing organs waiting to spin. So the work is mechanical first, symbolic second.

Practically: I tie attention to bandha and breath. Mula and uddiyana bandha give you a felt anchor at the base and navel; the breath traces the line up the spine. Drishti points the eyes, which drags attention with them. Stack those three and you’ve built the physical scaffolding the chakra map describes — root, navel, heart, throat, brow — without needing to believe anything in particular. The imagery becomes a focusing tool rather than a metaphysical claim. If a center feels “blocked,” I read that as restricted breath or a held pattern in that segment of the trunk, and I work the breath and movement there. The symbol points; the breath does the labor. Start with the introduction, then layer it onto Surya Namaskar where each posture already has an associated center.

More on Ashtanga Tech: Chakras Introduction · Surya & Chandra Namaskar Associated Mantras & Chakras