Category: About me

Hi, I’m Erin, and I’m here today to talk chakras! For the curious, a little background on me can be found here. If you want to get straight to a brief summary of chakras, read on:

The concept of chakras can be traced back to the early (ca. 1500 BCE) Vedic texts of Hinduism, and there are believed to be over 100 in each of our spiritual energy fields. According to modern yogic philosophy, there are 7 chakras located in our body; they are in ascending order: root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, and crown. Each chakra is thought to support us physically and energetically as we navigate our lives.

It’s worth mentioning that the location of each chakra in our body corresponds to part of the endocrine system, which is pretty cool when you consider how much time spanned between the conceptualization of chakras and the discovery of glands/organs. The endocrine system is responsible for regulating our hormones via a complex system of messaging and feedback loops, and is comprised of (in corresponding order as above): gonads, pancreas, adrenal glands, thymus, thyroid, pituitary, and pineal.

Chakras are thought to be spinning energy discs within the subtle (metaphysical) body, which overlaps with our physical bodies. Much like our breath can link our minds and bodies, or our endocrine system links our organs and brain, the chakras link our energetic self to our physical self.

When we work on our chakras, we are thought to be manipulating our prana, or life force energy. Often times, chakras are said to be “blocked;” when we talk about opening our chakras, we are aiming to allow unrestricted flow of prana within our subtle body, in other words, “aligning our chakras.”

Chakras can be worked on in a number of ways, including meditation, mantra, diet, reiki, and of course yoga! Other modalities for chakra work include tapping, aromatherapy, and color therapy. I will do my best in this series to touch on as many of these approaches as possible for each chakra.

Chakra meditation is really very beginner friendly once you know the basics, and can be a really fun way to add mind-body work to a busy routine. It doesn’t need to be complicated!

Hi! I’m Erin. After 10 years in the group exercise industry, I decided to shift my focus to yoga, the yogic philosophy, and all forms of movement that restore the body and soul. Years of devoted weight lifting, cardio, and stretching had left me tired, achy, and constantly nursing one injury or another.

The transition from training for quantitative goals to enjoying movement for its own sake has taught me to listen to my body’s wisdom. Much is said about the mind-body connection in yoga, but other forms of movement can be enhanced using mindfulness.

My goal for this blog is to distill the sometimes overwhelming content of yogic philosophy and teachings into approachable and user-friendly material which can be used by new practitioners, instructors, and even my beloved cynics.

As a scientist, I enjoy stitching together evidence-based science and ancient wisdom in my practice and my instruction. The joy of yoga is well-known among its devotees, but I want to reach over the fence and bring some skeptics into the magic by decoding the “woo-woo” into a series of simple practices.

In a society that praises constant productivity and censures rest, we owe it to ourselves to rebel by allowing space for restoration, relaxation, and healing. Join me in taking back our sense of play, self-love, curiosity, and joy. The rebellion awaits!

Namaste,

Erin