Tag Archives: Yoga Therapy

6th and 7th chakraThird Eye & Crown Chakra Yoga: Intuition, Awareness, and What Remains When We Let Go

Completing the Chakra Journey: The 6th and 7th Chakras

After a brief hiatus, I wanted to return and complete our chakra series by reflecting on our most recent group, which focused on the 6th chakra (third eye) and 7th chakra (crown).

The yoga sequence for this class was intentionally structured in two parts. We began with a flowing practice designed to open all chakras, allowing energy to move freely through the body. From there, we shifted into a slower, more focused practice that brought attention to the third eye and concluded with restorative postures and meditation.

Clearing the Path to Intuition

The intention of this practice was simple but profound:
to reduce physical and mental distractions so that intuition can emerge more clearly.

Stress, tension, and unprocessed emotion often act as “blockages” in the body. When energy cannot flow freely, it becomes difficult to access inner wisdom or clarity. By first tending to the body, we create the conditions necessary to quiet the mind and begin discerning what truly matters.

In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) terms, this is the space where we reconnect with our core values — the things that give our lives meaning beyond productivity or obligation. When the nervous system settles, clarity often follows. From that clarity, true rest and restoration become possible.

Mantras for the Upper Chakras

During this practice, we worked with two simple mantras:

  • “I am connected.”
  • “I rest in awareness.”

These phrases supported a shift away from doing and toward being — a theme that carried into our closing meditation.

What Remains When Nothing Needs to Be Done?

We ended with a final reflective prompt:

“What remains when nothing needs to be done?”

This question often brings up discomfort for many people. When the distractions fall away, clients sometimes notice feelings of anxiety, emptiness, or sadness — especially if much of their life feels superficial or disconnected from passion or purpose.

This is where the wisdom of the upper chakras becomes especially relevant.

What remains is awareness.
What remains is the experience of witnessing life — seeing, sensing, and participating in the world as it unfolds.
What remains is connection.

On a broader level, this can include a sense of cosmic connection — the understanding that we are part of something vast and interconnected. We share this planet together. We come from the earth and, eventually, return to it. On an even larger scale, we are part of the universe itself — quite literally stardust.

For some, this realization brings deep peace and belonging.

When Cosmic Connection Feels Like Too Much

For others, however, focusing on the crown chakra can initially feel isolating rather than comforting. If physical or emotional connection is lacking, cosmic connection may feel distant or hollow.

In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, this level aligns with self-actualization. But self-actualization cannot be sustained without the layers beneath it.

This is where the third eye chakra invites us to see clearly:

  • to notice where community already exists,
  • to recognize opportunities for connection,
  • or to acknowledge that we may need to actively build community through small, intentional steps.

Working Up — and Down — the Chakras

If clarity or connection still feels blocked, it’s often helpful to move downward through the chakras rather than pushing forward:

  • 5th chakra (throat):
    Do boundaries or unmet needs need to be voiced?
  • 4th chakra (heart):
    Is there work to do around self-compassion, self-talk, or allowing love in?
  • 3rd chakra (solar plexus):
    Is it time to build momentum, confidence, or take action toward what you want?
  • 2nd chakra (sacral):
    Are emotions asking for attention, expression, or understanding?
  • 1st chakra (root):
    Is there a need for grounding, safety, and reassurance — the reminder that you have the right to be here and to feel secure?

Self-actualization is not a straight upward climb. More often, it requires moving up and down, listening carefully to where energy feels blocked, and meeting ourselves there with patience.

Integration, Not Perfection

All of these layers are interconnected. To access higher awareness, we often must tend to foundational needs first. And as those foundations strengthen, clarity and meaning naturally rise again.


Continue the Practice

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Yoga Sequence for the 3rd Chakra (Manipura)

Here’s the sequence we practiced at our last yoga therapy group:

Opening Grounding (5 minutes)

Seated or reclined with one hand on belly, one on heart

Invite slow diaphragmatic breathing

Bring awareness to the space between navel and ribcage

Visualization: a warm golden light igniting like a small flame

Emotional check-in: “What feels heavy here? What feels strong?”

Optional affirmation:

I am enough.

I have the right to take up space.

Therapeutic purpose: establishes safety while orienting attention to inner authority.


2. Breathwork (8 minutes)

Option A: Kapalabhati (gentle)

30–60 seconds on / rest / repeat 3 rounds
(Modify for anxiety or trauma with softer belly pulses)

Option B: Seated Cat–Cow with breath

Inhale = expand chest

Exhale = draw navel inward

Option C: Belly breathing with resistance

Light pressure from hands on abdomen during exhale

Purpose: stimulates digestive fire and improves interoceptive awareness.


3. Warming & Core Activation (15 minutes)

Flow Sequence (slow and steady)

Seated torso circles

Tabletop core work (bird dog or knee-to-nose)

Half Sun Salutation (knees down option)

Chair Pose → Fold → Rise (repeat 3–5 rounds)

Strength-Building Postures

Warrior II

Crescent Lunge

Twisted Lunge

Boat Pose (or one-leg version)

Plank → Child’s Pose

Offer choice-based language and frequent rest cues.

Purpose: empowers one to feel agency and capability through safe exertion.


4. Empowerment Postures (15 minutes)

Hold poses longer with affirmation choices:

Warrior I: I stand strong.

Chair Pose: I can hold discomfort and grow.

Side plank (or modified): I take up space.

Dolphin / Forearm Plank: I build from within.

Invite optional arm-positioning as power symbols (fists, arms overhead, hands on hips).

Therapeutic framing: Strength as choice, not force.


5. Cooling + Emotional Digestion (10 minutes)

Gentle abdominal release poses:

Seated forward fold

Supine twist

Reclined knee-to-chest

Supported bridge (block or bolster)

Optional self-touch cue:

Hands over solar plexus to stimulate safety + embodied awareness.

Purpose: supports integration and “emotional digestion.”


6. Guided Visualization + Savasana (7 minutes)

Visualization prompt:
“Imagine a steady flame in your belly—warm, bright, unwavering. Not burning… glowing.”

Invite reflection:

What are you ready to release?

What feels newly possible?

End with silence or soft music.


7. Closing Reflection (5 minutes)

Group or journaling prompts:

“One way I will assert myself this week is…”

“What drains my energy? What fuels it?”

“What does healthy power feel like in my body?”

final mantra:
🟡 “I act with courage and clarity.”

Yoga Therapy vs Psychotherapy

Over the past pretty much 10 years I’ve been slowly but surely working toward getting my Yoga Therapy Certificate with the International Association of Yoga Therapists. I finally completed that task last month. I had finished up my training with an absolutely wonderful studio out of San Francisco, Purusha Yoga School. I met some amazing people and learned so so much. I am actually sad that it is over more than excited about the certificate. Anyway it has always been a dream of mine to incorporate more yoga into my mental health practice. This has been difficult because my profession is Clinical Social Work and there is a very strong business model for a therapy practice that utilizes insurance and out of pocket. The clients I see need to be able to use their insurance and I don’t want to be so boutique that I can’t cater to the average working person whom is most likely not going to pay my hourly rate weekly. Some can and will because of the benefit, but most of us want to use our insurance if we have it.

So the challenge has been how do I work in yoga therapy since insurance doesn’t cover that. Well through this last training I have received so much insight how this all could work and finally decided to take the jump and transition my practice to something much more holistic. It is very exciting for me.

I think understanding how yoga therapy and traditional psychotherapy are similiar and different is really good to keep as a fore front as I chart this next course. Here’s a brief comparison of the two:

Both Yoga Therapy and Traditional Psychotherapy are the same in the following ways:

Both

  • Work on rewriting negative thoughts/experiences into something more positive that helps get a person unstuck and to move toward  optimal wellness.
  • Work on understanding where a person is  on their journey toward wellness and meet the client where they are at.
  • Are confidential
  • Use skills of motivational enhancement therapy and cognitive behavior therapy
  • Set up SMART (specific measurable, attainable, relative, time sensitive) goals for treatment.
  • Teach mindfulness and relaxation skills
How Yoga Therapy and Traditional Psychotherapy are different:
  • Traditional Psychotherapy uses predominantly talk and utilizes one or more of the many models of psychotherapy available to Licensed Counselors.
  • Yoga therapy uses the framework of the 8 limbs of yoga to build a treatment plan.
  • Yoga therapy uses Sanskrit terminology to identify and explain concepts while traditional psychotherapy uses western medical terminology.
  • Yoga therapy uses the chakra system to assess health and to inform treatment planning.
  • Yoga Therapy  follows ayurvedic principles to guide treatment.
  • Most traditional psychotherapy is covered under insurance; yoga therapy is not.

As you can probably see they do have a good bit that overlaps. So the plan is for the business to focus primarily where the two overlap. The majority of Yoga Therapy can be billable with insurance as long as it follows psychotherapy models. I still plan to offer classes that are geared more on teaching versus therapy and those would be out of pocket.

So it’s a new chapter for Grounded for Peace. We start off the transition this summer with offering more specific yoga therapy individual sessions and some small therapeutic groups that incorporate specific strategies in Meditation, Breath work, and Relaxation. As times goes and when I am able to add more staff, we will begin offering more targeting therapeutic groups for anxiety, addiction, and trauma.

If you are interested in knowing more about upcoming groups, click on “Contact Us” at the top and leave us a message.