Clearing the Haras

Hi, welcome to today's practice. We're going to do a little exploration and clearing of the three main centers or Haras. We'll be starting with the classical Hara, the Tan Tien, the lower center, and then moving up to the heart center and then up to the third eye center. As we do this movement and breathing, it's important to remember that energy follows intention. So, we're just going to have the intention of clearing the Haras.

Whether or not you're really feeling the energy, just keep that intention of moving energy. Start with finding a comfortable seat. When you sit, whether you're in a chair or on the ground like this, want to check to see that your knees are lower than the height of your hips. If your knees are higher, it's going to put some strain on your back and can be harder to maintain the posture. So I'm sitting up on a bolster and a towel so that my knees are a little bit lower.

My shoulders are relaxed and I have a slight arch in my low back. Start by turning the palms up and bring your intention and your awareness to your breath. Take a few slow, deep breaths in and out. Good. Now you're going to imagine that you're breathing into your dominant hand.

So I'm right-handed. I'll start with my right hand. You're left-handed. You can imagine breathing into your left hand. Breathe into that right palm.

And as you exhale, place the palm over your tan tien, your low Hara, which is about two inches or so below your belly button. Take a few breaths here, still breathing into your palm, into your tan tien. Your next inhale, like you're pulling a tissue out of a box, gather your fingertips, inhale it away from your tan tien, and release the hand. Then do it with your non-dominant hand. Inhale, feel the non-dominant hand, exhale, bring it to the Hara, to the tan tien.

Take a few breaths here, into the palm, into the Hara. And your next inhale, like you're slow motion gathering a tissue, draw it out, and exhale. Release it. We're going to repeat that once more on each side. The dominant hand, inhaling, exhaling it, bringing it to your low belly Hara, your low belly center.

This is the center of personal safety. Very much where our fight or flight impulses are seated. Your next inhale, drawing the tissue out, releasing it to the ground. Inhale into the non-dominant hand, exhaling it to your Hara. Bring in some nourishment to the home of your personal safety.

Your next inhale, drawing away from your Hara, and exhale, release. You're going to repeat that process at the next center, the heart center, or the heart Hara. Into the dominant hand, breathe some energy. Bringing your intention into that palm, and then as you exhale, placing it over your heart. A few breaths.

Your next inhale, drawing the tissue away from the heart, releasing it with an exhale. Next inhale, breathe into your non-dominant hand. Inhale it to your heart. Connect with your heart for a few breaths. Let your heart soften.

Next inhale, drawing away like you're drawing a tissue away. Now release that hand, dominant hand. Exhale it to your heart center. Release your heart center with your breath, with your intention, with your awareness. Next inhale, drawing away from the heart, exhaling it, releasing it.

Inhale into your non-dominant hand. Exhale it to the heart, and the heart center is where we connect with community, where we connect with our loved ones, where we connect with family and friends. Breathe in and nourish your heart center. Next inhale, drawing away, drawing that tissue away from the heart center, exhaling it down. And a pause.

Our next center will be the third eye center at the center of the forehead. Inhale into your dominant hand. As you exhale, place that palm over your third eye. Take a few breaths. The third eye center is where we connect to the source, to the universe, to the world.

Next inhale, drawing away, exhale, releasing that. Inhaling into the non-dominant hand. As you exhale, place the hand over the third eye. And breathe into the third eye, filling your palm, filling your third eye with the breath of energy. Next inhale, drawing away.

Exhale releasing. Inhaling into the dominant hand. As you exhale, bring the hand to the third eye, connecting our breath, our intention to this portal to the universe. Next inhale, drawing away like you're pulling a tissue out, exhale, release. Exhale into the non-dominant hand, exhale to the third eye.

Next inhale, drawing out from the third eye, exhale, release. For the next few breaths, we'll do two hadas at once, so we don't get into the illusion that these are separate centers, these interconnect with each other. The only separation is in our mind. Inhale into both palms. Take your dominant palm to your low belly hada, your non-dominant hand to the heart.

Take a few breaths, inhale, draw away, exhale, release. Inhale into both hands. Take the dominant hand to the third eye, non-dominant hand to the heart. Take a few breaths. Next inhale, drawing away and releasing on the exhale.

Inhale into both palms, exhale the dominant hand to the low hada, the non-dominant hand to the third eye, few breaths. Next inhale, drawing away from both of those centers, exhale, releasing the hands and palms. If you've got your eyes closed, you can open your eyes and slowly come off your bolster or your chair. I'm going to turn my bolster sideways and place my feet up on it. If you don't have a bolster, that's okay.

And I'm going to put my head pillow in place, one of these bed pillows. So I'm ready for shavasana, even though I'm not quite in shavasana yet. That's pretty comfortable. I'm going to inhale my knees up towards my chest and as I exhale, taking both my knees over to one side, over to my right, I'm going to roll my nose away from my knees and breathe first into my tantyan, my low belly hada that is getting squeezed out, getting wrung out. Breathe into my heart center and breathe into my third eye.

In your next big inhale, slowly inhale your knees and your nose back to center and exhale your knees to the other side, rolling your head so your nose goes away from your knees. And then again, breathing into each of the centers starting with the low belly, the tantyan. And breathing into the heart center. And then into the third eye center. Your next big inhale, inhaling your knees, your nose back to center and then slowly extending your legs out over the bolster, so it's right underneath your knees.

Bring your arms to a comfortable resting position. And before we drop completely into shavasana, once again, take a few breaths into your lower hada, your tantyan, the center of your personal safety. And a few breaths into your heart center, center of connecting to your family and friends. And a few breaths into the third eye center, the center of connecting to everything, to everyone, the universe. Then releasing your hands to a comfortable position and rest.

You're welcome to stay here in the final relaxation as long as you like. And if you want to come up, when you want to come up, you'll slowly roll your way onto one side. Let your head stay heavy as you roll up one vertebrae at a time. And come to find a comfortable seated position whenever you're ready. Thank you so much.