The color of the third chakra is bright yellow and its element is fire. The third chakra is the meeting place of the apana of the lower core of the body and the prana of the upper body. The first and second chakra are negatively charged with apana, and the fourth and fifth chakra are positively charged with prana—a living battery. As the meditator focuses awareness on the third chakra and the apana moves up the Sushumna to the area of the diaphragm, the negative ions of apana mix with the positive ions of the prana. This causes a fusion reaction similar to what occurs in the sun. The third chakra can be envisioned as the sun. Just as the sun provides the energy for life on our physical world, energy from the third chakra radiates down, stirring and reinvigorating the apana below, which otherwise becomes stagnant. This new combined energy also shines upward illuminating our subtler inner spiritual world.

ILLUMINATING OUR SUBTLER INNER SPIRITUAL WORLD

After thousands of years of individuals practicing yoga under the direction of a teacher or guru who would orally pass down the traditions that guru had learned from their own teacher, a basic path was put into writing. Around 200 AD the text, the YOGA SUTRA, appeared. It is attributed to Patanjali, although it might have risen through a group effort. Little is known of its origins. Some consider it a response to the growing popularity of Buddhism to remind spiritual seekers of the reach of yoga beyond what they perceived as the goals of Buddhist teachings.

The YOGA SUTRA describes a basic system for the practice of yoga, an eight-limbed path for fostering connection to the divine.

WEIGHT LOSS THROUGH YOGA, JEWEL IN THE LOTUS    page 71.

Base Camp Muir

With my buddy Steve Clark