A Core Principle for chakra alignment is: Roots Down, Crown Up.
Imagine the individual soul as a string stretched between Heaven and Earth. To tune the string, we pull each end apart — just the right amount for the proper resonance of the string to sing its individual song in the symphony of creation. When life plucks the string, as surely it will, the vibrations create the standing waves that we see as the major nadis that create the chakras.
We can see each chakra as a jewel strung on that string, like a necklace.
When the two ends of the necklace are stretched in opposite directions, the jewels come into alignment. One can imagine this while sitting or standing as it stretches the two ends of the spine in opposite directions. This is our most basic chakra practice and can be practiced by even the most beginning or limited practitioner, anytime, anywhere. It begins to give a person a sense of their core, their alignment, and the axis mundi.
Putting your hands in prayer position over the heart (anjali mudra) emphasizes both alignment with the vertical core, as well as acknowledgement of the heart as the center of that core, and the central point of integration. It is a common form of prayer and honoring throughout many cultures of the world.
Standing, walking, dancing, lovemaking, and all yoga postures have optimal alignment for the flow of prana. Through attention and practice, we train ourselves to live more deeply in that alignment both on and off the mat. This brings us more intimately in touch with the divine within, and aligns us with the structure of the universe without.
However, blocks in our psyche, blocks in our body tissues, and life limitations distort that alignment and take us out of our optimal functioning.
Ultimately, we are aligning with the Divine. That happens through a lifetime of dedication, service, and continual adjustments as we listen more deeply to the truth we find within and without.
In yoga, proper alignment helps us find ease in the body, rather than strain, and opens us to the divine.
With Love,
Anodea