Neck injury

The issues I’ve had in the past with my neck as I learned the intricacies of Iyengar and Ashtanga yoga, remind me that I’m aging. Yoga transcends some of the ailments, but I am proof of why it needs to be practiced mindfully.

Strengthen, protect your neck

With a bulged disc in my neck six years ago which pinched a nerve going all the way down my arm, I was left with a lifeless arm for six weeks. That was scary and, once healed with a chiropractor to adjust the neck vertebrae, relieve the strain, and get my nerves and muscles that atrophied back in a healthy state, was a wake-up call to protect my neck--this includes from stress, harmful yoga poses and mindless sleeping positions. 

Still, the answer was not to lay off my neck and all pressures completely. It was to strengthen it, and to do yoga mindfully—not needing to perform from my ego. This was before I practiced Mysore Ashtanga and trained myself to be more present, face my fears within my body and heal it.

Communication chakra

Eastern science's chakra system answers the questions about how the neck and spine lie within the subtle body. The Throat Chakra (fifth chakra) resonates with the neck and throat region; the root of this chakra is at back of neck. Continuing to let the breath flow through the back of the throat, circulating Prana up the Sushumna—the subtle body channel reaching from coccyx to top of skull—during a daily yoga practice keeps this subtle energy alive, flowing and working its magic.

Sound healing—making sounds in the throat—is healing too.

Disease appears in etheric body first

“Diseases tend to show up first in the etheric body before they manifest in the tissues. Likewise, healing can be brought about by techniques that primarily treat the subtle body." (Source: Wheels of Life, Anodea Judith).

The Throat Chakra's element is ether, or space. Ether can be equated with the all-encompassing and unifying field of subtle vibrations found throughout the universe, and rhythms have a pulsation and tend to perpetuate themselves. An individual's vibration changes the cellular level of his or her being, affecting thoughts and emotions.

Communication (even internal self-talk) is a connection from the mind to the body. Calm incessant thoughts heals the subtle body. It’s not just an audible sound that matters to this chakra. From Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra,

“All things… are aggregations of atoms that dance and by their movements produce sounds.”

Keep moving for healing of the subtle body!