Manipura Chakra Yoga Sequence

Integration

Manipura is usually translated as the city of jewels, which is a generous name for the place just above your navel where the fire lives. It governs digestion in the literal sense and decision making in the figurative one, and the two are more related than they look. The sequence is built around that connection. Standing poses come first and make heat. Then the core work, where boat and side plank ask the middle of the body to hold steady while everything else moves. Anyone who has held Navasana for five honest breaths knows the feeling of the centre either being there or not. That feeling is the point. Willpower is difficult to argue yourself into. It responds better to demonstration, and a practice you can feel yourself completing counts as a demonstration. The closing sequence matters as much as the fire. Butterfly, the wide angle fold, and the twists let the heat settle instead of leaving you wired. Skip them and you will notice, usually about an hour later.