Mindful Moves Chakra Dance with Tree Theme

Prepared for you by Sarah C Hanson

Hofstetter

Tlingit Aani, Petersburg Alaska

July 7, 2026

Song: Lullaby for Little Spoon by Pete

Kuzma

“When a young tree is injured it grows

around that injury. As the tree continues

to develop the wound becomes relatively

small in proportion to the size of the tree.

Knarls, burles and misshapen limbs

speak of injuries and obstacles

encountered through time and overcome.

The way a tree grows around its past

contributes to its exquisite individuality,

character and beauty.”

Peter Levine from Waking The Tiger

First Chakra: Earth, Root: Muladhara, Survival, To Be Here, Self Preservation, Physical

Identity. Developed when we are in the womb to 6 months old. Centering Prompt: Come

into a seed shape by holding your knees and bowing your head if comfortable. Fill with breath and imagine your root’s contact to the nourishing earth where it finds acceptance and support and nourishment. Raise your head and feel your tender green sprout emerging as the root descends in a dance of arrival and strength of presence. Breathing in presence and breathing out arrival.Song: Muladhara by Matteo Rivetto and Andy Benz

Second Chakra: Water, Lower Abdomen, Svadhisthana, Emotions and Sexuality, To Feel,

Self Gratification, Emotional Identity. Developed when we are 6 months to 2 years old.

Centering Prompt: Earth receives water. Sit with legs crossed and imagine the pelvic bowl is a bowl of water. Breathe the bowl full of water, tilt the pelvis forward and let the water spill to the earth, breathe in and fill the bowl with water, tilt the pelvis backward and spill the water to the earth. Repeat and take as many breaths as is needed between filling and pouring to allow the pleasure in the motion.Song: The Water Poem by Ram Dass AWARE’

Third Chakra: Fire, Solar Plexus, Manipura: Lustrous Gem, To Act, Power and Will,

Self Definition, Ego Identity. Developed 18 months to 4 years old. Centering Prompt: Bring your hands out to the side and turn wrists out and up while slowly bringing the hands to your center, fingers intertwine and repeat. Song: Grow by FACESOUL

Fourth Chakra: Air, The Heart, Anahata: Unstruck, To Love and Be Loved, Relationships,

Self Acceptance, Social Identity. Developed 4 to 7 years old. Centering Prompt: . Standing tree with your arms out to the side like branches. Lift the toes with a breath in, toes down and breath out. Breathe naturally in the middle until you are ready to lift the heals with a breath in, drop the heals with a breath out. Repeat all the while we are still connected through the center of the foot.

Song: Infinite Trees by Nick Mulvey

Fifth Chakra: Sound, Throat or Pharyngeal Plexus, Vissuda: Purification, To Speak and

Be Heard, Communication and Creativity, Self-Expression, Creative Identity. Developed 7

to 12 years old. Centering Prompt: This movement can be imperceptible. Bring your chin to your right shoulder, bring your chin down to your chest and to the left shoulder. Draw your chin forward in a circle back again to the right shoulder. Repeat then go the other way.

Song: Birth of A River by Fetsum

6th Chakra: Light, Forehead or brow “the third eye” Ajna: to Perceive and Command, To

See, Pattern Recognition, Self-reflection, Archetypal Identity. Developed in adolescence.

Centering Prompt: Leaving plenty of room for your breath, bring your ring fingers into the center of your forehead, rest your thumbs on your cheek bones and the rest of your fingers where they land gently on your face, let elbows relax to the chest, the head may bow. Breathe in and feel the elbows rise, breathe out and feel them fall. Open your eyes. In your hands you may see many trees around your eyes, a forest. Or you may feel you are the tree looking through your own branches. In the close warm canopy of branches breath in your tree body and see your tree community. Song: Burn Card by The Barr Brothers

7th Chakra: Understanding, The Crown of the Head, Sahasrara: Thousandfold,

Awareness, To Know and To Learn, Self Knowledge, Universal Identity. Developed in

early adulthood and after. Centering Prompt: Lay on your back. Imagine a violet tree lying where you are. You lived strong and long and one day you lay down across a creek. Breath. You have grown moss and fungi and became a home and a bridge and a shelter for many animals.

Even other trees begin to grow from you. The first tree is red and establishes you as a viable place for life. Breathe. The second tree is orange growing and its graceful movement expresses pleasure in life. Breathe. The third tree is yellow and exudes a sense of power. Breathe. The 4th tree is green and the animals love to curl beneath it feeling loved. Breathe. The 5th tree is blue and sings with the voice of all the birds who come to it. Breathe. The 6th tree is indigo and sees the forest in which it grows and looks at all the life around it and the Mother Tree which gave it life. Song: Every Age by Jose’ Gonza’lez

Reverse the order Centering Prompts to bring us back to earth.

7:Laying on our back “I am a part of the circle of life”

6:Bring your ring fingers to your 3rd Eye “I see where I am”

5:Bring your chin to your left shoulder, towards your chest, to your right shoulder and forward and back to your left shoulder. “My voice is an expression of the land.”

4: Rock forward on to your toes with breath in. In the center, breathe out. Rock backward to your heels, breathe in, and center breath out. “I live in balance with all life”

3: Hands turn inward towards the ground. “I honor the power within me.”

2: Sitting rock your pelvic bowl forward to “spill water,” back to center, tilt back to “spill water”back. “Like a trees need water, I need emotions to grow”

1: Sit in a seed shape by holding your knees and tucking your head as is comfortable. “The earth supports me and meets my needs”

Song: Lightness of Being by Marina Raye

The last song is for rest and relaxation. You are welcome to stretch or move about or journal.

Gunalche’esh for dancing with me on Tlingit Aani

References:

Eastern Body Western Mind by Anodea Judith “Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to Self” Waking The Tiger by Peter Levine