Crystals for Yoga
Red jasper, amazonite and clear quartz are the three stones most often brought to a yoga mat. They are placed at the edge rather than held, since your hands are busy. The traditional reading is simple: one for the body, one for the breath, one for whatever you decided this practice is about today. Everything else on the mat is yours.
The six
Which six stones does tradition name for this?
Six, not sixty. Each one carries a different reason, so you can pick the reason that sounds like your week rather than buying the whole row.
Red Jasper
The grounding stone of the set, long tied to physical endurance. People put it at the top of the mat for a strong practice rather than a restorative one.
Amazonite
Associated with the throat and with unforced breathing. It suits the part of practice where people hold their breath through a pose without noticing they are doing it.
Clear Quartz
The blank stone, placed at the top of the mat to hold the intention you set at the start. At the end of the session you pick it up and the intention is closed.
Amethyst
Kept for the final resting pose, where most people either fall asleep or start planning dinner. A stone within sight is something to come back to instead.
Jade
Cool and dense, traditionally the stone of unhurried effort. It suits a slow practice and people who are recovering their range rather than chasing a harder pose.
Hematite
Heavy for its size and metallic to look at. It is placed by the mat for balance work, as a small physical argument for weight going down through the feet.
The practice
How do you work with the set?
Put one stone at the top of the mat before you begin and name the intention out loud in a few words.
Leave it there for the whole session, including the final rest.
When you roll up the mat, pick the stone up last.
The gesture closes the practice and keeps it from bleeding into the rest of the evening.
Read here as a language of symbols. Medical, legal and financial questions belong with a professional.
Questions
What else do people ask about this?
Should I hold a stone during poses?
No. Anything in your palm changes how you load the wrist and it will end up thrown across the room during a flow. Keep stones off the mat surface entirely, so you never step on one in a lunge.
Do crystals belong in yoga at all?
They are a modern addition rather than part of the classical tradition, and it is worth being honest about that. As a personal marker of intention they are harmless and often useful. As a claim about what yoga historically required, they are not accurate.
Nearby
The needs that sit next to this one.
Two ways on
A need is one door in, a stone is another.
Six names, and behind each one the tradition that gave it the job and the plain limit of what it cannot do. The body reads the same set differently, and the seven centres are that reading.
- 104
- stones, each with what tradition says
- 64
- everyday uses, six stones under each
- 7
- centres, the same set read through the body