The wisdom of the body

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You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Mary Oliver

I love this quote. Reading Mary Oliver feels like lying down on lush, damp grass, taking a deep breath and sinking in. But how often do we take the time to sink in and really inhabit our body?

The modern lifestyle creates a disconnect with the body, we become like a head with hands, thinking, thinking, doing, doing. Unless we habitually stop and practice meditation, dance or yoga, or spend time in nature, we may never really arrive in our body all day.

The wisdom of the body – with its endless and varied cacophony of signals and mechanisms – is our projection of spirit. This is our vehicle for incarnation. And like any vehicle, our body provides a stream of signals to guide and inform us. It provides the physicality, the flesh, the medium though which we interact with our physical, emotional and spiritual world.

From the soft lub-dub of our heart beat, to our churning guts, our racing pulse, our cold feet, the body conveys a series of messages, if we would only listen. 

From the cold knife-to-the-heart sensation of heartbreak and shame, to the butterflies of excitement, the soft animal of our body knows what it loves. It feels our pleasure and our pain.

The body contains truths unique to our being. Just as one person may enjoy eating peanut butter by the spoonful, another may fall into analphylactic shock at the smallest trace of nuts. We are similar, but not the same and neither are our bodies. As you embrace this, you can settle into a beautiful relationship with the unique body, the exquisite system of flesh and senses, that is you.

The yogis have always known this, that the stresses of the body must be smoothed out and soothed with yoga poses before the mind can be still and spirit can be heard. The yoga tradition is all about purifying the vessel to achieve union of body and spirit.

The spirit likes to dress up like this: ten fingers, ten toes, shoulders and all the rest… It could float, of course, but would rather plumb through matter. Airy and shapeless thing, it needs the metaphor of the body… To be understood, to be more than pure light that burns where no one is. Mary Oliver

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The first chakra, located at the base of our spine, is called Muladhara in Sanskrit, meaning root support. Like the root system of a tree, our root or base chakra energetically grounds us in the physical world.

Linking the chakras are a series of energy channels that, in their purest and unimpeded form, constantly flow and spiral up and down the spinal column, keeping our energetic system in connectivity to both the earth and ethereal energy above, with the chakras like little hubs in between.

Caroline Myss describes these channels and the chakras as our ‘energy anatomy’ and a ‘blueprint for managing spiritual power’ and that the purpose of most spiritual teachings – though often misunderstood – is to teach us how to manage this system of power.

Anodea Judith calls the chakras the ‘architecture of the soul.’ She says a chakra is a centre of organisation for the reception, the assimilation and the expression of life force energy. The chakras are the portals, the mediators, between the inner world and the outer world. 

Chakras can be described as processing centres of energy and information, as well as gateways for this energy and information to flow into, out of, and through. Note that when I refer to ‘energy’ I use the term to describe the concept used in many esoteric traditions of the vital life force energy, or spiritual energy, also known as prana or qi.

Many of us have sustained emotional and physical traumas in life which may have affected the formation and flow of our chakras. This biography of experience is energetically recorded in our chakra system (as well as the cells in our bodies.) This can cause our chakras to compensate by either restricting energy flow, becoming deficient or under active, or by becoming over active and excessive. Or even a combination of both. 

‘So what?’ You ask, ‘it’s only energy,’ read on, and I’ll tell you why this kind of imbalance can have deep and far reaching effects on your life.

Your biography becomes your biology. Caroline Myss

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Linked to physical realities of life – security, shelter, sustenance, family, tribe – Deedre Diemer writes that the first chakra is associated with primordial trust. It is the chakra associated with our basic instincts for food, shelter, sex and survival.

Developmentally this chakra emerges between conception and eighteen months, and is informed by our environment during that time. If we felt safe and nurtured and our needs were taken care of, if we were held lovingly by our mothers, and picked up when we cried, chances are this chakra is embedded with a core sense of security.

However up to 50% of people report that they either suffered birth trauma or there were significant stressors in their family of origin or community – war or poverty, for example – to inhibit this secure bonding from occurring. Not mention subsequent life trauma that can affect our sense of security. As such, we may have an overreactive first chakra, that is out of balance and causes us to compensate in a variety of ways.

If we are imbalanced in this chakra it can manifest as a lack of physicality, being underweight, spacey and anxious. Or it may manifest as an excessive physicality in being overweight and overly attached to the physical by hoarding, over eating and indulgence in pleasure, or over-accumulation of stuff.

I often wondered how I could be both spaced out and have a tendency to over-indulge. Anodea Judith points out that as these extremes are both compensatory behaviours to address an issue in this chakra we may experience symptoms of both.

This very body that we have, that’s sitting here right now… With its aches and pleasures… is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive. Pema Chodron

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If you imagine the root chakra like a plant in a pot, it needs a degree of support to keep the soil and moisture in, but too tight a restraint will not allow it to grow.

In the same way a deficient base chakra contracts too tightly into its core, not allowing enough room for energy to come in, to have, to hold, to manifest. In this scenario we are literally strangling our energy flow, the earth energy that needs to flow up and through our base chakra is restricted and bottlenecked, creating blockages that may literally prevent us from manifesting or maintaining physical things, including our own healthy robust body, as there is no room to receive. This kind of person can be literally disembodied, spacey, anxious, ungrounded.

The person who compensates for an unbalanced base chakra though physical over-indulgence, allows excessive earth energy into their system. They may feel heavy, lethargic, they may be overweight, overeat, hoard and covet possessions, money and power. It is as if they use physical things, including their own body weight to compensate for deficiencies in this chakra, perhaps to literally compensate for a lack of maternal holding in their formative years.

Again this results in a blockage. Too much energy, when it is held and hoarded in this way impedes the flow just as much as constricted energy. It’s akin to the Buddhist concept of attachment, it is the attachment to our desires that causes suffering. It causes us to get stuck in a unmanageable mess of our own making.

As Albert Einstein once said, the most fundamental decision we make in life, is whether to see this world as inherently good and beneficent or not. This worldview informs everything we think, feel, and do. How we perceive and thus operate in the world. The base chakra question, is this world safe for me to embody?

Erik Erickson wrote that this first stage of psychosocial development – from birth to eighteen months – is a time when either trust or mistrust of the world around us is established. This informs our behaviour at the most fundamental level. If I can trust the world, I can allow myself to have it. I’m not suspicious. I am accepting.

If something is not safe, we won’t allow ourselves to have it, you wouldn’t drink poison, in the same way if your inherent world view is of an unsafe place, you won’t fully allow yourself to engage in it. You may stay detached, non-committal, risk-avoidant, and fearful.

We either master the fundamentals of survival or we become one of life’s victims. Ambika Wauters

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So much of our sense of our body and our self comes from the initial holding experience provided by our parents. Anodea Judith says that this initial holding wires up our brain body interface, it literally teaches us awareness that we have a body, we are in a body. This all comes through touch. Here we get imprinted with a cellular message of safety and security. Our instincts are quietened, not alarmed. This is a good grounding in the first chakra.

But what if you didn’t get this. What if you grew up in fear uncertainty, violence, instability? What did you have to do to yourself in order to survive this fundamental stage? If our needs are not met, our survival instincts start freaking out, our central nervous system is wired in a permanent state of anxiety, our body gets over-amped. We become over-vigilant, fearful, unable to settle, insecure. This kind of person doesn’t know how to calm down.

This may explain why so many people depend on alcohol, drugs, sex, food and shopping to self-soothe. They simply have no mechanism to return to a state of calm without external stimulus. Hence researchers into addiction like Gabor Mate suggest there are significant and demonstrable links between unresolved childhood trauma and addiction.

Nothing records the effect of a sad life as graphically as the human body. Naguib Mahvouz

The lesson of Muladhara chakra is grounding, a full inhabiting of our physical bodies as the embodiment of our connection to the element of earth. To cease existing primarily in our heads and inhabit our bodies. To cease grasping onto people, places and things as the source of our security.

Here we can experience pleasure and pain, connect with our feelings, and release these accumulated emotional energies through our connection with the physical.

Movement through our bodies allows energy to flow, it can trigger blockages to shift and cause accumulated energies to be released or redistributed and balanced.

Movement brings us into our physicality, brings our energy down from our heads into our roots, allowing a real connection with not only our physical selves, but the physicality of the world around us.

For those who, like myself, have a lifetime’s accumulated negative body issues, this takes patience and self-compassion. Making peace with the body I have despised, abandoned and abused for many years is a process that does not come overnight.

After several years of Chakradance practice, alongside many years of yoga and mindful meditation, I have found a degree of peace and comfort in my own skin that I have never before known. At times my body even brings me immeasurable joy. 

Here in this body are the sacred rivers, here are the sun and the moon, as well as all the pilgrimage places. I have not encountered another temple as blissful as my own body. Saraha Doha 

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To encourage our vital energy to flow freely we must let go of our attachments and defences. The chakras can be blocked by our learned defences, either something we want to keep out or something we don’t want to let out. What kinds of things would cause these defences? Toxic energy, fear and violence are all things we may shut down to avoid. Similarly we may repress our own ‘negative’ emotions – anger, sorrow, exuberance – having learned it was unsafe to express these. 

Sometimes the residue from trauma gets stored in our body and our energy system. While traditional psychotherapy may assist at a mental and behavioural level, we also need to release these wounds energetically, in order to release the attachments and defences they cause us to act out – often unconsciously – in our lives.

As in all things balance is the key. An over-amped base chakra may cause us to be frozen in fear or rushing about in a heightened state of anxiety. What we ideally want is movement that is grounded and purposeful. We need to reconnect with the nurturing aspects of Mother Earth.

To ground we invite this energy back down through our body and reconnect ourselves energetically with the earth.

Traditionally humans spent most of their lives in direct contact with the earth, walking, living and sleeping on the ground. In the modern world we are so disconnected from the earth in layers of buildings, shoes, vehicles. 

I thought the earth remembered me, she took me back so tenderly, arranging her dark skirts, her pockets full of lichens and seeds. Mary Oliver

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In Chakradance we reconnect our base chakra to the earth by dancing to earthy tribal beats, moving powerfully through our legs and feet. We may visualise ourself as a seed planted in the earth, provided with all the sustenance, support, and security it needs to grow. We see ourselves setting down strong roots as we grow into the world, like a giant majestic tree firmly rooted in the soil, so our branches can safely reach up and out into the sunshine.

Anodea Judith says that the best way to restore balance to the base chakra, is to open the leg channels. The legs connect us to the earth and the energy flows up through our feet and legs and into the base chakra. Our legs are like two prongs of an electric plug – we need to plug in to the earth energy to ground, receive and release.

Grounding exercise by Anodea Judith

This exercise will work whether your base chakra is deficient excessive or both, even if you feel your base chakra is balanced, grounding is always energising and restorative.

1. Stance

Stamp your feet a little to get the energy moving, then stand with your feet shoulder width or even a little further apart.

Make sure your feet are pointing straight or even slightly pigeon-toed, bend your knees slightly so your knee sits directly above your second toe.

Press down and out with your feet, as if you are trying to push apart two floorboards with your feet. So you want your feet firm and active.

2. Exercise

As you inhale gently bend your knees deeper, keeping your upper body upright, shoulders above hips.

As you exhale, slowly push down and out through your feet to straighten your knees, ensuring you do not lock your knees at the top. Do this very slowly.

Remember to keep the tension and engagement, the pushing sensation through your legs and feet.

3. Visualisation

As you exhale and push down, visualise energy from the base chakra in your pelvic floor pushing down through the core of your legs and feet and down into the earth.

(if your legs begin to tremble this is a good sign – you are shifting blockages and allowing energy to flow. If there’s any pain, stop)

If you feel you have deficient energy visualise drawing energy up through your legs and into your base chakra. 

If you feel you have excessive energy, visualise pushing that excess down into the earth.

If you’re not sure, just visualise both. Releasing in the exhale, receiving on the inhale.

4. Affirmation

As you exhale say ‘I am in here’ then ‘I am in here, and this is mine’ – really feeling yourself in your body.

You can do this up to 10 times. Trust your body, stop when you’ve had enough. You will build up your strength over time.

Practise this exercise daily and notice the difference after a week. Ideally this exercise will clear your channels, allow you to ground, release and receive energy through your base chakra.

I am one with the source, in so far as I act as a source, by making everything I have received flow again. Raimon Panikkar

I’m running a 10 day online Base Chakra retreat Reboot Your Base Chakra starting Friday 21 August. Bookings essential. Click here. Limited spaces.

I’d love to meet you there.

Namaste,

Christina

Christina is a Chakradance facilitator, Sattva yoga teacher, holder of sacred space, and wellbeing writer. She is passionate about wellbeing and brings her extensive knowledge though studies in the chakra system, yoga and shamanism to her practice.

“Weak gut, foggy mind.” How the Solar Plexus Chakra activates our gut intelligence.

The solar plexus chakra is known as Manipura in Sanskrit, which means lustrous gem. This truly is the shining jewel of your vital life force energy.

Manipura regulates our pranic – or life force – energy throughout our body, controlling our energy balance, vitality and strength. It governs our digestive fires and heat regulation in the body.

The solar plexus chakra is the seat of our personal power and will. Energetically, it is the fire that fuels our metabolism, and when activated it increases our energy, drive, and sense of purpose.

And really, who couldn’t use some of that?

The seed mantra for Solar Plexus Chakra is RAM. Its element is Fire. Manipura is considered the centre of dynamism, energy, willpower, and achievement (iccha shakti), which radiates prana throughout the entire body. It is also associated with the sense of sight and the action of movement. 

Through meditating on Manipura, we can turn on this inner power and release this optimal flow of prana.

Scientists have begun to call the solar plexus and gut area the ‘second brain’ of the body. Serotonin, the neurotransmitter that is linked to depression, is largely found in the intestinal tract.

As my teacher Anandji says “Weak gut, foggy mind.” Our metabolism, digestion, growth, and healing all take place in the network of nerve plexus below the waist.

This ‘second brain’ is the place change and transformation is created.

In the ancient yogic texts, it states that “all yoga starts in the Navel Point”. The navel is an important centre of energy transformation in the body.

A strong navel brings many blessings including better circulation throughout the body, an overall feeling of well-being, more courage, and a deeper ability to meditate and transform on energetic levels.

A weak navel reflects a fatigued body, anxious mind, and restless spirit.

In Sattva Yoga we awaken the intelligence of your navel point through various simple yet sophisticated yogic techniques.

Navel activating kriyas and breath work have traditionally been used as a way to stoke the digestive fire, clean unnecessary fat from the belly, improve organ functioning, and balance the solar plexus chakra, manipura.

Ultimately this practice can bring you lots of powerful energy which can be used for very real transformation.

Let’s begin with a breathing exercise or pranayama called the Breath of Fire. This exercise will really tune you into your inner power source and get your solar plexus chakra pumping.

Place your hands on your belly. As you breathe in through your nose, your lungs fill with air and your belly pushes out.

Feel your belly pushing into your hands. As you exhale through your nose, empty your lungs and flatten your belly. At the end of your exhalation, gently pull your navel towards your spine.

Then, breathe in gently through your nose, feeling your belly expand. Exhale through your nose as you press your navel towards your spine, gently using your abdominal muscles. 

Begin to do this quickly, almost like a dog panting, only through your nose. Feel your belly bounce. Do this rapid breath about 30 times, making sure that you breathe in and out of your nose each time. If you feel comfortable with this breathing, you can repeat the 30 breaths up to 4 times. 

Fire breathing is a powerful way of cleansing and energising your solar plexus and your whole energetic field. 

Now let’s centre ourselves for the mantra meditation. Play the video.

Begin by grounding yourself, either sitting on the floor or on a chair and feel your spine or your feet rooted to the earth.

Feel the crown of your head connected to the energy of the divine or the source.

Imagine the line of energy that extends from your crown to your root chakra, and then bring your awareness to a point on this line around your belly and diaphragm.

Now repeat the mantra RAM as you keep your attention on your solar plexus chakra. Manipura.

(Note: this video goes for about an hour so you may want to set a timer for a shorter period of time, say 5-10 minutes)

When you have finished. Again draw your awareness back to your root chakra and your connection to the earth.

Sit quietly for a moment before going about your day. Be aware of your energy, power and inner fire throughout the day.

Let your entire day become a chakra meditation.

Hari om tat sat. Namaste. Blessings.

Try Sattva Yoga – Solar Plexus Chakra Flow on Friday 22 March


Express Yourself!

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Have you ever walked away from a conversation where you felt you just weren’t heard?

Whether you were silent or you tried to speak but your words just came our wrong, there is something so disempowering about not being heard. Often it brings back painful memories of childhood when we were told our voice was not welcome, too silly, too loud, too childish.

Many of us carry years of these kinds of interactions in our memory bank, in our body memory, and much of this is energetically stored at the Throat Chakra.

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The Throat Chakra is the centre of communication. From a conversation at the grocery store to saying “I do” at the altar, every conversation you have adds or depletes energy at this point in your body.

But communication is a relationship. It involves listening as much as speaking. The Throat Chakra also rules the ears. When you hold back from saying what you mean or stop listening, your Throat Chakra cannot flow freely.

This may manifest in the form of a physical irritation, dry throat, blocked ears, aversion to wearing things around your neck, or it may come out in your dreams. It will definitely affect your ability to communicate.

Our words, and the intention behind them, hold vibrations and therefore impact our entire being. When we complain, gossip, lie, or talk negatively, it is as though we are putting toxins into our bodies and into our energy systems. The negative energy of our words also affects other people.

After I danced the Heart Chakradance this week a tightness had settled on my throat. I knew it was the energetic residue of this recent interaction that had left me so thwarted in my expression.

I put the Throat Chakradance Journeying music on and entered the mantradance – this is a practice of chanting a mantra whilst dancing, the movement and the sound creating a wonderfully hypnotic experience, where we can slide into a deep meditative state.

Sound and movement are natural partners. Unfortunately many of us feel inhibited to make sounds, let alone to move at the same time.

It was such sweet release. Just that pure self expression, that freedom to express sound without restraint.

Chakradance Journeying will take you deep into your Throat Chakra the seat of your creativity, to give you the opportunity to work with any ‘stuckness’ that you may feel in the throat area.

This stuckness can be about a life situation in the present or the past. It can relate to something ancestral or global.

Allowing your body to move the sounds through space as freely as you wish helps you get in touch with a time when your voice was strong and visible, and movement flowed freely. Let this dance become a vehicle for the creative expression of your true essence.

The dance will help you tune into the power of vibrations. When you become more aware of the world on a vibrational level, you open up to communication on a different level – you ‘tune into’ the vibes. You can feel when something, someone, or a place ‘resonates’ with you.

We begin the Throat Chakradance with gentle neck movements (moving neck slowly from side to side) and begin to sense how we feel in the Throat Chakra. The dance is based on a mantradance. Each chakra has a mantra which when chanted acts as a doorway into the chakra.

The mantra for the Throat Chakra is “ham” (pronounced hum). We will begin with a few minutes of purely focusing on sounding the mantra – inhale through your nose and exhale with the mantra sound of “ham”.

And then we will move into the mantradance, where we weave together sound (ham) and movement. This is a practice inspired by Tibetan culture, where monks carry out mystical rituals combining chanting with delicate movements of the body.

This dance will begin to activate inner experiences – it is almost like entering into a waking dream. You may see images in your mind’s eye while you are dancing, or recall memories or gain insights. You may experience feelings, emotions or physical sensations.

It’s an organic unfoldment of what’s inside this chakra. In Chakradance we ask you to be mindful of your experiences, to observe them, witness them, be present to your own experience. This is the way we shift our energy.

Vissudha, the throat chakra is the expression of your authentic self through speech and creativity.

The word Vissudha means purification. Here we begin to flow from the authentic sense of power that we have raised through the navel/solar plexus and heart. Here expression becomes the radiance of our dharma, our individualised cosmic intelligence and purpose. Here we find our true voice.

With our words we create our world. In this energy of Vissudha you are called to correct your intellect and move towards greater clarity and understanding, to know the power of your words as a generator of meaning, that your communication may become a transmitter of compassion and the radiance of love.

In the words of Hafiz, “the words you speak become the house you live in.”.

Join me for Throat Chakra yoga on Friday 15 February and Throat Chakradance on March 10 at Raw Mojo.

Hari om tat sat. Namaste. Blessings!

Upcoming events at Raw Mojo Chakradance here

Get your communication humming with mantra practice

As you rise up into the energy of the throat chakra, you will begin to notice a shift in energy. Each of the four lower chakras corresponds energetically to a physical element. By the time you reach the throat, you are moving out of the physical plane and into the non-physical realm of ether.

Vissudha, the Sanskrit word for the throat chakra, literally means purification. In the throat Chakradance, we chant and sing to cleanse the throat chakra, and enhance our ability for self-expression. 

The non-physical element associated with Vissudha is ether, the field of subtle vibrations surrounding all things. The throat chakra, more than any other, governs our relationship with vibrations and resonance.

It is from the throat centre that you produce sound through vibration. As such it is incredibly susceptible to vibrational energy, and responsive to resonance of all kinds.

Chanting and humming, listening to vibrational sounds are among the best ways to clear and balance this chakra. 

Physiologically this chakra governs the health of the throat, nose, ears, mouth, neck and vocal cords, as well as the thyroid and parathyroid glands, which are responsible for our metabolism.

The throat chakra carries the energies of truth, integrity, honesty and communication. It also governs the ability to listen, both to the words of others and your own internal dialogue within your body. 

The throat chakra energy is resonant with authenticity and purification. Paramount to Vissudha, is the expression of self through speech and creativity. Finding your true voice.

With our words we create our world. In this energy of Vissudha you are called to correct your intellect and move towards greater clarity and understanding, to know the power of your words as a generator of meaning, that your communication may become a transmitter of compassion and the radiance of love.

In the words of Hafiz, “the words you speak become the house you live in.”

The Humming Breath is a wonderful pranayama or breath practice to stimulate the throat chakra.

Sit in a comfortable position with a straight spine.

Begin by exhaling as much air as possible from your lungs before taking in a deep, slow breath through your nose, refilling your lungs.

On your next exhalation, make a soft humming sound like a bee.

When you run out of breath, take another deep inhalation, continuing the humming sound as you exhale.

Begin with a few minutes practice, working up to 10-15 minutes at a time. 

Now play the video and chant the mantra “ham” pronounced “hum” as you exhale.

When you have finished your humming breath and mantra practice, lie down and relax for a few minutes.

Let your humming throat chakra energy fuel your self-expression in your day.

Hari om tat sat. Namaste. Blessings.

Sattva Yoga Flow + Chakradance classes

The beautiful art work used is Throat Chakra by Qahira Lynn

Mantra Your Base Chakra 

Mantras are specific sounds which have long been used to activate the chakras by chanting the sound that resonates to the particular chakra vibration.

Sound is probably THE most powerful way to activate and balance your chakra system.

When I was in India I visited an ayurvedic doctor who prescribed mantra meditation for me.

He noticed my base/root chakra Muladhara – which literally means root support – needed activating. An underactive root chakra had left me feeling dizzy, disconnected and unsupported in life.

So let’s start at the root and practise this daily for 7 days and each week I will guide you through the next chakra meditation using freely available videos on YouTube.

Here’s the video with the mantra sound you can chant along to.

To begin, sit comfortably with your butt or feet connected to the floor. Really feel that connection to the solid earth supporting you. As you breathe in draw energy through your root chakra at the base of your spine, around your pelvic floor for women and sexual organs for men.

Draw this energy into to your base chakra, located at the base of your spine. You may like to visualise the colour red here. 

Tighten your pelvic floor muscles, sexual and anal muscles – or Moola bandha, the root lock – hold the breath and the energy at your base chakra. Then as you exhale chant the mantra “Lam.”

Let the sound be your exhale. Feel the sound vibrating through your base chakra. Imagine the sound pushing down through your root chakra as you connect with the earth.

If it feels like too much to focus on the breathing and the bandha and the sound, just focus on the sound and put your attention onto the base of your spine. 

I find our energy body meets us where we are, responding to the intention and the sound vibration, so you don’t need to do it perfectly. You can always fine-tune the practice as you get used to it.

Having a balanced root chakra will help you feel secure, grounded and provide ease of physical movement.

It will also provide a good foundation for your whole chakra system.

Repeat this for a few minutes each day and notice how much more present and stable you feel.

Hari Om Tat Sat. Namaste. Blessings.

Base Chakradance Journey this Sunday

Try Chakradance – Rhythm for your soul

Mantra Your Heart Chakra 

The Sanskrit name for the heart chakra is Anahata or ‘un-struck’ – in the Indian Vedic tradition there are two kinds of sounds, and ‘unstruck’ means an inner resonance or subtle vibration that is perceived through the heart centre.

The heart is the place of the awakened self. Here we move from group consciousness, defined by family, tribe, society into a more individual, self-reflective consciousness. Here we find our own heart truths.

This chakra builds a bridge between the physical and spiritual dimensions of your self. Carl Jung described the heart chakra as the centre of thinking and feeling, the beginning of reflections, values, and ideas.

Bring your hands palm to palm, in prayer position in front of your chest, connect the base of your thumbs to your sternum – this position is called Anjali Mudra.

Breathe into your belly and lightly close your eyes. Turn your focus to your breath.

Next, rub your palms together vigorously. Bring your right palm to the centre of your chest at Anahata and place your left on top of your right.

Feel the warmth and radiance of your heart and chest. Visualize the green, radiant glowing light emanating from your heart, in all directions.

Play the video and begin to sound the mantra “yam” pronounced “yum.” (This is the seed mantra of the element air. The heart centre is associated with the cosmic element of “prana” or “air.”)

(Note: this video goes for about an hour so you may want to set a timer for a shorter period of time, say 5-10 minutes)

Release your palms to face up on your lap. Direct some of your lightness and heart energy to someone in your life in need of compassion or healing. Finally, inhale your arms overhead and exhale your arms down to connect to the Earth before completing your practice.

Carry this open and loving heart energy with you into your day. Yum.

Come and dance the Heart Chakradance Journey with us, save your spot here

Hari om tat sat. Namaste. Blessings,

Christina

Heart Chakradance this Thursday 23 August at The Revitalise Centre 

Upcoming events at Raw Mojo Chakradance here

Good vibrations – how sound balances our chakras

“Each of the seven chakras vibrates at its own frequency. Music is able to balance the chakras by using the sound vibrations to tune each energy centre. Chakradance music has a lasting effect. The vibrations continue to pulse outward into our energy field long after the sounds have stopped playing. The more we experience these healing sounds, the greater and the more permanent the effect. When the music is combined with spontaneous dance, the healing effect is magnified.” 

Natalie Southgate

 

How does sound balance our chakras?

Everything around us is made up of energy and vibration. The atoms and molecules that make up the earth and the trees, our bodies, and everything in our world, are buzzing with their own unique vibrational frequency.

Everything has a frequency. Inside our bodies, our organs, bones, and cells, all vibrate at their natural frequencies.

We know that the external sounds we hear through our ears, and feel through our body, can affect our central nervous system. Just think of the fright you get when a door is slammed.

On the other end of the spectrum, harmonic sound can facilitate shifts in our brainwave state, synchronising our fluctuating brainwaves by providing a stable frequency which the brainwaves can attune to.

Using specific rhythms and frequencies, we can entrain our brainwaves in order to down-shift our normal brainwaves to a deeply calm level where spontaneous internal healing can occur – as it does when we meditate or sleep.

Particular frequencies of sound resonate with particular chakras, and in a similar way using specific sounds, we can synchronise and attune the chakra system to its optimal frequency, balancing and releasing any discordant energy.

Sound has always been a central element to working with the chakra system. The sounds of the Sanskrit – ancient Indian – language are seen as uniquely powerful vibrations that form part of a practice designed to bring about a spiritual awakening.

The role of the chakra system is to help regulate the human energy field

The human energy field, commonly known as the subtle body or aura, is a dynamic, energetic matrix, which includes the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of our being.

There is a kind of feedback loop which occurs between the energy of the chakras and the physical body. An imbalance in our subtle body can manifest as a physical or emotional issue.

Similarly, when we balance and harmonise our chakra system, it supports physical and emotional healing.

This kind of chakra balancing has traditionally been done using sound, whether chanting, singing bowls, drums or other musical instruments.

Many spiritual traditions see sound as the basic element of all creation. The ancient Indian Vedic texts described elemental sounds that resonated as the universe was in creation. By tapping into these sounds, it is believed that we can tap into these divine vibrations, and in doing so, align and balance our own vibrational subtle energy field.

The most common mantras used with the chakras relate to the element associated with an aspect of that chakra. So LAM is the seed mantra of the earth element, VAM of water, RAM of fire, YAM of air and HAM of space. And OM, is the universal mantra.

Chakradance creator, Natalie Southgate, noticed that certain music carried a unique resonance with different chakra centres.

As she danced to different frequencies of music, her free-flowing movements started to guide her into the inner power ignited within her chakras. The discovery that she could have direct experience with her chakras, through spontaneous movements to specific sounds, was the birth of Chakradance.

In Chakradance, we weave sound and movement in a ‘mantra-dance’ which intensifies our self-expression and creativity

In the throat Chakradance, we intone the mantra HAM as we dance in a world made purely of sound.

It’s a transportive experience, as the vibration of the music and the chanting, with the gentle movement of our bodies, releases us into a deeper state of consciousness and inner spiritual connection.

When the dance is over people are often surprised to learn they were chanting for 20 minutes, it seems like no time at all when we tap into that awareness outside of time and space.

The music in Chakradance is beautifully and artfully layered in sounds.

Beneath the beat and melody are layers of Tibetan and crystal bowls, bells, percussion, chants and other vibrational frequencies designed to activate each chakra. It’s like bathing your senses in sound.

From the deep resonance of Tibetan chanting in the opening meditation and the reverberating base tones of the didgeridoo in the base chakra, the sounds become higher and higher in vibration as we work our way up the chakras.

So Chakradance works on so many levels simultaneously, from the subtlest vibrations of sound to the beats and melody that inspire us to move our body and to make our own sounds.

As I dance, I imagine my body, all of my cells, my bodily systems, my energy body, is like a beautifully free-flowing dance troupe, twirling and leaping around in absolute unbridled joy and harmony.

As all these parts of my being move to these sound vibrations, energy shifts, tension is soothed, emotional blocks are released, stress dissipates. I emerge re-arranged, rejuvenated and transformed. It’s like a whole new me!

The Humming Breath

Try this simple sound healing technique which is a great throat chakra activator…

Sit in a comfortable position with a straight spine.

Begin by exhaling as much air as possible from your lungs before taking in a deep, slow breath through your nose, refilling your lungs. On your next exhalation, make a soft humming sound like a bee.

When you run out of breath, take another deep inhalation, continuing the humming sound as you exhale.

Begin with a few minutes practice, working up to 10-15 minutes at a time. When you have finished your humming breath practice, lie down and relax for a few minutes.

 

Namaste, Christina 


Upcoming classes:

Base Chakradance @ Revitalise (Thursday 2 August)

Throat Chakradance Journey (Sunday 5 August)

Mantra Your Crown Chakra 

anneliesolis

I hope you have enjoyed this series of bija chakra meditations. This week brings us to the crown chakra, located at the top of your head. 

According to the yoga tradition, the crown chakra connects your individual awareness with infinite consciousness.

Sahasrara in Sanskrit means “thousandfold,” so Sahasrara chakra literally means a thousand-petalled lotus. The thousand representing a number so big, it is infinite.

Traditionally, this lotus is visualised upside down with the stem and roots rising to the sky and the petals pointing downward. A lotus flower with its roots in heaven bringing down divine grace through the crown of our heads.

Considered to be of the highest vibrational frequency and the pinnacle of the seven major chakras, Sahasrara is regarded as a gateway to the energy of the universe itself. It is an energetic passageway that connects you to the divine.

Play the video – you many want to set a timer for 5-15 minutes as the video goes for an hour.

Divya-jyoti or Divine Light Meditation

1. Sit in a comfortable meditation pose with your legs crossed and your back straight.

2. Rest your hands in your lap, palms upward, with your left hand on top. This is the mudra (hand position) for receiving energy. Close your eyes and let your breathing become slow and even.

3. Visualize a thousand-petalled lotus at the crown of your head. Imagine its petals gently opening to reveal an intense light. Let this divine light flow down into you through your crown chakra.

4. Feel the light spiralling down your body. Enjoy the warm glow as it saturates your entire being. Feel the light slowly moving down and permeating every cell and pore of your body.

5. Focus your senses on the intensity of the light so that you not only see it, but hear, smell, taste, and touch it.

6. Feel like a pure channel for the light: allow yourself to be at one with it. In this state of oneness, intuitive thoughts and inspirations may enter your consciousness. Be thankful for this guidance. Rest in the blissful awareness for as long as you wish.

7. After 5-15 minutes, take a few deep belly breaths, wiggle your fingers and toes to ground your energy, and open your eyes.

Feel yourself connected to the source and yet grounded in this divine energy as you go into your day.

Hari om tat sat. Namaste. Blessings.

Try Chakradance – Rhythm for your soul

Art credit: This beautiful feature image is by Annelie Solis

Throat Chakra Mantra 

As you rise up into the energy of the throat chakra, you will begin to notice a shift in energy. Each of the four lower chakras corresponds energetically to a physical element. By the time you reach the throat, you are moving out of the physical plane and into the non-physical realm of ether.

Vissudhi, the Sanskrit word for the throat chakra, literally means purification. In the throat Chakradance, we chant and sing to cleanse the throat chakra, and enhance our ability for self-expression. 

The non-physical element associated with Vissudhi is ether, the field of subtle vibrations surrounding all things. The throat chakra, more than any other, governs our relationship with vibrations and resonance.

It is from the throat centre that you produce sound through vibration. As such it is incredibly susceptible to vibrational energy, and responsive to resonance of all kinds.

Chanting and humming, listening to vibrational sounds are among the best ways to clear and balance this chakra. 

Physiologically this chakra governs the health of the throat, nose, ears, mouth, neck and vocal cords, as well as the thyroid and parathyroid glands, which are responsible for our metabolism.

The throat chakra carries the energies of truth, integrity, honesty, and communication. It also governs the ability to listen, both to the words of others and your own internal dialogue within your body. 

The throat chakra energy is resonant with authenticity and purification. Paramount to Vissudhi, is the expression of self through speech and creativity. Finding your true voice.

The Humming Breath is a wonderful pranayama or breath practice to stimulate the throat chakra.

Sit in a comfortable position with a straight spine.

Begin by exhaling as much air as possible from your lungs before taking in a deep, slow breath through your nose, refilling your lungs.

On your next exhalation, make a soft humming sound like a bee.

When you run out of breath, take another deep inhalation, continuing the humming sound as you exhale.

Begin with a few minutes practice, working up to 10-15 minutes at a time. 

Now play the video and chant the mantra “ham” pronounced “hum” as you exhale.

When you have finished your humming breath and mantra practice, lie down and relax for a few minutes.
Let your humming throat chakra energy fuel your self-expression in your day.

Hari om tat sat. Namaste. Blessings.

Chakradance classes

The beautiful art work used is Throat Chakra by Qahira Lynn

Mantra Your Heart Chakra 

The Sanskrit name for the heart chakra is Anahata or ‘un-struck’ – in the Indian Vedic tradition there are two kinds of sounds, and ‘unstruck’ means an inner resonance or subtle vibration that is perceived through the heart centre.

The heart is the place of the awakened self. Here we move from group consciousness, defined by family, tribe, society into a more individual, self-reflective consciousness. Here we find our own heart truths.

This chakra builds a bridge between the physical and spiritual dimensions of your self. Carl Jung described the heart chakra as the centre of thinking and feeling, the beginning of reflections, values, and ideas.

Bring your hands palm to palm, in prayer position in front of your chest, connect the base of your thumbs to your sternum – this position is called Anjali Mudra.

Breathe into your belly and lightly close your eyes. Turn your focus to your breath.

Next, rub your palms together vigorously. Bring your right palm to the centre of your chest at Anahata and place your left on top of your right.

Feel the warmth and radiance of your heart and chest. Visualize the green, radiant glowing light emanating from your heart, in all directions.

Play the video and begin to sound the mantra “yam” pronounced “yum.” (This is the seed mantra of the element air. The heart centre is associated with the cosmic element of “prana” or “air.”)

(Note: this video goes for about an hour so you may want to set a timer for a shorter period of time, say 5-10 minutes)

Release your palms to face up on your lap. Direct some of your lightness and heart energy to someone in your life in need of compassion or healing. Finally, inhale your arms overhead and exhale your arms down to connect to the Earth before completing your practice.

Carry this open and loving heart energy with you into your day. Yum.

Hari om tat sat. Namaste. Blessings.

Try Chakradance – Rhythm for your soul

Art credit: artist unknown