Tag: moving meditation

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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 

ॐ


Upcoming classes:

Base Chakradance @ Revitalise (Thursday 2 August)

Throat Chakradance Journey (Sunday 5 August)

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My Journey

Let me share a little of my journey to Chakradance.

Five years ago I had just turned 40. I was a single, working mum, having navigated several difficult divorce years, I thought life was about to get good again.

Then I crashed, physically, emotionally, every which way. I was exhausted, depressed and physically suffering from all these mystery illnesses.

I was so tired I couldn’t wait for the kids to go to bed so I could lie down and rest. I even woke up tired.

It was a very frightening time and all I wanted was to get my ‘mojo’ back. At the time I was writing about wellness, the irony, I know! And in my research I discovered Chakradance.

I have always loved dancing, but I was more of a dancing by myself around the lounge room kind of girl than dancing in public.

Chakradance was perfect because we danced in a gently lit room with our eyes closed.

For me, it was an hour just to myself. The music was beautiful, I closed my eyes, let the music flow through me, listening to the gentle guided meditation and just moving my body however I liked.

Afterwards I always felt fabulous. I had more energy and I often felt that in the deeply relaxed space of the dance, I gained insights into my life and found that the answers to things that were bothering me came quite intuitively.

But what if I can’t dance…?

That’s okay. 

Chakradance is a gentle yet fun practice that meets you where you are. It doesn’t matter if you think you can’t dance, if you feel self-conscious about your body or if you have mobility issues. Chakradance is just about letting the music move your body and energy in whatever way feels right for you.

For me Chakradance restored my ‘mojo’ – that vitality and engagement in life. I feel so much more present in my life. It connects me to an experience of calm, clarity, healing, releasing, and balancing, that flows into all aspects of my life.

Chakradance is some time just for me – an hour of free-flowing dancing in a safe and softly-lit space with other like-minded women (and men).

Do you know someone who could use a little mojo in their lives? Why not grab a friend a give it a go?

The gorgeous new wellness hub, The Revitalise Centre in Glen Iris is offering a special deal to bring a friend to Chakradance for free.

Try Chakradance and bring a friend for free!

Thursday’s at 7.30pm from July 26

Bookings essential at www.revitalisecentre.com.au/classes

Christina is a chakradance facilitator, shamanic practitioner and wellbeing writer. She is passionate about wellbeing and brings her extensive knowledge though studies in the chakra system, yoga, shamanism and reiki to her practice.

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Reboot yout body through your base chakra

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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?

Our modern lifestyle creates a disconnect with the body, we become like a head with hands, always thinking and doing, but rarely fully being in our body.

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 signals and systems – is our  vehicle for living.

And like any vehicle, our body provides a stream of signs 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.

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. 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.

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Your biography becomes your biology. Caroline Myss

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 vehicle to achieve union of body and spirit.

In the Vedanta – the ancient Indian wisdom writings – it says that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. Our body is what allows us to have this experience.

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. This chakra balances our physicality, sense of security and stability in our body and in the 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.

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.

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The land is my backbone. Galarrwuy Yunipingu

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. As such, we may have an overreactive first chakra, that is out of balance and causes us to compensate in a variety of ways.

Natalie Southgate writes that when your base chakra is balanced, you feel connectedness with the world and those around you, in a state of safety and stability. The balanced base chakra gives you a focused sense of your place in the world. As it is your root chakra, it is vital to allow your other chakras to be in balance.

Like the foundations of a house, or the roots of the tree, the base is essential to the stability of the whole structure.

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.

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To lose our connection with the body is to become spiritually homeless. Without an anchor we float aimlessly, battered by the winds and waves of life. Anodea Judith

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.

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.

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Looking back you realize that a very special person passed briefly through your life and that person was you. It is not too late to become that person again. Robert Brault

The base chakra is very much about grounding, stability, and security, and I have learned the only lasting stability and security available is that which I provide to myself, through being present in the body, in the now. My intention now is for balance and health. I no longer want to shield myself in weight, nor do I want to starve, or define myself by some ideal so manipulated that not even today’s models actually achieve it. My intention is to love myself, to protect myself without needing layers of flesh to do so. To be whatever size and shape my true being is, healthy, comfortable, happy. My intention is to rediscover joy in my body, my life.

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.

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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

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.

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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

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.

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.

Plenty of earthing, feet in the earth, sitting crouched on the earth, visualising mother earth’s energy cleansing, grounding, and balancing me. All very tribal, this earth-based, primal dance of the base chakra, and so liberating for a cerebral girl like me.

Hari om tat sat. Namaste. Blessings.

ॐ

Upcoming events at Raw Mojo Chakradance

Grounding Chakradance (Base chakra)

Chakradance – Rhythm for your soul

 

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Mantra Your Solar Plexus Chakra 

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.

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.

ॐ

Try Chakradance – Rhythm for your soul


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What is the Solar Plexus Chakra?

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What is Chakradance?

Starting at the Base Chakra, we use sound and movement to connect in with our subtle energy or chakras, releasing stuck energy, activating and cleansing our vital life force energy for vitality and wellbeing.

Manipura, or solar plexus/navel chakra, is located in the spine behind the navel. It is the source of personal power, and governs self-esteem, warrior energy, and the power of transformation.

This chakra relates to your ability to be confident and in control of your life. Located in the abdomen, it relates to self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth. It also influences metabolism and digestion. 

To dance the solar plexus chakra is to call on the ancient warrior dances. In Chakradance, fast dynamic movements ignite the fire in our belly, fuelling our dance with energy and strength. Reining all this fiery energy in, movements then become strong, purposeful and clearly defined as our inner warrior emerges triumphant, brave and strong.

Here’s a little video I made to show you a taste of the solar plexus Chakradance. Why not try it for yourself… ❤

Try Chakradance for yourself 

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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.

ॐ

Chakradance classes

The beautiful art work used is Throat Chakra by Qahira Lynn

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Experience Unity, Connection and Divine Bliss through the Crown Chakra 

This is the real secret of life – to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realize it is play. Alan Wilson Watts

Our Chakradance journey begins at the base chakra where we feel a strong connection to our bodies and relationship to Mother Earth, in the sacral chakra we explore our emotions and feelings, in the solar plexus chakra we encounter our personal power, in the heart chakra we unite our masculine and feminine energies in a sacred union, the throat chakra allows us to find our truthful expression and the third eye opens us up to higher powers of perception. 

In traditional Tantric philosophy the crown chakra is simply depicted as the thousand-petaled lotus. It has no seed sound, no element or other associations. Awakening the crown chakra it is really a consummation of our experience of all the other chakras. 

The beauty of moving up through all the chakras to our crown chakra, balancing and clearing our energy centres along the way, is that we create an open channel for this divine energy to pour in and to nourish us and our lives.

The seven chakras are embedded into our nervous system. When aligned, they form a vertical channel along our core. Within this channel, two major currents of energy move upward and downward: the currents of liberation and manifestation. Anodea Judith

While much chakra work focuses on the ascending energy flow, there is also a descending energy flow where we bring this divine cosmic energy of source down into our chakras and into our lives, this is the energetic flow of manifestation, as divine consciousness becomes denser and eventually manifests into physical form through the actions we create in our lives.

In the process of liberation, we work to clear and open each chakra by letting go of fixed patterns, blocks and imbalances. In the process of manifestation, we bring energy down from the crown, condensing and focusing it into a denser pattern. We do this by expressing ourselves through each chakra, and moving the energy downward step by step toward the earth.

As we do in Chakradance, the upward liberating current should be cleared first, as it opens the pathway that makes manifestation easier.

We are now at the gateway to the spirit whose entrance is at Sahasrara, the crown chakra. The divine spark of inspiration is awakened at the crown chakra. It aligns us to our soul purpose -what we are doing here – who we are meant to truly be. This chakra connects us to the source of all creation. Take a deep breath and surrender yourself to the oneness. Chakradance

This week, we explore the crown chakra, or Sahasrara, which means “thousandfold.” It implies the infinite nature of this chakra, which provides us with our most direct connection with the divine. It is from this connection that we can open to the divine spark of inspiration. 

The dance of sahasrara is an invitation to the soul to enter the body through the crown chakra in the top of the head. 

The crown chakra is the highest of the seven chakras. Visualised at the crown of the head as a thousand-petalled lotus flower, which according to ancient Indian Hindu-tantric tradition, represents enlightenment, wholeness and infinity.

The crown chakra opens upward, like a funnel. This chakra is our avenue to higher states of consciousness. As we develop it, we become increasingly aware of consciousness itself – the eternal part of us that is beyond ego, thought, feeling, and body. 

From a psychological perspective, Carl Jung says that it is at the crown chakra that the ego and the self unite, the self being that inner spark of perennial wisdom whether that is God, Buddha or the white light. Awakening of this chakra is said to be the last step in the evolution of human consciousness.

Developing this chakra unifies us with the Divine Source, as well as everything else in the universe. This is unimaginably blissful.

As we are opening to higher levels of consciousness, we may start to receive spiritual insights or messages. Although these experiences may be subtle, they are deeply powerful.

In our modern culture many of us get caught up in our day-to-day living and often lose contact with the deeper significance of our lives. This can leave us feeling empty and our lives can begin to feel meaningless. This is why finding this spiritual connection is so important. The more connected we are to our spiritual source, the more harmonious our lives can be. Natalie Southgate

The more connected we are to our spiritual source, the more harmonious our life can be. Many chronic issues may just drop away; answers to deep questions and problems intuitively drop in. We come to know our spiritual purpose, our reason for being. We feel a sense unconditional love and oneness with all life. We feel truly liberated, seeing how we can live a life of great clarity, meaning, and value.

This divine spark cannot enter a full mind, so the state that precedes this is emptiness. Like Kevin Costner’s character in Tin Cup, who commands before each pitch of the baseball “clear the mechanism,” it is only when we can let go of our thoughts of what is that we can be filled with inspiration for what could be.

The crown chakra represents the spark of creativity that is transformed into personal consciousness. It governs the process by which we receive inspiration, and then ask ourselves how it relates to our life purpose.

Inspiration has multiple meanings: a divine influence, a moment of creative intelligence, or the drawing in of breath.

The seventh chakra is the gateway to universal or divine consciousness. In this sense, we begin by “downloading the Divine.” Anodea Judith

Anodea Judith describes the chakras as organizational centres for the reception, assimilation, and expression of life force energy. The crown chakra is the entry point of universal spirit into the individual body. 

This chakra represents consciousness itself, in the form of thoughts, intelligence, understanding, ideas, beliefs, thinking, interpretations, and intentions.

Consciousness enters the crown chakra from the divine source, the conscious universe of matter, space, energy, time, and awareness.

We begin the manifestation process when we open to the divine, invoking through prayer, meditation, worship, and devotion. We align with spirit and with our life purpose, ask questions and set our intentions. You may feel the presence of grace, a whisper of guidance, a sudden insight or idea, or receiving information that sparks your intention to create something new. Anodea Judith

This is the wisdom of the crown chakra – focusing within, focusing on our breath, focusing on our creative vision, and setting intentions for each day to bring that vision from thought into being. 

In this way we become a vessel, a unique expression of the divine source energy expressed through our being.

There is a time for action, but first, it is a time for allowing the inspiration to come and trusting it when it does.

Affirming actions to open your crown chakra

Every day I read something insightful and inspiring.
Every flash of inspiration reminds me that my inner resources are all-knowing and all-powerful.
I accept my inner voice with reverence and respect.
I am ready to act on all inspiration that comes to me.
I ask that the work I do provide me with its own inspiration and energy.
I combine inspired thought with intelligent action.
I dare to follow my inner voice.
My inspirational signals are clear and strong.

Chakradance is sound healing, movement and meditation all rolled into one relaxing and enjoyable practice. Why not try it for yourself?

Hari om tat sat. Namaste. Blessings.

Christina at Raw Mojo

ॐ

Join us for the Crown Chakradance Journey on March 18

Try Chakradance – Rhythm for your soul

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What is Chakradance? What is the Sacral Chakra?

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What is Chakradance?

Starting at the Base Chakra, we use sound and movement to connect in with our subtle energy or chakras, releasing stuck energy, activating and cleansing our vital life force energy for vitality and wellbeing.

The sacral chakra is the centre of our emotions and sensuality. In it’s full expression it enables us to live creatively and full of joy in the sensual experience of being alive.

The sacral chakra relates to our desires. In sanskrit Svadisthana mean both “sweetness” and “one’s own dwelling.”
This is where we seek comfort and sensual fulfillment. 

While desire and sensuality are beautiful things, when excessive they can become addictions. In its deficient state, this energy can deny its own needs and become blocked, its watery nature literally dries up. 

The lesson of this chakra is to be able to go within, to dwell in our own self, to flow from this sense of inner succour and to experience life with relish and joy, but not the extremes of grasping greed or denial of our sensual desires.

Here’s a little video I made to show you a taste of the sacral Chakradance. Why not try it for yourself… ❤ 

Sacral Chakradance Journey with your Divine Goddess Guide 

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What is Chakradance? Base Chakra

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What is Chakradance?

Starting at the Base Chakra, we use sound and movement to connect in with our subtle energy or chakras, releasing stuck energy, activating and cleansing our vital life force energy for vitality and wellbeing.

At the base chakra we move our legs and feet to tribal beats, activating the foundation of our energy system, which provides stability, support and security to us energetically.

Here’s a little video I made to show you a taste of the base Chakradance. Why not try it for yourself… ❤

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Reboot your base chakra + revitalise your life

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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?

Our modern lifestyle creates a disconnect with the body, we become like a head with hands, always thinking and doing, but rarely fully being in our body.

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 signals and systems – is our  vehicle for living.

And like any vehicle, our body provides a stream of signs 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.

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. 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.

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Your biography becomes your biology. Caroline Myss

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 vehicle to achieve union of body and spirit.

In the Vedanta – the ancient Indian wisdom writings – it says that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. Our body is what allows us to have this experience.

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. This chakra balances our physicality, sense of security and stability in our body and in the 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.

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.

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The land is my backbone. Galarrwuy Yunipingu

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. such, we may have an overreactive first chakra, that is out of balance and causes us to compensate in a variety of ways.

Natalie Southgate writes that when your base chakra is balanced, you feel connectedness with the world and those around you, in a state of safety and stability. The balanced base chakra gives you a focused sense of your place in the world. As it is your root chakra, it is vital to allow your other chakras to be in balance.

Like the foundations of a house, or the roots of the tree, the base is essential to the stability of the whole structure.

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.

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To lose our connection with the body is to become spiritually homeless. Without an anchor we float aimlessly, battered by the winds and waves of life. Anodea Judith

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.

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.

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Looking back you realize that a very special person passed briefly through your life and that person was you. It is not too late to become that person again. Robert Brault

The base chakra is very much about grounding, stability, and security, and I have learned the only lasting stability and security available is that which I provide to myself, through being present in the body, in the now. My intention now is for balance and health. I no longer want to shield myself in weight, nor do I want to starve, or define myself by some ideal so manipulated that not even today’s models actually achieve it. My intention is to love myself, to protect myself without needing layers of flesh to do so. To be whatever size and shape my true being is, healthy, comfortable, happy. My intention is to rediscover joy in my body, my life.

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.

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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

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.

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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

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.

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.

Plenty of earthing, feet in the earth, sitting crouched on the earth, visualising mother earth’s energy cleansing, grounding, and balancing me. All very tribal, this earth-based, primal dance of the base chakra, and so liberating for a cerebral girl like me.

Hari om tat sat. Namaste. Blessings.

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Upcoming events at Raw Mojo Chakradance

Grounding Chakradance (Base chakra)

Chakradance – Rhythm for your soul