The Dawning 11-11-11

Sing Along Now!

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, 

Age of Aquariuuuus, 

Aquariuuuuus, 

Aquarius.  

Here it is!  What we’ve been singing about for forty years. 

I’m in a book club.  We usually read fiction but about twice a year we decide to include a non-fiction book.  Recently it was 109 East Palace, by Jennet Conant -- about Robert Oppenheimer and Los Alamos during the early forties -- the time all the brilliant scientists gathered on a remote hilltop in New Mexico to be first in the race to build an atom bomb and stop the Nazis and the Japanese.  Very good read.  Fascinating.  Especially if you live in Santa Fe -- the location of the book title address.

My copy of 109 was laying on the table in my studio.  And I placed a book I’m about to read next to it.  The book was Untie the Strong Woman, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.  It’s about the images and the icons of the deep Feminine, and how Her Presence has entered the collective of various times and cultures.

So there they were these two disparate books lying next to each other.  I passed them by several times, aware of them, and not -- they were just books lying there -- Oppie, as Oppenheimer was called, blowing smoke from his pipe (how perfect is that!), and a beatific image of Mary, mother of God, rays of light streaming from her head, filling her aura.  It struck me.  I was looking at pictures of the two zodiacal ages we are straddling right now -- The currently ending Piscean Age and the incoming Age of Aquarius.

The Piscean Age, which we’ve been in for the last twenty-three hundred years (give or take), could be described as the age of the patriarchy, of power over others, might makes right, a time of secrets and lies (people in power got away with atrocious crimes, from mass murder to vast embezzling).   Authority was outside of oneself... it was military and wars and bombs, and on and on.  That time in Los Alamos is probably one of the most blatant descriptors of the age that is passing.  

In the Age of Aquarius it is a time of equinimity and equality (harmony and understanding).  In the Aquarian Age there are no secrets (think of some recent uprisings, Egypt for example where instantly information is broadcast to the world).  We’re only on the cusp of this twenty-three hundred year cycle -- we’re not at the glory predicted, but the picture of Dr. Estes book, and the title, rang loud for the ingredient that needs to happen (in my humble opinion).  Women must untie their strong woman.  And men, who all have an inner feminine component, the anima in Jungian terms, must confront and/or coax out their strong woman as well.  And it needs to be done by both, women and men.  As Yogi Bhajan said:  Each person must accept the responsibility to elevate and manage his or her own state of awareness, to deal with widespread and constant stress, to take actions and to make decisions on a vast, shifting array of problems.

The stage is set.  We’ve had the women’s movement -- we’ve achieved some equality and respect -- the feminine presence is growing.  But being like men is not the way -- we’ve tried that.  Finding (untying) the strong woman is what it will take to balance and perhaps save our world.  It will be the Feminine values of relationship, cooperation, and compassion, in the men and women who will sit down at the world tables.  That’s when we’ll live The Aquarian Age.

After all I’ve just said, which sounds like I think I have the definitive answer, I don’t mean that.  It’s just when I saw those two books together, that was the connecting piece in my imagination.  As a woman, I know I’m inviting out my strong woman -- and I have friends, women of all ages who are beginning to stand stronger in the deep Feminine that they know.  It’s the Feminine Face of God.  This is powerful.  But not power over, which makes it different from the last age.

The timing of these two books seemed a little uncanny so I decided to share my thoughts about them.

Anyway, this is my last blog on this site (I think).  I began it for the 320 day study of the chakra system and that’s now over, or we’re beginning anew on the spiral.  I will be teaching it again at Yoga Santa Fe, in Santa Fe, NM, beginning in January, at which point in time I’ll begin another blog.  It’s been an incredible journey, I hope you look for me again, and I hope you Untie the Strong Woman, call out your wild soul.

Let peace guide the planet and love steer the stars!

1000 Days 11-10-11

Today we end our 320 day journey through the chakras.  Thank you to all who have been along during this time.  It's been quite a trip -- much has happened since December 26, 2010, when we began.
On a longer scale of time, in 2009, though Yogi Bhajan had exited this world in 2004, he left a 1000 day meditation for us to prepare for the Aquarian Age.  A thousand days ago I was sitting on a beach with penguins, a picture of my home altar on my lap.  It was there on Valentine's Day, with my love very far away, that I began the special meditation:  Sat siri siri akal!  I wondered at the time if I was the only person in that lonely region of the world singing out Sat Siri.  Maybe that was the reason I was there -- to cover the continent of Antarctica.
In a slightly longer cycle, we are marking the end to the Age of Pisces as tomorrow we enter the next 2300 year cycle of the Age of Aquarius.
Be well.  Be happy.  Do good things.

Aura of Place 10-26-11

I think places must have auras too -- an electromagnetic field that is just theirs alone.  Most places field -- it seems -- would get diluted -- melded with that of the inhabitants.
Not true in Antarctica.  The place is so big and empty of anything other than itself, that you really feel IT.
I had the absolute pleasure of going to Antarctica a couple of years ago (I say pleasure but there were also moments of extreme terror, crossing the Drake Passage in forty foot seas, being stuck on a rock, literally, at the bottom of the world waiting for a rescue ship).  The trip was a generous gift from my son, Eric -- and I have never felt the impact of place so beautifully and so fiercely, as in Antarctica.  (some big empty deserts would come a distant second)


Seventh Chakra.  Eighth Chakra.  We're in a high and lonely realm.
The way to experience the upper chakras is to meditate.
Antarctica was like living in a meditative state:  vast, unearthly, filled with the Presence of God.

Sit comfortably.  Hands in a gyan mudra, thumbs and fore-fingers touching.  Chant:  Guru Guru Wahe Guru Guru Ram Das Guru, continuously, at a fast pace, for as long as you want.
CONNECT WITH THE DIVINE

RADIANCE 10-13-11

This is a photograph by Walter Chappell -- the leaf of a plant -- the photograph capturing its energy field.  Amazing, isn't it?  Radiant.
And Radiance is the talent of the Eighth Chakra.  We all are Radiant!  We vibrate and glow -- and we can enhance that by doing Kundalini Yoga.

In 1984, I was doing photography in Boston, studying, and in love, with the mystical images of Minor White, the photographer who, during his lifetime, had taught at MIT.  My apartment at the time, on Beacon Street in the Back Bay, looked right out across the Charles River at the main building of MIT -- which has nothing to do with anything other than it was a lovely view.
Also happenstance, I came across an article in a photography magazine entitled:  Walter Chappell, The Poet of Light.  He had been a student of Minor White, and his work too, captured my imagination.

The article said he lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico -- he was alive, unlike Minor.  So, I called him -- woke him up as it turned out -- oops, sorry.
But I was forgiven, and ultimately, after sending him some of my own work, was invited to apprentice with him.  An invitation that changed my life.

Life now seems to have come full circle -- convolutedly perhaps -- but me showing one of his photographs in this blog of mine about Radiance.

Chakra Eight 10-2-11

   The Auric Body  --   Radiance

People lie.  Auras never lie."
                             Yogi Bhajan


We are lit up like a Christmas tree!  If we could see (some do see) the energy waves, the colors, that come from us, we would be amazed!  Undulating waves of vibrations and colors -- and for each of us, it's different, like fingerprints.  Wouldn't it be great to "read" one's own aura?
Well we can read our own auras by tuning into the previous seven chakras -- where are we in alignment, where are we not?  The colors will show the truth, the level of vibrational field will show the truth.  And we can add to it positively by doing Kundalini yoga, by meditating, why even by thinking kind thoughts -- and it's not just ourselves that we're concerned with, but the vibrational field of our whole, our known and unknown universe, our God -- for we are All One. Let's Shine, let's Glow, with energy and life force, with Radiance!


Here is our forty day meditation for the Eighth Chakra:  the meditation for spiritual awakening.
Sit comfortably.  Eyes are one-tenth open.
Raise your arms up over the head, interlacing the fingers six inches above the top of the head, palms face-down.  Elbows are bent slightly, forming an arc around your head.
Deeply inhale and hold the breath.
Exhale fully and hold the breath out.  Be sure to sue long, deep, complete breaths.
Continue eleven minutes, working up to thirty-one minutes.

The Other Side of The Red Door 9-28-11

Back in February, nearing the end of our work in First Chakra, I discovered a Red Door, which had been covered over by a drape, in my husband's shop (check out the blog posting of 2-3-11).  It struck me especially at the time because the color of the First Chakra is Red.  I wasn't sure how or why, but the discovery of this door seemed symbolic -- what threshold was I crossing?  What meaning might this have in my life?
And now, nearing the end of the Seventh Chakra, The Crown -- and after our journey through seven of the wheels of life, I'm seeing the significance of this Red Door.  It was The Opening into my own studio.  I'm now on the other side of the door -- and my archives of the past thirty years!  Writing, photographs, paintings, collected memorabelia, family treasures -- all my stuff in a beautiful, big, spacious, high-ceilinged, south-facing, studio!!!  I am so grateful.

I apologize for not writing the whole month of September and for most of Crown Chakra, but I've been so busy moving into my new space I never seemed to find the time.  I am sorry.  Seventh is a wonderful Chakra!  I guess what I have to say about it is:  meditate meditate meditate!  That's the space of the Crown.

I wonder what doors you've opened in your lives since we began this journey?  And even though we're coming to the close of Seventh Chakra, we are going to continue and do the Eighth Human Talent -- Radiance, the Auric Body -- so stay tuned.

And the question for me, I ask myself, is:  What's next?

The Final Frontier 8-29-11

                 




                   CONSCIOUSNESS
        the crack of light in a void of darkness
  the mystery we embrace in the Seventh Chakra


It is the tremendous experience of becoming conscious, which nature has laid upon mankind, and which unites the most diverse cultures in a common task.              C.G. Jung


Whistle Breath opens the Crown Chakra.  Purse your lips and make a whistle sound as you inhale -- exhale through the nose.  Continue at least three minutes.

Opening to the Mystery of Heaven 8-24-11

Consciousness is the mystery that we embrace in the Crown Chakra -- the thousand petaled lotus.  The Seventh Chakra is about merging with divine consciousness and realizing our true nature.  The name is Sahasrara (thousandfold).
The element is Thought.
The purpose is Understanding.  The issues we'll be looking at during the next forty days are:
Consciousness, Awareness, The Witness, Transcendence, Immanence, Belief Systems, Higher Power, Divinity, Union, and Vision, Meaning, Unity.
The color is Violet.
The demon is Attachment.

In this seventh power center, an easy way to confront our own fear of death and to go beyond that fear to experience the undying existence of our own soul is to practice the technique of held and expelled breath:
Sit in a comfortable position with your hands held palms up in front of you, as though someone were going to pour blessings into your open hands.
Inhale deeply, and hold the breath with your eyes one-tenth open.
Slowly exhale all the air from your lungs.
Once the air is gone, mentally chant "Sat Nam" four times.
Inhale again, slowly exhale, and holding the breath our, chant the mantra five times.  Gradually work your way up to reciting slowly the mantra eight times on each exhale.
Continue for at least three minutes.

Even Oprah! 8-22-11

Even Oprah is talking about Sixth Chakra!  Her latest magazine has a big article on "Intuition" and one's "sixth sense."  It's a worthwhile read!

For us, today is the last day of Sixth Chakra, the world of colors and symbols, dreams and fantasy, archetypes and images.  The possibilities expand through imagination, which stimulates creativity.  Our new vista gives us increased understanding, as we not only perceive the patterns around us, but also perceive our own place and purpose in them.

Tomorrow we move into the Seventh Chakra, and open to the Mystery of Heaven.  Visit the site tomorrow for our forty day meditation and more information on unfolding the thousand-petaled lotus.

More on Pattern Recognition 8-14-11

There was a man years ago whom I was just getting to know -- on the telephone -- we hadn’t met yet, but had been encouraged by a mutual acquaintance to have a go at it.  He was single.  I was single.  Why not?  

One day, the unnamed man sent me on a sort of treasure hunt, a game, he said, to get to know him better.  He told me to follow the instructions he would give me, and at the end of it, I would know something important about him.  

Here were the instructions:  Get in your car, drive to Whole Foods (or some such place), find the tea section, then find the selection of Celestial Seasoning Tea, look for the one called, Tension Tamer, then take the box off the shelf and look at the picture.  

Wow, this was great.  Wasn’t this guy playful and fun!  

Off I went, happily on my hunt, to find the tea that would tell me things. 

Here is a description of the picture on the tea box:  In the foreground is a princess sitting on what looks like a pile of rocks -- she seems serene, content in her sitting/waiting posture (one might call it meditative).  In the back ground, very teeny, you can see a knight in shining armor leaving a beautiful castle glowing in the clouds behind him.  Near him, at his point along the way, is a scaly dragon, breathing fire.  The knight has his sword drawn in preparation for battle with the beast -- which in turn allows the knight to rescue and free the princess.   

How could I have not recognized a pattern that has played over and over in my life!  I knew this story.  I’d lived it, far too many times.  Falling for what I believe is the hero, the man in the arena!  

I held that picture out in front of me like it was the place at the end of the rainbow.  But it wasn’t.   

In time, I've learned that the princess needs to get up off that rock on her own, and quit waiting to be rescued.  She needs to incorporate the qualities of the knight -- honor, courage, valor, risk -- in herself.  Turns out, there was more to learn about myself than about him -- and he wasn't playful or fun either.  

DREAMS 8-4-11

We receive messages directly from our unconscious every night -- messages that can help us to understand our life -- guidance not filtered through the ego.  These messages come in the form of dreams.  Some people don't think that they dream, but we all do every night, on a pretty regular schedule throughout the night, beginning with the shortest dreams from deep within the unconscious, to the longer dreams occurring just before waking.  Learning to interpret our dreams, learning our own symbolic language, is a gift and task of the Sixth Chakra.

The whole creation is essentially subjective, and the dream is the theater where the dreamer is at once scene, actor, prompter, stage, manager, author, audience, and critic.         C.G. Jung

Mandalas 7-27-11

Mandalas are symbols that reflect wholeness.  Usually geometric, the design emanates from the center and is brightly colored.  Mandalas are used in meditation as focusing tools -- yogis sometimes practice yantra yoga, the yoga of meditating upon a symbol or mandala as a way of focusing the mind into clarity.  Jung interpreted the appearance of mandalas in dreams as resolutions of opposites and symbols of wholeness.

With the birth of the symbol, the regression of the libido into the unconscious ceases.  Regression changes into progression, blockage gives way to flowing, and the pull of the primordial abyss is broken.         C.G. Jung






There are many sites on the internet where you can print blanks of mandalas to color yourself.  Try this as a sixth chakra exercise in focusing.

Pattern Recognition 7-20-11

Pattern Recognition reminds me of the old joke about the person who is walking down the street and falls into a deep hole.  They eventually get out, only to do the same thing over again -- and over again -- until finally it dawns on them to walk around the hole in the street.  They've recognized a pattern!
Or it's like playing a game of connecting the dots -- even before the dots are all connected, a pattern emerges.  It is the task of the Sixth Chakra to assemble information into meaningful patterns.
Once the pattern becomes clear, we don't have to follow it to the end.  We can intuit what it will become and guide our actions accordingly.
Each time we recognize a pattern, we move toward wholeness.  As inner sight develops, illusion are shattered, dreams are integrated, clarity begins, and consciousness extends yet another step beyond what was available through the lower five chakras.

So focus on your third eye -- your inner vision -- our sight gives us guidance.

Sixth Chakra INTUITION 7-14-11

Sixth Chakra.  The element of Light.  Ajna -- to perceive or command.  The issues are:  Image; Intuition; Imagination; Visualization;Insight; Dreams; Vision.

The color is Indigo.  The location is the forehead or third eye.  The demon is Illusion.

If we are living by outer direction instead of inner feelings, then we are not living our true self.  If consciousness gets wrapped around an image, we need to confront the discrepancy between image and reality and learn to see at a deeper level.

In traveling through the issues of the Sixth Chakra we will learn to open our third eye -- our intuition -- and our sight will give us guidance.

Here is the forty day meditation for the Sixth Chakra:

Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful Meditation:

Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position, spine straight.

Raise your right arm up at a sixty degree angle in front of the body, the palm facing down.

Put your left wrist on your left knee, palm facing up, hands in Gyan mudra.

Keep the eyes focused at the third eye point, as you recite the following mantra out loud:

I am the Light of my Soul.

I am Bountiful, I am Beautiful.

I am Bliss.  I am, I AM.

Say it with conviction, determination, and truth.  Speak it to the world, to God and to yourself.

Continue for three to eleven minutes.

With the mantra “I am, I AM,” the ego identity merges into the Universal Identity.  This meditation builds self-esteem, self-respect, and self-honoring.

The Power of Sound 7-12-11

Today is the second to the last day in Fifth Chakra.  Check out this link to witness the power of sound vibration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_YOG3jMlV4

See you all on Thursday for the first day of the Sixth Chakra when we begin to develop our inner vision.

Listening 6-29-11

Deep listening is an essential part of communication.  First of all, taking the time to be quiet and listen to the self -- to still the chatter of the mind and open to silence.  This is the time the upper and lower chakras can enter into resonance with each other, connecting mind and body.

Besides listening to the Self, practice listening to all kinds of sounds from the outside -- listen to the birds, to distant noises, the trees rustling, to music, even to the rhythm of words.

Active listening is a communication skill that helps others know they are being heard.  One person speaks without interruption while the other listens.  The listener then repeats back to the speaker what they heard being said.  The speaker makes any corrections and the process repeats.  Then it's time for the second person to speak.  This technique can do wonders to help solve communication difficulties.

It may be nearly impossible to communicate if we were never given the chance as a child.  In an authoritarian or overbearing family, if a child isn't given the chance to voice their own feelings or thoughts, it is difficult to trust and open up -- or to feel that your words are worth speaking.  It's important to reflect back to childhood situations and explore the roots of fifth chakra deficiency or excess.

Find ways to stretch your limitations -- warm up the body with exercise, then practice opening the throat with any kind of sound that comes from the inside.  From there, practice toning vowel sounds, and then singing.
And remember to LISTEN to yourself:  what is it your truth and how do you speak it?

SING! 6-24-11

The phrenic nerve originates in the emotional center of the brain.  It runs through the throat and splits -- one piece of the nerve going past the heart -- the two pieces of the nerve rejoin in the diaphragm.  We breath day and night, filling the lungs, pushing against the diaphragm and stomach.  We do this automatically, but it's important to remember that the phrenic nerve originates in the emotional center of the brain.  When we have significant emotional events, we always have a physical feelings in the stomach -- butterflies, ulcers, vomiting -- it's the phrenic nerve reacting because we're feeling it from the emotional center.  We're told, take a deep breath -- this helps free the phrenic nerve from its spasm -- the breath stretches the nerve out and calms down the spasms.

I learned all this from a fabulous woman named Sue Parker, who teaches music and singing.  I went to her on a Fifth Chakra "field day" to help open up my throat.  In singing, she said, we're constantly filling the body with air, releasing the phrenic nerve and the emotional center of the brain.  Singing makes us feel better!  With the release of all the air we begin a "dumping" of all the emotional stuff that has been stored inside.  Singing releases the same endorphins as laughter.

When the throat chakra is blocked, we separate from the chorus of life.  There's a block in the discharge of energy.  The throat closes down, bottling up the emotions, annihilating our ideas before they can make it out of our mouth.  We hide behind silence.

Practice deep breathing through the mouth, filling the diaphragm.  Expel the breath in a sound, singing different vowels, or just sounds.  Singing is a full body experience, Sue said.  I left my lesson exhausted and sweating, feel-good endorphins running all through my body!

On Voice 6-17-11

I'm reading a novel by Ann Patchett called Bel Canto.  There's an opera singer in the story and the following paragraph is about another character listening to her sing.  I couldn't help but think of the Fifth Chakra and the piece I posted called The Scream Within.


It was different in ways he never could have imagined, as if the voice were something that could be seen.  Certainly it could be felt, even from where he stood in the very back of the room.  It trembled inside the folds of his cassock, brushed against the skin of his cheeks.  Never had he thought, never once, that such a woman existed, one who stood so close to God that God's own voice poured from her.  How far she must have gone inside herself to call up that voice.  It was as if the voice came from the center part of the earth and by the sheer effort and diligence of her will she had pulled it up through the dirt and rock and through the floorboards of the house, up into her feet, where it pulled through her, reaching lifting, warmed by her, and then out of the white lily of her throat and straight to God in heaven.  It was a miracle and he wept for the gift of bearing witness.

Truths and Lies 6-15-11

I ran into trouble with my computer just as I was completing a big project -- my creative expression was erased -- my voice was silenced.  Now with a new computer, I'm back on line, and beginning the reconstruction of my project.
But I had to think about the whole idea of not being able to give voice -- how has that happened in the past?  It was familiar ground.

Events impact us with a vibration -- like a guitar string being struck.  If we don't or can't express our truth, the impact it's stored in the body as stress.  Energy comes in but not back out.  It's easier to block expression rather than its reception.  Having to protect the vulnerable core, choosing silence, hiding, are strategies developed because of fear or shame.  Better to be quiet, hold the breath, block expression.  Blocked energy over time can create health issues, such as high blood pressure, or problems with the thyroid gland.

Learning to trust, feeling safe and loved, are necessary steps in opening and healing the throat chakra.

Use toning exercises and mantra to practice sound and resonance.  And sing!

The Scream Within 6-5-11

I wrote this piece twenty years ago.  I still struggle with finding my voice, speaking my truth.


I am the scream within
the voice that never makes it to the airwaves
the force that never breaks the surface
I'm on the inside  inside
bumping around  around
never making it out
and why  why


I know my quiet  my gentle  my whisper
but I do not know my ROAR


Why don't I just open my mouth  relax my throat  and let it out  let the scream out
When I drove across country I practiced screaming in my car
I drove back-country roads  in Kansas  Nebraska  Iowa and I wondered how loud I could scream  
I wondered how loud a sound could come out of me  out of me
so I tried
I drove back-country roads with the windows rolled up  in July  and I screamed
at first as loud as I dared  testing my voice  my strength  my ability to be loud
I felt embarrassed 
afraid some field hands would hear me as I drove by
afraid they would locate the scream as it passed by in a blue Suburban
afraid they would identify it as me
so I screamed loud
but I still held back thinking of others
fearful I might be judged  criticized  heard
and then I thought  what the fuck  so what if I'm heard
so what  so what  I'm testing something here  I need to know
and so I started a breath way down inside  way down
way down inside
and I let it build   build      slowly
I was in no hurry
I let it gain force   momentum    I let it swirl
around the inside of me like liquid swirling around the inside of a bowl
I let it take all the time it needed
and then I felt it as it began the climb out of me
the long climb   up    up   out   out
but with a force behind it
a power driving it  expelling it
and then I felt it fill my throat   my mouth
I felt it as it broke free
broke the surface of my mouth
pushed its way through my lips  a full gale  a hurricane
powerful winds flapping my lips in its aftermath
and the sound was loud
this time at last it was VERY LOUD
it was wonderful  this loud sound  this LOUD SOUND
releasing   shrieking   forceful  terrible  powerful   exhilarating 
I loved my sound
my LOUD SOUND


And the field hands busy at their labor in the green fields
they laid down their hoes
they took off their straw hats which protected them from the intense heat of the summer sun
and in great respect   I could tell
and in great awe   they applauded as I drove by
they waved their straw hats   they cheered
and they knew they had heard a very LOUD SOUND   indeed

Fifth Chakra Sound 6-4-11

Fifth Chakra.  Sound.  Vissudha (purification)
The issues are:
Communication
Creativity
Listening
Resonance
Finding one's own voice

The color is bright blue.  The location is the throat.
The demon is lies.

In the first four chakras we concerned ourselves
with form (1), movement (2), activity (3),
and relationship (4) -- things that are easily observed.
In chakra five, our attention moves to vibrations as the subtle, rhythmic pulsation that move through all things.

The meditation we'll be doing for the next forty days is the Meditation for Breaking Habits:
Sit comfortably.  Spine straight.
Make the hands into fists and extend the thumbs our straight.
Place the pads of the thumbs on the temples at the sides of the forehead, find the niche where the thumbs fit perfectly.
Lock the back molars together, keep the lips closed.
Alternately press the molars together and then release.  You will feel the rhythmic movement.
Eyes are closed and turned up.
With each pressure on the molars, silently vibrate the sounds "Sat-Ta-Na-Ma" at the brow.
Continue 5 to 7 minutes, breathing deeply through the nose.
You can increase up to 31 minutes.

Do shoulders shrugs, figure-eight neck rolls, fish pose, chant, and SING!

One more day...6-3-11

I miscalculated.  Today is the last day of the Fourth Chakra -- tomorrow we will enter the realm of the Fifth.  Stay with our Hum meditation and stay open to matters of the heart.

Recognize that the other person is you.
                                                   Yogi Bhajan

Heart on My Sleeve 6-1-11

Picking up where I left off in my last post, my journaling set me on a course of learning to love myself.  For the occasion I bought myself a tiny gold heart which I began wearing on a long gold chain -- I wear it still.  Also, I decided to get a tattoo and chose a heart on my shoulder.  Both were reminders to love myself.

I said last month that I was deficient in third chakra energy.  I need more action steps, better boundaries, passion and power.  In the fourth I would say I'm excessive -- a strong movement outward which lets very little energy in.  This eventually depletes the core, which tries to replenish itself by connecting with others in the same excessive manner that caused the depletion.

It's like the story of being in an airplane when the oxygen levels are compromised.  When the masks drop, you have to put your own on first -- before you can help others.

Tomorrow is the last day of Heart Chakra -- Friday we'll be moving onto the Fifth.  I hope you have had a healing of your heart, that you've attended to the most vulnerable and sacred aspects within yourself, that you have found compassion, and that you are ready now to express your Truth.

INTIMACY 5-25-11

Before we can truly love another, we have to love ourself.  The most common block in the heart chakra is the absence of self-love.  How can we reach out to others if we are drowning in shame and criticism?  We have to have an intimacy with ourself, a way to bring our own deep interior to consciousness.

I began the continuing process of self-discovery thirty-three years ago when I wrote in a journal for the first time.  The words I wrote were, "I am not happy." I knew, seeing them on the page, the truth was out, and that I had to change that statement.  I had to save my own life, and that I was the only one who could.  The responsibility of that change terrified me -- I had a husband and two young sons -- what could I do?

I don't even know how many journals I've filled in the years since then -- first writing in long hand, and then eventually on the computer -- shelves of books -- that are a record of my investigation of myself -- my individuation process.  If there were a tornado coming ( and I had the time), it would be my journals I would save.  They represent to me, my struggle to know my self (my Self), my tragedies and triumphs.  In C.S. Lewis's book, Til We Have Faces, he talks about "probing the self with a pen."  Sounds painful, and it sometimes is -- the journey included many years with a couple of gifted Jungian analysts willing to bear witness to my descent.  It's a deeper knowledge of self that I continue to discover, and that is the imperfect gift I am able to offer.  

In my deep interior, I am happy.

Balance 5-15-11

Sorry to be away for so long.  I've been with my husband on a boat at Lake Powell, Utah -- some Fourth Chakra time away.
We expected to be with some friends but they ran into some bad weather and couldn't fly down to meet us, so we had this giant houseboat all to ourselves -- which meant we also had to learn how to maneuver this behemoth (our friend was the experienced sailor).  My husband did great though, figuring things out and managing to get the boat on land for our nights out, despite a few close encounters.  I did a lot of cheering and encouraging, so we were a real team.
 
I also realized that steering the boat was a lot like being in a relationship.  You tack into the wind, you allow for the current of the water, you hold a reference point out on the horizon, but deal with the conditions at hand.

We missed the company of our friends, but learned to balance our time of togetherness and aloneness -- attachment and freedom.  In balance we find our own center.  Fourth Chakra is the balance point between the lower and upper chakras -- the downward movement of spirit into matter and the upward liberation of matter into spirit.

Here's a great exercise if you're in a partnership:  one person lays on the floor, the other lays on top.  Begin to synchronize your breathing, so that the belly of the one inhaling extends into the one exhaling.  Continue as long as you like...

Shot in the Heart 5-3-11

With the opening of the heart, in exposing one's vulnerabilities, the soft under-belly, can come Grief -- the shadow of the Fourth Chakra.

Lately I've been dealing with a close family member struggle with sobriety.  Watching my loved one struggle and fail over and over again is like being shot in the heart -- the hope of recovery and then the overwhelming loss when there's a relapse -- the concern that they won't make it -- the powerlessness I feel to do anything, but watch and pray and give them  up to God.

The work for me is to stay in my own serenity -- like the face of the Buddha in the picture.  The gun is pointed at the heart, but there is no fear or worry, only a deep trust in Divine connection.

The Royal Wedding 4-29-11

                 Ahhh, Love, Relationship, Intimacy:  the Flower of the Fourth Chakra

Today much of the world population was glued to their television sets to watch as a handsome prince married his beloved beautiful princess -- the basic right of the Fourth Chakra, to love and be loved.

Seems very simple.  But we all know the tragic end of the other royal wedding of thirty years ago.  Love doesn't always turn out the way we intend.  So often, the promises made with such fervor, are somehow lost along the way.  

But our deep longing for love, relationship, and intimacy, is what seizes our collective psyche, and makes us watch, makes us long for the young couple, so full of hope and promise, to succeed.

Second Chakra stirs our emotions and our loins.  The energy of Svadhisthana (sweetness) is about desire and pleasure.  Fourth Chakra is a whole other world.  Here we must be very brave.  Here we risk knowing the other and ourselves through (as Joseph Campbell called it) the ordeal of marriage (or committed relationship).   This is a journey to the heart of the Self and we act as mirror for the other as we go.  Here we must be vulnerable, we must trust and open and heal the wounds of the heart, finding through its mazes and mysteries the talent of the Fourth Chakra:  Compassion.

OPEN UP YOUR HEART 4-25-11

    Welcome to the Fourth Chakra!  Finding the Balance in Love.

We've completed the the first three chakras, known as the lower triangle -- now we are at the balance point between the lower and the upper triangles.  We are at the Heart Chakra -- Anahata, meaning unstuck -- in the element of Air.  The color is Green.

These are the issues we'll be exploring during the next forty days:
Love
Balance
Self-Love
Relationship
Intimacy
Anima/Animus
Devotion
Reaching out and taking in

The basic right of the Heart Chakra is to love and be loved.
The talent is Compassion.

Here is an exercise to open the heart:
1. Sitting, stretch out arms in front of you, parallel to floor, palms pressed firmly together, elbows straight.
2. Inhale deeply through nose, open arms wide in a large expansive gesture.
Feel your heart center open, expand your lungs, arms back as far as they can go.
Feel the stretch across the chest, under the arms, the ribs, down the arms to the fingertips.
3. When arms are stretched as far as they can go, shoulder blades almost touching, begin exhaling powerfully through the nose and bring arms back to original position, palms together.
4. Do the movement 26 times, eyes closed, concentrating at the third eye point.  As you inhale vibrate Sat.  On the exhale vibrate Nam.  Sat Nam, I am Truth or True Identity.
Move at a moderate pace.

And here is our forty day meditation to be done three to eleven minutes each day:
1.  Sitting in easy pose, legs crossed, spine straight.
2. Extend arms straight out to sides, parallel to ground.  Bend elbows so forearms form a 90 degree angle straight up.  Palms flat, facing forward.
3. Close eyes, concentrating at third eye point.  Inhale deeply through nose -- on exhale make the sound "Hummmmm."  Allow this healing current to resonate through the face, beginning with the lips, which are pressed together gently like two petals.
This sound current moves us from individual consciousness to divine love, connecting to the Infinite through the heart center.

Your heart has not to open to others.
Your heart has to open to yourself.
                                 Yogi Bhajan

Last Day 3rd Chakra 4-24-11

One of my boldest, most authentic, and courageous, steps toward my Self, was coming to New Mexico twenty-seven years ago.  Against the cautionary advice and pleas of family and friends to reconsider, or “just rent” for a while, see if you really like it.  It’s a long way away.  It’s the wild wild west!  Are you really really sure?

Well, no.  Who is ever really sure?  I believed it was the right step for me  in the moment -- and it was just a moment.  The moment a tiny window opened in time and I jumped through before it slammed shut behind me.  I had to be quick.  I had to be bold.  I had to act before I came to my senses, my right mind.  I had to take a chance, step away from all that I knew, had ever known, and enter the unknown -- the new, the untested.  

I did.  And never looked back.

We’re leaving Third Chakra today.  We’ve gained the right to act and be an individual. We’ve wrestled with the devils of anger and shame and given up the attachment to being safe.  I hope you have become stronger in yourself these last forty days.  Personally, I’ve made my commitment to continue strength and fitness training--underpinned, of course, by my yoga and meditation practice.  

Let the fire continue to burn as we now learn to open our hearts!

INDIVIDUATION 4-23-11

                                  ONLY CHILD

you close your legs tight
to keep me from being born
to keep me always with you

you feed me from the umbilical cord
the breast
so i'll only know nourishment that comes filtered through you

you squeeze me back in every time i try to get out
i should have been born in february
an aquarian
freedom-loving
independent
rebellious
but it's nearing the ides of march
and still i wait in my watery tomb

and every time i leave it's just like the first time
i have to be cut from you
i have to hear the sound of your flesh as it rips
i have to see the gaping hole and the bright red blood
i have to know what i've done to you for being born
for becoming myself
for daring to leave you
mother

Energy 4-19-11

Well, I've admitted this is the hardest chakra for me -- and it seems to be for others I've heard from or talked to.  What is it about stepping into our own power that is so difficult?  I know I can make a commitment with the most fervent intent, and then poof, it disappears.  Then I can feel bad bad and guilty and make all kinds of negative sounds about myself.  What a circle to be in!!!

Yogi Bhajan said that commitment is your only friend.  Pretty powerful statement.  My only friend?  Really?

It turns out that's so true.  Everything and everyone can evaporate from your life, but if you have a deep commitment to your Self, then you can live in Grace. The commitment is to the Divine and that's the first place it needs to be.  Anything else can follow after that.

So I'm working on building my energy to stick with my commitment -- to my meditation, to yoga, and to getting fit and strong (in all ways!).  I thank those of you I've heard from -- it sure helps me generate energy when I know you're all out there doing it too!

Ladies and Gentlemen, START YOUR ENGINES!

C'mon, fan that flame!  We're twenty-two days into the third chakra, we need fire!

So, we're twenty-two days in and I haven't made a commitment yet.  What's up with that?

During the First Chakra I did a cleanse for three weeks -- in the Second Chakra, I took a creative course (learned PhotoShop -- well began to learn PhotoShop) -- but here I am more than three weeks in and I've yet to declare.  And talent of FC is COMMITMENT.

So my fire has not been raised enough.  I've been unwilling or unable to grab hold of something and say -- I'm doing this!  With my whole Self behind it.  Grrrr.

But today, I'm declaring.  I'm going to get fit -- not lose weight so I can fit into my favorite summer clothes, but get fit, strong, empowered!  But here's the deal -- we're in Mercury Retrograde.  What luck!
No, I'm not giving an excuse.  Here's my plan:  (I'm committing here and now) -- Mercury goes direct on April 23 -- that's just the day before we enter Fourth Chakra.  During the next couple of weeks I'm going to begin, but not officially.  I'm going to be planning some activities, ie, treadmill, weights, hiking, biking, swimming, dancing -- not all at once and not all the time, but making a schedule which I intend to do for the rest of this course -- that's November 10th.  These activities will be in addition to my yoga and meditation, of course (that's the corner stone).

I'll keep posting, letting you know.  I sure would appreciate some encouragement!
Let me know if you'd like to join me in this....xxmf

E Z Target 3-28-11

Many years ago I worked in clay.  One of the things I enjoyed most was making what I called Mythic Figures -- gods, goddesses, archetypes of psyche.

One small figure was on her way to being an angel, complete with full wings, a trumpet in one uplifted hand, ready to blow the call.  But she never fulfilled that destiny.

As it so often happened, certain pieces just didn't make it through the transformational fire.  Whatever the cause, the little angel's wings blew off, as did her arms, and she had a nasty crack up her middle.  Her future was not bright, but I kept her anyway.  She looked so small and vulnerable, her mouth so ready to sound a call that instead was forever silent.

This malformed, voiceless, creature sat on a shelf in my studio collecting clay dust and watching as other more glorious, successful, figures went off to their life.

One day I returned home from having my yearly mammogram.  Besides the hideously and humiliating pancaking of my "girls," I was told to place two small sticky dots on my nipples so the radiologist could easily identify the area.  The label on the dots read:  E Z Target.

I brought the dots home (because I collect weird items), put them on the little angel who wasn't, and watched as she wondrously stepped into Her Self.

E Z Target is an archetype.  It's the Victim, the powerless, the one passed over, the one not heard.  This is the dark side of Third Chakra and I know this place better than I like to admit.

Chakra Three takes energy, action, willpower, personal authority, the commitment to individuation.  I've probably worked the hardest right here keeping a fire stoked in my belly.  Even now, as I sometimes feel my passivity kick in, I'm reminded of a part of myself that longs to live, to take flight, and blow my horn.  Loud!

The Will of the Spiritual Warrior 3-21-11

The Third Chakra is the center of energy, of will power, of a sense of control and coordination.  It is the driving force to act and to complete the conceptualization, and the visualization that one has in life.
One who is strong at the Third Chakra will have a sense that their life and the quality of their life depends on what they do.  They are doers.  They can shape, direct, and develop what happens within their life -- there's a willingness to initiate.

When in doubt in the First Chakra secure your stations and hold to your old habits.  When in doubt in the Second Chakra, find your feeling and follow your passion.  When in doubt in the Third Chakra, ACT.  Do something, shake the boat, project your point, or get a vision, an image sent from the higher commander in self.


Begin the morning with Stretch Pose:  lying on your back, raise shoulders, arms, and feet six inches off the floor and do Breath of Fire.  This strengthens the navel center and distributes the energy throughout the body.       Keep Up!!

CHAKRA THREE Burning our way to Power 3-16-11

Manipura.  Lustrous gem.  We are in the Third Chakra.  Fire.  Yellow.

The issues we will be concerned with are:
Energy
Activity
Autonomy
Individuation
Will
Self-Esteem
Pro activity
Power

First chakra is the right to have -- Second chakra is the right to feel.

Third chakra is the right to ACT, from our own empowerment and without diminishing that of others.


Our meditation for the next forty days is the STRESS-RELIEF MEDITATION:
Sit in easy pose.  Extend the right arm straight up in the air, hugging the right ear -- elbow straight, palm faces left.  Left arm is extended up at a sixty degree angle, palm flat, face down, elbow straight.  Thumbs on both hands are on the mound just below the little finger.  Inhale through the nose, vibrating SAT.  Exhale through the nose, vibrating NAM.  11 minutes (begin with a shorter time if you need to, and increase).  This is challenging -- rest the arms as you need.
Exercises:  do alternating leg lifts for strength and determination.
                  and spinal twists for the liver and spleen.

I'll add to these as our forty days continue.
KEEP UP!
                

Final day Chakra Two 3-15-11

Today is the final day to swim in the waters of the Second Chakra!  Go deep.  Move.  Welcome change.  Feel your feelings.  Go for pleasure.  Enjoy!  Release all guilt.  Do the fortieth day of Sat Kryia!

Connect your Creativity to your higher self -- to God
and fully experience this human talent.

GUILT 3-7-11

GUILT is the shadow of the second chakra  -- the nagging voice within us that is meant to bring us to a realization that there is a standard and we have fallen short.  Like a stone in a stream, carried internally, the feeling of guilt can curtail the free flow of movement -- largely by taking the pleasure out of it.  There's so much pleasure associated with the second chakra -- and compulsive/addicted behaviors -- there's bound to be GUILT.  


Guilt polarizes the personality setting us up for an either-or mentality.  We can become locked in a struggle and find ourselves unable to hold the tension of the opposites -- the necessary function of the psyche before the Transcendent Function (according to Jung) can CREATE the new standpoint.  


CREATIVITY is the talent we develop working through the shadow of the second chakra.


There is only one more week before we move into Chakra Three.  Stay with the issues of the second chakra -- move the energy, do pelvic tilts, goddess pose, write in your journal about areas in life where you hold guilt, do Sat Kriya, dance, talk to your partner.  Keep up, as Yogi Bhajan said, and you'll be kept up!

FEELINGS 3-1-11

You can't experience the ocean from the shoreline.  You can't experience FEELINGS from your head.

Second Chakra is about the right to FEEL.  It's not always easy, or pleasant, or clear -- it can even be scary -- but such are the waters of the second chakra.

Emotion is the chief source of all becoming conscious. There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion.                               C.G. Jung


Emotions are the way we organize feelings.

                   DIVE IN!   FEEL!

DESIRE 2-25-11

                You are what your deep driving desire is.
                       As your desire is, so is your will.
                         As your will, so is your deed.
                      As you deed is, so is your destiny.                    

                                              Brihadaranyaka  Upanishad IV.4.5



We need our Desires -- they inspire us to Change.  From the stable atmosphere of Chakra One, Desire urges us to Move.
According to Anodea Judith, "It is the essential thrusting forward that leads us to action."  It is the seed of passion and enthusiasm essential for developing energy and power (preparing us for Chakra Three).
Desire may lead to frustration, we may wail and vent, but the frustration can be tied to important lessons for our growth.  And if we can come to understand the deeper desires, we learn something of our Soul.  Only then can we have the clarity to bring action to our longings.

Intimacy 2-21-11

Human relationship leads into the world of the psyche, into that intermediate realm between sense and spirit, which contains something of both and yet forfeits nothing of its own unique character.  Into this territory a man must venture if he wishes to meet woman half way.  Circumstances have forced her to acquire a number of masculine traits, so that she shall not remain caught in an antiquated, purely instinctual femininity, lost and alone in the world of men.  So, too, man will be forced to develop his feminine side, to open his eyes to the psyche and to Eros.  It is a task he cannot avoid, unless he prefers to go trailing after woman in a hopelessly boyish fashion, worshipping from afar but always in danger of being stowed away in her pocket.

                                                                      C.G. Jung

Thawing Out 2-18-11

Happy Full Moon in Leo!


Today we're talking about movement and change -- two important qualities of Chakra Two.

Where do you feel frozen?  Get into your body and thaw the areas that are blocked, stiff -- turn them back into water.  Be fluid.  Move.  Dance. Let the energy flow.
How are you frozen in your feelings?  What kind of feelings might be operating if they weren't frozen?
How would your life change?

Chakra One was about getting settled and learning to be still, to contain.  Now in Chakra Two we're moving, reaching out.  Let that energy happen from within.  We grounded and stabilized ourselves in One.  There's no need to fear Change.  Welcome it.  Embrace it.  It will stimulate your aliveness!

The Pleasure Principle, root of desire 2-14-11

A romantic Valentine’s Day gettaway -- beloved husband, hot mineral springs, sex, touch, pleasure, emotional bonding -- yes, we are deep in the realms of the Second Chakra.  Sounds good.  But, there are traps here too, danger -- it’s a place we can get stuck -- too much of a good thing.  Addictions live here as well -- and dulality, tension, and opposition.  Water makes life juicy, but pleasure can turn to pain.  Closeness to neediness -- and the shadow of guilt looms as we play in the dilemma of attachment vs. separation.  Successful navigation through the second chakra requires an emotional core grounded enough to be contained, and open enough to flow and connect.

Keep up with our forty day meditation of Sat Kriya to channel second chakra energy to divinity.  This exercise strengthens the entire sexual system and helps one to direct the sexual energy of the second chakra into your own creativity and healing.

Basics - Chakra Two 2-7-11

     Svadhisthana Chakra.  It means "sweetness."
The sweetness of pleasure is the jewel in the lotus of the second chakra.
Chakra One was about the right to have --  Chakra Two is about the right to FEEL.  The main issue is sexuality and emotions.  The goals are fluidity of movement, pleasure, and connection.  The areas of body we're focusing on are the sacrum, genitals, affecting hips, knees, and lower back.  Malfunctions are stiffness, sexual addiction or sexual anorexia, isolation, emotional instability or numbness.  From earth we've moved into WATER.  The animal is the FISH.
Arrange your altar with articles that reflect the element of water -- shells, a cup that holds water or orange flowers -- images of gods and goddesses that are sensual.  However the altar is arranged make sure it brings you pleasure.  Pleasure encourages us to expand, physically and energetically -- we flow outward.  In Chakra One we were consolidating and building, making our ground -- now we change and flow and connect and seek pleasure.

Emotion is the chief source of all becoming conscious.  There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion.      C. G. Jung

ORANGE 2-6-11

ORANGE is not a wall-flower color.  It's bold, it's out there, it invites a look, demands attention.

So what might that say about second chakra?
That it makes itself known?

This is the center of sensation and feeling, emotion and pleasure, intimacy and connection, movement and change.

Many of us carry wounds to this chakra and this inhibits our life energy to have passion and pleasure and to live creatively.

Let's dive into the waters of the second chakra and begin to heal.  Starting with some movement to open the body and free any stuck energy:
Goddess Pose:  On the back, draw the soles of the feet together, let the knees fall open and allow you to experience a state of vulnerability and receptivity.
Pelvic Side Rolls:  In the same position as above, move the hands to the open knees and begin to rock sideways, opening one side, then the other.  Next try the posture with straight legs, side to side.
Child's Pose--Open Hips:  Turning over into Child's Pose, curled over knees, head to floor in front--but open the knees as far as possible, to open the hip joints.

And remember, Have fun and enjoy the postures -- this is about sensuality!