Chakra Two 2-4-11

Congratulations!  We've completed forty days of of Chakra One and now begin our second of eight forty day meditations.
The shift we make today is from Earth, Grounding, and Stability, where our concern has been with survival and structure, to the element of Water, where we cultivate Feelings and Emotions, and where our focus will be on Sexuality and Pleasure.

The following is a list of the basic issues of the second chakra to keep in mind:  Change;  Movement;  Flow;  Sensation;  Pleasure;  Emotion;  Need;  Desire;  The Shadow;  Guilt;  Duality;  Sexuality.

Our meditation for the next forty days is Sat Kriya -- for channeling second chakra energy to divinity.
Sit on your heels and stretch the arms over the head, keeping the elbows straight.
Interlock the hands, extending the index fingers so they are pointing straight up.
Begin chanting the mantra "Sat" as you pull in slightly on the rectum, sex organs, and navel point, pulling the energy up from the earth.
Chant "Nam" as you release the locks, and feel the energy go out the top of your head.
The "Sat" is chanted from the navel and is a shorter, more powerful and emphatic sound.  "Nam" is more prolonged, relaxed, and releasing.

More to come!
Think movement and change!
Commit!

Through the Red Door 2-3-11

This should have been the first photo of the series of Charka One, but I only just found this door a few days ago.  The secret red door!  Who knew???  It was in my husband’s woodshop covered by long drapes.  We have been slowly working toward using this walled off area separate from his main shop, as a studio for ourselves--a clean space for art projects and the like, not covered in saw dust and wood chips.  And there it was!  A bright red door hiding under the drapes.  Immediately I thought of the first chakra, not exactly a new thought for me during these last several weeks, as my husband could probably tell you!  

  

So Metaphorically, what does that mean?  

That we’ve discovered and entered through the red door.   We’ve begun a jouney, stepped across a threshhold.  We’re on a jouney of developing consciousness, challenging ourselves by entering the territory of red and all the qualities first chakra contains -- the root, earth, foundation, solidity, mother, trust, nourishment, matter, manifestation, abundance.  All the things we’ve been immersed in for the past forty days.  We’ve done yoga to help stimulate the first chakra.  We’ve done the meditation for rejuvenation.  We’ve examined, thought about, wrote about, our fears, demons, resentments and rigidities. 

And so we’ve Survived -- we’ve met our basic needs -- we can move forward.  We’re ready, prepared, to push further -- from the world of the physical, the place of one, to the less exacting world of feelings, emotions, creativity, flow, the world of duality and opposites.

And tomorrow I get to change my toenail color from red to orange--and tie an orange string alongside the red one on my wrist!  I’m excited.

Ancestral Roots 2-2-11

Happy New Moon in Aquarius!


Today I'm thinking about ancestral roots.  Look back and forward in your family of origin.  We're still in the root chakra (for a few more days) and now is the time to think about the values of the family you came from -- and what you too contribute to the next generation.

We gain nourishment, power, stability, and growth from our roots.  Our roots are made from our guts -- the memories of our past, our racial and cultural heritage, and the indestructible fabric of our being. 




I continue to thank Anodea Judith for all her extensive writings on the chakra system. 

Earth, the Foundation 1-31-11

All foundations rest on the earth -- the universal ground for all we do.  What is your relationship to the earth?  What time do you spend in nature?  When did your feet last contact the earth?

Take a walk in these last few days of First Chakra.  Be in your body and take it for a walk, or skiing, or just sit on a rock -- know that without a strong, rooted foundation, little else can be accomplished.  Use the affirmation:  The earth supports me and meets my needs.







You are the ground upon which all things rest.                                                                                    
You are the Earth from which all things grow.
You are here; you are solid; you are alive.                                                                                
You are the point from which all things begin.

Final week of Chakra One 1-28-11

Next Thursday is the last class in Chakra 1.  Make this week a good one.  Use it!  Think about your roots, your foundation, have those medical tests done, have a massage, write about the early relationship to your Mother (that possibility makes most people quake!), be honest about your relationship to money, how’s your allignment with abundance?  

Read the following areas connected with first chakra and see what pops up for you. 

Roots 

Earth

The Body

Foundation

Solidity

Safety & Survival

Grounding

Mother

Nourishment

Trust

Health

Home

Family

Prosperity

Lay your floorboards well so we can move onto Chakra Two beginning February 4 with a solid base.

In the Belly 1-27-11

This is the beautiful belly of my young friend Rachael who has graced me with this image -- a perfect picture for our first chakra series.

Coming into the earth plane we begin in the body of the mother--in the uterus.  What was that experience like before we developed any individual consciousness?  Everything we felt came through the mother.  Was she relaxed and happy or tense and fearful?  Did she eat well or poorly.  Everything about her impacts the growing fetus. 

I experienced a birth trauma.  After being in labor for a while, the doctor decided my mother wouldn’t be able to deliver vaginally, so a C-section was done.  During the operation, the surgeon cut my foot.  How did that effect my safety and security?  And my mother was young, immature, inexperienced.  How did I feel in her arms?  What level of adrenaline did I acclimate to and come to take as normal?  For this is the atmosphere of the first chakra--and everything is built on this.  

How are the infant’s needs met?  Are their cries answered or ignored?  Is the world friendly or hostile?  The substance of survival all comes from outside.  Here in first chakra and at this time, the developmental task of trust vs mistrust is set in motion.

Countdown in Chakra 1

There are only twelve more days in Chakra 1, so now is the time to concentrate and do the work before we move into the second chakra.  Let's set our foundation solidly before moving ahead.  Everything else rests upon this chakra.
The elephant is a totem of first chakra.  Do you have an image of an elephant you can put on your altar along with a red cloth or red candle?  First Chakra is Muladhara -- Root support.  It is about the Earth, Grounding, Solidity, the first relationship with the Mother, Nourishment, Trust, the Body, Health, Home, Family, Commitment, Manifestation, Abundance, Prosperity.  Think about these areas in your life -- write about them -- delve deeply.  Reclaim your right to be here.  First chakra is about your Right to Have.  Love your body, trust its wisdom.  Have a massage.  Feel the abundance of the universe.  But also do the work.  Clean your closets, set your boundaries, check your finances, focus, be disciplined, feel solid in your life, have ground under your feet, grow roots.

The meditation we've been doing is the Meditation for Rejuvenation.  Sit comfortably on the floor or a chair, spine straight.  Close your eyes, focus them at the third eye point.  Interlace fingers, thumbs together, hands resting in lap.  Apply the root lock, contracting the rectum, sex organs, and navel point at the same time -- keeping this contraction, inhale and chant God and me, me and God are One.  Exhale, release the contraction.  And repeat for 3 to 11 minutes.

Do yoga postures that bring  you into first chakra:  Crow, Squats, Moving Crow, Body Drops, Locust or Half Locust, Head to Knee, Dynamic Head to Knee to Plow in rhythmic movement.  And deep relaxation, concentrating on the breath, deeply inhaling through the nose, then exhale every bit of breath.  Experience what it means to give everything away.
Trust at its most elemental level is an act of giving.  Be willing to give everything away in order to truly receive.
Build TRUST in the first chakra.  Fight the demon of FEAR.  Find ACCEPTANCE.