CHAKRA

Chakras are organizing centers for the reception, assimilation, and transmission of life energies.
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The root word shak means "to have power" or "to be able."'
Shakti is the vital energy that gives power to the forming of life. It is through union with Shakti that the consciousness of Shiva descends and endows the universe (Shakti) with Divine Consciousness. Among mortals, the woman produces the child, but only with the man's seed. So, too, Shakti produces the universe, but only with the "seed" of consciousness that comes from Shiva.
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Shatki as the upward current and Shiva as the downward current
Shakti, as she pushes up from the Earth, is described as the "divine aspiration of the human soul," while Shiva, descending from above, is the "irresistible attraction of divine grace" or manifestation.24 They exist in an eternal embrace and are constantly making love, neither able to exist without the other. Their eternal relationship creates both the phenomenal and spiritual worlds.
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Shiva, The downward current
The current of manifestation- begins in pure consciousness and descends through the chakras into the manifested plane, gradually becoming denser and denser at each step. To produce a theatrical play, for example, we must begin with an idea or concept (chakra seven). The idea then becomes a set of images (chakra six), which can be communicated to others in the form of a story (chakra five). As the idea further develops, and others get involved with it, we enter a set of relationships that help bring it about (chakra four). We give it our will and energy (chakra three), rehearsing the movements, and bringing its conceptual and physical elements together (chakra two) and finally, manifest the play on the physical plane (chakra one) in front of an audience.
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The upward current
The other current, called the current of liberation- takes us out of the limitations of the manifested plane into freer and thus more expansive and inclusive states of being. In this path, the energy in matter is released to become lighter and lighter, as it moves up through the elements, expanding and transforming to a limitless state of pure being. Thus solid earth loses its rigidity and becomes water, then the energy of fire, the expansion of air, the vibration of sound, the radiation of light, and the abstraction of thought.
It liberates us from outdated or constricting habits (Maya).It is the pathway through which we disentangle ourselves from the limitations of the physical world and find broader scope in the more abstract and symbolic levels.
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Seven-ness as a mystic figure.
There are seven colors to the rainbow, seven notes in the Western major scale, seven days in the week, and it is believed that major life cycles run in periods of seven years each-childhood to age seven, adolescence at fourteen, adulthood at twenty-one, first Saturn return at twenty-eight.
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On a physical level, chakras correspond to nerve ganglia.
where there is a high degree of nervous activity, and also to glands in the endocrine system
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Chakras are made of symbolic patterns of our own mental and physical programming.
This programming governs the way we behave. Like programming in a computer, it channels the way energy flows through the system and gives us different kinds of information.What we generate determines much of what we receive.
The content of the chakras is formed largely by repeated patterns from our actions in day-to-day life, as we are always the center point of these actions. Repeated movements and habits create fields in the world around us.
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Being locked into a program and it becomes our habitual way of interacting with the world around us.
The man who sees every situation as a challenge to his power orients from his third chakra.
The one who perpetually struggles with survival issues, such as health and money, has difficulty with chakra one.
Someone who lives in his fantasies may be stuck in chakra six.
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The object of our work is to clean the chakras of old, nonbeneficial patterns
For example, someone with a tightly closed third chakra (personal power) would be terrified of confrontation, while another who is more open, may thrive on it. Someone with an open second chakra (sexuality) may juggle many sexual partners, while someone who is closed may avoid even feeling sexual.Someone whose throat chakra is excessive may talk too much and not really listen, while another may be scarcely able to get their words out.
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Our physical state gives us many clues about the internal health of the Chakra.
For example, you can understand what condition your second chakra (sexuality) is in by first tuning in to that area of the body (abdomen, genitals). Is it fluid, alive, painful, tense, relaxed? The next step is to examine the meaning and function of that particular chakra. What meaning do you ascribe to emotions and sexuality? What values do they hold for you? What kind of programming did you receive about those issues? Then you might examine the quality and quantity of emotional and sexual interaction in your life. Is it what you want it to be? Is it balanced between give and take?
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How to work with chakra?
• Doing physical exercises that pertain to relaxing, opening, or stimulating the sacral area of the body.
• Working with its associated images, colors, sounds, deities, or elements- (such as its constant movement and flow of water or its cleansing properties by: drinking lots of water, visiting a river, going swimming-all as a means to connect with its associated water element.)
• Working through your feelings and values (about sexuality and emotions), and bringing those new insights into your behavior with others.
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The serpent represents enlightenment, immortality, and a path to the Gods.
In Genesis, the serpent led Adam and Eve to taste the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.
This symbolizes the beginning of Kundalini, creating the unceasing desire for understanding, yet grounded in the material world (the apple).
In Egypt, the pharaohs wore crowns with serpent symbols.
over their third eye to represent their godly stature.
Did this represent ascended Kundalini?
Even today the double serpent wraps itself around the staff of healing, forming the modern medical symbol, the caduceus.
The entwined serpents are also symbolic of the double helix pattern of our DNA-the basic information-carrier of life.
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Kundalini is the result of vibrational rhythm entrainment in the body.
Undulations of the spine set off rhythms, which entrain with the heartbeat, brain waves and breathing patterns, stimulating various centers in the brain.Kundalini is naturally produced when there is a clear, unblocked channel connecting all of the chakras.
Chakras filter energy from the environment. Their spinning pattern vibrates at a certain rate allowing only matching vibrations to enter into the internal core of consciousness. Creating an environnement which is conducible for Kundalini awakenning.
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Grounding brings clarity through stillness.
Every action causes a reaction. If we can "still" our reactions to some aspect of a vicious cycle, we are "stepping out of the world of karma:" We are then able to stop the cycle. This is analogous to letting dirty water sit in a glass long enough for the mud to settle to the bottom, clearing the water. If we are involved with constant change, we are like a rolling stone that gathers no moss. We're kept at a survival level because we are constantly building new foundations. Only through focus and repetition can we achieve expertise in an area leading to larger manifestation of goals, be they physical or ideological. Chakras, however, must be balanced.
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The physical world is not the goal, but only a tool.
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Generally it is our tension that makes us lethargic
And tension results from alienation between various parts of ourselves.
As these parts are simplified and integrated, we experience increased vitality.
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One who is perpetually plagued by health problems or constantly struggling with financial crisis is caught on this first chakra level.
The task of mastering the first chakra is ultimately to understand and heal the body.
Here we function from an instinctual level, concerned with hunger, fear, the need for rest, warmth, and shelter.
Facing our fear can help the first chakra wake up.
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Survival demands awaken our consciousness.
Threats to survival stimulate the adrenal glands for that burst of extra energy needed for fight or flight.
The challenge of survival requires us to think and act quickly, and to innovate new solutions.
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In order to consolidate our energy in the first chakra,
we must first see that our survival needs are met in a healthy and direct way, so that our consciousness is not dominated by them.
When this happens we experience panic.

Our consciousness moves from a feeling of unity to the realization of difference.
Our understanding of self now includes an awareness of the other.
We are now ready to introduce a new dimension: that which comes about when one meets another and becomes two.
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Duality, desire arises
and with it our emotions and sexuality.
We long to unite, to overcome our separateness, to reach out and grow.
These are all aspects of consciousness at the second chakra-all of which induce change.
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Change as the result of two polaric forces, yin and yang.
In order to benefit equally from both these energies, it is important to exalt in the dance of dualities, without getting caught in extremes and losing our center.
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The concepts of yin and yang also apply to the chakras themselves.
Chakra one is yang, as it is our beginning, our foundation, and an odd number. Chakra two is yin, thus encompassing more of the "feminine" qualities associated with receptivity, emotions, and nurturance.
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Movement is the essence of the second chakra's purpose.
If we are to begin in solid earth and transform all the way to infinite consciousness, there must be some movement to get the process started.
It is the opposite of the first chakra's stillness.
Where the first chakra seeks to hold on and create structure, the second chakra's purpose is to let go and create flow.
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It corresponds to the nerve ganglion called the sacral plexus.
This plexus hooks into the sciatic nerve and is a center of motion for the body.
Because of this it is often called the "seat of life."
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The chakra corresponds to bodily functions having to do with liquid:
circulation of blood, urinary elimination, sexuality, and reproduction, as well as all the qualities of water, such as flow, formlessness, fluidity, and surrender.
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To open the second chakra is to drink with delight in the sweet waters of pleasure.
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Makara, an alligator-like creature with a coiled tail, reminiscent of the coil of Kundalini.
He is a water creature believed to represent consuming desire and passions which must be harnessed in order to pass onward.
I think of him as the animal instincts that lurk in the vast depths of the personal unconscious.
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Water is receptive,
adopting the shapes of that which it encounters, following the path of least resistance, yet gaining power and momentum as it flows.
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The second chakra is related to the moon.
Like the moon's pull on the tides, our desires and passions can move great oceans of energy.
The moon rules the unconscious, the mysterious, the unseen, the dark, and the feminine.
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Natural inclination to move toward pleasure and away from pain.
Freud called this the pleasure principle.
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The senses are the very extension of that consciousness that seeks to know.
If our senses truly deprived us of reality,, would we not all be better off blind, deaf, and tasteless? Is this not senseless instead of sensible?
misleading-that through sensation we deprive ourselves of knowing the true nature of reality.
Alan Watts wrote: "Ascetic spirituality is a symptom of the very disease which it intends to cure. "
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Sensation is a valuable information source for all levels of consciousness.
It provides the raw data that eventually becomes information, stored and analyzed by the brain.
Sensations are the building blocks of our feelings and emotions. Without them we are lifeless and disconnected.
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Pleasure and sensation are essential features of the second chakra.
If desire is the seed of movement, then pleasure is the root of desire, and sensation is the medium of pleasure.
Unfortunately, we are taught to beware of pleasure, that it's a dangerous temptress waiting to lure us away from our true path.
We are taught to repress our need for pleasure, and in so doing, repress our natural bodily impulses, and once again, segregate mind and body.
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Emotions (from the Latin movere "to move" and e meaning "out")
promote the evolution of consciousness through the body.
When we emote, we are moving energy out of the unconsciousness, through the body, and into the conscious mind.
This flow of consciousness charges the body, cleanses it, and heals it.
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Emotions are inherently tied in with movement.
We repress feelings by restricting movement, and conversely, movement can free the emotional holding that causes chronic tension.
We can think of the basis of emotion as wanting to move away from that which is painful, and toward that which is pleasurable.
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Emotions are a complex, instinctual reaction to pleasure and pain.
They begin in the unconscious and, through movement, are allowed to come into consciousness.
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To block an emotion, we restrict movement.
Then the emotion may remain in the unconscious-meaning we are unaware of it-yet still wreak havoc on our lives.
It is acting from unconscious motivations that so often gets people in trouble.
It takes energy to repress emotion, so releasing emotions releases tension (if done appropriately).
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Absence of tension creates a harmonic flow within the body/mind.
This creates pleasure of an even deeper level, allowing deeper connections with others.
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The suppression of primary pleasures creates a need for overindulgence, turning pleasure into pain.
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Only through satisfaction and resolution can our awareness evolve safely to broader levels.
It is said of Kama, the Hindu God equivalent to Eros: "Kama is worshipped by the yogis, for he alone, when pleased, can free the mind from desire. 12 Pleasure and emotions are
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Desire, which is known as Kama or "love," is dangerous when it is considered as the end.
James Prescott has made studies of cultures comparing sexual repression to the incidence of violence. The more stringent the taboos are about sex, the more violent the culture. Conversely, the more sexually permissive the culture, the lower the crime rate.14
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The sacrifice of pleasure became the replacement for human or animal sacrifice.
Other subsects of Hinduism adopted asceticism as a way of internalizing the sacrifices that were previously expressed in the fire rituals, thus raising one's tapas or internal fires.
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Too much activity in the higher centers could adversely affect the sex drive.
and increased sexual activity could adversely affect the opening of this third-eye chakra.
The pineal gland, often associated with the sixth chakra (clairvoyance), is rich in a derivative of serotonin, called melatonin. This chemical may easily transform into a compound called 10 methoxyharmalan, which is potentially hallucinogenic, giving inner visions." The pineal gland contains photo-receptors, and as we discuss the sixth chakra in further chapters, we will see that light and visionary experiences play a large part in this level of consciousness.
Evidence suggests that melatonin and the pineal gland in general exhibit an inhibitory effect on the female and male gonads in mammals. The reverse is also true: sexual hormones, such as testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone inhibit the production of melatonin as well." Therefore, stimulating these hormones through increased sexual activity could adversely affect the opening of this third-eye chakra, and too much activity in the higher centers could adversely affect the sex drive.
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People with closed second chakras often have a hard time finding sexual partners
to help open the chakra, while a chakra that is already open may attract more partners than it can handle.
The only way to combat this is to open and close the chakras gradually and gently.
Frustrated sexuality can lead to lower back pain, leg cramps, kidney troubles, poor circulation
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Sexuality crucial in the healthy flow of this energy through the body.
Reich felt that only through orgasm could we achieve a "complete circuit" of bioelectric flow through the body,
He further found that dammed-up sexual energy resulted in anxiety, centered mainly around the cardiac and diaphragmatic region.
The passage of energy between the couple engaged in sexual activity is far more than an exchange between the genitals.
A couple, face to face, have all their chakras aligned between them. Through the intensity of sexual excitement, each chakra vibrates more intensely, and passage of energy between one body and another is enhanced and woven together at all levels.
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The perception of duality is often considered to be a source of pain and alienation.
Tantra is the sacred dance of reuniting duality-of restoring that which is separate into oneness again.
The first step in learning to work with others is the mutual enhancement of our internal energy.
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Nurturance is the essence of maternal qualities,
our first experience of blissful transcendence, of warmth and security.
Nurturance is the final summation of sexuality and a fundamental need of the body,
In laboratory studies with rats, it has been shown that small mammals will choose being touched over eating when deprived of both.
Exercises for the whole body involve touching and nurturance, such as massage and sexual activity.
Simple self-nurturing activities such as long, hot baths, showers, or swimming (all having to do with water) should not be overlooked.
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This chakra is the center of sexuality as well as emotions, sensation, pleasure, movement, and nurturance.
Pleasure and emotional sensations are processed in a lower section of the brain called the limbic system.
Pleasure invites us to expand, while pain generally makes us contract.
Pleasure helps the mind and body establish better communication.
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The limbic system
The limbic system controls the hypothalamus, which in turn controls the hormonal levels and the regulation of the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system functions, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing.
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SEXUALITY
Lust, the primal seed and germ of the spirits, existed first ... The seers, looking into their hearts, discovered the kinship of the existent and the nonexistent.
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CLAIRSENTIENCE
Clairsentience is the psychic sense of the second chakra, the first stirrings of "higher" consciousness and the development of greater sensitivity toward others.
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Clairsentience is the ability to sense other people's emotions, also called empathy.
Awareness of the other should be balanced by awareness of the self.
The two should never be without a good dose of common sense.
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CHAKRA TWO EXERCISES

From earth to water to fire!
Our dance grows, impassioned now as we reclaim our bodies and reach through emotion and desire to find will, purpose, and action.
The first chakra brought us solidity, stability, focus, and form. Here we experienced unity.
From this ground, we moved to chakra two and experienced difference, change, and movement.
Here we embraced polarities and discovered the passions of difference, choice, emotion, and desire.
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As we put together matter and movement, we find that they create a third state: energy.
If we rub two sticks together, we eventually get a spark that can ignite a fire.
Psychologically, it relates to the spark of enthusiasm that ignites power and will; in our behavior, it is the realm of activity.
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Mass, movement, and energy are three inseparable qualities of our physical world.
The chakras are all interdependent facets of a basic unified field of consciousness. They do not act separately and can only be separated intellectually. Likewise, we cannot separate energy from movement any more than we can separate it from mass.
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Earth and water are passive but Fire is active
They flow downward, subject to gravity, and follow the path of least resistance.
Fire, by contrast, moves upward, destroying form, and takes the raw energy of matter to a new dimension-to heat and light.
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The element fire ignites the light of consciousness,
and we emerge from the unconscious, somatic levels to the exciting combination of psyche and soma that creates willed action.
As we activate our power, we direct our activities toward a higher purpose.
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Its purpose is transformation.
Just as fire transforms matter to heat and light, the third chakra transforms the passive elements of earth and water into dynamic energy and power.
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In Sanskrit, this chakra is called Manipura,
which means "lustrous gem," because it shines bright like the sun-a radiant, glowing center.
One of its associations with power comes from the belief that all the major nadis (psychic currents) originate from the navel.
As the name solar plexus implies, this is a fiery, solar chakra, bringing us light, warmth, energy, and power.
It represents our "get up and go," our action, our will, our vitality.
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If we are to rise upward through all seven chakras, it is the fire of our will that propels that movement.
It is through our will that we liberate ourselves from fixed patterns and create new behavior.
It is our will that steers us away from that path of least resistance, that addictive habit, or the expectations of others.
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Thus, the initial task of the third chakra is to overcome inertia.
As we take these actions, we begin to transform, but the first step is breaking old patterns.
The hardest part is getting started. Once we get a fire going, it burns more easily, only needing to be stirred and fed.
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Fire is the spark between Shiva and Shakti, the power that lies between polarity.
Duality, rising out of our initial unity, seeks to return to unity. Hence, opposites attract.
Consciousness in the second chakra, like the I Ching, is stimulated by the dance of polarities.
In the second chakra, duality becomes the motivating force for movement and change.
If we are not in touch with the first two chakras-with our body and ground, our passions and pleasures-we have little fuel for our fire.
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Desire gives our will enthusiasm and makes it more dynamic.
Only in a dynamic state of interaction with the world can we keep up the movement and contact that feeds our fire and zest for life.
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It is the descending current of consciousness that guides this energy into purpose.
It is intelligence that forms the intention that shapes will and directs activity. In this way, the descending current brings us form, while the ascending current brings us energy.
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When we use power without compassion (chakra four), we risk perpetuating harm and oppression.
Without air, fire does not burn; cells do not metabolize.' When our breathing is constricted, our metabolism is hindered. When we have no room to breathe, our power is limited. Likewise,
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Malfunctions
Excess weight in general can be a third chakra malfunction, because it says the body is not properly metabolizing its solid matter (food) into energy.'
When we withdraw from life, we become a closed system. Our expression turns in on itself, often in anger and self-criticism, which wears us down further.
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Its symbol is a lotus with ten petals.
The power to manipulate our surroundings is partially related to the ability of our hands, with ten fingers, extending out into the world around us. Ten is also the beginning of a new cycle, as our entry into rajas is the beginning of a new kind of awareness.
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The power of the third chakra is the power of life, of vitality, and of connection-not the coldness of control and domination.
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to "manufacture" energy for our projects, reaching for stimulants, such as coffee or sweets, which temporarily energize, but eventually deplete our vitality.
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POWER
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We are taught from a very young age to submit our will to another:
first to parents, then to school teachers, clergy, bosses, military and government officials.
If we look for power outside, we look to others for direction, and find ourselves at their mercy, setting ourselves up for possible victimization.
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Power is dependent on energy, just as survival is dependent on matter, and sexuality on movement.
Power, from the Latin podere, "to be able," has the same meaning as Shakti, from the root of shak, "to be able."
Our cells metabolize and produce energy with little or no conscious direction from us. To have power, however, we need to be conscious.
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WILL
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Will is consciously controlled change.
As the second chakra opens dualities, we are presented with choices. Making those choices gives birth to the will.
Like power, will is often associated with discipline, control, and manipulation, such as the will to go on a diet, get through school, or finish a project.
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Will is the means by which we overcome lower chakra inertia,
and the essential spark that ignites the flames of our power.
requires that we give up seeing ourselves as a victim, and realize that lasting change can only come from our own efforts.
When Kundalini rises to this chakra, she makes herself apparent. Here she kindles the fire to destroy ignorance, karmic traps, and physical impurities. It is at this chakra that Kundalini begins to burn!
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If we are free from the ego's lust for results, the actions of our will take us to our destiny.
While that destiny is not guaranteed to be pain-free, you can most certainly expect it to engage the third chakra, and ignite the very core of your being.
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Without agreement between will and desire, we lose our passion and our momentum, and thereby dissipate the power needed to carry out our will.
It is here that discipline becomes most important. The word discipline actually comes from disciple-the willingness to be a student of something.
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Knowledge of the will, with its infinite and constant choices, comes from a deeper sense of purpose.
This purpose is born out of our orientation to the world. It is born from who we are, what we love and loathe, what our talents apply to. Each of us has a purpose, and our ultimate will is to fulfill that purpose.
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Engaging this chakra requires developing the will,
yet the passage beyond this chakra requires the ability to yield our will when appropriate.
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SELF-ESTEEM
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Shame is the antithesis of self-esteem.
It collapses the middle section of the body, depriving it of energy.
It interrupts the fluidity coming up from the base, and overplays the constricting mental energy coming down from the top.
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Power, like any muscle in the body, must be developed consciously. In keeping with the well-known expression, "Knowledge is power," most powerlessness is the result of ignorance about how to behave effectively.
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Basically, anything that gets the energy moving rapidly is good for the third chakra.
The important thing is to overcome inertia. Once this is overcome, it becomes the domain of the will, where the combined force of desire and understanding channel the energy into action. It is an exhilarating step in the growth of our consciousness.
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"unhurt," "fresh," and "clean." When the chakra is free of grief from old hurts, its opening is innocent, fresh, and radiant.
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In the fourth chakra, love is not dependent on outside stimulation, but experienced as a state of being.
In this way it radiates outward, bringing love and compassion to whatever comes into our field.
The love we experience at the level of the heart chakra is distinctly different from the more sexual and passionate love of the second chakra.
Sexual love is object oriented-the passion is stimulated by the presence of a particular person.
Unlike the changing nature of the second chakra with its transitory passions, love from the heart is of an enduring quality, eternal and constant.
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The fight of the third chakra is replaced by acceptance in the fourth.
If the third chakra has done its job, our circumstances are easier to accept.
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The element of the fourth chakra is air.
As an element, air is commonly associated with knowledge and things that are expansive and spirited.
Air represents freedom, as in the birds that fly.
Air represents openness and freshness, as in the airing of a room.
Air represents lightness, simplicity, and softness.
When we fall in love, we feel like we are walking on air.
Air implies spaciousness, which is achieved through letting go.
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When we cling too tightly to what we love, we suffocate our beloved, which is like depriving them of air.
We talk about needing space when we want "room to breathe."
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Lastly, air represents breath, the vital process through which our cells are kept alive.
The Hindus call it prana (from pra, "first," and na, "unit"). In yoga philosophy, prana is referred to as a vital energy in and of itself, a basic unit from which all life is made. This energy represents an interface between the physical world and the mental world. The mind, if it wishes to influence the body, can do so through control of the breath. Likewise, control of the breath can quiet the mind. Prana is considered a vital link between the two-just as the heart chakra is the integrator between upper and lower chakras.
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Opening the heart requires a transcendence of ego
Allowing us to surrender to forces larger than the self.
The heart requires an understanding and practice of balance between mind and body, inner and outer realms, self and other, giving and receiving.
Lastly, opening the heart chakra requires an understanding and control of the breath, for it is the tool of physical and mental transformation.
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Love is a unifying force - it draws things together, and keeps them in relationship.
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With third chakra empowerment literally under our belts, it is easier to make the first move. Rejection is one of the most basic of human fears.
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Learning to love takes energy on many levels.
We need all of our chakras functioning in order to create and maintain it. We must be able to feel, we must be able to communicate, we must be able to have our own autonomy and power, and we need to be able to see and understand. Most important, we need to relax and let it happen.
As Anahata is a yin chakra, one of its challenges is to allow "letting" to replace "doing" or "making."
Only then can we truly perceive the pattern for what it is.
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Communication, due to its symbolic nature, is an essential key to accessing the inner planes.
With symbols, we have the means to represent the world in a more efficient way-one that gives us infinite storage capacity in the brain.
We can discuss things before we do them; we can absorb and store information in a concise form; we can synthesize thoughts into concrete images and store the images
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Communication is our first level of physical transcendence
in that it enables us to transcend the ordinary limitations of the body.
By telephoning New York, we can avoid going there physically.
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As we climb up the chakra column, our boundaries become less defined.
As stated earlier, the lower chakras are highly individual. Our bodies, for example, are clearly separate, with our edges defined by our skin.
When we reach pure consciousness, the ideal of the seventh chakra, it becomes impossible to draw a border around this consciousness and say, "This is mine, and that is yours."
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Communication is an act of connection.
It is one of the uniting principles of the upper chakras. If I give a talk to a group of people on the subject of healing, I am uniting their consciousness, if only momentarily, around certain ideas.
Information and ideas are like the breath we breathe-an invisible field surrounding us, from which we take what we need.
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In the descending direction of the chakras we are moving toward limitation and manifestation.
We are taking patterns of thought and making them specific through the process of naming.
Naming focuses consciousness by drawing limits around something, saying it is this and not that.
To name a thing is to clarify it, to set its boundaries, to specify. Naming gives structure and meaning to our thoughts.Communication shapes our reality and creates the future. If I say to you, "Bring me a glass of water," I am creating a future for myself which contains a glass of water in my hand. If I say, "Please leave me alone;" I am creating a future without you.
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Communicaton can be seen as a symbolic system that mediates between the abstract and manifested idea.
It formulates our thoughts into controlled physical vibrations, which in turn can create manifestations on the physical plane.
With words, consciousness has a tool through which it can order or organize the universe around it, including itself?
Therefore, this chakra occupies a crucial place in the gateway between mind and body.
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This lotus is called Visuddha, which means "purification."
This implies two things about this center:
1) To successfully reach and open the fifth chakra, the body must attain a certain level of purification.
The subtler aspects of the upper chakras require greater sensitivity, and purification of the body opens us to these subtleties.
2) Sound, as a vibration and a force inherent in all things, has a purifying nature. Sound can and does affect the cellular structure of matter. It also has the ability to harmonize otherwise dissonant frequencies both within and around us.
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THE SUBTLE WORLD OF VIBRATION
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Diseases tend to show up first in the etheric body, before they manifest in the tissues.
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What many of us lack in our lives is this resonant rhythm,
the integrating aspect that connects us from the very core of our being to the heartbeat of the universe.
Consequently, we are at odds with the world and with ourselves. We lack coordination, cohesiveness, and grace.
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The person who starts each day from a calm, centered state of mind will find his interactions more calm and centered.
On the other hand, the person who drives to work every morning during rush hour and works a high-pressure, fast-paced job is involved with different kinds of vibrations each day.
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RESONANCE
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Two oscillating vibrations, if they are near enough to each other in frequency, will eventually entrain.
While similar waves will lock into phase with each other, creating resonance, waves of differing frequency may instead create dissonance.
People who live in the same household become rhythm entrained to each other's subtle vibrations.
It has been long known that women who live together long enough will tend to menstruate at the same time of the month.
Couples married for a long time often come to look alike, and their speech exhibits similar rhythms.
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As a culture, we become rhythm entrained to our neighbors, friends and peers. We are influenced by our environment, not only in visual, psychological, and physiological factors (e.g. billboards, social pressure, air pollution) but on a deep, subconscious level of inner vibrations.
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"Our ability to have a world depends on our ability to entrain with it."
Further studies by Dr. Condon examined the behavior of disturbed and autistic children in regard to this auditory rhythm entrainment. The children showed a time-lag response between the listener and the speaker, and acted as if they were responding to an echo of the original sounds. Their micromovements put them out of harmony with the world around them, hence the feeling of alienation and confusion that characterizes their condition.
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If we cannot entrain, we cannot communicate.
If we are unable to entrain with the vibratory frequencies around us, we cannot experience our connection with the world.
Without communication we are isolated, separate, and cut off from the nourishing energy so vital to health.
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When we truly resonate with something, it affects us deeply.
If simple vibration can move matter into coherent, harmonic patterns, resonant vibrations can only deepen that effect.
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Chakras also exhibit vibrational patterns, spanning from the slower, grosser vibrations of solid matter in the first chakra to the highest and fastest vibrations of pure consciousness.
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An active chakra in one person can, through its vibrations, trigger the opening of an inactive chakra in another.
Our own vibrations may trigger a new thought or vibration in a resting source, awakening consciousness in another.
We can choose to contribute "good" vibrations or "bad": those in harmony with the vibrations around us, or those out of phase, in disharmony.
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MANTRAS
The Chladni disk and the principles of rhythm entrainment show us that sound waves can and do affect matter.
Thus, a mantra is a tool for protecting our minds from the traps of non-productive cycles of thought and action.
Mantras serve as focusing devices for making the mind one-pointed and calm.
The vibration of the mantra has been likened to the vibration of someone shaking your shoulders to wake you up from sleep
A mantra is designed to awaken the mind from its habitual sleep of ignorance.
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TELEPATHY
As we learn to refine our chakras, calm our minds, and quiet our thoughts, the fabric of our consciousness becomes smoother and smoother.
Our vibrations become steadier and our perceptions more direct.
In this state it is far easier to become aware of the subtler ripples of vibrations in our energy field.
The quieter levels of telepathic communication become apparent when the grosser vibrations of our lives are no longer creating interference.
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Telepathy could be defined as the art of hearing the whispers of another's mind.
In order to do this, we must be quiet within our own minds. Most of us, by nature, have a party going on inside our own heads.
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While few people are really adept at this form of communication, there are even fewer people who have never experienced it at all. Two people saying the same thing at the same time, finding a busy signal because your friend is simultaneously calling you, or getting the psychic hit that a family member is in danger are a few examples of the common ways telepathy can occur.
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CREATIVITY
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it takes will (chakra three)" and abstract consciousness (upper chakras in general) to create.
While many people have associated creativity with the second chakra, (since that's where we create babies) I believe creativity is ultimately a form of expression, related to chakra five. Creating life in the womb is not a conscious process. We do not decide to make fingers or toes, blue eyes or brown. While the emotional states of the second chakra may fuel creative impulses.
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The process of creation is a process of inner discovery.
In creating a work of art, we open ourselves to the very mysteries of the universe.
We become channels for spiritual information, learning a language more universal than human tongues.
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At the fifth chakra level of awareness, we experienced vibration as an underlying manifestation of form.
At chakra six we encounter a higher, faster vibration than that of sound, though of a fundamentally different character.
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Two petals at the ajna chakra.
There are many possible interpretations of their meaning: the two worlds of reality-manifest and unmanifest; the intertwining nadis, Ida and Pingala, which meet at this point; and the two physical eyes that surround the third eye. The petals also resemble wings, and symbolize the ability of this chakra to transcend time and space, allowing the inner spirit to "fly" to distant times and places.
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The pineal reaches the height of its development at age seven, and has been thought to influence the maturation of the sex glands.
Embryologically, the pineal gland is derived from a third eye that begins to develop early in the embryo and later degenerates.
The pineal has some tranquilizing effect on the nervous system and removal of the pineal can predispose an animal to seizures.
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Melatonin to strengthen our immune system, reduce stress, and retard aging.
It is suggested that the production of melatonin is triggered by exposure of the eyes to light, even in small amounts.
Melatonin production decreases as we age, and low melatonin levels are commonly found in depression.
Melatonin, as a sleeping aid, increases dreaming, showing that it has some relevance to inner vision.
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Melatonin is chemically similar to native plants known to induce visions
and can cycle into a compound called 10-methoxyhar- malan, which is potentially hallucinogenic.
Some psychotropic drugs, such as LSD, increase melatonin synthesis.
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COLOR
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Color is the form through which we perceive light.
Vivid in experience, rich in depth, color is the very fabric of our seeing.
The colors of the chakras follow a logical progression through the spectrum, correlating the lowest frequency of light, which is red, to the lowest chakra, matching the rest of the chakras to the spectrum accordingly.
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