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Somatically Identifying Chakras
People tend to equate “yoga” with the practice of asana.
This is probably due to the fact that asana can be interpreted by sensation. There is a reference within our personal experience through which physical movement may be understood. Esoteric foundations of yoga practice including kundalini, nadis, koshas and chakras are less readily processed for lack of palpable density. In other words, since they aren’t tissue, they don’t feel real.
Oddly enough, few of us relate to internal organs with conscious relationship.
Although they are undeniably manifesting as tissue, we don’t tend to understand
the gall bladder, colon or spleen until we find problematic symptoms. If we think
of the energetic anatomy as being hidden to our common perception as these organs
are, perhaps, we can bridge to an illuminating view of this essential system
of energy.
Think of the central nervous system as a type of lightening rod, a
conductor of light. Likewise, think of the physical body as a generator which
keeps that awareness interpreting the world (maya) through personal reality.
The light itself is universal (impersonal). At some point the body will fall
away, and the universal will continue. Each being has a contract to merge spirit
with matter; this is the journey. This is the essence of the chakras.
Once we’re
born, life works to infuse itself through our CNS, anchoring itself at the base
of the spine. As in all matter from atoms to planets, equal and opposite forces
affect action/reaction. So too with the chakras. As the ida and pingala intersect,
opposing energies create energetic vortexes something like tornadoes. Each of
these chakras radiates with physical, psychological and emotional qualities.
Of course, these characteristics resonate with the autonomic functions of their
spinal location. We can develop relationship with each of the chakras by starting
with the physical traits and sensitizing to the subtle ones.
Muladhara, located
at the base of the tailbone, is our most primal experience. The body’s need to
eliminate waste is interwoven with primary needs: air, food, water, shelter.
All issues of self-survival resonate from this chakra. This involves our perceptions
of danger and safety, fight and flight.
Svadhistana, located mid-sacrum, is the generator of sexual drive (species-survival).
Sexuality is also our paradigm for creative needs. We need to create, and
we do... consciously or unconsciously. Failure to realize this results in
creating too much flesh, unwanted children, exhausting dramas and cluttered
lives. Channeling this energy mindfully creates abundance!
Manipura, found at the top of the lumbar region, is the digestive fire.
That which we assimilate is reborn! What was living becomes life again through
cell generation. Power is the ability to transmute inspiration into action.
Assimilating concepts and creating experience is the gift of this center.
Anahata, our most vulnerable area, is a bridge between our physical instincts
and our acquired values. Known as the heart chakra, anahata animates our “trust experience”. Just as the heart receives and gives blood, our psyches give
and receive. Risking rejection, opening to possibilities and fortifying compassion
are all aspects of the fourth chakra.
Vishuddi, located in the cervical region, regulates self expression: speech,
personality, title, communication etc... The throat facilitates interaction
and regulates boundaries.
Ajna, located at the “3rd eye”, is our mental
body, our dreams, our insights,
and our access to subtle perceptions. Waking and tonifying this area helps
us to sidestep a world of bottom line realities and to see radiant energy.
Noticing colors within light, journeying through meditation and finding access
to the impersonal mind are characteristic of this region.
Sahasrara, our crown, is the energetic link between the external Divine (Brahman)
and the internal Divine (Atman).
One of the most helpful approaches to identifying the chakra qualities, is
respecting the coexistence of linear and vertical realities. The mundane
truths of “before, now and
later” are part of time and space (maya). They are also part of the physical
body. The esoteric truth of eternity involves the unwavering radiance of bliss.
This is the formula of the seven energy centers.
Our spines hold the link between
the tangible and the eternal. As light refracts itself in prismatic observability,
the chakras do the same. We hold the seven colors each vibrating at different
frequencies throughout our CNS’s. Beginning with red in the muladhara and culminating
with white at Sahasrara, we are “light beings”.
We practice our eight limbs
of raja yoga in order to palpate the paradox of linear and vertical truths. As
we fine tune our lightening rods, we create conscious relationship between our
physical dance and our inherent divinity. That qualifies as magic.
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