When we discuss the concept of chakras, most
everyone who knows about them will conjure the image of seven chakras with
differently-petalled flowers, all with colors that run through the rainbow hues
from red into brilliant white, going from root to crown.
This is a popular image, but for someone who
wants to dig down deeper into what this is about, this popularly held awareness
of the seven-chakras is just scratching the surface. The human body has thousands of chakras. The seven major chakras has persisted so well
because they are the easiest to identify right out of the gate. You might think that each of these seven
major chakras might be characterized by the colors they are most often
associated with. There is so much more
than this. Some of it you can learn from what has been gathered by seers from
the past, but all of this information is also available to you directly through
your own inner perception. Everything
that we know about the subtle energy system has been gathered from the inner
sensing capabilities of those who have gone before us.
Through my years of studying energy that we
each have this ability in a very native way.
Most people, though, do not know how to bridge the gap between the realm
of the outer senses (the physical senses) to touch on the awareness that exists
within the sensing ability of the energy body. But really, you can. I have been witness to numerous people who
didn’t think energy as being a real “thing” that a person could see or detect
in any sensory way, but I have been lucky to have had an odd habit of having
people develop this ability while I am doing a reading of them or others.
This characteristic of energy means that a
wave thus has no mass, and, is a channel
for travel through time.
The energy body is made up of over 70,000
channels called by the Hindu as nadi. Some say that they are beyond numbering.
In the Chinese tradition they are called meridians. There are no chakras conceived in the Chinese
tradition. The reason for this is
because the science of acupuncture and acupressure does not affect the chakra
centers directly, and because they do
not, they have not become part of the Chinese system. Chakras are the result of an accumulation of
forces in a type of vortex, which in the old language was called a spinning
“disc.” When each of these nadi cross each other, a chakra exists.
The number of branches in the nadis means
that there are many thousands of chakras in the body. These are not unlike how capillaries in the
body join to make veins and veins join to make larger trunks called aorta. As the channels join into more channels, the
force builds and larger more obvious chakras exist. Because this system is not made up of dense
matter but energy, what governs them is energetic. As a result, each chakra, every nadi or
meridian will have its positive and negative compliment. Every chakra is thus double-lobed in a sense,
of positive and negative energy flow. In
the same way that a magnet has a polarity, so too does prana have a polarity,
which is what flows through the nadi channels.
Those who were able to detect these channels and the chakras mapped them
carefully so that we have very dependable locations mapped for identifying
acupuncture points, for example. When
the mind is clear enough and you can focus on the energy centers, you too can
detect these. To do this requires an
openness to detecting prana flow and then an ability to translate this
information into some visual form in order to make sense of it. When it happens it can seem like you are
making it up, or imagining it, or grasping for something that you can’t quite
see, with images forming in the mind.
This is the cognitive bridge that happens when you use the inner senses. It is possible, too, that others will experience
the process differently. As westerners
who are informed by a materialistic view (everything happens because of
physical matter), it is easy for some people to tend not to trust themselves. If you will relax, chill, and open up to the
notion of your innermost capacities you can discover what you are indeed
capable of. If you haven’t caught on
yet, I am keen on people being able and willing to inquire for themselves.
The energy that flows through the whole
entire body, while following these paths called nadi are also made up of energy
that is electromagnetic in nature,
which means it is not merely a particle-based energy form, but a waveform.
The body is thus made up of a complex
web-work of prana that is fed by lines of force. When viewed with the inner senses, which is
how all seers have detected them, they can look like extremely fine webs like
spider webs that go all the way down to the atomic level. Lines of force will at the deepest, most
fundamental level go from lines to a kind of mist or “fog” at the lowest
subatomic level. This is just how deep all of this goes.
This system feeds from the extremities and concentrates along the trunk of the body where there are three main vessels or channels for carrying different aspects of alignments of the energy. One is called Ida, which is thought of as lunar or feminine and resides along the left side of the body, with the Pengali (or Pengala) channel, that is thought of as solar and male, which is on the right side of the torso, but closely tracking, in parallel, to the spinal column. The central channel, which is very close to the spinal column is known as Shushumna. This third channel carries an energy that is felt as the sum of the Ida and Pengali channels. Being aware of the energy flowing in this channel leads to Cosmic Consciousness. These channels all branch out throughout the body in a flow of negative and positively charged lines of force.
Working with clearing these channels is most often done through the yoga of pranayam which involves body movement meant to "massage" these blocked nadi while also using breathing to help to move the prana. Other methods include Qigong, which means "energy work." It is possible also to release blocks with such therapies as deep tissue massage, reiki, and polarity massage, to name a few. Alternating nostril breathing helps to charge and awaken the Ida and Pengali channels in the body, and is an important first step in clearing the nadis.
it is just as important to stimulate and accelerate the flow of these channels as it is to be able to slow them down. Sometimes by clearing one center higher up in the body, for example, you may need to go back to "lower" chakras in order to clear "new" blocks that seem to emerge, blocks that have always been there but whose presence were blocked in your awareness until another center was cleared. The clearing of the nadi is, as a result, a dynamic process that has many feedbacks that are the result of one "leg" of work revealing new aspects that had been previously not known or detected. Like the uncovering of a layer, the new layers come more into focus. What worked at one point in the process may need a different method or technique in the next. While sitting and focusing on an energy center may have worked extremely well in the beginning might not work later on where, for example, more aggressive physical movement is required. What is so helpful is that the energy of prana is itself an intelligent energy and when you can feel its flow in greater amounts, its intelligence has had a tendency to reveal itself to me more clearly. As a result, by opening myself up to the wisdom in this finely tuned energy, I find my own intuition increased. You find that you have a teacher within, you see.
As a waveform, this means that the energy has
what is called nonlocality.
The energy that flows through the whole
entire body, while following these paths called nadi also is made up of energy
that is electromagnetic in nature,
which means it is not merely a particle-based energy form, but a waveform. As a waveform, this means that the energy has
what is called nonlocality. Nonlocality
is hard to comprehend for those who are used to thinking of everything as being
made up discreet particles, pieces, and lines of force through which energy
particles flow. Nonlocality is the gift
of the nonphysical in a sense, a characteristic of energy whereby particles can
emerge seemingly from “nowhere” and everywhere at once. This means that prana can reach out across
vast distances without any travel. This characteristic of energy means that a
wave thus has no mass, and, is a channel
for travel through time. Let those who
have the ears to hear, hear this!
I know that this might seem to be off the
topic a little, but bear with me. The
energy of the wave cannot be controlled by the rational part of your mind. This also means that for the average person,
they rarely, if ever, experience what this “state” of energy is all about
because we are all so focused in the linear and the rational. This is itself a
central teaching and a discovery that I made in the midst of working through my
own awakening and in developing and honing my new sensory awareness that was
inherited through the awakening process.
I know it may seem exotic or strange to some, but this is only because
it is a larger than normal leap that happens and is a normal facet of awakening
(to make leaps instead individual steps). If you are a creative and deductive
thinker, you can figure out how to harness this awareness in a way that is
meaningful and fulfilling in your own journey of understanding this seemingly
“hidden” dimension of our experience.
So in this vein, I will tell you that In
order to support the waveform as an energy that carries your awareness, you
must learn how to be in alignment with the different polarities that exists
within the energy and how these also correspond to aspects of your own
awareness. This requires moving out of
the rational and linear part of your mind and awareness. One hint I will give
you is that instead of an analytical state of mind that needs to figure it
out,” this is instead the part of you that instead considers a more expansive
sense of your being. Some examples of
how this feels is how you become open to new ideas or possibilities. The excitement of beginning a road trip that
has no agenda, just the pure enjoyment of discovery, is one such state that is
very similar to this mode of awareness.
It is much more aligned to feeling than analysis, you see, and is one
reason why it is missed by many who seek. The fact is, you have it all in
you. We are all beings of amazing
potential who are often barely aware of it!
In
another post I would like to share with
you how to anchor or to cultivate this mind and body focus if you are
interested. Explaining how this is done in a more complete way is beyond the
scope of this article, though.
While the energy body has a positive and
negative polarity all through it, these two polarities also align along certain
parts of your awareness. Are you familiar with how some anatomists say that
thought is partly determined by how our physiology is constructed? The same
idea is applicable to the energetic system. The yang or positive polarity tends
to align with the rational parts of the mind where the yin aligns more with the
holistic right brain. Kundalini is often described as the "kundalini shakti" which points to the shift from one current of awareness to another. In truth, BOTH currents of the "Shakti" and "Shiva" must be present as they are aspects of each other, not mutually exclusive (remember the particle/wave duality I was telling you about? This is the same; one does not create the other or flows out of the other-they exist concurrently as part of their broader nature).
The earthly ego-mind and the linear parts of the brain that give rise to it cannot handle the scope
that the nondual mind offers, and this is, coincidentally, where the infamous Dark Night Of The Soul enters in along
the journey of awakening. By learning how to strike a balance between these two
in a new arrangement or focus, the self can allow for a better flow of prana
and awareness within experience. This is usually more important when the
charged force of awakening is churning in the self. On a boat that encounters
only mild winds, tuning the sail perfectly to capture the wind might not seem to be as important to the
captain. But on a boat where the winds
are often extremely strong, how the sails are hoisted can be much more critical
and their role more obvious. It is the awareness of the self that can lead you
to understanding what this energy is all about through inner inquiry, which is
how all of these discoveries have been made. Without this inquiry, you are
merely taking it on another person’s word that what they say is so, without
determining for yourself. As a result, most people are not aware that there are
countless chakras. By being aware, you see, you can learn to feel their
location and know character.
Take for example the ear chakra. Most people have never heard of this. It is certainly not even written about
anywhere that I can find. And yet I and my
friend Ali have both experienced these ear chakra activations. What is most interesting is that as a male, I
experience the ear chakra openings as a cool “lunar” energy while Ali, who is
female, experiences it as a warm yang energy.
This lead me to the next consideration about chakras and how they are
experienced in the body, which has to do with overall alignment to masculine
and feminine energy, or yang and yin force.
The male lingam, or genitalia, is normally polarized
in the positive while the female yoni, or genitalia is normally polarized in
the negative. The heart of the male,
however, is the opposite from the root. The female heart is also polarized in
the positive. This, in heterosexual
couples means that in sexual intimacy, the masculine energy is “received” and
transmitted upwards into the heart of the woman, which then transmits the
energy back to the man. This is what I call the “short cycle” flow. The energy in fact can be experienced as
flowing beyond the heart up into the crown, which is itself another level based
on how the chakras are active and how aware you are of them. At each center, the energies continue to
change vibration as prana expressed through desire, is focused in the body of
both people, both probing, and receiving all at the same time. The heart center of the feminine is
initiatory while the root chakra of the male is initiatory. This short cycle flow circuitry is thus
complimentary. Because of their complimentary polarities, spiritual union is
possible. In a similar way as how two
merge energetically, each individual has fully merged energy that flows from
one polarity within each chakra into the other.
Thus, union also exists within each individual, or the potential of its
awareness. Not everyone is aware of
this, but becoming aware of it leads to increasingly higher levels of
bliss. This bliss is a healing force.
Having brought this up, let me explain that
while I am speaking in terms of heterosexual couples, there is another level of
understanding about this energy that takes in other orientations, so don’t
think that my words are in any way exclusive to heterosexual experience. At all.
Prana is like a very large tent that is like the sky. It is big enough to let us all in to experience
its reality in a myriad of ways. I think that a book on LGBT sexuality from a
tantric perspective is just waiting to be written.
When prana is at a high enough level, it is
called kundalini. But kundalini itself is only prana in excess. This is all.
A new threshold is met whereby a self-sustaining “fire” is maintained
that is both yang and yin in the individual.
The two polarities are experienced, and thus known, more keenly and this
has a powerful effect on the awareness of the individual because of the flow of
prana which can confer even greater awareness when one avails themselves of it.
Leg & Arm Chakras
Each leg of the physical body also has
chakras and the two currents that flow up the main trunk of the body. Each toe has the same two currents as do the
arms and fingers and the trunk of the
body, with much smaller chakra centers in each.
Because they are so small in appendages like toes and fingers, most do
not detect their presence. To detect them requires a focus most often in
meditation. The male genitalia and the female breast also have similar lines of
force and chakras throughout them. This
is one reason why the hands are so often used for healing as there are terminal
points akin to the top of the head where the energy flows from positive to
negative, what is often referred to as “zero point.” It is here at this place
in the energy that anything can happen.
Similarly the male genitalia has many hundreds of “points” that
correspond to points in the female genitalia. In the male these are positive
and negative and in the female they are positive and negative as well. Each
polarity allows for a continuity of energy in the same way that an electrical
circuit is made. This is the path for
higher union spiritually. The clearer
each center is, the broader the experience of this union is. But having said this, even the skin has a
vast network of energy points all across it. Think of every single pore on your
skin as being an energy point that is joined to all other points along the
surface of the body. In the same way
that the skin is criss-crossed with a vast network of nerves to tell the brain
what is happening at that surface, so too does the physical sensory have a
nonphysical sensory component. One flows
out of the other and thus each can take information from both to input into
their respective sensory system. It is pretty amazing when you think of
it.
In the Hindu system, the chakras in the legs
are seen as both negatively and
positively charged centers. That is, they are referred to in a negative and
positive light as corresponding to our more animal natures, and are said to belong
to the “underworld.” These centers are just like all other centers. They are neither positive or negative but
depend on the emotional, physical, and spiritual energy that have been invested
or cast into them. In the same way that
a sacral chakra can convey a lack of good self image and a lack of sensual
beauty, so too can the same center be magnetized in the opposite direction.
This is so with every single center in the body.
While you are probably familiar with the Muladhara,
Swadhishthana, and Manipura chakras, for example, the chakras in the legs have
also been named. The Patala, located in
the soles of the feet, is said to be aligned with malice and hatred as well as
forgiveness. The Mahatala is located
more centrally in the foot near the arch and is aligned with a sense of
entitlement and lack of conscience as well as expansiveness. The Rasatala is located in the ankles and is
aligned with selfishness and charity, while the Talatala is located in the
calves and is aligned with a materialism for the self and an awareness of being
conscious. Sutala is in the knees and is
aligned to inadequacy, inferiority, but also self-confidence. Vitala in the
thighs aligns with blind wrath while also aligned to forgiveness. Atala in the hips is aligned to lustful promiscuity
and the ability to be healthily sexual.
The way that each of these centers are
charged by your awareness and your feeling, will determine your experience
through them. As with all chakras and
the nadi system, blockages can occur in them and removing these blocks is
important in freeing the old perception of the self in order to open up to a
new awareness of who and what we are. The work of release is the same as with
any other part of the body. There are
numerous methods and they can all work for a variety of reasons. There are posts on the blog that are about
these different methods. Search using
tags like “healing blocks”
I hope that this was illuminating and helpful to
you.
If you have questions about
other sources, feel free to let me know and I can dig them up or you. I hope that you can find the information served up today will help you in developing a broader awareness in your own life about who you are. :-)
