It is the season of pitta,
Brilliance,
And the element is fire.
A balanced fire in its brilliance brings us heat.
It purifies,
Burns,
And metabolizes,
And it frees up old and unused energy.
It is the passion in our desires and the warmth just under our hearts.
It is the Bunsen burner of life that stokes our movement and fires up our imaginations.
I sat with a friend at the edge of a beautiful lake the other evening,
And the sun was dipping down and the water lapped against the shore.
It was cool and peaceful and it smelled like summer.
Fresh cold lake,
Wet swimsuits,
With a little hint of Tahitian oil of Manoy.
The sun had squeezed itself between the roll and fold of two mountain peaks,
And the sky was awash of violet.
They said they could feel the end of summer coming,
And it was as if they just wanted to stop everything and hold it so tightly to stop time and be here in this August moment forever.
I thought to myself,
This is just as it should be,
To be so filled with gratitude and appreciation that if something else were to show up,
It would be met with the utmost surprise and wonder.
So how can we linger in the energy of late summer?
How can we hold on to the divine hymn of summer's gown filled with hummingbirds and bumblebees?
We can,
With intention and awareness,
Continue to carry and cultivate the element of fire,
That abiding inner flame that sustains our bodies and our minds in a healthy and supportive way.
We can saturate our thoughts with the energy,
The feel,
The sense of this inner sun anywhere and at any time.
We can create our own energy of late summer.
In the traditional chakra system,
The manapura chakra is associated with the element of fire.
Working with manapura can enliven the element of fire within ourselves,
Bringing the well-being associated with summer.
Unlike the neo-western chakra system,
Which infers that the chakras are entities within the central channel of the body,
Most eastern and traditional chakra systems place the chakra in the central channel,
The sushumna,
With meditation and visualization.
To work with our inner summer,
Begin by sitting quietly and gently closing your eyes.
Take a few deep breaths and allow the body to relax as I move you into this manapura chakra meditation.
In the screen of your mind,
In the space between your brows,
Visualize a lotus flower,
A tin-petaled lotus flower.
Gently count each petal as you breathe deeper and slower,
Counting the tin petals of this lotus flower.
Bring to mind the color of the lotus.
See the lotus as fiery,
Golden yellow-orange.
And with your next exhale,
Move the lotus downward,
Exhaling and visualizing this fiery,
Golden yellow-orange,
Tin-petaled lotus at the center of your throat.
Manapura chakra at the center of the throat.
On the next breath,
As you exhale,
Move the lotus flower to the center of the heart.
Seeing this tin-petaled,
Beautiful,
Fiery,
Golden yellow-orange lotus,
Manapura chakra at the center of your heart.
Breathing deeply,
On your next exhale,
Bring manapura chakra,
This yellow-orange,
Tin-petaled lotus,
To rest just below the solar plexus,
Visualizing this beautiful,
Fiery,
Yellow-orange lotus,
Its tin petals moving with your breath,
Just below the solar plexus.
Visualize manapura chakra,
This lustrous gem,
Below the solar plexus and above the navel.
Feel and sense the dimensionality of manapura chakra,
Increasing your awareness of the lotus from front to back,
Letting it fill the area between the solar plexus and the navel.
Release your awareness of the lotus from side to side,
Filling the space between the solar plexus and the navel.
And increasing your awareness now from the top of manapura chakra to the bottom of manapura chakra,
How it fills the space,
Becoming aware of the dimensionality of this tin-petaled lotus from front to back,
From side to side,
And from top to bottom,
Filling the space below the solar plexus and above your navel,
And allow this lotus to fill the area with warm effulgent flame,
A soft wick of flame.
And as you breathe deeply,
Imagine breathing in and out of this lotus flower.
Allow your breath to move the lotus flower the way bellows would move a flame,
Gently increasing the vibrancy,
The color,
And the warmth of manapura chakra.
As you breathe,
Allow your breath to bring a brilliance to the lotus.
See the brilliance of this lotus and the luster like a beautiful,
Faceted gemstone.
Breathing in and out of manapura chakra,
Let the radiating warmth and light spread throughout the body,
This warmth and light spreading down to the toes,
The feet,
The legs,
The pelvis,
This warmth and light now moving all through the abdomen and begin to saturate every organ,
Moving warmth and light through the torso,
Down the arms,
Into the fingertips,
This warmth and light.
Move warmth into the throat,
A soft glow at the center of the throat,
And move this warmth and light into the third eye,
The space between the brows,
And up to the top of the head.
Radiate the whole body with the effulgence of manapura chakra,
The lustrous gem,
The whole body radiating the warmth of summer.
Spend as much time as you like in the power of manapura,
Enjoying this warmth,
This light,
The fire in the belly.
And when you are ready,
Gently let the visualization of this golden yellow lotus flower soften into the background of your awareness.
The element of fire in the body-mind is associated with power,
Digestion,
Purification,
Freedom of choice,
And will.
So take time after your manapura meditation to use the energy of manapura for the following reflections.
What energy,
If any,
Is stagnant in my body or mind?
Is there an old belief,
Pattern,
Or habit that could benefit from the purification of fire?
Finish the statement,
I am,
With a powerful affirmation that embodies a desire of your heart.
And now bring to mind an experience of summer that left you filled up and allow yourself to be fully present with the sensations of the experience.
Despite the warmth of this experience,
To saturate your being,
That fullness of summer,
That warmth and light of summer.
After a few moments,
Thank summer for her beautiful season.
Aum and blessings.
