This meditation is to connect you to the seven main chakras in the body.
Remembering there are many other smaller chakra centers but the seven main ones are quite powerful.
There are different ways to work with the characteristics of the chakras.
What I'm offering here is an image of each chakra in its most resplendent and integrated form.
And I invite you during this specific practice to focus on inviting in the positive energy and transformative energy of each of the chakras and the possibility that each one offers.
This is a practice that can be wonderful for 10 days in order to clear the chakras,
To open them,
To call forth their powerful creative energy in your life.
And of course,
Beyond 10 days,
There's 20 days and 40 day practices that could be wonderful.
The chakras are formed where the two main nadis cross,
The ida and the pingala.
At the base of muladhara chakra,
The root chakra,
Is where the kundalini energy sits,
That powerful energy that is often dormant but can become called upon to actualize and energize the life,
The self,
The highest calling,
The dharma and karma of this lifetime.
So center yourself in a posture that is upright and remembering there are curves in the spine.
So not trying to put the spine in an unnatural position,
But rather the most energized and ergonomic position you can find.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor,
Perhaps you're sitting in a chair,
But really connecting with the alignment between the hips and the shoulders so that there's an uprightness.
Traditionally,
The chin is brought slightly,
Slightly down toward the chest to elongate and stretch ever so gently the back of the neck,
Which allows for that flow of energy through the shishamana,
The central channel from the base of the spine,
The whole way out through the top of the head.
It's also a great idea to have the lips slightly parted and the tip of the tongue behind the top front teeth,
Just relaxing on the roof of the mouth.
That allows the jaw to release and tension in the jaw can become a foil to the upright flowing energy through that central channel,
The shishamana.
So let's connect in with the muladhara chakra,
The root chakra.
When in balance,
The muladhara chakra allows you to feel grounded and safe,
Secure and stable in your life.
It's a profound sense of being at home in the world and in yourself,
Not in any specific place,
But you yourself are your home where you are safe and secure.
It's connected to our survival and it is the seat of the kundalini energy.
So just feeling into that muladhara chakra at the base of the spine,
The mantra is Lam,
L-A-M.
And so we're going to chant each of the mantras nine times,
Three times loudly and clearly without forcing.
The three louder repetitions intend to clear the chakra,
Open it from any blocks and also to send with confidence the energy out.
The three quieter repetitions are designed to kind of bring a laser-like focus to the mantra where the energy that you're calling upon in this center is both internal and external,
Heightened and clarified.
And the silent chanting,
The anahata chant,
The unstruck sound is taught to be the most powerful way to work with mantra,
To simply repeat the mantra silently internally to the point where it actually repeats itself without you even having to think it.
After many,
Many repetitions,
As you might imagine,
The mantras start to sound themselves and that is the goal of mantra bhakti yoga,
Devotional practice,
To become one with the sacred vibration.
And that gets us into nada yoga,
The yoga of sacred sound,
Which we'll save for another meditation.
So here we go with our Lam,
Again,
Nine repetitions.
When chanting the mantras,
I like to take my hands,
One on top of the other,
Palms facing inward,
A few inches away from the body,
Moving them up through each chakra center.
So as I'm at,
For instance,
Muladhara,
I have my hands down at the base of my spine,
Several inches away from the body.
This just allows me to stay connected and also feel like there's energy flowing between the chakras in the hands and also the main chakra that we are working with with each mantra.
The drishti point for the first three chakras is the tip of the nose.
So behind the closed eyelids,
The eyes are relaxing down toward as if to see the tip of the nose.
♪ Lam ♪ ♪ Lam ♪ ♪ Lam ♪ And now the three quieter repetitions.
♪ Lam ♪ ♪ Lam ♪ ♪ Lam ♪ And now the three silent repetitions.
So inhaling and then on the exhale,
Just silently thinking,
Chanting,
Lam.
♪ Lam ♪ And now connecting with svadasthana,
The second chakra,
The sacral chakra,
The seat of creativity,
Sensuality,
Desire,
Sexuality.
Also the seat of our emotions,
Our sense of play,
A sense of enthusiasm for life itself,
Engagement,
Enthusiasm,
And juiciness.
In some teachings,
This is also the seat of wealth where you're able to contain and build the abundance of your life in many different forms.
And of course,
We can think of procreation actually having children,
But also the many ways that our life is our own creation,
That we're constantly engaged in a creation of our life and self throughout our entire lifespan.
So just breathing in with those tenants of this chakra center.
The mantra is vam,
V-A-M.
♪ Vam ♪ ♪ Vam ♪ ♪ Vam ♪ ♪ Vam ♪ And now the quieter,
More concentrated chant.
♪ Vam ♪ Let all tension and trying dissolve and just be with the quietest essence of the mantra.
♪ Vam ♪ If the voice cracks or breaks,
It's not a problem.
We're not doing anything performative here.
We're not singing.
We're sounding the sacred sound.
We are enveloping ourself in the nada yoga,
The sacred sound.
♪ Vam ♪ ♪ Vam ♪ ♪ Vam ♪ And now the silent chanting.
Now moving on to Manipura,
The navel point,
The seat of a healthy ego,
The ability to say I am in this world,
To self-actualize,
Connected to your drive,
Your efficacy,
Also being able to set boundaries with others and yourself,
Knowing where you end and something else begins,
Not becoming overtaxed or overinvested,
♪ Vam ♪ the seat of your confidence,
Remembering the root word of confidence is confide,
And therefore a healthy sense of self-confidence comes from the things you tell yourself.
What are you confiding into yourself?
The seat of your gut instinct,
The seat of the second brain.
The mantra is Ram,
R-A-M.
♪ Ram ♪ ♪ Ram ♪ ♪ Ram ♪ ♪ Ram ♪ ♪ Ram ♪ ♪ Ram ♪ ♪ Ram ♪ ♪ Ram ♪ And now the silent chanting.
Three times.
For the next three chakras,
I encourage you to have the drishti point at your eye point at the third eye.
So again,
Eyes closed,
Eyes rolled up to the third eye point as if you were able to see into that third eye point.
And now anahata chakra,
The heart center,
The seat of the unstruck sound,
The seat of your love and compassion going both ways,
Extended out towards others and extended back toward the self.
A sense of peace and contentment,
Kindness,
The ability to forgive.
Also the seat of courage,
Joy and a deep bliss.
The mantra is yam,
Y-A-M.
Moving those hands toward the heart center.
♪ Yam ♪ ♪ Yam ♪ ♪ Yam ♪ ♪ Yam ♪ ♪ Yam ♪ ♪ Yam ♪ ♪ Yam ♪ And now three silent yams.
And as we're moving upward through the chakra system,
Notice how each one builds upon the other because we are rooted and safe in muladhara,
Creative and engaged with life in svadhisthana,
Self-actualized and having a healthy sense of ego and manipura,
We are able to step into a more loving,
Peaceful,
Compassionate space.
So even though we tease each chakra out,
They do not exist independently of others.
They are all interconnected.
And in some ways over my years of practice,
I've come to value the first three chakras so much because if they're not in place,
It's very hard to move in a spiritually guided way that is both grounded and healthy.
I think sometimes in the beginning,
We want to just jump to the crown chakra.
We just want to connect to the divine,
All that is,
But there's a journey there.
There's a wisdom of the first three building upon that stability,
That safety,
That abundance,
That confidence that allows for the blossoming of the spiritual self.
And now to visuddhi,
The throat chakra.
Where we connect with our ability to speak our truth,
To communicate kindly,
Wise speech with others,
And also to know when to be silent,
To both have that yin and yang of speaking up,
Stepping forward,
And also knowing how to step back,
Knowing how to be quiet,
Knowing how to listen.
Also a seed of our authenticity,
Putting out our voice into the world in a literal and figurative way that is based in our own authentic self and experience,
Our own authentic dharma,
What we are called to do in this lifetime.
It's also the seed of laughter and song.
There is great joy and bliss in this chakra,
And also one of the transmutation points where things become transformed,
Where we can move our sadness,
Our grief,
Through with honesty to the point where it becomes transformed and transmuted into a deeper understanding of ourselves and life itself,
And ultimately becomes connected to joy and bliss.
The mantra is Ham with an H sound.
♪ Ham ♪ ♪ Ham ♪ ♪ Ham ♪ ♪ Ham ♪ ♪ Ham ♪ ♪ Ham ♪ And now we move to Ajna,
The third eye point,
The brow point,
The seed of your insight,
Perception,
Wisdom,
And deeper knowing,
A space of integrity and clarity,
Clear seeing,
Also the seat of imagination where ideas can percolate,
Messages can be received.
The mantra is Om.
♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ And the seventh chakra,
Sahasrara,
Chakra,
The thousand-petaled lotus.
With this chakra,
I like to make my hands into a V with the palms about two inches apart and raise my hands up over the hand as if there's a funneling energy,
A channel that flows both inward,
Receiving divine guidance and also flowing outward,
Able to merge with the great all that is.
This is our seat of connection to the divine,
Moving beyond the small self into the largest possible awakened space,
The space of enlightenment,
Intelligence,
Vastness.
This one can be practiced in silence or also can use the mantra,
Om.
♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ And in closing,
I like to chant one long Om,
Drawing the energy up from Muladhara the whole way through the entire chakra system out through the crown of the head.
You can use the hands to kind of move upward and end in that prayer funnel shape at the top of the head,
Stretching above the crown chakra.
If moving the hands resonates with you,
We want to integrate the flow between all the chakras.
Allow that kundalini energy to move up through the Sushumna with a long Om.
♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ And now three quiet and concentrated laser beam-focused Oms.
♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ ♪ Om ♪ And now a silent Om.
Thank you so much for your practice.
And as I mentioned,
This can be a beautiful 10-day practice.
It's also wonderful to journal about each of the chakras,
How you feel in or out of balance,
How you would like to welcome more of whatever that chakra is able to manifest,
More authenticity,
More play,
More joy,
A deeper sense of being at home and grounded and safe in the world.
I'm recording this on quite a windy day and there's chimes outside the house and one chime over the recording studio door that are ringing from time to time.
I'm purposely choosing to include that in the recording because I feel a responsiveness of the universe as we are chanting this together.
Please don't be distracted by those sounds.
I invite you to use those sounds to enhance your practice.
May you be happy,
May you be safe and protected,
May you live with ease and wellbeing.
