Inviting Kundalini Upstairs to Stay for a While – Clearing the Psychic Hurdles to Enlightenment

Dear EE,
You asked: Can you give me some suggestions on how to transform my earthly, sexual urges into a vibration that weakens my knees as no man has?

Elusive Ecstasy

You have touched on an age-old and very complex dilemma – how to use our Kundalini energy to enable us to embrace joy, to give and receive pleasure, overflow with passion and achieve enlightenment at our Crown Chakra. Whew, what a mouthful and a big chore too. But do-able with some concentrated and persistent effort.

When our chakras are closed or severely depleted, our radiant light cannot reach its potential and therefore our sexual urges cannot be transformed into spiritual enlightenment and body bliss. So, here are a few suggestions to move you in the “right” direction mentally and physically.

Lets start with the basics. Notice the patterns of your thoughts. Instead of oozing envy over those happy couples, be grateful that they are your friends and a valuable part of your life, and shower their union with blessings. Be non-violent in thought and deed, honest and truthful to yourself and others and worship the deity of your choice in prayer and practice.

Use daily meditation and visualizations to help you withdraw from the world of the senses and refocus your mind. Create a special place for this worship indoors or out with inspirational photos, candles or shells, crystals, feathers or stones. Read poems out loud that celebrate sexuality after you nurture yourself with meals at your altar that you have prepared from scratch. Share your space with others through song, dance or thoughts.

Purify your body as well as your mind by detoxifying through fasting or making more simple dietary changes such as eliminating red meat or increasing your fiber intake.

As I quoted Rumi in

Love is the Heart of the Matter – Step Four – Heart Chakra

In my chakra balancing workshop profiled in The Chakra Diaries, one student’s fourth chakra was profoundly closed. He was as suspicious of others as a stray cat, resentful at life for handing him not that bowl of cherries that he felt he so richly deserved, but a crate of sour grapes and buckets of ill will filled with woe-is-me. No wonder that despite his rugged good looks and stable income he was having such a “hard time” finding a lover and soul mate. His inner peace was pockmarked and fragmented, it resembled a battlefield of negative feelings littered with remnants of squandered life force. He was in every sense of the unspoken word, a mess.

I suggested that he passively meditate at every opportunity, allowing his memories of love and relationships to surface so that they could be examined and balanced. He taped ten affirmations of self acceptance on his bathroom mirror and car dashboard to guide him in becoming more grounded and open to love and compassion.

Over the course of the workshop, I saw this delightful, yet challenging man grow into a balance of his internal and external worlds. He became more open and accepting of life and less apt to sling blame, point fingers and retreat into a fortress of self-pity. He led the group in a practice of saturation blessings and appreciations of abundance, reminding the group that blessings flow where attention goes and that all power comes from within. In the final tally, he gave to the group far more than he took and I am forever thankful that he crossed my life.

Mr. Heart, I miss you and wonder what your world has become. Please take a minute away from what I imagine to be an overflowing and abundant life and write to me soon. Namaste.

Mirror, Mirror On the Wall – Step Three – Solar Plexus Chakra

I begin my days by stretching cat-like on my futon, toenails to fingernails, arching and undulating my spine, inviting my physical body to join my consciousness in greeting a new day ripe with opportunity. Once I arise from my rainbow-drenched mat, I ball my fears into a small soft, mentally biodegradable box and give it a hefty kick into the heavens. In the evenings, I repeat this fear-banishing exercise, using it as warm milk for my soul, its soporific effect smoothly easing me into a relaxed state so that I may begin my nightly visualizations.

At some point during the morning, usually after my first cup of green tea, I affirm to the Becca in the mirror that even though I take risks in both love and life, I give myself permission to fail (or perhaps to alter my thinking or attitude so that “failures” morph into positive learning experiences.) Just yesterday, one of my chakra workshop participants was wringing her hands and likening her lack of a physical love life to that of a nun. I chuckled at her purloined quote that “Men are like parking spaces, the good ones are either taken, or are too far away.”

One of the males in the group suggested that Ms. Frustrated first take a hard, honest look in her mirror and assess (even writing down what she is offering to the world), those qualities seen and unseen that might or might not be attracting potential mates into her life. He reminded her to be realistic, but not to sell herself short and remarked that, for instance, he was attracted to her intellect and humor but often put off by her critical comments lightly veiled as wit. I urged her to practice enhancing the attributes on her “alluring” list and to discard or re-purpose the unwanted, much as I figuratively boot mine away.

Another workshop attendee who lost her lover to the thrills and spills of life, creating her own “private hell on earth,” said that simple positive thinking had helped her endure. Instead of grinding her teeth and stomping her feet at the “overwhelming” frustrations and mental plaque built up from being a modern woman, Ms. Optimism had hung a carrot on a stick in her kitchen, reminding her to concentrate on the rewards at the end of her journey, and not the countless, arduous steps in between. She ended her tale and gave our hearts wings when she said to stay tuned – that she knew meaningful, lasting love was on the horizon even though she has not yet even seen the boat it is sailing on.

If you are looking for love, a strong sense of self from a balanced solar plexus chakra will give you charisma and help you attract your soul mate. Good luck in love in the New Year.
Namaste!
Becca Chopra, author of The Chakra Diaries

Finding Love at the End of the Rainbow – Step Two – Sacral Chakra (via Chakra Blog)

"Sex is emotion in motion," said Mae West and she was was an expert on that subject. If stress causes blockages of energy in the body, your sex and your love life will be out of whack. Accumulated stress in the body, whether emotional or physical, erects barriers to the natural flow of our life energy. So, too much stress may equal no love or even any prospects for it. Love doctors have for centuries recognized that moving in spontaneous and free … Read More

via Chakra Blog

Finding Love at the End of the Rainbow – Step Two – Sacral Chakra

“Sex is emotion in motion,” said Mae West and she was an expert on that subject. If stress causes blockages of energy in the body, your sex and your love life will be out of whack. Accumulated stress in the body, whether emotional or physical, erects barriers to the natural flow of our life energy. So, too much stress may equal no love or even any prospects for it. Love doctors have for centuries recognized that moving in spontaneous and free-form ways not only demands flexibility but also the ability to change focus and let go of memories, trauma and pain.

Philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin has been quoted as saying that “Love is the most powerful and still the most unknown energy in the world.” In opposition to the Base Chakra’s links to fortress-like solidity and stability, the Sacral Chakra focuses on flowing movement and filling your need to sip, bathe, luxuriate or douse in the vivacious, unpredictable and dynamic stream we call love. Practicing the hypnotic hip swivels of oriental (belly) dancing or performing wu chi exercises may help you begin to experience the world of love that seems just beyond your heart’s grasp.

An imbalance of your Sacral Chakra may also manifest as an inappropriate focus on something or somebody that is inappropriate or unrealistic. Perhaps that new guy in the office does have a killer smile, great hair and a body worth giving up chocolate for, but he comes forth anointed with a ring finger wrapped in gold. We might practice the cobbler’s pose to encourage our life energy to flow throughout our sacral chakra or unleash and focus our creative spirits through painting or making music. Our skill level at this art is not an important measure but the fact that we are “doing it” and by doing so are diverting our essence around any barriers nesting in our bodies. As an expression of our joy of living, whatever we create is beautiful, skillful, breathtaking and encouraging. In becoming more sensitive and responsive to what is going on in the world around us, we also further the grounding that we fostered in our root chakra, allowing us to go boldly after what we seek in life, even a relationship that we can grow old with.

In addition to harboring pleasurable sensations, the sacral chakra can vacuum in and hold fast to pain and its attendant stress, damming up the free flow of energy and physically manifesting as infection and illness. We may be “going through the motions” in life, seeing the dust on the table and not the wondrous roses in the crystal vase. Our reactions to the world may vacillate widely from rage and aggression to breaking into tears at the slightest problem.

To aid in stress relief, esteemed authors and teachers Sue and Simon Lilly suggest placing three clear quartz crystals, points facing outward, in a triangle just below your navel. Next, place three rose quartz stones in an arc above your pubic bone and relax for 4-5 minutes. Repeat as often as is needed for optimal energy flow.

Namaste and Keep Focused on Love!
Becca Chopra, author of The Chakra Diaries

Beginning the Journey to Find Deep Meaningful Love – Step One – Base Chakra

As the seat of passion, the base chakra builds a white-hot fire under our excitement, hones our instincts to a razor’s edge and dips our lover in irresistible aromas and hues that scratch our itch. Although fantasizing about our lover may fan the flames of wanton desire and fill our Blackberrys with salacious text messages, too much can create an inability to settle and a hyperactivity of the mind.

Enter the grounding of the base chakra, otherwise known as the point at which the ladder to heaven rests. That reminds me of a brief dalliance I had with an extraordinary house painter, but let me not digress.

Ironically if our base chakras are imbalanced, we may have a hard time accepting love or pleasure. There may actually be a large gap between what we could have, and what we allow ourselves to have.
As Saraha Doha has said, “…there are no other temples as blissful as our own bodies.”

We must make a pilgrimage to them, enter and come to know them. Our bodies await our acceptance, our validation, our love and deepest understanding.

Let us build our path to meaningful love brick by brick, forging ourselves into a lightning rod of spiritual growth and development by eating a diet replete with protein, avoiding heavily processed foods and those made with simple sugars. Let us stabilize and anchor by practicing the warrior pose, dance and drum to strengthen our bodies and spirits and nurture a regimen of daily meditation to release any excess activity from our ever-inquiring minds and wondrous bodies.

May we go boldly forward on our journey with resolute focus and unwavering faith. We will rid our minds of disbelief that love does not have our name on the list for as William Shakespeare has been quoted, “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win.”

How do I Use Crystals to Heal and Balance my Chakras?

Thanks for the question Laura.
When you’re seeking balance and a sense of well-being in your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self, crystals can be simple, yet powerful tools.

Here is a simple Spectrum Chakra Balance you can do daily as a general balancing session, to reinforce your chakra energies and help them to return to normal functioning.

Choose a grounding stone (black, brown or dark red) to place between your feet. Then choose a stone or crystal corresponding to the different colors of the chakras, placing the red one between your knees, the orange right above your pelvic bone, the yellow right above your navel, the green over your heart center, the blue on your throat, indigo or dark blue on your forehead and a violet or clear stone on the floor just above the top of your head. Lie down with these stones in place for a period of about 5 minutes or until you feel complete, then remove the stones starting with the one above your head.
Relax for a few more minutes, still lying down, then enjoy a sense a well-being and balance, ready to face the stresses of the day ahead.

Adapted from Crystal Healing by Simon and Sue Lilly

Here is what author, Sue Lilly had to say about The Chakra Diaries:
“I just loved the book! Astonishing waves of chakra-linked emotion to each section. I became easily drawn in to the issues that each chapter dealt with, especially those most people shy away from – death, sex and pain. This is a beautiful way for people to begin to understand the emotional depth that each chakra corresponds to. I salute those brave souls who have shared their lives.”
Namaste.
Becca

How to Diet Through the Holidays and Stay Healthy Too

Dear Becca,
In addition to eating the right foods to balance an unbalanced chakra, can you offer any other advice on the right diet for optimum health, especially during the holidays when “poor” food choices and habits are the order of the day?

Dana in Denver

Dear Dana,
Using “food as medicine,” and diagnosis of the correct foods for each person’s constitution and body type is a major focus of Ayurveda and can help answer that question. Ayurveda, derived from the ancient Sanskrit roots, ayus (life) and ved(knowledge), is the traditional system of holistic healing from India. In Ayurveda, all aspects of an individual are considered and treatment is prescribed to bring balance to all levels of life: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
“One need not be sick to come for an Ayurveda consultation, as we suggest the proper diet to live 100 years without having diseases,” according to Dr. S. K. Kamlesh, a seventh-generation Ayurvedic doctor, and Founder and President of the International Society of Ayurveda. According to Dr. Kamlesh, the appropriate diet to balance the three physical doshas or energies of the body – Vata, Pitta and Kapha – can help to promote health and longevity.
Through the practices of Ayurveda, a person is requested to get involved more and take responsibility for their own healing. Seasonal cleansing and rejuvenation, as well as appropriate diet, are suggested to maintain health and to slow aging.
If you’d like to pursue that path, I’d recommend a personal health consultation with an Ayurvedic physician. After a diagnostic check to find any health problems in the body’s organs and determine an individual’s percentage of Vata, Pitta and Kapha energies in their body, you would be provided a personalized diet program, with suggestions of foods, herbs, spices, aromatherapy oils and supplements for healing.
Namaste!

How Can I Forgive When What I really Want is Revenge?

Dear Becca,

A friend of mine, or someone I used to consider to be a very close friend, was having sex in my bed with my boyfriend when I came home from work late, a few nights ago. Yes, I tossed them out on their ears (well, maybe not literally) but now I lonely, sad, frustrated and a few other things I won’t mention on here. I want to move on with my life and to put them both in my rear-view mirror, so please help me distance my heart from the hurt that is bruised and glowing there.
Signed,
Jilted Juliet

Dear Juliet,
Heart chakra balancing can help you release your anger to let love and compassion live there. First, you have to realize that forgiveness, even of something unspeakable, is necessary for you to live a healthy, loving life. You don’t have to forget or condone an action or behavior, you just have to let go of its importance in your life. As the Buddha said, “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned.”

Most of the characters in The Chakra Diaries had to deal with forgiveness, of themselves and others, to release the tension in their bodies and allow the healing power of love to flow. Put your present happiness first, and forgive past transgressions – drop the hot coal.
Namaste!

Excerpts from Becca Chopra’s interview on YogalifeJourney.com

Leading Chakra Workshops came out of my work doing Yoga Health Retreats in Hawaii, starting 10 years ago. At the end of every yoga class, we would finish with a chakra meditation. Often, after class, my students would want to discuss specific problems in their lives that were clearly related to one chakra or another. So, in addition to using chakra meditations in my yoga classes, I decided to try 8-week chakra workshops for local students. Each week, we would focus on balancing one of the chakras, starting with the root chakra, using guided visualizations, yoga poses, toning, color therapy and crystal healing. The final week would be an integrative, sharing session.

During the last year I have concentrated not on teaching, but on my writing, both as a novelist with The Chakra Diaries and as a journalist on holistic health issues. The best part about my yoga practice is that it gives me a reservoir of calm and strength from which to face the tight deadlines and stresses of my day. I have been known to walk away from my computer to do yoga poses to stretch and relax, and usually my coworkers follow me to join in. Once, during a long plane ride, while waiting in a never-ending line for the rest room, I began doing a few standing poses. The two businessmen behind me asked what I was doing and if I could show them how to do the poses also. It turned into an informal yoga class in the aisle of United Airlines. In teaching, whether in a formal class or a funny moment like on the plane, I love sharing what I have learned. I believe we’re all wounded healers on this earth, here to help each other.
To read the entire interview click here.