If you are familiar with chakras, then you can tell from my logo that I love chakras. The rainbow-colored spheres within my logo are representative of the chakra system within the body.
If you are unfamiliar, here’s a quick lesson: There are seven energy centers called chakras (literally “wheels”) that store energy/life force/prana. They are along the spinal column and correlate to major nerve ganglia branching forth from the spinal column. Each has a different relationship to a gland in the body’s endocrine system. Each stimulates different organs and systems in the body. Hatha Yoga activates these energy centers releasing the energy that flows through the spine. Yoga helps these energy centers/nerve bundles to function correctly clearing blocks that may be there. Each chakra also is associated with a mental/emotional focus. In each newsletter I’ll highlight how you can work with a particular chakra to correspond with the season.
In the opening section, I noted that the circle was associated with the sacral chakra. Since this month’s section is dedicated to the circle, let’s explore the sacral chakra! In the Meditation on the Go section I introduced mandalas and yantras as forms of meditation. The image above is a yantra for the sacral chakra. Each chakra has a yantra associated with it. So if you are considering using mandalas or yantras as a form of meditation, and want to work on a particular chakra, find the yantra that is associated with the chakra you are focusing on to meditate upon.
The sacral chakra is located near the “sacrum”, genital and kidney area of the body. In a woman, it is associated with the womb. Given that the circle is considered the creative center or “womb” for geometric shapes and patterns, as mentioned in my opener, you can understand the connection to the sacral chakra.
The element of the sacral chakra is water, going with the flow—going with the flow in the circle of life. Wherever we are in the circle of life, life is meant to be enjoyed and savored. This chakra is about enjoying the sweetness of life which corresponds to the sense of taste. It is the home of your emotions, creativity, and sensuality.
The Sanskrit term for this chakra translates to “the sacred home of the self” and “the sweet place”, among others. It’s location near the sacrum also has significance. “Sacrum” comes from the Latin word meaning “holy” or “sacred’, echoing the elements of the “sacred” circle outlined earlier. Remember the circle was considered the womb of sacred geometry, and geometric patterns and shapes represented the Universe, our Source, our Gods and Goddesses. These definitions remind us that enjoying the sweetness of life is a sacred act empowering us to create the life our Creator meant for us to live.
As we dive into this holiday season, many of us attempt to create sweetness and enjoyment for our loved ones while forgetting our own happiness. This chakra reminds us that you can only give what you already contain inside. Perhaps if you viewed your own happiness and enjoyment as a prerequisite to being able to provide it for others, you’d feel less guilty. Guilt is another element associated with this chakra.
Sometimes guilt is appropriate, and sometimes it’s not. When you feel guilty for experiencing enjoyment and pleasure, you are denying your right to feel. We each have a basic right to feel. You can’t cut off your emotions and expect to live a passion, joy-filled life just as you can’t expect to create joy for another without first feeling it for yourself. So let joy in! Be open to it!
Allow this season to bubble up with joy inside of you—even in the mundane tasks. Commit to choosing joy. Here are some of the ways I “call out” the joy waiting to be experienced:
- Snow can create worry and stress over the need to shovel it, leave early for your destination to allow for driving in it, and dress in layers to stay warm in it. Remember how much you loved snow as a child? A couple of years ago I decided to bring back the play time that came with snow. I commit to making a snow angel whenever I’m outside in the snow. Last year I think I got to the upper teens—clearly room for improvement!
(Side bonus compliments of Prevention magazine’s December issue: “Getting outside during a cold snap can do your body good: There’s evidence that the temporary physical stress of being cold—whether it’s the result of being outside on a freezing day or taking a cold shower—may strengthen the immune system. In fact, athletes use a form of cold treatment known as cryotherapy to recover from hard training. Best of all, the cold bite of a winter day may even help burn body fat, according to a study from the New England Journal of Medicine.) - My husband and I have had a Christmas party each year since we’ve been married. The decorating can be overwhelming and takes quite a bit of time. When I noticed that “dread” was replacing the joy of the season the decorations were meant to bring out, I started decorating earlier to allow for a more leisurely pace. I also play seasonal music, hum or sing along, and have mulled wine while decorating the tree. One of the main purposes of the sacral chakra is to promote movement. So dance to the music that surrounds you! Make each moment a dance!
- Playing seasonal music, or any music that brings you joy, also helps when I’m in the car on the long snowy drives, as does humming or singing along! Try it! See my January 2011 newsletter for more on the benefits of humming.
“Music makes each of us feel something. By acting as a gateway to emotional stimulation, music can motivate and inspire, life and build; it can also depress, anger and intensify. What is it that makes us so sensitive to music’s sound waves?As Christi Bonds-Garret, MD, taught during a profound lecture during Young Living’s 2011 Convention in Orlando, Florida, it is because we are composed mostly of water that we are easily influenced by the positivity and negativity produced by sound waves and their frequencies.’We are water. Newborns are 90 percent water and adults are 70 percent water,’ states Dr. Bonds-Garrett. ‘It’s easy to see how we are so easily affected.'” The Essential Edge News by Young Living Essential Oils, Volume 1, Issue 7). Also see my November 2010 newsletter’s “Featured Deck” section for more on the effects of words and music on our body. - Wear something festive every day, even if it’s only placing a pin on your coat for the season. Decorate your work area if it’s appropriate. Pull out a seasonal mug or plate and use it throughout the season. Every time you see or use these items, you are announcing to yourself that it’s time to enjoy and celebrate life!
- Participate in your favorite rituals of the season. Mine include lighting candles, opening the days on an advent calendar, and caroling at our annual party. Let’s not forget the mulled wine on tree decorating day! Lighting a candle invites spirit into your day and takes only a moment.
- Be someone’s secret Santa. The idea behind this one is to do something unexpectedly nice for someone else. It might be paying the toll for the car behind you as you travel to see relatives, buying someone’s meal anonymously when you’re shopping at the mall and see a deserving family or Vet, or shoveling your neighbor’s drive. Giving when it’s unexpected is not the same as giving out of obligation. The joy will well up inside of you. Try it—you’ll see!
- Create your own special evening alone or with a loved one. It can include a hot bath with candles, watching a favorite movie, giving yourself or a loved one a foot massage, sitting in front of a fire, and reading your favorite book.
- Make it a point to kiss or hug a loved one every time you see them and perhaps shout “We have fun, don’t we?!” Calling out the moments allows them to be enjoyed.
- Make it a point to smile as big as you can to everyone you see. At first this may seem uncomfortable if you’re not used to it, but after awhile, you’ll start to feel unusual when you aren’t smiling! My husband and I do this regularly—we lovingly refer to it as “monkey face” since it resembles a gregarious monkey smiling from ear to ear. We always add a tip back of the head as though we are shining the smile out with all of our might. It brings joy to the “smile-er” and the “smile-ee”.
I know you can come up with some ideas of your own! What brings you joy? What can you do right now to increase the pleasure you allow into your life? Embrace what makes your life worth living and if you don’t know what that is; make it your goal to find out!
This chakra reminds you that your pleasure is yours to create! Find your passion! Decide that now is the time to do something, anything that makes you smile! Remember that sometimes it takes effort to smile, and then the smile becomes real. You have a right to feel. What do you want to feel right now? Create it!
Breathwork and Visualization:
“Before you start, choose a leisurely and relaxed time to meditate. Create an atmosphere with oils, candles, or incense. Tape the words if you like. Dots indicate a pause.
1. As you lie motionless, become aware of change and movement that continues in your body…your heartbeat…blood flow around your body….cellular activity that invisibly rejuvenates your whole being. Your every breath celebrates life…nourishing you with everything you need for a healthy, enjoyable life.
2. Focus on the gentle movement of your abdomen as you breathe. Imagine it filled with a warm, orange glow, representing joy and vitality, both of which are available to you in abundance…
3. Bring to mind a pleasurable experience…Recollect all the senses that will bring that moment back to life for you now…Remember how you felt…the colors around you…textures…shapes…sounds…smells…tastes.
4. Shift that image to your abdomen so that the warm, orange glow suffuses it, magnifying the experience and making it even more satisfying and joyous… Surrender your body to the pleasures of that moment…something you deserve to experience every day of your life, and can have again every time you put your mind to it…
5. Know that your life can be a succession of wonderful, beneficial experiences if you choose it to be so…Determine to look for the opportunities, the love, the joy, and the fun in all you do today. You deserve it.”
Source: The Book of Chakra Healing by Liz Simpson
Second meditation compliments of Cyndi Dale’s new book, Energetic Boundaries: “A circle promotes relationships, harmony, and connection. A circle envisioned between two or more people (or living beings) invites an exchange of energy. Check the energy. If it’s bright and loving, the swap is positive. If it’s negative, the exchange is hurting you and creating a syndrome.
Establishing a circle around ourselves, through any or all of the energetic boundaries, will emphasize wholeness and send an energy of love to others. It will also create a ‘sacred circle,’ a protected space that only love can enter. You can also psychically draw a circle around a part of you, such as an inner child or an idea, and keep it secure.
If you constantly pick up energy from others or the environment, go a step further and imagine a circle (a silver one is best) drawn under your feet and moving everywhere you move. This circle will cleanse the ground you walk on and shimmer upward through your entire field, deflecting negative energies.”
Affirmations:
- I am moving toward a time when I am totally happy and fulfilled.
- Life offers me everything I need for that journey.
- I am worthy of love and pleasure.
- I have a right to express my desires to myself and others.
- Who I am is good enough.
- Life is unfolding as it should be.
- I love my life.
- I honor my body and treat myself respectfully.
- I feel the power of healing moving in and through me as I affirm my worth and honor my body.
- I trust my feelings and give them ample room for expression.
- I lighten my body each time I feel well in myself.
- I am a creature of light, open to my highest joy.
- I am grateful for the joy of being me.
- I receive pleasure and abundance with every breath I take.
- Goodness, beauty and joy resonate with my soul.
- I am entitled to happiness, health and joy in my life.
- Healing occurs each time I rest, relax and enjoy myself.
- My body responds to thoughts of pure love and goodness.
- I know my body always seeks balance and regeneration.
- I get stronger every time I affirm my worth and honor my choices for love.
- There is nothing to change about the way I am.
- Nobody needs to fix or heal me. I reclaim my power to look after myself.
- I unconditionally love who I am, exactly as I am.
- I give others the space that they need and love them just as they are.
- As I love and respect myself, healing happens naturally.
Sources: The Book of Chakra Healing by Liz Simpson
http://inspirationsatsang.blogspot.com/2010/06/sixth-chakra-affirmations.html
Diet and the Sacral Chakra:
Since the sacral chakra’s element is water, adding more liquid into your diet is essential. Water is the liquid of choice! Soup, hot tea, and fresh juices are all good! The sacral chakra vibrates to the color orange so add orange colored foods to your diet such as carrots, mangoes, tangerines and oranges.
Aromatherapy and the Sacral Chakra:
Jasmine, Rose, Sandalwood.
If aromatherapy interests you, I use Young Living Essential Oils™ which are therapeutic, food-grade oils. Please inquire if you are interested in purchasing a favorite scent and I can add your request to my personal monthly order. Essential oils raise the vibrational frequency of the body. When the vibrational frequency of the body drops, we become more receptive to ill health: http://justalist.blogspot.com/2008/03/vibrational-frequency-list.html. Therapeutic-grade essential oils are great to have in your arsenal of health promoting natural products.
Gem therapy and the Sacral Chakra:
Gemstones amplify the energy when placed in contact with your chakras. For those of you unsure on this subject, consider that it’s scientifically proven that everything is energy. Nothing is really solid. Why wouldn’t the energy of a stone work effectively with the energy in our bodies just as some research speculates that the energy of computers, cell phones, and microwaves may affect our bodies? At the very least, I find that holding a favorite stone is like a talisman for me, or a “worry stone”. As my favorite author, Wayne Dyer, likes to say, “If it’s a placebo effect, I’ll take two”.
Some Sacral Chakra gems are: Citrine, Carnelian, Golden topaz
If gem therapy interests you, you can find a great selection at www.crystallinelight.com. I’ve known Jennifer, the owner, for many years and love her products!
Yoga poses for the Sacral Chakra:
All yoga poses are essentially grounding and activate the chakras. Some yoga poses to stimulate the sacral chakra include: Supine butterfly pose, pelvic tilts while in bridge pose, goddess squat pose, and fish pose.
