Let Your Chakras Shine: Enter the Threshold of Divine Consciousness

 Chakra, pronounced Cha-kra, with a hard “ch” as in chocolate, means wheel and refers to the seven centers of consciousness in the subtle body along the front of the spine. The chakras are like 3-D lotuses of experience, storehouses of experiences that accumulate throughout a lifetime. Some yogis believe that the chakras carry our samskaras, imprints (scars) from all of our past lives, which shape our character, our likes and dislikes, our personality, and our unique individual nature in this life.

We are the sum total of every experience we’ve had in the past.

This can be a scary idea since many of us have had difficult or traumatic past experiences that we’d not like to revisit. However, in the Tantra, everything belongs. Our scars and traumas from our past are there for a reason. We each come into this life with lessons to learn, gifts to cultivate, experiences to have, and obstacles to rise above and release. The universe gives us exactly what we need to transform ourselves. But it’s hard to accept that the universe would give anyone the pain and suffering we’ve experienced or that we see around us.

Yet, when you really think about it, if everything in life isn’t for our awakening, then what is it for? Do we live in a universe of morality? Or a universe of power?

In a universe of morality, we are limited by right and wrong, good and bad, success and failure. This is a binary universe. Black and white is easy to understand and navigate, but there’s no growth in it. In contrast, in a universe with infinite shades of gray, there’s space to grow, understand, and expand. The Tantra teaches that the universe is made up of boundaries that expand and are meant to bend. Barriers, on the other hand, such as those in a binary universe, provide a hard stop and preclude growth of any kind.

The universe doesn’t make mistakes.

In the Tantric view, we live in a universe of power in that we are each empowered to make our own decisions and to act according to what our hearts most deeply desire.

As we progress on the path of the heart, the chakras play an important role. Through our meditation practice, we stir the pot, so to speak. We shine the light of our awareness into the shadows of the unknown, in order to make conscious what is unconscious. According to Carl Jung, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” 

 The chakras hold our memories and imprints of experience in the subtle body. The experiences that we pushed aside and didn’t let in, which can include pain and joy alike, await the moment when we let go enough to allow them to be felt, experienced, and ultimately released. This is how the subtle whisper of wisdom is delivered to our conscious mind to help us make sense of who we are.

We are meaning making machines.

In our freedom to be, we have the power to assign meaning to every experience we have. Raw emotions only last an average of 90 seconds. Yet, we perpetuate difficult emotions by the stories we tell ourselves. These stories arise from the chakras and the samskaras within them. Although difficult, it is possible to overcome, repair, heal, and grow even stronger in wisdom and steadiness by moving through the samskaras, opening to them, allowing them to be felt and understood.

Here’s an example of what I mean…

One of my early childhood stories which I carried into my adult life to the present is that I was unworthy, and I didn’t have what it took to succeed. I’m lacking something and there’s nothing I can do or anyone else can do about it. I’ve worked through this erroneous belief so many times that finally I’m able to watch when my lesser evolved inner child tends to go there. Now though, my adult self, with all of my wisdom, is readily there to step in and affirm the truth that I am already whole and complete and that I am lovable and loved just the way I am.

Feelings of lack and unworthiness or shame are some of the obstacles of the third chakra, Manipura.

This is the center of our personality, our self-esteem, and our vitality. The area around the navel points to that whole region in terms of function. The fire of digestion and our ability to assimilate, not only our food, but our life experience, comes from this chakra. If we’re not digesting well, or if we feel overwhelmed with life, the Manipura closes down. We can experience blockages in the belly including in-digestion, low energy, numbness, and deep feelings that we can’t quite access. We get stuck or “constipated” physically, mentally, or emotionally. Here’s where we need to take a deep breath and let go.

The chakras offer us a map to our soul, a matrix of possibility that when well-navigated and nourished, provides us a greater likelihood of balance, fulfillment, connection, insight, and ecstatic joy in life. This is the highest purpose of the practice of yoga!

I hope you’ll join me in the Membership for a month of chakras starting May 1st. Let Your Chakras Shine: Enter the Threshold of Divine Consciousness is designed to take you to the next level of transformation, insight, and joy, to bring your best self forward and live your dream.

You deserve to be happy, healthy, and free! I look forward to seeing you on the mat!

Namaste,

Todd

Want more of Todd's writing in your inbox? Sign up for the Ashaya Newsletter!