bio....and how I came to enter the realms of the chakras:
In the early 1970s I had a debilitating muscle/organ problem, and in desperation I tried 'keep fit' to help correct it....hated it. My mother, a very intuitive woman, suggested I went to yoga (the condition became corrected within 6 weeks of yoga). Neither of us knew what yoga was, but off I trotted.
Stood in the doorway of a hall, and felt that whatever yoga was, this was 'it' for life. And so it has been. Lucky for me, the teacher, Swami Karmayogi Saraswati was a western swami (whatever that was!!), who taught asanas, pranayamas, yoga nidra, kriyas. It was most fortunate to meet and learn from him. At the end of that 1st year, I had my first chakra experience, but of course didn't know what it all meant, nor did I realise what had actually happened, but, I was acutely aware that I was never the same after. Nor were the people close to me.
A couple of years later, I went on to study with a wonderful woman, Melissa Jones (nee Carven), who was probably the first Satyananda disciple in New Zealand. I knew without a doubt that I had been lead to the person whom I had waited my whole life to meet, whom I'd had many visions of as a child: Paramahansa Satyananda, through Karmayogi who taught Satyananda's Yoga Nidra, and then through Melissa
Life took it's twists and turns, another massive experience happened: I was still totally ignorant of what was happening to me. Later on, my life fell apart about 7 years after starting yoga, a very bad marriage collapsed, and 5 months later I came across a new Satyananda Centre in Auckland. Seven months later I went to the large Australian Ashram at Mangrove Mountain, and was given, yes, given!! full Sannyasa initiation!!
I lived in the NZ Centre, taught there and in a residential countryside ashram, for 7 years, where I lived Satyananda's teachings 24/7. Throughout this time, the internal experiences were fast and furious, however it took many years before I completely understood what had been going on: I read Satyananda's Kundalini Yoga book, the most definitive and accurate book of this type, ever.
What I did learn during those ashram years was a wealth of deep inner spiritual experience, what it all meant.....up to the level that I was at, of course. And something very important: what to do to have those same experiences. Because Yoga is a science, and. doing specific techniques produces definite results.
I truly feel that what you need to do, depending where you are at, to progress spiritually, is one of the hidden keys of spiritual life. Anyone can get hold of the teachings, but it requires experiential knowledge to know how to apply them.
It is so amazing that there are hundreds of Satyananda disciples around the globe who have lived, breathed, kundalini yoga, and who in turn are able to pass on this knowledge, not as a Guru (which one does need for kundalini) but as a teacher.
(1984 with my son, Ali)
At the start of a new year, we often set up goals...which often don't manifest. We tend to use "should do", 'determination', or 'want' to decide our goals, and none of these have staying power, because they are not in alignment with our destiny, nor with how our psyche actually works.
1st choose something close to your heart. In the heart space, is the heart chakra (anahata) which has strong will, and a smaller chakra attached to anahata, sitting over the pancreas and stomach. It's about wishes, and destiny. When we start to do things which our heart is telling us to do, we are more in touch with our path, and many obstacles will disappear, whilst many opportunities will suddenly appear. Like magic. We are in sync with our destiny.
Have a goal which also incites your passion, which is from the 2nd chakra, swadisthana. Swadisthana also has unconscious mind. We cannot force things by fighting with our deeper layers of mind: unconscious forces usually win. But, we can use the energy and excitement of passion to propel us to achieve our goal, and, make sure that this goal is not threatening to you.
Muladhara (base chakra) is about preservation, instinct, unconscious behaviour. If we feel at all threatened, we will behave our way out of achieving our goal. This chakra is connected to Anahata so we are likely to feel secure about doing things which are in accordance with our destiny, our Path.
Energy, prana, is a bit different from passion for something, it's more like having fuel to do what we need to do, and it's found at the navel chakra, Manipura.
Each of the chakras 'brings something to the party' when we are moving in accordance with our destiny. Mysteriously, when we are not flowing in sync with our path, we don't have the energy to continue with our choices.
When the goal is close to the heart, fuels passion, is non-threatening, we can then use the power of mind: ajna chakra (3rd eye) to visualise the desired outcome. Add this visualisation to your yoga nidra practice and you will be well on the way.
so....more secrets of mooladhara. The outer petals are more to do with energy, although, as previously noted, the karma for this lifetime is contained within 1 of the 4 petals...near the feet. When you consider how mooladhara is to do with security...if we have a healthy sense of this, when chased by something dangerous...what would be the most secure, unconscious behavioural thing to do?? Run, of course. Use those feet! When we feel threatened on any level including mental/emotional, we can deal with the hormonal stress effects (cortisol in particular) by walking quickly for a couple of minutes. Practice Antar (inner) Mauna (silence) at the same time...Antar Mauna is a very specific meditation practice. It's invaluable for dealing with the deeper urges within us, the ones which we feel so personally about, they obscure the inner beauty which is inherent in us all. Part of Antar Mauna technique is to deliberately think 'bad' (very bad!!) thoughts about what/who ever is bothering you. Do this whilst walking very fast and hard. Doesn't have to be for long. Then, push those thoughts away, deliberately. Imagine pushing each problem into the ocean/rubbish tip/fire etc. Then have a bit of an amble. Always finish on a positive note. You can do this before meditation too, just get those negative aspects out, then push them away. It's a great way to lower blood pressure. Don't make it a 24/7 thing or you'll end up stuck in a cycle of venom. Practising Antar Mauna for a period of time changes us, very positively. We become lighter inside. I recommend learning off a cd as it's quite hard to do it on one's own if you're a beginner.
Tuesday 21st sept,4.30pm, kfm 106.9. Also known as the base, or root, chakra. Most people don't want to be active here, we all seem to want to be heart or 3rd eye people, but any spiritual activity at muladhara is true spiritual evolvement, for most of us it's the start of our spiritual journey. We need muladhara, it controls many unconscious and automatic body functions, when it's activated, rejuvenation starts, no doubt that's why so many spiritual yoga teachers look so young. If energy left this chakra, we would not be able to function, we wouldn't know if we had eaten, slept, urinated etc. It's very important to have strong energy here. Energy here in the aura comes up between the legs into the perineum (men)/near the opening of the cervix (women), with 4 red petals, the karma for this lifetime being contained within 1 of the petals......and this can be found quite easily. Being between the legs, the yoga deep squats and warriors stimulate this chakra, and generally we need to keep our legs moving to keep the auric part of it spinning! We need to walk, run, etc!! Our instinctive drives are found in muladhara: and unconscious behaviour...usually reactive. Like the difficult reactive behaviours of tantrums, rage, crying, bad behaviours which which we do not seem to be able to control; they happen quickly and can cause destruction in our lives. We need to keep our muladhara energy "up' so that our destructive responses are minimised. When the energy here is blocked, not moving, that is when we are reactive. Trigger point for muladhara is the nosetip (round end of nose), which contains many nerve endings; this point induces bliss, with an exquisite bliss inducing smell. Inside the centre (circle), is a yellow square. There is also a beautiful little snake, red or sometimes green, and something which looks like a pimple. There is a secret regarding these two which I'll tell you about next week.
13th sept 2010, kfm 106.9
Chakras are levels of energy and conscious. They are found in the auric (energy) field surrounding the body, at each end of the spine and also in the spine.......but, most importantly, in the brain, corresponding to areas of mind. Each is associated with a lotus (like a waterlily), gland, plexus (eg solar plexus), tendencies, personal power.
In the aura you can see them as balls, or clouds of colour, emanating away from the body, and also as little 'tornado' shapes. Each chakra tornado has a centre which is the consciousness of that chakra. Between the centre circle and the outside circular edge of the tornado, are more tornados.....if a chakra has, say, 4 petals to its lotus, then the tornado has 4 tornados between centre and outside edge. Each of these mini tornados moves individually: 1 will go clockwise, the next anticlockwise, and so on....these are to do with the energy aspect. And, the whole tornado spins too. When the chakra is 'jammed' it gets gunk in the tornados, and they stop spinning. They can be cleaned out by a healer and made to spin again....a lot of healers do this.
What you see in the aura is different to what you see/experience on the spiritual levels. All of the chakras are life changing...they reveal the inner beauty that each of us has hidden, they give each of us a spiritual gift...in yoga these gifts are called siddhis. One person may suddenly become a healer, another a poet, or an orator, a musican, etc. This gift will be inherent, but also 'sleeping'. Chakra awakenings will manifest it.
I truly feel that what you need to do, depending where you are at, to progress spiritually, is one of the hidden keys of spiritual life. Anyone can get hold of the teachings, but it requires experiential knowledge to know how to apply them.