layers colors and layers
In my classes, I have really been focusing on the chakra system. I have touched on what the chakras are in the teaching yoga section of this site, and I plan to really expand on it soon. >EEK< I just looked at it, and it is a mess. I will fix it ASAP!!!!!!
My overhaul has started, as I said in an earlier post, with many papers and files. I tend to write things in random places, and put them away, and write something related some other time, and put it else where. Hence the need to organize, get a sense of ground.
Anyway the chakra that I am personally focusing right now, because I have felt inbalance, is the muladhara chakra (root chakra) . This chakra, has to do with life force and feeling connected to it, feeling secure, and taken care of. It is powerful and swirling red energy. Much much more can be explained about this and the other chakras, but this post is just touching on the root.
There is a lot of unsettled energy in the world today. So many people are worried about the economy, and the state of our nation, (one can see why) which creates much fear on so many levels. It is a challenge not to get caught up in the swirl of it all.
I just try to bring it home when ever I get caught up in the energy that dovetails with my feelings of insecurity, because when I focus on what is "wrong" out there, I get distracted from what is going on in my own heart, and find it difficult to find solutions for ANYTHING.
SO...
Basically, I have been working on feeling grounded in my meditations. It is really quite simple. I visualize warmth and security, I return over and over to the breath, which happens to be wise in any situation, and I sit no less than 20 minutes (this amount of time works for me now, it is not a magic number, sometimes it seems, we can only spare 5 minutes). Just getting still, like I mentioned in my last post has been extremely helpful, and I have gotten a ton of insight. I really do feel connected and more peaceful lately. That certainly does not mean my mind doesn't go bonkers with worry in moments, but I am really starting to see how to rein it in more easily.
The mind loves distraction, and loves to play games and be entertained, but not always in a fun sense. So I try to view my thoughts (at least when meditating) as clouds passing in the sky, and allow them to float by rather than attaching or identifying with them. < that is a major practice>
Gratitude is at the forefront, and I express it as much as I can. I say thank you every and all day long, for my life and my breath, my body to express who I really am.