UL1: The Divine Law of Oneness
Discussion: Do you feel at one with EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE in the Universe? Where do you feel division or separation within yourself? With others? With nature? With the world?
PRELIMINARY EXERCISES: ALIGNMENT & ESTABLISHING THE CURRENTS.
(pps 47-49 of Wheel of Life)
ALIGNMENT: In order for the chakras to work smoothly, they need to be aligned with each other. The most direct alignment is with the spine relatively straight (a spine too straight is rigid and tense, blocking the opening of the chakras.)Establishing the currents allows yourself to feel your relationship with the entirety of creation in proximity to your own personal space. Practicing identifying with All That Is is a MOMENT BY MOMENT PRACTICE that is about your relationship with EVERYTHING in life you encounter,
Standing with feet shoulder-width apart, stretch your hands up high over your head, reaching with your whole body, stretching out each of your chakras. Feel how this elongated position encourages the chakras to align.
When you return to a normal standing position, try to maintain that sense of height, aligning your body so that the central core of each major section (pelvis, solar plexus, chest, throat, head) feels in direct alignment with the central axis of your body. Allow your feet to connect solidly below you and feel the central core (sushumna) that connects all the chakras.
Practice the same alignment from a seated position, either in a chair or cross-legged on the floor. Try slouching and returning to an erect spine, feeling the difference in your body's energy and your mind's clarity.
ESTABLISHING THE CURRENTS
The Manifesting Current:
Stand or sit comfortably, spine straight, feet planted firmly on the floor, shoes off. Tune info the vertical axis of your body. Allow yourself to find a comfortable of balance where this vertical axis is calm, centered, and effortless to maintain. Breathe slowly and deeply.
Mentally reach out through the top of your head and allow yourself to experience the infinite vastness of the sky and space above you. Breathe into this vastness and imagine yourself drinking it in through the top of your head, pulling it down into your head, letting it cascade across your face, your ears, the back of your head, and down across your shoulders and arms.
Allow your head to fill again with this "cosmic" energy, this time letting it tumble into your neck, down into your chest, filling it as you breathe in...and out...and in...and out. As the chest fills, let your belly release, allowing this energy to fill your solar plexus, your abdomen, your genitals and down into your buttocks, through your legs, into your feet and out. Let it go deep into the Earth.
Go back to the top of your head and repeat. As you begin the process again, you may choose to think of this energy in a more concrete form: as light, a particular color, a form of divinity, a column of bubbles or stream of wind, or just simply movement. Repeat the process until you feel that your image comes easily and flows smoothly from above your crown to the Earth below your feet.
The Liberating Current:
When the above exercise is comfortable, you can begin working with the upward current in a similar manner.
Through your feet and legs, imagine energy from the Earth (red, brown, or green; solid, yet vibrant) coming up through your legs into your first chakra, filling up there and flowing on into your genitals, abdomen, and solar plexus. Filling again into your heart and chest, neck and shoulders, face and head, and out through the top of your head, releasing any tension it encounters outward and above. Work with this current until it, too, flows smoothly.
When these two currents are smooth, try running both of them at once. See them mixing and combining together at each of the chakra levels.
(pps 47-49 of Wheel of Life)
ALIGNMENT: In order for the chakras to work smoothly, they need to be aligned with each other. The most direct alignment is with the spine relatively straight (a spine too straight is rigid and tense, blocking the opening of the chakras.)Establishing the currents allows yourself to feel your relationship with the entirety of creation in proximity to your own personal space. Practicing identifying with All That Is is a MOMENT BY MOMENT PRACTICE that is about your relationship with EVERYTHING in life you encounter,
Standing with feet shoulder-width apart, stretch your hands up high over your head, reaching with your whole body, stretching out each of your chakras. Feel how this elongated position encourages the chakras to align.
When you return to a normal standing position, try to maintain that sense of height, aligning your body so that the central core of each major section (pelvis, solar plexus, chest, throat, head) feels in direct alignment with the central axis of your body. Allow your feet to connect solidly below you and feel the central core (sushumna) that connects all the chakras.
Practice the same alignment from a seated position, either in a chair or cross-legged on the floor. Try slouching and returning to an erect spine, feeling the difference in your body's energy and your mind's clarity.
ESTABLISHING THE CURRENTS
The Manifesting Current:
Stand or sit comfortably, spine straight, feet planted firmly on the floor, shoes off. Tune info the vertical axis of your body. Allow yourself to find a comfortable of balance where this vertical axis is calm, centered, and effortless to maintain. Breathe slowly and deeply.
Mentally reach out through the top of your head and allow yourself to experience the infinite vastness of the sky and space above you. Breathe into this vastness and imagine yourself drinking it in through the top of your head, pulling it down into your head, letting it cascade across your face, your ears, the back of your head, and down across your shoulders and arms.
Allow your head to fill again with this "cosmic" energy, this time letting it tumble into your neck, down into your chest, filling it as you breathe in...and out...and in...and out. As the chest fills, let your belly release, allowing this energy to fill your solar plexus, your abdomen, your genitals and down into your buttocks, through your legs, into your feet and out. Let it go deep into the Earth.
Go back to the top of your head and repeat. As you begin the process again, you may choose to think of this energy in a more concrete form: as light, a particular color, a form of divinity, a column of bubbles or stream of wind, or just simply movement. Repeat the process until you feel that your image comes easily and flows smoothly from above your crown to the Earth below your feet.
The Liberating Current:
When the above exercise is comfortable, you can begin working with the upward current in a similar manner.
Through your feet and legs, imagine energy from the Earth (red, brown, or green; solid, yet vibrant) coming up through your legs into your first chakra, filling up there and flowing on into your genitals, abdomen, and solar plexus. Filling again into your heart and chest, neck and shoulders, face and head, and out through the top of your head, releasing any tension it encounters outward and above. Work with this current until it, too, flows smoothly.
When these two currents are smooth, try running both of them at once. See them mixing and combining together at each of the chakra levels.
- As you go through your day, be aware of these two currents running through you.
- Make observations as to which one is stronger and at what times of the day or during what activities. Perhaps your body needs to develop one current more than the other in order to balance your energies.
- Notice where a current may get hung up on a particular block of tension. Play with the two currents and see which one is more effective in pushing through the block