Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Reflections on Introductionary Chapter of Eastern Body, Western Mind by Anodea Judith

I have been studying the chakras with intensity the last few years but I haven't read Eastern Body, Western Mind although I was read some other books by Andea Judith.  I worked a lot with Wheels of Light.

Here are my notes and thoughts from the book and what I considered important.




Chakra System mentioned throughout history
- In Vedas
- Upanishads
- Yoga Sutras
- 16th century Indian text Sat-Chakra-NIrupana
-The Serpent Power, Arthur Avalon brought idea to the west

The chakras are said to have a location even though the don't exist in the physical world
These locations will vary from person to person, have the same relationships between them

RAINBOW

I never thought much before of the chakra system as a rainbow.  I think I have focused too much an making them individuals and not a whole.

"The seven colors of the rainbow represent an alternative to our binary black-and-white consciousness, offering us a word of multiple opportunities.  The rainbow expresses the diversity of light as it moves from source to manifestation.  Its seven colors represent seven vibratory modalities of human existence, related to the seven chakras of Indian yogic tradition-energy centers that exist within each one of us." p.2

"Through this dance of transformation, the rainbow becomes the axis muni-the central axis of the world that runs through the vertical core of each of us.  On our journey through life, the chakras are the wheels along the axis that take the vehicle of the Self along our evolutionary quest, along the Rainbow Bridge to reclaim our divine nature once again."

The rainbow is an archetypal symbol
In mythology the rainbow is the sign of  hope
The pot of gold at its end is like the philosopher's stone something we quest to have but may never find

In Norse Mythology the rainbow bridge was a pathway between humans and the gods, the path to
Valhalla

"As we learn to open and heal the chakras within us, we become the Rainbow Bridge-the living link between Heaven and Earth."



ALCHEMY

I think there is much more here to explore about alchemy and the chakras and I would like to work on it one day.

"Passage through the chakras is an alchemical processing of increasing refinement that unites light and shadow, male and female, spirit and matter, all in the crucible of the body and the psyche." p.4



CHAKRAS REPRESENTING PSYCHOLOGY AND ARCHETYPAL ELEMENTS

There are both major and minor chakras

Each major chakra represents a major area of human psychological health and archetypal elements
(1) survival - Earth (solid and dense)
(2) sexuality - Water (formless and fluid)
(3) power - Fire (radiating and transforming)
(4) love - Air (soft and spacious)
(5) communication - Sound (rhythmic pulsation)
(6) intuition - Light (illuminating)
(7) consciousness - Thought (medium of consciousness)


ACTIVATING CHAKRAS

"It is quite common to have a perfectly good program and not know how to activate it ....getting such programs activated is another question entirely.  Activation requires a charge of energy moving through the psychic current of the body." p. 12

The seven chakra vortixes are a combination of the active principles of consciousness and matter

"When we take thoughts and turn them into visualizations, the words, and finally into form, we are encouraged in the process of manifesting.  Only through embodiment can consciousness manifest, This means that the energy current must be run through the body/hardware to activate the necessary programs."



CURRENTS

Current of Liberation
- upward current moving from dense earth to ethereral consciousness
- as we move upward through the chakras we become less restricted
- historically the chakras were considered a path to liberation, where one is freed from the restrictions of the material world

Current of Reception
- horizontal current

Current of Expression
- horizontal current


BLOCKED CHAKRAS

"When a chakra is blocked, reception and expression become distorted." p.16

"... defenses create holding patterns in our musculature that restrict the free flow of energy, even when real threats cease to exist.  This chronic tension is known as body armor.  It effects our posture, breathing, metabolism and our emotional states, as well as our perceptions, interpretations and belief systems."p.17

Any block in  chakra also effects the 4 basic currents

"If we are unable to receive a particular kind of energy (like love or new information), then the chakra atrophies and becomes further limited in its functioning.  If we are unable to express energy, we stagnate and become a closed system." p.17

"it is important to recognize the blocks we carry, find ways to understand their source and meaning, and develop tools to heal them."


UNBLOCKING A CHAKRA
1. Understand the Dynamics of the Specific Chakra
2. Examine the Personal History Related to the Chakra Issue
3. Apply Exercises and Techniques
4. Balance excess and defiency

IMBALANCES
A chakra can be excessive or deficient (character armor).  Both of these are coping strategies to deal with stress, trauma and unpleasant circumstances. To strengthen a chakra you may to strengthen the one below it to give it support

CHARACTER ARMOR
Character armor are coping strategies that you see in posture and tissues of the body

Our ways of coping get hard wired

RIGHTS
Seven Chakra Rights
1. To be here
"The right to have underlies the ability to contain, hold, keep and manifest- all aspects of a healthy first chakra."
2. To feel
"Feeling is the way we obstain important information about our well-being. .. If we can not feel it is very difficult to know what we want. .. OUr right to enjoy healthy sexuality is intimately connected with our right to feel."
3. To act

"When the right to act is restricted, will and spontaneity go with it and our vitality decreases."  It is also the right to be free

4, To love
Right to love and be loved "As the central chakra in a system of seven, the right to love is harmed when any of the other rights are lost or damaged."

5. To speak
The right to speak and hear the truth

6. To see

7. To know
The right to accurate indormation, the right to truth, the right to knowledge and the right to simply know what's going on

SEVEN IDENTITIES
1. Physical Identity

2. Emotional Identity
job is self gratification

3. Ego Identity
says I am what I do
inner executive that executes our intentions

4. Social Identity
persona

5. Creative Identity
the commitments we make

6. Archetypal Identity
transforming the individual I into something transpersonal

7. Universal Identity
achievement of universal identity and breaking with smaller identities


DEMONS OF THE CHAKRAS
1. Fear
2. Guilt
3. Shame
4. Grief
5. Lies
6. Illusion
7. Attachment

ADULT DEVELOPMENT

1. First Issue to solve is survival
2. sexual relationships. Satisfaction of emotional needs. Unconscious Patterns from the Shadow- misunderstandings, blaming and emotional turmoil
3, Individuation process
4.True empathy and altruism
5. Creative and Personal Expression
6. Reflection and study of patterns  through exploration of mythology, religion and philosphy
7. Wisdom and Spiritual Understanding

FINAL THOUGHTS
"Linking specific symptoms to specific chakras is not enough,,,,What is important is to first understand the complete system and then to examine each person as a whole, using reason, intelligence, competence, and compassion.  Only then will the assessment be complete."

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Namaste,

Nya