bodinuity

A Time to Connect: Inside the Chakra System

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 18:44:58 GMT

A Time to Connect: Inside the Chakra System

Technically I have nothing to do these days.

I don’t have a job, no kids or pets to care for, and I’ve been welcomed back to where and with whom I was raised. The Massage Industry and countless others are at a standstill due to the quiet and invisible virus penetrating our society. I’m proud most of us can agree physical distancing is the right thing to do, no matter how much it hurts our economy and livelihoods.

So I am stepping back in review, as I am grateful beyond measure to have relative safety and security. In order to move on swiftly and efficiently towards my goals when work is available, and social commitments will be oh so welcome, I’d like to make space and tune up while I have the time.

Strengthening my immune system with healthy practices (integral to this series) is my first line of defense. Since the pandemic, the human world is in survival mode. Perhaps… caused by the earth being in survival mode for the past few decades. Over time, our bodies have replaced fears of: the fire burning out, and guarding our food from predators…with new threats to survival: losing our job, getting evicted, and getting sick . No one was prepared for the global cataclysm. Since at least February 2020, every one of our modern innate fears are being realized in rapid fire. No one should feel wrong for panicking!

In two days it will be four weeks since I began quarantining. I love reading, I love memes, and the backyard is still safe. So beside some early panic, a regular stream of sadness, and some light self-loathing for scrolling to oblivion some days, I’ve been pretty darn content. Keeping myself busy with exercise, yoga, guided meditations, Netflix, and books. But still, I am plagued by a pinching need to “do something”. Normally I would accept more jobs, or travel to someplace I haven’t been, to soothe these feelings. Both are out of the question now. Instead, I’m going to dive into a subject I’ve been wanting to find time to study for the past 4 years. I will travel within my body and soul, exploring a topic which truly addresses so much of what is going on today, THE CHAKRAS. For those of you who need one, pull on your “woo-woo” hoodie and settle in if you like, as I share my findings and examine a well-versed topic that has been around since chisel met stone!

My readings and summarizations come from the book
Wheels of Life by Anodea Judith, PhD. All other sources are noted.

“More than just an assemblage of energy centers located in the body, the chakras reveal a profound mapping of universal principles, intricately nested within each other as progressively transcendent planes of reality.”

If you are skeptical about anything I’m writing, make it here for the Yoga. All a Massage Therapist wants for each human is a body they are at ease in. Yoga is an amazing practice for so many reasons , but the most important reason is for you to serve your mind/body connection, a break from it serving you. Each day presents a new flow by a different guide, all under 30 minutes.

This is the first post in an 8-part series. Hang in there with me, as I promise this will be the opposite of your standard school course; where you feel hope and promise at the first day of class, which slowly dwindles. The most ‘boring’ lecture is the first, and the rest will be engaging! My purpose in this series is to intertwine concepts with activity, stimulating your chakras without having to search for anything that is not already in your body.

To understand a complex system, we will look at the ancient context, and usage, to understand its origin… before we can update the model to use in modern contexts. Chakra System comes into present form from Tantric Teachings which are innately “world-embracing” rather than “world-denying”.

I am interested in this philosophy because the various ways “connection” presents itself to me is when I feel the most whole and exquisitely “well”.

The origin of yoga and chakras dates back to reference in a series of hymns – the oldest written tradition in India, the “Vedas” meaning “knowledge”. Written in sanskrit, the Vedas are sacred texts of Hinduism.

The Vedas date back to 1700-1000BC (dates vary in many sources) believed to be passed down from an Indo-European tribe, the Aryan (believed to be nomads migrating, but a large migration was seen as an invasion by some).

Yoga: written as “yoke” in the Vedas. A system of philosophy and practice tying the mortal self to its divine nature of pure consciousness. Teaches us that liberation is possible by uniting the universe of opposites within ourselves.

Chakra: written as “cakra” in the Vedas. Meaning “the wheel”, denotes the eternal circle of time/life “kalacakra”. The wheel, a building block of nature, represents celestial order and balance that flows through everything in existence. These spinning wheels, chakras, are intersections of vital life forces. Therefore, a chakra is known as an “energy vortex”.

“When an action or a thing, once complete, becomes beneficial in several matters to one person, or to many people, that is known as Tantra.” ~ Sabara, 6th Cent. A.D.

Tantric Philosophies arose in 600-700AD in reaction to the dualistic philosophies predating it – meaning they rejected the belief there is only polar opposites
Good or Evil
Masculine or Feminine
Heaven or Earth
Mind or Body
Spirit or Matter
Tantra means “ Loom ”, “weaving of disparate threads into a tapestry of wholeness”.
The chakras emerge more profoundly in tantric teachings, as “wheels” are embodiment of – many parts creating a whole.
Tantric philosophy weaves “spirit and matter” together as a whole, into a single philosophy of many philosophical origins. This “whole” moves along its own inner circle of evolution – the “wheel”.
Tantra started forming as people grew tired of the old systems that were not longer working. I think we can see a lot of this present in 2020; tides are turning, but not towards destruction, towards unity we hope.
“Tantra emphasizes personal experimentation and experience as a way to move forward on the path to self-realization” YJ
Simply… Tantra integrates universal forces

*The Western World hears “tantra” as a sexual tradition. Tantra simply holds sexuality as sacred, the body is a sacred “temple of consciousness”. Sex can be an expression of universal integration.

Chakra System

comes from

Tantric Traditions

Weaving Polarities

Spirit + Matter

Mind + Body

Masculine + Feminine

As a society there is plenty of evidence that we are embracing models of integration and wholeness. The Global Wellness Industry is valued at $4.5 Trillion and growing. It is generally accepted that the repression of natural forces creates bad side effects. We must be active in the care of our body and spirits if we want to be happy and well; liberating from suffering.

Ignoring the body creates illness

Devaluing the earth creates ecological crisis

Repression of sex or love can create anger and crime

Okay, now let’s get into the Chakras System itself ! There is much to say about each one so I will have a new post for each Chakra

Chakras exist in the subtle body. What is the subtle body?

“Non-physical” – the subtle body is measured as electromagnetic force fields within all living creatures. Our physical body vibrates at a rate which we can see, whereas our inner energy fields vibrate much higher and are responsible for how we feel our emotions and thoughts – things we are aware of but cannot see.
Our energetic layers make up the subtle body. The vibrations create an interconnected field of energy inside as well as around the physical body that is commonly known as the auric field. Each subtle body connects into the physical body via an energy point or chakra, which directs the energy into the physical body via the meridian system.

How the Chakras Work

The chakras are located near the 7 major nerve ganglia emanating from the spinal column
Chakras are not the same as any part of the body, as they are part of the energetic body , but there is an effect on the body which can occasionally affect shape and behavior of physical body
Some texts describe more than 7 or fewer than 7 chakras. A chakra is a vortex of energy in the body so there is really no limit to how many there can be, however the 7 master chakras logically map our physical body so 7 is most common to see.
Just because there are “lower” and “higher” chakras does NOT correlate to a hierarchical system. Every chakra is equally important, and all must be open and balanced for a healthy system. When working on chakra alignment, always start at the first chakra, do not start at the one you think you want to work on.
To work on chakras is to heal ourselves of old constricting patterns lodged in body, mind, and behavior
Each chakra (wheel, vortex) is a point of intersection where mind and body meet- where the dimensions of ourselves influence each side. It is completely normal and expected for us to hold onto painful things we hear, and these dense energies do not easily pass through the vortex.
As chakras spin, this attracts or repels activity on that “plane”(vibrational level)
Anything on the same vibrational level is drawn into the chakra, processed, and passed out again
Processing is the reception of the energy, assimilation of the information, and transmission of the vital life energy on its path
This could be a creative thought that starts making its way to the canvas
This could be your response to someone yelling at you
Each of these acts are done at a different energetic frequency, and likely processed at different chakras, but processed physically the same like a “whirlpool”

The 7 Chakras are suspended along the vertical column called Sushumna the “super highway” of energy travel

Nadis are alternate channels – like meridians – there are over 72,000 in the body – all springing from these three main channels in the image. Ida and Pingala represent the inante duality of creation – male and female – but also represent other qualities like logic and intuition. So while we have the far right and the far left, there is a world of variations between there that make up who we are individually, and they intertwine.

Anodea Judith asks us to imagine the chakras as the programming on a harddrive
Sushumna and chakras send energy out from the core (our inante energies of self), and the chakras process the outside energy coming into the core. There are constant streams of energy going opposite directions, merging on the same frequency – into this vortex where the chakras listen to that information.
As we age, it makes sense to work on our harddrives and clean out dysfunctional, outdated, or negative programming!
Content of our chakras is formed largely by the repeated patterns of our life
What we generate determines much of what we receive
For example someone who spends most of their paycheck and fails to save, will be trapped in a low economic spiral as incidents occur that keeps them there – a car breakdown or a health issue.
We can get stuck in a chakra – either by underdevelopment or overemphasis of a chakra
Chakras can be open, or closed, excessive or deficient, or any state in between
Closed Chakra: avoidance of certain energies
Excessively Open: chronic fixation
Is there an effortless flow of energy or is it a subject of fear and anxiety?
As the mind and body are inseparable, so are the chakras
A malfunction in one effects them all

Alright! We have covered quite a few of the most important aspects of the greater spiritual connections: Tantra, Yoga, Nadis, Vedas, and the Subtle Body. There are 3 more things we must be conscious of to progress. The Hindu Mythology of the Universe, The Currents within Sushumna, and Kundalini.

Who doesn’t love a little Mythology? There are MANY creation stories and many deities in Hinduism which I won’t speak to in this series, but are certainly worth looking into .

The Hindu Mythology of the Universe

Shiva: Power Holder. Pure unmanifest consciousness. Formless deity, deep in meditation – separate from his manifestations
Shakti: Power. The creation of Shiva’s manifestations. The mother of the universe. Inventor of “ maya ” – the substance of the manifested universe – are illusory projections of consciousness (art, magic, wisdom, and extraordinary power). She is the vital energy which gives power to the formation of life.
It is told that when “karma ripens” (actions coming into form by surprise), Shakti becomes desirous of the creations and covers herself with her own “maya”. Shrouding consciousness.
Can you see how we may live in this veil of maya sometimes? Living for our material attachments.
Shakti produces the universe, but only with the “seed” of consciousness from Shiva
Shiva and Shakti are attracted to each other, existing in an eternal embrace, unable to exist without the other.
Shakti pushes up from the earth – “the divine aspiration of the human soul” and Shiva descends from above, irresistibly attracted to divine grace and manifestation
Both Shiva and Shakti reside in each of us. We practice to join their forces, to bring enlightenment from the veil of maya – realizing our consciousness under the illusion.
Here is the important part for our Chakra System practice:
Shiva and Shakti represent our inner two currents of energy through the chakras. Downward and Upward – sending/receiving to the ground and to the sky, existing as a dynamic energetic being in the middle.

My Body, My Home

Current of Manifestation

Travels downward
Begins in pure consciousness
Pulled by the enjoyment of life “bhukti”
Think of theater – starting with an idea, to the goal of physical production for an audience
Create boundaries
Be specific – narrowing the goal is important to seeing it through
Defines structure and form
Brings peace, grace, stability

Current of Liberation

Travels upward
Energy in matter is released to become lighter, expansive, and inclusive
Constricted energy gains new degrees of freedom from the veil of maya
Disentangles our self from the imitations of the physical
Fueled by the lower chakras
Brings excitement, energy, novelty

These currents are the most exciting to me, as they provide a wonderful visual to view our actions. When you start a new job or meet a new person, what level of current are you experiencing? Is the event along your path of liberation or manifestation? Both?

To be complete, all chakras must be open and active, as everything flows through them, the currents uphold each others power.

Lastly, a brief note on Kundalini

Kundalini is divine energy which lies coils at the base of the spine (often viewed as a serpent). This is the life energy created in the womb. Kundalini yoga is an ancient discipline designed to arouse the Kundalini-Shakti force and raise it up the spine to unite with her Shiva counterpart, divine consciousness, and the result is enlightenment or bliss.

There is some evidence that Kundalini experience sets up a wave like movement in the cerebrospinal fluid which triggers the pleasure center of the brain
Very important to know the rising of Kundalini can also ignite deep unpleasantness, unsettling vibrations, profound depression, or fear “as you look at your life through the eyes of the serpent goddess”
To be practiced with extreme care with a knowledgeable guide
Kundalini is a healing force, though not always gentle
This experience of raising Kundalini is not what we will practice here, as it is a more forceful style of awakening best done under guidance from a spiritual teacher or experienced therapist. We can raise energy from root to crown naturally and with ease by our practice of relaxing deeply and paying attention to each chakra.

Now we are ready to dive into the individual chakras, and examine how to get in touch with the energies inside. I hope this post has given a foundation and the language to continue. The concepts covered here will show up in the rest of the series.

The methods I will utilize in this series are based in CAM (complementary alternative medicine) which all have proven track records and research compiled on why such things are useful for healing. Their strength is the ability to aid the functioning of your natural immune system. I will include yoga, meditation, and videos in each session to name a few. Each activity is meant to be done consecutively, as we truly are trying to raise our energy and clear out blockages – if we take a 5 hour break in between, it lessens the strength of the energy. Ultimately, do what you feel is right and of course don’t drop your commitments for this. In my opinion this series is best done first thing in the morning or before bed, not on a full stomach but enough to have energy. Each post will take between 1-2 hours. All you need is a mat, notebook, and water to drink. This blog is also best read on a computer or iPad – phone is a bit too small.

Today I want to leave you with a TedTalk. And surprisingly, it is the only one I will use in this series. I am obsessed with the insights and diversity of the TED Talk platform, BUT I wanted to challenge myself to find other outlets of communication. I like this talk by Tom Chi because his message holds several clues about how this Chakra Series will unfold, but putting it in a wider perspective; both scientific and historical. I also appreciate that he may not be the most gifted presenter, but he put himself out of his comfort zone to share well-informed research he found through activating his personal gifts throughout his life. That there, is the essence of a personal tantric journey.

In the following posts I will share information on each chakra, a meditation, self-massage, affirmations, music, activities, a yoga session, and more on how to improve the health of each chakra…a smashing of tantric energy you could say! By improving our connection to ourselves, we hope to feel greater energy alignment, and have healthy bodies and minds, leading to a more powerful connection of who we are in this great big world. We will be feeling stronger and more aware of our body, mind, and spirit as we integrate connections and open our senses, desires, and truths. As always, do your own research, I truly apologize for any mistakes in here, please alert me so I can make changes ��

Come back tomorrow with curiosity. Enjoy your own journey!

With Health and Happiness we go,

Kaitlin

4/10/2020

Resources:

https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/tantra-rising

Wheels of Life, Anodea Judith

Chakra 1 : Root + Earth

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 18:44:56 GMT

Chakra 1 : Root + Earth

“If you fall, I’ll be there” Ground

Hi Everybody,

Welcome back to my series following the Chakra System. This is the exciting part, where we will start to build our bodinuity ! The greatest part of learning this system, and how I will present each Chakra, is that the journey is active . We are not simply reading, but there are easy things we can do to experience each level of Chakra, it’s associations, and connect deeply to our body and our world. Being cooped up at home, this is the perfect time to take a personal hour each day, to make space for aligning our under/overstimulated selves.

As we give allowance to and space for the principle of change, I will continue to present these Chakra journeys in slightly different ways. Keep coming back, even if you didn’t love parts of it. Not the same way works for everybody, and sometimes you need to see something in a different perspective to actually want to do it.

The summarizations, quotes, and some exercises come from the book Wheels of Life by Anodea Judith, PhD. All other sources are noted. These posts will be written as both blog and journal. My aim is simply to share information I have found useful. Any mistakes are my own.

If you didn’t check out the previous post, flip back to get the history and terminology.

The series as a whole: What we are doing is bringing awareness to and improving the health of each chakra by:

Doing physical exercises that pertain to relaxing, opening, or stimulating that area of the body
Working with each chakra’s associated images, colors, sounds, elements
Connecting with parts of our lives, to bring them into unity
Working through feelings and values of the chakra, and bringing new insight to our behavior

What you will need:

I encourage you to find a room to yourself, with only natural light from a window. A great addition to this would be to bring in a lamp, and cover the top with a scarf/cloth of the color chakra we are working on. To set that color lighting in the room is very stimulating to the subtle body.
Yoga or exercise mat
Pillow or meditation cushion
Water
A journal to write – take time to write down thoughts, and do the journal prompts
Tablet or computer
An open mind. Not all of these activities may suit you…but their purpose lies in the structure, not the content. After this series, you may lay down what doesn’t work.

Preliminary Exercises

The best way to jump into a topic you may be questionable about is to feel it! This exercise opens the hand chakras (remember chakras are all over the body, the hands are easiest to feel).

Stand up, extend both arms in from of you, parallel to the floor with elbows straight
Turn one hand up and one hand down
Quickly open and close your hands 12 times
Reverse your palms and repeat
To feel the energy created, face your palms towards each other with 2ft in between
Continue moving the palms closer together, you should be able to feel a subtle ball of energy like a magnetic field floating here
Fun, right!

Today is all about remembering our roots, but our home is our body. Now and forever.

Next, let’s align the chakras along sushumna (super highway current). Read through the steps first and then stand to practice

Stand with feet shoulder width apart, stretch hands high over head, reaching with your whole body while feet are flat on the ground. Stretching out, wiggle through the space that may have been compacted, encourages the chakras to align
Return to a normal standing position, palms facing forward (mountain pose), trying to maintain the elongated new height. Perhaps half and inch you gained back! Remember gravity is constantly weighing on us. Tuck your pelvis so your central axis feels stacked and a clear column is running through your core body
Breathe slowly, deeply, in through your nose to balloon your belly with air, and fill the chest next. Out through your mouth. 3 deep breaths here
Imagine the vastness of the sky above you (even as you are indoors), experience the space above you. Drink in this vastness through your head, pulling it down into you like a human sized straw. Cascade this airy, clean and bright space into your face, ears, whole head, down your throat, over your shoulders, continue all the way down.
It may help you to visualize this vastness as a light, a color, a stream of wind, or a column of bubbles
Take a few times to breathe in, getting a little further down your body each time. Till you are able to breathe through your feet releasing the breath into the floor. Earth. Grounding. We are experiencing the Manifesting Current.
When this feels comfortable, you are able to imagine the energy flowing from the sky to the earth, and begin working with the upward current! The Liberating Current.
Breathe in the earth’s energy from your feet, into your genitals, into your abdomen, cheast, heart, throat, face, spilling up into the sky above.
When this feels comfortable, practice running both currents at the same time!
Play with these two currents. Is one of them harder to control or feel, is there a particular block of tension anywhere? Thank yourself for this practice, and take a sip of water.

This is the longest post of the series simply because the roots are our basis for opening our grounding channel of energy. Once roots flow beneath, the rest of the chakras will be fed by a strong current.

Chakra One : Earth

Associated words: Earth, Roots, Grounding, Survival, Body, Food, Matter

A quick search will bring up many different images for each chakra, I will provide the most basic image, the easiest to remember.

“Your body is the journey, and it is where you begin, It is your connection to the physical world, your foundation, the home of your dance. You are the place from which all action and understanding will arise, and to which it will return. You are the testing ground of truth. You are the ground on which all things rest. You are the earth from which all things grow. You are here, you are solid, you are alive. You are the point from which all things begin.” Anodea Judith

The Table below is a non-exhaustive list of physical and mental, we will call them “charms”, which you can work with for each Chakra. “Work with” would be to feel (location on body), visual imagination, do (activate body part), eat, smell, watch, listen, etc. – Well that just means, using all your senses! How very Tantra of us ��

Location of Chakra and Core Trait:

The root chakra generates its energy around the “hammock” of our torso. In your seat can you feel this support? The nerve ganglion emanates from S1-S5, the sacral cluster , and is where the Sciatic Nerve begins, travelling all the way down into the feet. Think of these nerves as your roots. The longer the roots, the more stability to ascend. Energizing and caring for our body in this system starts with acknowledging the closest piece of us to the earth.
These roots enable us to perform tasks to obtain life sustenance from the earth and environment
Root chakra solidifies our ground
It is primarily concerned with physical survival
Instinctively – survival demands activates sympathetic (flight or fight) response which activate our adrenal glands
Adrenal glands, also known as suprarenal glands, are small, triangular-shaped glands located on top of both kidneys. Adrenal glands produce hormones that help regulate your metabolism, immune system, blood pressure, response to stress, sexual arousal and other essential functions.
When survival is threatened, we experience fear (demon of first chakra)

To clarify, at this 1st chakra, we operate from survival instincts of: hunger, fear, need for rest, warmth, and shelter . Before we can effectively do anything else, we must first see these survival needs met in a direct way, so our consciousness is not dominated by the survival force, pulling us back, unable to get “off the ground”. Today, we will focus on our inner and outer home.

Journal Prompt

Name 4 ways you are safe at this moment; how your survival needs are met.

In what ways do I feel unsafe; what times did I feel unsafe? (Past and present)

As our society evolved, and most of us do not worry about keeping a fire going, our survival needs have become indirect: car health so we may get to our jobs, money to pay utilities.
The pandemic has certainly threatened many means of survival for millions of people. Collectively there is panic, and that is totally normal.
All we can do is accept the pull of this gravity and work within its construct. While panic is okay, it will hinder being conscious to look for solutions as we collectively spin inside the root chakra, stuck, unable to rise beyond those needs.
The only thing to say in response to the intensity of acknowledging the present vortex, is our Root Chakra Affirmations: (say them out loud)
I have a right to be here
I have the right to take up space
I am worthy
It is safe for me to be in this body
I am capable and strong
I am supported and loved
I am grounded
Our words carry weight to bring our mind and body one inch closer to trusting each other, starting to get on the page of working together .
Roots are tied into the instinctual feelings that get programmed from the memories of our past
Inherited instincts, genetically, culturally, physically, evolutionarily
When we take time to examine our roots, we form an up to date image of ourselves to guide this Chakra journey. The past cannot be changed but we also cannot erase our memories of it. The only choice is to come to terms with it and recognize the paradigms that influenced how we were raised.

Journal Prompts : Some of you may like keeping a journal, and to others it is improbable, and not something you would like to do. I ask you right now to step outside your comfort zone and write. If not now when? It is especially important today as we view and solidify our foundation.

What are my earliest memories and feelings of home?
What is my favorite memory of Halloween? Who was I with, why did I pick that costume, what made it such a good memory?
The person or people who took care of me, in what ways have I continued their “traditions” or mannerisms?
Reclaim these roots, witness where you came from and know the history of your family, even if just by their actions. Bring to light the instinctual realm that lives inside you. What were your family dynamics, how were other family units of your kind similar or different? Journal a bit on your own now.
If your past is laced with hurt and pain…look at those actions objectively…is it possible to reveal what may have caused those outcomes. It doesn’t need to be labeled as “trauma” to remember incidents that hurt you. In addressing it you see your foundation, good or bad, it was real. From something tangible we can grow and find a perspective and tools to deal with trauma in later chakras. But we must view it as it was.
I’m not saying there is always an answer, but by looking at the other circumstances of the event, we may find clues which influenced how events unfolded.
The further we get from painful incidents which never got talked through in some way, to let out how scary that was, we put them in a little box in our mind saying “do not touch”. But most events have multiple relations to the outside world , which are bound to come up again, and which our children will come up against and ask about. Example: We don’t sit next to muscular bald men because one flashed a gun in his waistband at me in warning one day. Well that fear isn’t going to serve you well when your boss or your child’s teacher fits that description.
When humans encounter fear, our adrenal system start up and we go into “fight or flight”. The image below is a unique chart to help us name how our subconscious influences our actions long after events.

I am so intrigued by this chart of Trauma Personality for its expression of how the self continues after the incident. Do you feel you align strongly with one, or a few?

Balancing this chakra is to send down, or strengthen our roots, so we may continue to grow up sturdy and grounded in healthy reality

Inappropriate levels of fear can be a sign the root chakra is hindered
Facing the fear can wake it up. Figuring out our strategies of self-preservation is key to overcoming fear, mistrust, humiliation.
Journaling your story is a good way to start. Where do you want to be in life and how does your past prepare you? If you feel ashamed and pain, rather than supported by your past, take time to really look at those scenarios…who was involved…what reactions were had…could those actions be perceived in a different perspective?
For example, shamed by a school bully: What scenario caused her to be a bully in the first place? It certainly wasn’t you, so can you let go of the hurt they caused you?

My Body, My Home

The Body: We return to the same bundle of flesh and bones throughout the eternity of our life. Accept, feel, validate, love the body. Our body is our truest home. If you had to leave everything you know behind, could you walk away content, with the trust, the faith your body will be an equal partner providing what you mind and spirit need? To move on from the root chakra, we must feel at home on our body. It is where we ALWAYS return and it is from here we grow and thrive.
I love this statement from Andoea Judith:
“Our body is the hardware through which the information is received. Etched into the body is the pain and joy. Coded into our nervous system are our needs, habits, memories, talents. Within our genes is our ancestry. Within our cells is the chemistry of our food. Heart beats our rhythm. Muscles mirror our actions. In touch with all that goes on inside us, we more fully experience the spiritual and emotional parts. Accepting the body into integration – our fullest expression, unites all of the parts.”
To me, I feel calm to read this. It is a sweet little reminder that our body is taking care of a LOT without our input. It is running its systems near flawlessly day in and day out. We certainly owe our body love and respect for simply showing up.
In our present level of evolution, matter is an undeniable reality and necessity.
Without a body we die, and to deny our body is to die prematurely
To deny attention to our foundation is to build on unknown or shaky stilts

Journal Prompt

Name 5 things you cherish about your body.

Name 1 part of yourself you can be nicer to.

When Home starts to shake…

When survival stress begins to accumulate, when you feel anxious, nervous, unsettled, the single best thing to do is get grounded. This series will explore many ways to do this, including breathing, journaling, or get outside and feel the earth. Get on your knees, look at the ground and breathe.

“Grounding/Earthing” is what everyone was benefiting from naturally before rubber soled shoes. Being on the neutral earth, our subtle body soaks up negatively charged atoms, which lessen the friction and instability of accumulating free radicals in the body from inflammation, infection, cell damage, trauma, stress, and toxic environments.
When we introduce antioxidants ( food is a good source) and negative electrons to our system, they eat up the damaging “ free radicals “. This balanced electromagnetic field helps heal wounds and lower stress.

Right now, let’s do 3 small exercises on our mats to continue stimulating the root chakra

Breathe slow and deep. As always, wiggle and move in an direction you need to explore during the transitions.

“The body is a system requiring occasional recharging by conductive contact with the Earth’s surface – the “battery” for all planetary life – to be optimally effective.” NCBI

Head to Knee Pose – Hold for 15 counts
Knee to Chest Pose – Hold for 15 counts
Bridge Pose – Hold for 15 counts

Lovely! These micro breaks stimulate parts of the Chakra keep the “rooting energy” going.

To integrate, here is a Meditation a brief but centering 3.5 min �� The narrator is using affirmations to foster self-empowerment. Sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes, and listen.

Our root chakra holds our ability to focus and manifest our needs.

This is where consciousness comes into its tangible form. Remember from the manifesting current, the root chakra is the last chakra in the flow, at our root, where those inspirations will materialize into form if we have dutifully focused to get there. And it is where our liberating current starts, as we look at who we are in our core – what will give us the energy to grow.

Root is where ideas become reality
Limitation is an essential creative principal, allowing the ideas from the mind to gel and build energy, connect the pieces of vision and communication and personal power to do so. Yet resting in a simplified space…the here and now of the roots, we make room for those ideas by clearing out old beliefs and fears that have no place where we are going.
When we root in the present, we let go of clutter. This is the principle of mindfulness which will come up again in the 7th Chakra.
Allowing patience to befriend you can help creativity find a voice along a crowded channel. If the mind and body are too busy, how can true desires make way? This is our opportunity while we are all practicing physical distancing: limiting our outside interactions allows more time alone to manifest and liberate any ideas you haven’t had time to notice are within.
To write a book, you first need to narrow your focus, an outline helps. Write and write, don’t forget to edit later! But diligence and perseverance is seen in all the middle chakras. The root chakra gives you the safety and security you need to start liberating your imagined content, and your manifesting current is satisfied by security of self and space – where you have the ability to start writing your content with clarity.

Journal Prompts

Where do I feel the most grounded? (With a person, place, thing? List as many as you can)
I feel safe when I…
Name the people I can go to for unconditional support.

Root Chakra as it relates to Culture

Present day USA reflects the superiority of “high” at the expense of “low”
Socially and economically, intellectual work is better rewarded than physical labor
Our natural body processes – waste elimination, sexuality, birth, breastfeeding, nudity, are to be done only in private as they are “dirty” and we are made to feel guilty doing these acts.
Control of our health is put in the hands of an elite class which denies us the sense of our own innate healing potential

This is THE reason I began my journey into health, wellness, and massage…I woke up to the fact that no one is going to have the answers to my body more than myself. And I realized I had been relying on everyone to keep me well, except myself. I finally understood, I am responsible for how I treat my body. If I know my body to the best of my ability, I have a hand in the outcome, possibly avoiding any limiting rules that could affect what, when, and where I decide to take my body. There is so much information available on how the body rights itself naturally, and we deserve to be in tune to these mechanisms so we can notice when they may be off. That is why the Chakra system is important, it is another way to feel and acknowledge the system.

By losing touch with our grounded-ness, allowing societal power structures to flow down hierarchically, we are ruled by a part rather than the whole. The Wheel does not spin.
In an un-grounded culture where the overarching values ignore the body and it’s pleasures….pain develops!

The stress of competition and fast living don’t allow us to rest and renew – to process or release that pain.

Ironically, as people develop more pain, they become more resistant to grounding

Because to “ground” is to “be in touch” and feel that pain. But…this is the first step to heal. See and feel the pain in order to release it.

Name two things that upset you about the structure of your job or your society, that make you want to take action to not filtrate your personal life.

Anger can be a motivator for good. But don’t live there and let it fuel you regularly. An overactive root chakra can be expressed as anger, annoyance, thoughtlessness, greed, trouble focusing and restless, being materialistic, unable to go with the flow, controlling.

The goal in every chakra is balance. Undue attachment to more and more material comforts traps the growth of consciousness
A sense of self which comes from the whole body, not from ego inflation has a power all its own – familiar, secure, you can recognize your ground. If everything was stripped away, would you still understand who you are?
The ability to plug ourselves into the earth like from the exercises here, receiving and emanating frequencies is a way to cope with stress – releasing anger and restlessness – releasing overload and receiving safety and stability

Journal Prompts

When do you feel yourself being pulled away from a calm center, to careless, greedy, or angry? Is it a certain time of the day, the week, around certain people?
Describe your financial woes. How has your financial situation progressed since childhood?
Name 1 material attachment I have that only serves my ego.

Newton’s Third Law of Motion: “every action causes an equal and opposite reaction”. This has go to be my favorite principle. Everything we do causes a ripple, though we cannot always fathom what consequences will come. This is an underlying principle of the universe, present in all action, which we can consider in every thought and movement choice.

If you are one of the folks whose work schedule or management of your work has changed due to the pandemic,

Can you take a moment to consider 3 ways your daily routine has changed? What has not rushing out the door each morning felt like for you?
As we grow more aware of our body and the actions and attitudes it takes, we can pause the cycle. Pause for rest, recovery, or simply toning down the reactions of our bodies actions- to find a more parasympathetic balance , where our bodies recover.

Because of the lessened rate of commutes and commerce, many parts of the world are experiencing signs of relief from former levels of business and constant activity
Canals of Venice, Italy are clearing up, and fish are swimming, something most residents have not witnessed their whole lives
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-canals-clear-water-scli-intl/index.html
Animals are wandering into towns because there is less danger of traffic
Smog is clearing up in big cities
While some sources say the air and canals are not any less polluted than before, is not for me to discuss. All I know is it is nice. People are stopping to view and smell these “roses”, which elevates moods all over the world.
The ebb and flow of our personal and professional lives will vary, and our balance will rock, it is important to account for how powerful it is to stop to reflect. Finding our ground does silent wonders for the wellness of the body. Pausing the “flight” hormones eases the burden of accumulating stress in the body which contribute major malfunctions like heart disease, high blood pressure, and syndromes of anxiety, depression, and more.

Lastly,

The vortex of energy at this chakra is the most dense – slow frequency
It is the solidness, a constant security of matter , which allows us to recognize ourselves day in and day out
Imagine if you were to come home everyday and your house was in a different shape or location. How confusing!
Matter is the element of this chakra. Our lives function around the interaction of tangible things. What we are doing with the Chakra is learning how to organize the matter to serve our needs, to live out our truest desires
Materialization will occur when there are enough forces of similar nature and direction, from activating all levels of awareness in the chakra system.
For example, saying you have a dream to become a therapist – is thin ground.
Manifest that into reality by meeting with current therapists, enrolling in classes, figuring out direct means for payment. Actions solidify and support the dream.
When we are cut off in any way from our charged connection to the earth (perhaps blocked by fear or a shaky foundation) – we lose our path.
Have you been busy looking up…forgetting where your feet meet the path?

This is my longest post because the roots are simply the key to where we will go. There is a lot more information out there if you would like to hear more about the deities, sounds, stones, etc. Continue inquiring with questions you have in your gut.

If you would like to add anything else to your day relating to the root chakra, take a walk outside (barefoot is a plus!) stopping to look at the leaves, trees, bushes, roacks, and flowers. Eat a satisfying meal that includes a fistful of quality protein. Maybe a favorite meal, one that makes you smile.

To finish up today, I hope you will join me in a 20 minute yoga sequence, and spend some time doing self-massage to wrap up our time today with Root Chakra. The massage video is only an example of places to touch, spend at least 5 minutes slowly massaging where it feels good to you. There is no wrong way.

Yoga with Adrienne is one of my favorite Youtube Channels. She is very clear in her instruction so it is easy to do her sequences by just listening, her tone and commentary is very inclusive and compassionate, and she is from Austin! Please enjoy the rest of your day after your yoga, you have accomplished so much by just being present here. I hope you will join me in exploring the rest of the Chakras!

Chakra 1 Conclusions: Never be afraid to fall, to start over, to recall your roots. Our roots and the earth is our safety net. Limiting intake of stimulus allows time to recover. Your body is part of your journey to Manifestation and Liberation.

With Health and Happiness we go,

Kaitlin

4/13/2020

Bonus Movie on Earthing

References:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/adrenal-glands

https://thejoywithin.org/chakras/root-muladhara

https://www.fibrofix.com/blogs/news/health-benefits-of-grounding-earthing

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/

Chakra 2: Water + Sacral Chakra

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 18:44:55 GMT

Chakra 2: Water + Sacral Chakra

“The artist is not a special kind of person; rather each person is a special kind of artist.” Ananda Coomaraswany

Welcome back to Bodinuity.

How are you feeling since working with your Root Chakra? Did your steps feel heavier, were you more present at dinner, did you wake up a little more content than the day before? I hope you were able to experience grounding from the exercises, and you may feel a bit closer to your truth of self.

If you aren’t sure you made a intuitive connection, I highly recommend repeating the exercises and prompts of yesterday because the second, Sacral Chakra is all about moving on! The journey will really start rocking and rolling from here on, so PLEASE, don’t hesitate and go back to the grounding work if you need. You are the only one taking your journey and you need that foundation if you truly desire to feel connected to and influenced by this physical, mental, emotional, spiritual journey your chakras offer.

Welcome back to your space, where you have a mat, water, and a journal. Maybe you have changed the scarf over the lamp to Orange

As we give allowance to and space for the principle of change, I will continue to present these Chakra journeys in slightly different ways. Not the same way works for everybody, and sometimes you need to see something in a different perspective to actually want to do it.

The material presented is summarized and quoted from the book Wheels of Life by Anodea Judith, PhD. All other sources are noted. These posts will be written as both blog and journal; I have taken this journey to create it. My aim is simply to share information I have found useful. Any mistakes are my own.

First, and with every Chakra, we will repeat the grounding alignment exercise. My wish is that you can let go of the outside noise, and trust the process. Everything I have here is for therapeutic assistance based on vetted principles and practices.

Align the chakras along sushumna. Read through the steps first and then stand to practice

Stand with feet shoulder width apart, stretch hands high over head, reaching with your whole body while feet are flat on the ground. Stretching out, wiggle through the space that may have been compacted, encourages the chakras to align
Return to a normal standing position, palms facing forward (mountain pose), trying to maintain the elongated new height. Perhaps half and inch you gained back! Remember gravity is constantly weighing on us. Tuck your pelvis so your central axis feels stacked and a clear column is running through your core body
Breathe slowly, deeply, in through your nose to balloon your belly with air, and fill the chest next. Out through your mouth. 3 deep breaths here
Imagine the vastness of the sky above you (even as you are indoors), experience the space above you. Drink in this vastness through your head, pulling it down into you like a human sized straw. Cascade this airy, clean and bright space into your face, ears, whole head, down your throat, over your shoulders, continue all the way down.
It may help you to visualize this vastness as a light, a color, a stream of wind, or a column of bubbles
Take a few times to breathe in, getting a little further down your body each time. Till you are able to breathe through your feet releasing the breath into the floor. Earth. Grounding. We are experiencing the Manifesting Current.
When this feels comfortable, you are able to imagine the energy flowing from the sky to the earth, and begin working with the upward current! The Liberating Current.
Breathe in the earth’s energy from your feet, into your genitals, into your abdomen, cheast, heart, throat, face, spilling up into the sky above.
When this feels comfortable, practice running both currents at the same time!
Play with these two currents. Is one of them harder to control or feel, is there a particular block of tension anywhere? Thank yourself for this practice, and take a sip of water.

Alan Watts died in 1973 so all we have is these grainy, slightly echoey recordings of his lectures which I find so soothing to listen to. Help yourself to that rabbit hole if he appeals to you too!

Today will be the last time I list all the steps to the Sushumna Breathing Activation (but we will still begin our practices with it). I know your body is getting the picture now. It’s day 3, so you are on your way to making tuning into your currents a habit!

Cheers to you for repeating this breath alignment practice. It seems small and tempting to skip, but repeating healthy patterns is how we form habits, and experience the physical changes healthy habits create. Anything you do at least 3 times a week is a habit. You have just set a good tone (possibly a habit!) for your posture, deep breathing (clears out fascial cobwebs), and energizing your inner current. Sit how you are comfortable as we continue.

Associated weighty words of the Sacral Chakra:

Water, Change, Polarities, Movement, Pleasure, Emotions, Sexuality, Nurturance, Clairsentience (gut feelings, sympathy, empathy, emotional attachments, and even physical sensations)

Now that we have the basics, and you start to see the associations of this Chakra, look here at the location of the Chakra. Imagine an orange aura, an innertube of light, glowing, surrounding this part of your body today. When you walk, imagine your pelvis leading you there. Just go with the flow, and perhaps you will notice some of the chakras associations in your house today. Use them. Eat orange foods, heck, go right now and throw on an orange top! It never hurts to put ourselves in the mood. Never know what you may try that will sink in lovingly.

After the Root grounding exercises, we experienced the sanctity of oneness. To feel completely whole, realizing you ARE enough, is such a pleasure. Immediately after that experience, we now split into a study of duality. A new dimension where

Ida and Pingala Nidras begin their divergent paths, but many times intercross
The second chakra is where duality begins, but by the 7th chakra we will transcend the limitations imposed by duality
This Chakra moves out from the element of earth, into the element of water, starting to FLOW
Stillness becomes movement
Gaining a degree of freedom, but adding the complexity of duality
We find ourselves rocking between the tides of gender, of emotion, logic and creativity, sun and moon, organic and geometric, even and odd.
There are the complementary forces inside us all. And they exist everywhere in nature.
The creative part of our lives comes by balancing these forces! This takes awareness of situations and listening for timing.
You want to take your partner a cookie because you want to give a happy moment. But if you do so at a moment where he is having a discussion on the phone with his boss, he will likely be mad for the interruption, no matter the reward of the cookie. Timing is something we could all be more present and understanding with, which takes greater observance of the external world.
An example of the complementary force of internal and external ying/yang
Duality in the second chakra becomes the motivator of change.
From unity, we begin seeking the return to unity
You (body, mind, soul) are the water’s stream, weaving through boulders that exist in the riverbed of life. Bouncing against them is natural, but a time of balanced and full passionate strength will always follow.
Do not let the incoming change disturb you or you may be caught in the chakra
“Flow allows one thing to connect energetically with another. It is the difference between a point and a line” Anodea Judith
From unity to unity – is our aliveness where we DANCE with polarity
That’s all this is…a tango, a waltz, a two step, between forces

Here is where we are…

The Action is I FEEL

And the words are EMOTION, PLEASURE, SEXUALITY, CREATIVITY, NURTURE, CHANGE

Keep these in mind today, and let yourself flow

If you remember from the Chakras History, Tantric Philosophies formed from the belief that Duality did not describe the full breadth of the universe, it left a lot unsaid. But Tantra never denied the existence of Duality…so I just wanted to clear that up. Tantra incorporated teachings from “I Ching”, The Book of Changes , speaking to the concept of change- between the polaric forces of Yin and Yang.

Another bit of confusion with chakra is the name itself. Sacral Chakra is sometimes called the Navel Chakra. No problem. (The transition from 2nd to 3rd is at the navel) The chakras are all at transition points in the physical structure.

Second, the 1st chakra emanates from the nerve ganglion in the Sacrum (wedge shaped bone at the base of the spine). The Sacral Chakra (2nd) is mainly in the Lumbar Plexus but includes Sacral vertebrae S4 + S5 . That is just the Massage Therapist in me wanting to be specific about anatomy but actually, as we have learned….they are all woven together, duh! SO being specific is a non-issue. But thought I’d try to clear up a topic I was curious about.

Even from a physical perspective you can see the 1st Chakra is protected by it’s pelvic home…uses the safety inducing stillness to create structure… our foundation that all else is built from. The 2nd chakra opens up the flow. Where we burst through with creativeness, passions are pursued, finding the highest elevation of ourselves is the work we pursue from here.
Movement….allowing change, being flexible. If we are not open to change, if you cannot express yourself, how can we find intimacy with others. Leaving our shell of oneness, to be open to a partner can be intimidating. But we all have some amount of desire inside which begs to intertwine with another. As a lover or friend.
Some texts discuss celibacy as righteous; the true way to enlightenment. One such text is of Brahmacharya. Tantra dispels the belief that feeding our pleasure is wrong.
The point celibacy is making is by experiencing sensation of the senses, we deprive ourself of knowing the true nature of reality, because we are experiencing Maya, the creations of consciousness.
Pick your path for yourself…
From Hedonism, Epicureans, and Freudism, there are plenty of philosophies on the topic of pleasure and pain. And while I encourage you to look into all philosophies, our inquisition simply takes it as an example of Yin/Yang. Humans experience Pleasure and Pain equally, as the wheel of life turns. Tantra asks, why deny yourself the use of your senses while you have them?
Spending too much time pursuing pleasure can numb our sensitivities to reality, lessening our grasp on consciousness, and it can also deplete us financially – big house, fast car, items for beauty
Not enough pleasure causes the body to contract, in a state of tension to the whole system.
Sensations are the building blocks of emotion
The act of transferring energy and information around the body, this process uses the Limbic System (lower area of the brain) which controls involuntary actions like our hormone levels, heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing
In states of pleasure, impulses flow freely in our body without fear of suppression, creating rhythmic patterns
Using movement to express emotion, to uninhibit us from present tensions, this is a tool to bring emotion from the unconscious, to conscious. Movement in principal releases tension and can feel cleansing. Whether it be facial cobwebs forming, or a tense situation – movement clears the pressure

Journal Prompt

Which is my favorite sense? Sight, sound, touch, taste, smell

How can I use this sense creatively to convey the emotion I feel when I look out the window of my room?

Nurturing anything also aids the Limbic System. This state of being and the actions of nurturing, adds an element of stability and trust to our sacral chakra flow. We care for others (and ourselves) as a natural desire for closeness and warmth. This is especially clear when by embracing someones care, intimate connections form and you find yourself opening up to another being. Sharing a connection outside your own body. You want this comfort to always last, requires paying no attention to the boulders which fall in your stream.

Cooking food, touching with warmth and care, loving without limitations
Through this we say “I am here”, transcending our separateness

Our society has given us many subtle and outright notions that emotion and sexuality are to be tucked inside, and those who enjoy simple pleasures are lazy, weak, or self-indulgent.
As pleasures (close friendships between opposite gender, women wanting enjoyment in sex, women making decisions for their own happiness outside of family chores) were shamed, so began underground pleasure seeking – drugs, alcohol, and violence, and “sex you couldn’t find at home”. This correlation of pleasure with negative actions brought on by these taboos have been haunting us for centuries, and demonizing women’s equality.

Studies have been done showing the more strict the sexual culture, the higher the rate of violence compare to sexually permissive cultures
http://www.violence.de/prescott/bulletin/article.html
Wilhelm Reich researched bioelectric currents of the body and found that only through orgasm could we achieve a “complete circuit” of bioelectric flow through the body, essential to energies dammed up by anxiety.

Journal Prompt

Do I allow myself to follow my emotions? Do I spend too much or too little time listening to the emotional characters my brain “plays”.

Creative Break

Blind Contour Drawing Challenge

This is a quick, easy, creativity boost, so don’t think twice, grab your journal!
What is something you can see even when you close your eyes? What is something you know like the back of your…HAND. That’s it!
Even if you have never drawn a hand before, this is an object you know the general shape, size, and contour without thinking twice.
Take about 90 seconds to 2 minutes outlining the palm, fingers, including the wrinkles
Close your eyes, no peeking, draw your hand. Any position works!
When you open your eyes, make any additions you want. Close some lines, or add a character, but make sure you

Journal Prompts

Describe my perfect day
Who is someone I personally know that I am inspired by, and why?
What practical skill do I wish I had?
How do I typically react to physical or emotional change?
What things occur to make me feel most sensual? Am I honoring and respecting my own needs when it comes to intimacy?
What am I craving?
How can I bring more movement into my life?

The current is begging us to relinquish our grip on incidents which haunt us. Shame serves nothing anymore.

The Sacral Chakra is the seat of creativity and Passion is its fuel.

As you examined your roots, and saw the seed of power inside you, I ask you to think about your current state of affairs as a baseline. From this Wheel of Life diagram, place your own blue line. From here you can determine which aspects of your life may need the most energy. From there you can get creative in ways to get more involved. This graph is a basic way to visualize how your emotional state connects to tangible matters.

If you have time, Mrs. Oprah Winfrey herself recommended this passion chart.

http://static.oprah.com/pdf/passion-hexagon.pdf

Okay I hope you are still with me, this is where I want you to get physical and feel the magic! Open your heart and your mind, as I walk you down a 5 part Sacral Journey tonight. I encourage you to do these all together, so it’s okay if you need to take a break now. Enjoy when you get to it!

This Yoga Class hits all the right moves to open and align that Sacral Chakra in the hips and low back. She has other Chakra Yoga Classes which I’m sure are equally rewarding.

2. Run a Bath – this is the water chakra after all! Trust me, after the work you have done for your Sacral Chakra emotionally, a hot bath/shower will be just the right touch. If you have any bath bombs or bath oils, toss them in. Listen to this absolutely lovely musical session, maybe twice �� Open a window if you can. Don’t sweat yourself out on this one, it is powerful to feel a fresh breeze with the heat, as you continue exploring Yin/Yang.

3. While you are in the tub take some time with your feet, putting pressure on and massaging the points of your Sacral Chakra (Around the ankles and above the heel)

3. After you towel off, robe up, or put on a FUN OUTFIT! who cares, no one is watching. How we dress is an expression of what we embrace: comfort, sparkle, power, simplicity. Little acts of positive emotional expression will build up for the better.

4. We discussed movement earlier. This is going to be our true meditation today; not holding judgement and clearing out everything except the instinctual pull of your body to music. If you are a natural in the art of dance, put on the music you are in the mood for and groove out – let energy spill out . After a lethargic bath, moving around is necessary to get the blood flowing back in the normal rhythm. I don’t want to steer you to a particular musical style because this is all about you and where you are emotionally.

If you are like me, and struggle to have fun dancing, I found an adorable video teaching a few moves to “Club Dance”, along with the requisite musical lyrics about “shots, shots, shots, and I’m drinking”, they are enough to make you laugh and say YOLO. It is a fun 3.5 minutes to get a shy dancer started. Bonus – the first move is all about movement in our Sacral Plexus!

5. Last one for tonight, and I’m dead serious here. Men and women of these apocalyptic times… pour yourself a sexy glass of wine or sip your Spirit with a fancy fat ice cube, put your feet up and relax…Pornhub Premium is FREE all over the world! https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-porn-world-is-helping-fight-coronavirus

Chakra 2 Conclusion: Your whole life is a creative dance; the way you move through pleasure, pain, emotion, and disturbance. You do it so uniquely. Your family, friends, lover, they all see it, and they encourage you to own it.

Thank you guys for spending time here, I’ll be back soon with Chakra 3!

With Health and Happiness we go,

Kaitlin

4/14/2020

Chakra Three: Solar Plexus + Fire

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 18:44:54 GMT

Chakra Three: Solar Plexus + Fire

“Stop acting so small. You are the Universe in ecstatic motion. Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” Rumi

Welcome Back Ya’ll!

That Sacral Chakra series brought out way more feelings than I imagined! Bodinuity was lit �� There was a diverse list of prompts and activities to follow in that post. I would love to hear from you, which action inspired you the most on your journey? When did your energy start to build? For me it was that hot bath leading into a dance session. I felt all my energy gel together, expanded and full, confidently making decisions well into today. I’m optimistic that you felt happy, your actions made you smile, and that is why you are here again today.

Welcome back to your space, where you have a mat, water, and a journal. Maybe you have changed the scarf over the lamp to Yellow.

The part of that series which did not flow for me yesterday, is where I want to start today. While I got a lot out of the Yoga postures, I could not get down with the meditation at the end of her class! All that empty space made me anxious. Meditation with no guide is a level I have not arrived at. So to start us off today I have a meditation from Alan Watts, a highly respected philosopher and interpreter of Eastern wisdom, speaking to that “space”.

Alan Watts died in 1973 so all we have is these grainy, slightly echoey recordings of his lectures which I find so soothing to listen to. Help yourself to that rabbit hole if he appeals to you too!

A lign the chakras along sushumna. Read through the steps first and then stand to practice

Stand with feet shoulder width apart, stretch hands high over head, reaching with your whole body while feet are flat on the ground. Stretching out, wiggle through the space that may have been compacted, encourages the chakras to align
Return to a normal standing position, palms facing forward (mountain pose), trying to maintain the elongated new height. Perhaps half and inch you gained back! Remember gravity is constantly weighing on us. Tuck your pelvis so your central axis feels stacked and a clear column is running through your core body
Breathe slowly, deeply, in through your nose to balloon your belly with air, and fill the chest next. Out through your mouth. 3 deep breaths here
Imagine the vastness of the sky above you (even as you are indoors), experience the space above you. Drink in this vastness through your head, pulling it down into you like a human sized straw. Cascade this airy, clean and bright space into your face, ears, whole head, down your throat, over your shoulders, continue all the way down.
It may help you to visualize this vastness as a light, a color, a stream of wind, or a column of bubbles
Take a few times to breathe in, getting a little further down your body each time. Till you are able to breathe through your feet releasing the breath into the floor. Earth. Grounding. We are experiencing the Manifesting Current.
When this feels comfortable, you are able to imagine the energy flowing from the sky to the earth, and begin working with the upward current! The Liberating Current.
Breathe in the earth’s energy from your feet, into your genitals, into your abdomen, chest, heart, throat, face, spilling up into the sky above.
When this feels comfortable, practice running both currents at the same time!
Play with these two currents. Is one of them harder to control or feel, is there a particular block of tension anywhere? Thank yourself for this practice, and take a sip of water.

Beautiful. Now let’s get curious.Beautiful. Now let’s get curious.

“Manipura” Sanskrit for “Lustrous Gem”

Associated Words: Fire, Power, Autonomy, Will, Energy, Metabolism, Technology, Transformation, Self-Esteem

The third Chakra arises from the combination of matter and movement. Two components that form energy . Matter and movement create friction will cause combustion…Fire! That enthusiasm you felt for who you are at chakra one and two, is ignited into power and activity at chakra three.
At our Solar Plexus, the transformation of energy from passive (earth and water are subject to gravity) to active (fire moves upward) ignites power and will in our behavior. Your hands and your mind are the most sacred tools you have. Activate them towards your interests/passions/things you do with an ounce of ease, and see what you are capable of! A fire doesn’t ask questions, it seeks, it tries, it tries.
Fire raises us to a new dimension of warmth and light
The fire you build at this chakra is what will propel you on your journey higher in the chakras.

To transform our creative energy, to liberate who we are at our core, we must liberate the self from fixed patterns and create new behavior
To do this we will remind ourself why we are great. What you discovered in the First two chakras.
Later, we will bolster our ability to be nourished by what is around us (people, places, things)
This includes how we treat ourselves, how we present ourselves in our environment, and integrating will with what we can do.
Our personal “will” steers us from the path of least resistance (which is what water takes) to help us break patterns that don’t work anymore (addictive habits, trying to please everyone, being overly resistant or cautious)
“Will combines holding and moving (1st and 2nd chakra) in a way that directs action and shapes our world (3rd chakra)” A. Judith
You own your faculties. Energies birthed a “you-sized (body) space” to fill out the earth’s atmosphere with new thoughts, forming new connections, creating new purpose.

It is worth saying here that if at anytime in this series you need to refresh yourself on your beliefs, your values, strengths, passions, abilities, likes, and traits, pop back into your “root” and have a conversation with your past selves about what you did those years, and what resonated with you. We don’t have perfect recollection, and we don’t even use our whole brain daily. Write them in your journal whenever you add a new one. By Chakra 7, watch how your list will reveal clues.

In order to continue building our energy up, that lovely pure energy you have raised from foundation, to the path of movement- embracing change, we need to bolster our self confidence. Confidence does NOT come from the goals and visions you may be manifesting, it comes from who you are in your body, right now . A realistic sense of self is the basis for self-esteem because it bolsters the security that you have combustible attributes that can light up given the right stoking. Realism is not to hold you back, only to get clear on what you have to stoke your fire.

Root Chakra showed us our physical identity
Sacral Chakra showed us our emotional identity and aliveness
Solar Plexus Chakra gives us the power to hone our skills. Through self-discipline of trial and error we can gain a realistic sense of our abilities and how strong is our will

Journal Prompts:

List the things you did to completion this week. (If you started washing the dishes and didn’t quit halfway through- include that)

If someone asked you to describe yourself, how would you?

The hardest part is getting started, but once the fire is lit, it only takes small amount of energy to get it going again

Much of Chakra work is giving ourselves time to take care of ourselves. Get clear on what you like, so when you put energy there, it will cycle and give you energy back. When we show ourselves love, and realize what we offer the world, those acts decrease our need to go out looking for affirmation….we can just continue on with a lit fire source!

Mass, movement, and energy
are inseparable forces in the the physical world
This trinity of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd chakras form the fundamental principles of life. How we do it from there is….choice
The dance between cause and effect (also yin and yang) awakens in us the energy for activity – deciding on choices.
Without energy from below, there is no power
Power only happens by directed energy
The descending current of consciousness (manifesting current), guides the energy into purpose (tangible)
Manifesting (downward) current brings form
Liberating (rising) current brings energy
When the currents combine, you have power
In the 3rd Chakra, the Solar Plexus, we must allow the integration of bodily energy with conscious intelligence…in this self fulfilling act, you become your own agent of transformation. The power is in you
to use, for your expression
(likely you express in many ways because you like lots of things) of your purpose
(could your purpose be mixed in with what you like?)

Okay let’s back off the introspection for a sec. Keep it in close! I want to ask if there is anything you have noticed in the past 6 months that has bothered you about your life. Not counting the Coronavirus. Write the first thought in your journal.

As we move higher towards our spirit, sometimes we need to break attachments that weigh us down. This next exercise should simulate breaking unnecessary, unhelpful, or toxic attachments.

Solar Plexus Exercise:

Let’s stimulate some fire with “The Woodchopper” movement. Stand up and wiggle out your body, clear some bubbles. Lengthen, take a deep breath as you raise your arms high. When you have held your breath at the top, release your breath, arms, and body SWINGING down, between your legs with a big “AHH” sound, the associated tone of Solar Plexus. Repeat this 10 times.

Journal Prompt: Energy that is directed toward something that is not manifesting is energy that is “hung” up, or otherwise useless. Is there someone or something you have been giving attention to which is not flowing after reasonable effort?

Being aware of who you are and how you work best gives you power to raise your authenticity and be powerful in the world.

Journal Prompts:

Two ways I squander my energy are:

Two steps I can take towards my goals are:

Now we will do two postures to resonate what we have just written down. Play this music as you do the poses.

Making the Sun: As you push your arms down, imagine pushing out those things that squander your energy. Rise and Repeat until you are satisfied.

2. Belly Opening (Reverse Plank)(2 options): As you lift, send through your body the energy of confidence to instill your will on these steps to your goals. Repeat and hold until satisfied.

The next aspect we want to include in our journey is discussing fuel for our fire.

Fire uses combustion (rapid chemical combination of a substance with oxygen) to turn matter(wood) into energy(heat and light)
In our bodies, this is done as a process called Metabolism. Feed yourself with foods that turn into steady energy (not pure sugars or caffeine) and the elements around you (people, places, things).
Being conscious about what you take in will keep stoking your fire.
We can block our own power by not breathing fully: the body needs oxygen to metabolize nutrients and turn them into energy.

We can also block our power by withdrawing from life and being overly controlled by the forces around us.
Eventually, without metabolizing things that stoke your fire, you become depleted, the natural enthusiasm shrinks, and you have to find other stimulants to create that for you (drugs, caffeine, sweets)
This oftentimes will land you in a place of self-criticism, fear, and avoidance of change… a vicious cycle
Being in touch with the passions that our first two chakras reveal, gives us a constant source of fuel
Simple things like taking a walk, petting an animal, goofing around, putting on makeup, taking a photo, swimming, etc, small events that bring joy from the absolute core of our self is all the fuel we need. Listen to what you love, and do that.
One last thing on the note of air accompanying our inner fuel:
“If we are not loving with ourselves, giving ourselves room to breathe, to make mistakes, then we have no air for the fire to burn” A. Judith

It can be hard to boil down perhaps what is “most” important to you, so I’m calling upon the all knowing powers of a QUIZ! Haha. But I do really think this is a good one, no fluff or fortune telling. 10 well thought out questions that address your core energy. Be honest with yourself about which answer is the real you. When we show up and see truly what fuels our happiness, that fuel will keep giving our whole life.

https://core.tonyrobbins.com/driving-force-6/

After revealing your Driving Force, consider the following prompt: Find 3 Hobbies you love :

One to make you money
One to keep you in shape
One to be creative

Take time to Brainstorm what stokes the feelings of warm light inside you. These 3 things can change over the course of your life, but by shaping your life around them, you will have many sources of joy, they will fuel your will, encourage your discipline, boost your confidence, and you will have fun doing them!

“Your purpose is born out of your orientation to the world. Born from what you love, loathe, and what your talents apply to.” Anodea Judith

To get a bit more serious now. As we develop our third chakra, we are confronted with redefining our outlook on power. Oof, am I right? Power is a word people feel very Yin/Yang about…either it is very positive or very negative for them. I for one, was in need of reading and feeling this new perspective. Again, these ideas are based on the work of Anodea Judith, summarized in my own language unless quoted.

From youth, we grow up submissive under power of cooperation and conformity
There are many people with power “over” you: parents, school, bosses, military, government. And some of this is certainly necessary to an extent. But we must find our inner will to live as an individual. By living our truth, we have access to exercising our “potential”: activating connections in our bodies which makes each of us so powerful and kinetic.
Conformity leads to less exclusion, but can dampen that spark to be creative
To pass through this chakra, we want to find the “power to”
Power, becoming an action within, rather than a noun we are dominated over
The power to enhance, integrate, and strengthen due to our directed energy
In the Chakra System, power comes from unity – combining and integrating what we learn at each level. Power doesn’t come from the separateness. Power is not from the highest chakra’s “domination” over the other chakras. They are powerful because of each other.
Consider Boss’s, Coaches, and Leaders you have admired, versus the one’s who left a bad taste in your mouth. Were they using “power over” or empowering everyone’s “power within”
The strength of a group lies in the ability to combine diversity to make something new, the whole of the group is the power, just like the chakras
As a unique, never before seen, limited edition human, YOU are the combination of diverse genes (parts on parts on parts) which form something new. I’ve been trying to tell you, these chakras really weave the hell outta some “fabric”!
In combining, organizing, and aligning inner forces, each member lights up as a powerful being
Autonomous individuals power themselves to continue innovating and bringing momentum to the group
Simply being told what to do only weakens a person’s connection with the job in the long haul. No desire for the greater good of that job. With no way to exert conscious connection to a place you spend so much time, it is easy to give up on your innate abilities and the desire to activate those energies, for the benefit of all.
Losing inner will can also leave you powerless against those looming addictive/destructive forces
Changing your inner dialogue from “I should/have to do this” to “I choose/want to do this” can be encouraging to keep you on track with your inner desires. You choose to do yoga because you like how it makes your joints feel. You choose to go water the plants because you don’t want them to die which would waste that energy you spent.
Watch how you talk to yourself. Don’t let your own mind be the pessimist in the room.
Being in a minimum wage job is still an opportunity to exercise your strengths. The point is to find which jobs suit your abilities best. If your fire gets lit by challenging yourself to see how quickly and efficiently you can cook food, then Fast Food Restaurants would suit you more than the Grocery Deli. If you pride yourself in providing solutions, a Call Center Help Desk would suit you more than a job you need multiple people to sign off on a solution.

Find your spark and go at it proud, and loud.

“In a submissive paradigm, the power is placed outside ourselves. If we look for power outside, we look to others for direction, and find ourselves at their mercy, setting ourselves up for possible victimization. With an absence of power within, we may constantly seek stimulation, excitement, and activity, afraid to slow down, to feel the emptiness inside. We engage in activity as a way of getting acknowledged by others, a way of being seen, a way of having our own ego strengthened. We may seek power for the sake of ego, rather than for the ability to better serve the larger whole. Power without purpose is mere whim, sometimes even dangerous.” Anodea Judith

To me this reveals something about the current power of social media. We get consumed by the need to consume it, or post as a way to harness some power, which often leaves us in rejection, as social media algorithms are skewed
On social media is the person the one that has the power, or is it the media?

Examine your reasoning of the choices you make. By making the choices conscious, you empower yourself that YOU are making the decision
Is it to look good, be liked, avoid responsibility, keep the peace, call out others? And either way you make it, it was your decision, which upon that examination, is your true will.
Excessive 3rd Chakra: Trying to get out from under the lust of ego is also something we may struggle with at this chakra
Underdeveloped 3rd Chakra: Avoiding responsibility by giving powers over to a psychic, guru, teacher, or therapist. While getting help is advisable as a springboard and eye opening, no one can make decisions for you.

Movement! Stand up. Let’s not forget about our vessel. A little massage to take a quick break from reading and keep our Solar Plexus open and vibing. Place your fingertips on the base of your sternum (breastbone), and rub in a circle, moving the skin side to side, up and down, sliding away from the bone. Now move your hands outward as you continue this circular massage all along the edge of your ribcage. Continue back as far as you can go behind your body. After, take a deep breath to feel the new room of released fascia. Expansion. Next, take your hands flat on your upper stomach, just under your ribs, and slide down firmly to your pubis. All along your sides and back. Now rub up, from pubis to ribs. Then, just kind of softly grab your middle section and “jujje it around”. Circling, rocking, shaking, do what feels good! Simply touch your bod and smile because everything is doing it’s best. Self-Massage, woo hoo!

We cannot control what will happen to us, so we must have the inner power, then the will to carry on: in control of our actions for what follows. To overcome we must create momentum.

Create momentum which is intelligent and strategic
This is absolutely a time in your life where a life coach or a talk therapist would be the ideal resource to help get you started. They can listen to your history, figure out your strengths, and recommend tools and protocols to build your energy
Building strategy and a cohesive plan can allow us to work smarter rather than harder. Efficiency, not force.

“Without agreement between will and desire, we lose our passion and momentum, and thereby dissipate the power needed to carry out our will.” Anodea Judith

Announce to yourself which desires are long-term, to keep your will with you. These are those long term goals that don’t happen overnight.
Almost there you guys! We now bring up the discipline aspect of power and will.
“Disciple” – the willingness to be a student of something
“Here we are faced with the odd paradox of surrendering our will to the structure or form that brings about fulfillment of that will. In this act of discipline, there is a certain transcendence of feelings, in that we may not “feel like” doing our meditation on a particular day, or we may not “feel like” going to work. Yet, those feelings become irrelevant when our will is fixed to a larger purpose {weight loss, money, job, family, passions, purpose}. In this way, the third chakra is both fueled by, and yet transcends, the feeling orientation of the second chakra .” Anodea Judith
You now should see you have the power to make your own choices based on your true will, which will lead you to self-discipline to respect that will/desire. Discipline leads to the practice and experimentation of choices towards our will, and in that time spent, you gain self-confidence. Repetition of pattern is a godsend for confidence.

The next video is super relevant to our Journey. Not only does it weave in fables from other periods and places, but it breaks down why self-discipline is so challenging, and how to make your life more cohesive with this awareness.

Ways to Strengthen your Autonomy (the right to self-govern):

Recognize that you matter
Pursue autonomy in all areas throughout time and space
Being willing and able to make a change
Seek out opportunities
Advancing and developing your skill sets

Developing the 3rd Chakra

Make sure energy travels in a complete circuit – what you put out has a way of coming back
When you are overwhelmed by strained effort, stop. Ask yourself what is missing that would make it move smoothly
Avoid invalidation – “New ideas meet their greatest opposition from those who misunderstand them.” Albert Einstein
Choose to challenge yourself – sluggish: move, hyperactive: be still, resistant to change: get uncomfortable
Give attention to where it is needed, also accept attention from others
Focus your energy by grounding. Energy directed = power
Release Anger
Don’t take things too seriously – remember to laugh

Alright ya’ll,

That is my spiel today with guidance by the epic works of Dr. Anodea Judith. To conclude, I’m going to leave you with two videos. The first is for a little laughter and perhaps inspiration to release frustration of the powerless parts of our lives. The second is a strong yet soothing, cathartic Solar Plexus Yoga flow. In the middle she leads into a great meditative state by repeating Sun Salutations. Don’t overwhelm yourself today, but for the future, here are some podcasts that may be encouraging to listen to. If you like any of them, send a comment so myself and others will know!

I hope your consciousness came out to play today. Remember that in whatever state you are in, you are worthy and stronger than you realize.

Conclusions of Solar Plexus Chakra: Transform your energy into skill development to achieve autonomy. Taking care of ourselves includes breaking attachments and challenging ourselves, to raise our power.

With Health and Happiness we go,

Kaitlin

4/17/2020

Resources:

Wheel of Life, Anodea Judith

https://medium.com/studies-in-well-being/what-you-can-do-to-strengthen-your-autonomy-c05db71886d3

Chakra Four: Heart + Air

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 18:44:54 GMT

Chakra Four: Heart + Air

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” Buddha

Welcome to the middle, everyone. Congrats on making it through the physical triad!

On our Chakra Journey we rode the energy of our internal fire (3rd), to float in the warm air of the chest cavity for today’s journey (4th). Full of gratitude for who we are, and curious for how this self-alignment expands. The 4th Chakra is the home of our spirit. Where the strings of love and compassion originate for everything and everyone which weaves together our life . As the heart pumps our blood, so does it pump our tenderness. Let’s jump right in!

Welcome back to your space, where you have a mat, water, and a journal. Maybe you have changed the scarf over the lamp to Green.

The quoted readings and some exercises come from the book Wheels of Life by Anodea Judith, PhD. All other sources are noted. These posts will be written as both blog and journal; I have taken this journey to create it. My aim is simply to share information I have found useful. Any mistakes are my own.

I want to drop us in right away, feeling the power of our own compassion.

As we have grown older, the heart has weathered a lot of events, and a lot of time. Based on the nature of reality, the heart has not gone unscathed, and there is more than one event which has shook you to your core.

During our time with the Root Chakra, we named those hurts and fears which we have held on to. Naming them was a bit liberating, right? You shined a light into the cave, and the “hurt” shivered…backed into a corner, exposed.

The Sacral Chakra implored us to flow free of our “safe” cave: letting loose our inhibitions, emotions, physicality, and experiencing the breadth of who we are as a being. Delighting in what people and things we gravitate towards. Allowing water to nurture and bathe us in pleasant vibrations.

The Solar Plexus Chakra transformed our energy into willpower. You lit a fire from your capacity to change, and stoked your fire with passion, confidence, and personal freedom.

In the fourth, Heart Chakra, we will find our Healing Love with non judgmental compassion. We have risen to the “heart” of our system where matter and spirit integrate.

Thanks for being here. Okay Ya’ll, you know what we do first! We will sink into our chakra system with the Sushumna Breathing Activation. I decided to display the sequence for one more post because it is still a new activity! Keeping honest with ourselves about when we need assistance is part of the cycle of life. In addition, breathing is the most powerful tool for integrating Chakra Four, and we will use it many times today.

Align the chakras along sushumna. Read through the steps first and then stand to practice

Stand with feet shoulder width apart, stretch hands high over head, reaching with your whole body while feet are flat on the ground. Stretching out, wiggle through the space that may have been compacted, encourages the chakras to align
Return to a normal standing position, palms facing forward (mountain pose), trying to maintain the elongated new height. Perhaps half and inch you gained back! Remember gravity is constantly weighing on us. Tuck your pelvis so your central axis feels stacked and a clear column is running through your core body
Breathe slowly, deeply, in through your nose to balloon your belly with air, and fill the chest next. Out through your mouth. 3 deep breaths here
Imagine the vastness of the sky above you (even as you are indoors), experience the space above you. Drink in this vastness through your head, pulling it down into you like a human sized straw. Cascade this airy, clean and bright space into your face, ears, whole head, down your throat, over your shoulders, continue all the way down.
It may help you to visualize this vastness as a light, a color, a stream of wind, or a column of bubbles
Take a few times to breathe in, getting a little further down your body each time. Till you are able to breathe through your feet releasing the breath into the floor. Earth. Grounding. We are experiencing the Manifesting Current.
When this feels comfortable, you are able to imagine the energy flowing from the sky to the earth, and begin working with the upward current! The Liberating Current.
Breathe in the earth’s energy from your feet, into your genitals, into your abdomen, cheast, heart, throat, face, spilling up into the sky above.
When this feels comfortable, practice running both currents at the same time!
Play with these two currents. Is one of them harder to control or feel, is there a particular block of tension anywhere? Thank yourself for this practice, and take a sip of water.

Great, we are connected to our body, vibrating in tune with inner and outer molecules, and have arrived at our core, the Still Point of our being.

Journal Prompt:

Describe your first memory of feeling Love. Describe the sights, sounds, and smells.

“Anahata” Sanskrit for “Unstruck”

Associated Weighty Words: Love, Air, Breath, Balance, Relationship, Affinity, Unity, Healing

The Heart Chakra symbol is a Circle surrounded by 12 Lotus Petals, with 2 intersecting triangles in the center. “The triangles represent the descent of spirit into the body and the ascent of matter rising to meet the spirit. This symbol, also known as the Star of David, represents the Sacred Marriage: the balanced interpenetration of Yin and Yang polarities. ” Anodea Judith

We also note that there are 6 points to the star: 6 other chakras, with the heart as the center
Our three chakras below reside in the physical world; what we are and do. The three chakras to follow are expressed through spirit : voice, sound, thoughts. The heart is the integrator which is why a clear heart is so important to the system. Any blockages on the cycle reverberate through matter and spirit.
As each chakra is a swirling vortex of energy, so too is the entire body in relation to the world. Remember, you are a you-sized energetic field in the atmosphere. You come into contact with people, places, and things, and you have an effect on each other. We either dance about the polarities of our effect, or we head straight for the acceptance and balance of middleground, the key of the sacred marriage: Understanding .

“Opening the heart chakra requires a combination of technique and understanding. First, we learn to see the world in terms of relationships – what causes things to enter into and remain in combination with others and the world around us. Second is the practice of balance – between body and mind, inner and outer realms, self and other, giving and receiving. Thirdly – transcending the ego, allowing us to surrender to forces larger than the self. Last – understanding and control of the breath, for it is a tool of physical and mental transformation.” Anodea Judith

The level of connection we have with someone or something is scientifically called “affinity”, or what we describe as “chemistry”…two parts stay in contact because there is an intrinsic fit, a bond.

Each has something the other is lacking (or a peaceful validation of shared views), and the two parts are seeking to balance themselves.
As humans, it is not always obvious why we are attracted to someone, but it is certainly more present in some than others, and it can be irresistible. This is good, it energizes our soul.
A bond forms from the balance of parts, and the Heart Chakra is the center of balance. Naturally, Love can arise.
What this enjoyable bonding with another does for us, is fill up ourselves with feelings of happiness and contentment with who we are – the first step in finding the affinity inside ourselves
“Self-acceptance is our first chance to practice unconditional love”
With acceptance of how we are now (someone likes me as I am), it is easier to accept the faults of others, extending unconditional love
When we are in affinity, we radiate love and joy because everything inside us is in harmony. All of our cells are working in unison, pulsating in “rythmic resonance”
The affinity does not always last. When we fill up our energy field with what glued us together, that bond isn’t so magnetic.
Now we have the choice of the ages, do I stay or do I go? This is the hardest question of all, and it depends on so many factors. The basic question to ask is the connection leading you more into balance (even without the affinity) or do they lead you out of your element.
Friend, Family, or Lover…do you keep your affinity (now is Love), or must you sever the weight of the bond, as it is unbalanced.
HOWEVER…one must always take time to achieve affinity in themselves. There is no other option. If we don’t have our cells working in unison, living in harmony, we cause chaos internally. Remembering the affinity others allowed you to feel can be a beacon when you feel lost. Tune into the rhythmic pulsation of your body, and fill yourself up with memories of harmony.
When you find yourself drifting from your inner affinity- check in on yourself – how can you treat yourself better? Do you treat yourself as well as those you have affinity for? Do you call them names or reprimand them for resting? Love starts in yourself.
Our strength that we rose from our root chakra, the powerful energy lies in the harmony of our words, actions, thoughts, and emotions – affinity of our parts makes us whole. Don’t loose these parts as we continue higher in the chakras.

This aspect of affinity is all new for me, how about you? It is starting to make sense…my mind is connecting all of the thoughts I have had on Love. Reconciling all of the ways society has told me what I need and what Love looks like. I’m happy for a new, stripped down perspective. Through affinity, Love can arise: to live in a state of harmony.

“Love is a unifying force – it draws things together and keeps them in relationship”
From our multitude of parts, affinity and love make us a whole
“A binding force allows something to hold together long enough to evolve its patterns to deeper and more cohesive states. Love allows change and freedom, but keeps coherence at the center. To offer safety and acceptance to another invites the field of love to flourish.” Anodea Judith
Love requires both closeness and distance: an equilibrium

These two videos on Maya Angelou’s personal account of Love go together as one. Love liberates…love is air we help distribute through our choices of acceptance and understanding.

Whether we do that within ourselves, or for others…love is liberating.

What can decrease Love?

“Jealously reduces the flow of love as it dictates that they must flow from within narrow limits”
Homophobia
Ageism
Racism
Withholding Love, for fear of rejection

The tighter we hold on to Love, as if it is a scarcity, the smaller amount of room we have to recieve it. Love needs Air, as all things do. If we can imagine love as abundant, we will give abundantly, which as part of the self-fulfilling wheel…we will receive abundantly.

Think of all the relationships in your life. Housemates, the corner store, my job, my mechanic. Can you see you are already connected to so many opportunities to practice love?
Everything we come into contact with is a connection to view the sacredness of two spirits.
We can practice love, even without affinity.

A highly regarded Vietnamese Zen Bhuddist Monk named Thich Naht Hanh wrote an insightful book interpreting the philosophy of Love in 1926, called How To Love . He has many other lovely books you might be interested in. He tells us that “Understanding” is another name for “Love”. “To Love another means to fully understand its suffering”.

We can visualize “suffering” using another model which you may have seen in school: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This is Tantra y’all, we are weaving ancient principles and truths with newer corresponding models. Much of the premise is the same. Humans need things, and with even one or two unfulfilled – is what we will call “suffering”.

The more we practice and are aware of what chakra alignment means for our development, the more we can hope to fulfill these needs. We cannot expect to attain perfection, but we will gain understanding with ourselves on what we need to suffer less.

A Bhuddist Proverb told in story form by Thich Naht Hanh

“If you pour a handful of salt into a cup of water, the water becomes undrinkable. But if you pour the salt into a river, people can continue to draw the water to cook, wash, and drink. The river is immense, and it has the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. When our hearts are small, our understanding and compassion are limited, and we suffer. We can’t accept or tolerate others and their shortcomings, and we demand that they change. But when our hearts expand, these same things don’t make us suffer anymore. We have a lot of understanding and compassion and can embrace others. We accept others as they are, and then they have a chance to transform.”

Journal Prompts:

How do I react to Love and affection?

Describe an incident that hurt my heart, and how do I feel about it now?

The element of the Heart Chakra, Air, is how we can embrace complex relationships; mimicking air by inviting equilibrium, calmness, softness, and openness.

Air will go everywhere, and is the element most quickly distributed.
We can only live minutes without it
Therefore air is the vital energy (“ prana ”) which connects every cell, every thought, every function, relationship, every thing in life.
Breath is the vital energy between the worlds of matter and spirit; all flow through open air in the heart.
As our jobs become a more sedentary style of work, we work intellectually versus physically. Intellectual activation requires so little physical exertion that it leads to a habit of shallow breathing. (Frequent fear, anxiety, depression, and air pollution can also lead to shallow breathing)
The accumulating effects of long periods of shallow breathing affects the health of our body: slower metabolism, lower physical energy levels, build up of toxins. As these traits appear, we self-realize them by driving when we could walk, ingesting modified stimulants, etc.

The most important exercises of this chakra will have to do with breath. I know, I know, it’s getting kind of old to pay attention to, but it is tragic how important it is to a functional system.

“Aside from maintaining basic life functions, the breath is one of our most powerful tools for transforming ourselves: for burning up toxins, releasing stored emotions, changing body structure and changing consciousness. Without breath we could not speak, for air is the force behind our voice. We could not metabolize our food without oxygen. Our brain could not think. Breathing is a grossly underestimated source of life-giving, healing, and purifying energy.” Anodea Judith
By practicing to expand our lungs, increase our breathing capacity, we can make deep breathing a habit, which will consistently aid our bodies desire to self-heal.

I want to speak on a grave matter while we are here. There are unbearable atrocities that happen to men and women every day. Relationships (past or present in their lives, not yours) gone awry. Perpetrators will either deny wrongdoing, or claim it as “love”. Rape, pedophilia, abuse, harassment, murder. If you have experienced this, I feel deeply for your pain. In no way do I mean to equalize a “break up” to “xyz”. What I will say, with tenderness, is the weight may be different, but the healing is the same. The only way through is through. Breathe, Grief, Breathe, Acknowledgement, Breathe, Personal Freedom, Breathe, Forgiveness, Breathe, and so on. Please do not carry their savage weight. You are Love, Love is Air.

You saw this coming…let’s do some breath work ��

Alternate Nostril Breathing: This is my go-to sequence when I experience my mind wandering when I am taking time for mind/body work. It can harmonize the left and right sides of the brain through the individual attention of flooding with oxygen. If you would like to do this now, go for it, but the Bandhas breathing technique is where I want to focus today.

Sit in a comfortable position with your legs crossed.
Place your left hand on your left knee.
Lift your right hand up toward your nose.
Exhale completely and then use your right thumb to close your right nostril .
Inhale through your left nostril as much as you can (keep going till it’s in your throat!) and then close the left nostril with your fingers.
Open the right nostril and exhale through this side (keep emptying!).
Inhale through the right nostril and then close this nostril.
Open the left nostril and exhale through the left side.
This is one cycle.
You will probably feel unevenness in this action which is perfectly normal. It will likely fluctuate, as the pathways of Ida and Pingala do. Can be fun to open your timer and watch how long you can inhale/exhale. (Just for a few rounds)
Always complete the practice by finishing with an exhale on the left side.

Bandhas Breath : “Bandhas” means “Lock” – method of holding breath and locking it into certain parts of the body. There is a whole world of yoga devoted to this practice and is considered advanced. I’m including it because it stimulates relaxation after inducing tension which is pleasant, and it brings more awareness to where we can send our breath. Practice these just once right now, and remember to fill yourself up with air as completely as you’ve ever tried before . Let it rise into your throat and extend through your extremities.

“When the upward- and downward-moving forces are thus blocked and forced into proximity with each other, then it is said that they function like two sticks being rubbed together: they produce heat. The concentration of energy increases with practice, and it is said that a striking phenomenon eventually takes place: in very advanced practitioners the intense heat created by the locks, coupled with retention of the breath, awakens awareness and leads it upward along the central path of the spine.” -Yoga International

Precautions to engaging this breath:

On a menstrual cycle or pregnant
High or low blood pressure
Have a hernia
Have a stomach or intestinal ulcer
Recently had an abdominal illness or trauma
Have glaucoma
Have heart disease

Bandhas’s as written by Anodea Judith:

The Chin Lock: jalandhara-bandha, sends energy into the head, and stimulates the thyroid gland and throat chakra. Simply inhale fully, contract the throat, and lower your head toward your chest, keeping the back straight. Hold the breath as long as comfortable, but don’t push it, for it can make you feel quite faint if done improperly.
The Abdominal Lock: uddiyana-bandha, is done in a standing position. It helps to massage internal digestive organs, and purify the body. Inhale fully and exhale deeply. While the stomach is empty of air, hold your breath empty, and pull in the stomach and abdomen as far as you can, being careful not to inhale. Hold as long as comfortable, and inhale by slowly relaxing the abdominal muscles.
The Anal Lock: mulabandha, tones the root chakra. It is practiced by tightening the perineum and anal sphincter after inhalation while the breath is held. This stimulates sleeping kundalini.

Awesome work activating deep breathing. We always have breath in our back pocket when we run into issues. By its nature, breath is a healer, and it is how we can always start a healing path.

Journal Prompts:

Describe how I openly express love and affection (non-sexual).

What are 5 things I love about myself? Add as many as you can over time.

After doing breath-work and emotional digging, it is fitting to do some Self-Massage. 1, touching yourself is an act of love. 2, massage will continue releasing more trapped energy. Our rib cage is full crevasses that rarely get individual attention. Massaging where the sternum and ribs meets is a key area to open the heart. This work can elevate your breath capacity. Play around and explore your skin. Linger longer over places that feel dense or not pliable. Below is a very very brief video (I’m moving way faster than you should) for some chest/rib cage/shoulder ideas. Again, it is just the tip of the iceberg! The Heart Chakra also includes the arms so include them as well. Spend 10 minutes with yourself.

In these Quarantine times, I feel extra grateful to the artists who post their music and even go live. Many artists have even put together concert series with folks spanning the globes. This one popped up on my feed and I was so curious because Jack Johnson is an absolute treasure, who I hadn’t listened to in a few years. Spoiler, he is still soothing all the anxiety in ya through that natural voice…and he has friends! This woman…wow �� Last thing, the second song transitions us perfectly into tomorrow’s Chakra about Voice, so look forward to that! Enjoy these physically distanced tunes!

Beautiful souls, I have TWO more videos for you today, and then you go DO YOU. I hope you have felt Love in yourself, and you can send Love to others.

Yin Yoga (click if you’d like a brief background on Yin- long poses to learn breathing through discomfort). You have been working so hard on this journey, Yin is the perfect way to integrate everything you have experienced.
I don’t have blocks at my house, so I used 3 couch pillows. Perfectly comforting.
In the chest opener with arms out, practice your Banhas Breaths
Always modify to your needs but modify so that you stay engaged, and not entirely give up on the pose
This was the only Heart Chakra routine I found which deliciously added music to the frequency of this Chakra Level. Such a treat to have it in the background, making the whole session resonate in our subconscious.
The video ends abruptly so, sorry about that.
Life Vest Video – You may have seen this back in 2011. I leave you with a Kindness Boomerang ��

Conclusions of the Heart Chakra: Love can be delivered in every breath we take. How we respond to ourselves, people, and events, can be done with understanding of suffering, and initiate harmony.

With Health and Happiness we go,

Kaitlin

4/20/2020

Bonus film if you need a movie to watch: The Upside. From book to big screen, Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston did a fantastic job of portraying the evolving humility, compassion, connection of the characters. Showing on Amazon Prime

Chakra Five: Throat + Ether/Sound

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 18:44:53 GMT

Chakra Five: Throat + Ether/Sound

“Speak in ways that people want to listen. Listen in ways that people want to speak” Anonymous

Howdy everyone!

I am so glad you could make it back today. At its core, this Chakra Journey is truly about believing in your ability to just take one step after another. You don’t know exactly what is coming, just like in life, but you are safe because you have yourself. Your beautiful self, full of physical ability, learned truths, and desirous potential.

Because you are BACK (!!), I know we can start out hot and with clarity today in a Yoga class. We are at the tipping point of growth as we have aligned and found personal truth in more chakras now, than we have left in this series. I encourage you to do “Lion’s Breath” as many times as possible in this session – let out noise!

Welcome back to your space, where you have a mat, water, and a journal. Maybe you have changed the scarf over the lamp to Blue.

How did you feel about that session? I loved building up flow again after being slow and thoughtful yesterday. Building up energy again feels necessary as we ascend into higher chakras, and develop the complexity of the system by adding more. I have noticed that with each Chakra Experience here, day by day the lower parts of my body are feeling lighter . It truly feels like I am shedding some weight by binding my cells together with my thoughts and actions after each chakra level. Maybe I’m feeling the freedom of self-love. How are you? Check in on yourself.

Optional Journal Prompt : What part of my journey is the most difficult to understand and accept?

One of the animals of the Heart Chakra is a bird, and the Throat Chakra element is Sound; so we are going to tie in our experience from yesterday, as we head into the 5th Chakra. Sit comfortably for a few minutes and simply listen to the diversity of bird calls. Even if this seems a little odd, give it a chance. While you listen, massage the areas of your feet at the Throat Chakra; the “neck” of your toes. Also, where your fingers meet your palm.

“Visuddha” Sanskrit for “Purification”

Associated Weighty Words: Ether, Sound, Vibration, Communication, Mantras, Telepathy, Creativity

The message of the Fifth Chakra is ultimately: sound is the first awakening . Sound and vibration is of utmost importance to civilization because it is how we communicate. That goes for the DNA in our body instructing our cells, to the letter we write to a friend; both are different forms of communication through the web of connection . We have the capacity to translate sounds and symbols into comprehensible substance, and there is also this unseen web of connection which we innately communicate through vibrations.

This Chakra is related to the creation and transmission of thoughts, sound, and actions.
“The element Ether represents a world of vibrations – the emanations of living things that we experience as the aura, as sound, and as the subtle plane of whispered impressions on the mind into which our more solid realities are unfolded.” Anodea Judith
Thus far we have been more or less acting internally as separate beings. On this level and beyond, the chakras open up the world of community, and shared consciousness .

“Communication is the coordinating principle of all life. It is the means whereby consciousness extends itself from one place to another.” Anodea Judith

Anxiety Tool

In this Chakra it is relevant to discuss anxiety , as we have risen from the eartly chakras, into the air and mental vortexes. Anxiety is a state of being that originates in the brain and the brain sends signals to the physical body which effectively “wrap” mental energies around the physical, creating constriction which the bodysend signals back to the brain interpretting this as pain. The state of anxiety can also exacerbate the seperateness of the mind and the body, alienating the two, and often getting caught right here…the throat!

“The amygdala is an almond-shaped structure deep in the brain that is believed to be a communications hub between the parts of the brain that process incoming sensory signals and the parts that interpret these signals. It can alert the rest of the brain that a threat is present and trigger a fear or anxiety response. The emotional memories stored in the central part of the amygdala may play a role in anxiety disorders involving very distinct fears, such as fears of dogs, spiders, or flying. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that encodes threatening events into memories.” (National Institute of Mental Health).

If you’ve ever delt with anxiety, you know it takes so much concious work to alliviate the physical symptoms, and then gradually start talking to yourself, deconstructing why you begin to feel distressed and it’s connections. I thought this physical technique presented in the following video was a nice way to relax that “lump in throat” “globus hystericus” effect, and one you can do anywhere.

Journal Prompt

Our ability to move our muscles is due to the brain communicating with the nerves and muscles. We physically grow due to hormones sending chemical messages to cells. All of this is written in our DNA, and we don’t consciously have to do any work to interpret it
Our body knows what to do with the information it is given. So that works on the negative too. If you keep putting yourself down, or putting yourself in hurtful situations or with low vibrations, the body will read that as scripture, incorporating those energies into your body.
You’ve heard this before “put yourself in situations that build you up”, and the reason is because everything expresses vibrations, and those vibrations physically alter what they touch. The act of being alive means waves of energy due to vibration (friction of two substances) are constantly emanating.
We’ve all felt unspoken emotions from others. When you walk into a room and feel “tension”, it feels dense right? It even physically repels you, you don’t want to be close! Pregnant women are often said to be “glowing” in their early pregnancy. Have you felt their energetic draw? Light seems to shine from them, they are vibrating at a higher level because of something growing inside communicating Love.

Sound is a vibration that multiplies acoustic waves through a “transmission medium” of gas, liquid, or solid.
Humans can perceive frequencies from about 20Hz- 20,000Hz, above that are known as ultrasound.
“All sounds can be described as wave forms, vibrating at a particular frequency”
Frequency is how close together the waves occur
Amplitude is how high they are
Two wave patterns similar enough, will eventually “lock into phase” and the frequency will combine into one tone, with greater depth (amplitude)
This is called Resonance
As we are building energy and harmony in ourselves and aligning, opening our chakras to cycle in rhythm, we are building resonance. As we grow further into sync with our physical, metal, emotional, spiritual rhythms (combining our separateness into unity) this is how we achieve “enlightenment”. Amplitude and frequency vibration is sky high, giving us the ability to live our lives with new clarity.
I like to call this feeling “bodinuity
” – you don’t have to see the whole picture to feel it
Have you felt music that makes you feel whole? -Resonance

The video below is a visualization for seeing sounds and the effects of vibration. The experiment stems from the work of Ernst Chladni in the 1800s, demonstrating how vibration effects matter. The field of study developed into Cymatics by a Swiss scientist, Hans Jenny. He saw that vibrations “danced” and arranged themselves into patterns through coming into communication with frequencies.

Time and time again in this journey, we find ourselves participating in this “dance” metaphor. It may not be a metaphor at all, but simply reality of creation – stemming from vibration.

Journal Prompt

What kind of music do I love to listen to? Can I attribute certain feelings to different genres?

“All vibrations are characterized by rhythm, a repeated, regular pattern of movement through time and space. These rhythmical patterns are deeply ingrained functions of our consciousness. The turning of the seasons, the diurnal rhythms of night and day, the cycles of the moon, women’s menstruation, the movement of breath, and the constant beating of our hearts are a few examples. No living thing escapes these rhythms. Rhythm, like change, is a fundamental aspect of all life and consciousness.” Anodea Judith

Rhythm is the great integrator of all of our vibrations
Rhythms help create patterns and habits. And just like chakra cycles, we can get stuck in bad rhythms.
Waking up earlier with less sleep than your body may need, to commute in rush hour, to work all day, commute again, get frustrated with your partner or child that evening because you are drained…they may react just as snappy towards you! That is creating a bad rhythm from bad vibrations. Everyone involved now has lower vibrations, hindering the progression of collective growth.
Some people successfully overcome this by getting lost in good music or podcasts on their commute; anything that dissipates the cycle of low or different frequencies
We can’t form our lives exactly how we like, which is why we have tools to get us through the dissonance

We all encounter dissonance daily – when our thoughts or actions don’t mesh with our ideals, and throws off our rhythm. “So in order to return to that place of harmony, you’ve got a choice: You can change your beliefs, change your actions, or change how you viewed your actions.” – Psychology World

We are constantly presented with choices (nearly every second) to align yourself with what truly makes us able to live in harmony. The Throat Chakra is a tool for us to put those choices into action
How do we verbally respond to being yelled at?
How do we physically respond to disappointment?
Are you speaking enough to connect with those around you?
How do you allow your brain to make you feel with dissonance?
Our work through the lower chakras has led us to this place of confidence in yourself -and the knowledge that nobody tells me how to act or what to say except ME.
We can choose to contribute “harmonious” or “non harmonious” vibrations

Journal Prompt

Describe your style of communication. Do I get to the point or do I beat around the bush?

When I was growing up, how did my family communicate? How do I think that affects how I communicate today?

How do you express yourself best? Writing, Art, Clothing, Speaking?

Knowing my history and my desires, what are 3 ways I can express what lies in my heart?

Who is your favorite person to talk to? Why?

So we have discussed how vibration, sound, and resonance all weave into our construct of our physical and mental beings. Where we put our bodies in space matters; how we treat that body mentally and physically needs to be part of a rhythm that allows high vibrations in order to liberate and manifest your desires. Lastly we will discuss forms of communication.

“Communication is a way of extending ourselves beyond our ordinary limitations”
We can call family in another state without having to travel there
We can listen to something to communicate to ourselves a peaceful, energized, or focused place of mind
Information not known to you, is now read, heard or felt, which now is stored in your brain
All of these examples are transforming one substance into a line of connection to another substance
The more that technology develops, the more methods of communication infiltrate our consciousness. This can be frustrating. And much of the time we do not even realize all of the channels of communication we are experiencing. That is why we are here on this chakra journey; to tone down the noise. This information is only here to guide you to YOUR inner consciousness.
The best thing I can relay is to simply look inside yourself as to what you have rediscovered about who you are and what makes you vibrant, and in harmony with your world.
Up to now you have hopefully revealed those things, and at this chakra level we mirror our fire chakra- we transform what is inside and we express it out loud.
This is the level where your world expands
The creativity you have transforms at this chakra to your ability to use it with power. You have the ideas, but how will you communicate them so that people will know about them?
In creating art, or forming ideas, you are indulging in inner discovery, piecing together, rearranging found parts. You are not frightened to look outside yourself for inspiration to stimulate the creative process
You have the capabilities through phone, email, video, voice to contact anyone alive that you want – but it is up to you to narrow down WHO the most important or most closely aligned person is to contact that can help you get to where you want to go.
Struggling to find a job? Every state has a system to help find one.
You must be willing to start at the “bottom” just like you did with your root chakra.
There are always steps to take, and if you are “above” any of them…ego is still in your way
To expand your world you also need to simplify, just like the manifestation current. Do you need help with childcare, do you need secure housing, do you need help to put down your kryptonite (TV, sweets, cuddles with your partner)
Remember the work you need to do is not always easy, but a pull will always follow your “push” – you are building to your greater harmony through your efforts
Many successful people will tell you, the best thing you can do for yourself is narrow down your days to prioritizing the ONE thing you can do that is legitimately relevant to your goal
Of course we LOVE incorporating many things (Tantra) that make us our best selves, but you are successful if you will simply do the one most important thing.

Journal Prompt: What is the first step I need to take to express my goals?

The following video is a reminder of what is happening around us every moment of every day. A reminder of how much of society is trying to influence our minds, and why it is so important to have a firm grasp on your awareness as an individual.

Media is potent – feeding us multi-level communication and if it is trying to sell you something, can be full of subliminal messaging
It comes down to what the message is trying to make us do. Help the world, or consume it? Is there integrity?
At it’s best, media communication will shares truth, inspires creativity, transforms power from the hands of manipulators, and brings innovators like you to light

Have you been curious what the “ seed sounds ” are in the daily charts? Today they are finally revealed.

Hindu metaphysics states that everything in the universe is made of sound.
Of each thing in the universe there is a symbolic image of the energetic vibration attached to it – a seed sound – “bija mantra”
Mantra- “man, protection/instrument”
“A mantra is a tool for protecting our minds from the traps of non-productive cycles of thought and action”
Helping focus the mind to one point of calm
“The chanting of a simple mantra can change our random pile of thoughts and emotions into a cohesive and graceful pattern” – like the sands on a vibrating plate
The magic is not in the meaning, but the rhythm of the sound

Whenever you have the time, there is an inspired story by Roald Dahl, the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Matilda. This is from a book of his more adult stories, though if I remember right the story is suitable for children. It speaks to the great power of practicing to focus the mind.

The M is said to represent the maternal/material aspect of the world, A represents the father/nonmaterial, the other letters having to do with the “weight” of the chakra
Just like the building of any pattern that resonates in your body, the value of saying the mantra lives in your conviction and your frequency
You can use positive affirmations as mantras, or use chants from different cultures all over the world. What is relevant to your use? Are you repeating specifics, that you are humble, strong, loving? Or repeating OM/AMEN- a principle sound of creation that ties everything together

I have 3 more activities for you today:

Chakra 5 Self Massage: Slow down the massage, and repeat the mantra “HAM” in your head. It’s A like “father”, not A like “ant”

2. On your yoga mat: tip your body upside down, shake down any loose change, any feelings you need to see. Come into Shoulder Stand, repeating HAM until you are satisfied.

3. Teach someone else the Sushumna Breathing Activation. Teaching is the best way to cement the act into your subconscious! You got this! Drink from above like a straw, fill your cavities with blue/white light of oxygen, drink in till it is pouring down into the earth. Now fill up from below, breathing in the grounding energy, till it is suspended in the clouds above.Now with rotating breaths, in and out from the sky to the ground to the sky. Making sure you are filled in every dimension with energized light. Think HAM while you and your partner breathe silently together.

Okay ya’ll that wraps us up for Chakra 5: Throat Chakra

Take care of yourself out in the world. I know things are not getting any easier with the COVID19 crisis. We are in this for the long haul. Take this time you might have to keep developing yourself. You have so much to offer the world; please do yourself the justice of finding how you can make your life more resonant, and not add misinterpreted noise.

Conclusions for Throat Chakra: Speak, express, radiate harmonious vibrations to elevate personal and collective consciousness. Transform your inner desires into communicable actions.

A little bonus: Listen to this meditation frequency as you drift to sleep tonight. It definitely gelled with my subconscious…slipping away into the ether.

I truly am grateful for your curious energy in the world and I wish you nothing but success.

With Health and Happiness we go,

Kaitlin

4/23/2020

Resources:

https://www.everydayhealth.com/neurology/cognitive-dissonance/real-life-examples-how-we-react/

https://practical-balance.com/

https://www.neurocorecenters.com/blog/depression-anxiety-stresseffects-of-stress-anxiety-on-brain

I didn’t have a good place to put this video but it was so interesting to see this guy’s compilation of how to create a “choir harmony” in recrording music. I mean that software is beyond my comprehension, and so cool.

Chakra Six: Brow(Third Eye) + Light

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 20:13:38 GMT

Chakra Six: Brow(Third Eye) + Light

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour.” William Blake

Good day everybody!

Here we are. Putting in the work to create personal freedom. And I won’t sugar coat it, this chakra is difficult to process. It’s like trying to look at something that is zooming around at 1000mph. Nevertheless, we will try. And I will do my best to break down the components to understanding this area physically and metaphysically. Truthfully, I will need to update this post at a later date when I have a broader grasp of the concepts.

The next part of developing our awareness is all about visualization. The subconscious is elated when we are able to shift from “looking” at something, to “seeing” something. We can reveal anything with vision. Vision is about combining things we have seen or felt, referencing that data, and taking it to new heights. Everything that has ever happened to you is valuable for this reason. We must find ways to sweep away the clutter of busy-ness and noise, (purification from the lower five chakras) to see. In this chakra we are ready to fly; perceive free of time and space.

Welcome back to your space, where you have a mat, water, and a journal. Maybe you have changed the scarf over the lamp to Indigo (Darkish Blue/Purple).

Today we will start back again with Sushumna Breathing Activation. To tag team the breathing grounding, we will add in some visualization for the Third Eye Chakra. Proceed in a seated or standing, comfortable position, and start this video at minute 19:40 . As the instructor walks us through a guided scene, incorporate your Sushumna breath with the visualizations.

How did that go? Could you see yourself shining full of colors: bright yang set upon the night’s yin. It’s okay if you only saw pieces of it. Keep trying, and remember getting discouraged only hurts yourself. You have all the pieces you need. Today we will explore light, perception, colors, and what does it mean to see? Before we dive into research I have one more video experience to get us in the mood.

This short film brought me so much joy from it’s simplicity. The child-like mind is something a lot of us have repressed and discredited. This film is a beautiful confluence of perspective, imagination, and tangible matter that can be created by listening and visualizing.

Cute, huh? Stories are shaped from simply following what you can see, and allowing that vision to morph. Our first prompt today is to create a story from randomness in 10 minutes. Let go of reality and what creates a “good” story…look at the words and see what is drawn together, and what that light of connection will create…

Pick a nearby book (or even use your journal responses!)
Close your eyes, point, land, and pick 10 words at random from different pages.
Create a short paragraph using all of the words in their own new world
These words carried a tone of despair in my head, but they formed to be just the start to a new venture…I quite would like to see what happens next to my accordion friend in Elysium…

I would love to see your story in the comments ��

“Ajna” Sanskrit for “ to perceive, to command ”

Associated Weighty Words: Light, Color, Seeing, Intuition, Visualization, Imagination, Clairvoyance, Vision

Whether or not we have physical sight, the ability to “see” is the most precious gift of our consciousness. It gives us light in darkness. Through our ability to see or feel spatial relationships, we are able to construct patterns in our mind that give us a sense of the world. In this way we recall memories, and we imagine the future. Because we are able to see what is not really there…begs the question of what is reality. In some senses we are shaded by the universe (veil of maya?) because we are unable to see everything at once: we have barriers of time and space. However, spatial knowledge is a earthly tool in our consciousness to construct our systems which bring us imaginative imagery, into manifestation.

Third Eye, Brow Chakra utilizes the element of light to guide our perception of what we can “see”
Some people are truly born with a little less “shield” and are naturally clairvoyant
Children are just tiny adults who can see very purely, less restraint of sight
Anyone can train themselves to be highly aware and observant of the physical world; i.e. detectives, investigators, scientists more often recognizing what is not in a scene, than what is.
Intuition is our subconscious’ “like” or “dislike” response to all of the energies and circumstances of time and space that we cannot see or know concretely. Intuition is a way to see without visuals.

Perception: the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. Perception is the beginning of us understanding the organization of systems: how do I feel from this info/environment, leads to how you will “see” that thing.

For example, if I perceive Christianity is the only valid belief system, I will see the Chakra System as a bunch of malarkey. If I perceive something which is broken is trash, I will never see the possibilities of it’s re-use or reconfiguration.

This video beautifully packaged my desires for this Chakra Series – compiling information, but taking it out of the computer, and into the body. Comment your thoughts on if it worked!

The 6th Chakra study finally revealed to me just WHY the Third Eye was named so.

Turns out, it has to do with a member of the Endocrine System; the Pineal Gland . The Pineal Gland, is a tiny “pinecone” shaped gland situated smack dab in the center of the head.
Inutero, the body began to develop a third eye, but it never fully forms, and degenerates to be the Pineal Gland (at our present evolution)
The pineal gland is a light-perceiving organ , acting as a sort of “light meter” for the body, hence the similarity to the eyes.
This gland translates light from the retinas, into hormonal messages, sent around the body by the autonomic nervous system (alone, without conscious help)
Over 100 body functions have daily rhythms which are influenced by exposure to light
“influencing everything from locomotor and sleep/wake cycles to hormonal rhythms, circadian rhythms, metabolism and cognitive performance” – Frontiers in Neurology
The major substance produced is Melatonin
Melatonin hormone is triggered to produce when there is less light. It is being researched as a OTC sleep aid, and its role in reducing stress, bolstering the immune system, even slow aging. Melatonin production decreases with age. Low levels of melatonin are commonly found in people with depression, higher than normal levels are found in people with frequent manic states.
The pineal gland has been called the “seat of the soul” by many scientists and civilizations because of its location between the physical and spiritual worlds- what is tangible versus what can be “seen” which in a sense is all illusory!
“Egyptians, Indians, Assyrians, Mexicans, Greeks, Romans and Sumerians have all depicted pinecones in their ancient art, usually in their religious portrayals of gods or holy people. Lamps and candleholders in the Catholic church also seem to have pinecones on them, which could show that the church sees the pineal gland as a source of illumination to show them the way and lead them out of the darkness, similar to what we use our eyes for.” Penn State

The retinas and the pineal gland share this responsibility for the recognition and processing of light in the body, which is why this area of the body is associated with “seeing”
The eyes are the organs which take in light, the cornea focuses the view, the iris reduces or expands how much light enters, streaming into the back of the eyeball, the retina. Light hits “rods and cones” on the retina, igniting a chemical reaction which triggers nerve impulses conducted along the optic nerve, into the brain. Light does not enter the brain, the brain transcribes the electrical impulses into patterns, creating a vision
(pixels of color)

“It is not our eyes that see, but our minds”
It is not matter which we perceive, but the light bouncing off matter which forms an meaningful picture in our minds
We can confirm the matter by touching it, but we can only grasp the outer edge of the matter
It is estimated that in a sighted person, up to 90% of the information we take in about our surroundings is through our vision. But much of that is by selective focus. Our peripherals are fuzzy, as is any part of our view which we are not directly staring at.
Here is a brief video showing the waves of light, similar to sound. Again we confirm that our universe is a enormous bundle of waves, frequencies, vibrations imperceptible to our cognition, yet they affect everything, including our health

“Every creature is engulfed in light that affects its health conditions. The human body, according to the doctrine of chromotherapy (the science of using colors to adjust body vibrations to frequencies of alignment for different systems), is composed of colors.

“The body comes into existence from colors, the body is stimulated by colors and colors are responsible for the correct working of various systems that function in the body. All organs and limbs of the body have their own distinct color. All organs, cells and atoms exist as energy, and each form has its frequency or vibrational energy. Each of our organs and energy centers vibrates and harmonizes with the frequencies of these colors. When various parts of the body deviate from these expected normal vibrations, one can assume that the body is either diseased or at least not functioning properly.” A. Judith
“Colors generate electrical impulses and magnetic currents or fields of energy that are prime activators of the biochemical and hormonal processes in the human body, the stimulants or sedatives necessary to balance the entire system and its organs” NCBI
The vibratory rates inherent in the vibrational technique (chromotherapy) are such that they balance the diseased energy pattern found in the body. For in every organ there is an energetic level at which the organ functions best. Any departure from that vibratory rate results in pathology, whereas restoring the appropriate energy levels to the physical organs results in a healed body” – NCBI
Doctors have even treated patients with success through Chromotherapy – matching vibrations with color to ignite the body’s natural healing processes.
Use of color is everywhere from hospital design, to use in saunas
My favorite tool for Chromotherapy is wearing colored lens’! By far the cheapest option, and it truly is a mood booster
https://rainbowoptx.com/

Journal Prompt:

What color do I feel like when I am very happy?

Is there a room in my life that rubs me the wrong way simply because of the color? What could I add to the room change that feeling?

The next theory that has a place in the sixth chakra, is the Holographic Theory

As we try to understand how we see light and conduct a visual in our mind, it is useful to understand how a hologram works
The two principles of holography are: interference and diffraction of light waves
Interference is a way to stop a photon (which moves at the speed of light) so it can be photographed. The way to stop it is to send out another light wave, and where the two cross (they are unaffected) but where they cross is called a standing wave – it is still at this point
To capture the standing wave on film, a laser light (at the same wavelength frequency of the photons) is shined at the interference. The Holographic possibilities really elaborated after the invention of the laser in 1960
At interference where the crests of the waves meet, they grow larger, where the troughs meet, they grown smaller – where a crest and a trough meet, they cancel out and light is not seen
The interference pattern from the object you are using to create the hologram is unique, like a fingerprint
Object Wave bounces off the object of the hologram to be made
Reference Wave is produced by a second wave of light not of the object
The interference of the waves, creates a standing wave, which fall onto the photographic plate. Looking at the plate itself you would only see coded information looking like black and white swirls. To “show” this data, two laser beams of the same frequency as the original light, intersect at this plate, and a 3D holograph will “pop up”

Even if a holographic plate breaks,any piece of the plate would be able to reproduce the image, though with less detail the smaller the piece is – called omnipresence
Many holograms can be recorded on the same plate, only requiring different frequencies to see – this is called being “nonspatial”
In these ways, the brain has been compared to function like a hologram
Karl Pribram’s theory in 1946 that the brain is constantly interpreting interference patterns of brain waves
In his studies on rats and monkeys for where memory is stored, he discovered it was stored omnipresently – like a holographic plate. When brain tissue was removed, memories became fuzzier but they did not disappear
Memories are often triggered by reference beams to be revealed with more clarity – as our mind truly stores every memory ever made
“When we view an object, light is transformed into neural frequency patterns in the brain – we hold trillions of possible connections”
The waves of these electric impulses create our perception and memory, and are stored as encoded frequencies, as the holographic plate, waiting to be triggered by the original wave frequency to recall a memory. This occurs when you smell something familiar or see a familiar face
“Our perception of the world around us seems to be a reconstruction of a neural hologram within the brain”
“Mind isn’t located in a place. What we have is a holograph-like machinery that turns out images, which we perceive as existing somewhere outside the machinery. Not only do we construct our perceptions of the world, but we also go out and construct those perceptions IN the world. We make tables and bicycles and musical instruments because we can think of them” Karl Pribram
We can think of our Third Eye as the plate which we view these images
There are other holographic theories, “holo-flux”, suggesting that the universe itself may be a hologram. We are enfolded into the universe as small pieces, individuals that can still reflect the whole. You have heard the quote about the universe being in a grain of sand… this is the theory that tries to prove that. The point being, we are all waiting for the right reference beams to trigger insight into the cosmos – the greater intelligence of the universe as it has been, and always will be, devoid of time.
This study of holograms asks us to think about trimming down the walls of self ego, to visualize the universe as one, living and learning from each other, and experiencing the omnipresent reference beams. To create, unfold, and connect the dots…or beams ��

By using information we have experienced, we can visualize forms, and ignite our imagination . This is how we connect the dots between the inside and outside worlds.
The sixth chakra transcends the body form, and lives in the head cavity; acknowledging the greater cosmos of light, color, and single-minded focus outside the tangible world
visualization is a tool for manifestation . Directly focusing on your visual, over and over again with lots of practice, and using the tools and direction of the other chakras to bring you in balance, will create the imagined object/artwork/job due to the principles of energy affinity.
Some reasons that visions don’t manifest is the amount of interference that occurs on the route to manifestation; other people or world circumstances, fears from the unconscious, or an underdeveloped vision
If you don’t feel progression in manifesting your vision, revisit these ideas

A significant part of the Third Eye Chakra is visualization which turns into “all seeing” – clairvoyance and psychic abilities
Clairvoyance is the process of looking not at objects, but the fields around them, what forms the relationship to the object – to see the subtleness
To take a small piece of information and understand how it fits into the whole, creating deeper clarity
“Can you create a vivid picture of a car you would like to have? That car may never be yours to own, so your visualization is called imagination, even though it may seem just as real as your memory. If however, you won a sweepstakes, and a car such as the one you just visualized came to you, then your vision would be considered precognitive- a form of clairvoyance. Through development of visualization and imagination, we simultaneously develop the means for clairvoyance – specified visualization.” Anodea Judith
In learning to focus the mind, we can more clearly see where the reference waves cross, and “light up” – whether that be viewing a person’s aura, reading tarot cards, recalling a memory (even outside your own), or envisioning the future
Keep testing your skills by paying greater attention to your surroundings at all times, and practice recalling memories

Journal Prompt:

Recall your day yesterday. From start to finish, remember the actions, colors, sounds, and feelings. Daily practice in this will create greater clarity of the mind’s data.

Okay ya’ll, how are we feeling!? I know I’m feeling a bit strained from the work – focusing so long in my head! I think it’s time to jump into a yoga session. Scroll back up to the very first video of this session, to start from the beginning, a great yoga flow for the Third Eye with Anna, if her light was calling you. If not, below is another strong flow by Allie the Journey Junkie (whom we followed at the Solar Plexus Chakra 3). Use your intuition to decide! Afterward, stay on your mat to wrap up with some Journaling ��

Journal Prompt:

What is the Universe teaching me through my recent experiences?

Describe a difficult problem you recently solved. What steps did you take. What emotions did you feel during? How did you feel afterwards?

Can I easily dream or envision my future?

As we have seen, Third Eye Chakra is all about vision. As a parting note, I will leave some information about psychedelic drugs which can induce greater vision experiences, opening the mind beyond the veil. Psychedelics include: LSD, Psilocybin (Mushrooms), Peyote (Mescaline), DMT, PCP, Ketamine. Denver, CO and Oakland, CA have decriminalized “magic mushrooms”, and it seems the coming years will see further progress in legality, like marijuana, because of the potent healing experiences created by their consumption. These drugs are not yet legal, but there are guides and researchers out there who can be contacted (last link) for more insight into this world if you choose to incorporate this path into your journey. Be smart, be safe.

The last thing I have for you today is a relaxation tool called ASMR – Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. This is a tangent paradise, let me tell you. The first video explains the scope of the technique, and the next one I encourage you to listen to as you lay down to sleep tonight; drift away sweet dreamers!

What a ride this has been! Our next and final Chakra in this series is the Crown, 7th Chakra of consciousness! Rest up tonight and integrate what you have experienced thus far. Just like the clairvoyant exercise, recall what you have done, what you wrote, what you felt. Visualize yourself in your memory doing those things. You are right where you should be; expanding your awareness to connect to the greater events of the universe.

With Health and Happiness we go,

Kaitlin

4/26/20

I Can’t Breathe

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 18:47:17 GMT

I Can’t Breathe

In memory of George Floyd and for planting seeds of change.

George Floyd spoke his last words on May 26th, 2020, face down on the asphalt, unarmed, and under the knee of a (former) police officer for 8 minutes 46 seconds. His susceptible and fracturable neck was trapped beneath a 170 pound man’s knee. Onlookers and video confirm Floyd was heard saying “I Can’t Breathe, Please, and Mama”. George Floyd didn’t make it to his Mama that day.

Sourced from Wikipedia, I want to share part of Floyd’s life story . With the world moving a mile a minute since the COVID shut down in March, his history outside his attack has been unknown to me until today. I don’t want to just remember a name…I want to feel his presence when I hear his name.

George Perry Floyd Jr. was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina to George Perry and Larcenia “Cissy” Jones Floyd, and raised in Cuney Homes in the Third Ward of Houston , Texas, a histo

ric black neighborhood , and one of the poorest areas of the city known as Bricks. He had six siblings.

The first of his siblings to go to college, Floyd attended South Florida Community College for two years on a football scholarship, and also played on the basketball team.

Floyd returned to Houston from college in 1995 and became an automotive customizer and played club basketball. Beginning in 1994, he had also performed as a rapper using the stage name “Big Floyd” in the hip hop group Screwed Up Click .

Starting in 1997, Floyd was arrested multiple times for drug possession and theft. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was paroled in January 2013 after almost four years at the Diboll unit.

After Floyd’s release, he became more involved with Resurrection Houston, a Christian church and ministry, where he mentored young men. He helped his mother Cissy exercise and recuperate after she had a stroke. He delivered meals, and assisted on other projects with Angel By Nature Foundation, a charity founded by rapper Trae tha Truth . Later he became involved with a ministry that brought men from the Third Ward to Minnesota in a church-work program with drug rehabilitation and job placement services.

In 2014, Floyd moved to Minneapolis to find work. He was a truck driver and a bouncer , and lived in St. Louis Park . In 2017, he filmed an anti-gun violence video. From 2017 to 2018, he was a security guard for The Salvation Army ‘s Harbor Light Center. In 2020, he lost his security job at a bar and restaurant hit by the COVID-19 pandemic rules. That April, he contracted COVID-19 , and recovered after a few weeks.

Floyd had five children, including two daughters (ages 6 and 22) in Houston and an adult son in Bryan, Texas . A former partner lives in Houston with his youngest daughter. He also had two grandchildren.

On May 26th 2020 the world lost

A man
An African American
A father to 5
A caretaker to his mother
An athlete
A spoken word artist and musician
An addiction and COVID-19 Survivor
A philanthropist
A mentor
A citizen who provided security to others

A multi-faceted human who was constantly evolving. He is like you and I, struggling with choices and sometimes in hindsight, we see where a bad choice began. The injustice in Floyd’s attack began when a shopkeeper called the police for a man (I have not seen where anyone confirmed the man was Floyd) using a counterfeit $20 to pay for a pack of cigarettes. The police found Floyd resting in the driver’s seat of his car nearby (still unsure of the confirmation this was the same man from the shop), he peacefully got out of his car, but resisted getting in the squad car, citing claustrophobia (behavioral psychologist would note this could have been triggered by his memories of his prior arrest, and that is not a crime). Instead of pausing to conduct an actual investigation, the police escalated to pinning Floyd on the ground where he died 9 minutes later for what was an assumption on the part of many players. The difference of learning from our choices by hindsight, is the choices of black men are 3x more likely to result in death when a police officer gets involved.

Today is Saturday June 13th. It has been 19 days of passionate marching, peaceful protesting, and harmonic shouts for justice since Floyd’s tragic death. Chants and gatherings have rung out in 750 cities across all 50 states, and 60 countries globally. Ringing out cries such as George Floyd’s final words “I Can’t Breathe”, “Black Lives Matter”, and “Say Their Names” for the thousands of other unarmed black men and women who have died at the hands of excessive police force.

“What we see now in the Black Lives Matter protests is a focused political action by a group of people who are intent on changing unjust practices, unjust laws, unjust funding patterns in our country that are negatively affecting the African-American community and are in fact examples of institutional racism,” Scherer said. Tobin Scherer, director of the African American Studies program at the University of Montana

Thankfully, in an act of justice, the (former) Minneapolis Police Officer, Derek Chauvin was fired the next day, and he has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter . This is justice because when a crime was committed, there was an investigation, bolstered by plenty of evidence. So now what?

By June, the Minneapolis City Council took steps to ban the use of chokeholds, and require other officers to intervene when excessive force is being used. Minneapolis Chief of Police is looking into how to restructure Police Unions to provide more transparency and move towards true reform. “In doing so, they accepted that the Minneapolis police department – which five consecutive mayors have ultimately failed at reforming – might be beyond repair. Now, council members plan to develop a plan for policing with the community. Having analysed 911 calls, they have already found that the majority pertain to mental health services, health and emergency medical services and fire services – and so, in part, are committing to redirecting efforts to social services instead.” Poppy Noor with The Guardian

This is an extremely valuable find: the statistics of 911 calls received. I’ve read accounts from police officers where they state the absurdity of being sent to do duties of a social worker, marriage counselor, behavioral therapist, and paramedic, and occasional firefighter after just 1000 hours of training. As a Massage Therapist with a prevailing interest in all things public health, these statistics are where we can start to find solutions.

There is a lot of talk and some action towards defunding the police – I don’t have enough knowledge to discuss it – but I can read data, and the budget allocation in NYC is alarming.

In NYPD’s $6bn budget – which amounts to more than the budgets for the city’s health ($1.9bn), homeless services ($2.1bn), youth and community development ($872,000), and small business services ($293,000) budgets combined. The Guardian

The world is staying alert and continues to engage positive, peaceful pressure towards the systems and perpetrators of racism. I am green to social and political activism, but I am heartened to hear the alertness and tenacity of so many. I’m here on earth, and writing today, to be the best ally I can be – the specialists, leaders, and educators inspire me daily with tools: to read , listen , and activate .

Today I planted a seed in myself. A seed that contains the systemic issues of discrimination and how every instance of discrimination no matter how small or large takes a toll on the health of individuals. History shows us time and time again, to live a lifetime of value, and to pass on the human race to our children, we need healthy and mentally fulfilled bodies. When I continue to learn from people, I water my seed, and give it the nutrients to grow. I feed myself in order to listen to the universe unfold the connections I need to create a business where health, empowerment, anti-racism, and care is present in every minute.

Bodinuity occurs when you enter a state where your physical body and your mind’s intuition synchronize into unity.

Today I leave you with a very grounding and thoughtful Yoga session It will be here for you when you are ready.

Rest in Power George Floyd, along with all our brothers and sisters taken from the world too soon.

With Health and Happiness We Go,

Kaitlin Bachmeyer

Chakra Seven: Crown + Thought

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 18:47:16 GMT

Chakra Seven: Crown + Thought

“Existence itself is but a vortex of conscious organization” Anodea Judith

Welcome to the platform. We have arrived, as well as just begun.

Regardless of any thing at all; any stalls, interruptions, or mood changes, I hope you sit proudly on your seat. You have taken a sacred path of personal revelation with courage and curiosity, and most of all heart. How did you sleep? My dreams were scattered and in-cohesive, but vivid last night! It has truly impressed me how much learning and working with the chakras has affected my being in micro and macro ways; physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. My efforts during this journey to answer tough questions have felt liberating, but what I know for certain is I’ve loved building habits just by showing up. Habits that feed my Bodinuity .

Welcome back to your space, where you have a mat, water, and a journal. Maybe you have changed the scarf over the lamp to Violet or White.

Alex Grey artwork

Once more, we will start today’s journey with Sushumna Breathing Activation . If there is one thing that sticks with you from this series, let it be breathwork. Your energetic life force, daily health and wellbeing depend on oxygenation which is deep and conscious.

Practice your breathing from the length of the video below (3:50). You can close your eyes as before, or try watching the video…as long as your breath is steady. Recognize if the video or the music distracts you.

Hold this Crown Chakra Affirmation with you: I am open to Divine Wisdom

“Sahasrara” Sanskrit for “Thousandfold”

Associated Weighty Words: Consciousness, Thought, Information, Knowing, Understanding, Transcendence, Immanence, Meditation

The Seventh Chakra’s “crown” is a thousand-petaled Lotus Flower, eternally blooming.

“The Crown Chakra represents the ruling principle of life – the place where the underlying order and meaning of all things is perceived . It is the pervading consciousness that thinks, reasons, and gives form and focus to our activities . It is the true essence of being: as the awareness that dwells within. In the unconscious, it is the wisdom of the body. In the conscious mind, it is the intellect of our belief systems. In the superconscious, it is the awareness of the divine.” Anodea Judith

That last sentence is the bomb. Not only have we weaved in so many philosophies, therapies, emotions, metal wranglings, but now we introduce another layer(s) of consciousness! Thankfully, they actually cover mostly what we have already discovered…the feelings of our bodies, and what we see as our truths. Now…we incorporate universal awareness:

The crown has always been a symbol for power, and even for immortality. The crown was a symbol for the everlasting monarchy. In the case of tantra philosophy, the crown represents the everlasting universe. Upon the death of our physical body, our energy will be transferred to another “state”, but as in the hologram, the data that made up our earthly life never disappears.

After aligning our lower chakras, the energy built into the Crown Chakra gives us access to the realm of infinite data of the universe. Of that data, (which we can find by technology, meditation, and experiences) we reference and we use our intuition to follow the light of our unique souls.
The information which we become conscious of, is the “perceived lines of order that make up one’s personal operating system”.
From the very first thing we see as a baby, to the news on the TV, we spend our lives trying to organize what we see around us – to file experiences in some organized way, like the Dewey decimal system at the library. Words, colors, sounds, shapes, all are ways to reference the information so it may appear at a later time on purpose or by chance.
This is why our attention is so important – if we don’t have a full image to reference, we have less to categorize and recall for imagination, visualization, and innovations.
Not that we can remember everything, but being present and mindful helps us make connections.

Making logic of random data is the organizational function of our brain. Hell, that’s what we are doing with the Chakra System, that’s what Religions do, what the Government does, how Evolution progresses, simply how nature works; organizing the matrix. To Hindus, order is the underlying universal reality . Everything is built on the organization to simplify (bring the chaos of information, group it into similar concepts of nearby reference points, to unify the greater whole)
A reminder on what decreases unity, as you will recall from Chakra 4:
Jealousy
Homophobia
Ageism
Racism
Withholding Love, for fear of rejection

Never forget that the universe is a complex system – there is infinite amount of information to process which can play out in an infinite amount of ways
The alignment of our Chakras is a viable tool to help us simplify what we take in – so that we can find our soul’s affinity. Follow the levels, and see where you feel a push or a pull.
If we can all manifest what is in our being, that helps every single other being awakening into existence (literally being born as well as mentally being aware). Still, You are only responsible for yourself; when you reach your crown of consciousness, you have lit up the tapestry of the universe and are congruent in it’s vibration.
Unifying your person, from your journey in alignment – that allows others to find their soul’s affinity – you need nothing from them, so they have more power to focus on themselves.
“Real queens fix each other’s crowns, but they fix their own first” Pattiegonia

Journal Prompt:

How do I process information? Which of my senses do I use first? Do I see a lump “attack” or do I view many overwhelming pieces?

The seed, our Kundalini, grew from the base of our being, rooted firmly in the ground to make us aware of who we are. We nurtured the seed through the elements, encountering yin and yang, dancing to find our rhythm, till we bloomed into the level of consciousness where we are joined with everything that has been, and everything that will be.
The catch to this whole “destination” is, once you reach this “enlightenment”, it is almost impossible to not start manifesting what is in your soul! This is why I said in the ‘welcome’, we have arrived, to begin.
Having access to consciousness, and an infinite body of information, we can bring these ideas back through our chakras, manifesting our desires and inspirations.
The Chakras are energetic centers which have relation to every part of the human experience. We don’t just receive information, humans process everything . Processing is the natural way of coming back into balance.
In this way, it is important to remember that information will always interact, sometimes interfere with your being. The more we can let that energy pass through open energy centers, the more we will stay in alignment with access to a fully functioning and powerful Sushuma current, directly connected to the earth and the infinite.
In this, we can be fully liberated and happy in our manifestations, an eternal energy in the universe.

Journal Prompt:

What is a mental block I carry in my life? What would happen if I put it down?

Consciousness Activity: Pick an item in the room you are in, get close to it, and study the object for 2 minutes. Let your mind intake all of its peculiarities, ponder its shape, how it was made, how it tastes, smells, sounds. Then take the next minute to close your eyes, and study the visual in your mind. Try to keep it clear, call it back when your mind begins to wander. Use the timer on your phone

Our Crown Chakra relates to the brain as the seat of our awareness. We are the witness of our consciousness; we are able to watch what our mind is creating.

“The mind is a stage for the play of consciousness, and can bring us comedy or tragedy, excitement or boredom. We are the privileged audience that gets to watch the play, although sometimes we identify so completely with the characters on stage (with our thoughts) that we forget it is only a play.”
We especially get wrapped up in our emotions and that character dominates our actions. On the other hand, we can be numbed by hardships, “failures”, and poor health.
Our awareness of the scene, awareness of balance, awareness of the infinite reference points available to us to change our mental and physical states , is our biggest helping hand to quiet the stage. Feeling lonely is a normal perception, but lingering there will clog your energy. Go do those little things that light you up to start. When the scale tips back to loneliness, keep trying new or beloved connections, and reach out to the right people for help.
All one needs is their innate ability to make connections in the path to harmony.

Journal Prompt:

Name 10 sources I can reach out to when I need help. Include connections you may not have yet like a therapist, trainer, or online course to keep you engaged in activity. Your sources of help won’t all be folks you can spill your life to, but they can raise you up in at least one of the sectors of your Wheel of Life (Chakra 2).

“Our brain contains 13 billion interconnected nerve cells, capable of making more connections among themselves than the number of stars in the whole universe. (Harold Bloomfield) This is a remarkable statement. Our brains as instruments of awareness are virtually limitless. There are 100 millions sensory receptors within the body, and ten trillion synapses in the nervous system, making the mind 100,000 times more sensitive to its internal environment than to its external one. So it is truly from a place within that we receive and assimilate most of our knowledge.” Anodea Judith
“Conception begins when a pattern is adequately received”
The “ah-ha!” moment when all of the information hits the right frequencies to form a pattern we can read
“Consciousness is the field of patterns from which manifestation emerges”
It is not an invisible concept, consciousness is all around us – in a reusable water bottle, in an elevator, in a tree – the pattern was seen (through liberation of cohesive energies/frequencies) and the soul manifested it into our reality. So beautiful to see that everything on this earth was a product of something manifesting what is in their soul. We all have this capability.
“The search for meaning is the driving force for consciousness and the search for the underlying experience of unity. When our own lives have meaning, they become part of a larger structure. Meaning is the pattern that connects. ”
Meaning gives us our individual operating system -composed of organized information lines. Not all information is meaningful to every situation, so the meaning of the situation is crucial to what connects the information.
Upon the descent of consciousness, the information is seen in our minds as an organized pattern – giving us a sense of order
With order, we can integrate information into the unifying wholeness of existence (manifestation)
Consider the rapid progression of technology in the past 200 years – each new piece incorporated pieces from past inventions, left out the incohesive elements to create a more efficient version
“That within us which seeks to know and to progress is not the mind but something behind it which makes use of it” Sri Aurobindo

Journal Prompt:

Name the top 4 most meaningful things in your life you would be lost without. (People, Place, Things, Feelings? Try not to name technologies but name what they give you: car- travel)

Morphogenetic Field : coined by biologist Rupert Sheldrake meaning “form coming into being”
His theory states that the universe doesn’t function from “laws” as much as by “habits” – patterns created by the repetition of events over time. A memory of nature.
The repetition of habits creates “a field in a higher dimension” which increases the likelihood that events will fall into pattern

Once the field is established, it builds up in strength through repetition, and eventually dictates future forms and actions in the manifest world
Judith uses the example “male supremacy” instilled in the world for thousands of years. As more women find power and strength in feminism, a morphogenetic field is being created, to the effect that the future generations of men and women may have a new belief system incorporating the two.
Another example is the tool to drive two substances together – we needed that tool so often that now we all know what a hammer is
The point of bringing in this biological theory is its effect on our consciousness – manifestation link. What we do in the tangible world through habit, can dictate future forms of the tangible world
If everyone on earth began meditating 5 minutes a day, a field would be created by this repetition,eventually imparting on our physical evolution the good effects of this habit: decreased inflammatory response, improved mental attention due to increased frequency of Theta waves

There is an ENORMOUS amount of energy happening at all times – you know this. Light, sounds, mental and physical stress, etc. – how can one make sense of any of it (find patterns) without consciously taking the time to slow down and clear out?
There are two type of consciousness and they depend on awareness, or lacktherof
Cognitive Consciousness: Rides the descending current, drawing attention to concrete information, used to manifest. Is a result of limiting the attention to focus. It thinks, reasons, learns, and stores information. The lower part of the Crown Chakra.
Transcendent Consciousness: Expands and travels outward to outer realms. Outside of the finite world of things and relationships – consciousness without an object, weightless, free, meta-awareness.
“To perceive higher order implies a greater distancing from the minute and particular. Paradoxically, this opening beyond cognition has the result of increasing the scope of our focused attention. By emptying the mind, that which remains is more pronounced, like finding someone alone in a field of snow as opposed to a busy street.” Anodea Judith
Every source will tell you the same tool to develop your Crown Chakra: meditation
Meditation is the key to your inner world, and to transcend beyond
Meditation is an “end, and a means” – just like the 7th chakra! This means the end is the central harmonization we achieve by unity from single-focused-thinking, yet the act of doing this is also the means for clarity, better mental and physical being, which aligns us into unity.
“Meditation can take on many forms, but they must enhance, soothe, and harmonize the vibrational aspects of the mind and body, cleansing the mind of its habitual clutter.”
Breathwork, mantras, chromotherapy, visualization, walking or moving with awareness, soundbaths, mindfulness, etc.
The more we load on our bodies, the body has no room to flow. Like a dishwasher, only so much can fit – time to run a bath. The mind takes on even more than the body, yet we wash our bodies daily.
The key to meditation is to simply focus on one thing. Single-minded actions are so often the key to success. Just like picking the ONE thing in a day you need to do to manifest your goals, calm your mind by focusing on one thing at a time.

This falls into the category of blogger’s in-decision posting two videos on the same topic. But honestly, not only is mindfulness presented in slightly different (but equal) ways, they are short, and they are both pleasantly illustrated. Which is your favorite?

The Crown Chakra is all about thought. It’s not so simple, as we were created with extraordinary and expansive abilities from our ancestors’ evolution. What I hope you have felt here is that you have so much to explore. By periodically focusing and then expanding, and welcoming the dance of polarity, your liberating and manifesting currents will make you infinite. You only live in a limited world if you manifest one.

Conclusions of the Crown Chakra: Information, organization, and meaning are omnipresent in conscious states. We each have access to the infinite world through our thoughts.

You guys…we have arrived…we are at the seat of self. A lot of our journey was to “undo” things; clear the path. Did you knock down some mental blocks, did you find your flow, did you open your heart, did you connect what lights you up, did you envision your future without those blocks? One final word from my dear friend, Anodea Judith: “Answers can be things, but it is the questions that are the process to becoming”. Wherever you go from here, may the theories of Tantra and the enjoyment of life lead you.

I am grateful for your participation on this Chakra Journey Series. I hope you have found new information to integrate and have felt your spirit rise. Please leave me any feedback on ways I can improve this journey. Which parts were confusing and did not flow? Most of all, I hope that this series has brought a bit of relief to the fears brought on by the coronavirus. Please know that in any tragedy, coming back to the self is a good way to start the healing process. Because you understand the principles and patterns of this system, you can return to Tantra/Chakras at any time for tools, guidance, and endless learning tangents!

This last Yoga Flow I have for you is a bit of a joke…to keep us humble! Haha. The class is very quick… not the kind of yoga I typically practice. Maybe you do, and more power to you! So heads up, this is an advanced class, but that should not prevent you at all from following along. This happens to be the perfect way to practice everything we have been accumulating on this journey. My advice for this session is to test yourself, but trust your gut (intuition). Don’t fill your gut (stomach) before this flow. �� I suggest putting your screen in a place where you can see her best (not an easy class to simply listen). She talks so often and so quick it can be hard to follow precisely – so use her as a guide, but go at the pace of your breath . That is all your Yoga should be about: presence in your breath and your body. I hope I haven’t scared you off, I just want to send you in comfortably prepped and aware. The only reason I’m leaving off with a challenging class is to invoke the balance. She could be someones’ awakening to the potential of yoga practice, or she is the reminder that you have grown so far and you are satisfied with where that is today. Whatever happens in there, leave the mat with a laugh of relief; you are whole, and no experience can take that from you now.

Chakra System pre-Yoga Mantras

Get out of the Comfort Zone

Find your Flow

Work with Power

Love your Body as it is

Follow the Breath – make it the priority – if all you do at your mat is breathe, it is enough

Envision your Unity

Bloom into Being

With Health and Happiness we go,

Kaitlin

4/28/2020

Bonus Crown Activation: Remember this is not feminine as in gender specific. We all have masuline and feminine energy inside us; we each have our own range of expressing the polarity in our lives. “Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine are another way of labeling the energies of “Receiving” vs “Creating”, “Being” vs “Doing”, “Allowing” vs “Acting”” Isabella . Enjoy this guided meditation and allow your imagination to blossom.

Why I became a Massage Therapist.

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 18:12:35 GMT

Why I became a Massage Therapist.

I admit I feel a little silly writing this. We ALL have a story. And being the center of attention chokes me up. However, I feel inclined to share my wellness journey with you. Whoever comes across this I want you to feel like you can create your beginning to a new path.

“Life’s a dance, you learn as you go. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow.”
Thank you John Michael Montgomery.

I hail from the notable 90’s era, and my soul speaks through country music lyrics.

In my eyes, my journey to the person and Therapist I am today is contributed to my confrontation with disease. In fact a lot of survivors attribute traumatic events to one of the most influential events in their lives. And they don’t mean that as a bad thing. Neither do I. As a Senior at The University of Mississippi I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Stage 2. Cancer at 21. Well this is something! However, I’m not writing to describe the details of my journey with Cancer, but I want to impart on you the feelings that brought me to today. Emotions create feelings which become the strongest encouragers of behavior. My emotions from my trauma created a drive in me to learn about the body.

Massage Therapy is All. About. Feelings.

The therapist is feeling your body (nerves in her fingers relay messages to her brain and form thoughts) and you are feeling the pressure and movements from her (your nerves receive information from the places she touches and relay back to your brain what that feels like).

John Michael Montgomery stays true here; sometimes as a Therapist we lead, and other times we follow what the body tell us. This is an example of the pull/push construct that virtually everything in our lives is centered around. Think of push as the building pressure and the pull as the opening for a pressure release (albeit brief…because the push/pull is the forever rollercoaster of life).

Push: I’m itchy. Like everywhere. And relentlessly.

Feeling: Disturbed. I can’t stand wearing clothes. Something’s up…It’s not normal for my body to feel this way.

Pull: I’ll go see a Dermatologist. Maybe they will know something.

Push: The lotions don’t help, it’s not an allergy, okay I’ve been to see you 5 times now.
Feeling: Frustration. Annoyance. In the meantime, a 3”x3” lump has sprung up on my neck.
Pull: Seek out new doctor. And another. And another.

Push: New doctor listens to my breathing, orders a chest X-ray. We can see a large mass under lungs.
Feeling: Sweaty. Shakey. Scared. Relieved to see something.
Pull: Parents are called. Biopsies are scheduled. Plans are formed.

Feelings and emotions can be satisfied with acknowledgement. That is what worked for me and that is what I continued to do throughout my journey with Cancer. My friend’s and I affectionately named my cancer “Helga” and we rolled our eyes, called her expletives, and ended up laughing our way into the stage of “moving the F on.”

My resilience stemmed from a lot of things like the way I was raised, the schools I went too, as well as watching my own mother go through Breast Cancer treatment when I was 13. I had a lot of prior experiences that helped me when it was my own time to go through something potentially life altering and physically challenging. But still, nothing compares to when you actually feel it. I felt the moment the (push) plunger went down on the needle, sending fiery red liquid through my veins, burning at every corner. And then the (pull) clear cooling feeling of the steroids sent in after, ready to try to fix every good thing in my body that the chemo tore down. An internal, all out rage of push/pull. Unnatural. Yet Chemo was the pull to my Cancer’s push. And I’ll be damned, it worked. Nine months after the diagnosis, I was considered in “Remission” and have remained that way since.

A big feeling for me during treatment was trying to stay a “normal” 21 year old college student. Nowadays I attempt to steer clear of the word “normal” but of course, it takes work. I wanted to study and play like I had previously been doing. In an attempt to keep doing the same things and have a routine, a friend brought me to a Yoga class. Quite simply, it changed my life. For many reasons: the peaceful atmosphere, the low lights, the good vibrations of music (Jeff played a lot of Chili Peppers, Thanks Jeff), the smiles of everyone greeting each other; and the process of everyone settling on the floor, clearing the space in their minds and saying hello to the now….to do the work. [Research finds time and time again that routines and doing work aids in healing from trauma.] None of that even described what I was feeling in my body. I was feeling everything. For the first time in months I was feeling the release to the pressures and tensions I had been building up through mental anxieties, and physically being drained and tormented with drugs. Sitting cross legged opened my hips, doing cat/cow made my spine flow, twisting, bending, raising, holding, breathing. The tight spots in my system were massaged out by my own joints and muscles moving atop each other. The ground met me as I rocked back and forth until the soreness in my glutes melted away. The feeling of relief after that hour was transformative. That rhythmic freedom of listening to my body liberated me in ways that changed how I now live every day of my life. I felt fucking strong and in control of my body for the first time. I wasn’t on anyone else’s plan or schedule, I was doing me, for me.

That was the event where I truly realized that I am in control of my own body and my body is what lets me do the things I want. In the wake of that inspiration, it still took time to set in. More things happened with my treatments, and I studied the medical community from a patient’s perspective. A lot of rushing around, big words, no one really explaining what these things will mean for me, and I noticed how little I was touched. Being touched, I had already established (thanks to *the ground*) made my body feel good, yet this was not part of my treatment or experience in the hospitals. I don’t know their protocols or what their limits are so I won’t interject more about that, but it alarmed me to the fact that this was what I craved. When all was said and done with treatment and I was given a clean bill of health, I drove to Taylor, Texas, with my Dad waving from the U-Haul behind me. I was moving in with my grandfather “Paw Paw” until I figured out what I was going to do next. After a few jobs doing what my degree was for in Marketing and Journalism, I discovered that sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day was the furthest thing I could be doing to get myself healthy. Year one after treatment is one of the most challenging times for a survivor of any kind because you return to “normal” only to know that you are not “normal”. Even you normies ain’t normal! Like I said in the beginning, everyone has a story. Also, we learn as we go �� [I’ll never get rid of my one-liners just so y’all know]

I started researching Massage School as I was on my way out from a rejected career path in Newspaper design. My cousin who lives in Austin hooked me up with a job as a waitress at an amazing Butcher Shop & Restaurant (Farm to Table) called Salt & Time. I had my next steps in place. I would go to school four days a week in addition to serving for three days, and generally spending my time moving, thinking, and growing in new ways. And since that time, I became who I am today. Massage School was everything I had hoped it would be and could be. I learned that there is a place for and lots of desire for, the healing of touch; not only in Austin, but all over the world. I was introduced to CAM (Complementary Alternative Medicine) which Massage is under this umbrella. CAM encompasses everything outside traditional Medicine, that for the most part is still proven and backed through research. And in CAM and country music, my heart lies happy.

These days I work diligently to serve people in offices, homes, festivals, parks, second homes, hospitals, and anywhere else I get the chance, to give a caring and compassionate touch. With each new person I get to listen to them and their story. Not just listening to what their mouths say, but also watching for what their bodies say when they enter the room. No matter how many times I work with someone, each session, each experience is unique and special. Through this blog, I will write about topics of interest for myself (and potentially others!). Mostly this will be about health, science, tips for wellness, massage information, food, and we will see what else. By no means am I a know-it-all and I invite you to do your own research about anything I share, and let’s discuss! Each of us is a unique distribution of cells and chemicals and something that works for one won’t necessarily work for another.

This is who I am today. A woman who has been through trauma opened her eyes to the possibilities life offers, and wanting to serve others in their own journey of life. Since we must deal with the push/pull in equal balance, I will embrace it. I concur that “massage is a tool in your life belt”. Massage is my specialty, but my hope is to share the power of creating your unique toolbelt, lessening pain and suffering.

With health and happiness we go,
Kaitlin of Bodinuity

Love to you, Service Industry.

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 18:12:34 GMT

Love to you, Service Industry.

Something keeps recurring in my life recently which is the thought or act of “breaking the script”. This is simply, doing things differently than you have been. Change the route you drive to work, eating dinner at the table instead of the couch, play darts instead of pool, and the list goes on. In breaking the script you open up the possibility to see and try new things. There are endless possibilities for this small saying to take meaning in your life. It is a valuable thought. We take so much meaning from experiences, that there should be more weight on creating them, and not always leaving them to chance. This is a message from Chip & Dan Heath from their book The Power of Moments. Moments (ranging from a split second to a few hours) have ways of defining our lives which we remember for a very long time. Their book tells the story of how we can instead create moments ourselves which can define our lives. And this is where we break the script.

I of course, am a massage therapist. So I am going to relate anything back to body-work that I can get my hands on!! However, before I was a Therapist I worked as a waitress in the restaurant service industry. The glorious industry of food, beverages, smiles, and hospitality. I worked at restaurants for three years and for two companies. Not the most variety and longevity, but still enough to get to know the industry. I wholeheartedly loved my time spent in these establishments. From providing guests farm-to-table food and explaining what that truly means, introducing unique dishes and ingredients that their palate has never tried, to setting up the restaurant with the team, family meal, and rolling silverware in a hot kitchen…every day there can be an uplifting experience if you make it. Coffee helps. And not that a fair share of complaints don’t occur on our end. No industry has pros without cons. Laughable customer requests, missing items needed for service, and rushed mistakes entering the POS system, late and long nights, are common occurrences. But ultimately the job is about serving guests a meal or drink in the best experience possible. Did you catch that? Experience. We are creating an experience through every single guest we talk to! Every time we greet a table, we have the opportunity to do it differently. The whole 1-2 hours of our interaction with a table can be exciting each time, that is, if we have enough in our creative reserve to make it happen. On a bigger scale, our employers have the opportunity to help us think and act creatively before every shift or with weekly contests/activities. Even monthly events to break up the monotony of simply: Setting up for service, having service, breaking down from service, going home. That is the trap that restaurants, or anyone in the service industry, fall into time and time again. Many times it’s just about staying afloat between managing customer complaints, hiring and onboarding new employees from the rotating cycle, and the physicality of making sure the building and equipment is in working order. It’s exhausting! It’s no wonder creative ideas and things that “give us life” have to take a backseat.Pause.

This is where the body-work connection comes in. One of my favorite quotes, which I even put on my business card, is from Jim Rohn. “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” The service industry is hard work. At restaurants the chef and cooks have hours of prep work and handling food. Dishwashers back-breakingly move up and down, left and right, scrubbing and scouring dishes, up to their elbows in water. Managers traipse across the building hundreds of times a day and perform computer tasks. Bartenders shake and stir in repeating, grinding motions, and they hoist countless buckets of ice. Servers carry loads of heavy items….and we all do it with very little regard to how our body feels during it. The show must go on. Food must be served. Guests must be pleased. While there may be no changing how the labor occurs, lets focus on how we can treat ourselves after the work is done.

Restaurateur Jake Maddox, Founder of The Brewer’s Table is breaking the script. As a Veteran, he has first hand experience knowing how delicately our lives hang in the balance. Our bodies and our minds need nourishment and care to continue working their best. Everyone works better when they feel better, it’s that simple. If we have to work, which we do, it’s nice to work for a company who has a Wellness Mission at the core of their values. This is becoming more common in tech companies and other business like real estate, marketing, medical communities, and more. I go all over Austin, toting my massage chair and supplies, setting up to provide a brief break in the days of many desk workers. But wellness perks are sadly, mostly absent in Hospitality. Recently I got the opportunity to do my “massage life” gig with Jake and his fantastic group of employees. I massaged people before, after, and during their shifts depending on their timing. I tell you what, every single one of them were stunned that a Massage Therapist had been brought in. Many were still anxious about “taking a break” while others were like “bring on the good feels!”. I was delighted to work with these folks. I intimately understand what they do and their mindset. In addition to massages, employees can have fun throwing axes out back on targets anytime, and The Brewer’s Table offers health, dental, and life insurance. The greatest reward of the day was knowing that there are actual physical restaurants out there breaking the script.

There are other routes people in the service industry are taking to let people know they “are listening” and “we care.” KC Andrew Hensley started the In The Weeds Facebook group in 2013. His mission is to better the lives of people in the hospitality industry through education, community, and positivity. On a national scale there is plenty being done to aid the industry. Chefs with Issues has resources for dealing with the pressure of restaurant life. Restaurant Recovery helps those looking for substance recovery and emotional-wellbeing. In many cities there are sliding scale acupuncture clinics. Ours in Austin is called NAP (Neighborhood Acupuncture Project) and it is fantastic. The point is there are opportunities that exist to help yourself in whatever way you need. Massage with Bodinuity can be a piece of that puzzle.

A single massage won’t heal the aches from 20+ years of using your body, but what about 15 minutes of caring and focused touch that was given to you by your employer? Doesn’t that put some instant goodwill towards the company. But really, it isn’t your employers responsibility to take care of you. That’s called a “perk”. We still need to remember “I am who lives in my body and I alone must take initiative to change myself.” A 15 minute massage could give you some kind of inspiration about how you should be treating your body. We need to be cognizant that standing and running on our feet for 6+ hours at a time with no break can be damaging to our long term health and ability to stay in the industry. A little bit of tension release can go a long way in the body and the mind. You go back and maybe the restaurant looks a little shinier, and you make some jokes with your tables, you’re able to reach a little farther for an empty plate, and you season the pork loin exactly spectacularly. Ahhhh. You broke the script that day. You allowed yourself to be cared for.

In summation, my goal as a human being is for all other human beings to have the best mental and physical health possible. My goal as a Therapist is to provide you a session in which you feel tension relief and worth the financial cost. My goal as a business is to say “Hey, massage can help, try me.” The choice is always yours.

With health and happiness we go,
Kaitlin of Bodinuity

If you are in the Restaurant Service Industry, I gladly offer a Service Industry Rate. Mention this at our session and I will honor our sessions at $1 per minute.

Disclaimer: At this time I can only offer this rate to members of the Restaurant/Bar Community because of my close ties and motivation to get more wellness into this sector. I do acknowledge that currently in the US, 80% of jobs are considered Service Industry. We are the doer’s and the giver’s! If you need to talk about pricing, don’t hesitate to ask.

The Environmental Disaster of a Gender-Reveal Stunt and Its Impact on the November Election

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 17:51:22 GMT

An exhilarating aspect of language: you never know what words will appear and where they will lead you. While we are capable of predicting or assuming what another will say, there is still every chance in the world that speech will blindside us. Many Americans spend their days online and offline, reading one sentence after another, attempting to be informed and educated. Scientifically, the skill of reading has a good track record of keeping us out of danger. I ask here, what happens when what we read starts to cause the danger?

In most written pieces there is a headliner, briefing you what the following document will be about. But no headline stating “California Wildfires: Extreme Heat Turns State into a Furnace” could have possibly led me to anticipate the fact that a social-media “fad” gone-wrong could be responsible for the blazing “El Dorado Wildfire” that has so far devastated 22 square miles, and is only 41% contained as of 9/12/20 at 10pmCST. 21,000 Residents have been evacuated, and we are waiting to hear the damages and losses report.

My jaw dropped and the hair on my neck stood up. I thought, “this was so preventable”.

The time-stamp of the internet age means we have this great ability to pinpoint the first use-age of a word/phrase/idea. So we know that a Blogger in 2008 is credited with popularizing the festivities of a “Gender Reveal Party”. It was benign and non-malicious intent when Jenna Karvunidis had the idea of revealing the sex of her unborn baby. By cutting open a cake, she and her husband reveal a color to the crowd of family and friends: blue for boy sex, or pink for girl sex. As she put it, “I mean gosh, I just like to throw parties”. The reality of that event was to simply celebrate a new life, a story nearly universally celebrated. 100 years ago the event may have been the talk of the local town for just a few weeks for its creativity. However, there is something about Social Media Platforms that have metaphorically ‘fueled the blaze’ of social and individual comparisons and one-upping. This has far surpassed the 1913 comic “ Keeping up with the Joneses ”. There’s such a thing as healthy competition…and then there’s whatever the heck that social media creates…the illusion of success rather than the substance.

“The misguided “gender-reveal” stunt is not the first to spark a costly conflagration. A similar antic in 2017 started a 47,000-acre wildfire in the foothills of southern Arizona’s Santa Rita Mountains. Last year, another gender-reveal gimmick set off a brush fire in Florida. Gender-reveal parties have caused a plane crash and last year one killed a grandmother when she was struck with shrapnel after a family unintentionally created a pipe bomb while attempting a colorful explosion to announce the sex of their unborn child.” ( Shepherd, K., 2020 )

These gender-reveals appear to be an issue best dealt within Public Health education. What information did the family who sparked the wildfire miss?

“It’s a meadow of dry, brown, dead grass,” Oak Glen resident Patrick Patterson told KABC . “Why would you go out there and think that you can light off any kind of firework?” (Shepherd)

Did the family not know the dangers of explosive substances, did they not know what substances, situations, or weather events are accelerants, did they consider safety precautions for exploding hazardous materials? Any of this is plausible and even forgivable. Morally, I wouldn’t put anyone at fault for being truly un-aware (in some cases the state will put a price-tag on your ignorance, so be warned). But what if their desire for an “over the top” gender reveal led the family to disregard their knowledge of the danger-conducting environment? Should we back up and hold accountable Jenna Karvunidis, the company who sold the explosive, or the social media platforms for even introducing the constructs of a tool that fuels a relentless dopamine pathway…getting “likes”?

This particular story of the whole 2020 California Wildfire season, has many intersections of how ignorance can shape devastating events in human welfare. The gender-reveal fires exemplify The Theory of Reciprocal Causation , a biological theory that we are influenced by evolution, and we also shape evolution….”That people both influence, and are influenced by, those around them.” What we read and images we see all become part of our life experience. They influence how we talk, the substance of those discussions, our hopes, and our fears. It’s as natural a connection as tinder to a flame.

Thankfully we have bigger brains than a stick. Media is the gateway to external awareness…and it is individuals who have to retain and develop internal awareness. When we question what we see or read and relate it to our personal context of values and circumstances (location, education, finances, etc.) we can rationalize our motives. Instincts are the number one way to circumvent trouble. Being quiet enough to think and let subconscious arise (who is always trying to keep you alive) before planning is the hallmark of sound judgement.

I’m no expert, but these examples of ‘social media influenced fires’ are concrete issues of awareness which I believe Public Health Organizations truly can aim to address with specific programming on wildfire knowledge and social events.

But because it’s an election season, reading the news entails politics. I’ll wrap up with this. Yes, this tale has reminded me of the impending chaos of hackers trying to influence the election via social media, as well as my brain cycling back through the past 4 years of the most mangled and alarmist Tweets I’ve ever read from a leader.

I implore you dear readers, when you read anything in the coming months…close your eyes and give yourself a chance to process before leaping to conclusions or the next task on your list. Without the pause, our brain eats it up whole, without considering “the coin, the other side of the coin, and who could be influencing the message of the coin”. Can you straighten out my mangled idiom? I’m betting you can.

Just like Jenna Karvunidis never gave thought to her child being gender-neutral. And guess what, Jenna’s 11-year old just might be, she’s still figuring it out one suit and boyish-bob at a time.

Like I said earlier, ignorance can shape devastating events in human welfare. We cannot be ignorant to the speech of our leaders – they have a team of people to help them do that, for that exact reason! No one we elect will be perfect, but I for one just want a team-player. Someone who will RUN to go find more water to douse the fire. America needs an organized Government which is at all times ready to extend the forces and funds necessary to preserve ALL human life; not a politician or businessman used to segmenting us into “markets”. We have lingered in states of shock and resistance for far too long. It is hurting our unity as a nation… and we still await the damages report.

Fire and Disease do not bend to alliances, or status – they come for whoever is in their path. Language and Media are like that to our minds; magnetic.

To those impacted by the fires, I pray for your health and safety above all. To the Readers, Voters, and Change-makers, listen to your intuition, find your Bodinuity.

With Health and Happiness we go,

Kaitlin Bachmeyer

bodinuity

A Time to Connect: Inside the Chakra System

A Time to Connect: Inside the Chakra System

Chakra 1 : Root + Earth

Chakra 1 : Root + Earth

A quick search will bring up many different images for each chakra, I will provide the most basic image, the easiest to remember.

Right now, let’s do 3 small exercises on our mats to continue stimulating the root chakra

Chakra 2: Water + Sacral Chakra

Chakra 2: Water + Sacral Chakra

Welcome back to Bodinuity.

Associated weighty words of the Sacral Chakra: ﻿

Creative Break

Chakra Three: Solar Plexus + Fire

Chakra Three: Solar Plexus + Fire

Find your spark and go at it proud, and loud.

Chakra Four: Heart + Air

Chakra Four: Heart + Air

Journal Prompts:

With Health and Happiness we go,

Chakra Five: Throat + Ether/Sound

Chakra Five: Throat + Ether/Sound

Chakra Six: Brow(Third Eye) + Light

Chakra Six: Brow(Third Eye) + Light

I Can’t Breathe

I Can’t Breathe

Bodinuity occurs when you enter a state where your physical body and your mind’s intuition synchronize into unity.

Chakra Seven: Crown + Thought

Chakra Seven: Crown + Thought

With Health and Happiness we go,

Why I became a Massage Therapist.

Why I became a Massage Therapist.

Love to you, Service Industry.

Love to you, Service Industry.

The Environmental Disaster of a Gender-Reveal Stunt and Its Impact on the November Election

Associated weighty words of the Sacral Chakra: