4. Anahata

A balanced heart chakra can help the physical heart if we release past traumas and emotional pain and don't try to judge others. It's also concerned with emotional issues of the heart. If we're thwarted in love, we may begin to doubt ourselves and if we don't deal with this will begin to hold in our emotional pain. If there is no input or output of love the ability to love can die. Unconditional love flowing through the heart chakra neutralises all negative energies and emotions. Our heart chakra needs this nourishment if we are to remain physically strong, capable of giving and receiving love and to be able to develop spiritually. Touch is very healing for the heart chakra.



om
anahata
yang (pronounced yung for several minutes)
om
kundalini arohanam
kundalini arohanam
kundalini arohanam
om

3. Manipura

You cannot know fire from words alone.
Enter the fire if you want to know the truth.
- Rumi, 13th century muslim poet and mystic

The third chakra located at the solar plexus. The three chakras below the heart are concerned with our physical body and the senses; the three above the heart are concerned with the spirit. Digestive problems, diabetes and cancer are associated with Manipura, but above all it's associated with stress because it's located over one of the main regions of the body that reacts to stress. Since I've started finding ways to deal with stress I no longer feel my backache or experience excessive sweating any more.

In Manipura we also experience the emotions of others by becoming a mirror to them. It's vital to keep the mirror bright, as you don't want to act like a sponge for anyone's anger or negativity. Here we also learn to assimilate wisdom in our unconscious mind which enables us to heal our physical body and develop a good relationship with the wider world. It's sometimes called the body-mind connection.

Those with an undeveloped Manipura will dominate with their ego; they will not be happy with their situation in life, will shut down their inner fire and the whole chakra system could be compromised. They will feel extremely edgy and depleted in energy, become depressed, insecure and fearful. When you work on balancing your solar plexus chakra, depression turns into joy, insecurity turns into love and fearfulness turns into confidence.

om
manipura
rang (pronounced rung for several minutes)
om
kundalini arohanam
kundalini arohanam
kundalini arohanam
om

2. Svadisthana

The second chakra, located on the upper part of the sacrum below the navel. Closely linked to the adrenal glands, this is where stress, anger and fear can gather and eventually cause illness. When this happens, we should take it as a warning to change patterns of behaviour to avoid or deal with stress and fear. I found that a way to transform fear was by sending everyone unconditional love and this is quite common with people who feel threatened. When I did this my lower back pain disappeared. This is also the pleasure chakra that is deeply concerned with our relationship to others and the place of imprinting of feelings experienced in childhood.

Stress to this chakra causes us to put up defences to avoid our true feelings, especially concerning someone of the opposite sex. It may cause promiscuity, seeking satisfaction and a deep longing to unite with the other half of our soul. Alternatively, we may provide a 'phantom lover' for ourselves or for our sexual fantasies.

When the radiance of Svadisthana begins to flow more freely, the ability to feel both pain and pleasure increases - sometimes in bitter-sweet love affairs. This can make it a real test of courage to move beyond our defences, regain our true self and experience loving intimacy. It is necessary to let go of past fears, disillusionments and disappointed romantic expectations - all unneeded energy imprints held in this chakra.

If we are unaware of our sacral chakra energies, we unwittingly fuel feelings of rigid control, overprotectiveness, jealousy, anger and the inability to receive love. Svadisthana is associated with addictions of all kinds, and with a desperate need for approval.

Conversely, when we are fully aware of the positive energies of Svadisthana, we create the right conditions to unite with another person. This can take us into a flowering of the soul on a path of enlightenment. Such a state requires a beautiful, tender type of love that we give and receive unconditionally.

om
svadisthana
vam (pronounced vwam) repeated for several minutes
om
kundalini arohanam
kundalini arohanam
kundalini arohanam
om

1. Muladhara

muladhara is the first of the seven major chakras. it's situated between the anus and the genitals, faces towards the ground and has the function of 'grounding' or 'rooting' us. if it's balanced, we feel a sympathetic vibration with the earth's electromagnetic frequency. this connection allows us to be at one with the earth, be part of the earth cycle, feel stability and security and get rid of negative emotional energy which is transformed in the earth cycle into positive energy (sometimes described as feelings of power/light/goodness) which we can then take up. if it's not balanced, we feel disconnected, unstable, insecure and these negative emotions remain trapped inside us. another way of balancing muladhara is to go out for a walk and be at one with nature. i think the top of a mountain would be a perfect place to meditate and chant.

om muladhara
lang (repeat for a few minutes)
om
kundalini arohanam
kundalini arohanam
kundalini arohanam
om

the 7 chakras

four years ago, while studying foundation science, i became intrigued by quantum mechanics and attempted to deepen my knowledge by reading books and articles on the subject for personal pleasure and discovery. the blueprint for reality that quantum mechanics presents has philosophical implications that i took to discussing in a philosophy conference. it became apparent that some of the ideas in quantum mechanics seemed to be expressed in eastern mysticism. these connections were explored by Fritjof Capra in his Tao of Physics. i found the book entertaining but, owing to the sheer breadth of interpretation of eastern mysticism, and the ease with which it's possible to extrapolate myriad possibilities from quantum mechanics, remain to be convinced that quantum mechanics is a scientific explanation of spiritual phenomena in eastern mysticism. but none of that took away the intrigue of eastern mysticism, in particular the practical wisdom of the Vedas and the Tao, which has become the spiritual homeland that i visit in troubled times. and each time i do visit that homeland, my knowledge and experience widens.

up until now, my path has been based on jnana yoga - this is the pursuit of enlightenment via knowledge - and yoga is simply a word for path. i get some benefit from hatha yoga - this is the yoga most widely practised in the west with physical postures and breathing exercises - but if it's done too fast, which it is in most of the classes i've been to, i can actually feel somewhat damaged by it, both physically and mentally! the best part of any yoga class for me has always been the om mantra chanted at the end, which never goes on for as long as i'd like.

it was my neighbour who first brought my attention to the fact that i was chanting a lot recently when he said that he didn't mind what music i played, but did i have to play it over and over again? so i plugged in my headphones. i was going through a lot of stress at the time and began feeling, not so much pain, but emptiness or over-activeness in certain parts of my body, mainly in the solar plexus and gut areas. i don't quite know how i came across the concept of the chakras from there - all i can think is that, in times of trouble, i'm guided back, naturally and unconsciously, towards the Vedas and the Tao. the Tao seems to provide the context for the practical wisdom of the Vedas to flourish. the chakras come from the Upanishads, which are part of the Vedic texts.

in peace and lovingkindness, enjoy. :-)

world opera for world peace

Martin Aelred from Edinburgh spreads the love vibration through his operatic voice. He will be performing a Puccini recital set amongst some of the world's finest collection of art at The National Art Gallery, Edinburgh, on Thursday 10th December at 6pm.

heaven is other people

people people come right back to me
love me love me show me that you love me
hold me hold me hold me and adore me
i can't live without you people