Page 14

   

Tools of the Trade

   

Working with Energy

   by Catherine M.

   

Last issue I discussed some simple Chakra-orientated mudras you can perform to aid in meditation and energy balancing. If you have been using them semi-regularly, you will probably be noticing a difference within yourself.

Once you start to consistently balance your energy, you open up pathways of communication between yourself and your sub-conscious mind. You may find that you are more aware of things, or more sensitive, or even starting to be a bit more reactionary. These are all natural outcomes. Your mind and body is sloughing of the dead skin it has accumulated over time. The things that once upset you, that you became used to, may now trigger emotional responses again. And you will find you have more energy to deal with these things and life in general.

Please, take the time to read the article below, "Anger Through Increased Awareness".

You may ask "why bother" with the Chakras and meditations if it will bring upheaval. Change is a natural and desirable state in life - otherwise we stagnate. The question is whether you wish to only be affected by the change, or to affect the change as well? Self-awareness and control leads to greater influence upon what happens in our lives. All of these are reasons to bother. Beyond that is communion with the Divine, and increased skill and ability within yourself. It is your choice as to whether you wish to take the step onto this path, but I hope you choose to walk at least a part of it with us.
   

Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation... Tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides. His inhuman void spreads monstrously like a gray vegetation.

~ Jean Arp


   


   

Without truth, without the strength to pursue it and the guts to turn the glaring light back upon ourselves, to look unflinchingly at our own lives, we spend hours caught in the mists of illusion.

~ Denise Brown

   


   
Earth Mandalas
These beautiful images are mandalas, visual aids for meditation in Yantra Meditation.
To learn more about Yantra Meditation, please visit the Sanatan Society
   


   

   

   

Anger through Increased Awareness

As you work upon your Chakras and Mudras, perfecting the exercises and moving through different stages of meditation, you will pass through cycles of heightened emotion. This is normal, and in the process you will probably experience some or all of the following:

   

Occasional physical discomfit - such as headaches, neck and shoulder tension, and cramping. Any region around the Major Chakras may also develop physical discomfit. This is due to the regular work you are doing with your Chakras, thus strengthening your conscious relationship with them, combined with the increased levels of awareness. You may also experience sleep issues, increased or decreased hunger and thirst, physical restlessness and strange, disturbing dreams. Performing the Mudra of Acceptance for five minutes or longer and/or the Dancing Fingers Mudra will help alleviate it. So too will physical exercise, increased water and fresh juice consumption and a healthy diet. For sleep issues, try and create a bedtime routine that includes meditation and Dancing Fingers Mudra work, and if you awake and are unable to return to sleep, get up and repeat your bedtime routine.

Emotional withdrawal as you try and deal with your increased empathy and awareness of others. Again this is natural and it will pass, although it is likely you will move into a higher state of relationship based more upon unconditional love and less upon the needs, wants, fears, desires, etc. This is very healthy for two reasons. Firstly, many if not all of your relationships are probably still based in some way upon conditions. There are expectations of a give and take in the relationship because otherwise you feel unloved, unappreciated, un-something. This is not to say that there shouldn't be conditions - it is unhealthy for anyone to be in a relationship where one side only gives and the other only takes. But this shouldn't be an emotional decision. It is an adult observation. The energy work you are doing will help you change to truly releasing those emotional conditioners. Secondly, by moving to emotionally unconditional relationships, you free yourself from past errors. We often return to work through unresolved issues. Unconditional love resolves and releases you.
   


Chenrezig is the Buddha of compassionate love.

   

Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what hold you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.

~ Buddha.


Desire to change not just the world, but your own life - job, relationships, etc. This is a natural result of developing awareness. Part of it will pass as you become more comfortable in your skin. Part will not - signifying the need to enact some change - a natural part of life. It may be that the change would have occurred without this new path, or not - either way, you are now more consciously aware of what needs to change and why. Note: do not act immediately upon any "big" changes that pop into your mind. Some are valid, some are fleeting.

Emotional disturbance - especially sadness and anger. You are becoming more consciously aware of the problems within our world, more empathic, and more tuned in. These things create emotional feedback as you move from a state of living with the status quo to a state of fully realising what that means - and usually rejecting it. This stage will not pass, but it will become more comfortable as you develop inner resources to cope with and to channel the energy into change. You will probably find yourself becoming more proactive in areas of your life affected by your increased knowledge and skills.

Your internal dialogue will probably increase - along with the "need" to talk other people's ears off about what you're going through. Again very normal and you should let it happen. Channel rather than try and stop it. Your brain is increasing its activity and literally "realising" new things, subconsciously (thus the internal conversations) as well as consciously (thus the need to talk it out). Trying to block this is counterproductive to your new path. Over time, the dialogues will become more coherent, less "hyped" and very very useful. For now, if it needs controlling because it interfers with something, run the Dancing Fingers Mudra one-handed.

The hardest thing may be a feeling of alienation from community and family, and an overwhelming sense of homesickness. These will never fully depart. Firstly, unless your community is like-minded, you are different and probably alone or living in a small familial group. It is crucial you work at locating a community to be involved with - whether online or in real life - and foster the relationship with that community to some level. Secondly, the homesickness is a result of the increased energy work and the increased understanding of your relationship to the Divine. On some level you are remembering where you (as in your spirit) came from. You are recalling the total relationship you had with the Divine and that is something you cannot have while here. However, as you continue to grow and advance, you will reach a stronger communion with the Divine and your inner self, and the homesickness will be bearable and less. Also, the relationship you build with your community - which may change as you move from group to group over your current lifetime - will increase your sense of connection to the Divine.

   


   


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