Monthly Archives: January 2017
A Wonderful Series of Meditations
While reading Wheels of Life by Anodea Judith, I came across a wonderful series of meditations. They read a little like a story, and some of them more like poetry, and they really give a wonderful in depth understanding of the various chakras and their deeper meanings. Each one builds on the one before, so they are best read in order, from Root to Crown.
Here is a list if you’d like to explore them:
A Thoughtful Crown Chakra Meditation
You have touched, you have tasted, you have seen, and you have heard.
You have loved and lost and loved again.
You have learned. You have grown.
You have arrived at your destination intact.
And now, at the end of the journey, you are almost home.
There is but one step left – the biggest and the smallest of them all.
It is the biggest for it takes us the farthest.
It is the smallest because we are already there.
There is one more door to open –
and it contains the key to all that lies beyond.
You hold that key, but you cannot see it.
It is not a thing, it is not a way.
It is a mystery.
Allow yourself to review the places you have gone …
Remembering the touch of flesh to Earth, the flow of movement and power, the song of love in your heart, the memories imprinted in your mind …
Who is it that remembers?
Who has traveled on this journey?
Is it your body? Then what has guided you?
What it that has grown?
Through what have you traveled?
Who now would hold that key that can’t be seen, the key that cannot lock?
The answer to this is the key itself.
All wisdom is within you. Nothing is beyond you. The kingdom is before you, within you, around you. It is in your mind, which is but one mind in a sea of many; connected, contained, intelligent, divine.
It is the seat of the gods, the pattern of creation, the immensity of the infinite, the endless unfolding petals of the lotus, fully blooming and connected all the way to Earth.
We find it in our thoughts.
Beyond form, beyond sound, beyond light, beyond space, beyond time,
Our thoughts flow.
Below, behind, above, around and through our thoughts flow.
Within, without, before and after, our thoughts flow.
Droplets in an endless sea, the song of mind is infinite.
We have come full circle and the pattern is complete.
We are the thoughts that make the pattern,
And we are the pattern that makes the thoughts.
From whence do our thoughts arise?
Where do they go when they rest?
And so is it that perceives them?
Deep within ourselves we find a place to open up our mind.
Through starry heavens ever climbing, matter’s solid threads unbinding.
Out far beyond far Heaven’s veil, the Father rules the starlit trail.
In patterns bright, perceived by sight, our thoughts turn over day through night,
Through our thinking, ever linking,
winding weaving, wisdom’s webs, ancient patterns, flows and ebbs.
Auspicious Shiva, Lord of sleep, your meditations bring us deep
To ancient wisdom found within, a sacred place where we begin
And ending, here we shall return; reconnected we have learned
To know divinity inside and bring it forth with honored pride.
The key within our minds we hold, to mysteries we shall unfold;
Gateway to the worlds beyond,
In sacred space and peace we bond.
From Wheels of Life
Third Eye Light Meditation
It is dark. Eyes closed, we lie as if asleep, dreamless, ignorant of all around us. Floating in a sea of emptiness, we are cradled in darkness – unseeing, unknowing, at peace. We breathe slowly, in and out, in and out, stretching and relaxing our bodies as we settle into the warm, peaceful darkness inside. We are home. We are safe. We are deep within ourselves, feeling, hearing, being – but not yet seeing.
Become this darkness – all knowing, yet unknowing, empty and free. Let the dark wash over you, soothe you, as you empty your mind into the infinity of the void, the womb of darkness – the birthplace of our dreams to come.
Somewhere, in the darkness, we hear a sound – a distant note, a voice, a scuffle of movement. We feel the flutter of a breeze upon our face, feel a warmth upon our shoulders, feel the pull to rise and flow and follow but we know not where. Our bodies cannot see and dare not move. They are dark and still.
They call us for direction, wisdom, guidance. They call to intelligence, they call to memory, they call for clarification of the pattern. They call to light.
And afraid to leave the darkness and safety of our ignorance, we hear this call.
We hear this call and our own mind, hungry for answers, quests outward. We long to see, to know, to behold at once the wonders that surround us. To fill our minds with recognition, the certain steps of knowing, the safety and the peace that light, too, can bring.
We open our mind. We open our eyes. We look about.
Images pour forth in myriad kaleidoscopic forms, tumbling inward, pattern upon pattern, endlessly interweaving.
Colors, shapes, and forms reflecting space around us, reflecting back into us, recording life in patterns that our minds can clearly see.
The mind opens and receives.
But there is too much and the light is blinding.
We call to the dark to shade us, to temper, to bind the patterns into meaning. And the dark comes softly, hand in hand and shadow to the light, defining, shading, interweaving, ordering.
The light comes more gently now, rainbow colors, healing, soothing, illuminating, coming at will. Active yellow, healing green, soothing blue, potent violet. All that is alive glows with light. Shape and essence in form revealed for us to see and know.
What do we wish to see? What do we call forth to our inner vision? What does the light bring?
Beauty of a thousand suns, beauty of a single Moon,
patterns of the life we’re leading. all the truth we are perceiving.
Gently now on wings of light, our petals flutter through the night,
Reaching out to worlds beyond, events forthcoming, days long gone.
Holographic matrix net escapes the boundaries by time set.
All the truth can be contained by patterns in the mind retained
Red and yellow, green and blue, interlace in varied hue.
Shape and form, insight revealed, nothing can remain concealed
From inner vision reaching out, seeing truth, removing doubt.
Inside we open, watch and wait, while wisdom’s visions spin our fate.
Illumination shows the way, our inner light turns night to day.
And though the dark shall yet return, we fear it not for we have learned
the way the dark and light combine, letting patterns be defined.
Dark to light and night to day
Within our minds, we light the way.
From: Wheels of Life
Throat Chakra Sound Meditation
Before the beginning, all was darkness and all was void
The face of the cosmos was deep and unmanifest,
Indeed, not a face at all but endless nothing.
No light, no sound, no movement, no life, no time.
All was null and the universe was not yet created
Nor even conceived.
For there was no form in which to conceive or be conceived.
In its emptiness the darkness fell upon itself
And became aware that it was nothing.
Alone and dark, unborn, unmanifest, silent.
Can you imagine this silence, the silence of nothing?
Can you quiet yourself enough to hear it?
Can you listen to the silence within you?
Breathe deeply, but slowly so the breath is silent in your lungs.
Feel your throat expand with the air coming in.
Listen for the nothing, listen for the quiet,
Listen deep within yourself for the place of stillness.
Slowly breathe into this void, a deep and peaceful breath.
In its infinite quite, darkness fell upon itself
And in its emptiness, knew itself to be alone
And alone it desired another
In this desire, a ripple moved across the void
to fold and fold again upon itself
Until it was no longer empty and the void was full with birth.
In the beginning the great, unmanifest
became vibration in its own recognition of being.
And that vibration was sound from which all other sounds were born.
It came from Brahma in his first emanation.
It came from Sarasvati, in her eternal answers.
In their union, the sound arose and spread through all the void
and filled it.
And the sound became one, and the sound became many,
and the sound became the wheel that turned and turned the worlds
unto the dance of life, forever singing, always moving.
If you listen you can hear it now.
It is in your breath, it is in your heart,
It is in the wind, the waters, the trees and the sky.
It is in your own mind, in the rhythm of each and every thought.
From one sound does it all emerge
and to one sound shall it return.
And the sound is
AUM …
Aaa – ooo – uuu – mmmmmmmmmm … Aum …
Chant it now inside you quietly. Let it build within your breath.
Let the sacred sound escape you, moving on the wings of air.
Rhythm building, deep vibration, rising up from deep within.
Chant the sound of all creation, sound that makes the chakras spin.
Louder now the voice arises, joins with other sounds and chants.
Deeper now the rhythms weaving all into a sacred dance.
Rhythms pounding, voices growing, echoing the dance of life.
Sounds to words and words to music, riding on the wheels of life.
Guiding us along our journey, moving spirit deep within.
Chant the voice that is within you. This is where we must begin.
Up from silence, breath and body, calling now into the void.
Hear its answer in the darkness, fear and pain have been destroyed.
Brahma is the first vibration. Sarasvati is the flow.
Sound unites us in our vision, harmonizing all we know.
Soon the silence comes again, with echoes of primordial sound,
Purifying all vibration, echo of the truth profound.
From: Wheels of Life
Heart Chakra Love Meditation
From love were we made.
On Passion’s waves our spirit sparked
and down we came into our
mothers …
mater …
matter …
The pull of love calling us, deep into the Earth
As deep into the mother father pushed.
Deep into the womb, we crawled –
the warm dark womb
of earth and water.
The womb of love –
safe, dark, cradled, quiet.
We grew.
In the dark there was but one sound –
the sound of life, the sound of love, the sound of the heart.
Beating …
Beating …
Beating …
Beating …
Hear it now in your own heart.
Its rhythms pumping life and air and breath
through every part of you,
renewing you;
Bathing you in air, in space, in breath, in life.
Feel it now at the core of you, embrace it with your hands.
Feel it yearning, crying, loving, hoping, healing.
Feel it within you, old as you are,
beating since the days from deep in the womb,
feel how long it’s been there,
Always beating. Never stopping.
Always beating. Never stopping.
Always beating. Never stopping.
Always beating. Never stopping.
Do you love that heart?
Breathe in deeply, drawing in the air … as softness, depth and wisdom.
As you breathe, spirit comes within your heart and touches you …
moving you … changing you.
Deeply, you accept as thirstily you drink.
Be thankful for this vessel that receives.
Faster now on waves of flame,
we fling with joy up to the sky,
above the Earth, above the water,
beyond the fire, into the air.
We reach and spread our wings and fly, free to ride the winds.
But soon get tossed about and cry:
Where is the heart?
Where is the heart?
Where is my home?
We listen for the beat and fly, deep unto its sound.
We reach for ground, slowing down.
We still ourselves to listen deeper, quiet is the sound.
Gently we reach, for the heart is tender.
Softly we touch, for the heart is afraid.
We open our hands to the love inside, to unite, to touch, to heal.
Offer that love now. Ask for entry to your own heart.
Listen deep and hear inside, a silent sound.
Anahata,
Anahata,
Anahata,
Anahata.
Listen deep and breathe into the sound,
the breath, the winds of healing.
In … and out … in …
and out … in … and out …
Inhaling that which is new,
exhaling the old,
each breath renewing
Each breath a wind within you and around you,
gentle zephyr, storm of life, winds of change.
For what does your heart cry?
For what does it long?
In what does it find peace?
Release its hopes and dreams to fly upon the wings of change
and then return on wings of love, fulfilled beyond your dreams.
You are not alone. Your cries are echoed in
a thousand hearts the same.
If you listen, you can hear them:
beating
beating
beating
beating
Deep within each person find the heart.
Everywhere around you find the heart.
Deep within ourselves we find the heart.
Every time we touch, we touch the heart.
Within each one is love, awaiting sweet unfoldment.
Release that love upon the winds of breath, and reach beyond.
Touch the hearts inside the ones you love,
And listen to their breath that whistles
in … and out …
in … and out …
Like you, they laugh and cry and play,
Ceaseless rhythm through each day.
Feel the heart so like your own:
Hoping, healing, breathing, feeling.
Let there be no sound of striking,
Only that of love and liking.
Each unto the dance of love,
That joins the Earth to worlds above,
And joins ourselves unto each other,
Each one seen as sister, brother.
Within our hearts the seeds of peace
Lie, awaiting sweet release.
Upon the winds of change they fly
As deep within our hearts we cry:
Anahata,
Anahata,
Anahata,
Anahata.
The sound of love.
From: Wheels of Life
A Fiery Third Chakra Meditation
We are still, yet we sense a growing warmth within us. We are alone, yet we sense others around us, longing to break free, longing for warmth and light. There is a form here, but it is empty. There is life here, but it is still. There is awareness here and it is awakening!
From a place of stillness, we call forth movement. Slowly reaching out, expanding, breathing, stretching, flowing. Into form, we invoke life. Its spark from the fire of the place between – between ourselves and others, between past and future, between the known and the unknown.
We move and dance, pleasure singing through us as the dance of life burns its way through our fears and our pains. Feel the warmth of pleasure melting tension, pulsating, growing – the rhythms lifting and moving, healing and soothing, warming and cooling.
From a place of infinite movement we call on the self. We call on the Self to awaken to another part of the journey. We call upon the Self to awaken to the sun, the fire, the warmth, the transformation. We call upon the Self through our will, and it rises to our call.
We reach for the sun and call upon the yellow ray. The ray of life, the ray of creation, the ray of consciousness, the spark of fire … We call upon the flame to burn within us and temper our passions into strength. With strength we fight the dark, pushing and straining, to realize it is part of ourselves, part of our strength, part of our fear. We laugh, and put down the fight, merging, becoming whole, becoming stronger. We pass between the pillars of light and dark, honoring both … and find ourselves in a new and glorious land. A land of bustling activity, teeming with life, sparkling like stars and shining rivers of light reflecting the sun.
The sparks catch our eyes, we turn toward their glow and they move and dance, connecting and igniting all that they touch. They touch something within, igniting strength, will, action. Sparks fly, igniting other threads, other fires … they explode, burn bright … and are gone.
We are lifted, we are lightened, we are laughing. We feel our bodies sway with the rising heat, hot tongues of fire moving within us, expanding, contracting, but growing ever wider, yet returning always to its source within us. Our bodies now burning, radiating heat and light and strength and will. Power pulsating through us, from above, below, around, and running through, transforming all that is within and without our bellies bursting with joy.
Feel this energy deep within your body, burning with the fire of your own life. Feel it pushing deep into the Earth, down through the Earth, to the hot molten center of the Earth. Feel it return from the Earth, rising up from the heat below, through your legs, your pelvis, your belly, moving up through your body, through each part of your body – your arms, your hands, your chest, neck, and head.
Feel it flowing out of you, connecting with other sparks, filaments of energy, other fires of life. Feel it connect with the thoughts inside you, your constant sparking of neurons, interconnecting filaments of energy, lines of thought, patterns in a web, ebbing and flowing in pulsing flames, burning with the glow of activity.
You are now a vital intersection of energy, merging, combining, exploding, radiating. Expand your awareness without and within, weaving a web of power, like a fire, growing higher and brighter. Power flows through you effortlessly, easily, calmly. You are one with the powers around you and within you.
Think of the times when you knew this power. Times when you felt this connection, vitality, importance, and strength. Think of the times power flowed through you, like warmth from the sun. Think of those times and feel them now. Feel your body radiate their purpose, dance with their majesty, sing with their strength.
In this fiery world of activity you are a channel for power around you. You open to it, you burn with it, you drink it in, and you pass it on … easily, effortlessly, willingly, joyfully.
Your power peaks and returns, feeding the fire within – a molten core, feeding your body, silently charging, ready to expand again when your next purpose calls.
The fire has burned high, and the coals now glow with warmth. Exhilarated, your body relaxes. A smile plays on your lips, your hands are at peace with the strength they have carried, and you again return to the gentle breathing … in … and out … in … and out … in … and out.
Satisfied, you rest.
From: Wheels of Life
Sacral Chakra Water Meditation
Quietly you lie at peace, alive against the Earth. The Earth that is still, solid, unmoving. You are still, yet for every ebb and flow of breath there is movement in your body. There is change. From inner to outer and outer to inner, the path between the worlds is woven through you. The path of change.
As your chest rises, the breath moves through your nose, throat, and lungs. It ebbs and flows, as evenly and gracefully as waves upon a shore. Back and forth … empty and full … in and out.
Inside, your heart beats, your blood pulsates, a river of life connects each and every cell within you. Blood flows outward … blood flows in toward the center again. Your cells expand and contract, ever reproducing, dying. Wiggle a finger back and forth. Impulses of nerves run down your arms. Your breathing continues … in … out … in … out.
Deep in your belly you become aware of a warm glow of orange, pulsing through your pelvis, through your abdomen, through your genitals. Pulsations of orange light move in rivulets down your legs, up again through your thighs, flowing through your belly, and up through your back to nourish all of you.
You are alive. You are a wave of motion. Nothing within you is truly still. Nothing around you is still. Everything is constantly changing at each and every moment. Every sound, every ray of light, every breath is an oscillation, back and forth, constantly moving, swaying, flowing. A flow of constant change, changing every moment from the last. By the time you finish this meditation, both you and the world will be different.
Within your body is a river of change. Find the subtle inner flows of movement and thought, moving up, down, around, and through. Find them and follow them. Allow them to gain momentum – removing obstacles by easing any tension you may find. Exaggerate their flow with outward movements: sway in your chair, rock back and forth, creating a rhythmic motion. Let the rhythm build until you feel like getting up – get up and move around, swaying on your feet, circling with your hips, bending your knees, always keeping the flow even and steady … remembering roots below. You sway, back and forth … up and down … in and out … expanding, yet ever returning to your core self once again.
You move with the flow of water, sometimes slow like a great river, sometimes quickly like a spring stream, sometimes languishing like a quiet lake, sometimes passionate like the waves of the sea. Raise an arm and imagine water flowing down through it. Feel the wet fluid run down your back, your buttocks, your toes.
Think of the water as it flows from the sky, caressing the mountains, running in rivulets to its various pools. Imagine water raining down on you, caressing your body, running in rivulets down your pelvis and legs, down to soften the Earth below. You are the rain as you fall effortlessly from Heaven to Earth.
You are many droplets as your thoughts fall from your mind. In tiny movements, the tides within you grow and move – faster as they plunge downward, cascading over pinnacles of earth – then slowly as they slither serpentine across great valleys of your fertile fields.
Until, as one, you ebb and flow with the ties of the sea, pulled by the moon in its dance of dark and light. Your oceans, vast and deep, abound with life. Your passion reaches outward, spills onto the shore, and returns again within you. You drink in all the change around you, pulling its movement through you as your life ebbs and flows. In … and out … you breathe.
From the vast depths of ebb and flow, you reach. You touch. You find your body. Sensation flows into your hand across your skin. Sensation known to none but you. Your hand moves across curves of flesh and follows lines of movement. You sway to the sensuality of your touch. Inside you rise emotions – churning, yearning, flowing, bubbling. They reach and touch and rise, becoming movements, waves change, the water flows, within, without.
You are alone, yet others are around you. They, too, ebb and flow, and change and touch and yearn. Your movements flow to join them, desiring to unite, to merge, to move toward something new. Your hands long to touch, to pull the oceans closer, to feel the flow of other tides mixing with your own.
Your belly heaves, your sex awakes, you thirst for touch, and reach beyond yourself. You find your “other” – different yet the same. Exploring, you begin to merge. The movements build within you, exalting you, expressing you, caressing you. Your passions swell in ocean waves to crash upon the shore and satisfy your needs. The waters ebb and flow, nurture, cleanse and heal, as they flow with each yearning, each movement, each breath. Ecstatic in uniting, you merge complete within yourself and completed once again within another. You dance, and rise and fall … and rest.
You are water – the essence of all forms, yet formless. You are the point from which each direction flows, and you are the flow. You are the one that feels, you are the one that moves. You are the one that embraces the other.
Shall we flow together and join our souls in this journey down the river of life? Shall we flow together to the sea?
From: Wheels of Life
Root Chakra Journey Meditation
You are about to go on a journey. It is a journey through the layers of your own self. It is a journey through your life, through the worlds within and around you. It begins here, in your own body. It begins now, wherever you are. It is your own personal quest.
Make yourself comfortable, for the journey is not short. It could take months, years, or lifetimes, but you have already chosen to go. You began long, long ago.
You have been provided a vehicle in which to take this journey. It is your body. It is equipped with everything you might need. One of your challenges on this journey is to keep your vehicle nourished, happy, and in good repair. It is the only one you will be given.
So, we begin our journey by exploring our vehicle. Take a moment to feel your body. Feel it breathing in … and out … Feel your heart beating inside, the moisture in your mouth, the food in your belly, the sensation of cloth on your skin. Explore the space your body occupies – height, width, weight. Find the front and back, top, bottom, and sides. Begin a dialogue with your body, so that you may learn its language. Ask your body how it feels. See if it is tired or tense. Listen to the answer. How does it feel about going on this journey?
You have been given a vehicle for this journey, but it is not something you have – it’s some thing you are. You are your body. You are a body living a life in this physical world – getting up in the morning, eating, going to work, touching, sleeping, bathing. Feel your body going through its daily routines. See the number of interactions it has with the outside world in a day – notice the interchange of hands touching doors, steering wheels, other hands, papers, dishes, children, food, your lover. Think about how your body has grown and learned and changed over the years. What has it become to you? Do you ever thank it for taking care of you?
What is the world like that your body interacts with? Feel the textures, smells, colors, and sounds around you. Be your body feeling them – all the sensations your mind might miss – but your body experiences. Feel the hardness of the earth in wood, cement, and metal. Feel its straight lines, its solidity, its permanence. Feel the soft firmness of the Earth in its natural state – with its trees and grasses, lakes, streams, and mountains. Feel its curving gentleness, its protection, and abundance. Feel the richness of this planet with its infinity of forms. Feel its immensity, its solidity, and how it supports you as you sit in your place on it, reading this.
This planet is a vehicle, too. It takes us through time and through space. Feel the Earth as a central unified entity – a living body, just like you – with an infinity of cells, working together as a whole. You are a cell in this great body, part of Mother Earth, one of Her Children.
We begin our journey here, on this great body of Earth. Our long climb upward begins by going down. We go down into this body, as we go down into our own bodies – into our flesh, into our guts, into our legs and feet – digging our roots deep into the Earth, which supports and nourishes us. We move deep into her rocks and soil, deep into her guts of red-hot lava, seething deep below, into her source of life and movement and power.
When we sink deeply, we come to the base of our spine and find a red glowing ball of energy, glowing like the core of the Earth. Feel this molten energy running down your legs, through your knees, into your feet. Feel it running through your feet, into the floor beneath you, through the floor and down into the Earth, burrowing between rocks and roots, finding nourishment, support, and stability. Feel this cord of energy as an anchor, settling you, calming you, grounding you.
You are here. You are connected. You are solid, but you are molten inside. Deep within your roots you find your past, your memories, your primal self. Your connection here is simple, direct. You remember your heritage, your ancient self as a child of the Earth. She is your teacher.
What is this matter that comes from the Earth? Think of the chair you are sitting in – the tree it once was, the cotton in the field, the cloth on the loom, the workers that transported it, sold it, sat on it before. Think of the things you have – the complexity in each one of them, their abundance.
Think of the financial abundance you may have. However large or small it may be, think of it as a gift from the Earth. How does it come to you? What does your body do to get it? What do you use it for? Think of this money as a stream of life running into you and out of you, through your hands, your feet, your heart, and your mind.
As it flows through you, feel yourself in constant exchange with the Earth. Let the feeling of abundance come up from the Earth, into your feet, your legs, your pelvis, stomach, heart, and hands. Feel its expression in your throat, its recognition in your vision, its imprint in your mind. Take a deep breath and let it go down again, through your body, through your head, neck, shoulders, arms, chest, belly, genitals, legs and feet, and down into the Earth, down below the surface of the Earth, finding stability, finding nourishment, finding peace.
Your body is the journey, and it is where you begin. It is your connection to the physical world, our 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.
From: Wheels of Life