What do you do when you first wake up in the morning?  How does it relate to living the kind of day you’d like to live, if at all :-)!?  I have several practices that I enjoy, and recently have learned another one I want to share with you.  I really like the effect it has on my body, my mind, and my spirit when I do it with intention and attention.

It’s about waking up our energy centers, our Chakras. If you’d like to know more about these subtle centers of vital energy, Deepak Choprah’s site on Chakras is a good one.

Here’s how the practice goes.  (I learned it in connection with the course I took with Jean Houston, Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, and that’s part of what I mean by Waking Up!)

The first, root, chakra is at the base of the spine in the tailbone area.  The color associated with it is Red.  Focus on that area.  The phrase to help it wake up, is I AM.  Sense the color, feel into the sense of that part of the body as you say the phrase.

The second center is in the belly, a bit below the navel, and a few inches in.  Visualize it. Feel it.  Say the phrase I FEEL.  The color is Orange.

The Solar Plexus is the location of the third center, and its color is Yellow.  Say I DO as you feel that part of your body, sense into the color, feel the active energy, the power we have when we’re fully alive.

Green is the color of the fourth Chakra, located in the heart area. Say I LOVE as you sense your heart, and imagine or feel it open and expand.

The throat is the location of the fifth energy center. Its color is Blue. And the waking up phrase is I SPEAK.  

Then comes Indigo, the Third Eye, in the center of our forehead.  This is the sixth Chakra, and the phrase to say is I SEE. 

The seventh, or Crown Chakra, is at the top of our head.  Color is Violet.  Say I UNDERSTAND as you focus on that area.

There is a final, transpersonal energy center, an eighth Chakra, which links and completes the series, and which we can use to sense our inter-connectedness with all that is.  I like to say I AM CONNECTED for that area, sensing into the clear, luminous field several feet above my head.

Alright, that’s the list of centers, colors, locations, phrases. Even if I do the exercise rather perfunctorally, I find it wakes me up, puts me in touch with my body, and I feel alert and open.

One day when I was out for a morning walk, I took more time, and really deepened the practice.  In addition to sensing, visualizing, saying, I stayed with each center longer than usual, and expanded the phrase.  For example, I said things like I AM here, I am alive, I am vital, I am grateful, I am walking…  Then I FEEL good, I feel orange, I feel connected, I feel the fall air…  I DO good, I do like food, I do many different things, I do make mistakes, I do care…   I LOVE autumn, I love my sweetie, my kids and grandkids, I love the ocean and its creatures, I love exercise, I love people who walk their talk…  I SPEAK kind words, I speak sometimes before I think, I speak out about fracking…   I SEE clearly, I see through a glass darkly, I see squirrels, I see the blue sky, I see smiles on people’s faces… I UNDERSTAND that everything is connected, I understand that the oceans are going down, I understand the things change, I understand that I will die, I understand that I can choose what I focus on…  And then I felt into the eighth chakra, and sensed what I had said, and felt, and spoken, and knew.

It was very powerful, and I felt very alive, very in touch.  My self-acceptance and sense of connection to all was way higher than usual, and my gaze was brighter and clearer.  It was as lovely as the fall day I was experiencing, and my experience was the richer for my intention and attention to waking up. 

If you have an interest in these things, there is much fascinating, informative material to explore.  Carolyn Myss’s Anatomy of the Spirit is a book to consider, as is Ambika  Wauters’ Book of Chakras.  It’s also fun to just google around and see what’s there.  Science is now ‘discovering’ that we do have energy channels, and that healing is promoted when we tap into them.  It’s mystical, mysterious, intriguing, and quite practical!

Jill Schroder is the author of BECOMING: Journeying Toward Authenticity.  BECOMING is an invitation for self-reflection, and to mine our memorable moments for insights, meaning, and growth.  Check the website for a sample chapter, or see the reviews to get a flavor for the volume.  Follow me on Twitter, let’s be friends on Facebook :-)

 

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