Chakras are mass energy converters. They convert matter to energy and then energy back into matter. In different words; Chakras convert experiences of the material world such as emotional events, strong addictive desires, heavy disappointments, and victimization into energy on the astral plane called karma. And then that karma eventually manifests back into the material world as desires, addictions, and strong emotions. And to put it another way, every experience you have had is stored in the chakras. How do we keep these experiences from manifesting and repeating again and again? Meditate! Become self-aware! Do the Kriya Rotation! In other words; keep these seeds of karma from manifesting in the material world.

 

Each chakra holds the beliefs, emotions, and memories related to specific areas of our life. The lower three chakras are related to Earthly matters such as survival, power, sex, greed and anger. The upper three chakras are related to higher consciousness, truth, intuition, and purpose and allow us to attune to the cosmos or the upper spiritual plane. In the middle, the heart chakra bridges the two worlds with empathy, unselfish love, and compassion.

 

Deepak Chopra states on his website “Chakras store the energy of thoughts, feelings, memories, experiences, and actions. They influence and direct our present and future mindset, behavior, emotional health, and actions. The life force in each chakra can be processed, transmuted and released so that we consciously manifest what we want to call in, rather than experience more of the same. Chakra healing is the intentional practice of connecting with our stored energy, so we may understand how our past is influencing the present and the future. Prana informs us, and influences our actions and behaviors, determining our health, career opportunities, relationships, and more. The subtle body depicts how our inner reality creates our outer reality.”1

 

How do we work with our stored energy to heal and understand how our past experiences are influencing our present and future? Meditation is the surest way. Simply sitting with loving awareness at each of our chakras awakens and balances the chakras. By hanging out for a time with your non-judgmental awareness at a chakra you may begin to feel the life force of the chakras and begin to feel if one was out of sync of the others. As you sit meditatively with the chakras, past experience or samskara (grooves that our thinking patterns make in the mind) will come forth and need to acknowledged with compassion and gentleness so that you can see clearly what needs to be reflected upon and healed. Each time a past experience comes up as thought and as energy, if you are able to give it compassion and healing without reacting to it, you have softened yet another piece of karma from your past. The following methods are from Kriya Yoga in which we meditate and awaken the chakras. There are other ways to attune to the chakras and balance the chakras, including going to someone who balances chakras with a tuning fork or using sound healing to balance chakras. Those ways are done by someone else and are mostly exoteric. The following practices That are suggested as a SR practice are esoteric and use the mystical practices of Kriya Yoga to balance and lift our energies.

 

This technique called the Kriya Breath or the Kriya Rotation, is a technique that lifts our life force up through the chakras to the sun center. This technique is part of the weekly meditation of SR meetings and is included on the website under Kriya techniques. But in simple terms the breath and life energies are lifted up from the base of the spine, up through the center of the chakras, piercing each chakra, to the sun center on the inhalation. There is a short pause of breath and awareness at the sun center or intuitive center. Then those energies move out the forehead around the top of the head and down the back spine on the exhalation. You can use the 6:3:6 breathing technique discussed earlier. The charkas are like little drooping lotus flowers and as we lift our life forces up through the chakras, we awaken the chakras. As you move up the spine with the breath and life energies, your awareness moves through each chakra, along with some awareness staying at the sun center. Mystically, as you move up through the chakras with the in breath, little bits of karma are being released and if you are truly in a meditative and non reactive state, you can soften that piece of karma as it emerges before it manifests on the earth plane. The key is to truly have no desire or emotion towards whatever seeds of karma (samskaras) emerge. Maybe you will not even know what samskaras come to the surface as the practice deepens and leads you to deep concentration. And as these seeds are bypassed without watering them through a reaction, that piece of karma has softened.

 

There are several variations on lifting life force energies using the Kriya Rotation.

• One of the variations uses a mantra. The mantra is the beeja sound or seed sound at each chakra. The beeja sound again serves to awaken and balance the chakra. You can hold your awareness at each chakra and meditate on the mantra at each chakra. The beeja sounds of the chakras are as follows: In order of chakras beginning at the Muladhara chakra, Lam, Vam, Ram, Yam, Ham and Om is at the sixth chakra or the Ajna chakra. You always want to ascend up the spine to lift energies and awaken the chakras. You could begin at the base of spine at the Muladhara chakra; meditate there and mentally or out loud chant Lam, Lam, Lam for as long as you are called to do so. Then move up a few inches to the Svadhistana chakra and chant Vam, Vam, Vam. Ascend up to the naval center or Manipura chakra and chant Ram, Ram, Ram. Move up to the heart chakra, the Anahata chakra and chant Yam, Yam, Yam. Move to the throat chakra called the Vishudda chakra and chant Ham, Ham, Ham. Ascend up to the third eye chakra or Ajna chakra and chant Ommmmm!

• Using the beeja sounds, move up through the chakras on the in breath, allowing a slight pause and mental chant at each chakra, hold your awareness at the Ajna chakra for a bit before exhaling your breath down the back body.

• Yantras are visual symbols that lead to an energy effect, the same as the mantra is used as a tool to lift our energies and provide a certain energy effect. You can sit and hold your awareness at each chakra for as long as you like with the associated yantra. The chakras are like lotus flowers with petals. The Yantra at the Muladhara chakra is a yellow square above a lotus flower of 4 petals. The second chakra is Svadhistana and it's symbol is a crescent moon above a lotus flower of 6 petals. The third chakra is Manipura; red triangle above lotus flower of 10 petals. The fourth chakra is Anahata; two silver interlocking triangles (Merkaba) above lotus flower of 12 petals. Fifth Chakra, Vishudda; full moon above lotus flower of 16 petals. And the sixth chakra at the Sun Center is called Ajna; a bindu or a black dot in a circle, above a lotus flower of 2 petals. In a meditative state move up through your chakras pausing and seeing the Yantra at each chakra in your being. As you develop awareness in each chakra, other colors or symbols may enhance the Yantras or you may develop your own Yantras.

• Using the Yantras, move up through the chakras on the inhalation, allowing a slight pause and visual Yantra at each chakra. Pause the breath and your awareness at the Sun center (ajna chakra), then let the life energies flow down the back of the spine on the exhalation like a waterfall flowing back to the base of your spine.

• When you have practiced both Mantras and Yantras through the chakras, you at some point may want to do both as you ascend up the spine. The more you can awaken and balance the chakras, the more we can heal the inharmonious experiences of the past.

 

It is important to establish a healthy and strong foundation. That is one of the reason to lift and ascend up from the base of the spine or from the Muladhara upward. If we all of a sudden have big intuitive hits or maybe we are receiving symbols or messages from our higher source and we do not have a strong foundation, it can be jarring and overwhelming. The practice of the yamas and niyamas are a fantastic way to gain a fruitful and stable foundation. Hatha Yoga also allows for a healthy foundation as does mindfulness techniques and meditation.

 

So, what has been said? Chakras convert our life experiences of our earthy life into karma and samskaras of the astral body. And then those samskaras and that karma manifests back into our physical lives as thought patterns, attitudes, behaviors, addictions, and memories. SR teaches self-awareness through mindfulness and tarka so that we can see our karma; and meditation and Kriya rotation so that we can detach and have compassion, patience and gentleness when our karma and memories of the past manifest, thus not allowing the seeds to ripen. Meditation allows us to see our patterns and when we are strong enough, allows us to think a new thought and choose a path of goodness and contentment.

 

Most of All: Enjoy your journey. Exploring your chakras is exploring yourself from the inside. Be kind, be gentle and know that to see our karma is to soften our karma. And Karma just is. Everyone here on the Earth plane has it. But kuddos to those who can see it, bring light to it (self-awareness and self-acceptance) and heal it (self-love and self-mastery). There is no shame in being aware of our proclivities. There is only maturity!! That is why we are here, to mature, to evolve to become content and happy on our journey. And as Kriyananda would end a lesson, “Be blessed, be blessed, be triply blessed” I offer to you: Be Blessed by the teachings, Be Blessed, Be Triply Blessed. And then you will be a blessing to others.

 

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantih

1https://chopra.com/articles/what-is-a-chakra