MATT

RIP  1-31-12  1-31-13

Nourishment

The first chakra is also about food -- how we nourish ourselves.  The first food came from the mother, so we have to consider issues with the mother.  What is your relationship to your mother?  How do you feel when you hear the question?

Food is one of the great addictions of our time and place -- meaning our country, present time.  Fast food rules, but is empty of any real nourishment.  Eating unconsciously is a coping strategy, instead, we need to ask, what are we really hungry for?

Journal about food, and what you're really hungry for...

GROUNDING

Without grounding we are homeless

I began a commitment to walking a few months ago, and did very well with it until the snow and mud kept me away.  My walks had become a sweet part of my day and I really missed them.  So now, in the last couple of days, the snow is gone, the mud has mostly dried up, and I have begun again.  

In first chakra it's vital to be grounded, and having your feet on the earth is one really good way.  

Just as the groundedness of a tree routes the flow of sap from earth to leaves and from leaves to earth, so does our groundedness channel the flow of excitement from ourselves to the environment and from the environment to ourselves.

                                  Stanley Keleman

Be good to yourself -- take a walk!

Only by standing in our own ground can we determine our future.

Earth Chakra

I am fully grounded and connected to the earth.

I am fully grounded and connected to the earth.

I am fully grounded and connected to the earth.

The Womb

The first chakra relates to the formation of the physical body and takes place during prenatal development and infancy.  The growth of the body is main focus of the life force, and the infant's developmental tasks, learning how to operate the body and deal with the physical world occupy the bulk of consciousness throughout the time in the womb and throughout the first year.  There's little awareness of the outside world, and the baby lives in a fused symbiosis with the mother.
The physical and emotional state of the mother during the time the developing fetus is in her womb is vitally important for the child -- everything passes between them.

My daughter-in-law found this stone on the beach when she was pregnant with her, and my son's, daughter.

When the baby's needs are properly met, it anchors the spirit into the physical body and the child feels welcomed into the world.  Erik Erikson, in his eight stages of psychosocial development, defines the struggle of this age as one trust vs mistrust.  This stage builds the foundation of security and groundedness that enables self-preservation and forms the physical identity.

Stay with your commitment -- do The Five Tibetan exercises, meditate, do squats or body drops to ground yourself, take a walk, feel your feet on the earth.

We began!

So we began today -- nine strong!  Wahe Guru!

I wanted to share one of the exercises we did in class today called The Five Tibetan Rites:  Exercises for healing, Rejuvenation, and Longevity -- five simple exercises that can be done in mere minutes -- an exercise program used by Tibetan monks to live long, vibrant and healthy lives.  The exercises come from a book called The Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth by Peter Kelder.  You can easily look this information up on line.  I included them in class because The Five Rites speed up the spinning of the chakras, coordinate their spin so they are in complete harmony, distribute pure prana energy to the endocrine system, and in turn to all organs and processes in the body.
I am committing to adding these Five exercises to my own practice -- and I hope you will join me in this and weigh in on how you're doing.  C'mon Commit!  You know you wanna!


The little smiling Buddha in the photograph is one my friend, Chris, made for me.  He's wearing a shawl of my eight wrist bands after the completion of my first year of the eight chakras.  The bands are just embroidery thread tied around the wrist that serve as a reminder of the deep process and journey you are on.

We will be in Chakra 1, Muladhadra -- the ground of us -- for 45 days.
The building can't rise without the base.
Begin a practice, reach for something just outside your comfort zone.
Make an altar, use a red cloth or candle or flower.
Plant a seed, a bulb, an intention...

January 3, 2013 We Begin...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!          2013

Today marks the beginning of my third year of teaching a class on the Chakra System.  It's always exciting to begin a journey and today has that feeling for me.  For those new to this blog, you can check out the first year at:  wheelsoflife-maryfrank -- (just google it).

The second year was marked by a personal tragedy -- the loss of my son, Matt -- which halted my continuation of the blog, but what there is of it, is also available to read at : year 2- healing the chakras.

Now we're in the third year.  2013.  Wow.  We've been through the end of the world -- 2012 -- the end of the Mayan Calendar -- the end in some way for all of us.  And now we have a chance for a new beginning.  All it takes is saying Yes.  Stepping Up.  Taking Action!

Where this takes you is up to you.
What do you want?  What are you willing to commit to?

The drawing introducing this series is one I made in a workshop I attended back in 1999 -- way back in another century!  The workshop was called, MATURE WOMEN'S ANCIENT INITIATION RITES -- big title, and important time for me.  We explored the Dionysian mystery rites for women held in the city of Pompeii.  These rites were depicted on the walls of a villa buried in the 70 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius.  Through a series of images collected in a book entitled, Villa of Mysteries, by Linda Fierz-David, we, as a group, dared open to the dark, the dangerous, the fearful, exciting, unknown, mystery that is ourself.

One of the first things we did was to make a drawing on how we would welcome the God (the Dionysian spirit).  Throughout the twelve weeks of the class, we continued to embellish our "kista mystika" (an instinctual guidance within which leads downward to the light under the earth).  I drew the Chakras -- from instinct, not from outer knowledge.

It's fourteen years later and I'm still working with these amazing centers of energy. Now teaching this inner journey along with Kundalini Yoga -- a practice to bring us to ourselves --
our True Self -- our Sat Nam.

Those of you in Santa Fe, I hope to see you in class -- 9 AM today.  Others please follow along...