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When our Throat Chakra energy is impaired we may not honestly articulate our truth, or do so in a half hearted way. There may also be a tendency to put up a brave front and not speak about inner hurt, pain or turmoil.  Obviously this stymies communication, but it also weakens our capacity to stand for ourselves and our ideals in order that dreams may be realized.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the tendency to talk too much thereby draining vital energy. Negative habits such as gossiping are a sign of this … actually obsessive behavior of any kind can be a sign of the inability to assimilate energy and communicate in healthy ways.

An open and balanced throat chakra allows for free expression of yourself and your beliefs; your creativity flows; your emotions are communicated freely without fear of others’ opinions.

Benefits of Balanced Throat Chakra Energy
Working with the throat chakra can help to transcend fear and transmute the lower emotions to unconditional joy. This energy center also has a lot to do with the ability to hold an awareness of both the subtle & the material worlds.

Stimulating the throat chakra can help increase the richness and tone of your voice. It can endow you with skill in language, the ability to write, as well as with the capacity to understand messages in dreams and to be an effective teacher. Jupiter is the planet that rules this chakra and in India Jupiter represents the Spiritual Teacher. Meditating on this chakra can bring deep insight into the past, present and future along with the capacity to communicate that wisdom.

Assessing Your Throat Chakra Energy
Do you think what you have to say is important? (too little=deficient energy, too much = excess energy)
What is your experience re: sense of timing? (are you in the right place at the right time? feel out of sync?)
How’s your sense of rhythm? (think about music, walking, dancing, moving in general)
Have you been chastised or put down for your expression of ideas, feelings or actions?
Do you carry tension in your jaw, neck or shoulders?
Are frequent sore throats or hoarseness an issue?
Do you feel no one listens to or loves you?

Techniques for Balance
Be aware of when you want to say “No” instead of reflexively saying “Yes”
Discover your inner truth (as you feel it today–it changes over time) ; practice speaking it
Notice when you talk too much or too little- balancing the throat chakra will shift this
Use sound, color and tone to balance this chakra (see Energy Aerobics for this approach to chakras)
Guided Chakra Meditations includes 10 minute meditations for each chakra

Chanting is a wonderful way to meditate and develop all the chakras, but in particular the throat as this is its home base!  The sound for the throat chakra is ee. The syllable for the throat is HAM. Also any singing that you do can help bring openness and balance to the throat.

To sample two minutes of a meditation for the throat chakra listen to the audio below:

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• Sound and the Chakras (chakralivingroom.wordpress.com)

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The Sacral Chakra is located in the pelvis approximately three finger widths below the navel and it develops between 3 and 8 years of age. With proper support at this stage we learn about feelings and how to express and manage them. With adequate guidance, modeling and mirroring a healthy sense of entitlement (deserving) and self worth are developed. The second chakra is the seat of our emotions and regulates the flow and distribution of energy.

Physically the sacral is associated with the health of the reproductive organs and hips. It also governs the body’s liquids, E. G. blood, lymph, mucus, saliva. Health issues that reflect an imbalance in this chakra occur in the areas mentioned.

Metaphors From Water
The sacral chakra’s element is water. As we think about the qualities of water we can get a felt sense of how second chakra energy functions in our lives. Nature clearly demonstrates both the power and attributes of water and reflects the possible states for the manifestation of our energy.

Water can be smooth and flowing as in a river stream, it can pack the power of ocean waves crashing on the shore; it can be stagnant as a pond that receives no fresh and cleansing input. Water can be as refreshing as a mountain lake, cold as the frozen tundra or volatile as steam exploding from a too tight container. Water can be refreshing, life giving and life enhancing. However, too much or too little water can be a problem as can stagnation, or the lack of containment. These, as we all know, can be harmful or destructive. And so it can be with the emotional power of the second chakra.

Construction or Destruction—Your Choice
The sacral chakra has been described as a dark interior cave where all manner of demons lie but it also holds some of the most profound raw material for the creation of our lives. The negative interpretation arises as the second chakra is where our most challenging shadow material is registered. It is up to us whether we choose to work with these energies so they become our allies or leave them unconscious where they become our inner enemies.

At best this energy center is the womb of creation. It is a place where new life gathers its power and is gestated until it is ripe and ready to be birthed into the world. It is a profound, complex and powerful center of our core nature.

My opinion is that a useful and productive way to approach this energy center is that of getting to know a multifaceted friend full of meaning who has wisdom and great gifts for us hidden beneath some pain. This friend needs kindness, compassion and acceptance. Once embraced in this way the full power of this mysterious interior spring can nurture our lives and be a source of resilience and emotional intelligence.

Emotional Symptoms of Imbalance
One clue that something is amiss in this energy center is feelings of shame or of having done something wrong. This feeling is different than the healthy guilt that comes from having actually broken a law, done harm or crossed a line that is against one’s own integrity. Shame is a sense of BEING wrong, flawed or bad in the deep inner fabric of your being. There may be confusion and lack of understanding of where this feeling came from. Often the origin of shame is the result of projected emotions from others early in a person’s life. These feelings are rooted deeply in the disowned feelings of others that got absorbed into the field of a growing child. Once something is inside us we feel it and that being so, we believe it is ours to own.

Other signs that there are issues or blocked energy in the second chakra are: difficulty appreciating life’s goodness; nothing seems good enough and depression can result. There can also be a sense of being stuck, of having no ability to adapt or change; there may be insensitivity to one’s own feelings and emotional needs and an inability to express emotion; there may be denial of pleasure with unyielding, strict and rigid self imposed boundaries—this can include healthy practices done in the extreme. An excess of energy in this center may show itself as a compulsion for pleasure and being extremely emotional.

At its best the sacral chakra is liquid and flowing providing an ability to be flexible and adaptable. However we can go too far in this direction as well and create imbalance. You know this is a problem if you feel in a constant state of flux with an inability to ground or set boundaries; there also may be a tendency to be overly emotional and dramatic.

Opening and balancing the sacral chakra fundamentally involves letting go of shame, unhealthy guilt and frustration and learning to go with the flow of life. Balancing the sacral chakra allows emotion to freely move through our systems. Just as flowing water is purifying, refreshing and revitalizing so it is with feelings set in motion without resistance that includes proper channeling. When the energy here is open, flowing and balanced we are responsive, intuitive, buoyant, and full of dreams and healthy desire.

For Sacral Chakra Meditations:

Energy Aerobics http://bit.ly/wWnQ2J

Chakra Guided Meditations http://bit.ly/w1D4sN

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This is a great commentary on our times, what they mean and how we can begin to shift toward a more sustainable future. The concept of emergence is an important one for the era we are in when the challenges are huge and varied AND the old ways of approaching life are not working. Dr. Lipton explains the concept well.  Using a process that allows for emergence on an individual or global level can seem magical at times but it does requires patience, the ability to tolerate not knowing for a time, and trust, as well as a method that opens up and connects us to higher ways of knowing and creativity.  Such an approach is very helpful , comforting and life enhancing especially when faced with confusion, doubt and lack of clarity. In my work with individuals and groups I have seen amazing things occur when engaging such a process. Having our backs to the wall has a tendency to open us to new ways of being…often ones that were not anticipated but in the end they turn out to be gratifying and so much more than we could have imagined.  I suspect that the Occupy Movement is the beginning of something new trying to emerge that contributes to a new foundation in and for the global community…every journey begins with one step.

Note: We have no connection to nor do we receive any financial re-numeration for Dr. Lipton’s books. We simply admire his work and think he has a wonderful way of conceptualizing who we are, where we could be headed and the process of cooperation needed to get there.

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• The Occupy movements are the realists, not Europe’s ruling elites | John Gray (guardian.co.uk)

Technology is expanding our world in so many ways…soon we will be able to develop mindfulness, align our chakras and perhaps become enlightened via our computers and X Boxes! I think this is amazingly creative and a wonderful example of having technology serve us rather than being enslaved by it.

What do you think about blending technology with gaming, personal and spiritual growth?

From Seattle Pi

“I personally believe that you can accelerate neural development and biological evolution through video games,” said Chopra. “Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re doing right now. What we’re doing is creating addictions to violence, adrenaline and mindlessness, rather than mindfulness. That was my personal motivation to get involved in this medium.”

“Deepak Chopra’s Leela” from THQ Inc. will use the Xbox 360 console’s controller-free, camera-based Kinect system to detect users’ bodies, then guide them through meditation exercises. (An edition for Nintendo’s Wii requires players to hold a controller.) “Leela,” which translates to “play” in Sanskrit, is less of a game and more of an experience, though there are a few gameplay elements.

Seven different interactive exercises based on the seven “chakras,” the points along the body that Chopra says serve as energy centers, task players with moving their bodies to control graphics onscreen set to a soothing soundtrack. The mini-games increase in difficulty, but “Leela” places no importance on a final score or even finishing the exercises.

The root chakra exercise, for example, directs players to tilt their hips to seed a virtual planet, while the heart chakra exercise
uses players’ hands to harness fireballs that release gems imbedded in descending rocks. Peter Armstrong, director of product development at THQ, said transforming Chopra’s teachings into gameplay was a difficult endeavor.

“We wanted to make sure each of the movements was fun and replayable,” said Armstrong. “That’s why we did more than 500 prototypes. We took the teachings and tried to boil them down. We would show those to Deepak and some of his experts, but there were several instances where they just didn’t work. They just didn’t quite fit the meaning of that chakra.”

Armstrong said the developers had the toughest time wrapping their heads around the throat chakra. At first, the game makers wanted to craft a mini-game that would take advantage of Kinect’s vocal recognition capabilities, but Chopra instead steered the game makers toward creating a fluid experience that would be more about communicating than screeching.

One of the guided meditative modes uses Kinect’s depth sensor to measure seated players’ breathing patterns. The result is displayed onscreen as three undulating bars. As players move their chest, the soothing voice of yoga instructor Elena
Brower provides instruction on how to control breathing. It’s the first such use of the technology in a Kinect game.

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Chopra-hopes-to-connect-minds-bodies-with-Leela-1471723.php

“When we align with the law of impermanence we discover the security of our center. We abide in the present — the ‘one moment’. And that is a golden condition. The natural condition.”
Frederick Woodruff

Now more than ever we need reminders and the means to be  able to live from a centered place within! The chaos of the world challenges all to find creative solutions for life and living in a whole new environment. The tendency toward fear of our conscious/normal waking mind does not allow for creativity, resiliency or anything that is really terribly useful to rise to most challenges let alone the foundation shattering forces that we are living with.at present.

Developing a meditation/spiritual practice and/or working with your personal energy system helps build the internal infrastructure necessary to see creative solutions, have the courage to implement them and not fall prey to the fear mongering all around!

Our recorded program  Chakras and Feng Shui: Balancing Inner and Outer Energy can help you through these challenging times with a comprehensive approach of information, guidance and techniques on how to work with energy and consciousness to open to higher creativity and develop peace of mind. To learn more: https://www.livingenergyworks.com/store/cd-programs/chakras-and-feng-shui-balancing-inner-and-outer-energy/prod_19.html

“In the midst of crisis, human beings finally learn about the ultimate currency: the power of connection”. 

Here is a fascinating approach to some of our global issues from a grassroots local level. http://www.transitionnetwork.org/

When we focus on expanding our consciousness/energy and open to the possibility of what can happen instead of the falling away of old ways and the accompanying fear…creative solutions emerge and morph into new sustainable ways of being.

You can make room for The Creative to develop within you by letting go of inferior habits and thoughts … anything that doesn’t serve you or benefit your highest good.  Such habits would include judgments about other people, careless words and thoughts, lack of compassion, intolerance, frantic actions and more.  Cultivate integrity, goodness, patience and humbleness.  Open yourself to help from others.  Allow your High Powers to guide your actions.  Change what you can about yourself and accept what “is.” 

 How do you make room for The Creative to accomplish this acceptance, or the letting go of that which no longer serves you whether it be old patterns of behavior, difficult emotions or repetitive thoughts?

East is meeting West once again as current research demonstrates the biology behind wise ancient advice! Scientists have studied the process that successful people use in this regard and   have discovered that we can learn to set the stage for letting go through some fairly simple steps. The steps are simple however the changes that occur in the brain and throughout the body involve complex biochemistry. These changes not only involve a letting go and arrival at acceptance, they also improve health, enhance mood, open the door to creativity, increased learning, ‘out of the box’ thinking and boost productivity.  

The beginning of this process involves stress! The stress may be imposed from outside or it may come about as you seek to solve a problem or resolve a situation. The stress may be useful in the beginning in some ways, but if left unaddressed it typically builds as resolution of your dilemma is not forthcoming. If this continues your physical and psychological well being are impaired.

You can intervene in the stress cycle in a healthy way by taking a break and engaging in an activity that will trigger more beneficial and helpful biochemistry that will lead to the solution to your problem as well as the aforementioned other positive changes.

What types of activities are helpful now? Something that takes you completely away from your habitual and familiar thoughts, feelings and ways of reacting is essential. It can be helpful to consciously be aware of all the information and facts etc regarding your stress but it is also helpful to engage another level of wisdom to enter and help you. This is done by shifting your state of mind and not continuing to actively resist or fight with the cause of your stress.

Repetitive activities that help to quiet the mind and body are the key. You may choose meditation, yoga, prayer, knitting, singing, housework, gardening, contemplating nature, conscious breathing, walking, biking or hiking. The important component is that these are changes that break the pattern you were in and focus your attention elsewhere.

What happens then is a series of intricate shifts within your biochemistry and neurology that sets the stage for an ‘AHA Experience’…. the resolution of your problem. The next step is a return to normal life with a heightened sense of well being.

 The first time you practice this approach may not feel exactly like an enlightenment experience! Be assured however that with practice you will be strengthening pathways and laying the groundwork for new abilities to grow within you.  Spiritual energy and great creative forces surround us at all times but we must do our part to become worthy partners in the co-creative dance.

 Emotional Freedom Techniques is another great tool for removing the stress from your system and allowing greater states of relaxation, intuition and resolution to enter your awareness. In addition, imagery or inner child work focused on releasing past core issues are enormously helpful to open and release the fundamental roots of stress so that your inner space can be free and clear to allow more creative flow within you.

 Remember, the fundamental creative power of the universe is unrestricted and available to all of us.  We must have a way of connecting, aligning with it for it to benefit us. When we have a process to let go of the old and welcome the new creative flow can move more gracefully beyond stress and into a whole new way of being that is enlivening and life enhancing. 

“ We can also awaken ourselves with the intention to be more aware of the unconditional generosity of the life force that flows through us regardless of our circumstances.” From The Daily Om

There are many ways to reduce and manage stress. I find it gets exhausting if I am always focused on trying to fight it, or conquor it.  A very powerful approach that has really helped me to have a healthier attitude and approach to stress is to side step the idea of combating it and rather learn ways to open to a fundamental flow of creative energy and develop it. This provides a deep well spring from which to engage and build on practices that are more life enhancing and revitalizing.

The I Ching, the oldest book of China, of the Book of Change gives us some guidance regarding this approach.  The I Ching is an observation of human behavior and the constantly changing structure of the universe.  It is about the way things are at the moment and the way that they tend to change and transform themselves.  A basic premise is that there are no isolated actions.  Every action has a reaction and every thing affects every other thingin a synchronistic manner.  The observation of patterns in nature can help us adopt an attitude of flow in order to move more gracefully, consciously and purposefully through change and challenging times.

 Sixty-four different life situations (also called hexagrams) are highlighted in the I Ching.  The first of these is called The Creative.  It is about how worthwhile goals will meet with success.  When you use your inspiration, energy, will and personal strength — your Creative Power —  you can catapult yourself into new situations and use your opportunities to your best advantage.  The Creative is a time when personal growth is accelerated.  You focus and become aware of the situations around you. You learn when to act and when not to act.  It is a time when people may look to you for leadership.  You act for your highest good and you meet with success.

 You can make room for the energy referred to as The Creativeto develop within you and learn to live more from this place rather than being in a combative relationship with life and its stress.

 How? More on this tomorrow!

When do you want to use ‘energy work’ in your life? Always, for everything, everywhere!

 We tend to think in terms of energy for healing and in fact that is often the entry point for learning about energy. But the fact is that we are always engaging and using energy. Generally we do not think about or understand its function, structure or its influence in our lives. That being the case, we live with default patterns that contribute to a sense of lack of control over large parts of our life experience.

 Everything is energy. Our thoughts, feelings, dreams, hopes and fears are all vibrations that move through us and out into the universal field of which we are all a part. Our minds (scattered throughout our body not simply a byproduct of brain activity) and hearts are the main terminals for generating the energy of thought and feeling that course through our being and out into the world.

 Once we understand energy, our personal patterns and how to consciously engage and work with this personal power we can be much more effective in the creative process. We can learn how to harness, direct and flow energy to work for our benefit rather than experiencing the random and often chaotic results of unconscious default patterns.

Yesterday on our radio show we spoke with Haya Leah Molnar, author of Under a Red Sky , about her book, early childhood experiences in a communist country, and about how early life experience helps to shape one’s connection to innate creative abilities.  

As Ms. Molnar’s story unfolds it is clear that her family experience was one that supported her creative development in spite of the difficult circumstances in the broader environment.  The love, acceptance and support of her family, as well as their own deep connection to their own creativity, bathed her in a web of energy that encouraged the unfolding of her gifts.

Others may not have been so fortunate as to have the kind of openness, care and nurture of their creative spirit as Haya Molnar.  However that does not mean that creativity is lost to them. Each of us has an innate creative capacity. We may not think of our particular abilities as being creative if they do not follow the traditional expressions of art forms. Nevertheless we do possess this capacity. For many the flow of that energy may have been shut off or constricted due to family messages, neglect or simple lack of awareness.  

The good news is that we can all recover, reconnect and enliven the creative flow within us. Working directly with our energy system provides us with the means to do just that. First, we must understand that energy system and have the methods to be able to heal any damage, strengthen our connection with our inner flow and learn how to effectively direct that flow of energy.  

Here is a brief excerpt from Chakras and Feng Shui: Balancing Inner and Outer Energy that helps to explain how disruptions in our energy field result in a breakdown in our life function and experience.

The seven major chakras each contribute a layer of energy to what is commonly known as the human aura. Each of the chakras is responsible for a particular physical, psychological, and spiritual aspect of our functioning. They also seem to operate as encoding or storage devices for our life history.

When any one energy center is disrupted or damaged, that aspect of the field’s frequency is affected resulting in a disturbance of energy. These disturbances can be transmitted to other layers of the field, causing them to malfunction as well. Disruptions cause the equivalent of leaks, improper flow, and obstruction of energy in what should be a free flowing system. The result is that the energy field weakens and fatigue sets in. Over time, this weakening can cause mental, emotional, spiritual, or physical dysfunction. These distortions in the field prevent us from radiating our potential fully and completely. They prevent an experience of ourselves as whole and healthy, and compromise our capacity to relate positively to others.