Living Energy Blog

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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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Developing your consciousness to be aware and tuned in to what thoughts and feeling states are running you sets the stage for being able to release them and the accompanying stress.

Engaging a method that allows for the release of resistance to difficult feelings and compulsive thgought loops and letting that energy flow…allows it to go! You then have a real choice to generate positive emotions and feeling in your body-mind.

1. Today I will remember that it is my choice which thoughts and feelings I allow to flow through my body-mind.

2. As I open to release the pain deep in my heart, there is more space for wisdom and love to flow through me.

3. Consciously choosing to feel love and compassion improves my health and well being.

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We tend to resist feelings without really realizing that we are doing it. Much of the physical and mental discomfort that we experience is due to the “stuck energy” of unprocessed emotions.

Feelings can seem like unwelcome visitors that are painful, difficult, hold us back, or create problems in our lives. However they are important energies for us to consider from several vantage points. Here are three “affirmations” that can be starting points for becoming emotionally literate and therefore better able to discover your essential/authentic/true Self with all its gifts.

1. My feelings give me important information about life and myself.
2. My feelings are a valuable guide on my journey through life.
3. My feelings are energy and need to flow freely through me for my total health and well being.

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“There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion.”   Carl Jung

Healthy expression of emotion allows you energy to flow, clears and strengthens your inner pathways  and allows more space for your inner light to shine!

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• Book Review: The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self, by Deepak Chopra, Debbie Ford, Marianne Williamson (repatterningjournal.com)

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The mural above is titled Understanding. There are many things in our world that we wish to understand however a forgotten dimension often is our very own selves!

Our five senses compellingly draw our attention to the outer physical world. With such a strong outer directed focus, it quite naturally follows that we would look for our inner needs to be filled through external material sources. As most are painfully aware, this is usually a short lived and unsatisfying solution. Such an orientation typically leads to blame, criticism, judgments, and compulsivity (repetitive behaviors expecting a different outcome) rather than the outcome we truly desire.

Being outwardly directed also tends to produce reliance on a spiritual being external to ourselves. We beseech this Greater Being to bestow favors upon us –and we continue to define ourselves through the physical, roles and material possessions. This way of being is one of limited consciousness , of not having the full depth, breadth and expansiveness of our inner wisdom/ nature. Paradoxically, it is a mind set that both begins and ends in fear. An outer focus leaves us up one day down the next with no center to hold on to. Life is about change. Consciousness that is attached to the outer world
does not help us to move with the cycles of change. This does not help us to increase our capacity to function in the world in a meaningful way that leads to peace, joy & happiness.

Our sixth sense or intuitive nature draws our attention inward and assists us to truly find the means to resolve issues, release struggle and longing and receive the true fulfillment of our deepest desires.

This inner path allows us to examine thoughts, feelings and beliefs that no longer serve us and lead to problems. It opens the way to creative problem solving. Expanding our consciousness beyond the physical and material world awakens us to who we truly are. From there we can transcend limitations, expand creative ability, and step into true power, tolerance, understanding and vitality.

To view ourselves as energetic entities helps us to understand the nature of the authentic self at a deeper level while providing a
very effective way to actively work with ourselves to be able to live more from that center. However, it is not enough to know that we are spiritual/energetic beings. We need to understand what it is specifically that deters us from living fully from that perspective. We need to know how our life experiences have affected us. Knowledge is a first step toward healing. Our
personal history has helped shape our ways of being in the world. We need to understand the patterns we have formed and have effective ways to release the detrimental effects. Working from a level that incorporates the energy of mind, body and
spirit goes to where the deepest core of our issues lie and helps to release them there where they were embedded.

For instance, you may have experienced deep grief in the past. You understand that this had a profound effect on you. You can describe what happened, how this person was important to you, what (if any) unfinished business there is, and how it is currently impacting your life. If you do not have the means to erase the effects from your mind/body/energy system and install new feelings and behaviors, then you may continue to be affected by the unresolved grief, consciously or unconsciously.

A major pathway toward living more from our authentic self is to experience emotions as they arise, allow them proper expression and have a means to effectively release them from our system. Then all our energy becomes available to us to live in the present  more centered in our true self or nature. It is from that core of being that all else flows!

Feelings are meant to inform, help us integrate experience as we move toward our wholeness…if we listen deeply and attend.

From Rumi

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and attend them all: Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of all its furniture, still, treat each guest honorably. He may be clearing you out for some new delight.

I have heard many times that emotional imbalances are the root of all illness. It follows that when we dissolve or heal the emotional trigger, we heal ourselves. It sounds easy. In my opinion, however, it is a life-long process. Learning to heal our emotional wounds is what our lives are all about. Every event, interaction and relationship provides ample opportunity for practice.

One of the dilemmas is that the root causes of the triggers are often held in our subconscious, out of our awareness. So how can we deal with something that we aren’t even aware of? This is the Catch 22, the ago-old dilemma. After all, if we were aware of what needed to change, we could choose to change it. Correct? We could also save ourselves a lot of anguish, money, time and energy along the way.

Perhaps one of the problems is that we are using the wrong approach and incorrect tools. Rather than try to continually “do” something or “fix” yourself, maybe the solution is really to simply “be” who you really are. Being who you really are begins with accepting wherever you’re at right now. Accept and acknowledge how you are truly feeling. Once you accept things as they are, resistance falls away and a shift toward wholeness begins.

Accepting things as they are requires accepting personal responsibility for your role in it. This includes your perception of what is happening as well as your reaction to the world around you, particularly judgment of others. Play with the concept that others around you mirror what is happening and provide clues about what you need to accept, acknowledge, shift or change. Play with the concept that no one does anything to you. Those around you are merely a catalyst for things you are doing to yourself or aspects of yourself that you have hidden away. Acceptance and forgiveness provide the way out.

Play with the concept of softening your heart; practice being aware of your experiences and your feelings. Your feelings provide the clues. Any negative, low, tense or dense feelings indicate opportunities for change. Lighter, higher, and happier feelings move you up the scale towards unconditional love.

Healing our hearts in not about always being happy though. We are human. We will have ups and downs throughout our lives. If you can genuinely experience three times as many ups as downs, though, you will be well on your way to healing your heart.

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One of the key elements in an energetic approach to living is to FEEL good. Not only is this a goal, it is also a part of the method to achieve the goal. We are so accustomed to working hard, striving, pushing…efforting to reach our destination that it seems to never occur to us that there can be another way. It is not about not making an effort to reach our goals…the point is that we can do so with a lot less angst than most of us generate! The key here is in the attitude and inner state that shapes our approach.

 Fortunately the same techniques that are used to help discover our problem patterns can also be part of the solution. For instance, meditation and breath work can heighten awareness of mind-body patterns that deplete our energy resources. At the same time these methods can help to develop an inner state of ease and also harness the mind in order to create new, healthier patterns of thinking and feeling. The enhanced well being that comes with this type of  practice eventually spills over into real life!

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.”   Nikola Tesla, Inventor

Our feelings have resonance/frequency/vibration. We have a choice to resonate at frequencies that feel good (those based on Love) or those that feel bad (those based on fear).

Most peoples’ feelings are on automatic. They do not realize how much power they have to change their internal state AND affect their external world. 

We can take charge of our feelings:

1. Acknowledge and process negative, fearful ones ASAP–denial is not helpful! We all have negative thoughts, feelings and beliefs–even once enlightened! The challenge is to become a Master and not let them dominate you and determine your experience.

2. Once you have moved through the negative and bade it farewell, then let good feelings flow so that you maintain a more steady stream of “feel good”.

This process is a challenge and there is a learning curve to be sure. Perhaps a useful question can help serve as a reminder as you go through the day: What kind of world would you rather live in—one based on lovingkindness or one based in fear?

It takes energy to move beyond fear.  We must go to a level other than the cognitive to alleviate fear and anxiety.  A preventative approach is very helpful. By reconditioning our nervous systems through daily meditation or deep relaxation training we develop stronger systems that do not knee jerk into a fear response as easily. This also makes us more keenly aware of when a feeling is beginning and we can release it earlier rather than later when it has had time to build into something too difficult to manage.

 Introspection that helps identify old unprocessed material that may be causing your system to be overly sensitive is also useful. In addition, if there are long standing issues in regard to chronic anxiety and fear then a nutritional status check is warranted. Our systems need certain nutrients to function properly. The ability to maintain proper inner balance is made more difficult if the proper nutrients are not available.

 Learning skills that work to ‘erase’ the effects of old input and unconscious automatic reactions are also useful. These methods can work ‘on the spot’ to reduce fear and anxiety as well as erasing lifelong patterns. The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is one such approach.  Emotional Freedom and Healing is another.

Meditation techniques that help you learn how to remain present and open to difficult feelings with no resistance, simply observing them without your normal responses can be very powerful ways of releasing embedded patterns of fear.

 Breathwork is another technique that functions well as an on the spot remedy as well as a preventative one. Most people who experience a great deal of fear or anxiety have breathing patterns that are a contributing factor.  Sit quiet for a moment and listen to your pattern.  After you get a sense for it, breathe consciously.  Breathe slowly and deeply.  Pull your breath as deep into your abdomen as you can.  Hold it for a few seconds and then slowly let it go.  Repeating this process for five or ten minutes at a time is an excellent way to bring yourself into the present moment.

 Ultimately, developing higher consciousness, an ability to live from a higher level of awareness or the authentic self, is perhaps the best solution to alleviating fear and anxiety. However, it is important to remember that this is a process and not an event. It requires a deep fundamental shift within, a commitment and participation in order to be cultivated and become a way of BEING. 

 Shift to being present at all times.  You will then live in the space where fear does not exist.

Both our recorded programs, 12 Keys for Life and Self Mastery and Feng Shui and Chakras: Inner and Outer Balance, include helpful information about releasing fear, as well as guided exercises to help you learn methods to permanently release fear’s grasp.