The chakras are doorways into the deeper self. As portals into the spiritual body, they are conduit to our higher consciousness. In Sanskrit, chakra, means ‘spinning wheel of light’. The chakras are vortexes of energy and keys to health, vitality and longevity. Yoga emerges from the legacy of the chakras as the pathway to illumination.
Seven major chakras, or energy centers, locate along the spine. Each holds a specific vibration of consciousness that addresses specific physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual issues pertinent to that particular chakra. The lower three chakras relate to matters of the outer world: survival, power and control. The upper four concern with inner matters like love, creativity, intuition and transcendence.
The chakras are the hidden forces within. They receive, assimilate and transmit energy. Every thought and emotion filters through the chakras; and when balanced and free flowing, we experience physical health, emotional stability and mental clarity. The chakras radiate from the core channel of self, the spine, which houses the spinal cord and brain. Chakras stimulate the central nervous system via the endocrine system and act as conduit connecting us with universal energy. While chakras do not actually exist in the physical body, they lie in the Pranic Field, two to four inches outside the body. Only recently has science and medicine validated the existence of this field, calling it ‘The Human Energy Field’. Recent technological advances in modern science now measure these energy field currents, which have all but revolutionized modern diagnostic medicine. Today, this pranic or ‘auric’ field (The Human Energy Field) is closely monitored through Magnetic Resonance Imaging, (MRIs), CAT and PET scans. As we break through new frontiers in the world of energetics, quantum physics, and vibrational medicine, science and medicine contemplate the idea that disease does not begin in the body, but comes in from the outer fields! That we are more outside the body than inside is may be baffling, but what the ancients knew over 4,000 years ago.
The earliest findings on chakras appear in India over 25,000 years ago and are a part of the ancient sacred texts, The Vedas. The chakras are an integral part of Tibetan Tantric Yoga. In today’s chaotic times, using the chakras as a tool –a map of consciousness– reveals where we lose energy. In chakra study, we examine how and why we lose power and discover how to manage our energetic anatomy, the thoughts and feelings that move us. For all its mysterious power, the word, ‘chakra’, is not yet a household word, much less recognized as a major energy center. Ironically, of the 15 million plus Americans that practice Yoga today, few know that the chakras are the power behind Yoga! The wisdom and legacy of the chakras bridge the conscious and unconscious mind, uniting the whole self.
TANTRIC WEAVE
Tantra is a way of life, a spiritual awakening that draws on the depths of Yoga, The Vedanta and sacred sciences. Tantra is the path of love. Love is the path of the heart. In tantric practice, we learn how miraculous is the heart –its energy far bigger than ourselves. Tantra opens our heart to others and to the world. Universal energies that pulse the earth are the same energies pulsing through our hearts. Dropping into our heart center, we align with the cosmos and attune to the cosmic heart.
The way of the heart comes by way of the breath. In Yoga practice, we experience the breath that bridges mind and body. Using the breath, we enter the heart core, connecting inner and outer worlds. It is the heart where we are most tender; the heart we most protect. Yet what lies deep in the heart core is what is humanly most precious: our vulnerability. Under it –beneath the veil of vulnerability and under fear– lies a wellspring of creativity ever abundant, ever expanding and ever flowing. Unleashing this geyser within, we open into the field of creation and the creative energy of our source. Creative energy is sexual energy. Yogis refer to it as Kundalini; and its boundless, unlimited free-flow of potential and opportunity lies at the very essence of our being.
Tantra always pushes our buttons. Ruled by love, not logic, intellectual knowledge and the rational mind yield to the wisdom of non-judgment, empathy, intimacy and joyful passion. Tantric energy emerges from deeply centered consciousness –a state of mind that holds ground for another. Its power lies in receptivity and reflects the nurturing, loving energy of The Divine Feminine. In our capacity to be more receptive, we expand our life force, dissolve boundaries and open to the highest energies of the heart: compassion, forgiveness, healing essence, harmony, balance and divine, unconditional love.
Tantra is the path of pleasure. In the deep intimacy of tantric sexuality, internal fires swell, build and intensify in a process of expanding and contracting, rising and pulsing. Like waves of light, the body becomes a portal for cosmic union. When we experience The Divine as our partner and source of our ecstasy, We walk free in multi-worlds, multi-realities and experience our multidimensionality.
Ultimately, Tantra is a portal into self-intimacy and self-love. Its purpose: to know oneself. And it’s royal lesson: to become ‘love unto oneself’ and know divine energy conducts the passion of the universe through us. Tantric practice devotes to balancing the masculine/feminine energies within. It teaches love is the vital link in the ascension of human consciousness and the unifying force that connects us in the Tantric weave woven of oneness.
The ancient roots of Tantra lie in both Hindu and Tibetan Buddhism. Often referred to as The Royal Path, those ordained in The Tantric Arts have acquired mastery in all other Yogic paths. Its sophistication challenges our ability to surrender to the paradox of duality in every moment.
THAI YOGA MASSAGE
The spirit of Thai Yoga Massage cultivates four divine states between giver and receiver: Metta: loving kindness, Karuna; compassion, Mudita; sympathetic joy, and Uppeka; non-prejudice.
In Thailand, Thai Massage, Nuad Borarn, translates to ancient massage and is considered an ancient healing practice. Thai massage is unlike any other. It is not a massage on muscles, nor even perceived as bodywork. Rather, it is energy work and qualifies as energy therapy. Rhythmic palm and thumb pressing at acupressure points, gentle bodyrocking and bodyweight leveraging focuses on ten major Sen lines to increase energy flow and stimulate healing.
According to Yogic philosophy, there are 72,000 energy lines, ten of which are principal to Thai massage. The work goes beyond kneading muscles and joints to manipulate at marma points (acupressure points), which are major junctions of muscles, vessels, (nerves, arteries, veins and lymph) ligaments, bones and joints along the Sen lines lying two centimeters deep under the skin. In a beautiful and powerful combination of massage, acupressure, stretching, twisting, energy work and meditation, Thai Massage stimulates the flow of energies within the body to release stress, tension and toxicity. The beauty of Thai lies in a ‘spiritual circuitry’ that not only increases vitality and well being, but deepens the mind-body-spirit connection between giver and receiver.
Thai Yoga Massage roots in Yoga, Ayurvedic medicine and Buddhism. Paradoxically, its origins are found not in Thailand, but in India, and can be traced back 2,500 years ago to its founding father, Jivaka Kumarbhaccha, a Yogi and physician of Ayurveda. It wasn’t until the 2nd or 3rd Century B.C. that Thai Yoga Massage reached Thailand, then known as Siam.
Geri is a Thai Yoga Massage Practitioner having earned three certifications. Her study began with Saul David Raye, Ritam Healing Arts, Topanga, Ca. and have taken her to Thailand for further study at The Wat Po School of Medicine in Traditional Thai Massage, in Bangkok; and also to Mama Lek Chaiya, Nerve Touch School of Thai Massage, in Chiang Mai.
Private sessions can be booked with Geri at her Thai Sala, or in the privacy of your own home. For rates and additional information, call (818) 707-1784. Gift certificates are available.
THE FLYING TRAPEZE
(Excerpts from Geri's book, Face in the Mirror, A Glimpse into the Multidimensional Self)
Living fearless is learning to trust and face the unknown. Climbing the trapeze ladder up thirty-one feet high in the air gets your heart pounding. At the top, you reach the takeoff platform. Grasping the trapeze bar with one hand while holding onto the support rope with the other, you perch your toes over the platform and fully lean into the net with hips pressing forward. Standing with legs straight, hip-width apart, you arch your back –lift your chest high– to prepare for lift-off. In the very next moment, you slightly bend your knees as you pull back on the bar and lift-off the platform, plunging into the abyss. Absolutely nothing can prepare you for the exhilaration –that quintessential moment of surrender. The Flying Trapeze is the ultimate aphrodisiac. You cannot tremble with aliveness until you let go!
Surrender is about letting go. The Flying Trapeze summons your courage to trust and face the unknown. It’s easier to safely nest in our comfort zones, learn to live with disappointment and accept settling for less. Many of us resolve to live an unlived life. Somehow we lose touch with reality; and the reality is that there’s passion and beauty, mystery and magic all around us! And if you doubt it for a moment, just climb the ladder, take a flying leap, and experience it for yourself. Could it be that we’re afraid to open our wings? I assure you it’s only a leap of faith that charges us with vital energy and brings us robustly alive. Fear and insecurity only hold us back, deaden the magic and cut off the electricity of inspiration. Fear poisons dreams.
If we were to step off the earth for a moment . . . just pretend . . . What if you worshipped imagination and banked on creativity? What is it you would create? If your whole life purpose was to fulfill your highest dream, what would that dream be? What is it that brings you passionately and vitally alive? It doesn’t matter if your dream is unrelated to anything you do now. What is it that you do and love doing so much that you would take on risk to explore it?
Now come back to earth –return to reality. Is there any way you could bring your dream to life now? What small measure could introduce it into your everyday activities? What kind of risk would you have to take to bring it closer to materializing? Success and freedom do not come without risk. Accepting risk is essential. Learning to take the right risk –measured risk– allows us to ground our vision and make a plan. Self-power is a paradox of risk and trust. We need only to trust in the power of the universe that lives through us to face the unknown. As we stake this trust, we find courage to follow our calling. In so doing, we not only empower, but enlighten. We move into the light every time we expand beyond our experience.
When you think of it, wouldn’t you agree there’s greater risk sleepwalking through life with no real sense of direction? Flying is easy –you always fall into a net. Now look at you. Every day you live through to see another. . . and there’s no net!
Fly on the wings of your heart,
Geri Arnais
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