3

The Chakras

Your Seven Centers of Power

VAMPIRE ENERGY: JARED’S STORY

Jared was a young man whose family moved around a lot. He had a hard time fitting in, and found himself rejecting most of the high school experience. He came to me suffering from many illnesses, including depression. He said he had curvature of the spine, chronic throat problems, jaw and tooth problems, multiple allergies, thyroid problems, and that he suffered from nightmares and sleeplessness. (All these illnesses are related to the fourth chakra, which is described later in this chapter.) The odd thing was, he didn’t appear sick.

He had a history of difficult relationships, depression, and abuse. His energy was depleted, weak and vulnerable to negative influences. His entire energy body was depressed. Up until then he was being treated with traditional healing medicines only, and he had not been introduced to such complementary practices as yoga, acupuncture, and energy work. The energy damage that he had experienced had not been acknowledged. This is not to say that his medical problems weren’t real (they were) but that the damage to his energy body clearly needed attention. Meanwhile, he had become deeply involved in the vampire “religion,” which promotes the sucking of other people’s energy as a way to increase one’s own power.

In my work with Jared we focused on tapping his own energy and using it in a more positive and creative way. I helped him understand that he had plenty of his own power and energy to access and use; he didn’t need to suck anyone else’s. (I also pointed out that while it is possible to feed off someone else’s energy, it is not possible to actually put that hijacked energy to use, as the vampire religion claims, which is one reason those who succeed at sucking your energy need to keep doing it.)

I taught Jared the chakra meditations in this chapter, and he learned how to tap the vast resources of his own energy body. He began consulting the I Ching for Teens to help develop his intuitive skills. He is now able to sleep without nightmares and holds a more positive outlook on his life. He consults the I Ching regularly and is practicing and enjoying more positive uses of his energy.

“As guardian of mysteries, snake implies the workings of divine energy through one’s life. As an introduction to sacred knowledge, snake supplies support for transformation at the deepest levels. Remember though, this process is probably best represented by the double-edged sword, for snake also suggests lying and deceit.
   Its energy is destructive as well as fruitful. The slippery nature of snake energy requires cautious handling, for it can be used for good as well as ill. The most positive application of snake energy is to deepen one’s understanding.”

—JESSICA DAWN PALMER, AUTHOR OF ANIMAL WISDOM: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE MYTH, FOLKLORE AND MEDICINE POWER OF ANIMALS

HOW SNAKE GOT ITS MEDICINE

adapted by Julie Tallard Johnson from a traditional South American story

Long, long, long ago, before there were clocks or watches, when creatures would tell time only by the moon, all the birds lived in the Great First Forest. At that time all the birds were black, or white, or black and white. In the First Forest there also lived a great, big, green snake. One morning, as he slithered along, the snake noticed some red flowers. Without much thought or effort, he went and ate them all. As he glided on, the snake caught sight of his tail and turned his head to have a better look. Along his body were circles of red. “Strange,” thought the snake, “but nice, very nice.”

Later, the snake came to some orange flowers. And without much thought or effort, he ate them all too. Then he turned his head to look at his body. Yes, bright orange circles were beginning to appear. The snake was delighted. He was surely the most colorful creature in the land. He wound his way through the forest, eating up the yellow flowers, then the bright green ones, then the ones that were the color of the sky, then all the ones which were indigo and finally all the purple flowers. He did this all without much thought or effort.

By the end of the day, his skin had circles of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple on it. “I am a most beautiful snake,” he hissed, coiling around so he could admire all of his body. And his entire body did shimmer like a beautiful rainbow.

But the birds of the First Forest were angry. They gathered around the snake, whistling, singing, and chirping. “Look what you’ve done!” they cried. “You’ve eaten all of the flowers and spoiled the forest. It is only green now.”

The snake looked around him, and he knew that the birds were right. He felt bad for eating up all the flowers for himself. He crept away to a dark corner. There, he shook, and shook, until suddenly, his skin began to split. Slowly he wriggled out of it and glided across the forest floor in a new green skin, leaving a bright rainbow skin behind. He looked at his own green skin, and realized for the first time how beautiful it was, and how perfect it was for his stealthy travels through the forest.

The birds soon found the rainbow skin. Without much thought or effort they tore it up with their beaks, and draped pieces of it over their bodies and wings. Soon their feathers turned the colors of red, blue, orange, yellow, purple, and indigo. Each bird got a piece, because in the Beginning Times every creature knew that there is always enough to go around.

The snake slithered off happily, green once again, and the birds flew away and sang new songs, showing off their beautiful colors.

And the Great Forest was green and ready for new growth again.

Jared and the snake both thought that they had to “gobble up” power from outside themselves. But true power is personal power—the power within ourselves. Personal power is a positive force we create inside us, not something we get from others or use to control others. We all have this power. Native Americans refer to this personal power as one’s “medicine.” All living things have medicine. How you come to understand and use this power, this medicine inside of you and around you, will determine what kind of person you become. How do you experience your power, your medicine so far? Are you empowered with high self-esteem and hope or do you have a power deficit—a sense of powerlessness and hopelessness? Fortunately, every one of us can harness power and energy from within and use it in a life-fulfilling way.

“Everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World is in circles, and everything tries to be round . . . The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are all the stars. The wind, in its power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.”

—BLACK ELK, OGLALA SIOUX ELDER

YOUR SEVEN CHAKRAS

Within each of us are seven specific centers of energy and power. In yoga philosophy, these centers are referred to as chakras, which literally means “wheels” or “disks.” The chakras are part of our Rainbow Body, power centers that hold and release energy. You could say they are wheels of energy, with each chakra generating a specific kind of power. These energy centers hold vital information about your body, your soul, and your mind. They even hold information about your relationships and environment.

Your seven major chakras are stacked in a row beginning at the base of your spine and ending at the top of your head (see drawing on page 58). Chakras are not physical objects that you can touch with your hands; they are sources of energy. The energy generated from these chakras is similar to other forms of energy such as wind, electricity, and heat. We know it is there because it has an effect on us, but it is not something we can see or hold.

“Just as we see the wind through movement of the leaves and branches, the chakras can be seen by what we create around us.”

—JUDITH ANODEA, PSYCHOLOGIST, AUTHOR OF EASTERN BODY, WESTERN MIND

Knowledge and use of the chakras is based on a system of medicine and philosophy that originated in India over four thousand years ago. When you find that you have some difficulty with either your health or your personal life, the chakras can help you understand what might be out of balance and how you can heal the problem energetically.

The chakras develop sequentially, like other parts of our body and spirit. As teenagers and young adults you are developing and activating your sixth chakra, or third eye. Your interest in spiritual matters and symbolism, which are elements of the sixth chakra, peaks during this time of your life. As you already know, this is also a time when you are rethinking and defining who you are. For this reason, I will give extra attention to the sixth chakra in this chapter and in chapter 7.

HOW TO WORK WITH THE CHAKRAS

This chapter will introduce you to each of the chakras and explain the particular aspect of your life that each one influences. It will also identify issues and symptoms related to blocked or out-of-balance chakras, and offer exercises and meditations to strengthen and balance them. You will also learn how to balance your chakras using affirmations, color, flower essences, medicinal stones, and nature’s medicine. Such attention to the chakras will result in better overall health of your mind, body, and spirit.

Affirmations

Affirmations are used to strengthen the chakra and to eliminate the lie that you may have come to carry in that chakra. The lie for the first chakra, the chakra of belonging, would be “I do not belong.” So the affirmation is “I have a right to be here.” Such an affirmation works best when you take a moment to feel the truth of the statement . . . let it seep into your entire being.

The Power of Affirmations

The words of an affirmation alone don’t hold much power—it is the use of our imagination along with the affirmation that makes it real. Take some time with a given affirmation to truly imagine what it would be like for that statement to be 100 percent true for you. “I have a right to be here . . .” How would you feel, act, and look when this affirmation was true? What would your relationships look like? What emotions would you experience? Notice what it is like in your body and environment when this affirmation feels true for you.

Colors for Balancing the Chakras

As with all other aspects of the energy body, the chakras are understood and experienced energetically. We “see” the colors of the chakras intuitively. Chakras contain many colors, but each chakra is associated with a primary color—its color when it is in its best condition. We can use the primary color as a way to help heal and balance the chakra, by bringing it into our environment or our thoughts. For example, if you have a third chakra that is out of balance, you will want to visualize its primary color, bright yellow, to help you to bring this chakra into balance. Or you might want to wear red on a day you want to activate the first chakra. You will notice that I included an image of red soil in the healing meditation for the first chakra.

Bach Flower Remedies

Bach Flower Essences are thirty-eight homeopathically prepared flower essences discovered by Dr. Edward Bach in the 1930s. “Homeopathic” remedies are always gentle, with small amounts of a natural ingredient to help you heal. They will not interfere with any medication you may be taking. The Bach Flower Essences are part of a system of healing directed at the personality, mood, and emotional outlook of the individual receiving treatment. Dr. Bach believed that “disharmony with oneself is the root of all disease.” And for this reason he created these remedies to heal and bring harmony to the body, mind, and spirit.

These and other flower remedies may be found at your local health food store.

“The impact of the remedies [Bach Flower Essences] is reflected in shifts of attitude, emotional well-being, lifestyle, and even various physiological responses, as change which is introduced in nonphysical realms filters through to bodily consciousness.”

—FLOWER ESSENCE REPERTORY, THE FLOWER ESSENCE SOCIETY

Using Stones to Heal and Balance

The energy of certain semiprecious stones and minerals can be used to enhance or offset the energy in the chakras. In ancient times people were in regular contact with such natural objects, since they lived closer to the earth. To heal our environments, our bodies, and our relationships, traditional spiritual practices suggest we come in contact with the natural properties of stones and plants. Everything has energy—and the energetic properties of stones are ancient (they have been around for a very long time).

Hold a stone in your hand or place it over the given chakra, then bring your awareness to that chakra. Imagine the energy of the stone filling up this chakra. Simply breathe and relax. With little effort, just imagine the medicinal properties and energies of the stone reaching and filling the chakra. Allow yourself to drift off in a daydream, or sleep . . . allowing the energy of the stone to heal and strengthen you on its own.

Have you found yourself attracted to a certain kind of stone? It would be worth your while to look up the healing properties of that particular stone. You are likely choosing it intuitively.

If a particular chakra is out of balance or needs more attention, you may want to keep one or more of the related stones in your bed-room. Many healers place stones under chairs, as well as in the corners of the rooms where they do healing work on others. You will find these stones at spiritually oriented shops, as well as rock shops and bead stores.

Gray coyote stood in the forest,
From his shoulders he plucked feathers
That gave me shining power,
Plucked wing feathers bearing power.”

—PIMA SONG, FROM SHARED SPIRITS: WILDLIFE AND NATIVE AMERICANS, DENNIS L. OLSON

The Chakra Elements

Each chakra represents and shares the qualities of an element such as earth, water, or air. The work of many healing professionals including acupuncturists, shamanic healers, Tibetan doctors, and shiatzu practitioners involves diagnosing which elements are out of balance within your energy body. For each of the chakras, I will describe a medicine from the natural world that will help bring its particular element into balance.

Locating the Chakras

To find a chakra, simply sit in an upright position in a chair with your feet on the floor. Then, close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths.

Do the grounding meditation you learned in chapter 2, and keep breathing . . . Now, with your inner vision (your imagination), go to the location of the chakra you want to focus on. For example, go to the base of the spine for the first chakra or to the spot above and between your eyebrows for the sixth chakra. Practice simply noticing what is there . . . try not to hold any expectations or assumptions about what you should find. Breathe as you look and notice the colors you might see, the sensations you might feel, the images that may appear. Breathe . . . and notice. When you are finished, slowly open your eyes and then journal about what you experienced.

In this exercise, you are visiting the chakras without any intention of balancing them; you are simply learning how to find a given chakra. Take the time to locate every chakra until you can easily go to that location without much effort.

FIRST CHAKRA: THE CHAKRA OF BELONGING

The first chakra is located at the base of the spine near the tailbone. It is also called the root or base chakra.

The first chakra deals with our sense of safety and belonging, security, and groundedness. It holds the energy that motivates you to take care of yourself. When this chakra is in good shape, you are eating and sleeping well and not taking dangerous risks. (You are, however, taking healthy risks!) The energy of this chakra is important in keeping you alive and out of danger. So, when you are feeling afraid, anxious, and separate from the world around you, this is the chakra that needs your attention. Chances are that in your teen years this chakra is overactive or stressed. A continually overactive first chakra can contribute to addictions such as drug abuse and even compulsive gambling.

Symptoms of an underactive first chakra include depression, anorexia, chronic fatigue, too much daydreaming and fantasizing, and addiction to nicotine. Symptoms of an overactive first chakra include overeating (to calm oneself down or to substitute for a sense of belonging), gambling, alcohol and drug abuse, and self-mutilation.

The primary emotional issue of this chakra is fear. This means that the energy of fear gets stuck in or originates from this chakra. So, if you are feeling fearful about something or experience panic attacks, focus on healing and strengthening this chakra. This includes getting medical attention for any physical issues in this chakra.

 

The affirmation for the first chakra is:
I have a right to be here.

 

Healing Meditation for the First Chakra

The grounding meditation on page 37 will be helpful here. Once you have grounded, bring your awareness to this chakra and begin to imagine planting a sacred garden there. Imagine planting seeds that will sprout up with all the people, symbols, animals, and objects that bring you a feeling of well-being and support. Plant your seeds in the red-rich soil of this chakra and see the images bloom. Feel yourself rich in the support of all these people, animals, and objects that nurture you . . .

Breathe and enjoy the richness of this garden. Think of it as your sacred tribal garden—all these people, animals, and objects make up your tribe. Be sure to include an ancestor who may have passed, such as a grandparent, who would bring strength and beauty to your garden. If people or objects are appearing that are not supportive, remove them as you would a weed, roots and all—then place them in an imaginary compost bin and shut the lid tightly. Savor the strength and the richness of your beautiful sacred garden.

Being in healthy relationships where you feel supported will always be a way to improve the condition of the first chakra. Close, healthy friendships are essential to your mental, physical, and spiritual health.

• The color of this chakra is red or reddish orange.
• The Bach Flower remedies for this chakra are Sunflower and Corn.
• A stone to help heal and strengthen the first chakra is black tourmaline. This mineral is special to many American Indian tribes. It can be used to ground the first chakra with the earth. It holds many protective qualities, which include blocking off the negative energy of others.
• The element of this chakra is earth.

Medicine from the Natural World

For this first chakra, you will be connected with the energy of earth (which is why grounding is such a great practice for this chakra, as is the above sacred tribal garden meditation).

Spend some time under a tree, or go for a nice slow walk outside—away from the noises of the city, if possible. Find and touch a small rock or carry one with you (a black tourmaline would be ideal). Walk barefoot on the ground. Basically, spend some time touching the earth.

“Grounding and anchoring work at the physical level, with some good deep breaths into the belly, is essential before any psychic work is undertaken.”

—JUDY HALL, PSYCHIC HEALER

SECOND CHAKRA: THE CHAKRA OF SEXUALITY

This chakra is located below your navel and above the genitals. It is often called the body chakra because it is where you connect with the physical body through your senses. The second chakra is the chakra of sensuality, sexuality, and pleasure. It is also the chakra of emotions. From this chakra you are able to tune into others emotionally. When it is unblocked, this chakra allows for the free flow of your emotional, sensual, and creative energy throughout your body. It is through our feelings and our senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing) that we feel and interact with the world around us. Without a clear connection to your senses, you may have a “numbness” in your body and difficulty interpreting (understanding) your environment.

In our culture we are often taught to repress our natural pleasure states. We are not supposed to be emotional in public, and we are not to exhibit too much pleasure or energy at school. Often, adults in our culture are uncomfortable with teenagers coming into their own sexual energies. Because of these cultural attitudes, to “be good” and “behave” can often translate into shutting down and denying some of your important senses.

When basic pleasures are denied, such as your healthy sexuality, emotional expression, and sensual curiosity, you may find yourself choosing substitute “pleasures” such as drugs, drinking, video games, television, and overeating. You may also resort to negative behaviors including avoiding responsibility, blaming others for your troubles, and sexually acting out. Becauseˆ substitute pleasures are not truly fulfilling, you find yourself having to keep doing them again and again. It’s like eating one marshmallow when what you really crave is a big fresh strawberry sundae. Anodea Judith, author of Eastern Body, Western Mind, sums it up nicely: “Healthy pleasure brings satisfaction; addictive pleasure brings a craving for more.” This is a time to explore healthy ways to be a sensual, feeling individual.

Sexual energy is a sacred, vital, and intimate energy that connects us to someone else in a very special way. Sexual energy flows through everything that is alive. In the springtime we can see this energy come alive in animal and plant life.

“Emotions are energy in motion. If they are not expressed, the energy is repressed. As energy it has to go somewhere. Emotional energy moves us as does all energy . . . To deny emotion is to deny the ground and vital energy of our life.”

—JOHN BRADSHAW, AUTHOR, COUNSELOR, TALKSHOW HOST

“Balance (in the second chakra) involves the ability to nurture self and others while still maintaining healthy sexual and emotional boundaries.”

—ANODEA JUDITH, AUTHOR OF EASTERN BODY, WESTERN MIND

Discovering your sexual energy in your teen years is part of claiming and opening the second chakra. This does not necessarily mean having sex (although it can). It does mean feeling your sexuality and your sensuality as a vital and sacred part of your humanness. It includes enjoying the scent of someone’s cologne, the touch of a friend, the taste of your favorite food, the feel of tears on your cheek, the sound of a really good laugh, and the stunning colors of autumn leaves.

Healthy expression of your sexual energy may mean simply enjoying the way your body heats up when you think about or stand near a particular person. When you value and find real pleasure in your sexuality, you won’t need to get caught up in substitute pleasures. Be very conscious of how you use this energy and whom you choose to share it with. Honor it as the sacred energy that it is. If you choose to be sexual with someone, be conscious about the reasons for your choice, and be realistic about what you can expect from that shift in your relationship.

 

TARA’S STORY

Tara was only fourteen when she was overheard in study hall saying she was “giving boys blow jobs at the party on Saturday.” The nurse at the school was asked to talk with her. She asked Tara, “What were your reasons for doing this, and what did you want from it?” Tara told the nurse that she did it because she was “curious” and had heard that others did it. Then she had bragged about it because she thought other kids might think she was cool.

The nurse explained some basics to Tara—for instance, the fact that you can get transmittable diseases, some of them fatal, through oral sex (because it is an exchange of mucus). She asked Tara to think about the idea that each time we have sex with someone we give part of ourselves to this person, and if we do this all through our high school years, how much of ourselves will be left? The nurse asked her to think about how she will feel when this boy ignores her or when she sees him flirting with another girl. And then she asked Tara how she had felt when she was casually having oral sex with a boy. Tara couldn’t actually recall feeling anything—she said she was pretty numb and was just “doing it.” At age fourteen, Tara was already giving herself away and shutting down from her precious sensual body.

Both the boys and the girl in this situation gave vital energy away. They were not treating the sexual interaction as sacred, and were treating each other as objects. The energy body knows when it is being treated carelessly. Such an experience leaves scars on the Rainbow Body, and drains vital energy.

 

The affirmations for the second chakra are:
I have a right to feel and have pleasure.
My sexuality is sacred.

• The color of this chakra is orange.
• The Bach Flower remedies for this chakra are Larch, Sweet pea, and Pomegranate. You can blend all three together or use just one.
• Stones to help heal the second chakra are obsidian and black tourmaline. Obsidian is volcanic glass. It is another grounding and protective stone. Because it holds stabilizing energies, helping balance and protect you emotionally, it is a good stone for anyone who has been emotionally or otherwise abused. Many shamanic traditions use black obsidian in healing ceremonies to help in the removal of a disease from the body. The healer takes the obsidian to the wound, visually brings the illness outside the body, and transforms it into white light.
• The element of this chakra is water.

Medicine from the Natural World

Find a clean, moving body of water such as a river, stream, or creek. If it is warm enough, sit in the moving water and let it flow over you. If you choose a river, make sure you can sit in the water without having to fight the current. If the weather is too cold to get in the water, simply sit next to a body of moving water, and listen to the movement of the water.

A Healing Exercise for the Second Chakra

Try using this Japanese pressure point treatment to move the energy throughout your body and to awaken the senses. Bring the thumb and index finger together. Find the tender spot located on the hump formed by joining the two fingers, as shown above. Press it gently with your other thumb and breathe. Make sure to take several deep breaths while you press. This treatment will help move blocked sexual energy, and give you a sense of relaxation. This also helps release stuck energy throughout the entire energy body. Give yourself several daily treatments for a week for the best results.

Healing Meditation for the Second Chakra

Notice (or imagine) the water moving around you . . . notice how this feels. Allow this movement of water to remind you that you too are like water . . . moving, changing, strong yet fluid . . . Allow all the senses to awaken to the flow of the water . . . Let it carry away anything that is ready to leave you, such as negative thoughts, depression, worries, addictions . . . let the water baptize you in its powerful medicine. Allow as much time as possible for this—at least fifteen minutes. Let the water awaken your sensations and pleasures.

Imagine it moving through you . . . and around you, carrying away your worries and bathing you in its pleasures and powers.

If you have been sexually abused, Myron Eshowsky, a shamanic healer from North America, recommends that in addition to therapy (psychotherapy, massage therapy) you find a way to “bathe in the earth.” You can do this by burying your lower torso (from your belly button down) in the sand or in the earth. Dig a hole in the sand or dirt and cover up your bare legs and stomach with the earth. (If you have access to a safe, private place, doing this unclothed would be ideal.)

Ask that the healing properties of the earth absorb the pain and trauma from your body. Imagine that the earth is taking away all the pain and abuse, while your sexual and reproductive organs are getting renewed. Rest there for about five minutes and let the natural and spontaneous healing properties of the earth heal you.

THIRD CHAKRA: THE CHAKRA OF PERSONAL POWER AND INDEPENDENCE

The location of this chakra is the solar plexus, above the navel. It is the location where you have been bringing in the earth energy from the grounding meditation. This chakra holds the energy of your willpower, independence, and decision making. The body’s energy is generated from the third chakra.

Here, too, is where the energy of personal power is generated. If you feel sluggish, tired, and slowed down, your third chakra may need some healing attention. If your personal power seems bank-rupt, this is the chakra to focus on. During your teen years this chakra is dominant because you are coming into your personal power. This means that every day your third chakra is being prodded. Every day you are dealing with issues of individuality—concerns of the third chakra.

When this chakra is balanced you have strong self-esteem, you feel confident, and you have a sense of your own personal power—you can confidently take responsibility for your own actions and their consequences. This is the chakra that generates healthy risk taking. A well-balanced third chakra will enable you to handle the challenges that the teen years are constantly bringing you.

“The soul’s journey toward realization is a process that Carl Jung called individuation. It is a journey toward wholeness and awakening, a journey across the Rainbow Bridge.“

—ANODEA JUDITH, EASTERN BODY, WESTERN MIND

“It is not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us.”

—STEVEN R. COVEY, AUTHOR OF SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE

When this chakra is out of balance because you do not have enough energy here, you can feel tired, be easily manipulated or confused by others, have low self-esteem, feel cold in your body, and you may be addicted to stimulants (caffeine, speed, cocaine). In addition, you may tend to blame others for your difficulties, and have a tendency not to be reliable.

An imbalance due to too much energy in this chakra can manifest as aggressive, domineering, arrogant, and stubborn behavior. Other signs of this imbalance are a tendency to be dishonest with others and being overly competitive (instead of simply wanting to do your best, you want to always be the best). You may also be addicted to sedatives (alcohol, downers).

Exercising Your Personal Power

Just what does it mean to have personal power? To exercise your personal power is to become the cause of your life rather than the effect of your life. Personal power is knowing that your life is a series of choices, and that your life happens in direct response to the choices you make.

This means that you don’t blame others for what happens in your life and how you handle it. Personal power is an expression of your independence and autonomy. If you blame others for what troubles you, or for your inability to change, then you are powerless. Life becomes something that happens to you; you are life’s victim. Empowering yourself, taking responsibility for your life, makes you the cause of your life. You become life’s cocreator, along with whatever your higher power may be.

Life then becomes a journey with you in the driver’s seat, your spiritual support behind you. Of course, you cannot prevent some bad things from happening to you or to those you care about. It is in your response to these challenges that you will find your personal power and independence. You have the power to decide how you will respond to circumstances, even though you may not have chosen the circumstances.

“All things have inner meaning and form and power.”

—HOPI SAYING

The way to respond to negative events is to focus on maintaining your personal power by not letting anything make you shrink, by not letting any situation get “bigger” than you. When you become overwhelmed, take the actions of others too personally, or feel ganged up on, you have given up your personal power. You have let the emotion or event get bigger than you.

Even when someone in authority is lecturing or reprimanding you, you can still remain empowered as you listen to his or her point. You never have to shrink or feel small. (Those in authority should not act in ways that encourage you to shrink or lose your personal power. But we all know people who use their authority in this negative way.)

Being empowered personally means to always remember the truth about yourself. When you are true to yourself, no person or event can really diminish you.

Your Spiritual Source

Your higher power, or spiritual source, may be simply the great Tao—that invisible, mysterious energy that connects us all. Or you may be a cocreator with nature, tuning in to the natural rhythms of life. I connect up with what is referred to as the Great Mystery—a spiritual source that is bigger than I am, but is also within me and within all things. So much of it is a mystery to me, yet I feel its power and love in my life, especially when I call upon it. I also know that when I take responsibility for my life, this spiritual source does its part in supporting me. Trust that when you take responsibility for your journey, you are connecting up with this Great Mystery.

Giving Up Personal Power: The Comparing Game

Our biggest mistakes in our lives are typically due to a loss of personal power and autonomy. One of the most common ways teenagers (and people of all ages) short-circuit their personal power is by comparing themselves to others. If you compare yourself to others and you see yourself as “less than,” you will feel bad about yourself and feel separated from the people you aspire to be like. When you compare yourself and you feel “better than,” you risk becoming arrogant and again separating yourself from others. Comparison always results in a loss of personal power.

Think back on a time when you compared yourself to someone else. What did it feel like? Could you feel your personal power being drained from you? Could you feel the negative energy involved in comparing yourself to other people?

“I remember attending a spiritual retreat for teens when I was sixteen. I didn’t feel I belonged there but I went because a friend of mine wanted me to go. All I could do for the first few days was compare myself to everyone around me. First everyone else was a geek or too fat, or too something . . . or not enough of something else. Then, into the third day everyone somehow became better than me and I felt awful. I wanted to leave. Finally, on the morning of the last day of the retreat, the leaders led us through a meditation where we all experienced our sameness [see Loving-kindness meditation on page 208]. It was about letting go of judging others and myself, and letting go of comparing myself to others. It was a huge relief not to compare myself to everybody else. It is hard not to do. But I am trying to see everyone without comparing myself to them.”

—KAYLA, AGE 19

“As we develop a sense of self, our intuitive voice becomes our natural and constant source of guidance.”

—CAROLINE MYSS, MEDICAL INTUITIVE

“Empty inside, our cultural myth tells us that power lies outside of ourselves in the approval of others, in technological gadgets, or through a distant and authoritarian god. Thus we deplete ourselves, our resources, and our planet, reaching for a power outside, a power over, a power that will only enslave us.”

—ANODEA JUDITH, EASTERN BODY, WESTERN MIND

The affirmations for the third chakra are:
The fire within me burns strong and I feel my independence.
I feel the power that is within me. I act from this center of power.

• The color of this chakra is bright yellow.
• The Bach Flower remedies for this chakra are Buttercup and Goldenrod.
• A stone to help heal the third chakra is jasper.
• Jasper is a form of opaque stone, and appears in a wide range of colors. It is often worn by shamans for protection. Its energy is connected to the solar plexus and worn to protect the third chakra, especially when journeying (see chapter 7).
• The element of the third chakra is fire.

Your Power Profile

For one week, really explore this idea of personal power. Bring the idea of personal power into your everyday life. Be aware of when you are giving up your personal power and what happens when you do this. Notice when you shrink and feel small around others, and which people make you feel your power in a positive way. Be alert to when you get into comparing and what effect this has on you and your relationships.

Simply by becoming more aware, you will build your personal power. Masters from the world’s spiritual traditions attest to the power of awareness itself to create change. If we do not become aware of how and when we give up our personal power, then we unconsciously do it again and again, and wonder why we feel so powerless. Simply practicing awareness with this or any of the exercises in this book will guarantee an increase in your personal and spiritual powers.

Medicine from the Natural World

Physical movement is what helps this chakra. Get your running shoes on! Or get in your wheelchair and move those arms! To help bring this chakra into balance, get outside and do some vigorous physical exercise. This could be jogging, biking, walking, hiking up a steep hill, or lying on the ground and doing some sit-ups. Spend at least thirty minutes outside doing something active. Fill your lungs up with fresh air and feel the muscles and strength of your body. Feel your physical autonomy and strength as you push your body to work and move. Try a power walk, pumping your arms and legs as you affirm to yourself: “I feel the power that is within me.” Feel the power of your body. Feel the burn!

“Each of life’s challenges is a lesson in some aspect of love.”

—CAROLINE MYSS, AUTHOR OF ANATOMY OF THE SPIRIT

“Being a friend to yourself is no mere metaphor or purely sentimental idea. It is the basis of all relationship, because it is a fundamental recognition of the soul.”

—THOMAS MOORE, FROM SOUL MATES

FOURTH CHAKRA: THE CHAKRA OF LOVE

The fourth chakra, known as the heart chakra, is located in the center of the chest. It is the middle chakra, connecting the three lower chakras with the three upper chakras. The heart chakra is the center of the Rainbow Body. It is considered the seat of the soul, because it is where the soul resides in the body. This chakra holds your love and compassion. It gives you the power to forgive and to release the past so you can begin again. It holds your hope and trust, along with your ability to heal others and yourself. The information and exercises in chapter 8 are aimed at enhancing the health and well-being of the heart chakra.

When the heart chakra is balanced, it fills you with a sense of self-acceptance and love. Opening your heart to give and receive love is one of the most important pursuits you can undertake, because to live from the heart is to be truly free.

When the heart chakra is out of balance, you may appear to be a caring and loving person but do not really feel this inside. You may have a hard time asking for what you want and accepting what others offer. You may feel resentful but not sure what is causing this feeling. You may find that you lack trust in others and often isolate yourself. If you feel numb and not really in touch with your own energy or the energy of those around you, this is an indication of an imbalance in your heart chakra.

When this chakra is blocked, it interferes with your ability to let go of the past. (You may have trouble letting go of high school and your dependent years if you are approaching graduation.) A blocked or out-of-balance heart chakra may cause you to have difficulty breathing, to feel overly jealous, to be unable to forgive yourself or others, to lack emotional connection with others, and to feel a sense of hopelessness. The most common problem found in this chakra is an absence of self-love; and if we don’t love ourselves, we cannot really love anyone or anything else.

Shedding Your Old Skin

Self-acceptance is essential to our physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being. One powerful way to practice self-acceptance is to let ourselves begin again whenever we need to. Like the snake, you can shed the old skin and be green again. You can let go of the past instead of carrying it around with you. Any time you feel discouraged or feel like giving up, choose instead to give up your old “skin” and allow yourself to begin again with a new skin—a new approach. When you do this, you let go of whatever mistakes you made and whatever wrong was done to you by other people, and allow yourself a fresh start.

Without the ability to forgive and begin again you can get really stuck. This does not mean condoning what others may have done to you. It means that you are no longer carrying the pain of what they did to you in your energy body. You might need to just let go of a difficult school year or of your identity with a particular place or group of people. It is part of the natural flow of life to begin again and again, even if it is simply starting a new semester or another day.

“We have it in our power to begin the world again.”

—THOMAS PAINE, REVOLUTIONARY WAR ACTIVIST

Is it time for you to shed a worn-out skin and begin again?

“I pretty much messed up my first two years of high school and only had my junior and senior years to save. But I felt so down and stuck. How could I change with all the same old friends and teachers after me? I decided to begin again and that if I needed to begin again a hundred times before I got through school, I would. I started meditating the summer before my junior year and this helped a lot. It was hard to give up pot because most of my friends smoked pot, but in the long run it helped with my friendships too. I am almost finished with my junior year and things are way better. I’d say I have shed a lot of old skin this year.”

—RACHEL, AGE 17

The affirmations for the fourth chakra are:
I have the right to love and to be loved.
I forgive myself for all the mistakes I have made.
Today I begin again.

Snakeskin Meditation

Give yourself about ten minutes for this meditation. This can be done alone, with a friend, or in a group. Sit in a chair with your feet on the ground. Breathe and relax, . . . bring your awareness into the moment by feeling your breath in your body. Do the grounding meditation (see page 37).

Imagine in front of you an image of yourself. Breathe naturally, without effort . . . Now imagine a skin around your body that is ready to shed. Continue to breathe and imagine without effort . . . Notice what this skin may be made of. Ask the skin to give you images and thoughts of what it represents—maybe an old relationship, a negative attitude, last year, an embarrassment, a fear . . . Take a few minutes to let these images and thoughts appear. What will be shed with this old skin? . . . Now take a deep breath and imagine yourself shaking off this old skin. Just let the skin fall off . . . let the gravity of the earth help pull it down off you, falling in scraps around your feet . . . Feel all the negative memories of this skin fall away from you too . . . Now see an image of yourself, free of the old skin and standing before you, smooth and green and new . . . ready to begin again. Have this image come to you and cover you, so this new green energy body surrounds you. Breathe and sit in this new, spring green skin.

When you slowly open your eyes, take a few minutes to journal your experience. What did you shed in the old skin? What did you feel as the old skin was shed from your body and you saw yourself green and new? What does it mean for you to begin again, now?

Connecting the Fourth and Second Chakras

It is important to connect the fourth chakra and the second chakra. To make this connection, imagine a clear channel running between the two chakras. This channel connects the energy of the two chakras: pleasure seeking with compassion. This connection fosters greater safety in your relationships because your powerful senses and emotions will be guided and moderated by your love and compassion. Of course, this love and compassion must always extend to yourself. You are less likely to give yourself away to someone who doesn’t care about you when your second and fourth chakras are connected. I recommend that you take the time to do this exercise while you are with a potential boy or girl friend. Then ask yourself the question: “Does this person care about me?” Ask this question from the heart center. Then listen for the internal answer, which will come from your heart chakra.

• The color of this chakra is green.
• The Bach Flower remedies for this chakra are Aloe Vera, Borage, and Bleeding Heart.
• A stone to heal and balance the fourth chakra is rose quartz. Rose quartz stimulates the energy center of the heart, helping send its energy throughout one’s body. It is considered the stone of self-love. It can be used to bring love to any area of the body that has been abused or hurt. Hold it over your heart and let its properties fill your entire being with love.
• The element of the fourth chakra is air.

“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”

—OSCAR WILDE, IRISH POET AND DRAMATIST

Medicine from the Natural World

If you can, go to a place that gives you access to a medicine wheel. A medicine wheel is a spiritual tool that allows the people using it to attune themselves to the powers of earth, the four directions, and their own spiritual source. You may want to build your own medicine wheel or medicine circle with friends. A basic medicine wheel consists of a cross within a circle, which represents the four directions (north, south, east, and west). It is referred to as a medicine wheel because it is a place where you receive earth medicine and recharge your own medicine.

“To the North American Indian, ‘medicine’ meant more than a substance to restore health and vitality to a sick or maladjusted body. Medicine was energy—a vital power or force that was inherent in Nature itself. A person’s medicine was their power—the expression of their own life-energy system. ‘Medicine Wheel’ meant a circle of generated energy under the control of mind, which provided knowledge of that power. ‘Medicine,’ then, is personal empowerment.”

—KENNETH MEADOWS, SHAMANIC PRACTITIONER AND AUTHOR OF EARTH MEDICINE

Medicine Wheel Meditation
To make your own simple medicine circle, obtain some corn flour, bird or flower seeds, flower petals, or some small rocks. Find a place in a natural setting where you can sit for fifteen to thirty minutes undisturbed. With the objects you’ve brought, make a circle on the ground large enough for you to sit in. As you lay the objects down on the earth to make the circle, call in the energies of the earth and sky.

When the circle is completed, place yourself in the middle of it. Sit comfortably on the ground.

Notice how you are sitting on the earth, dependent on it in every way. Feel this dependence as love, the connecting force between all living things. Consider how you are connected to the animals that may be nearby. Do they not breathe the same air as you? Do they not love the warmth of the sun, like you? Think about how every living thing goes through the same cycle of birth, death, and rebirth again and again. Perhaps you have a pet that has given you great comfort in times of difficulty. Bring to your mind the love you have for this animal and the love this animal has for you. Remember a time when you felt truly loved by someone. Perhaps you were young and it was your mother. Feel the love from this memory fill you up. Feel this connection and continue to open your heart to yourself and to the world around you. Sit in this circle remembering the times of love you have experienced, and fill your heart chakra with pure love.

Now send out the love you’re connecting with to every cell, every molecule, and every atom of your body . . . keep the memory and flow of love moving through you. Feel again your body on the earth and how its love sustains you and will always sustain you . . . Open your heart center to the connection that is always there. Sit in this circle of love that is connected to all and to everything.

When you are ready, you can leave the circle of flour or seeds for the earth to absorb or for the birds to eat. If you have made it out of stone, it can be left to be revisited again and again. Kenneth Meadows’ book, Earth Medicine, has simple directions for making a medicine wheel out of stones.

The heart chakra is also the gateway to using your psychic skills. Without a balanced heart center, shamans and healers would not succeed at their work. You cannot truly engage the powers of the upper chakras without having given some serious attention to your heart center.

“Like an ability or a muscle, hearing your inner wisdom is strengthened by doing it.”

—ROBBIE GASS, AUTHOR OF CHANTING: DISCOVERING SPIRIT IN SOUND

“The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.”

—PIET MONDRIAN, DUTCH PAINTER

FIFTH CHAKRA: THE CHAKRA OF SELF-EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION

The fifth chakra is located in the middle of the throat. This chakra is all about hearing your inner truth and expressing it to the world. It is the chakra of communication, sound, and creative expression. The fifth chakra is about letting your inner self and your creativity come forth. Its main function is communication, including communication with your higher self. It is about speaking your truth.

As Anodea Judith puts it, “[S]elf-expression . . . is a gateway between the inner world and the outer. Only through self-expression does the outer world get to know what’s inside of us. Only through self-expression do we put forth what we have previously taken in.”

The fifth chakra represents your voice and how you take your truth out into the world. At this time in your life, it is vital that you are speaking up and getting heard. If you have a balanced fifth chakra, communication comes easily for you and you speak your truth clearly and with respect for others. When the fifth chakra is out of balance you may get sore throats, have difficulty speaking up, and find it hard to hear or understand others.

This chakra is very important during your teen years. Your ability to express yourself clearly and confidently is vital to finding your true place in the world. This means finding your own voice—not necessarily the voice of your friends or parents. A person who has a blocked fifth chakra will often just say what others want to hear, rather than speak his or her own truth. Your unique individuality can only be fully expressed when you dare to express your own truth.

Without the ability to hear and speak our own truth, we end up living other people’s lives, not our own.

“Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.”

—CARL JUNG, FOUNDER OF ANALYTIC PSYCHOLOGY

JOSÉ’S STORY

José was eighteen and getting ready to graduate from high school. He was worried that he wouldn’t succeed at his dream to be a chef and own a restaurant someday. His parents were divorced and his mother was in a controlling, emotionally abusive relationship. His father expressed sadness that he wouldn’t be able to achieve his dream of living off the land in Tennessee someday. José described how his parents viewed the future: “My mother doesn’t seem to really have any dreams. She is pretty stuck in her ways. I can’t really speak up with her about my thoughts and dreams. She doesn’t really believe in anything. My dad is open to this stuff, though. Only, he is waiting for all of his kids to grow up before he moves away and lives his dream. It is hard at times to trust my own truth when my parents are struggling so much.”

I asked José how his parents’ lost dreams or lack of dreaming affected him right now. “I guess it makes it hard for me to imagine what is really possible for me when my parents seem to not be able to do it. They both seem to be living a lie.”

Chanting a Mantra to Find Your Own Voice

Singing and chanting are ancient ways to awaken our energy body and to express ourselves. Mantras are sung for many reasons: for healing, wisdom, awareness, cleansing, balancing, and to elicit compassion. Beth Wortzel teaches groups the power of chanting and singing (see Resources). She tells of a time in the 70s when she was traveling through India on the slow train. The train would stop and fill up with local workers at the end of the day. For a short while they would ride in silence until one person would begin a chant; soon the entire car was chanting together.

Beth reminds us that chanting and singing are practices that we have lost in our modern culture, with all its noises and distractions. But chanting and singing connect us with our inner truth, with each other, and with our spiritual source. It is also a way for us to hear ourselves. Our entire body vibrates with our own voice when we chant. Chanting is also known for balancing all the chakras, and along with breathing can awaken all the positive energies in each chakra. Here’s a simple chant that will massage the fifth chakra and awaken all the energies throughout the Rainbow Body.

Take a deep breath in and on the out breath make the sound OM-AH. Om is the universal sound for meditation and Ah is the sound of life, of breath. So try it: Breathe in and on the out breath chant OMMMMMM–AHHHHHH. The effect is even more potent when the chant is done in a group. You can chant with music, a simple drumbeat, or just the sound of your voice. Make sure to breathe deeply and feel the chant throughout the body. Do this for five to ten minutes. When you are finished, sit for a few moments feeling the energy of chanting.

It can be difficult for you to hear your truth when your parents have not been able to hear theirs. As you venture farther from the family home and go out on your own more, it is time for you to shed the fears and broken dreams of your parents or other adults close to you. You may want to release your parents’ fears and regrets by burning them in a fire or burying them in the ground. Determine to no longer “hear” their fears and failed dreams but to hear the truth about your own future and to open up to what is possible for you now and tomorrow.

The affirmation for the fifth chakra is:
I can hear and speak my truth.

• The color of this chakra is bright blue.
• The Bach Flower remedies for this chakra are Clematis, Iris, and Blackberry.
• A stone to help heal the fifth chakra is turquoise. The healing properties of turquoise have been recognized in many ancient as well as present-day cultures. It is used for helping people to be safe and grounded when doing psychic work. It is considered a healer of one’s spirit, and is used to calm and bring peace of mind to the bearer. It is highly esteemed in both Tibetan and Native American cultures.
• The element of the fifth chakra is sound.

“Consciousness is the ability to release the old and embrace the new with the awareness that all things end at the appropriate time and that all things begin at the appropriate time.”

—CAROLINE MYSS, MEDICAL INTUITIVE

Medicine from the Natural World

Go out to a place where you can listen to the sounds of nature. Find a spot to sit quietly and listen. Notice all the sounds that come from around and above you—the songs of birds, the crunching of leaves as a small animal moves nearby, the rustle of the wind, the crack of a tree limb . . . listen to the sounds that are always there but often go unnoticed.

“I went out and sat in my friend’s prairie. And up in the woods I heard what I thought was drumming or maybe a motor starting up. About every three minutes the drumming sound would come again. Then I heard movement of some small creature in the grass nearby and the sounds of the prairie grass moving up against me. I felt strangely ‘extended,’ and the world around me was full of a lot more sound than I ever imagined. And it stirred something in me. When I returned to my friend’s house I told him about the drumming and he said it was a grouse drumming the air with its feathers. They do this to announce their presence, to let the other grouse know they are there! I thought how cool it was to hear it, and how I now need to go out and announce my presence to the world!”

—MATT, AGE 17

Even if you can only get to a city park, notice the sounds of nature alive and active—open up your hearing sense to the natural world. The sounds of nature will always be able to awaken your spiritual and psychic skills. To be still enough to listen deeply will stir and awaken you, enabling you to hear what is inside and around you. I once spent ten days at a meditation retreat in “noble silence” (not talking or looking at anyone). Early one morning I was awakened by a soft humming sound. I lay still for a minute, listening . . . and discovered that I was listening to the sound of my own body’s vibration.

SIXTH CHAKRA: THE PSYCHIC CHAKRA

This chakra is located at your forehead, between your eyes and just above your eyebrows, and is called the third eye. The sixth chakra is your intuitive chakra. It becomes activated during your teen years—a time when you are more able to “see” intuitively. This chakra is where your “aha’s” come from—those insights that bring everything together and make sense out of your life situations. When this chakra is open, it allows you to see the big picture and to find the purpose to your life. From this chakra, you develop a personal vision of your self.

This is the chakra of insight, imagination, dreams, symbols, and images. Your sensitivity in these areas develops rapidly during your teen years. Take a moment and notice what symbols you are attracted to—spirals, arrows, Celtic crosses, flames? They all hold some personal and spiritual meaning for you. Those symbols that just seem to appear to you are symbols from spirit. For example, if you continue to doodle spirals or keep coming across spirals, you may want to look up the meaning of this symbol in a symbol dictionary (see Resources).

The development of your intuition brings forth your psychic and visionary abilities and is the main function of the sixth chakra. The purpose of the sixth chakra is to see all that is within you and around you from a place of vision and mystery. When this chakra is open and developed, you will experience your psychic nature more fully. (For more exercises to develop your psychic powers, refer to chapter 7.)

”From an energy point of view, every choice that enhances our spirits strengthens our energy field; and the stronger our energy field, the fewer our connections to negative people and experiences.”

—CAROLINE MYSS,MEDICAL INTUITIVE

Indicators of an unbalanced sixth chakra are hearing problems, earaches, headaches, and nightmares.

”To understand our place in a situation we must be able to hear and trust our inner wisdom, our intuition. No matter how beautiful and wise someone else’s advice may be, always follow your own truth.”

—JULIE TALLARD JOHNSON, I CHING FOR TEENS

Doubt is the distortion of the sixth chakra. Doubt can be like the drop of ink in a clear glass of water—all the water turns the color of the ink. Doubt permeates your mind and mood and makes you hesitate when what you need is to trust yourself. Doubting yourself and your intuitive powers, and doubting the existence of spirit, can keep you from taking the necessary risks to move out freely into your independence. The more you trust yourself and your spiritual source, the more receptive you will be to flashes of wisdom and insight. What is asked of you is not to try to be completely free of doubt but rather to see what lies beyond it.

“I really have a hard time trusting this stuff. I want to but I am afraid that in the end nothing will really work out for me. My father died when I was eight and my mother never remarried or recovered. For months after he died my mother would go around the house crying, ‘Please, God, bring him back.’ At eight years old I thought God would bring him back, and when my dad never did come back I felt really confused and scared. I guess I am still scared that nothing really works out and that God doesn’t really listen.”

—AMY, AGE 16

Amy admits that God has disappointed her and that she is wary of trusting him again. Yet her inner voice seems to be saying that there is a place in her life for trusting a higher power: “Maybe I need to rethink my relationship with God. I can’t seem to give up on the idea of him completely, but the relationship has got to change!” Amy is trusting herself to decide how this important relationship can work for her. In time, she will no doubt piece together a personal vision of how God can be a source of peace and strength in her life. And that is the essence of the sixth chakra—letting in the light. It is about exploring the possibility that as yet undiscovered truths can bring you greater peace and fulfillment.

The affirmation for the sixth chakra is:
I have a right to see and imagine all possibilities.

Opening the Third Eye

Begin by grounding and breathing . . . sit in awareness of the breath for a few breaths and then bring your awareness to your sixth chakra, your third eye. Bring your attention to this chakra by imagining the in breath coming through your third eye, the spot in the center of your forehead just above your eyebrows. Now imagine that breath filling and waking up the third eye and moving down into your body. On each in breath, move the breath through the third eye and down the path of the chakras, filling up your throat chakra, then your heart chakra, moving all the way down to your first chakra. Breathe and imagine. Breathe in through your third eye and on the out breath move the energy through your body. Fill up your being with this psychic energy being filtered through your third eye . . . Then take a couple of deep breaths and rest in this energy.

Take the time to journal your experience, what you noticed in your body and what you noticed in your thoughts.

“There are many ways to God.”

—ARAPAHO SAYING

When you bring in your breath and awareness through the third eye, you are activating the energy of this chakra—imagination, psychic abilities, and vision—and awakening the other chakras with the energy of the third eye. Remember: Simply focusing breath and awareness will activate the attributes of a given chakra.

This is a particularly appropriate meditation for the teen years, when the sixth chakra is developing. One reason why you are so sensitive during your teen years is that your third eye is opening up and you are seeing more of the truth around you. This meditation will help you connect with your psychic and intuitive energy and use it to make sense of what you see.

”Tarot cards are wonderful for meditation. They act to stimulate the intuition, which is the gateway of the unconscious. They illuminate the hidden forces in our lives, of which often we are not aware. Yet these inner issues are secretly shaping the course of life. The Tarot, properly used, reveals them.”

—M. J. ABADIE, TAROT FOR TEENS

Consulting Oracles

One way the ancients and spiritual practitioners today empower their psychic abilities is through the consulting of an oracle. Oracles are tools for contacting the spiritual powers inside and outside of you for insight and direction. An oracle is a vehicle that helps build your trust in your inner wisdom and loosen the grip of doubt. You learn to trust your intuition and the guidance of spirit more and more as you use them. Oracles are like a compass through the psychic and spiritual wilderness—a sure and reliable guide. The two most recommended oracles for building your intuition and personal power are the I Ching and the Tarot. Both oracles speak the language of the soul. They help you make choices based on ancient wisdom that has been consulted for thousands of years. These oracles work directly on building your intuition, personal power, and inner independence.

Listening to Your Dreams

Working with your dreams will help develop the sixth chakra. Dreams help you experience the world symbolically, to interpret your life in a spiritual way and to tap into the Great Mystery that is part of us all. Dreams are another way to listen to your intuitive self and to connect with your spiritual source.

Drawing the Chakras

A great tool to help balance and open this chakra is to draw a picture of each of your chakras. This will give you a physical record of what you see with your imagination. Get some paper and some chalk, markers, or colored pens. Give yourself at least thirty minutes for this meditation. Since you have already practiced visiting the chakras (page 63), use this same technique to focus on each chakra now, one at a time.

Get yourself in a meditative posture and check out the first chakra. Notice whether it is open or closed (trust what comes). Breathe . . . now choose the colors that you feel represent the energy of the given chakra. Draw shapes and symbols that express the energy of this chakra. Trust what comes. Color and breathe . . .

Do the same for each chakra. You can use one large sheet for all of the chakras, drawing them in the order of their positions in the body. Or you can have a separate sheet for each chakra. When you are finished, look at your drawings. What stands out for you? Do you see where you are more open or blocked? What symbols appear in certain chakras? Do the chakras appear connected to each other in some way? What do these chakra drawings tell you about yourself? Keep this in your psychic journal to refer to later. You may want to draw your chakras again, after you’ve done more exercises from this book.

“By learning to contact, listen to and act on our intuition, we can directly connect to the higher power of the universe and allow it to become our guiding force.”

—SHAKTI GAWAIN, MOTIVATIONAL AUTHOR

As you open up more and more psychically and energetically, your night dreams will often appear during the day, and even become part of your day life. The red-tailed hawk has always been a totem animal for me, showing up at various times and places with a message and blessing from Spirit. Two circled my wedding ceremony; one sat outside my window the day my daughter was born and again the day I brought her home from the birthing center. I’ve always wanted a red-tailed hawk to bless me with a feather, as this is known to be a sign of receiving a given bird’s medicine. Last year I dreamt that a red-tailed hawk flew above me and dropped down one of its feathers to me. Because I believe in the power of dreams, I felt blessed by the red-tailed hawk. The next morning I went for my daily walk. As I hiked down the driveway I saw at my feet a red-tailed hawk feather. I felt twice blessed!

To open up to the wisdom and blessings of your dreams, you need to remember them. You can do this by putting out the intention at night before you sleep that you will remember your dreams, and by recording your dreams in your psychic journal. For more on dream work, see pages 188–191.

• The color of this chakra is indigo.
• The Bach Flower remedies for this chakra are Mullein, Lotus, and Cerato.
• A stone to help heal and strengthen the sixth chakra is lapis lazuli. Lapis is a combination of minerals and is dark blue in color. It holds ancient sacred properties believed to help its bearer understand sacred texts. It is used to bring awareness and clarity to spiritual issues, which makes it ideal for activating the sixth chakra.
• The element of the sixth chakra is light.

Medicine from the Natural World

In several of the guided meditations in this book I suggest you go to a special place in nature that you enjoy. For some it is in their back-yards, a spot near a creek, a favorite tree or field. Go to that place now physically and take some time to relax and enjoy your surroundings. Take your psychic journal along with you, and some colored pens or markers. Give yourself an hour to be in this place, unrushed. Find a place to sit and let its energy and beauty and peace restore you. Write in your journal about the exercises you are doing in this book. This would also be a good place to do the Chakra Drawing or to practice the third eye meditation.

When you’ve been in this place for a while, take some time to notice what is new about it. What has changed since you last visited here? Is there a new plant, has something been removed or added? Is the path to the place more worn down? Notice if this change has any impact on your feelings while you are there. Be as present and involved in the place as possible. Be imaginative with this favored place by writing or drawing your experience.

“During the teen years, there may be a dawning interest in spiritual matters, mythology, or symbolism, whether through music, lyrics, popular movie icons, or the latest fashion at school.“

—ANODEA JUDITH, FROM EASTERN BODY, WESTERN MIND

Before you leave, give thanks to the earth, in your own way, for giving you such a wonderful place to visit.

SEVENTH CHAKRA: THE CHAKRA OF DIVINE WISDOM

The seventh chakra, also called the crown chakra, is located at the top of your head. Caroline Myss, an authority on psychic development, refers to this chakra as our Spiritual Connector. She writes, “The seventh chakra is our connection to our spiritual nature and our capacity to allow our spirituality to become an integral part of our physical lives and guide us.” This chakra allows us to connect with the divine—our spiritual source—in a personal and meaningful way. The divine is another expression for the Tao, or the Great Mystery, God, Goddess, or the Creator. It is the limitless source of spiritual energy that moves through everything and everyone.

When this chakra is open, you can understand the greatest mysteries of life. To completely open the crown chakra takes years and years of learning meditations and other spiritual practices, and studying with a spiritual adviser such as a guru, meditation teacher, transpersonal psychotherapist, shamanic practitioner, or Zen master. At the end of chapter 9 you can find out how to contact such teachers.

Note: Energy practitioners recommend that you activate the seventh chakra only after you have opened up the other six chakras.

Presently, in your teen years, the energy of the seventh chakra pulls you toward seeking this connection with the divine and its wisdom. So, to begin the process of opening your crown chakra, be attentive to this internal tug to connect with spirit. The best techniques for opening the seventh chakra are those that teach us how to be present in the moment. Opening up to the Great Mystery, the Divine, is not something that is going to happen tomorrow—it happens now, in this moment, in this very place. The divine is always available to you. Practices such as mindfulness meditations, monitoring your thoughts, and consciously focusing your full attention on whatever activity you are engaged in all make it possible for you to experience the presence of the divine in everything you do. The exercises throughout this book can help bring you more and more into the moment and into a very real connection with your spiritual source and your true nature.

“Stop thinking and talking about it and there is nothing you will not be able to know.”

—ZEN PARADIGM

“I can’t really describe what I felt when we meditated as a group. Itwas really incredible—I felt some connection to everything. It wasboth peaceful and intense. I didn’t realize I could have such a feelingso quickly and so naturally.”

—JOEL, AGE 18

Going into psychic trance and engaging in shamanic journeying both engage the seventh chakra. Chapter 7 offers exercises and meditations for journeying and for going into trance, as well as for connecting with your spiritual source.

The affirmation for the seventh chakra is:
I know who I am and where my strength comes from.

Prayers

Prayer is a time-honored technique for engaging the seventh chakra. Virtually all spiritual practices include forms of prayer. There are countless ways to pray, to send out a request to your spiritual source for help and guidance. After practicing different techniques you will choose what kind of prayer works for you. My morning prayers include asking my source for guidance in all that I think, do, and say that day. I believe that calling on our spiritual source for this help brings this help to us.

“We always have a choice: we can limit our perception so that we close off vastness, or we can allow vastness to touch us.”

—CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA, SHAMBHALA: THE SACRED PATH OF THE WARRIOR

Sometimes the idea of prayer, or asking for help from a higher power, seems futile. This is often because of some past experience we have had with religion. Many teenagers share with me that they had a religion forced on them and now want to be left alone. Yet they feel very alone at times without any sense of a spiritual connection. The power of the seventh chakra is gained through practices that invite such a spiritual connection. This connection is always to a spiritual source that is positive, compassionate, and bigger than any problems in your life. If you feel completely disconnected from any such source, chances are this chakra is blocked or not yet developed. You may want to pray to have your higher power reveal itself to you.

“Many shamanic traditions hold the belief that any solitary time that is spent in nature for purposes of reflection and guidance reawakens us to our own life purpose . . .”

—ANGELES ARRIEN, ANTHROPOLOGIST, AUTHOR OF THE FOUR-FOLD WAY

The following chapters offer many ways to receive guidance from spirit.

• The color of this chakra is violet.
• The Bach Flower remedies for this chakra are Star Tulip and Lotus.
• A stone to help heal the seventh chakra is clear quartz. Quartz is considered a mineral that transforms energy. This stone is believed to be able to assist you in calling the power of spirit into your soul and is used to help communicate with the spirit world. It is used to activate the crown chakra.
• Smoky quartz is helpful in grounding all the energy in the body from the crown chakra to the first (root) chakra. Amber helps clean out all the chakras. You may visualize the energies of these stones or hold a stone in your hand and imagine its energy moving throughout your entire body and filling up each chakra.

Medicine from the Natural World

Find a tree that you can sit up against for about ten minutes without being disturbed. Find a place at the base of the tree where you can rest your back comfortably against the trunk. Take a moment to ground.

Relax in the breath and imagine yourself as part of this tree, with your roots going down deep into the ground, getting nourishment from mother earth . . . Feel your branches reaching up and out to the sky, pulling in the energy of the sun and the blue sky . . . Make sure that branches are reaching up out of your crown chakra. Breathe . . . You and the tree are one—dependent on the earth and the heavens for your nourishment. Your crown chakra is open to the sun’s rays, which pour down into your entire being. Sit for a few minutes, taking in all this nourishment. Notice how true it is that you and the tree are one and that you do know who you are and where your strength comes from.

ADDICTIONS AND THE CHAKRAS

It is easy to become addicted in our culture. In fact, you may often feel encouraged and supported to be addicted to something or someone. At first, all addictions are an attempt to feel good and to reach some altered state of consciousness. Sometimes they are used to deal with stress, like using alcohol to calm your anxiety, video games to avoid commitments, or fanatical religious beliefs to allay your fears. But the benefits of the given substance or practice soon turn into a hazard and begin to harm you, throwing your life out of balance.

“If you feel the real joy and the real spirit within you, they come out naturally. If you really go deep inside, everything is there. You feel it and, if you want it to come out, it will come out.”

—MAYUMI ODA, JAPANESE-AMERICAN ARTIST AND ACTIVIST

Behaviors and practices qualify as addictions when they follow a habitual pattern and you give up your personal power to the substanceor practice. The addiction then is more powerful than you, and your life is in trouble.

The Chakras and Related Addictions
Chakra seven:	fanatical religious beliefs and assumptions, obsessive spiritual practices
Chakra six:	hallucinogens, marijuana
Chakra five:	opiates, marijuana, video games, television
Chakra four:	tobacco, sugar, relationships, marijuana
Chakra three:	cocaine, crack, caffeine, approval/perfectionism, anger
Chakra two:	alcohol, sex, heroin, acting out, television
Chakra one:	food, shopping, gambling, perfectionism

Every addiction is related to one of the chakras. Addictive behavior will keep you stuck in the negative characteristics of the associated chakra. So if you are addicted to marijuana and hallucinogens, for example, you may be stuck in doubt, fear, and distrust.

Take the time now, before reading further, to consider whether a particular behavior could be developing into an addiction for you. Working on the related chakra will certainly help, but if a behavior has already become an addiction, seeking other help will be necessary. Consider contacting a local support group, confide in a trusted adult, or seek the guidance of a nurse or therapist.

When you can live from your energy body, listen to its wisdom and messages, and tend to your energy system (the chakras), you become more and more attuned to the purpose of your life. Such living connects you to everything true and beautiful inside of you and outside of you. There really is no greater power than to feel and live this connection to truth and beauty. Certainly you have heard it said that wealth and success alone do not bring happiness. The greatest happiness does come from discovering—and living—your true potential. Every chakra can be understood as a reminder of the very real power you hold inside of you for making that life a reality.

”The I Ching teaches principles through which it may be possible to learn to live in harmony with the Tao, the invisible meaning-giving matrix of the universe.”

—JEAN SHINODA BOLEN, PSYCHIATRIST, AUTHOR OF THE GODDESS WITHIN

 

“There was this young man enjoying himself fishing in this boat out in the middle of a beautiful lake. It was one of his favorite places to relax and hang out without others bothering him. As he was sitting there enjoying himself, another boat was coming toward him, fast. He shouted, “Watch out, watch out!” But the boat continued to move swiftly toward him. He screamed and waved his arms about to stop the boat from hitting him, but the boat just came faster and faster, right toward him. He was standing and screaming at the top of his lungs when the boat crashed right into him. As he sailed through the air, he noticed that the other boat didn’t have anyone in it.”

—ZEN STORY