Alignment
with Your Soul
“When we align with our wholeness we rise from the inside out,
and then we are able to share the highest
manifestation of ourselves with the world.”
—victoria l. white
You are a reflection of the universe in a uniquely brilliant and cosmically vibrant way. Universes tend to flow according to their flawless, inherent rhythm. As you connect to and become intimate with your instinct, intuition, and insight, you will notice when you are in or out of alignment. Alignment is simply harmony and communion between mind, body, and spirit; instinct, intuition, and insight; gut, heart, and brain. It’s when everything within you leans toward the truth of your Soul. Alignment is when your entire being is living in balance and flow. If you’ve never experienced alignment before, this might happen for a moment here and there to begin with, but with practice, you can join these moments together so that alignment is the full experience of your life. Self-awareness helps with this process, as does positivity, trust, and a devotion to honesty. By the end of this book, you will have learned many ways of opening to your self-awareness and living in alignment.
One of the ways you can thoroughly understand your inner universe and what needs more care for deeper alignment is by looking at your chakras.
Get to Know Your Chakras
When you get to know your chakras, you can see where your inner guides fit into your energetic form in such a detailed and accessible way. You can easily work with your chakras yourself; any way that you heal and balance them will affect your instinct, intuition, and insight in effective and often surprising ways. (See Chapter 9 for specific ways to balance your chakras.)
Chakras look and act like spinning wheels, so it’s no surprise that chakra is Sanskrit for “wheel.” When your chakras spin effortlessly, they create a healthy and harmonious flow of energy up and down your spine called kundalini energy.
I’ve learned about chakras from many books, many healers and clients, and many meditations over the years. I love how they communicate directly with me through color or visions about the health of my, or a client’s, body. You will experience them in your own unique way according to your inner psychic senses.
Chakras are the anchor points of your entire energy field. There are seven main chakras within the body, with more inside, above, and below your physical form. Each chakra relates to different colors (due to the speed at which they spin), elements, physical/mental/emotional areas, senses, and developmental cycles in your life.
Chakra Figure
Unbalanced, blocked, small, overactive, or underactive chakras can lead to unfavorable changes to your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. When you connect with each chakra and learn to feel into them, you are able to awaken and heal each of them. Healing your chakras is an empowering way to heal your past, your thoughts, your energy, and your body, and bring you a greater level of thriving health and wellness.
Chakras that are balanced, clear, and vibrant are able to guide your energy—and your life—seamlessly and powerfully. When you heal the lower chakras, you calm the fear of your instinct, allowing it to keep you safe and on purpose with strong roots. When you open the heart chakra of your intuition—and neighboring chakras—allowing love to flow in and out, you regain a steady stream of energetic connection and are able to welcome intuitive guidance. And when you clear the way for your upper chakras to draw inspiration and light (intelligence) from Source energy, you open up to vivid insight.
Let’s move through each chakra from the root to the crown.
Root Chakra
Color: Red
Related to: Safety, survival, family, tribe, physical nourishment
Element: Earth
Sense: Smell
Affirmation: I am safe, healthy, and grounded. I am successful and abundant.
Healing prompts: How safe did you feel as a child? How secure do you feel day to day? How often do you ground yourself in nature? Do you feel naturally successful? Are you open to abundance in all forms?
The base “root” chakra carries with it the instinctive guidance from your ancestors, the tribes of your familial bloodlines, and the human race as a whole. It’s where your instinct originates, and it’s related to the adrenals that activate your fight-or-flight response to keep you safe. When you heal the aspects connected to your root chakra, you’re grounding your instinct, which will help you feel less flighty or easily scared.
Sacral Chakra
Color: Orange
Related to: Emotions/feelings, creativity, sexuality, ethics, control
Element: Water
Sense: Taste
Affirmation: I enjoy life’s pleasures without guilt. I am creative, sensual, and adaptable. I allow emotions to flow through me in a way that feels free.
Healing prompts: What does sexual energy feel like to you? What emotions are you uncomfortable expressing? What emotions from others make you feel uncomfortable? What does it feel like to be in creative flow? What pleasures do you enjoy wholeheartedly?
As you awaken the second “sacral” chakra, your instinct develops further, you find your creativity takes on new forms, your emotions don’t control you, and your pleasure does not invite guilt or shame.
Solar Plexus Chakra
Color: Yellow
Related to: Intellect, confidence, personal power, structure, will, trust
Element: Fire
Sense: Sight
Affirmation: I am aware of my wants, needs, and desires. I am confident and empowered. I relish my wisdom and sense of humor.
Healing prompts: Do you get what you want with honesty and gratitude, force and coercion, or victimhood and attachments? Are you judging or accepting of yourself? Do you value your intellect as unique and worthy?
Your third “solar plexus” chakra is the center of your personal power, self-esteem, and self-respect and is directly connected to the gut. It’s related to your personal sense of safety and security, inner power, and self-esteem. Once this chakra has developed, your instinct is fully connected and awake, and when the first three chakras are clear and balanced, your instinct is able to keep you safe, grounded, and connected with ease and love.
Heart Chakra
Color: Green
Related to: Love, compassion, healing, relationships, intuition, anger
Element: Air
Sense: Touch
Affirmation: I am compassionate, loving, and lovable. I allow my intuition to guide me with faith and grace. I value and honor my relationships with self and others.
Healing prompts: Do you feel worthy of unconditional love from yourself and others? Are you compassionate toward those around you who are different, difficult, or suffering? Does your heart feel open and light? Are you guided by your wholehearted and wise intuition? Have you tapped into the healer within?
The fourth “heart” chakra is related to intuition, love, compassion, and healing. It infuses its energy into how you relate to others, to love, and to the energy around you. Unconditional self-love is the core of a flowing heart chakra; this is an important step in nourishing your intuition. This chakra is the meeting place of the upper insight chakras and lower instinctive chakras. This is why I use words like “heart-centered” and “wholehearted,” because when we are completely balanced, we are living aligned and centered within the heart of our being.
Throat Chakra
Color: Blue
Related to: Truth, expression, guidance, communication
Element: Sound
Sense: Hearing
Affirmation: I freely express my truth. I am comfortable sharing my unique voice with others. I listen to my inner voice when it guides me with love.
Healing prompts: Are there any gifts that you are stifling? Are you at ease communicating honestly with others? Are you open to listening empathetically? How did you trust yourself today?
Your intuitive voice is related to your fifth “throat” chakra, as this is the seat of communication and guidance. This voice comes straight from and into the heart, so it makes sense that the more love you pour into and out of your life, the clearer your intuition and voice of truth can be received, heard, and articulated.
Third Eye Chakra
Color: Indigo
Related to: Insight, truth, inner wisdom, psychic abilities, inner vision
Element: Light
Sense: Knowing
Affirmation: I am insightful, wise, and tuned in to my natural psychic potential.
Healing prompts: Are you easily able to surrender old beliefs when new truths present themselves? Do you pay attention to the higher realms and what they have to offer? Are you in touch with what you believe and also open to hear what others believe without becoming defensive or preachy? Do you
trust the unexpected epiphanies that you experience?
The sixth “third eye” chakra relates to insight and wisdom. Most teachings over the ages state that intuition is related to the third eye, and although they’re undoubtedly strongly related, I see this chakra as the center of insight: clear thinking and wisdom from your Highest Self and Spirit. It’s where you receive wisdom from the Divine and your Soul (one and the same)—truth that potentially rearranges and realigns your beliefs, perceptions, values, and the meaning that weaves its thread through the essence of your life.
Crown Chakra
Color: White/purple
Related to: Connection to Source, spirituality, purpose
Element: Consciousness
Sense: None
Affirmation: I believe in miracles. I lean toward bliss. I am wise and aware. I am one with Source energy.
Healing prompts: Do you feel connected to all life—the earth, plants, animals, and people—or detached and separate? How do you see the bigger, divine picture, and how does that enlighten or impact your path? How do you direct your curiosities and thirst for greater knowledge?
Your seventh “crown” chakra is your connection to Source. When this is clear and strong, you are in touch with your purpose and the oneness of life. When you actively nourish this chakra, your consciousness expands, and you are able to access insight from Spirit. It’s the place from which you can access the vastness and guidance of the higher realms.
Let Alignment Flow
It helps if you don’t identify with your inner guides or chakras, but rather sit in the conscious seat of your Soul as a witness to all that you are. When you genuinely feel this on a deep level—that you are not your physical, emotional, or mental selves—you will feel true freedom beyond words. Take a step back from your thoughts and emotions and simply watch them play out. Let them melt away and fall in love with life without the usual mental commentary, or “thought baggage” as Eckhart Tolle calls it. Revel in the sweet serendipity of living consciously.
When you’re in peaceful alignment with all that you are, when you’re living according to what you know to be true for you, then you’re connected to the most important wisdom and grace of all … yours.
• Ritual •
This is one of the most powerful meditations I’ve ever shared with clients and workshop groups. When you get to know it well, you’ll be able to move through it on your own with your eyes closed whenever you’re feeling out of alignment or simply desiring to tune in to the free flow of wisdom within.
Sit comfortably in your chair, feet flat on the floor, hands resting gently in your lap, back straight. Breathe deeply through your nose into your belly, let the breath flow effortlessly out, and let all thoughts fade away. Focus gently on your breathing, your body, and the spirit that resides within. Take a few more deep belly breaths in your own time to relax and let your thoughts fade into the background.
Let your face, jaw, and shoulders relax. Feel the weight of your arms and legs. Keep breathing deeper, deeper, deeper. Feel the earth beneath you, supporting you. Let go and surrender to the earth. Let it hold you.
Now take a moment to open your inner senses to the golden light that lives in your heart center. A light so pure and warm. A light that is your own luminous Soul, your still and quiet presence, always there, always guiding, always loving. Feel the deep grace of this light as it moves down your body, through the gut with a healing force, and into the earth. Imagine it moving through the layers of Mother Earth all the way down to the core, to the heart of our precious planet. Feel what that feels like to connect your power with nature … and then slowly draw up the earth’s energy through the layers, up through your feet, and into the center of your being.
Now see this grounded and activated light move up through the top of your head, your crown, all the way into the sky, higher and higher until it reaches Source energy. Feel the connection with Great Spirit, the power and unlimited light and unconditional love in the highest dimension. Bring this energy slowly down into the crown of your head, down to the center of your being. Allow this light to expand and slowly surround you in a golden ball.
Savor this feeling. Hold it for a moment, appreciating the healing and illumination of your three inner guides as well as Mother Earth and Source. See this energy all around your body. Feel the warmth cocooning you. Bask in the light. Give thanks for all that you are connected to. Stay with this healing sensation as long as you need to. Know that luminous alignment is always available to you anytime you need it.
When you’re ready, wriggle your toes and feet. Move your fingers; stretch your hands and arms. Rock your head gently from side to side and slowly open your eyes. How do you feel? This sensation is an inner anchor for you as you move forward along your spiritual journey. You can come back to this meditation, this feeling, this light, as often as you need to. This is home. This is sacred connection. This is alignment.