UNDERSTANDING AND WORKING
WITH EACH OF THE
CHAKRAS USING TRAYA
Each of the following seven chapters is devoted to one of the primary chakras and its associated secondary chakra(s). Together these chapters form a map guiding us on a journey through the inner landscape of the mind, with many twists and turns and mysteries revealed.
If you are familiar with the chakras from prior reading or study, you will not be surprised to see, for example, that the throat chakra has to do with communication and the root chakra with safety and security. I have discovered additional attributes of the primary chakras along with the secondary chakras and their functions through Traya exploration both with myself and others.
This discovery process was the result of many years of careful listening and attention to detail, quite like old time mapmaking before satellites and GPS, where charting a region required rigorous and time-consuming exploration and documentation with no shortcuts. Only this time we were traveling through the deep space of the mind. As similar material appeared related to a specific chakra, I was able to expand the list. For example, when different people surfaced memories related to injustice when working with the solar plexus chakra, I realized that one of its attributes is a sense of justice. I also discovered that the primary chakras each have one function and several attributes and the secondaries have just the one function without attributes.
At the beginning of each chapter, I note the chakra function, a comprehensive list of its attributes, and the common issues that result from negative samskaras. I also include, for illustrative purposes, an example of an attribute paradox for that chakra. An attribute paradox occurs when an attribute of a chakra is samskaric and contradicts the chakras function. For example, the jolly man or woman who uses humor to entertain others in order to be liked—the pelvic chakra function is associated with personal power in relationships, and this misuse of its attribute of humor is in contradiction to personal power.
Some of the material may be controversial, especially in the crown chakra, in relation to religion, culture, and society. It is important to understand the types of experiences that cause injuries to the mind so that we can know why we have the wounds that we do and prevent wounding other people.
Change is always happening, whether or not an issue is completely resolved. As previously noted, when one chakra is significantly out of balance there will be issues in other chakras as well. Think of tuning a piano; for it to be tuned properly, more than one string needs to be adjusted. There are tipping points throughout the process when enough samskaras related to a particular issue are healed and there is a sudden and dramatic positive change in the mind. Thus, change is both gradual and sudden. One is obvious and one is not so obvious; therefore, I do not mention change with every example. Chapter 5 provides a general outline of the types of changes that can be expected when addressing a dominant pain body.
How to Approach This Work
If you have a substantial pain body, I recommend that the lower chakras be cleansed of samskaras first so that there is a foundation established to allow the higher chakras to bloom. I always prefer starting with the solar plexus chakra as its separating and intellectualizing tendency will be reduced. This helps with work on the spiritual path and with the Traya process. It is also the easiest chakra for beginners to work with as we are all very comfortable and familiar with the solar plexus chakra’s “in our head” energy. This is the order (top down) that I suggest:
• The solar plexus chakra (manipura)
• The pelvic chakra (svadhisthana)
• The throat chakra (vishuddha)
• The root chakra (muladhara)
• The heart chakra (anahata)
• The third eye chakra (ajna)
• The crown chakra (sahasrara)
The solar plexus chakra, the pelvic chakra, and the throat chakra, when samskaric, cause many unpleasant thoughts and feelings. The root chakra goes next because one should be fully grounded with a strong foundation before the higher chakras (heart, throat, third eye, and crown) are strengthened.
Of course, if you review the primary chakra list in Chapter 2 and realize that you are significantly out of balance in one area, for example, your doing energy is very weak and you struggle to get yourself moving—work in that area until you are functioning better—in this case the root chakra. I still would recommend alternating one day the solar plexus chakra and then the next day the identified problem chakra. For many of us, it is essential that the solar plexus chakra is brought into balance, as early in the process as possible. When the solar plexus chakra is balanced we are able to engage more fully with every aspect of life, including this process, as we are less likely to be thwarted by excessive thinking, distractions, and judgments.
If your pain body is not substantial, work in areas you are drawn to or where you are led by your Inner Teacher. Sometimes you may even be led to work on a higher chakra or to focus on one of the secondary chakras; trust yourself. The secondary chakras are small but powerful and can provide much relief from negativity in the mind. Work on these whenever you are led to them.
Goals are good, but in the beginning try to work with negative thoughts or feelings and, then later in the process, patterns of behavior. It is a good idea to keep a notebook and record every change that you notice as you notice them. If you are working with an issue such as fear, draw a line with numbers along the line ranging from 0 to 10. Rate your average fear level in the beginning on that line with 10 being the severest and 0 representing no fear at all. Check in from time to time and think of how fearful you have been feeling in the past week in general. Record each change until the fear decreases to 0. Of course this will take time if you fall high on the fear range, and it is important to stay cognizant of progress because as the mind shifts we can forget what it was like before and become frustrated as the focus turns to other issues. Sara put this well: “I was driving in my car and another car came out of nowhere, and I felt a panicked feeling. Later I realized that I used to feel like this all of the time. I was walking around with an underlying constant fear that would bubble up into panic at times. After doing the Traya work, it is hard for me to even remember what that was like as I am not like that now.”
There are exercises included to aid you in your beginning work with both the primary and secondary chakras discussed in each chapter. These exercises together include all of the various techniques for locating samskaras that were outlined in Chapter 3 on the Traya process so that you can get some experience with all of them. Feel free, however, to stick with the basic technique. Remember that this is a simple process. The memory comes up and the energy goes out—that is basically it. I have made every effort not to complicate things. It is only the various methods you can use to locate samskaras in the chakras that can change—the other Traya steps are always the same.