Chakra
Three:
Fire
Opening Meditation
We are still, yet we sense a growing warmth within us. We are alone, yet we sense others around us, longing to break free, longing for warmth and light. There is a form here, but it is empty. There is life here, but it is still. There is awareness here and it is awakening!
From a place of stillness, we call forth movement. Slowly reaching out, expanding, breathing, stretching, flowing. Into form, we invoke life. Its spark from the fire of the place between—between ourselves and others, between past and future, between the known and the unknown.
We move and dance, pleasure singing through us as the dance of life burns its way through our fears and our pains. Feel the warmth of pleasure melting tension, pulsating, growing—the rhythms lifting and moving, healing and soothing, warming and cooling.
From a place of infinite movement we call on the Self. We call on the Self to awaken to another part of the journey. We call upon the Self to awaken to the sun, the fire, the warmth, the transformation. We call upon the Self through our will, and it rises to our call.
We reach for the sun and call upon the yellow ray. The ray of life, the ray of creation, the ray of consciousness, the spark of fire . . . . We call upon the flame to burn within us and temper our passions into strength. With strength we fight the dark, pushing and straining, to realize it is part of ourselves, part of our strength, part of our fear. We laugh, and put down the fight, merging, becoming whole, becoming stronger. We pass between the pillars of light and dark, honoring both . . . and find ourselves in a new and glorious land. A land of bustling activity, teeming with life, sparkling like stars with shining rivers of light reflecting the sun.
The sparks catch our eyes, we turn toward their glow and they move and dance, connecting and igniting all that they touch. They touch something within, igniting strength, will, action. Sparks fly, igniting other threads, other fires . . . they explode, burn bright . . . and are gone.
We are lifted, we are lightened, we are laughing. We feel our bodies sway with the rising heat, hot tongues of fire moving within us, expanding, contracting, but growing ever wider, yet returning always to its source within us. Our bodies now burning, radiating heat and light and strength and will. Power pulsating through us, from above, below, around, and running through, transforming all that is within and without, our bellies bursting with joy.
Feel this energy deep within your body, burning with the fire of your own life. Feel it pushing deep into the Earth, down through the Earth, to the hot molten center of Earth. Feel it return from the Earth, rising up from the heat below, through your legs, your pelvis, your belly, moving up through your body, through each part of your body—your arms, your hands, your chest, neck, and head.
Feel it flowing out of you, connecting with other sparks, filaments of energy, other fires of life. Feel it connect with the thoughts inside you, your constant sparking of neurons, interconnecting filaments of energy, lines of thought, patterns in a web, ebbing and flowing in pulsing flames, burning with the glow of activity.
You are now a vital intersection of energy, merging, combining, exploding, radiating. Expend your awareness without and within, weaving a web of power, like a fire, growing higher and brighter. Power flows through you effortlessly, easily, calmly. You are one with the powers around you and within you.
Think of the times when you knew this power. Times when you felt this connection, vitality, importance, and strength. Think of the times power flowed through you, like warmth from the sun. Think of those times and feel them now. Feel your body radiate their purpose, dance with their majesty, sing with their strength.
In this fiery world of activity you are a channel for power around you. You open to it, you burn with it, you drink it in, and you pass it on . . . easily, effortlessly, willingly, joyfully.
Your power peaks and returns, feeding the fire within—a molten core, feeding your body, silently charging, ready to expand again when your next purpose calls.
The fire has burned high, and the coals now glow with warmth. Exhilarated, your body relaxes. A smile plays on your lips, your hands are at peace with the strength they have carried, and you again return to the gentle breathing . . . in . . . and out . . . in . . . and out . . . in . . . and out.
Satisfied, you rest.
CHAKRA THREE
SYMBOLS AND CORRESPONDENCES
|
Sanskrit Name: |
Manipura |
|
Meaning: |
Lustrous gem |
|
Location: |
Navel to solar plexus |
|
Element: |
Fire |
|
Outer Form: |
Plasma |
|
Function: |
Will, power, assertiveness |
|
Inner State: |
Laughter, joy, anger |
|
Glands: |
Pancreas, adrenals |
|
Other Body Parts: |
Digestive system, muscles |
|
Malfunction: |
Ulcers, diabetes, hypoglycemia, digestive disorders |
|
Color: |
Yellow |
|
Seed Sound: |
Ram |
|
Vowel Sound: |
Ah as in “father” |
|
Petals: |
Ten |
|
Tarot Suit: |
Wands |
|
Sephira: |
Hod, Netzach |
|
Planets: |
Mars; also the Sun |
|
Metal: |
Iron |
|
Foods: |
Starches |
|
Corresponding Verb: |
I can |
|
Herbs for Incense: |
Dragon’s blood, sandalwood, saffron, musk, cinnamon, ginger |
|
Minerals: |
Amber, topaz, yellow citrine, rutilated quartz |
|
Animals: |
Ram |
|
Sense: |
Sight |
|
Guna: |
Rajas |
|
Lotus Symbols: |
Ten petals of blue, downward triangle with Hindu solar crosses (svastikas). At the base is a running ram. |
|
Hindu Deities: |
Agni, Surya, Rudra, Lakini |
|
Other Pantheons: |
Brigit, Athene, Helios, Apollo, Amaterasu, Belenos, Apis, Ra |
|
Archangel: |
Michael |
|
Chief Operating Force: |
Combustion |
AND THE WHEEL BURNS . . .
What is this life flowing in our bodies like fire? What is it? Life is like a hot iron. Ready to pour. Choose the mold and life will burn it.
—Mahabharata1
From earth to water to fire! Our dance grows, impassioned now as we reclaim our bodies and reach through emotion and desire to find will, purpose, and action. We grow in strength, we feel our power rising from our guts, descending from our visions, releasing joyously from our hearts. We now enter our third chakra, rising up from the combined levels of the first two chakras and embracing the growing current of consciousness that descends from the upper chakras.
Here the element fire ignites the light of consciousness, and we emerge from the unconscious, somatic levels to the exciting combination of psyche and soma that creates willed action. As we activate our power, we direct our activities toward a higher purpose.
Let’s examine how the first two chakras combine to bring us this new level. The first chakra brought us solidity, stability, focus, and form. Here we experienced unity. From this ground, we moved to chakra two and experienced difference, change, and movement. Here we embraced polarities and discovered the passions of difference, choice, emotion, and desire. We expanded beyond mere survival instincts toward the desire for pleasure and merging with another.
As we put together matter and movement, we find that they create a third state: energy. If we rub two sticks together, we eventually get a spark that can ignite a fire. In the physical world, we call this combustion. In the body, it relates to metabolism. Psychologically, it relates to the spark of enthusiasm that ignites power and will; in our behavior, it is the realm of activity.
This is our third chakra. Its purpose is transformation. Just as fire transforms matter to heat and light, the third chakra transforms the passive elements of earth and water into dynamic energy and power. Earth and water are passive. They flow downward, subject to gravity, and follow the path of least resistance. Fire, by contrast, moves upward, destroying form, and takes the raw energy of matter to a new dimension—to heat and light.
If we are to rise upward through all seven chakras, it is the fire of our will that propels that movement. It is through our will that we liberate ourselves from fixed patterns and create new behavior. It is our will that steers us away from that path of least resistance, that addictive habit, or the expectations of others. It is through our will that we take actions that are difficult or challenging, moving toward something new. As we take these actions, we begin to transform, but the first step is breaking old patterns.
Thus, the initial task of the third chakra is to overcome inertia. In physics, inertia refers to the tendency of an object to remain in the state it is in—either in motion or at rest—unless acted upon by some other force. In the third chakra, the will combines the forces of stillness and movement, earth and water, each shaping the other. The momentum of a golf club hitting a stationary ball will get the ball moving. A catcher’s mitt, held still, will stop a baseball in flight. Our will combines holding and moving in a way that directs action and shapes our world.
The hardest part is getting started. Once we get a fire going, it burns more easily, only needing to be stirred and fed. Once we get a business started, we then use its returns as fuel to keep it productive. Once we overcome inertia to the point where energy is produced easily, the third chakra “kicks in” and begins producing power with less effort and will. Doing something with ease and grace is the mark of true power.
A moving object, when it interacts with other objects, creates heat. Heat, in turn, stimulates movement, which allows new combinations to occur. Particles collide and combine; states of matter are changed; molecules may bond to other molecules; solids change to liquids; liquids change to gas; flour and eggs become cake. Fire is the transforming influence that can destroy form and release energy.
The sun is a primary example of transformational fire and could even be called a macrocosmic third chakra. The sun and other stars like it began as a diffuse cloud of hydrogen gas (with traces of heavier elements). Present theory states that a shock wave from a nearby supernova impacted the hydrogen cloud, causing it to collapse on itself. This created thousands of vortices, each with a gravitational field strong enough to draw in the necessary material to create a solar system. As the vortex of hydrogen that was to become our solar system collapsed, heat was generated through internal friction. Eventually the combination of heat and gravity triggered the process that makes our Sun shine.
The Sun produces heat and light through nuclear fusion. Its heat is so extreme that the hydrogen nuclei are propelled into each other with enough force to overcome their mutually repelling electrical charges, and fuse into slightly less massive helium nuclei. The difference in mass is converted to pure energy, which generates more heat and movement, thus perpetuating the whole process. Nuclear fusion requires a gravitational field strong enough to act as a container and create sufficient density for the process to be self-generating. Once again, we see how gravity, the force of chakra one, gives rise to movement, chakra two, resulting in energy, the force of chakra three. The energy then keeps the whole cycle running.
The chakras are all interdependent facets of a basic unified field of consciousness. They do not act separately and can only be separated intellectually. Likewise, we cannot separate energy from movement any more than we can separate it from mass. Mass, movement, and energy are three inseparable qualities of our physical world. The first three chakras represent a trinity of fundamental principles regulating our physical bodies and all matter. Together they form a dance of cause and effect, which gives us the energy for activity. Without a supply of energy, we have no power. But energy alone is not enough to constitute power. For that, the energy must be directed.
It is the descending current of consciousness that guides this energy into purpose. It is intelligence that forms the intention that shapes will and directs activity. In this way, the descending current brings us form, while the ascending current brings us energy. Only when the two combine do we have power.
To enter this chakra is to embrace the inner power that comes from the integration of bodily energy with conscious intelligence. In this way, we become effective agents of transformation.
MANIPURA—THE LUSTROUS GEM
The Manipura chakra is like the morning sun; meditating on it with gaze fixed on the tip of the nose one can stir up the world.
—Gorakshashatakam (tenth century)
In the body, the third chakra is located in the solar plexus, over the adrenal glands. This is where we get those “butterfly” feelings when we’re nervous—when the third chakra isn’t feeling confident and powerful. It’s a flighty feeling that brings our energy up instead of down, yet stimulates and awakens us to heightened sensitivity. When we are grounded, this stimulation can be empowering and vitalizing. Without grounding, we may get a flurry of undirected energy.
As the name solar plexus implies, this is a fiery, solar chakra, bringing us light, warmth, energy, and power. It represents our “get up and go,” our action, our will, our vitality. Extending from just below the sternum down to the navel, it is also called the “navel chakra.” (See Figure 4.1.) One of its associations with power comes from the belief that all the major nadis (psychic currents) originate from the navel. As this is the source point for all prenatal nourishment and energy, it is not surprising that psychic pathways are originally established along these lines.
In correspondence with fire as combustion, the third chakra rules over metabolism, and is responsible for the regulation and distribution of metabolic energy throughout the body. This is done through the combustion of matter (food) into energy (action and heat). The digestive system is, therefore, an important part of this process, and a barometer for the health of this center. Problems such as diabetes, hypoglycemia, or stomach ulcers relate directly to this center.
Of crucial importance to metabolism is air, the element of chakra four. Without air, fire does not burn; cells do not metabolize.2 When our breathing is constricted, our metabolism is hindered. When we have no room to breathe, our power is limited. Likewise, when we use power without compassion (chakra four), we risk perpetuating harm and oppression.
We can assess the health of this third chakra in many ways. Physically, we can examine the body structure in the solar plexus area. Tight hard stomachs, large pot bellies, or sunken diaphragms are all indications of third chakra imbalances. You can feel and look at your own body to explore this center. How does your physical body shape itself around this center? Does it expand or contract beyond its basic shape at this level? Large bellies may indicate an excessive need to be in power, to dominate and control, or simply an egotistical need to take up space. A weak, sunken chakra indicates a fear of taking power, a withdrawal into the self, a fear of standing out. Excess weight in general can be a third chakra malfunction, because it says the body is not properly metabolizing its solid matter (food) into energy.3
You can also analyze yourself in terms of the element fire. Are you frequently cold? Do you prefer cold or hot drinks? Do you crave or avoid hot, spicy foods? Do you sweat easily, have fevers or chills? Is your temperament quick and energetic or slow and lethargic? These things give us an indication of whether we have excessive or deficient fire in our bodies.
Chakra Three, the navel chakra (solar plexus).
In Sanskrit, this chakra is called Manipura, which means “lustrous gem,” because it shines bright like the sun—a radiant, glowing center. Its symbol is a lotus with ten petals, within which is a downward-pointing triangle, surrounded by three T-shaped “svastikas” (Hindu symbols for fire, not to be confused with Nazi swastikas).4 (See Figure 4.2.) The power to manipulate our surroundings is partially related to the ability of our hands, with ten fingers, extending out into the world around us. Ten is also the beginning of a new cycle, as our entry into rajas is the beginning of a new kind of awareness.
Within the lotus is a ram, a powerful and energetic animal, usually associated with Agni, Hindu god of fire. In the chakra itself, the deities depicted are the god Vishnu, and his partner, the Shakti Lakini, three-faced and four-armed, dispelling fear and granting boons. The letter inside the lotus is the seed sound ram. Meditating on this lotus is said to give the power to create and destroy the world.5
Fire is the spark of life that ignites will to action. Fire is the spark between Shiva and Shakti, the power that lies between polarity. Fire in our bodies keeps us warm, active, and energized so that we, too, may be transformers. Human beings need and give warmth. The power of the third chakra is the power of life, of vitality, and of connection—not the coldness of control and domination. The energy and fire in our bodies reflects our ability to combine with the elements around us, for fire is a process of combination and combustion.
Fire is radiant, so the third chakra is yang and active. When afraid or feeling powerless, we withdraw, and become passive and yin. We hold our movements in check and use one part of ourselves to control another. When we block our own power and expression, we are withdrawn and appear cold and controlled.
This control takes energy to maintain, yet it does not produce energy. Eventually we become depleted. Our natural enthusiasm for activities dwindles, and instead we have to “manufacture” energy for our projects, reaching for stimulants, such as coffee or sweets, which temporarily energize, but eventually deplete our vitality.
God: Vishnu / Goddess: L-akin-i
Manipu-ra chakra.
(Courtesy Timeless Books)
When we withdraw from life, we become a closed system. Our expression turns in on itself, often in anger and self-criticism, which wears us down further. Fire takes fuel to burn, and in a closed system, the fuel eventually burns up. Only in a dynamic state of interaction with the world can we keep up the movement and contact that feeds our fire and zest for life.
To break the cycle of fear and withdrawal takes a reconnection with the self in a loving and accepting way. If we are not in touch with the first two chakras—with our body and ground, our passions and pleasures—we have little fuel for our fire. Desire gives our will enthusiasm and makes it more dynamic.
If we are not loving with ourselves, giving ourselves room to breathe, to explore, to make mistakes, then we have no air for the fire to burn. If we are not connected to spirit, we have no spark for the fire, and all the fuel in the world is useless. If we are not centered within ourselves, we see the power as outside ourselves, rather than feeling it within.
The energy in our bodies is dependent on our ability to connect, to merge, to nourish ourselves from what surrounds us. It is dependent on our comfort with power, with our basic self-confidence. This chakra is also related to self-esteem, which brings strength to our will. When our will is effective, our self-esteem is enhanced. Then, we can better direct our lives toward that which we love, that which ignites us, challenges us, renews us. These are all elements that call for integration and development in the third chakra.
POWER
The power of open systems is not a property one can own, but a process one opens to.
—Joanna Macy6
We have stated that power is directed energy. What about personal power? How do we develop and maintain this power within a culture and educational system that teaches powerlessness as a way of fostering social cooperation? What happens when creative thinkers are seen as deviants to be ostracized from society while conformity is reinforced? Many parents train their children to be docile and well-behaved, but even obedience requires cooperation from our own will.
Social cooperation is certainly necessary; however, if it occurs through domination, it hardly deserves the term “cooperation” at all. It is then cooperation without desire, vitality, or the spark of fire characteristic of the third chakra. It becomes submission, which dampens and cripples our sense of power and will, and damages our self-esteem.
In order to develop and heal ourselves at the third chakra level, we must re-examine the concept of power that involves the domination of one part by another, commonly called “power over.” Instead we can develop power as integration, “power within,” the power of connecting with the forces of life. When we think about power, we can consider it an active verb rather than a noun, for indeed, power only exists in the doing, in the “powering” of changes or ideas. We can replace “power over” with “power to.”
At this time in the world, I believe we are collectively passing through the latter stages of the third chakra. (See Chapter 12, “An Evolutionary Perspective.”) Our concepts of power and energy have become very complex. Through technology, the media, organized government, nuclear weapons, and mega-corporations, we are learning to control more with less. A few people make decisions for millions. A single plane can destroy an entire city. With little more than a phone call, most life on the planet could be annihilated. Issues of power, control, energy fuels, and political strength have become key themes in our current events. We have come a long way from iron spearheads to nuclear warheads, yet the disease of power used for control and domination has remained.
In order to pass through this chakra into the heart, we need to redefine our concept of power to become one that enhances, empowers, and strengthens. Our power structures must ensure, rather than threaten, continuance of our species, of our natural resources, and of our trust and ability to cooperate with each other. We need to see power that strengthens individuals and cultures simultaneously, rather than supporting one at the expense of the other. How can we change this?
Our dominant world view today is one that emphasizes separateness. Our sciences have looked at nature in reductionist terms—dissecting matter into smaller and smaller units. Western medicine treats the body as a collection of separate ailing units rather than seeing the mind/body as a whole. We look at people, countries, land, cultures, and races all as separate, isolated building blocks to be counted and carried, coordinated through control, rather than natural order.
“Power over” takes constant effort and vigilance. People are forced into submission, constantly intimidated and, thereafter, must be carefully guarded. Positions are never secure, but require greater and greater defenses. We overstep our bounds, depleting inner resources to steal wealth from some other place that we consider separate. In our diseased view, we see this as increasing our power—by increasing our dominion, increasing what we have “power over.”
Through the lens of the Chakra System, power results from combining and integrating, rather than fighting and dominating. Each chakra level emerges, first of all, from the combination of the levels below it. It is then activated by the descending current of consciousness, which brings understanding to each level. Instead of finding our power through separation, power can come from unity and wholeness.
The true strength of any group or organism depends on its solidarity and its ability to combine and coordinate its inner forces. The strength of our planet will depend also on our ability to combine diversity and make something new out of the whole. Evolution, like the progression through the chakras, is a constant process of reorganization to more efficient levels—but always through an incorporation of what has come before. To focus on differences is to polarize, to separate, and estrange. To focus on unity is to strengthen.
When our world is ruled by strangers, we see only through machines; when our voice seems too small to be heard, estrangement is reinforced. It makes individuals easy to control, easily manipulated into serving some larger body that promises to return elements of our lost power to us piecemeal. Through participation in an alienating job, we receive a stipend of freedom known as a salary. The more thoroughly we participate, the greater the promise of reward; yet in reality, we often become further estranged.
Through estrangement, we have lost the concept of power within—the power of connection, union, fusion. Without this we stagnate, we lose our enthusiasm, our will, and our desires. We become automatons in an automatic world. Without our autonomy, we lose the desire to innovate, and remain stuck in the repetitive patterns of the lower chakras, unable to liberate, to find freedom. We need confidence to venture into the unknown. Without a strong third chakra, we cannot reach beyond into new levels, and instead remain stuck, clinging to security and sameness.
While bumper stickers may indeed advise us to “subvert the dominant paradigm,” I believe we are, in fact, living in a submissive paradigm. This is a paradigm where there are far more people submitting than dominating. We are taught from a very young age to submit our will to another: first to parents, then to school teachers, clergy, bosses, military and government officials. Obviously, a certain amount of this is necessary for social cooperation. Yet many lose connection with their inner will in the process, and later find themselves powerless against alcohol, drugs, or destructive behaviors.
In a submissive paradigm, the power is placed outside ourselves. If we look for power outside, we look to others for direction, and find ourselves at their mercy, setting ourselves up for possible victimization. With an absence of power within, we may constantly seek stimulation, excitement, and activity, afraid to slow down, to feel the emptiness inside. We engage in activity as a way of getting acknowledged by others, a way of being seen, a way of having our ego strengthened. We may seek power for the sake of ego, rather than for the ability to better serve the larger whole. Power without purpose is mere whim, sometimes even dangerous.
Power is dependent on energy, just as survival is dependent on matter, and sexuality on movement. Power, from the Latin podere, “to be able,” has the same meaning as Shakti, from the root of shak, “to be able.” Shakti is our primordial energy field, ignited and given form by the spark of Shiva.
As electricity must be directed through wires in order for its power to be utilized, so must our life energy be directed by consciousness before we can make use of it with any true sense of power. Our cells metabolize and produce energy with little or no conscious direction from us. To have power, however, we need to be conscious. We must understand the relationships between things. We must be able to perceive and assimilate new information, to adjust our actions for maximum effect. We must be able to create and imagine events outside of present time and space. We must have knowledge, memory, and reasoning ability.
Power, then, is equally dependent on the upper chakras, though not at the expense of our lower ones. As we grow toward a greater understanding of consciousness and the spiritual world, we find that we will indeed evolve our concepts of power. This evolution will come from within each of us, from our core, our roots, and our guts, as well as our visions, our creativity, and our intelligence. Our future depends on it.
WILL
I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage.
—Friedrich Neitzche7
How do you make something happen? Do you sit still and make fervent wishes? Do you wait for circumstances to fall into place? Not likely, if you want to make any effective change. For that you need to exercise will.
Will is consciously controlled change. As the second chakra opens dualities, we are presented with choices. Making those choices gives birth to the will.
Will is the means by which we overcome lower chakra inertia, and the essential spark that ignites the flames of our power. Will is the combination of mind and action, the conscious direction of desire—the means through which we create our future. Personal power without will is impossible, making will a primary key to the development of the third chakra.
We all experience unpleasant events at various junctures of our lives. At the emotional level of the second chakra, we may feel like a victim of our circumstances. As a victim we feel powerless. Feeling this powerlessness and pain is an important step, as it puts us in touch with our needs. It becomes fuel for the will.
Getting to the third chakra, however, requires that we give up seeing ourselves as a victim, and realize that lasting change can only come from our own efforts. If we blame others, our only hope for improvement comes from hoping others will change—something we cannot control. When we take back responsibility, the changes come under the jurisdiction of our own will. Then we can truly heal from victimizing circumstances.
This is not to deny that victimization does exist and that many circumstances in our culture are hugely unjust. Nor is it touting the New Age belief that we are the sole creators of our own reality, created independently of all others.8 Instead, will is the realization that we can regard each challenge as an opportunity to awaken to our highest potential. This does not deny what has come before, but incorporates it, using it as a springboard for the future. While we can’t always control what happens to us, we can control what we do about it.
The task of the will is, first of all, to overcome inertia. As stated earlier, inertia occurs in rest or in movement. Simple lethargy or laziness can be an example of inertia at rest. Once we get up and get going, our muscles oxidize and our heart pumps, and we have more energy. Joggers, for instance, claim that they have far more energy on the days when they run despite the energy they expend. Energy begets energy, through the creation of momentum—and it is the will which begins this process. We also may find ourselves caught up in the momentum of something we would rather avoid. Here, we can use stillness to effect change, by refusing to be a part of this motion—and stopping it whenever it comes to us.
In the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, will is the conscious combination of force and form from the third level, which relates to Hod and Netsach. Netsach provides the radiant beauty, the energy, while Hod is the more intellectual state, the intelligence and form. These reflect the role of the upward and downward currents as they meet in the third chakra. Will is most effective when it is intelligent and strategic. This keeps us from wasting our energy by trying to do things through force alone. We are more efficient when we work smarter instead of harder.
At Manipura, force and form combine and evolve each other to higher and more efficient levels. Once the third chakra flame has been lit, the fire is less difficult to maintain. Once the light of understanding has dawned, the path to further understanding is illuminated. When Kundalini rises to this chakra, she makes herself apparent. Here she kindles the fire to destroy ignorance, karmic traps, and physical impurities. It is at this chakra that Kundalini begins to burn!
The first step in developing your will is to realize that you do have one, and that it is functioning quite well all the time. Look around you. All that you see in your personal midst, you have created with your will—the clothing you’re wearing, the home you live in, the friends you keep. Feeling powerless is not due to lack of will, but failure to recognize and connect with our unconscious use of that will.
Failure to recognize that we have will is common. How many times in a day do you look at your tasks, exude a tired sigh, and say (or whine), “I have to do this.” We tell ourselves we have to go to work, we have to do the dishes, we have to run this or that errand, or have to spend more time with our kids. It is disempowering to regard these circumstances as a dreary series of obligations, rather than choices we make actively. I don’t have to do my dishes, but I choose to because I like a clean kitchen. I don’t have to go to work, but I choose to because I like receiving a paycheck, or because I like to honor my agreements. This subtle change in attitude helps us befriend and realign with our will.
In talking about will, the distinction is often made between will and true will. If you do what someone tells you to do, when you really would rather not, you are still exercising your will, but deep inside, it is not your true will. You have essentially given your will over to another. To get it back, we must realize we have chosen to do this, and examine the reasons for that choice. Are we trying to please? Are we scared of the consequences? Are we out of touch with ourselves? How can we address these issues?
Only by answering these questions can we truly see what our will is serving. Is it in service of looking good? Being liked? Keeping the peace? Avoiding responsibility? Remaining invisible? Once we know what our will is serving, we must then ask what it might be betraying. Is looking good betraying your honest needs? Is keeping the peace perpetuating negative circumstances that might need to be confronted? Is pleasing others lowering your self esteem? To make these effects conscious is to empower ourselves to choose between them.
True will requires deep communication with the self, trust in your own volition, and the willingness to take risks and accept responsibility for those risks. If we dare to go against the grain by exercising our true will, then we risk criticism, ridicule, even abandonment. It’s scary stuff, especially if our family environment was heavily invested in the submissive paradigm. It is through daring to use our will that a stronger sense of self is born, and through that strength the will is further developed. Like a muscle, we cannot strengthen our will without exercising it. And like all exercise, it serves us better when we do it wisely.
True will can be seen as an individual expression of a higher, divine will. It arises from our basic attunement with something larger. True will extends beyond the ego-self and embraces a higher purpose. It does not act for the sake of reward, but for the “rightness” of the action. As Aleister Crowley said, “True will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.”9 Therefore, if we are free from the ego’s lust for results, the actions of our will take us to our destiny. While that destiny is not guaranteed to be pain-free, you can most certainly expect it to engage the third chakra, and ignite the very core of your being.
Detecting and using higher will is touchy business. There are many I know who use the concept of higher will as an escape from getting in touch with their own will, still seeing power as outside of themselves. “What does the universe want me to do in this situation? Why won’t it give me a sign?” Every decision is preceded by numerous card readings, and endless seeking of advice from others. They may give their power over to others to decide for them, such as a psychic, teacher, therapist, or guru. Seeking guidance is often advisable, though we can sometimes avoid responsibility in this way. Perhaps a better question is: “What is my service to the world, and how can I best do this?” Power within is an openness to the flow of power around us, and our wills wrap themselves around our purpose gracefully when these powers are aligned.
Once we know our will, we return to a more practical level—how to effectively exercise it. First we must make sure we are grounded. Without grounding, we are not plugged in and we do not have the force of the liberating current running through us. We are more easily pushed around, often responding instead to another’s will. This takes the form of an “intellectual will” and overrides the inner desires of the body. It’s easily spotted by the preponderance of “shoulds” and “have-tos” in our internal dialogue. Self-discipline is important, but works better as a want than a should. Then our whole body/mind is in accord with it.
Like power, will is often associated with discipline, control, and manipulation, such as the will to go on a diet, get through school, or finish a project. While discipline is essential to accomplish most things, it is another aspect of control over separate parts if there is not an internal agreement within the body/mind. It takes discipline to sit here and edit this book, yet my will and desire are connected to my purpose. The parts I have to edit the most are the parts I wrote when I made myself do it, because it was my time of day to write rather than because the inspiration moved me. Those parts lacked power. Without agreement between will and desire, we lose our passion and our momentum, and thereby dissipate the power needed to carry out our will.
In order for our will to be engaged, we must also be in touch with our desires. How can we exert our will if we don’t know what we want? While undue attachment to our desires may keep us trapped in lower chakras, suppression only blocks the force of the will. When a person feels deprived, unloved, or overworked, they are easier to manipulate. The will flourishes best when we are relaxed, happy, and in touch with ourselves.
However, will is not always in harmony with every desire. You may desire a piece of chocolate cake, but your greater will refuses it because you want to lose weight. You may not desire to take on a particular task and yet, quite peacefully, will yourself to do it anyway. We are still serving our desires, but we are choosing which desires are most important in the long run.
It is here that discipline becomes most important. The word discipline actually comes from disciple—the willingness to be a student of something. Here we are faced with the odd paradox of surrendering our will to a structure or form that brings about fulfillment of that will. In this act of discipline, there is a certain transcendence of feelings, in that we may not “feel like” doing our meditation on a particular day, or we may not “feel like” going to work. Yet, those feelings become irrelevant when our will is fixed to a larger purpose. In this way, the third chakra is both fueled by, and yet transcends, the feeling orientation of the second chakra.
Knowledge of the will, with its infinite and constant choices, comes from a deeper sense of purpose. This purpose is born out of our orientation to the world. It is born from who we are, what we love and loathe, what our talents apply to. Each of us has a purpose, and our ultimate will is to fulfill that purpose. This purpose can often sort out the difference between “will” and “whim,” often hard to distinguish. Whim is momentary. Will has a larger purpose. We examine the long-range effects of our actions, and their part in our greater sense of purpose. We think in terms of far-reaching cause and effect. Our power, too, grows with our sense of purpose, for it gives us the direction that transforms mere energy into effective power.
If we are unclear about that purpose, then it’s hard to know just what our will is in a given situation. The task of consciousness is an accurate assessment of who we are, for within that mystery lies the purpose our will must address. Once we know our will, its strength increases through use. Often using our power is merely a matter of understanding that we do indeed have the power to begin with. That understanding becomes solidified through use and experimentation, and results ultimately in gaining confidence.
All chakras have their positive and negative aspects, and the overuse of the personal will can keep us trapped at this level, especially if that will is not in harmony with the greater Cosmic Will of which it is a part. The intelligent and sensitive person must recognize when their will becomes detrimentally dominating and overly controlling. (And if they don’t catch it, others will surely try to tell them!) Engaging this chakra requires developing the will, yet the passage beyond this chakra requires the ability to yield our will when appropriate. A person of true power should not have a need to dominate.
When personal will and divine will are one, then it is crucial that this will be followed. When personal will is out of tune with the greater will, it is equally critical that this difference be detected. From Crowley again: “A Man whose conscious Will is at odds with his True Will is wasting his strength. He cannot hope to influence his environment efficiently.”10 At this point the motives of our personal will must be re-examined. Failing to do this, we may find an undue number of obstacles in our way, making each step more difficult. Though many paths are difficult, the ones that are right for us have a coherency of flow that makes the difficulty easier to bear. It is the task of our intelligence to perceive the correct path. The task of the will is to follow that path.
SELF-ESTEEM
Let a man know his worth, and keep things under his feet.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson11
The third chakra attributes of power, will, vitality, and self-discipline are ultimately based on self-esteem. When our self-esteem is high, we are confident, assertive, proactive, disciplined, and basically excited about life. When self-esteem is low, we are filled with doubts and self-recrimination that act like check dams for the psychic momentum needed to get something done. If there are too many check dams, we lose our momentum entirely, and end up in a state of inertia. Once we find ourselves in that puddle of inertia, the self-doubt and recrimination only get worse, and the cycle can become paralyzing.
Then the demon of shame has entered the third chakra, and perhaps even taken over. Shame is the antithesis of self-esteem. It collapses the middle section of the body, depriving it of energy. It interrupts the fluidity coming up from the base, and overplays the constricting mental energy coming down from the top. Instead of moving outward, the energy turns against the self.
Self-esteem comes from a realistic sense of the self. Initially this comes from the body and the physical identity. This gives us our edges and boundaries. Next it comes from the second chakra and our emotional identity, which brings aliveness to our experience of self, and keeps us happy and in touch. Thirdly, self-esteem comes from trial and error as we reach out, take risks, succeed and fail, and in doing so, gain a realistic sense of our own abilities. Through self-discipline, we hone our skills. These form the foundation for self-esteem.
Our concept of self is further illuminated by interactions with others. If we are loved and accepted by others (fourth chakra) and feel we have something to give, we are more likely to love and accept ourselves. Through communication, we can get honest feedback about how others perceive us, and are able to communicate the interior of the self. And through the upper two chakras, we get the transpersonal elements that hold the self in a larger matrix.
Self-esteem forms a good foundation for opening the heart and maintaining successful relationships. If the lower chakras have done their job, then our partner doesn’t need to make us secure, interpret our feelings, or bolster our ego. We can then move more completely into the delightful experience of love.
BREAKING POWERLESSNESS
Limitation is the first law of manifestation, therefore it is the first law of power.
—Dion Fortune12
Power, like any muscle in the body, must be developed consciously. In keeping with the well-known expression, “Knowledge is power,” most powerlessness is the result of ignorance about how to behave effectively. It may be simply lack of awareness or attention. Increasing our awareness increases our power. Therefore, such things as meditation can help. As we raise energy up the spine, and as this energy pierces this third layer, feelings of power will naturally ensue. However, mere meditation is not enough.
The following are some simple concepts related to the development of the third chakra, followed by some physical exercises for opening this center.
Breaking Inertia
Do something different. If you are sluggish, get moving. If you are hyperactive, be still. Break boring repetitive patterns, and choose a challenge. Overcoming difficulties increases strength and confidence. Power is seldom developed by clinging to security. Give up being safe and your power chakra will awaken more quickly.
Avoid Invalidation
Criticism from those who do not understand your situation can sometimes be more detrimental than helpful, especially if you are a sensitive person who takes it to heart. Often when we are undertaking something new and uncertain, invalidation can be an instant power-crippler—stopping the sensitive person dead in their tracks. Remember, as Albert Einstein said, “New ideas meet their greatest opposition from those who misunderstand them.”
Wiring and Resistors
Make sure that your energy travels in complete circuits—that what you put out has a way of coming back. Make sure that this energy is not unnecessarily caught up, interrupted, dissipated, or fragmented. Use the flow and momentum of the second chakra to fire up the will.
Effort and Resistance
Both effort and resistance are tiring and wear down our energy. They are both a sign that our power is not flowing harmoniously. When you find yourself straining with effort, stop. Think about what you are doing and imagine doing it without effort—smoothly, enjoyably. Ask yourself why you are so attached to this particular thing. Ask yourself why it’s taking so much effort—what’s missing that would make it flow smoothly?
If you are in constant resistance to some force, stop. Ask yourself why this force is manifesting in your life at this time. Resistance is often fear, the opposite of power. What is it you are afraid of? Imagine what would happen if you stopped resisting? How can your will protect you with less effort or resistance?
Breaking Attachments
Energy that is directed toward something that is not manifesting is energy that is “hung up,” caught, or otherwise useless. If, after reasonable effort, something is not working, let it go. The energy you feel when the attachment no longer has control over you can be exhilarating. The more you release, the less friction there is on your energy. The lighter you become, the more you move toward spirit and away from matter. Be careful not to go too far, however, for the Earth plane is where the power manifests, and without some solidity the power may become too diffused.
Attention
Attention focuses energy. Pay it when it needs to be paid. Give it to yourself. Give and accept it from others. Notice where it goes. Where the attention goes, the rest of the energy will surely follow.
Grounding
We must be able to direct our attention to the here and now in order to manifest power. Grounding brings us into the present, into the power within our bodies, and consolidates and focuses our energy. Even though we are rising beyond this chakra, we never overcome the need for this simple practice.
Anger
Releasing blocked anger in a safe and effective way can sometimes help to unblock the third chakra. This is best done in conjunction with grounding and is an excellent way of using the energy within you to bring about change—at least in your state of mind, if not in your circumstances. Blocked power is very often blocked anger. Anger is a potent and cleansing force, but it is hard earned and should be spent wisely. It’s not worth damaging loved ones for things we need to work out within ourselves.
Increasing Information
Knowledge is power and the more we learn, the more we can do and the fewer mistakes we theoretically make. Learning, under any circumstances, helps to increase one’s power.
Love
Love is the unifying force that ties us all together, inspires us, and gives us strength to keep going. It is exhilarating, cleansing, energizing, healing, and feeds energy from the upper chakras into our third chakra. It gives us validation, contact and purpose, strengthens self-esteem, and inspires the will.
Laughter
Taking things too seriously can really make us lose touch with our power. If we can laugh at a situation, we have power over it. Whenever things seem at their worst, remember to laugh at yourself.
Take Care of Yourself
If you don’t, no one else will. You know what you want and need better than anyone else. If you care for yourself, this decreases your need to get it from outside and need is often inversely proportional to power.
Empowerment Meditation
Think of a time when you felt powerless or victimized. Go back to that time and feel the fear, the hurt, the anger. Feel yourself at that stage of your life, as a young child, teenager, adult . . . . Let your body express the shape of your feelings at that time. How did you walk? How did you carry yourself? How did you speak?
Take a moment to step outside of this picture and examine it from a distance, as if you were an onlooker. See if you can be compassionate with yourself, accepting, noncritical. If you can, then next, see if you can laugh at yourself and become amused at the pathos, the pain, the seriousness.
Next, go back over the scene and replay it with a different outcome. Imagine yourself doing something that changes the situation: get mad, fight back, run away, laugh, stand firm—whatever you would see as an action of power. If you need to call in helpers, spirits, or friends, feel free to do so. Use whatever it takes to turn the situation around.
When you have resolved it, pat yourself on the back. Feel the sense of wholeness and satisfaction, and try to bring that through to your life right now.
Next, ask yourself if there is anyone you are currently blaming for the circumstances in your life. How much power are you investing in them? As an act of reclaiming your own power, write their name on a piece of paper and set fire to it, saying, “I hereby release you from responsibility for my life and its failures. I now take that responsibility myself.” As you take back the energy, you are empowering yourself.
CHAKRA THREE EXERCISES
This is a rapid diaphragmatic breathing, designed to clean toxins from the body, raise internal fire, and stimulate the ascending current.
Sit in an upright, comfortable posture with back straight and legs relaxed.
Using the muscles of your abdomen, SNAP in your diaphragm, causing a quick exhale to escape through your nose. Keep the mouth closed.
When you relax the abdomen, air will naturally enter your nose and chest, causing an inhale. You need not force this inhalation.
Then SNAP the diaphragm once again, followed by relaxation, causing another exhale and inhale.
When this process is comfortable, repeat quickly, causing several quick, sequential exhales. Do in sets of fifty or so, with a long, deep breath at the end of each set. Three sets of fifty or more make a good place to start. After a while you can pace yourself according to what feels right. Increase the number and the speed as the muscles become acclimated.
Jogging
Running is intense, high-energy physical exercise that gets the heart pumping, the lungs breathing, and the blood racing through the body. Of all the physical energizers, jogging is probably the best overall toner for overcoming inertia.
Stomach Crunches
As American and non-yogic as this may sound, ordinary sit-ups increase the muscle tone over the third chakra, and help tone the digestive organs.
Begin on your back, with knees bent and feet parallel. Lace your fingers behind your neck.
Tighten the stomach muscles until the head has lifted a few inches off the floor, exhaling. You need not sit all the way up. The muscles do their work in the first few inches of contraction.
Inhale as you lower your head, exhaling as you exert. Repeat as many times as you can, increasing the number over time.
The Woodchopper
The associated tone of the third chakra is a loud “ah” sound. This should accompany the motions in this exercise. This is also an excellent anger release.
Stand with feet planted firmly in the ground, with heels about two feet apart. Raise arms together, over the head, with hands joined. Arch your back slightly. (See Figure 4.3.)
Making the “ah” sound as you descend, swing the whole upper portion of the body downward, bringing your hands between your legs and through. (See Figure 4.3.) The motion should be smooth and rapid, and emit as much force and power as is possible.
Repeat five to ten times in a session and feel the energy break through into your upper body.
Woodchopper.
Bow Pose
Lie on your stomach, hands to the side, and relax. Take a deep breath and bend your knees and reach for your ankles. (If you can’t reach, you can use a strap to bridge the difference.)
On an inhale, lift your head, press the sacrum down, and arch your back by lifting the chest and pulling on the ankles. Let your arms pull your shoulders back, and balance on your belly. (See Figure 4.4.) Breathe deeply.
Let your hands do the work of maintaining the arch while you relax the rest of your body as much as you can in this strange position.
Bow Pose.
Belly Push
From a seated position, push both feet out straight in front of you, with your palms placed on the ground by your hips.
Push your pelvis upward, approaching a slight arch from your feet to your head, pushing, especially through the solar plexus. (See Figure 4.5.)
Slowly relax and return to a seated position.
Belly Push.
Pike Pose
Hard to maintain without practice, this little gem tightens tummy muscles and develops balance and self-control.
Resting on your back, bring your feet and legs up (knees as straight as possible) and your torso up, too, making a v-shape with your body. (See Figure 4.6.) Hold as long as possible, then relax.
For an easier version, try lifting one leg at a time, or placing your feet against a wall, so that you focus more on belly muscles than on the thigh muscles that may not be strong enough.
Pike Pose.
Making the Sun
The arms play an important part in the activation of power, for they make actual contact with the world. It is through the arms that we do, and doing is what the third chakra is all about. The strength of this exercise is that it involves visualization as well as physical movement. It works on moving energy from the heart and solar plexus out into the arms and hands.
Stand upright, arms over your head, feet shoulder-width apart.
Take a deep breath, stretch your arms and fingers up as far as you can, and slowly bring them down to your sides, palms facing downward, arms reaching and stretching outward as long as possible at all times. (See Figure 4.7.)
About halfway down you should start to feel as if you were pushing against some invisible force. As you do this, imagine yourself as the center of the sun, your arms describing the circumference. As you feel the force you are pushing against, imagine it to be some block that you are working through. Feel your hands pushing it away. Imagine the tendrils of energy streaming out through your fingers, and when the circle is complete, take a moment to feel and imagine the solar glow around you.
Making the Sun.
Power Walk
Stand erect with arms bent at the elbows and hands in a fist at the chest.
Take a step and push one arm outward, as if you were pushing away obstacles. Then release the other arm.
Repeat.
Pretend you are clearing blocks out of your immediate vicinity as you do this, and ridiculous as you may feel, use words like “OUT” or “GO AWAY” to emphasize the action.
Laughing Circle
This is a children’s game, done with a group of at least three, but better with four or more.
Everyone lie on the floor, each with their head on another’s stomach. One person begins by saying an expulsive “ha” three times, followed by the next person and the next. As our heads bounce on the stomach below us, it’s only a short time before the “ha’s” become “ha-ha’s” and uproarious laughter.
Basically, anything that gets the energy moving rapidly is good for the third chakra. The important thing is to overcome inertia. Once this is overcome, it becomes the domain of the will, where the combined force of desire and understanding channel the energy into action. It is an exhilarating step in the growth of our consciousness.
ENDNOTES
1. William Buck, Mahabharata, 49.
2. The crucial events in cell metabolism are the release of hydrogen atoms which are then transferred through compounds to oxygen, forming water. Energy is stored in the cells in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) which requires a constant supply of oxygen to convert it from its lower phosphate form (ADP adenosine diphosphate) to the energy rich ATP. As our muscles do work we use the third phosphate, which must then be recycled to join again with oxygen to become ATP.
It is interesting to note that hydrogen, relating to the third chakra (as in the sun) and oxygen, relating to the fourth chakra (as in the breath) are metabolized through action releasing water, an element of chakra two. This expresses on a chemical level the condensation process of descending through the chakras.
3. This can also relate to the first chakra needing extra weight for grounding. Normal grounding channels may be blocked, or a second chakra deficiency may exist as a way of warding off sexual feelings or advances.
4. While there seems to be no direct correlation here, it is interesting to note that the Nazi swastika represented some of the worst abuse of power we have known in human history.
5. Sat-Chakra-Nirupana, verse 21. Avalon, Serpent Power, 369.
6. Joanna Rogers Macy, Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age, 31.
7. Friedrich Neitzsche, The Will to Power, Book 2, note 362 (1888; tr. 1967.)
8. We may create our own reality, but it is created within a field of six billion other people creating their reality as well. Our reality is not independent, but embedded within a larger structure which imposes certain limitations and challenges.
9. Aleister Crowley, The Book of the Law, verse 44, pages 23, 24.
10. Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice, xv.
11. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, “Self-Reliance,” (First Series, 1841).
12. Dion Fortune, The Cosmic Doctrine, 112.
RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTAL READING FOR CHAKRA THREE
Assagioli, Roberto. The Act of Will. NY: Penguin Books, 1974.
Crowley, Aleister. Magick in Theory and Practice. NY: Dover Publications, 1976.
Denning, Melita and Osborne Phillips. Psychic Self-Defense and Well-Being. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1980.
Macy, Joanna Rogers. Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age. PA: New Society Publishers, 1983.
May, Rollo, Ph.D. Love and Will. NY: W.W. Norton, 1969.
Starhawk. Truth of Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority, and Mystery. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1987.
CHAKRA FOUR
Love
Air
Breath
Balance
Relationship
Affinity
Unity
Healing