It’s a brilliant thought but reaching enlightenment is doubtful because…

When I was younger, the one thing I yearned for more than anything was to be able to channel my thoughts so that I could experience what Sankara called ‘non duality’ of mind. To gain knowledge in this field I lived as a sanyasin for extended periods in India, lived with the Cofis (a Native American Indian tribe) in the Amazon, took lessons from a Taoist community in China and sat at the feet of some of the world’s greatest spiritual teachers.

On the way I occasionally managed to slide into non duality mode – sometimes for fairly long periods. Then something would happen that made mincemeat of my mind and I was reminded of how easy it was to lose sight of the path.

A beloved teacher once said to me ‘Even a Buddha or Christ would have a great challenge to stay in a permanent state of enlightenment. It is something few human beings achieve.’

Having studied the world of chakras for over thirty years, I now fully understand what my teacher meant, because to stay permanently at the lofty height of enlightenment means that all five lower chakras have to vibrate in synchronised harmony and stay that way 24/7.   Four out of five isn’t enough and look what awaits us to successfully juggle in the lower world of chakras:

In the first chakra (Muladhara/root) which represents the world of Me and I, we are constantly tested to prove how much we like, love, trust and respect ourselves.

In the second chakra (Swadisthana/spleen), we have the world of relationships to keep afloat in loving harmony and are tested on how well we resolve family/partner/friend issues.

In the third chakra (Manipura/solar plexus) we are tested on whether we finish what we start (without falling apart!) and whether we live in equal balance with our spiritual and physical bodies.

In the fourth chakra, (Anahata, heart), we are tested on whether we show every day loving kindness and compassion to all and sundry.

In the fifth chakra, (Vishudda/throat) –it becomes obvious how well we have done in the four lower chakras because this is heard in our voice.  Our test here is to keep our voice harmoniously pitched even when speaking our truth (i.e when constructively criticizing another or sharing angry feelings). We are also expected to refrain from using harmful, hostile words or show any reflection of intolerance or reproach in our eyes.

Assuming, we have managed to juggle these five chakras successfully over a fair period of time, the purified, harmonised energy travels upwards into the sixth chakra (Ajna/third eye). This activates and opens the seventh chakra (Samashara/crown).

You might have thought that once you’d arrived at this ‘halleluyah moment’ it would be easy to keep the chakra wheels turning –  but – NO – the third eye can shut down in a flash at the first sign of arrogance or conceit..

I know we have all experienced glorious days and weeks when we are master jugglers. Then someone insults us, lies, steals from us or treats us unfairly and chakras down the line wobble out of harmony.  It’s frustrating enough that we have to start over but what makes it worse is that the monster that lives inside us (known to the world as EGO), loves nothing more than when we slip from grace because as busy as we are trying to bring our chakra lessons into balance, Ego’s as busy trying to upset the apple cart.  Ego could be described as the bouncer who stands outside each chakra, doing its best not to let us in because if we did reach enlightenment and stay there, Ego would be out of a job.  Every time we sink back into insecurity, become fearful, dislike ourselves or fall apart, ego takes its opportunity to torment us with our weaknesses.  It’s like a pesky leech and the only way to get its clingy suckers off us is to consciously challenge it to stay away every day.

Every morning I visualise myself drowning ego in a bucket of vinegar and throwing its carcass to the wind.  I then call on ‘higher minds’ assistance to steer me through the day by using an affirmation like this one: ‘Today I successfully juggle my lower five chakras through any challenges that might await. I approach everything with love, humour and grace and express this through my voice and in my body language.  Thank you higher mind for staying around to prod me if it looks like I’m steering off course’.

Before I go to bed I take my notepad and jot down how well (or not!) I did in each of the five lower chakras and how I intend to better my performance in any chakras that showed weakness the following day.

Some days you’ll find will prove real ‘halleluyah’ days…others will have you jumping up and down on ego’s fat butt!  However, the longer you keep up the above practise, the more glory days you’ll have so give those chakras a spin now to get them started and…

Happy Juggling.

Jaylen Grace is the author of Omtopia (The seven steps to enlightenment)   jaylengrace.com    @jaylengrace

 

 

The Ten Bodies We Bring With Us To Earth

Living in a body is not an easy cross to carry, but something that helped me to get a deeper understanding of who I was, both as a human and as a travelling soul, was to study Eastern scripture. This states that when we are born we bring ten ‘energy bodies’ with us.  Eight of these bodies are filtered into the mind when the umbilical cord is cut and represent our ‘human experience.‘  These include the DNA and personality traits that have been passed to us through our mothers, fathers and previous generations (which is why we sometimes wonder who the heck we are!).

The eight energy bodies also include the DNA of planet Earth and the Earth’s vibration at the time we were born, and if the heavens were rocking and rolling when you made your entrance that doesn’t mean you are doomed.  It simply means that along with everyone else who was born in the same year and at the same time as you, your life challenges will be relevant to that vibration and it’s up to you whether you sink or swim.

The other two energy bodies are those which contain the aura and the soul.  It is in these bodies that consciousness lives.  We are going to bring these elements of ourselves alive by climbing a ladder of seven chakras. (If you pick up any book on yoga, you will come across this word, which in Sanskrit means a wheel of energy).

These chakras are aligned along the spinal column in our esoteric body, from the base of the spine to the crown, and we will be tackling these in ascending order.  Each chakra respresents a specific world for us to master and conquer.  The first, at the base of the spine, governs the world of ‘Me’ and ‘I’ – as in how much do I like, love, trust and believe in myself.  The second chakra governs the world of relationships and how good we are at maintaining them. The third governs the world of balance and how well we fare in life’s storms. The fourth governs the world of the heart and how good we are at giving and receiving love. The fifth governs the world or speech and how we get what we HAVE through the words we utter. The sixth governs the world of intuition and how to awaken our psychic powers. The seventh reveals the secrets of living in a conscious mind.

Each chakra owns a territory of body parts and organs and when someone is ill we can tell which chakra is blocked by the nature of the illness.  For example, someone blocked in the first chakra (the world of self belief), could be rewarded with digestive and bladder problems until the issue causing the disturbance was dealt with.  Through the means of chakra psychology, we are going to analyse how we make ourselves physically sick and find out why certain personality types are prone to repeatedly getting ‘stuck’ in the same chakra. You will find out why I have given these personality types names like Constipation and Diarrhoea types, Tortoises, Labradors, Parrots and Ducks and how empowerment and personal growth get stunted through faulty thinking.

More importantly, you will discover the dormant new you – with exercises, techniques, wisdom tales, laughter, tears and additional guidance from Masters; all of which can be applied to overcome whatever life throws at you on a daily basis.

I sincerely hope Omtopia brings you closer to enlightenment…..  Enjoy the journey.

jaylengrace.org@wordpress.com      jaylen grace – twitter

http://www.facebook.com/omzaks       http://www.omzak.co

Jaylen Grace has been a Reiki master, yoga teacher and international life coach for over 30 years and more recently has turned her healing skills and experience to writing for children and adults.  The above excerpt is from her book Omtopia (7 steps to enlightenment) which will be published in July 2013.