Redmond - Chakra meditation: transformation through the seven energy centers of the body

In 1969, when I was sixteen years old, my best friends aunt gave me Yoga, Youth and Reincarnation, by Jess Stearn. Having been trained as a dancer, I could easily fit my body into the yoga postures illustrated in the book, and I enjoyed the exhilarated state generated by the breathing exercises. Within a year, I found the first of my many yoga teachers and soon read Be Here Now, by Ram Dass, working my way through the list of transformational books he recommended. As a teenager I was struggling with the perennial questions of Why are we who we are? and If we are not satisfied with who we are and how our lives are unfolding, what can we do about it? The path of yoga and meditation led me to look for the answers to these questions within myself. Yoga teaches us that our minds are aspects of the infinite, eternal, creative consciousness of the universe, and gives us the tools to remove the illusions and confused ideas that prevent us from realizing this sacred truth. There is no greater treasure than knowing ourselves, and no greater gift than to learn the techniques that will enable us to do this. It is very exciting to have the opportunity to pass on some of the incredible practices I have learned over the past thirty-five years from my teachers.

The wisdom developed through thousands of years of yoga practice and contained within this book and guided CD will give you powerful tools to understand how your mind functions, and how and why you create the relationships and situations that exist in your life. You will begin to understand what is stopping you from reaching your fullest potential, and how to prevent the loss of your mental, emotional, and intellectual energy to negative situations and unhealthy interactions with others. You will learn how to develop your own inner sources of creativity and personal power, enabling you to transcend patterns of behavior that hold you back. Yoga helps to clear away your misconceptions about who you are, and helps you understand how social, cultural, and familial bonds keep you from seeing the true depths of your spiritual being.

This integrated book-and-CD learning program focuses on the electromagnetic infrastructure of the mind and body known in yoga as the chakras. For centuries the mystics, scholars, and yogis of India have explored, mapped out, and created techniques for working with the dimensions of consciousness contained within the chakras. These time-tested and proven methods provide effective ways to open, balance, and awaken the chakras, enhancing the evolution of human awareness. This process is equivalent to rewiring the nervous system to handle higher voltages and more powerful currents of awareness. The practices included in this program are easy to learn, invigorating, and extremely powerful, producing peace of mind, improved physical health, and spiritual growth.

The first two chapters of the book provide an overview of the seven chakras and how they function. The following seven chapters explore in depth the realms of information embodied in each chakra. Each chapter includes instruction on the use of the geometric image of the chakra, the yantra. This is a power diagram of wholeness and integration that tunes you into the deepest spiritual dimensions of the chakra.

Chapter Ten details the specific instructions for the breathing, visualization, and chanting practices on tracks One through Seven on the enclosed CD. Please read the brief description of each practice before listening to the recording. The seventh practice on the CD is a traditional purification meditation that opens, clears, and balances the chakras, awakening the powerful life force residing at the base of the spine. This awakened energy further activates the chakras, sweeping you into new dimensions of experience and awareness. Your state of consciousness determines what your life experiences will be, and as consciousness expands, so too does your understanding of every aspect of life. The final chapter is a short overview of the lineage of yoga teachers who have passed this information down to us over the last five thousand years. I have also included a list of resource books for those who wish to learn more.

This program offers the energy practices that underlie my work as a creative artist. They are the source of my inspiration and creativity, and have brought me success as a performer, recording artist, and author. Commitment and consistency in pursuing these techniques will give you the means to connect with the ultimate and highest source of your own being. You will have more clarity about the purpose of your life, and the necessary tools to help you pursue the path you choose. May this be the beginning of a spiritual transformation that will sustain you for the rest of your life.

ONE

Since the beginning of time, wisdom traditions have told us there are seven heavens, seven planes of experience, or seven dimensions of consciousness that we must journey through to enter into the totality of our luminous, awakened Self. This sacred, realized, essential, eternal, or higher Self is the deepest core of our consciousness, which is in touch with the creative source of all life. The total or true Self directly experiences its primal connection with everything, and is conscious of the unity and structure of creation. The renowned psychotherapist Carl G. Jung spoke of the archetype of the higher Self as the blueprint for all of humanity as well as for each individual human being. This blueprint of the minds infinite potential is waiting in the depths of our unconscious to be brought forth into the world. As the blueprint unfolds, the force of the awakening Self inspires, motivates, and guides our evolution into higher dimensions of awareness.

This archetypal journey is an internal, spiritual passage through the dimensions of our own consciousness that shifts our sense of identity away from the social or personal self (focused on the physical body and our individual mind) to this sacred Self. The yogic tradition details this journey through seven spheres of energy and information known as the chakras. The word chakra comes from Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, and translates as circle, wheel, or vortex of energy. The chakra system is the electromagnetic structure of our consciousness, created by the flow of our life force through the mind and body. The chakras are the intersections of energy and consciousness located along the main energy channel flowing from the upper brain to the base of the spine, and regulating our physical, mental, and emotional states.

Each chakra represents a realm of thoughts, emotions, desires, goals, and ideals. The first chakra, at the base of the spine, is concerned with physical survival. Moving up the spine, the second chakra, in the lower abdomen, is concerned with relationships; the third chakra, at the navel, with our place in the world; the fourth chakra, at the heart center, with the power of compassion and love; the fifth chakra, at the throat, with the power of communication of ideas of truth and beauty; the sixth chakra, in the center of the brain, with the power of meditative and cognitive awareness; and the seventh chakra, at the crown of the head, with the realization of our spiritual Self. The process of awakening the chakras and moving our awareness up from the first chakra to the seventh chakra is our journey back to the infinite potential of the highest Self.

If the flow of our life energy and consciousness is blocked at any point within the chakras or the channels through which the energy flows to the chakras, this will have a profound effect on our physical and mental health, how we see ourselves and others, how we operate in the world, and our ability to manifest our highest potential. In this program you will learn what causes blockages in the chakras and how to open, balance, and activate the chakras, bringing the energetic system of the mind and body to an optimal state of functioning.