Our Journey Through the Chakras continued on Wed. Oct. 28 as we moved up to the Solar Plexus. The Sanskrit word for this energy centre is Manipura, which, according to the book Exploring Chakras by Susan Shumsky, means City of Jewels. Nice to think that we have a City of Jewels right inside of us!
The Solar Plexus is also known as the centre of Vital Energy. It is the centre of personal power, self esteem, confidence, intellect and it is through this centre that we express ourselves as individuals. Although we know that we are all part of the same Source, we also can appreciate our individual uniqueness, knowing that we are each an individual spark from the Divine Flame and we have come here to explore, to create and to express ourselves as only we, as an individual, can do.
Because this centre does relate to the motivation fo gain wealth, , power, status, prestige and recognition, we began the evening by first introducing ourselves and then answering the question, "If you suddenly became very wealthy, what is the first thing you would do for yourself?"
In the discussion that followed, we acknowledged that many (or most) people who are on a healing journey or a spiritual path, or who are simply trying to be good human beings, would immediately think about who they could help with that money as opposed to thinking about how they could take care of themselves first. We explored the possibility that, energetically, wealth and power are like love. You can't give love if you don't first have it for yourself. To try to give what we don't have, no matter how well intentioned we are, depletes us. Once we take care of ourselves, then we can share with the world.
Then we explored the question, "Who do you know that is wealthy, powerful, confident, materially successful and is a good, compassionate, conscious human being?" I think we would do well to be inspired by these people (there seem to be only a few of these kinds of role models at the moment). After all, wouldn't it be better if the wealth came into the hamds of people that are good and caring?
For the Dance protion of the class we explored some Martial Arts energy and movement. Specifically we were inspired by Capoeira, a Brazilian Martial Art and Dance which helped many enslaved people fight their way to freedom.
For our journal writing exercise we began by completing the following statement: "What I really appreciate about myself is:"
Then we connected with the element of FIRE by lighting a candle and allowing ouselves to connect deeply with the flame. In our journals we then did a dialogue between ourselves and the fire. We asked the fire if it had anything to tells us. Not surprisingly, a lot of powerful insights were had!!
After some wonderful sharing of experiences and thoughts, we drew our Solar Plexus Class to a close by chanting three continuous OMs from our Solar Plexus.
On Wed. Nov. 4 we will be exploring the Heart Chakra, centre of Compassion, Unconditional Love and Healing.
In the meantime, Let Your Light Shine Out Into the World.
Barbara
PS I'd be happy to hear any responses or thoughts about the questions that were posed.
