Wheels of Life

by Anodea Judith

  FIGURE 5.4

  The cross of the heart chakra.

  FIGURE 5.5

  Meridians of the arm.

  Healing is the restoration of balance to an organism or situation. It is believed that all disease, whether caused by germ, injury or stress, is the result of an "imbalance" that then fragments the organism and destroys its natural resonant affinity.

  Opening the heart chakra and developing compassion, connection, and understanding for those around you naturally gives rise to the urge to heal. The realization that we are all one dictates that, like a Bodhisattva, we cannot advance alone while others are ailing. (A Bodhisattva is someone who is spiritually realized but avoids crossing into enlightenment until others can follow, instead staying behind to teach.) Like the Bodhisattva, we find we must take the time to heal others as we advance along our path. This brings into balance the lure of spirituality and the need to remain in the physical world.

  Helping others also arises from a simple state of compassion-the center of the heart chakra. Through nonjudgmental compassion for others we cannot help but reach out in a healing manner. Our vision of the balance of all things underlines anything which is not in harmony with that balance. It is as natural as straightening a picture on the wall.

  One need not be a professional healer, doctor, or possess supernatural power in order to have their healing channels open. The natural urge to help an elderly woman cross the street, comfort someone in tears, or rub a pair of tired shoulders is a potent expression of the heart chakra's healing energy.

  Many people forget the lesson of balance in their healing efforts. You might call them meddlers. To properly heal someone, it is necessary that they come into balance with their own energy, which may not comply with the healer's concept of "correct." A true healer must tune into her subject, remaining grounded in her own energy, and allowing the subject to create his own sense of balance. The healer is merely a catalyst in the subject's own healing experience. When our heart chakras are open and balanced, our very presence radiates love and joy. This love is the essence of true healing.

  BREATH-THE HEART OF LIFE

  If your breathing is in any way restricted, to that degree, so is your life.

  -Michael Grant White'

  A normal human being inhales between 18,000 and 20,000 breaths per day,9 totaling an average of 5,000 gallons of air. In weight alone, this is thirty-five times as much as we take in from food or drink. We can go weeks without food, days without water, hours without heat (in extreme cold) but only minutes without air. (How long can we go without thought?)

  Breath, as related to the element air, is one of the primary keys to opening the heart chakra. Air is also the most quickly distributed element in the body. Unlike food, which takes hours or even days to digest, each inhalation of air immediately enters the bloodstream. Oxygen must be constantly supplied to each and every cell, or the cells quickly die. For this reason the body has a thorough and elaborate transportation system to distribute oxygen throughout the entire body. This is our circulatory system, mastered by the heart. Each breath nourishes and feeds this system.

  The full importance of the breath cannot be expressed by these simple facts. Aside from maintaining basic life functions, the breath is one of our most powerful tools for transforming ourselves: for burning up toxins, releasing stored emotions, changing body structure and changing consciousness. Without breath we could not speak, for air is the force behind our voice. We could not metabolize our food without oxygen. Our brain could not think. Breathing is a grossly underestimated source of life-giving, healing, and purifying energy.

  Unfortunately, the average person does not breathe very deeply. A normal pair of lungs can hold about two pints of air, while the average person breathes in about one pint or less per breath. You can confirm this for yourself by taking a normal breath and then seeing how much more air you can add to it. While you're doing this, notice how it feels to breathe deeply. Notice what parts of the chest feel tight, how it constricts the breath, and give those parts some gentle massage. Freeing up the chest and upper back through massage or emotional release helps to deepen the breath.

  Most intellectual activity, since it requires so little physical exertion, leads to shallow breathing, which then becomes a habit. Frequent fear, anxiety, depression, smoking, or simply polluted air also lead to habitual breath deprivation. This habit, once formed, leads to slower metabolism, lower physical energy levels, and builds up toxins in the body, all of which contribute to a self-perpetuating cycle. As our metabolism is lowered we become lethargic, leading to greater reliance on conveniences such as driving when you could walk, ingesting stimulants for more energy, or smoking cigarettes to (paradoxically) stimulate the chest.10 None of these things helps the breath.

  The brain, too, relies critically on a constant source of oxygen. In the resting body, one-fourth of the oxygen consumed is used by the brain, even though it is only one-fiftieth of the body's mass. " Hold your breath and see how long you remain conscious.

  The breath is also one of the few things in the body that comes under both voluntary and involuntary control. Involuntarily, the breath contracts when we are afraid-a carryover from survival instincts, when holding the breath helped us remain undetected by dangerous creatures. Similarly, we can combat fear by forcibly deepening our breath, thus easing tension in our whole body.

  By exercising the voluntary aspect and consciously trying to increase our breathing capacity, we gradually make deep breathing a habit. The breath can actually change the body structure, and once changed, the body hungers for this increased oxygen supply. It is an evolutionary and healing-oriented process.

  The Hindus believe that breath is a gateway between the mind and body. Whole systems of yoga have been built on breathing techniques, called pranayama, which are designed to expand consciousness and purify the body. When the thoughts are quiet, the breath is calm as well, and a soothing and healing rhythm runs throughout the whole body. The mind also can be calmed through control of the breath. The flow of breath, as it constantly enters and leaves the body, is a dynamically moving energy field that continually fills your body shape, and returns, formless again, to the outside world.

  Pranayama techniques are designed to nourish the psychic and spiritual pathways in the body, such as the major nadis and acupuncture meridians. These channels are charged by this process, and raise the subtle vibrations within the entire organism. Yogis make a distinction between the gross physical ingestion of air (sthula prana) and the subtle movement of energy that results from the breath (sukshma prana). It is important in doing breathwork to pay attention to the subtler movements that occur. We can then direct that energy toward specific areas or chakras through visualization or use of postures.

  Breathing Exercises

  Pranayama breathing exercises are many and varied. If you are really interested in working with this powerful tool, there are several books on yoga that list more exercises than there is room for here. A few basic exercises follow:

  Deep breathing, or the complete breath

  This is as simple as it sounds. Sit down in any comfortable position and watch the path of your breath, making both inhalation and exhalation as full as possible. Breathe deep into your belly, then into your chest and finally into your shoulders and throat. Exhale, reversing the order, and repeat several times.

  Breath of fire

  This is a rapid, diaphragmatic breathing using fast, short breaths created by snapping in the muscles of your abdomen in rapid succession, described more fully in the third chakra on page 176.

  Alternate nostril breathing

  This is a slow, methodical breath which works on the central nervous system and leads to increased relaxation and deeper sleep. Close off your right nostril with your right hand and breathe deeply through your left nostril. When the breath is full, close off your left nostril and exhale through your right side. When the breath is again empty, inhale again through your right side, switching
when full and exhaling on the left. The pattern is to inhale, switch, exhale, inhale, switch, exhale. Continue this 20 times or more on each side. Practicing this exercise brings profound changes in consciousness.

  Bandhas

  "Bandha" means lock, and the bandhas of pranayama are methods of holding the breath and locking it into certain parts of the body. There are three basic bandhas: the chin lock, the abdominal lock, and the anal lock that work on retention of the breath in the three major areas of the body.

  The chin lock, or jalandhara-bandha, sends energy into the head, and stimulates the thyroid gland and throat chakra. Simply inhale fully, contract the throat, and lower your head toward your chest, keeping the back straight. Hold the breath as long as comfortable, but don't push it, for it can make you feel quite faint if done improperly.

  The abdominal lock, or uddiyana-bandha is done in a standing position. It helps to massage internal digestive organs, and purify the body. Inhale fully and exhale deeply. While the body is empty of air, hold your breath empty, and pull in the stomach and abdomen as far as you can, being careful not to inhale. Hold as long as comfortable, and inhale by slowly relaxing the abdominal muscles.

  The mulabandha or anal lock tones the root chakra. It is practiced by tightening the perineum and anal sphincter after inhalation while the breath is held. This stimulates sleeping Kundalini.

  CHAKRA FOUR EXERCISES

  Chest Opener

  Put your arms behind your back, clasp your hands together and rotate your arms so that your elbows lock. This should press your shoulders back and your chest out. Take a deep breath. Throw your head back and use your arms as momentum to rotate your torso, loosening the tight muscles you may have there. Continue your deep breathing. (See Figure 5.6, page 219.)

  For added stretching and opening of the pectoral muscles around the chest, grab a belt, towel, or tie and hold it overhead with your arms forming a triangle. Keeping your elbows straight, stretch your arms back behind you, still holding the belt to provide a good stretch. If you cannot keep your elbows straight, move the hands farther apart on the belt. If you cannot feel a good stretch, move the hands closer together.

  The Cobra

  This is a yogic exercise, wonderful to do upon first waking up in the morning. It works on the upper thoracic vertebrae, and helps alleviate the rounded back that comes from a collapsed chest.

  Lie flat on your stomach with arms bent and palms placed face down by your shoulders. Without using your arms as support, slowly lift your head, shoulders, and back as far as you can go comfortably. Then relax. Lift again, going as far as you can, and then using your arms, push yourself up just a little farther. Do not straighten the elbows completely, but work to open the chest, keeping the shoulders down and relaxed, the head held high. Stretch the stomach and chest, take a deep breath and relax. Repeat as often as you like. (See Figure 5.7, page 221.)

  FIGURE 5.6

  Chest Opener.

  The Fish

  This is another yoga asana, designed to expand the chest cavity. Begin by lying flat on your back and stretch the legs along the floor. Place your hands just under your hips, palms down. Pressing down against the elbows, lift the chest upward, arching the neck back and touching the head (if possible) to the floor. Breathe deeply. Hold as long as is comfortable and then relax. Breathe deeply again. (See Figure 5.8, page 221.)

  (If this is too difficult, you can place a bolster behind your shoulder blades and arch over it to loosen the upper spine.)

  The Windmill

  We have all done this exercise as little children. Stand with arms stretched outward to each side and twist the torso back and forth. This sends energy from the body down into the arms and hands, and loosens the tight muscles of the chest and abdomen.

  Arm Circles

  This stimulates the muscles of the upper arms and upper back (the wings). Stretch the arms out straight to each side and rotate in small circles in one direction, gradually moving to larger and larger circles. Then switch directions and repeat. You can also (in keeping with the element of air) pretend you are flapping your arms like wings and flying, taking deep, deep breaths as you do. (See Figure 5.9, page 223.)

  FIGURE 5.7

  The Cobra.

  FIGURE 5.8

  The Fish.

  Opening the Hand Chakras

  Since the heart chakra energy is so often expressed through the hands, the exercise on page 20 is also relevant to the heart chakra.

  MEDITATIONS

  Kalpataru-The Wishing Tree

  (A note of caution for this exercise: Be careful what you ask for-you may get it.)

  Just below the heart chakra is a tiny lotus of eight petals, the Anandakanda Lotus, within which is the "celestial wishing tree" from the Heaven of Indra, the Kalpataru. This magic tree, in front of which is a jeweled altar, is said to hold the deepest wishes of the heart-not what we think we want, but the deeper longing of the soul within. It is believed that when we truly wish upon this tree, and release those wishes, the Kalpataru bestows even more than is desired, leading to freedom (moksa).

  Lie down comfortably. Take a few moments to ground yourself, get centered, relax your muscles. Make sure you are in an environment that feels safe and comfortable.

  Breathe deeply, in ... and out ... in ... and out ... in ... and out ... Become aware of your heartbeat. Listen to its rhythm. Imagine each pulsation of your heart pumping blood all through your body, through the intricate network of arteries and veins. Imagine each of these pathways above your heart as branches of a tree, below your heart, as roots to the tree, teeming with life. Follow the path of oxygen as it is pumped out through the heart, out through your chest, your shoulders, down your arms, into your hands, and back again. Follow it again down your belly, your legs, knees and feet, and back up again through your body, and home, to the core. Every drop of blood that passes through the heart returns to be refreshed again with breath, air, and life.

  FIGURE 5.9

  Arm Circles.

  Your heart is a sacred tree. Its branches are threads of a web of life extending all through your body, and then out into the world. The trunk of the tree is you-your core, your being, your central self. From this core dig roots, the foundation of the tree. Their pathways find the food and water that support and give us substance. From this core spring branches, their leaves but wishes of the heart. They collect the sun and wind that make you grow. They flower and fruit and fall upon the ground to grow again. All that is expressed eventually returns.

  In front of this tree, lies a jeweled altar. Make an offering to this altar, either something you are willing to give up, like a bad habit, or something you are willing to give of yourself, like creativity, loyalty, or healing. Make this offering as a symbol of exchange for granting your wish.

  Next, breathe into your heart and feel its pain and joy. Feel the deep longings of the soul within. Do not define this longing specifically, but feel its essence. Let the feelings increase, breathing into them. Feel them through your whole body, pulsing outward, returning, pulsing outward again. Allow this longing to fill the branches of the tree.

  When the tree is saturated with the deepest wishes of your heart, imagine that a single bird comes into the tree. The bird flies to the center of the tree, cocks its head to one side, cocks its head to the other, and listens deeply to the longing and wishes that have been expressed. Have a moment of communion with this bird that lives inside your heart. As you do, hold the bird close into your heart and let your heart (not your mind) speak its wishes to the bird. Let it come from the yearning; if specific images come to mind, fine, but don't search for them. When you feel complete, kiss the bird good-bye and gently release it to fly away. Set it free to do your work. Let it go and forget about it. The bird will carry your wishes to the powers that be, so that they may be fulfilled in the best way possible for all concerned.

  Appreciation Ritual

  Make a circle with a group of friends you feel close to, who are all close to eac
h other; or sit opposite a lover or friend with whom you have a deep connection.

  Cast a circle if you are magically oriented, or take some time to ensure that your time and space will be protected from distraction. Take time to ground and center, breathe deeply and relax.

  Look around the circle. Look into the eyes of each one there, one at a time. Think about that person's value in your life-the experiences you have had together, the trials, the joys. Think about those experiences from their point of view: what their struggles were, their fears, their joys. Take as much time as is necessary and then close your eyes and go inside.

  Beginning in the east of the circle, take the person sitting there and put them in the middle. Let everyone else in the circle chant their name three or four times, softly. After the chanting, beginning with the person to the left of where the subject was standing, go around clockwise, and let each person take a few moments to tell the one in the middle what they appreciate about them. "I really liked the time you helped me get my car started." "I appreciate the way you always listen." "I like the way you make me laugh." Do not allow any comments, criticism, or suggestions. Do allow hugs and gifts if they feel appropriate.