Lesson 73 - Q&A – More on chakras

From: Yogani
Date: Thu Jan 8, 2004 0:46pm

New Members: It is recommended you read from the beginning of the
archive, as previous lessons are prerequisite to this one. The first
lesson is, "Why This Discussion?"

Q: As a Healer I have always understood that the Chakras should be in
balance and that Yoga is one way to help bring about a balance in
these energy centres. I have, however, recently found a supposition
that only the Base, Sacral and Solar Plexus chakras should be open
and that the Heart, Throat, Brow and Crown chakras should be closed.
This seems rather strange to me and I would appreciate some feedback
on this matter.

A: If you go to lesson #47, "Pranayama Q&A -- Chakras?" you will find
a review of the approach taken in these lessons in relation to
chakras. It is not a direct supervision of chakras, but allowing them
to come into function naturally as pure bliss consciousness and
ecstatic experiences come up in practices, particularly in meditation
and spinal breathing.

Having said that, all of the practices act either directly or
globally on the chakras, but not with attention on the inner
mechanics of them. Because of the approach being practices-oriented
rather than chakra supervision-oriented, there has not been much
consideration on which chakra should open and which should not. The
one exception is the crown, which can lead to problems if opened
prematurely, as discussed in the recent lesson on kundalini symptoms
and remedies. There are many unpleasant stories out there on this.
Gopi Krishna's book, "Kundalini – Evolutionary Energy in Man," many
years ago is one example. It is a good book on how to get enlightened
the hard way. So, the crown is one that we don't want to open too
soon.

The supposition you mention about opening the bottom chakras and not
the top ones does not seem to be consistent with a balancing of
feminine and masculine energies in the body, and not conducive to
enlightenment if that is the goal. It certainly leaves out both
meditation and spinal breathing, which both have global effects on
all the chakras, and the sushumna (spinal nerve) in particular going
between the root and the third eye. It also leaves out sambhavi at
the third eye, and a boatload of further measures we will be covering
here working in the upper body and head. The supposition implies
stimulating only the bottom half of the sushumna and chakras, and
relying on the energy finding its way upward by itself, with no
provision for a downward flow to marry the upward flow. This seems to
be a Shakti-only approach. It would certainly avoid the problems at
the crown mentioned above. But it avoids, or at least greatly delays,
the activation of the entire sushumna. It seems a one-sided approach.
Then again it must be working for someone, or why would it be written
down? Unless, or course, it is just a theory. Experience is the final
arbiter of all theories.

We may be talking about two different things here. These lessons are
about facilitating the enlightenment process in the human being, and
there are many proactive methods being presented for use in every
corner of the body, mind and heart. "Chakra balancing" and different
approaches to that may be concerned mainly with restoring health, not
going great guns into an enlightenment transformation, which is a
much more ambitious course to take. Either way, it seems that
balancing feminine and masculine energies would be essential, not to
mention bringing up pure bliss consciousness everywhere from within
with meditation, which is a prerequisite for both good health and
enlightenment.

The goal in these lessons is to avoid theoretical approaches to yoga
as much as possible. The approach is experience-based, and therefore,
hopefully, practical. In that sense, what you see here is what you
get. That is the scientific approach, or, at least, as close to
scientific as we can get when dealing with the subjective side of
ourselves.

In healing, you are no doubt dealing with experience as well, which
may be why you wondered about the supposition about opening lower
chakras only. It seems to not make much sense to either one of
us.

The guru is in you.

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