Kundalini Dance in the Bedroom

KUNDALINI DANCE

Sacred Alchemical Evolutionary Keys

Leyolah Antara

Copyright © 2014 by Leyolah Antara. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may be stored in any retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise be copied for public or private use – other than for “ fair use” as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews- without written permission of the author.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well – being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assumes no responsibility for your actions.

Cover Graphic design: Susie Dove

Cover Art: “Fravashi’ Andrew Gonzales

ISBN: 978-0-9924726-0-3

Published by Destiny Press

PO Box 1183, NSW, 2482, Australia

For inquiries contact: [email protected]

Dedication

This book like all my work is dedicated to sacred union.

May the sacred feminine rise, guided by the power of love, may she listen and act upon her intuition, may her voice of wisdom be heard.

May the Sacred Masculine and the Sacred Feminine come into balance and peace within our selves, in our relationship to one another and in our relationship to Divine.

Table of Contents

PREFACE ...... 7

INTRODUCTION ...... 21

PART ONE: THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI

DANCE ...... 31

Awakening Kundalini Shakti ...... 31 The transformational power of the Earth ...... 35 Earth’s Kundalini ...... 37 The Womb ...... 38 The Hara ...... 39 Kundalini Shakti ...... 40 Devotional Prayer to the Divine Mother ...... 47 Shiva – The Divine Masculine Principle of Divinity ...... 48 Devotional Prayer to the Divine Father God ...... 50 Divine Inner Union ...... 51 Aligning with the powers of co-creation ...... 52 Divine Ecstasy ...... 53 Sacred Marriage ...... 55 Dance to feel ...... 56 Prayer for the Divine Union of Shiva and Shakti ...... 57 Dancing through the chakras ...... 58 Prana - The Breath Key ...... 62 Pranic Breathing ...... 63 Emotional Alchemy ...... 67

PART TWO: A SACRED ALCHEMICAL JOURNEY THROUGH

THE CHAKRAS ...... 75

CHAPTER ONE AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA ...... 77

Dancing the Root Chakra Awake ...... 80

Introduction ...... 80 The relationship to the earth, the mother ...... 82 The areas of life governed by the root chakra ...... 84 The balanced root chakra ...... 85 The overactive or underactive root chakra ...... 86 Root chakra personas ...... 87 Creating the new world ...... 89 Shadow dance: Moving beyond limitations...... 90 The developmental stage of the root ...... 92 Evolutionary responsibility and the interconnected web of life ...... 95 Affirmations for the root ...... 98 Practicing the art of visioning ...... 99 Evolving to meet the new frequency of the earth ...... 101 Integrating archetypes ...... 102 Sacred Alchemical Root Chakra Dance: The Practice...... 105

Phase one: Breathe ~ Connect to the earth core ...... 105 Phase three: Shakti cross-breaths ...... 108 Phase nine: Open to the downflow of the Divine Masculine ...... 113 Phase ten: Alchemy ...... 115 Phase eleven: Align the mental body ...... 116 Root chakra: Written dance of awareness ...... 118

Personal reflection ...... 118 Shift the patterns of the past ...... 118

Re-writing the inner myths ...... 122

CHAPTER TWO AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL

CHAKRA ...... 125

Dancing the Sacral Chakra Awake ...... 127

Introduction ...... 127 Surrender - Feel ...... 128 Flowing like water ...... 129 Sex and the cultural shadow ...... 133 Emotional release ...... 136 Tantric awakening – Sex, love and evolution ...... 139 FBO – Full Body Orgasms ...... 141 Ancient Egyptian Sexual Alchemy ...... 142 Kundalini Dance as a solitary Tantra practice ...... 143 Sacred Tantric Relationship ...... 144 Sexual Alchemy Practices ...... 146 The Alchemy of Ecstasy ...... 147 Integrating Archetypes ...... 153 Awakening the Fierce Feminine: Kali ...... 155 The lineage of Isis ...... 156 Awakening the Tantric Priestess ...... 156 Releasing old contracts ...... 161 Co-creating the new myth ...... 161 The Evolutionary Impulse of Life ...... 162 Visioning practice: Co-create our future ...... 166 Sacred Alchemical Sacral Chakra Dance: The Practice ...... 167 Sacral chakra: Written dance of awareness ...... 180

CHAPTER THREE AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR

PLEXUS CHAKRA ...... 183

Dancing the Solar Plexus Awake ...... 185

Balancing the masculine and feminine energies ...... 194 The new paradigm of power ...... 195 The wound of abandonment / rejection ...... 202 The higher solar plexus or zyphoid process ...... 203 Cancel the contracts ...... 213 Re-creating the new paradigm of power ...... 214 Sacred Alchemical Solar Plexus Dance: The practice ...... 216

Symptoms of purification ...... 223 Solar plexus chakra: Written dance of awareness ...... 236

CHAPTER FOUR AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA ...... 241

Dancing the Heart Awake ...... 244

Introduction ...... 244 Awakening love ...... 246 Dancing in ecstatic union ...... 247 The alchemy of ecstasy ...... 248 Transforming the relational heart chakra ...... 250 The developmental stage of the heart chakra ...... 250 Opening the heart ...... 251 Opening through prayer ...... 255 The evolutionary relationship ...... 259 The ego ...... 260 Re-parenting the ego ...... 262 The wound of betrayal and mistrust ...... 264 Archetypes of the heart ...... 268 Sacred Alchemical Heart Chakra Dance: The Practice ...... 271 Heart Chakra: Written Dance of Awareness ...... 285

Dancing through the layers of your emotions: ...... 286

CHAPTER FIVE AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS

CHAKRA ...... 289

Dancing the Thymus Awake ...... 291

Introduction ...... 291 Soul essence...... 292 The body as messenger of the soul ...... 294 The wound of separation ...... 295 Spiritual Longing ...... 297 The balanced thymus chakra open ...... 298 The overactive thymus chakra ...... 298 The underactive, blocked or closed thymus chakra ...... 299 Awakening oneness ...... 300 Awakening your soul’s vocation ...... 301 My story ...... 303 Sacred Alchemical Thymus Chakra Dance: The Practice ...... 304

Phase five: Thymus chakra breath ...... 308 Thymus Chakra: Written Dance of Awareness ...... 318

CHAPTER SIX AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT

CHAKRA ...... 321

Dancing the Throat Awake ...... 323

Introduction ...... 323 Transforming through the throat chakra ...... 325 Truth and denial ...... 326 Judgment and criticism ...... 328 Fear of rejection ...... 329 Self-doubt ...... 330 Creativity ...... 332

Listening ...... 333 Conscious speech ...... 333 Opening new evolutionary pathways ...... 338 Sacred prophecy and the shift of the ages ...... 339 Karmic soul memories ...... 341 Sacred Alchemical Throat Chakra Dance: The Practice ...... 343

Phase four: Raise Shakti to the clear solar plexus and initiate ecstasy ..... 347 Energy dance ...... 349 Phase seven: Ecstatic alchemy ...... 351 Throat Chakra: Written Dance of Awareness ...... 358

Identify core feelings and beliefs: ...... 358

CHAPTER SEVEN AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD

EYE CHAKRA ...... 363

Dancing the Third Eye Awake ...... 365

Third Eye Dance ...... 366 Cultivating Higher Wisdom ...... 367 Cultivating Intuition ...... 368 Dancing for Awareness...... 369 Multi-Dimensional Awareness ...... 372 Blocked Third Eye ...... 375 The Pineal Gland and the Anti-Aging Hormone ...... 376 Altar Major Chakra ...... 378 Sacred Alchemical Third Eye Dance: The Practice: ...... 390

Phase One: Tantric breathing and meditation ...... 391 Ajna Chakra – Central Channel Breathing: ...... 392 Ajna Chakra - Ida Pingala Breath: ...... 393 Third Eye: Written Dance of Awareness ...... 405

CHAPTER EIGHT AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE

CROWN CHAKRA ...... 407

Dancing The Crown Chakra Awake ...... 410

Dancing the Crown Chakra...... 411 Sacred Marriage – Shiva Shakti ...... 413 Aligning to Divine Intelligence ...... 414 Inner Union ...... 416 Aligning with the powers of co-creation...... 417 Transforming our relationship to the masculine ...... 418 Crown Chakra Developmental Stage ...... 419 Faith and Trust ...... 420 Pray to feel ...... 421 Co-creating the highest possibilities for our life...... 423 Dancing the Crown Awake ...... 436

The Sacred Marriage: Hieros Gamos ...... 438 Prayer for the Sacred Alchemical Marriage: ...... 438 Sacred Alchemy: The Dance of Divine Inner Union ...... 439 Sacred Alchemical Crown Chakra Dance: The Practice ...... 445 Crown Chakra: Written Dance of Awareness ...... 460

Trance Writing Meditation: ...... 460

KUNDALINI DANCE IN THE BEDROOM ...... 463

What is Tantra? ...... 464 Sacred Union ...... 467 Sacred Tantric Relationship ...... 470 Peace Between the Sheets ...... 473

CONCLUSION ...... 477

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ...... 479

Acknowledgments

Thanks to everyone who has helped me with the birthing of the Kundalini Dance work, especially my students who have willing- ly tried and tested these practices in my classes, workshops and retreats. I am particularly grateful to Astraea Starr a gifted guide and facilitator in her own right who stood by my side and supported me to bring “ the work” to North America and Canada and held the torch in Canada for seven years and was available for our students when I disappeared into the fire, thank you. I am so grateful to Kaitlyn Field, who for seven years, dove deeply on her own personal transformative journey with the KD practice, whilst holding space with me on countless retreats and supported me to refine and develop the practice, as she assisted me in the training of facilitators. It has been a long journey, to get to the point now, where KD can be offered as a complete alchemical healing practice, and to both Luna Astraea and Kaitlyn, I am so grateful, I couldn’t have done it without either of you.

Thanks to Lyndsay Spencer for your kind heart and devotion to the work and the sweet feminine nectar you bring to all of our retreats. Thank you, Yarah Sutra for your fierce feminine presence and embodying the ecstatic dark goddess, I know its not always easy, thank you for your authenticity and passion. Thank you Kate Little for standing beside me in the formative years of the work and being my first apprentice. Thank you to Nemone

1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Sloane for holding the torch of KD in Melbourne Australia, may the seeds of all your efforts bear the most magnificent fruits. Thanks Tara Fischer, for your devotion and passion in empowering woman through Kundalini Dance and for having the courage to step into Shakti’s fire and feel it all with such courage and grace. Thank you to Christy Greenwood, for embodying the empowered feminine rainbow wariorress of love and trusting me, through it all. Thank you, Yvonne Lumsden for calling me out of cave after my 9 month journey into the womb, and for helping me get back on my feet after my “ dark night”. Thank you to all my muses who popped in along the way, particularly Ali Bertin and then a few years later Fire Phoenix Dancer, there were months where I was writing for you. Thank you to all my students, who carry the torch of this work, I know how Shakti works her priestesses and pirates, may you be infinitely blessed for your service to the awakening of your students.

I am so grateful to my beloved daughter Shemaiah Akiya who is now 14 years old and such a clear and incredible being. Thank you, darling for always understanding how important it is for me to do my work and follow my passion. Thank you for choosing me as your Mother I feel so blessed to have you in my life; you have grown my heart in love and made me a kinder, more caring and more compassionate person.

I am so grateful to my parents, Josip and Carla Dekanic, for their generous hearted support they have given me over the years. Thank you for giving me the solid foundation from which I

2 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS could explore my true vocation and soul calling.

Thank you to all who supported me in the early formative years, Thank you Chris Deckker, for catalyzing my initial tantric shamanic awakenings. Thank you, Angela Snow for your sisterhood and support and always having my back. Thanks Susie Dove, Kala Shekinah, Kerry Ryan and Ljudan Michaeles for believing in the work and supporting me in your own unique ways.

Thanks to the divine masculine allies who have supported the work over the years, Kevin Gaia, Nathan Kaye, Solus Soul Sing- er, Keala Young, Orlando Allen, Youth, Helio Matahari and Chris Deckker. Thank you for bringing your unique gifts to the work as musicians, producers, film makers, transformational therapists and shamans.

Thank you to Ivy Young who initially supported me to edit the book, thank you for your structural guidance, your refined approach and attention to detail. Thank you to Lisa Wilder for completing the final edits and formatting, I really appreciated the swift pace in which you worked and coming through on the final timelines. Thank you Kaitlyn Field and Mark Lee for your drawings and exploring how to illustrate the alchemical flows of energy in the body. Thank you to Jane Monica-Jones, for your encouragement and guiding me through the final phases of publishing process. Thank you to Dr Jay.

I give thanks for all my teachers, guides and mentors who supported me in the early formative years. To the late Gabrielle Roth, thank you for paving the way, you helped me recognize it 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS was possible to pursue a career as a Dance Shaman. Thank you to Frank Natale for seeing my gift and encouraging me to teach and offering your studio in Amsterdam as my experiential lab. Thank you to Elizabeth St John, for teaching me about energy healing both on individuals and in movement and inspiring me to follow the map of the chakras in London. Thank you to Con- stantine Pavlidis for training me in dance movement as a healing modality in Amsterdam. Thank you Sandra Michael for my training in Huna Kane, Hawaiian Temple Body work. Thank you Claire Zammit, for your friendship and inviting me to participate in your on line Feminine Power courses with your partner Katherine Woodward - Thomas, your work with identifying false identities and re parenting the younger self has supported my own growth and informed my work with others. Thank you to all those who attended my initial Chakra Journey workshops in London for trusting me back then. Thanks to all those who were apart of the Sushumna Ritual Dance Theatre and helped create sacred space at Return to the Source, Chakra Journey events in London in the 90’s. Thanks to all the dancers in the 90’s trance dance revolution in London we really did some powerful multidimensional shamanic work at those parties that helped shape new emergences of transformational technology in culture.

I want to thank all the inner plane guides of this work, those who have held and regenerated the priestess lineages of Isis, Magdalene and the order of the Rose.

4 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Thank you to all those whose names I haven’t mentioned who have believed in this work and contributed to bringing it out to the world.

Preface

In April 1989, when I was 24 years old, I journeyed into the central western desert of Australia with my former husband. We were visiting aboriginal communities in search of indigenous art. We were travelling with a young French couple, who were also collect- ing aboriginal desert paintings. She was a journalist, passionate about educating people about the environment, filled with stories of impending doom for the earth and humanity if we continued at our current rate of consumption. I argued that I felt no change could happen without the consciousness of people changing. Our heated discussions (well you know how the French love to argue) ignited a spark of passion within me and I began to deeply question what was my true vocation? How could I support this awakening of consciousness, both within myself and within others?

We arrived at Palm Valley, an old, dried up riverbed filled with cycad date palms surrounded by huge ancient rocks that looked like old aboriginal faces. I have since come to learn that this is a place where the Australian indigenous shamans go to commune with the ancient gatekeepers of that land, the ancestors, to receive vision and guidance. With this question brewing deeply in my heart, we decided to awake at dawn the next morning and do a ceremony to ask for guidance.

7 PREFACE That morning, sitting in ceremony, I received a vision that changed the course of my life forever, a vision that fuels my days with the passion to continue teaching, writing about and developing the Kundalini Dance, sacred alchemical transformational work.

As we sat and prayed, we had a deep communion with the Di- vine Mother. “She” indicated that the earth and humanity were in a time of accelerated awakening. She said a transition was upon us and that through calling “her”, the serpent power Shakti, the Kundalini Earth Current, “she” would support us to reveal our inner radiance, light up our latent potential and clear us of negative emotions and karmic imprints stored in our bodies and chakras that were taking our energy and veiling our true selves.

When I asked what my work was, I was specifically guided that I was to educate people how to work with “her” (Kundalini Shakti) to clear their chakras, through dance–movement, breath, energy work and sacred sex to prepare their bodies for a vibrational shift that was beginning and would accelerate to a point of intensity in the near future. The earth was in her own evolutionary cycle and the earth would have her own Kundalini awakening and re birthing into a star, a fifth dimensional body of light. Humanity and all life would be involved in that rebirth and if we chose to open our body/mind/spirits to “her” love, she would prepare us to deal with the earth shifts and harmoniously rebirth ourselves as the new enlightened humanity.

So my journey began and my love and devotion for the Divine

8 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Feminine, Shakti began to grow. I had no idea I was embarking on a journey in the exploration of transformational alchemy. The science of awakening consciousness, I was to become a technician of ecstasy, a mapmaker and guide to the realms of the soul. I was to be my first experiment. The road to the top of the mountain was long, and I had already been on it for lifetimes.

I learnt that Shakti is the fluid container of Divine Feminine consciousness, a primal blend of earth and fire, water being her preferred medium of travel into body/mind consciousness. Shak- ti is the original “She”, the Divine Feminine, the mistress of the mystery, the primordial birther and sustainer of all life. When we open to her rising current, she dissolves and cleanses the emotional body, unveiling our inner radiance, switching our DNA into ecstatic resonance with creation. She longs to merge with the Divine Masculine, Shiva, the sun, divine consciousness, the source of creation. When they meet in balance, their unity births the holy spirit and ignites a spark of divine ecstasy in every cell of our bodies. Ecstasy is an alchemical force, a re-birther, an awakener.

At that time of my life Shakti Ma, the Divine Feminine was making herself known to me in all her favourite forms. Around the time the mother “spoke” to us in the desert, I was also having a spontaneous tantric initiation with my beloved, then husband. As the depth of our love and commitment to each other grew, so did the intensity of the sexual energy moving through me, igniting my higher chakras with her ecstatic sparks of divine con-

9 PREFACE sciousness and putting us on an accelerated journey of growth and evolution.

I would also experience Shakti’s ecstatic waves as I danced, I’d feel her warmth in my swaying hips, liquefying my body open with her undulations, lighting up my energetic body, and giving me tastes of ecstatic Oneness. She was showing me how blissful it could be in this body and she began seducing me to awaken.

My dance became a dialogue with my body and mind, I danced to enquire into my stiff neck, tense shoulders, tight jaw, experiencing it as old emotion unexpressed and turned frozen, I’d been holding on for too long. I began to see my muscular tension as my body screams for attention, I have something to say to you, enough fear, I want love expansion, warmth fluidity, If I was tight and overstressed, I would take the time to breathe, to dance and stretch, listen to my body, let go and let love flow.

In my 20s, I searched for teachers and courses that connected healing and dance. I studied dance movement therapy at Roe- hampton University in London, I resonated most with those who worked with energy. I was held deeply by two teachers in particular over a two-year period, while living in Amsterdam. Constantine Pavlidis a former ballet dancer and psychic, and his teacher and London-based movement healer, energy maestra, Elizabeth St John, who both held me as I dove into the living memory of my cells and subtle body.

Although I prayed consistently for teachers and mentors, existence appeared to keep throwing me back into the memories and 10 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS wisdom carried in my body. I went to dance with Gabrielle Roth in England in the early 90s, two years after I had read her book, drunk her words and teaching like nectar for my soul, so excited to finally dance with the only woman who was doing anything close to what I felt I was here to do. When I asked her to train me to teach her work, she responded, “I’ve been watching you, you have your own path, trust your way.” I was initially gutted. My mentor who I had travelled across the world to study with, had decided she would not train any more teachers. Life was once again guiding me to tap into my own unique body wisdom, my own unique way.

So I was reluctantly plunged into the deep pool of being a pioneer, dancing upon ancient pathways that have been forgotten, piecing together threads of feminine wisdom that had been torn apart. My dance became a wild prayer for insight, a multi-leveled discourse with my body. I became the living memory held in my cells. I danced it into form so I could feel it, see it, touch it, taste it. I danced to get to know it before I could let go of it. I danced and breathed my body memory awake.

I would dance long and hard, till there was no more dancer, no more me, myself or I. I was stripped to my naked soul, dissolved in the pure ecstasy of oneness. The dance became my sanctuary, and in the dance, I found my inner master helping me see that I was already awake and already free. My devotion to the Divine Feminine deepened. I surrendered to her to show me the way, and the more I surrendered the more she showed me.

11 PREFACE My quest for soul-level liberation continued and I began to deepen my exploration of the chakras, beyond being emotional but also as holographic memory banks that retained blueprints of my soul’s journey.

My inner journeys revealed many, many past lives, so that I could understand the karmic threads of all the major life lessons that I have repeated lifetime after lifetime. I remembered my earlier incarnations in Atlantis, ancient Egypt and the ancient temple cultures of the Incas and the Mayas. Serving the community as priestess, priest, shaman and dancer. As priestess, I would spend my days aligning with the universal flows of creation, maintaining a high vibration to serve the community.

I remembered our stellar origins and our original stellar agreement to incarnate on the earth to serve humanity’s awakenings. I remembered the forgetting, the thirst to remain seen as gods and goddesses, the abuse of power and then the fall. I remembered lives as a warrior witch and a pagan priestess, persecuted and tortured for worshipping the goddess and being a woman of power. I remembered the fall from the grace of living in the temples as tantric priestess to being beaten and treated as a whore. I remember being silenced. I felt the rage, remembered the agreements I made at each point of death. Limiting life contracts and pacts my soul has kept until this lifetime. The hatred, the mistrust, all stored in the living memory banks of my cells and my chakras. I have remembered so many different lifetimes, different bodies, different sexes—but the same subtle body, creating the

12 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS perfect scenario that I may magnetise the same lessons, and keep the same thread of so wisdom, life after life.

I came to see working with my chakras as integral to supporting my journey of awakening. Clearing my chakras of emotional stagnation through pranic breath work and movement was the first level that then seemed to open up the doorway to understanding the karmic loop that was causing the blockage. The past lives I would “see” would be pivotal to helping me gain awareness of my major karmic life lessons. Giving me awareness of the behavioural patterns, and subconscious beliefs that are central to the ego structures, that are the frame - work that are is the default of my conscious mind.

Working with the chakras has been amazing. I am still in awe every time I am shown the hologram of my own or an “initates” karmic cycle of experience. I see the chakras like gateways, to the holographic memory of our souls’ journeys. They hold these memories as vibration in etheric patterns. These are the patterns that magnetise our life experiences to us. The power of our magnetic attractor fields is huge! It is a beautiful thing really; life is constantly giving us the opportunity to see what we are attracting to us through our patterns and beliefs so we can gain awareness of our unconscious beliefs and patterns. So we can strengthen what is working to support our highest and best life and work to transmute what isn’t.

In the first few years of calling upon the mother to dance me open, I felt so much opening in me, old bottled-up emotions

13 PREFACE arising to be felt, to be freed. I felt waves of intense sadness, frustration, anger, hatred — you name it, it was there in my body, the full spectrum of the human emotional experience. I learnt to witness the emotions from the core place of love within me. To allow that love, the ecstasy that I am at my core, to “open through” the pain of the past. I danced to feel and the more I felt, the lighter and lighter I became.

The Mother Shakti is unbridled, pure love, pure passionate life force energy. She beckons us to feel all that is not resonant with her love. The Divine Feminine has many faces. She can be so soft and sweet, and now I was beginning to feel the fierce compassion of her flame. So “she” took me and shook me up, calling me to feel those feelings that I had repressed and suppressed. Calling me to feel them so that I could free them. We journeyed into my shadow side, the aspects of self that I tried to hide and had banished into the dark corners of my body –mind.

So I danced, and prayed, and am still dancing and praying, totally absorbed in my quest for freedom. I dance to put my ego on the flame of love that burns bright at my core. I dance to shed my skin, to peel the layers that keep me separate. I dance to empty myself of the past, to enter back into the now.

For many years, the Kundalini Dance practice was primarily a feminine practice. There was a lot of up-and-out happening, as to how we moved energy. In the early years, the dance sessions were emotionally cathartic and not so integrating. It is so important to feel and release emotion, but then we also need to

14 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS open to the higher frequencies of light and pure consciousness to recreate our life that comes with the masculine down flow. As the founder of the work, the work reflected my inner state of consciousness and I had some deep healing with the masculine, both with men and with God.

So much that in 2009, I had a near-death experience when a tree fell on me at a temple in Bali. I was planning to spend the evening celebrating Shiva Yatri, a Hindu Festival where you go to the temple to chant to Shiva all night and ask him to help you release your current obstacles. I was in the midst of yet another relationship breakup at the time, so I had set an intention to ask Shiva the Divine Masculine to help me release my obstacles with the masculine, to begin to open to receive God’s love and a man’s love and to really let love in.

I was in the water temple car park in Tampak Tsiring in the centre of Bali, waiting for my boyfriend to park the motor bike, blissfully gazing up at the stars, when it happened—a tree fell on me. (The tree happened to be from the summer palace of the president of Indonesia, so he paid the bills and took care of my penthouse hospital room.) The tree hit me on my head and my spine fractured in two places, one light fracture in my neck and an angel-hair fracture on my T4 vertebrae, which is the back of the heart chakra zone, just the spot for receiving the down flow of the Divine Masculine light into our energy system. My healing crisis was inviting me to engage in a deeper healing initiation with the masculine, and I was to heal and feel right down to the

15 PREFACE bone.

So it took three years of deeply feeling and healing my wound with the masculine and God, feeling unworthy, disappointed, angry and mistrustful—experiencing and feeling the wounds of abandonment and betrayal, basically all my core wounds with the masculine. As usual, life supported my healing by giving me exactly what I needed through two significant challenging relationships that gave me the perfect scenarios for my soul to feel those exact same emotions, release them and grow.

Although I am still healing with the masculine, now the flows of feminine and masculine merge ecstatically as one in me every day of my life. I know they are always one, the Divine Masculine and Feminine are never separate. They are just different qualities of the same spectrum of consciousness. The key is to marry them within us if we are to experience ecstatic alchemy and open up the new evolutionary pathways of our fully awakened potential. I feel it is a collective work we are all doing, and that the time soon will come when men and woman are back in sacred balance with each other.

Now I open to the flows of the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine from above and below equally, it feels like pure ecstatic body bliss. This is what I have come to experience as the ecstatic tantric alchemical flow of divine unity. The Divine Masculine will hold the space for the feminine to feel, he wit- nesses without judgement. He is the still ground of being that penetrates the feminine with his consciousness and together they

16 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS co-create the new, anchored deeply in what is true.

Since the November new moon in 2012, I have felt an incredible possibility for anchoring in new behavioral templates and ways of being. It feels that everything I have been praying for is finally happening and I am integrating expressing and relating from these higher places of consciousness. The next cycle feels like an incredible time for new beginnings and new ways of being for ourselves and our cultural collective. We have the opportunity to press the refresh button, look at ourselves and engage in our relationships with fresh eyes.

So that is how my journey into the dance began. It was the divine mother earth who got me dancing and clearing. It was the divine father who brought me into the balance and linked me into divine mind. I feel so blessed to live an ecstatic life, with or without a partner. It has been a 20-year journey of exploration and inner initiation. Actually, in truth it feels like a 10, 000-year initiation. The chakras have become my journey map, so that is the way I map my ecstatic dance classes, events, transformational retreats and even this book.

Initially I began facilitating chakra dance journeys, inspired to begin teaching in 1992 at age 26 by another one of my early mentors, the founder of Trance dance, the late Frank Natale. I was living in Amsterdam at the time. He gave me his studio, The Crystal Palace, to use as my laboratory, passed on his Italian admin lady and his European mailing list. I was all set. We began holding a regular full moon Trance dance - drumming circle.

17 PREFACE I would facilitate and my husband, Chris, gathered drummers. I remember 200 people showing up for the first one, I was wobbling at the knees and burning in my belly. I learned about holding group energy fast. It seemed I was a natural and the group was open to my facilitation and guidance. Frank had asked me to develop Trance Dance 2, an advanced version of the 10-day pro- gramme he offered. He advised me and soon I presented my first chakra dance at one of his trainings.

Nine months later we were off to live in London, where Chris started a monthly conscious night club, Return to the Source. It was an instant hit and we had a full house of 2,000 dancers a night. I was into getting high naturally and dancing all night straight. I published my first articles in our CD compilations, inspiring the clubbers to try it out. This was London in the early 1990s, a burgenoning visionary culture was forming through the dance scene. In 1995, we launched our second CD compilation, the Chakra Journey, with a huge launch party at the Brixton Academy. More than 6,000 people showed up for a night to remember and thousands gathered around a totem pole and joined together in a two-hour musical dance journey through the chakras that ended at midnight.

This is when I began to experiment and feel the power of a unified dance floor. If we could only unify our intentions and send the ecstatic energy that we were generating collectively outward, we could create positive change, an ecstatic revolution in consciousness.

18 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS I myself have experienced the potency of group energy being sent to me when the tree fell on me, I was blessed to have at least one of the facilitators who I had trained holding a Kundalini Dance class somewhere in the world, at least once a day. As I laid on my back unable to walk, I felt the warm waves of golden light energy cocooning me, supporting my rapid healing process. It really worked. Thanks to these little groups of 20 dancers sending me love, I healed three times faster than the orthopaedic sur- geons had predicted.

As dancers, we have the capacity to anchor vast amounts of light. Connected to our hearts and unified in our intentions, we have the ability to create resonant fields of energy that create a positive shift in the collective consciousness.

Humanity is in the midst of a huge evolutionary leap. It feels like this lifetime is one where we can experience an acceleration of our evolutionary journey. In previous lives, it seemed we would take a whole lifetime to learn a specific lesson. Now it feels like we are being given the opportunity to release ourselves from the cyclic wheel of karma. Thereby giving us the opportunity to grow and evolve through all of our major life lessons.

For me, my dance is my spiritual practice. It keeps my vibration high, so I remember to live expressing my feminine radiance guided by the truth of love. I dance to remember who I am and to see the parts of myself that forget whilst pretending to be who I am. I dance to ignite the flame of love within. I dive inside the gateway of my heart to embody the ecstatic ocean of love that I

19 PREFACE AM. I surrender my ego and my false identities to the flame of love. I dance to die and be born anew, and I dance to weave hearts and co-create the new myth of the new humanity with you.

We are now required to bring through new evolutionary practices necessary for these accelerated evolutionary times. Through my devotional intention to serve humanity’s awakening and be a vessel for the creative flows, I have spent the last 22 years teaching and developing this tantric shamanic dance practice that we have come to call Kundalini Dance. It is from the depths of my heart that I offer this sacred alchemical dance practice to you.

I am in awe of the power and depth of this work. It touches my heart so deeply to witness the authentic, raw human expression of pure emotion that brings so much vitality and power back into the body and soul. I am constantly humbled to receive the countless testaments to how the Kundalini Dance work has changed lives. This work is dance — and it is so much more than dance. It is from my deepest heart and soul that I unconditionally offer this gift to you.

Leyolah Antara, 2013

Introduction

It is my felt understanding that humanity is at an evolutionary crossroad. Many different mystics and ancient calendar systems have long predicted this turning point, and we are currently at the pinnacle of that transition—a shift from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius.

For the last 5,125 years we have been in the age of Pisces, a time characterized by the lessons of duality: light and dark, good and evil, and an imbalance in the polarity of the feminine and the masculine, which have been at war with each other. The feminine has been mistrusting the masculine—her lovers, her husbands, her leaders and God. The masculine has been dominating and suppressing the feminine: her wisdom and intuitive-knowing has been denied, and the feminine aspect of God has been feared and persecuted.

Human consciousness has been locked in a dualistic, separation- based paradigm but in the next 5,125-year cycle, we have the opportunity to move into the Age of Aquarius, a golden era, which represents a time of holism, unity consciousness, oneness. A huge piece of the template of holism is the rebalancing and reuniting of feminine and masculine polarities, in our relationships with each other, in our relationships with ourselves and in

21 INTRODUCTION our relationships with the divine.

We began moving into the Age of Aquarius over the last few years. On December 21st, 2012, we took a leap into the new dawn. The Tibetans predict that between 2012 and 2027 we will continue the process of anchoring the new systems and new ways of being, both internally and externally. In the next 15-year cycle, we will shed a lot of old ways of being and birth new paradigms that will form a foundation for planetary culture, which will be reshaped in subsequent generations. In 2027, the new paradigm will be set in place and we will rediscover the joy of simply being.

In the Age of Aquarius, we will integrate what it means to live with more light, which will be come from both the kundalini core of the earth and the great central sun. This age will birth a new evolved humanity, named “homo luminous” by the wise el- ders of Peru. The new enlightened human has a luminous, activated light-body and is lit up with the flow of creation.

Evolving through Personal Practice

This is where the Kundalini Dance practice comes in. Kundalini Dance is a spiritual practice that directly works to rebalance the feminine and masculine aspects within us, awakening our innate divine intelligence. The practice trains us to consciously light up the luminous body and it offers evolutionary keys that awaken latent soul codes within us that will help usher in the new age. In this time of accelerated evolution, we have the opportunity to loop out of the cycle of karma—those old patterns and ways of 22 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS being that have kept us in isolation and separation. The Kundalini Dance practice brings awareness of those cycles, the patterns and behavioural loops that we have been living, and it supports us to feel and release them as we recreate the new. When we surrender our bodies to the cosmic flows of creation and are beckoned to transform those false, fear-based, misaligned egoic aspects of consciousness, the karmic cycles dissolve and the universe supports us to redefine and recreate the reality we choose to live.

The key to full-circle transformation of our karmic patterns is the sacred marriage of the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine. What this means is that we deal with our core issues of trust and separation from the masculine and/or feminine, which touch on our mother/father issues and childhood wounds. When we make peace with these issues, we make peace with creation and we remember that we are creation.

When both the Divine Masculine and Feminine energy weave through our energy system and unite in the chakras, we experience the ecstasy of transformational alchemy. We tap into the creative field of life and begin to feel the vast infinite possibilities of our power to co-create. The more we open to the cosmic flow of creation, the more she purifies our fear and self-doubt and we remember that we are worthy expressions of the creative essence of life and that we are love. As we evolve, our integrity deepens, as does our willingness to serve for the flourishing and better- ment of all life, to serve the cosmic creative forces and to fine-

23 INTRODUCTION tune our bodies and our skills.

Activating our luminous bodies; ecstatically alchemizing the old fears and false beliefs that hold us back from really stepping into our power; making peace with our souls and remembering the keys that are within us are all crucial for humanity to make this next leap in consciousness with ease and grace.

Transformation through Kundalini Dance

In Kundalini Dance sessions, we apply dance, breathwork, sound and energy healing as tools for transformation, purification and spiritual activation. We explore dance, as both a spiritual practice and a transpersonal and transformational healing modality.

We dance to cultivate Shakti, the holy fire within us. Kundalini Shakti lies dormant in many of us or active only during sexual arousal, yet it only becomes an evolutionary force when it is linked with our longing to merge with the Divine.

The primary focus of Kundalini Dance work is to deeply connect with one’s True Nature, also known as the Essence, the Self, our Pure Soul or our Divine Nature. It is a transformational system based on a foundation of unconditional love accessed by opening up the heart centre. As the heart chakra opens, the dancer develops the qualities of unconditional love, acceptance, compassion and forgiveness, which are necessary for an integrated transformational process.

The secondary process of Kundalini Dance is purification and uncovering of repressed and denied emotional energy or fear held

24 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS in the body, which stagnates life force and results in a loss of power, health and vitality. The process of honestly stepping into one’s True Self involves integrating and facing one’s shadow. Personal power returns in the acceptance and embrace of all aspects of Self.

Through Kundalini Dance, the emotional body is literally cleaned up. Some have referred to it as feeling “well scrubbed”. As the layers of physical armouring and fear-based resistance are felt and released, we open to more and more love. The more deeply one surrenders and opens into one’s closure and bodily felt contraction, the deeper the purification. Purification is an ongoing part of the evolutionary process and needs to be integrated with awareness and acceptance.

Authentic release does not occur through pushing away one’s feelings, or trying to get rid of those feelings by throwing them out unlovingly. Authentic release occurs when we simply drop into our feelings and feel without judgement. I have found my deepest releases occur when I pray to the Divine Mother to help me to feel something to the core. In this way I hold myself in tenderness and gentleness and drop into the feelings. Tunnelling through the layers, softening and opening to the love at my core.

Kundalini Dance operates with the understanding that the body, mind and spirit function as one interrelated bank of conscious information. The body shows us where we are holding onto emotional contraction or fear-based thought forms, through our aches and pains, dis-eases, and our various body shapes and

25 INTRODUCTION forms. When we learn to listen to the language of our body, we realise it doesn’t lie. For example, tight shoulders and a stiff jaw may be a physical manifestation of withheld anger, which can occur when a truth is not spoken. Love is experienced in the body as expansion; fear as contraction. The body is the direct conscious messenger of our soul, which longs for us to evolve and live as love.

The Role of the Chakras

The Eastern psycho-physiological system of the chakras is integral to this transformational dance work. It provides us with essential reference points to more easily see how our mental and emotional states directly affect our health.

Using the chakra system enables us to more easily identify issues and clear energy blocks. Opening the chakras is an important aspect of Kundalini Dance as chakras hold the key to specific areas of the body. As we dance, meditate and breathe life into each chakra, we unblock any previously closed energies. Blocked energy is the manifestation of repressed or denied emotional energy and unresolved developmental issues and karmic patterns. The chakras are like gateways for Universal energy to pass into both the physical body and the psyche. They are also like memory banks, mini-brains or computer software carrying our emotional behavioural programmes and soul codes.

All tension and disease in the body is related to some fear-based belief or emotional contraction that is imprinted in the chakra or in the cells of its related body parts. When fear is triggered, it 26 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS blocks the energy flow through the chakra, decreasing the amount of life force available to nourish its interconnected organs and body parts. This is why our mental and emotional states are so directly connected to our health.

Breathing to Rejuvenate and Purify

The utilisation of dance, breath and sound to clear the chakras is the ultimate preventative medicine for the Aquarian Age. Sound and movement are ideal ways to clear old emotional energy trapped in the body and the human energy system.

“Central channel breathing” is central to the Kundalini Dance work as our breath is the key to activating states of ecstasy and freedom naturally. The more we breathe, the more we receive. Our breath is the current that carries the healing force of spirit into our beings. We just needs to learn to direct it and its magnetism will replenish and rejuvenate us and, most importantly, purify us.

When you cultivate Shakti, open to the divine light and breathe that energy into the central channel of your body, your body goes through a spontaneous purification, a release of all that is out of alignment with your higher nature, and we open up a pathway to experiencing states of ecstasy.

Central channel breathing also maximises the potential of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual qualities of each chakra.

A Dance of Ecstasy

Kundalini Dance is an ecstatic dance practice. Dancing through

27 INTRODUCTION the chakras is our map to ecstasy. Ecstasy is a transformational force, which can vibrate all of our cells into resonance with the Universal field. All our behavioural blueprints are encoded in the physical body, in the DNA and RNA of all the cells in our body. We can shift our unconscious fear-based behavioural patterns by embodying states of higher consciousness and emotion that are in harmony with the Universal field. These states are compassion, love, ecstasy and joy. Fear cannot exist in a body that is vibrating ecstatically. It only knows union. This is the transformational alchemy of ecstasy.

“Researchers have now demonstrated that genetic shifts, changes in the actual sequencing of our DNA, may be ac- complished by specific qualities of thought, feeling and emotion.”

—Walking Between the Worlds: The Science of Compas- sion by Gregg Braden

We have so much ancient wisdom in the cells of our bodies and the potential for unleashing it is available to us if we learn to connect to Source and allow our internal wisdom to guide us toward personal healing.

The dance practice accelerates one’s evolutionary process, anchoring divine templates and bringing into one’s awareness any misaligned patterns that are held on a DNA level and karmic patterns that are held on a soul level.

So let’s dance to break up those patterns that keep you confined

28 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS in the illusion of your fears. Dance to shake it up, break it up, and release all that is not of love in your sphere. Your body knows what it needs to do to heal itself, so trust and let your body go with the rhythm of your breath and dance yourself awake. Dance and release yourself from the cultural trance. Dance and heal your soul. Dance and remember who you are. Dance and release that which you are not. Free your body and you free your mind and remember that you are Divine.

PART ONE: The Theoretical Foundations of Kundalini Dance

Awakening Kundalini Shakti

Since time immemorial, humanity has danced to embody spirit and to know oneness and unity with the Divine Source. The an- cients danced to rhythmic repetitive beats to reach states of ecstatic trance. They knew the power of breathing to reach altered states of consciousness. This facilitated a shift in focus from mundane consciousness to the realm of the Divine, supporting both personal and community healing.

The Sufi mystics of Persia, the Dionysian temple dancers of ancient Greece, the Indigenous tribes of Australia, Africa and the Americas—all used dance as a pathway to ecstatic states for community bonding and individual transformation.

In the Ancient temples of Egypt, Greece, India and Sumeria, the priestesses would dance to commune with the Goddess, the Di- vine Mother. Through dance, they embodied their sexuality as a sacred energy that unified their bodies and souls with the Divine

31 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE love of God. They danced to cultivate the sacred fire within, the fire of life force that exists within all things. This sacred fire could be sensual, blissfully loving and ecstatic as well as powerfully transforming and ruthless in her destruction of all false illusions of one’s personality and soul.

In India, they call this inner fire that burns illusion and awakens consciousness Kundalini Shakti. The fire creates, transforms and burns through all the limitations of the ego personality. The fire empties you so that you can receive the Divine love of God.

There are many ancient paths and enduring esoteric traditions associated with Kundalini and the Great Mother Goddess. They include the esoteric schools of the Goddess Sekhmet in Egypt, the Goddess Hera in Greece, the Goddess Kapo in Hawaii, the Goddess Kali in India and the Indian traditions of Aghoras and Kundalini Yoga.

It took commitment and discipline to practice daily and cultivate her life force. The priests, priestesses and initiates of the temples’ sacred mystery schools were required to embody deep devotion to the Great Mother, as Kundalini Shakti would only awaken in a devoted heart, in one who was humble enough to face her denial and courageous enough to feel her own pain.

Sacred dance movement, breathing, yoga, mantra, meditation, devotional prayer and sacred sexuality would generate Kundalini Shakti, which would awaken a dedicated practitioner’s healing gifts, intuitive capacities and other super human powers.

32 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Until recently, Western spiritual traditions and religions have led us further and further away from the body. Like other tempta- tions of the flesh, dancing was believed to lead us away from our spiritual or divine nature. Dancing died off in the West when the Catholic Church banned it as a form of devotional worship. Those who ecstatically danced had a direct link to the Divine Source that threatened the role of the priests and ultimately the power of the Church.

Western society has been experiencing an incredible revival of our natural call, re-embracing the body as a vessel for the Divine. We are embracing dance and our sexuality as gateways to a deeper union and soul connection with ourselves, each other and the Divine Source of Life. We are collectively integrating our remembrance of the Divine Feminine spiritual teachings after 5,000 years of suppression, silence and forgetfulness.

Dance is a powerful spiritual practice and a direct way for us to commune with Mother, Father God and Divine Love. Dance is a medium, a vehicle for the poets and the mystics among us to express their intoxicated longing for God. Dancing is a feminine prayer, an ecstatic spiritual path for those who long for a direct link to divinity through a palpable, tangible and embodied way.

When we dance to receive Divine Love into our bodies and our cells, the love brings up all within us that is not love and all that feels unworthy of love. Dance is a beautiful, creative and potent way to express the soul’s deepest emotions. When we dance, we let our feelings flow and the more we feel, the more the Divine

33 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE Love streams through us, polishing the diamond of our souls. The path of ecstatic dance helps us to grow our souls in love and strengthen our capacity to live love in action and express our love for ourselves and each other.

Kundalini Dance is an ancient, future, tantric shamanic dance practice that blends the ancient Divine Feminine mystery teachings practiced by temple priestesses who were deeply and inher- ently connected to their womb wisdom and the alchemical power of sexual energy as a path to divine union with evolutionary transformational practices to help us navigate our inner territory.

The Kundalini Dance practice is based on the tantric principles of the union of divine polarity. We specifically and directly commune with the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine principles of Divinity. The union of the Divine Mother’s earth energy and the solar, celestial masculine energy is the goal of this practice.

Their union within our hearts increases our capacity to expand and receive Divine Love and Light. The more powerfully our devotional heart opens to receive the universal life stream’s of Mother Father God, the more potent our alchemical healing, transformational and mystical experiences will be. Ecstatically merging with the divine polarities in this way switches on our whole energetic circuitry, the subtle bodies, meridians and chakras. It also lifts the vibration of our four main energy bodies: the physical body, the Ka or spiritual body, the emotional body and the mental body. It gives us the opportunity to anchor new di-

34 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS vine templates of behaviour and awareness and awaken our dormant DNA.

The transformational power of the Earth

Deep in the central core of the Earth is a liquid metal fire generating an electromagnetic field that influences all life on earth. This golden fire, at the heart of the earth, is known in some esoteric traditions as the Womb of Gaia. The Womb of Gaia holds the pure potential of all life, before being birthed into manifestation.

If you really desire to tap into your soul purpose and harness the creative life energy that is your birthright, attuning your womb or hara to the earth’s core will spark creative potential inside of you.

In my initial guiding vision 22 years ago, I was shown that it was crucial for us to connect to the core of the earth and awaken our Kundalini Shakti in order to ride the earth shifts and cultural challenges that we witness in our lifetimes. Our bodies are a mi- crocosm of the earth and our next evolutionary requirement is to attune our bodies to the vibrations and rhythms of the earth. Regular tuning into the earth’s core helps us stay connected to the Earth’s planetary magnetic shifts and attune to the hidden treasures within us.

Humanity is in the midst of a transitional period. Our old selfish ways of relating to the earth and each other must change for our

35 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE species to survive. New, innovative spiritual practices—based in tradition but going beyond it—are needed in these accelerated evolutionary times.

Access to the Womb of Gaia has been one of the greatest alchemical secrets known to priests, priestesses and great mystics throughout the ages. As women we connect to ‘Her’ through our wombs and through our pure hearts’ desire to awaken our consciousness and serve the birthing of the new earth. Men connect to Her through their Hara, the main energy point in their core lower belly.

Only those who have a true longing for spiritual union and who are willing to transform their old egoic identities are given entrance to her primordial vastness. It appears we need to purify ourselves before the true jewels of our soul can be revealed.

Grounding deep into the earth’s core magnetic fields and linking your womb or hara into Her is a potent way to ignite the spark of Kundalini Shakti within you. Kundalini Shakti is an evolutionary mechanism within our bodies that lays dormant in most of us. When activated, it takes us on a journey that awakens higher consciousness and our deeper healing potentials and human capacities. We do not seek to activate the Kundalini prema- turely. We are in fact attuning and preparing the body for the Earth’s continued magnetic shifts, so that the body experiences the energy of Kundalini Shakti gently and gradually.

In the Kundalini Dance practice, we drop down and plug into the kundalini core of the earth, the Womb of Gaia and we at- 36 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS tune and align our body, mind and soul to the pure love frequencies of the Divine Mother Earth. When we open to the energy of earth’s magnetic core, we become open to receive and embody the Divine Feminine creative force, Kundalini Shakti. Then we raise earth energy up through our root chakra into our womb and hara, energizing our Kundalini Shakti core. The more Kundalini is activated, the more fully alive we feel and the more creative energy we have available to us, both for transformation and manifestation.

Earth’s Kundalini

Drunvalo Melchizedek’s book Serpent of Light – Earth’s Kundalini Rising 1949 – 2013 describes the earth’s Kundalini current. As our bodies are of the earth, we are microcosms of the same universal energy map. As this earth is choosing to awaken, we are also called to awaken and lift the vibration of our bodymind systems into resonance with the core of the earth—love.

He describes the tail of the earth’s Kundalini as rooted in the core of the earth and the head and body as a moving force. For the past 14 million years, the head of the earth’s Kundalini has been centred in the Himalayan regions of India and Tibet. This is why so many of the spiritual technologies related to the chakras and Kundalini have come from India and Tibet. In the last few years, she has moved and is now positioning herself in her new location in the Andes mountains of Chile, South America. It makes sense that South America is becoming the new spiritual

37 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE Mecca, as it is the homeland of ayahuasca, the Amazonian jungle plant that tunes us into the Divine Feminine energies of the Mother, our inner Kundalini energy. When ingested, the plant gives profound cleansing of the body and insights into our inner psyche.

The Womb

In many ancient and enduring sacred feminine traditions, women have known that the womb holds the power of creation; the power to give birth as well as the power to birth our creative pro- jects, and our life’s work. Within the womb of woman lies the seed of her creative fire, the luminous evolutionary fire that can transform and awaken consciousness.

The womb is the Holy Grail, resting deep within the woman’s womb rests the creative seed, the jewels, whereby our greatest gifts, the codes of our divine design, lay in gestation, awaiting our awakening and expression.

Ultimately deeply connecting to your womb leads you to the womb of the Divine Mother, from whose womb all life is created. It is said in many ancient traditions that a woman who has opened her womb becomes a transmitter of the mysteries of the Divine Mother, the Creatrix, and a deeper spark of creativity opens within her as she opens herself as a vessel for love.

We can self- cultivate the holy fire of our womb and awaken the transformative and healing energy of our deep feminine essence

38 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS with our prayer, breath and movement.

Since I have become a womb-centred woman, my womb has become an intuitive guide, burning warm when I am deeply connected to my creative flow or when I am speaking or writing from my deep feminine wisdom. When I am disconnected from my creativity, from my feminine power, when I am in my head and off track, my womb does not glow, she is cold, dull, lifeless. My womb has become a barometer for truth, giving me the power of discernment. I have felt the ecstatic fire in my womb the strongest through my devotional prayer to connect my womb to the Womb of Gaia in which I ask her to light me up and support me to cleanse, feel and awaken my higher consciousness. It is such a blessing, such a joy to feel connected in this way. I pray that all woman reconnect with their wombs and their source of radiant feminine power.

The Hara

Men have access to Shakti too, and as women can cultivate the inner sacred fire of transformation and creativity through focusing on our wombs, so too can men awaken their sacred fire through cultivating the energy in their hara. The same practices that we follow to activate our wombs as women can be applied by men who focus on their haras.

The hara is in the lower belly, about three fingers below the navel. It is our core, the dan tien centre that is the focus of all martial arts practice. This is the centre where we build and generate

39 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE energy and the place we source energy from. It is also the place we return to complete and store energy, the vital energies we generate through our practice.

Kundalini Shakti

“I am the eternal stream of luminous life force, the sacred spark of life within all things. Dance me in, breathe me in, sound me in, remember me. I am a liquid fire, a flame of pure love and I burn through all that no longer serves your bliss, so that you can be re- birthed and live to co create the new earth.”

Most spiritual practices that significantly affect transformation and enlightened states of consciousness use different methods to generate the sacred fire within. In the ancient Sanskrit language, the sacred fire within is called Kundalini Shakti, which literally means “spiral” or coiled and refers to the spiral patterns of energy found throughout the natural world, from our DNA strands to the shape of sunflowers and galaxies.

Kundalini is a creative seed of pure potential waiting to be awakened, described by the ancient mystics and yogis of India as the sleeping serpent, lying coiled three and a half times in our sacrum, at the base of our spine. When awakened, it begins to un- coil as it climbs up through the chakras to the crown. For thousands of years in many cultures, the serpent has symbolized rising consciousness.

Kundalini Shakti is awakened by sacred feminine embodiment

40 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS practices that combine devotion to the Divine Mother, to connect you to the earth and generate energy in the womb, hara and pelvic bowl. Devotional practices that include ecstatic dance, yoga, prayer, meditation, tantric breathwork, mantra, sacred sound and sacred lovemaking are all pathways to awaken her sacred flame. Once awakened, Kundalini Shakti feels like an ecstatic river of love and warm light, a juicy fluid movement of subtle yet powerful ascending energy.

Shakti, the Divine Feminine, is totally consumed by her primal longing to merge with Shiva, the Divine Masculine principle of divinity, through the crown chakra, then up through our soul star chakra at the top of our head to connect to the God Source. She is a holy fire that will burn through anything blocking her arrival at her ultimate destination—unification with the great He, Shiva, God.

Kundalini Shakti moves softly and sensually through your body and soul, travelling through the pathways of your subtle energy system and awakening dormant potentials as she flows. If you are willing to surrender to her loving flow when she comes up against your emotional wounds manifesting as energetic blocks, she will shake and vibrate you until you are ready to dive, to feel and release as she supports you to open up and let go.

To the Aghora Yogis and the traditional Tantric practitioners of India, Kundalini Shakti is the Divine Mother, Kunda, Kundalini Shakti Ma, the great “She” who has birthed all Life. She is the living power of the Goddess, the Divine Feminine, Earth Mother.

41 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE She is the all-loving, compassionate Divine Mother, taking us into our feeling, emotional bodies and reminding us to embrace ourselves as we are, not who we think we are, or who we want to be. She is the power of radical acceptance and she guides us to embrace all aspects of ourselves with compassion.

The Tantric Yogis recommend that entering into the mother/child relationship is the best possible attitude when dealing with Kundalini. As Divine Mother, she is the feminine aspect of God who is gentle, compassionate and loves her children, always ready to take us into her loving arms and hold us through our dark shadows or emotional expressions. She is the good mother who will reflect to us our true soul’s condition, never judging or rejecting but embracing us even when we are in error. All fears of the wrathful, harsh or harmful effects of her energy disappear when we relate to her in this way.

The Divine Mother draws us inward to the dark mystery of our inner worlds. She is the gateway to the underworld of our psyche. She reflects the depths of our shadows and is the earth medicine we use to cleanse and purify. She is the gateway to the dark that brings us into the eternal light. She is the black light, “the light of the universal womb,” the creative void of pure potential. She is the creator, the sustainer and the destroyer. When we surrender to her grace, she births us anew.

When the Divine Mother expresses as Kundalini Shakti, she manifests as a life stream of pure ecstatic, vital, loving energy, rekindling and awakening our passion and zest for life. She is

42 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS pure, raw creative power, an evolutionary force that when un- leashed will reveal your true gifts and soul calling and give you the power and energy to manifest your dreams—dancing in your full power, living your joy, unveiling your inner radiance.

Kundalini Shakti is nothing less than pure fluid joy arising from deep within your core that is bursting to open and reveal the true you. She is a divine muse, inspiring us to draw upon our rich inner world, to creatively express and birth the new world into form.

When you live in this stream of consciousness, you feel called to follow your true heart’s desires, your soul calling. You become more in touch with the natural rhythms and needs of your body and you listen to the voice of truth within you. You will see through delusional games of the world matrix as you become more in touch with the deeper longings of your soul. Shakti is untamed, unconventional and will not fit into the ready-made boxes of the cultural status quo.

Kundalini Shakti is the great purifier, she is subtle liquid fire, the ultimate transformative force. She moves as waves of light that arise from the earth and begins her ascent through our central channel toward the crown chakra in the top of our heads, where Shakti, the Divine Feminine, unifies with the Divine Masculine principle, Shiva, God.

As you surrender to her fluid journey up through your energy system, she cleanses and purifies whatever emotions have been unexpressed or denied and are blocking our emotional energy 43 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE centers, our chakras. All the pain we have denied, the emotions we have suppressed, all the old wounds that we have buried deep in our subconscious, will arise to be felt, to be freed. When and if we are humble enough to feel and release the deeper wounds of our souls, we create the space for the divine love of the Divine Masculine principle, father God, to enter our body, mind, heart and souls. This begins the alchemical process of transformation.

Opening to her, requires us to become fluid and emotionally ag- ile, to become feeling, deeply feeling. Emotion is energy in motion and when you allow yourself to just feel whatever arises, without judgement, the emotion moves, it passes, it flows.

Often we fear certain emotions. We judge them as dark or negative and are afraid if we touch their depth that we may lose ourselves and get stuck in the emotion. However, the truth is that when we go to the depths of our emotion, without fear or blame, and simply emote, express and move through with movement, breath and sound, the emotion that was once stuck moves on and we become lighter. We create space for divine love to flow.

The Divine Mother, Kunda Ma, has many faces. She is compassionate, sweet and tender and she is ruthless and provocative in her direct ability to reflect to you where you are living in error. She is both the creator and the destroyer, she triggers and catalyzes in order to birth your true, wise, grounded, loving presence. When you dance with her, you will feel both the ecstasy as she flows freely and the agony when she hits an emotional block.

If you can surrender to her primal pulse and the spontaneous 44 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS movements of her energy flow; if you are humble enough to ask to be purified by her holy fire, to feel, release and let go of control; if you can allow your social and cultural conditionings, fears and ideas of who you think you are and get out of the way of her pure fluid joy, she will uncover and polish the diamond within your soul.

Diving into a devotional practice to the Divine Mother requires deep trust and commitment that ultimately she is always embracing, always loving, even when she brings our attention to some outmoded way of being or invites us to feel our pain.

If you are committed and disciplined in your practices, if your devotional heart is open, Kundalini Shakti will reveal all the false illusions of yourself, all the masks you put on to fit in or be liked. She will show you who you really are, not who you want to be or think you should be.

It takes courage to stand in her flames, to invite her to burn through your illusions, release your attachments and unlock your pain. Opening to Kundalini Shakti, is “no light and fluffy, new age, cover it up with affirmations and aspire to be something that you’re not” trip. It is for the warriors among us, who are ready and willing to face their shadows in humility and grace. It’s for those who are not afraid to feel. When we feel, we release and we heal, and create the space to receive the divine love of Shi- va/God.

She will create chaos in her attempts to shatter the false con- structs of your egoic mind. If you resist, your pain will perpetuate 45 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE and she will create many ways, over and over again, to bring your awareness to what is not serving you. If you surrender and choose to feel, emotion is just energy in motion and that which has been damming her flow will dissolve and just go. Then her ecstatic river of love can flow freely, opening you to receive even more divine love and bliss again and again.

Initially we call her to join us in the dance, we breathe her in, we focus our desire on wanting to embody her. When she arrives and we feel her ignite the liquid sensual fire within, we surrender. She dances you, there is no more I, and you dance to die— to die to the old ways that are untrue and allow the new you to birth on through.

The Divine Feminine Shakti and the Divine Masculine Shiva are one. Yet we experience them as different qualities of the same stream of life energy. We experience the feminine aspect of God through Shakti, through our bodies, she inspires us to feel, to express, to create, she rises upwards to merge with the Divine Masculine, Shiva God. We experience the masculine aspect of God as a ray of descending light that penetrates our consciousness with divine love and divine truth. The masculine aspect of God is like a sword of light that cuts through our false illusions and illuminates our consciousness with the stillness of divine mind. He is like a golden healing balm for our souls, opening us up to new potentials as he flows.

46 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Devotional Prayer to the Divine Mother

Divine Mother, Holy Mother God,

Divine Feminine Creative Force of Life

Creatrix of all that is, womb of infinite potential,

The Great She who is the birther and sustainer of all life

You who lay with our father spirit, creator in the beginning of time

Om Ma, Shakti Ma, Divine Mother, Goddess of Love,

We who are your children call you, come and be with us now

Come rise up through us now,

Infuse our bodies, minds and spirits with the fluid current of your living essence

Come and enter our body mind and cleanse us with your holy fire

Come and rise up into our hearts that we may remember we are love

Come and purify our chakras that we may open to our highest creative potential

Come and ignite us with your love of life that we may birth the new awakened humanity here on earth through us

Come and enter our minds that we may radiate as pure consciousness

47 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE That we may live and embody love in action here on earth

Divine Mother I offer myself as your vessel, purify me that I may serve you

Purify me that I may transmute all forgetfulness and radiate as you

Enter and awaken me that I may remember I am you

That I may inspire all who enter this temple to feel you, dance with you and open to your transformational flame.

Om mama Gaia come, om mama Gaia come

Come that we may radiate as one

Thank you, it is done, it is done, it is done

A hindu chant for evoking Shakti

Kundalini Mata Shakti, Mata Shakti, namo, namo

Sata ba Shakti, Sata ba Shakti, Sata ba Shakti, namo namo

Pritam bagwa tay, pritam baygwa tay, pritam bagwa tay, namo namo

Shiva – The Divine Masculine Principle of Divinity

“I am the stillness of pure consciousness presence, breathing divine love, divine light and divine truth into your body, mind, heart and soul. You will meet me in the stillness of your longing heart and I will enter you when I feel the prayer of your soul yearning for our reunion.”

48 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Just as Shakti, the Divine Mother God, the great She, longs to merge with the masculine principle of God, Shiva, so too does the masculine God long, ache, and yearn to reunite with the feminine essence inside our heart, body and soul. We receive the divine love and light of the masculine God through the descending downward current of energy.

As we awaken the crown chakra and the soul star chakra above our heads, it allows us to receive the divine love and light of the heavenly/celestial aspect of Universal Consciousness, known in many traditions as Great Spirit, Creator, Shiva or Holy Father, God.

The masculine is on the right side of our body and the left side of our brains. The Divine Masculine is solar energy. It is a dynamic, outward, active, creative evolutionary force. The Divine Masculine give us the power to manifest our hearts’ desires and actualize our dreams. The masculine aspect of divinity is the underlying stillness that is the grounding force of existence.

He is the sacred geometrical lattice of universal mind, he is the guiding force that supports us to think higher positive thoughts that are based in creative thinking and action. He is the source of divine healing intelligence, recalibrating our cellular structure into alignment with creation.

The Divine Masculine is the still ground of being for the creative dynamism of the Divine Feminine, Shakti, to be birthed into manifestation. Their union is an ecstatic alchemical act of continuous creation. After “She’’ has purified, emptied and reignited 49 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE us with our passion for life, “He” fills us with divine love and penetrates us with pure crystalline consciousness.

Staying connected to our sensual, grooving liquid bodies, feeling our hearts longing to merge with the great “He,” we invite the Divine Love of God Shiva to anchor down through our bodies into form.

If our desire and longing for divine union is strong and unwavering, and we are willing to feel whatever arises in her wake, Shakti the Divine Mother supports us to become empty. Then the divine love and light of the Divine Father can fill up our empty cup with the guiding light of pure consciousness.

Look! Even now The king is raining treasure from the palace But this gold in only caught by those who make themselves an empty space before it

—Rumi

Devotional Prayer to the Divine Father God

Beloved Father God,

Creator of all life, creator of my soul, creator of all souls

God of all Gods, God of Love

King of Pure Consciousness, Shiva, Lord of Light

50 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS You are my beloved, my loving partner, my soulmate.

Divine Father, God, I offer myself as a chalice, a receptacle for your divine love, your divine truth and your divine light.

Beloved Father God, Please help me to receive your Divine Love

Beloved God, please help me to receive your divine love and your divine light into all constrictions in all parts of me. Please help me to receive your divine love into all parts of my soul where your love has been absent. Beloved God, please help me to receive your divine love into all parts of my spirit body and DNA where your love has been absent.

Thank you God, Thank you, Thank you. It is done, it is done, and it is done.

A chant to open to the transformational energies of the solar masculine consciousness:

Ra Hu Ra Ka

Ra Hu Ra Kan

Divine Inner Union

“When you make the two one, and when you make the inner as the outer and the outer as the inner and the above as the below, and when you make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male will not be male and the female not be female

51 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE then shall you enter the kingdom.”

—The Gospel of Thomas

As men and women we are bridges for heaven on earth, our bodies are conduits for the divine forces to alchemically merge within. When the luminous love light of Shakti and Shiva merge, we experience inner union, the ecstatic alchemical tantric marriage of the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine.

The exploration of inner union is an initiation into experiencing a reunion with creation, it is a dive into the deep inner well of infinite light and love. This source of love never dries up, never stops, it is a connection to an endless stream of divine love.

When we directly experience inner union we feel whole, whole in body, mind and soul. We feel connected to the divine and we no longer need another to complete us. When our desire to merge with another is no longer based in emptiness and need, then we can truly love another.

Aligning with the powers of co-creation

When the divine male and female polarities merge within us, it creates a union of opposites and we enter into the subtle realms of “the gold,” where all is silent, where all is light. It is here, in this ecstatic field of silence, that we can get in touch with the field of pure potentiality where the creative seed of the highest potentials of our souls can be imagined, birthed and grounded into our lives.

52 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS This exquisite combination of Divine Masculine, still, presence, pure consciousness, along with the passionate, creative, moving energy of the feminine creates the perfect balance of stillness and movement simultaneously where you can co-create your deepest heart’s desires. When you align yourself with this blend of opposites, both stillness and movement, it opens you into the world of energy, the quantum field, the non-material non-stuff that is the source of the material world, enabling you to unleash your creativity in all directions—wherever your heart’s desire and imagination takes you.

Divine Inner Union is a process that strengthens our personal, direct connection to Mother, Father God and where we can at- tain ecstatic, orgasmic states of consciousness with or without a partner.

Divine Ecstasy

When Mother and Father God merge within the cauldron of our longing hearts, their unity births the holy spirit and ignites a spark of divine ecstasy in all parts of us where divine love has been absent. When we are ecstatic, our hearts are wide open and our mind is silent.

Ecstasy is a state of holy rapture. We are intoxicated by the love of the divine that overflows and expands beyond us into the interconnected field of life. We are in love with life and we know that life loves us. When in ecstasy, we have no fear, no limiting thoughts or beliefs. It is like we are being blessed with divine

53 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE love, light and truth and we feel the unlimited potential for the co creation of our greatest life.

This state of intoxicated union with the divine as beloved is the state of consciousness that inspires the ecstatic poetry of Rumi, Kabir or Hafiz. The ecstatic masters understood how to submit to rapture, to let go and dissolve into union. That is, allowing the ecstatic sublime currents of divinity to melt the ego’s sense of separation and our resistance to this harmonious inner sacred marriage, bringing on the beginning of the end of the cycle of fear, judgment and separation.

Divine rapture and sexual rapture are both experienced within our sexual chemistry and whether we are experiencing sexual union with another human or divine union with God/Goddess within, it is felt as a full-bodied ecstatic orgasmic state. Spirit uses our sexual chemistry in our alchemical evolutionary process, which is why our sexual relationships are so deeply triggering and so potentially transformational.

If we are not feeling ecstatic, whether in our dance practice, while making love, while smelling a rose or giving thanks for our day, then there is something we need to feel. If we are controlling our emotional expression and staying in our head, caught in our minds of how we think life should look, our energy becomes stagnated. To experience ecstatic rapture, we are required to open to feeling, to let go of control and to surrender so that the light of the divine can overflow.

Kundalini Dance practice is a solo practice of inner union, also 54 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS known as white tantra or inner tantra, that prepares us for deeper levels of sacred sexual union, a tantric relationship with our beloved where we focus on balancing the flows of masculine and feminine energy within us. When the two divine polarities meet energetically in each chakra, we experience an ecstatic inner alchemy that lifts the vibration of each chakra into resonance with creation, opening us to our highest potential on every level of our lives.

Sacred Marriage

The process of mastering inner union is a necessary step for anyone who is on the journey of tantra and sacred sexual union. In- ner union is traditionally known as Hieros Gamos, which is a term that is generally used to refer to the sacred marriage between two divinities, or a human being and the Divine, or between two human beings. It is the ultimate alchemy of divine forces that harmonize polar opposites of the masculine and the feminine, dissolving all duality.

It is interesting how our ability to open to the Divine Mother is directly connected to issues we have with our biological mother, and our relationship with the Divine Father is directly connected to issues with have with our biological father. If you felt abandoned or unloved by your biological father, you probably would have set up beliefs around not feeling good enough or unworthy of receiving God’s love or love from a man. This then automatically gets projected upon your primary sexual relationship and

55 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE with the masculine polarity of God. Likewise with the Divine Feminine, if you felt betrayed, abandoned or separate from your biological mother, this affects how much you can trust and surrender to the love of the Divine Mother and how much you can trust women in general.

The process of inner union gives you the possibility to shift and clear all the old relational patterns from your core wounding with your primary caregivers, your mother and father. Emotions connected to our worthiness to receive love from the opposite gender are often rooted in childhood parental wounds and will be projected upon our relationships with the opposite gender, and on our relationship with Father, Mother God.

Dance to feel

If you don’t feel the deep bliss of connection to the divine through the energetic processes of Kundalini Dance practice, then I advise you to feel into the emotions connected to those primal parental issues. These are deep causal emotions, and it is important to go to the core of them and feel them fully. When the resistance, the mistrust, the self doubt or unworthiness arises, simply embrace those feelings. Pray to feel them at a causal level and dance, breathe, sound and emote. Dance to release, to become empty, to let go of the past. The emotions of the past get stuck in our bodies and dam our energy flow, so we dance to open, to feel and let go. This will empty your cup and strengthen your capacity to receive the divine love of the Divine Mother and

56 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Divine Father in equal measure and experience the ecstasy of divine union, and the transformational and evolutionary acceleration that comes through that process.

Through this process of longing for divine union and feeling emotions that are blocking the flow of Shakti and Shiva, you will begin to receive more of an equal balance of the Divine Mascu- line and Divine Feminine flows of divine love into your body, DNA, your mind, brain, heart, soul, chakras and spirit body. This begins the ecstatic alchemical process of transmutation, and you will begin to shift old soul memories, subconscious fear- based behavioural programmes, inherited genetic beliefs, birth traumas and old wounds of love, supporting your soul to progress in love and opening to the vast yet untapped creative potential of your divine soul.

Prayer for the Divine Union of Shiva and Shakti

Beloved Mother, Beloved Father God

I invite you now to merge as one in the cauldron of my longing heart

May I feel the ecstasy of your divine union birthing within every cell, every chakra, and all parts of me where your love has been absent.

I offer my body as a vessel for your divine union,

May the new paradigm of love be ecstatically embodied through me

May the new myth of the new humanity be birthed through me 57 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE I offer myself as a vehicle for the conscious creative expression of love in action

Through your marriage within may non-dualistic consciousness be birthed through me.

Thank you for you love and thank you for the possibility of receiving it

Amen

A chant to open to the ecstatic alchemical union of Divine Mas- culine and Divine Feminine:

Ra Ma Ra Ma Ra Ma

Dancing through the chakras

Chakras are emotional energy centres, they are nodal points and nexuses of the vast energetic network of our subtle energy system. The chakras are located vertically and sequentially up our spines. They sit within the aura, the electro-magnetic force field that superimposes and emanates around our physical body. They act as gateways through which we are given access to specific dimensions of ourselves, qualities, emotions and characteristics of being. The word chakra originates from Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, and means “wheel” or “disk.”

The chakras are energetic gateways, which allow universal energy to flow in and out of our bodies. When our emotional energy flows freely, we can receive vast amounts of universal energy and

58 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS experience vitality and good health, as the chakras also channel life force into the specific organs that they govern.

Stored emotion blocks the energy flow through the chakras, decreasing the amount of life force available to nourish their interconnected organs and body parts. This is why our mental and emotional states are so directly connected to our health. Physical healing also requires mental and emotional healing to be truly effective. In transformational work, we see physical symptoms as clues to deeper spiritual issues. Physical symptoms can actually lead us to deeper emotional work.

As Shakti rises to unite with her beloved Shiva, her luminous liquid fire travels through all the subtle energy channels of your energetic system, your meridians, your nadis, and up through your central channel, cleansing and awakening the eight major chakras of your energetic system.

Her holy fire first cleanses and clears the three lower chakras: purifying and aligning issues around our basic survival consciousness in the first chakra, our sexuality and creative energy in the second chakra, and our power and control issues in the third chakra. If you can surrender control as she cleanses the third chakra, trust and just let your emotions flow, embracing all in acceptance, she will link to your heart where you open to your inner wellspring of love and compassion. As she cleanses the throat chakra of judgement and worthlessness, we awaken our authentic creative expression, strengthening the qualities of deep acceptance of self and others. When the luminous light of Shakti

59 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE penetrates our third eye chakra, we experience the light that stills the mental chatter of the mind and awakens our intuition. When Shakti reaches her ultimate destination and can travel through the crown chakra, we experience the pure bliss of oneness and unity with the Divine Masculine Source.

“Kundalini has remained a secret for so long because it cannot be understood, it can only be experienced.”

—Carl Jung

In the Kundalini Dance practice, our way is spontaneous, dynamic and feminine. We gently and gradually attune the body to the Kundalini Shakti energy and allow her to move at her own pace. In Kundalini Dance sessions, the raising of Kundalini Shakti is combined with the opening of the unconditional love centre in the heart chakra. Working with both the Divine Femi- nine upward and Divine Masculine downward currents of energy simultaneously create a balanced and alchemical practice that is gentle, safe and ecstatic. Transformation can also be a fun, pleas- urable celebration of life and love.

In the Kundalini Dance practice, each chakra has its own rhythmic breath sequence that supports the flow of universal energy into whatever chakra we are focusing on. For example, the breath for the heart chakra is a sipping breath in and out through the mouth. The heart chakra breath brings life energy into the chakra’s associated organs, the heart and lungs, strengthening and rejuvenating them. The breath will also stimulate clearing of any emotional pain, sadness and grief held in the heart and the 60 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS lungs, or in the musculature around the chakra like the upper back and the upper chest and arms. When we are present with these emotions, allowing the feelings to flow, they easily move and dissipate with the breath. When the stagnant emotional energy is moved, the breath then supports the opening of the heart chakra and we experience blissful, loving and ecstatic feelings and realize our interconnectedness with all life, which are the higher feeling qualities of an open heart chakra.

All of our beliefs, thought forms and patterns are held in the DNA of our cells, our physical bodies, our energy fields and our chakras. As we clear our central energy channel and bring life force through each chakra, we can experience old soul memories and feelings associated with childhood memories and sometimes past-life memories. In my direct experience, the chakras are hol- ograms that carry memory, emotions and information of our soul’s experience. They store memory of our core emotional experiences that have wounded our souls and established the intrinsic matrix of our belief patterns and false identities that we continually repeat throughout our lives until we have the courage to feel and heal.

We are beings in evolution, souls reincarnating lifetime after lifetime in search of freedom–freedom from living in a dualistic reality, separated from our original oneness with the source. We create similar scenarios, same plot different sets and characters, lifetime after lifetime, until we finally become aware of the patterns that keep us separate from the source.

61 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE Each chakra has a specific wounding as well as a specific gift. When we have the courage to feel the wound, the jewel is revealed and we are able to tap into the higher qualities of the chakra. Each one of us has unique gifts, the jewels of our souls that we are here to express and share. Ecstatically activating the chakras will awaken soul codes and keys that have perhaps been dormant for aeons. When we have every chakra balanced and functioning, we are in the richness of our multi-dimensionality. When they are in balance, we are in balance.

Prana - The Breath Key

There is a way of breathing that is a shame and a suffocation and there is another way of expiring a love breath that lets you open infinitely.

—The Illuminated Rumi - Jelaluddin Rumi

Breath is the essence of life. Our life begins and ends with the breath. Breath is the bridge between spirit and matter that carries the energy of the divine into form. Ancient Eastern philoso- phies teach that our breath carries more than oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen and its function extends far beyond oxygenating the blood. Breath also carries an invisible vital life force, known as Prana, Ki or Chi, into our beings. Prana is the essential life force in oxygen. The science of breath and the harnessing of Prana is the central key to all ancient wisdom traditions concerned with spiritual evolution, personal transformation, increasing health, vitality and healing.

62 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Our breath is the current on which the life force of the Divine Mother and the light consciousness of the Divine Father enter our bodies. Breath infuses us with life force and vitality, it cleanses and aligns our whole being back with its source. When we link the breath with our dance, there becomes a spontaneous opening and unlocking of the body in places where we hold unexpressed emotions that block energy flow and manifest as physical tension. The more deeply we breathe the life force of Shakti into our chakras, the more we bring new life into ourselves and release old emotions, cellular memories and heaviness.

Pranic Breathing

Breath is a physical form of consciousness. When you alter breath you alter consciousness. When you alter consciousness, your breath changes.

—Trance Dance - Frank Natale

Pranic breathing is the ancient way of breathing through our central energy channel, our pranic tube. The pranic tube extends down through the center of our body and roughly corresponds to the pathway the yogis in India call the Sushumna. The Sushum- na is the pathway along which the Kundalini life force rises, from the base of the spine up through the various energy centres, the chakras, right up through the crown chakra, which connects one to cosmic consciousness.

The pranic tube, or central energy channel, does not follow the

63 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE path of the spine, but forms a straight line from the crown chakra at the top of the head, down through the perineum and extends into the earth. The pranic tube also extends above the head and, like the Earth current, can extend several feet or several thousands of miles according to our state of consciousness.

Pranic breathing means breathing centrally, directing energy up or down through your central energy channel, then radiating it out through whichever chakra is being activated and purified at that stage.

Upward Rising Purification Breaths

The Earth current is an upward rising current. It brings a powerful vital energy back into the body. It revitalizes, it purifies, and it burns negativity.

Earth medicine has a shamanic edge, it moves and shakes the body, it urges upward and clears old stuck emotion out of the body, chakras and energy field. We call the breaths infused with the Earth current purification breaths.

Earth energy pulls you down and when you are plugged in to its core, vital energy rises up through you. To purify the chakras and the cells of old energy, we draw up the earth energy of the mother through our central tubes and out through the particular chakra we are working with. See chakra pages for specific guidance.

Descending Integration Breaths

The Solar heavenly current is a descending current used to integrate the higher consciousness aspects of the chakras. The sky

64 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS inspires expansion and lightness. It calls the spirit upward until we connect with celestial solar source, the Divine Masculine. Then our inhalation becomes an absorbing of this heavenly divine light, celestial, solar source energy. Following its pathway down through the back of our chakras and down our pranic tube, it balances, it aligns body mind with golden light and divine love.

The down flow brings in the consciousness of the Divine Mas- culine, its cool, calm mental awareness. It is the golden light of pure consciousness, opening us up to new possibilities and ways of being. The golden light of the divine is like a heavenly balm for the soul, opening us up to new possibilities aligned in higher consciousness.

Exhalation

The exhalation is a purifier, a detoxifier. It is incredibly powerful the way it can create so much space inside the body. The exhalation melts tension and breaks up muscular knots. It is with the exhalation that the body can re-learn to be free. Through exhalation, we can release stress, anger, grief, fear and negativity.

Focus on your exhalation and the dance will become a spontaneous letting go of the bodily held contractions of repressed emotions and fears.

Surrender to the letting go and ecstasy will flow. Focus on the exhalation and the inhalation will happen by itself.

Inhalation

The inhalation is easy, it is effortless, and it gets stronger the

65 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE more we open to receiving life force. With inhalation, we absorb Prana into every cell. It is with the inhalation that the body opens, the love within expands.

Our inhalation is an act of devotion, it is our direct contact with Shakti Source, with our Divine presence. It is the way we kiss the lips of creation. Feel it swelling your body, puffing your cells with life force. Inhalation is our portal to ecstatically merging with the whole universe.

Nose Breathing versus Mouth Breathing

On a physiological level, nose breathing is the correct way to breath in our daily activities, especially while we sleep. It filters and warms the air automatically, in preparation for entering our delicate respiratory system. Mouth breathing provides no protection for the respiratory system, no filters, yet it is a powerful shamanic tool when used in short bursts for transformational purposes. Mouth breathing is one of the main keys for entering into and maintaining states of ecstasy naturally whilst dancing or tantric lovemaking.

Mouth breathing brings a lot of energy into the body and the chakras quickly and breaks up emotional energy blockages in the body. It is a potent way to move the Kundalini energy up the spine and fill the cells with ecstasy. Exhaling through the mouth accelerates our purification.

Nose breathing is used to circulate and contain the energy after it has been built up. It calms and brings silence and clarity to the

66 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS mind, and balances the chakras after the purification phase. It integrates the higher consciousness aspects of the chakra, the new patterning, the new energetic behavioural blue print.

Emotional Alchemy

We are learning to be emotional alchemists, mastering the art of harnessing the power of our raw emotions and feeling them fully. Some are expansive and some are contractive. We must learn not to judge or resist our emotions. The contractive ones call us deep into the centre of our bodies and souls to feel, then they move and transform. In our vulnerability, we soften and become more open and receptive. One thing I know: there is an eternal golden flame at the core of it all. When I remember I am not my pain, it gives me the courage to keep diving in, again and again.

Often we judge different emotions as unpleasant and avoid completely feeling them. Unexpressed and unintegrated experiences carry strong mental and emotional energy, which can become locked in the body as tension, resistance and body armouring. This creates blocks in the physical body. For example, fear can unconsciously elicit held breath and raised shoulders. If this happens often enough, we develop permanent holding patterns and tensions, which are clearly evident in the body. Common places are the back of the heart chakra, jaw, shoulders, neck, stomach and lower back.

Withheld emotions act as life force inhibitors; they literally block vital energy from flowing into the organs, causing gradual deteri-

67 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE oration and eventual disease. Emotional repression causes a deg- radation of the cellular processes that keep us alert, responsive, healthy and happy. Thus, the assumption that our emotions and our thoughts affect our health. When emotions are repressed or denied, our energy pathways get blocked, stopping the flow of vital ‘feel good’ unifying chemicals that run both our biology and our behaviour.

No matter how we try and understand our emotional and mental responses intellectually, it is evident that the emotions are stored within our bodies and in our energy fields. Therefore, it is in the body that they must be addressed.

Dance movement, sound and breath are powerful and effective ways of releasing and allowing old emotions to be expressed and moved through. Exploring authentic sound while we are moving is a way that we can release emotion out of the body. We can use your authentic inner sound to vibrate into the places in our body that hold the tension of supressed emotions. There is a fine line between emotional expression that is healing and that which col- lapses into the “poor me,” victim mentality, which only seems to lower our vibration and keep us looped in the same cycle. This practice invites us to explore the kind of emotional release that allows us to open, expand and empty out.

Emotional healing is like tunnelling through the various layers of emotion and false beliefs and identities, going deeper and deeper until we get to the core layer, which we call causal emotions. Causal emotions are the biggies, like abandonment, betrayal,

68 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS separation, mistrust, terror—all the emotional memories of core life experiences that underpin our contracted behaviours. Allow- ing ourselves to feel those emotions will bring us to the deeper wounds of love that cloud access to our pure souls.

Emotional alchemy is the art of transmutation, transforming the denser darker emotions into golden light. The main requirement for alchemy to occur is the courage to feel emotions that have been withheld and the willingness to let them go. When Shakti rides our breath’s current, she supports us to feel, to break up and shake up the pain of the past. Our emotions sit in our physical body and also in our emotional body, which is about ten centimetres from our physical body in our aura. For those who are clairvoyant and can see our energy fields, our stuck emotions look like thick grey rain clouds, hovering in our energy field. Kinaesthetically they feel heavy and dense and when we are juiced up and connecting to Shakti, we can move those emotions out through our emotional body, out through the spiritual body layers of our energy field.

Our spiritual body is at the farthest reaches of our fingertips, and the more light we allow into our energy field, the bigger it gets. Spiritually activated people have very big energy fields, sometimes going out as far as two metres. Once you have felt and released the emotion, you can lift the emotional imprint out of your emotional body and link the miasm, (the energetic glitch) into the central sun and core of the earth. When this linking occurs, you will feel an ecstatic ripple through your entire subtle

69 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE body as your energy realigns itself with the love of creation. For those of us who see, we see a streaming of golden light, and sometimes sacred geometrical patterns overlay our energy and overlay our emotional and physical body as we realign with the universal energy field.

This is the tremendous power of transformation at the soul level. It involves getting down to the very deepest corners of our body mind and facing the darkest shadow aspects. It involves expressing the most powerful depth of pain, grief, betrayal, fear, rage, loneliness and abandonment. When we have the courage to face our shadows and feel what we have previously denied, an incredible amount of energy returns to us. We move from being conditioned humans to being in touch with the vital impulses and wisdom of our true self. We live life from the passionate place that is connected to our true purpose, to that which simply brings us joy.

The “shadow” refers to the parts of ourselves that have been unloved, unembraced—the parts that we deny and hide. We call them the shadow because they are the darker parts of our souls that have not seen or felt the light of love. The shadow remains the shadow because neither human nor divine love has entered this place. Denying our shadow is not only a dishonouring of ourselves but of life itself. If we cannot honour ourselves as we are, we cannot honour or truly relate to anyone else. If we hear only what we want to hear and see only what we want to see, we are not truly meeting another as they are.

70 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Self-Acceptance

When love reflects our unseen shadows, we need to have a strong foundation of self-love to break through the wounds of the past and truly transform. The pure feminine Shakti is deeply receptive, spacious, and empathic. She allows herself to feel, without trying to fix or change anything. The Divine Feminine is deeply receptive in her embrace, she loves and accepts life in all its expressions.

Even when our deepest shadow and causal wounds are revealed, we love and accept ourselves as we are now, we embrace our imperfections, we love ourselves as we are not as we want to be. This does not mean that we don’t desire change or transformation, quite the opposite, we deeply desire to grow beyond the patterns and wounds of the past, as it blocks us from being deeply present in our relationships and in our lives.

Law of Attraction

It is important when working with Kundalini Shakti that our destination is clear. She is on a journey toward oneness with Shi- va, God. If our desire for union with the Divine is clear, we will go to God and receive the blessings of divine love and the awakening and expansion of our consciousness that it brings. If our intention is not pure, and we are not humble enough to face our shadows and feel our emotions, we can experience ego aggran- dizement and inflation and the magnification of our false identities. Kundalini fire will magnify those patterns that are not aligned in love so that we can see them. If we choose to remain 71 THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF KUNDALINI DANCE in denial, the more things will be put in our face until we are humble enough to take radical self-responsibility for our true soul condition.

Everything we attract in our lives gives us the opportunity for radical soul growth. Our souls have a single, pointed focus: to evolve and grow in more love. So our souls will always attract experiences to feel whatever emotions we need to feel so that we can evolve through our wounds and patterns. Yet, often our ego meets difficult opportunities with resistance, feeling like a failure because things have not gone how we had planned or wanted them to go, or we are having an uncomfortable emotional experience. The ego judges the situation and the emotion connected to the experience as undesirable. Yet the key to true emotional freedom and happiness lies in our ability to embrace what is, and to feel whatever feelings are arising fully and completely.

When we meet life’s offering in the moment, allowing feelings to flow without judgement, withholding nothing in the face of love, we become empty, our bodies soften and our hearts melt open. It is from this place that we open to receive divine love, which heals the wound of the soul. Divine love will transmute the energetic blueprint of the old patterns, re-patterning the soul, the DNA and the physical in grace of love, and transform the old wound.

The following chapters of this book map the passageway the initiate takes on the journey of awakening one’s true self. Through the cultivation of our inner light, our true heart, getting to know our true nature as divine love, eventually we become unwavering

72 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS in our connection. Our inner witness becomes so acute that we are incorruptible by the forces of the small ego. The “poor me,” the victim, the insatiable, “it’s all not good enough,” “I am not good enough,” voices of the diminished closed heart may try it on again now and then, however we no longer give our power to it. We watch it but don’t identify with it. We are always centred in the warm inner glow of our core flame.

As all of humanity is interlinked in an intrinsic gossamer web of divine consciousness, whatever quantum leaps we make for ourselves we do for the whole. May you dive into your transformational journey wholeheartedly, empowered with the courage and devotion of all the great mystics and initiates who have gone before you.

PART TWO: A Sacred Alchemical Journey through the Chakras

CHAPTER ONE Awakening Trust: The Root Chakra

Open to the Divine Feminine

~ Earth Blood, Mother Love ~

Primal source

Feet stomping upon her red soil

Praying to the ancestors of this land

Praying to the gatekeepers to open the portals to Earth’s golden core

Dancing as one, connected to my tribe

I love to be alive!

Earth pulse, body pulse, becoming one pulse

Sensing a source of infinite energy

Feeling more vitality as I breathe, rising mother’s love back into me

77 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA Leg power, solid form

Root chakra, base chakra

Gateway to my sacred body

Temple of my soul

Breath pulse awakens

Echoes of an ancient past

Flickering images

Speaking through the language of the dance

I shake out the terror of a tribal past

Times of being stuck on survive

Trying to stay alive

I devour

Raw flesh

Traffic jams, crowded spaces, isolated in a city of stranger’s faces

Ancient future memories collide

I spiral into a point of death

Mother's breast nurtures my soul

Back into trust

In innocence I taste and remember

How effortlessly I can receive

The abundant gifts of the earth

78 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Focus creates harvest

I remember, I see my own divinity

Trust is restored.

79 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA

Dancing the Root Chakra Awake

Introduction

The root chakra represents the four-sided foundational mandala of our lives. It deals with our relationships and attitudes toward work and money; our family, community and tribe; our home and sense of belonging to place; our bodies and our health.

When our root chakra is balanced and clear, we feel physically vital and energized. We are in tune with the needs of our bodies and nurture and care for them with love. We are grounded, focussed and have the self-discipline required to manifest our visions on the physical plane.

As we lift the vibration of our root chakra with our ecstatic Kundalini Dance practice, we open to the higher evolutionary potential inside the themes of this chakra. We begin to feel our oneness and interconnection with each other and all of creation. We open to the abundance grids of the earth and open to the compassionate, co-creative field of mutual support where we realize there is enough for us all and we can support each other to flourish.

As we are currently witnessing the dissolution of our consumer- based, materialistically driven society, lifting the vibration of our root chakras opens us up to greater creative options, a vocation that aligns with our soul, and inspires new structures for sharing

80 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS our unique gifts. We are collectively evolving out of old forms in many root chakra areas—community, home and family—all of which are calling for re-creation as we evolve. So let’s dance and open ourselves to allowing the most imaginative redesign of the foundational aspects of our ecstatic earthly lives.

How to begin

The root chakra is connected to the seat of our Kundalini Shakti energy that rests at the base of our spine. The first position for the root chakra is belly down, face down on the ground, surrendered and open to the earth. We begin to energize the root chakra through the relaxed perineum and anus. These often considered taboo body parts are major gateways/access points/energy portals for the vital energy of the earth to enter our body mind system. Other body parts that are energized when we open and clear the energy of our root chakra are the excretory system, bowels and bones.

What the dance looks like

The energetic shift that happens in the pranically activated dancer never ceases to amaze me. In my workshops, I love to witness the shift on the dance floor once the group has activated the base—suddenly legs are kicking and stomping, pelvises are rocking and thrusting, kick-starting the Kundalini earth energy and pulsing it up the spine. The increase in everyone’s vitality is palpable. Energy levels increase threefold and the soul information that is coded in the dancer’s cells suddenly comes alive, inspiring the dancer to express their more mythic selves. 81 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA Exploring the root chakra through dance is a highly energizing, hip-shaking, butt-wobbling, leg-stomping experience. It’s a dance that says: “Yes, I am here in this body and, yes, I want to be here!” It is a grounding dance, primarily focussed in the legs and feet, where we release ourselves to gravity’s pull, get down and get low! We slither, we slide, we glide with our bellies on the earth. We move in ways that energize our physical bodies and connect us to the earth’s core. We ground down and grow roots.

What the dance feels like

Dancing the root chakra feels like you are calling on the most ancient parts of your tribal soul to come alive and dance you back into connection with the spirit of the earth. Imprinted in the hologram of the base chakra is our tribal soul memory that knows how to ignite our bodies with mana (earth medicine). The dance floor becomes imbued with a sense of tribal community and fluidity, as your legs move you across the space to meet and greet your dancing tribe.

Breathing up earth energy into your root chakra brings power into the body. Activating the base is an instant energizer, cleansing the sludge that has built up from days in the haze of the survival maze. You can go from feeling lethargic and listless, to feeling highly energized and alive. It is a dance of life.

The relationship to the earth, the mother

The openness of the root chakra determines how much earth

82 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS energy we allow into the body. When we enter into the activation of the root, we face our relationship with our blood mother, the earth, and Shakti Ma. The deeper the dancer’s devotion to “the Mother” as a cosmic force of creation, the more profoundly one will feel the ecstatic Kundalini currents of energy through the body. Mistrust in the feminine—both human and divine— will limit our capacity to receive the ecstatic energetic currents from the earth. To receive the ecstatic alchemical benefits of this practice, we need to make peace with the feminine.

The deeper our longing to reconnect with the mother energy, the more authentic our prayer to Mama Gaia, the more potently she will rise and enter your body on the current of your breath. She will come when you call her and only when you call her.

The unification of Shakti / Shiva

Shakti, the Divine Feminine force of creation, travels upward upon the undulations of a sensual body pulled by its magnetic longing to merge with Shiva, the Divine Masculine, who enters the body through our crown chakras. When Shakti and Shiva unite in the root chakra, we experience an alchemical starburst that lifts the vibrational imprint of the root chakra and realigns it with tantric hologram of creation, opening us to greater potential inside the root chakra and affecting all the aspects (or themes) of our life that it governs.

83 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA The areas of life governed by the root chakra

Encoded within the hologram of the root chakra is our sense of interconnection with the web of life on earth. The root chakra is intrinsically connected to whether we feel a deep sense of belonging, interconnectedness and interdependence to our tribe, our people, our land, our community. It holds the key to our understanding that our unique gifts, talents and skills can contribute to our community in a way that benefits the community as a whole.

After the dance

An evening spent “dancing the root” is equivalent to houseclean- ing that chakra. We charge up, purify and open the chakra by moving, dancing, breathing, sounding-out stagnation and expressing all the energies that have been hibernating in the root chakra. After this dance, I am often inclined to have a hot candlelit bath, adding some salts and scrubbing away dead layers of skin. I usually have a natural inclination to nurture my body and eat food that is of a high vibration.1 The week before I teach the root chakra class is also the week I coincidentally decide to book a massage, start a cleanse or check in a little more intimately with

1 High vibration food is organic, unprocessed food such as: fresh fruits and vegetables; whole grains (rice, quinoa, amaranth and millet); raw live superfoods including spiruli- na, maca, chia seeds and cacao. These whole foods promote mental clarity, physical stamina and wellness. 84 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS the needs of my body temple.

After having a good base chakra session, I often clean and order my home, remembering how my home temple is an external reflection of my inner temple and body. I remember my home as hearth—the place where my creativity is birthed. Home is where I nurture myself and where I rest so that I can give my best when I am out in the world.

The balanced root chakra

When our root chakra is open and balanced, we feel vital and alive because the root chakra grounds us into the vital energy of the earth. We feel deeply nourished because we are receiving nurturing energy directly from the Mother. When that vital earth energy is flowing freely into our bodies, infinite amounts of life force are available to us. We feel physically strong and grounded in our bodies. We feel connected to the source of creation and we remember that the source is within us so we can tap it whenever we choose. We feel connected to the earth and remember to breathe in prana from the trees. We plant something, feel the breeze, open and receive.

When the base is balanced we are on top of the daily checklist. We know what we need to do and have the energy and focus to do it. We are able to create a stable, comfortable life that supports our basic needs. We feel safe and content. We want to be here and we love life.

85 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA When our root chakra is balanced, we are clear and focused in our survival trip and our means of income and our work is in integrity with our essence. We are no longer motivated to work from a sense of lacking but rather from a sense of trust, service and passion to share our gifts for the greater good of the whole.

The overactive or underactive root chakra

A chakra can be underactive, overactive or in balance, which is indicated by the amount of energy contained and conducted by that chakra. Not only does an imbalance in the energy flow cause a gradual degeneration of the organs this chakra governs, but it also affects the body shape, core beliefs, attitudes and lifestyle of the person. Our chakras can alternate between overactive and underactive energy patterns within short time frames, and can be locked into the same energetic pattern over lifetimes. The ebb and flow of this balance is affected by a number of issues and behaviours related to the root chakra.

When a chakra is underactive it means that the behavioural blueprint within the chakra is weakening the flow of energy into that chakra. One example of an underactive root chakra is a person who has fears around their ability to manifest money, expressed as poverty consciousness, where ones consciousness is centered in a pervasive sense of lack. Not enough food, not enough money, not enough love. A person with an underactive flow of life force in the root chakra will often have a very thin

86 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS body type, particularly manifesting as thin legs, as the root chakra governs the legs. An overactive chakra can be created if, for example, someone becomes obsessed with making money and the action is initiated by fear. They will then draw a disproportionate amount energy to the chakra and this will result in an overactive base chakra sometimes manifesting as dense or heavy legs.

Root chakra personas

Here are some fictional characters to illustrate how balanced, overactive and underactive root chakras affect a person’s personality.

Aliesha (root chakra in balance)

Aliesha typifies a balanced root chakra. How gracefully she glides in her voluptuous body, with a heart that has room for everybody! This woman is at home in her body, giving abundantly wherever she walks and offering love to whomever she meets. She has wide smiling eyes and generously offers the grace of her healing touch. She lives in an alterna- tive spiritual community with her daughter and man, and builds sustainable solar-powered adobe homes for a living. She loves to dig her hands deep in the dirt in more ways than one and loves to tend to her vegetable garden naked in the sun. Her full, round tanned butt wobbles elegantly as she struts. Her sense of style is raw and uncut. She lives in cornucopia—a land of plenty—deep in trust that the Moth-

87 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA er will always provide for her. She gives to the earth and the earth gives back to her. She nurtures her body as a temple and maintains a daily practice of alchemical chakra breathing, yoga and chants. She eats high vibration foods and loves to commune with the devas of the land as she dances. She remembers how to replenish her vital energies by giving thanks to the land and breathing in the energy of the trees and the earth.

Lilly (underactive root chakra)

Lilly is a small-framed creature; her body is long and thin. Lilly floats along with her tribe—she has the right hair, the right threads, the right vibe. She has customized herself to fit into the scene of her choosing so she feels she belongs. In the summer, she travels in convoy with her gypsy party tribe, selling wares. Her home is her van, and she makes her home wherever she can. She loves to get high, and when she is high she forgets to eat and forgets to sleep. Last winter, she entered a deep depression and lost her passion for living. She fell into a helpless apathy; collapsed into a “don’t-have- the-energy to go on with life” state. Lilly was never held or supported by her mother, who was too busy with her lover. Lilly’s root chakra is squeezed in tight and has been closed to the nurturing of the earth since birth.

Jim (overactive root chakra)

Jim is a heavy-set man who lives in Sydney (nicknamed “the city with no soul”), where everyone rushes around with their 88 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS survive buttons on overdrive. Jim lives in a stylish new apartment on the 12th floor. He lives in the fast pace of the 9–5 trance; he is so in his head that he has forgotten how to dance. Although he sits on a mountain of plenty, in his heart he feels empty, his daily mantra is “there is not enough.” He works like a slave for a man who doesn’t even know his name. He is caught in the consumer trance and thinks his happiness comes from having the latest fancy pants.

Creating the new world

There are some magical members in our tribal community who have slipstreamed through the evolutionary doorway of the root chakra. They have built new world creative empires—music and multimedia studios, conscious publishing companies, whole food cafés, healing temples, retreat centres and magical zones that serve their community and bring cash flow that honours their values.

A cultural case study of the root chakra in balance

Recently I lived in Bali for a year and a half, where the pace is slow and steady and everyone always has enough time to smile and say hey! The people there may not be rich, but they definitely do not feel poor. Families live together from birth to death and take care of each other, sharing money and resources. Di- vorce is uncommon. When one doesn’t have money, the other gives. The sense of belonging among the Balinese is strong.

89 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA With their roots in so deep, there’s always a place to sleep and enough to eat and they have time to focus on their rich, spiritual and community life.

Bali is a place where ancient temples are active and alive, a place where ceremony is an integral part of everyday life and priests have a high place in the social order as part of the Brahman caste. Ordinary people pray not only in the temples, but also in their homes2 and on the streets. Traffic waits and work stops when a temple parade passes—men, women and children in their ceremonial best carry statues of deities to honour both the light and the dark. In Bali, every woman is a priestess and daily gives offerings of flowers, prayers and love to keep the balance between dualistic forces. In the highlands of central Bali, one can often still hear the rhythmic trance beats of gamelan music.2

In Bali I witnessed daily that it is safe to openly express one’s sacred spiritual essence, that spirituality has an important place in daily life.

Shadow dance: Moving beyond limitations

Survival fear weakens the flow of energy in the root chakra. Eve- ry time we realize we have overspent or don’t know when or how

2 Gamelan music: “A predominantly percussion ensemble featuring drums, gongs, cymbals, and/or metallophones; wide tuning with audible beats; use of a five-note mode; and thick, busy textures. The cyclical form of the piece may or may not be easily audible to the beginning listener.” (Source: cnx.org/content/m15795/latest) 90 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS the next money flow is coming in (or it’s ages away) and think “shit, how am I going to pay for the…,” it causes a little contraction in the root chakra that blocks the flow of rising earth energy. Less earth energy equals less vitality. With less energy flowing through the chakra, gradually an “energetic sludge” builds up. The pranic breath keys we share in Kundalini Dance sessions can clear this sludge. Breath, prana and sound are powerful ways to move the accumulation of fear-based energy, clear out the old programs and detach from dysfunctional drama. These keys help us to open and feel the root feelings that have— literally—been constipating our energy flow. Through this work, we drop back into our true essence, shift our vibration and recreate our abundance myth.

It’s clear that our thoughts create our reality—this we know. Yet it is so hard to discipline our thoughts into positive affirmations of abundance when our root chakra is still vibrating in fear-based poverty consciousness or being held in the gridlock of an old vow of poverty. We can do all the positive affirmations we like, but if our vibration hasn’t shifted, neither will our subconscious thoughts or our financial situation. So let’s dance to lift our vibration and align our root chakra with the abundance grids of creation!

The energy/breath/sound work that we do in the Kundalini Dance sessions will literally give the chakra a good scrub, cleansing and purifying the root chakra of emotional stagnation that has been suppressed and built up over time. It is an evolutionary

91 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA requirement that we clear the root chakra and its access points (the perineum, the anus and the base of the spine) of all fear- based emotions, old memoires and traumas. When the root chakra is clear, it allows for the ascent of Kundalini Shakti, which illuminates our entire body mind system and is the key to awakening human potentials.

The developmental stage of the root

Our initial bonding with our blood mother is pivotal to our sense of trust in the “enoughness” of basic needs: food, love and intimacy. The developmental stage that influences the holographic imprints of the base chakra is between conception and six months. It is the first chakra to develop in our lives. Our mother’s psychological state while she was pregnant influences our sense of belonging and the primal imprint of being worthy and deserving of love. Having enough breast milk, bonding through touch, and physical intimacy is crucial to a healthy sense of trust in the abundance of the earth: enough booboo, enough food, enough money, enough touch, enough love, enough intimacy.

Karmic imprints

Pranic breathwork raises our awareness of the deeper karmic patterns imprinted in the root chakra, which may be keeping us looped in limiting beliefs and vicious cycles. For full circle transformation from the subconscious pattern, it is crucial that we gain awareness of the core pattern—the false belief that has been unconsciously keeping us in a limiting pattern. Diving deeper

92 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS into the holographic information of the root chakra, the dancer meets the karmic imprints, the memories and experiences from the past that effect how we are creating our lives in the now.

My story

I was born in 1965 in Wollongong hospital. My mother was in- duced, and they pushed me out before I was ready. When I was born, I was taken from my mother so she could sleep. I was placed in a little glass crib in a room with all the other newborns and only brought in to my mom for feeds. The sign on my crib said “Baby Dekanic” and it was through a glass window that I first met my father.

One of the first times I danced into my base, I felt an unexpressed place that cried out, “Mama! Where are you? I feel so alone, touch me, hold me, love me. It’s cold. I don’t like being here—I want to go back to the womb where it is dark and warm and I feel one and held.” I felt a deep sense of isolation, and the belief that I am alone was imprinted into my base chakra as one of my false identities.

In a subsequent shamanic drum journey3, I found my lonely child-self wrapped in a blanket on the earth, alone under a tree. My inner medicine women arrived wearing white feathers and

3 In Kundalini Dance, advanced facilitators are trained to lead shamanic drum journeys. These journeys provide an opportunity for participants to see and address issues relating to a specific chakra and are sometimes incorporated into a dance session to support deeper integration and awareness of karmic patterns. 93 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA white furs and picked baby me up and held me tight, intuitively giving me what I needed. This journey allowed me to express what had been held in the root chakra for so long: I cried, I wailed, I felt the pain of isolation. All the while she held and ac- cepted me. Eventually, after I had expressed everything that needed to be expressed, I opened through into love. Finally I felt safe, I felt held. After that, I learnt to hold myself, so now when my little girl inside feels alone, I remember how to hold her, how to create safety for myself, from myself.

My daughter

My daughter was born in water the same temperature as my womb. Her father was holding me from behind and she came out of my womb while I was in full-bodied ecstasy, chanting her star name Akiya when she landed into our arms and straight on- to my breast. We lovingly spoke positive affirmations to her, imprinting her with the thoughts: “You are love, you are so loved, you are so safe. This is an abundant world and you belong here.”

This shifted my ancestral lineage and broke the karmic loop that existed between mother and daughter. My daughter is now one of the most confident, grounded, loving and loved beings I know. Her core sense of belonging is strong. She loves life and life is supporting her to flourish and thrive.

The banished priestess About 13 years ago, I created a feeling of being ostracized from my community. It was triggered by an archetypal love affair: he was a tribal leader, he called me his priestess, we put on a dance 94 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS event on sacred aboriginal ground. When he started to become possessive and obsessive with me I felt terrified, and I chose to run, to leave that community. I didn’t have the root power at the time to stand my ground and, instead, lived out the karmic loop of the misunderstood, banished priestess who was hiding and on the run. I was living out the false belief, “I am not safe, I don’t belong. My community doesn’t get me; they don’t see me.” In fact, I was afraid to be seen. This karmic imprint had survived as a false belief hidden deep in my subconscious: “I have to hide, I have to run. If they see me they will kill me.” Even though I knew that the days of the banished priestess had long since passed, the intensity of the charge felt so real—real enough for me to move from the place I had called home.

The holographic memories of my base chakra have revealed past lifetimes where I have been persecuted for offering my gifts. I met in my base a leg-shaking fear of death, a fear of showing my priestess self for fear of being killed, burnt, hung, impaled and beheaded. No wonder I have been afraid of being seen! I have witnessed this undercurrent fear in myself, and I have witnessed different versions of it in many of the women I work with.

Evolutionary responsibility and the interconnected web of life

Becoming a mother raised my sense of evolutionary responsibility to a new level. Giving birth to my daughter increased my compassion for humanity and opened me to feeling the pain of

95 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA humanity. Since birthing my daughter, I can’t watch the news without a few tears flowing. For decades I wouldn’t watch the news or read the newspaper because I didn’t want to be absorbing the negative media and fear. Yet the more I awaken and evolve spiritually, the more love I feel for the world and the more passionate I become about contributing to the greater good of the whole.

We are on the edge of a planetary crisis and many of us are feeling a call to contribute our gifts to make the world a better place, but aren’t sure how to contribute or fear doing it wrong. I am writing to you and I want you to know that I am feeling this too. But what force are we serving by holding back our gifts due to the false fear of being judged or not being good enough? Cer- tainly not the creative evolutionary impulse of life! So let’s choose to get out of our own way and begin to play! Ask yourself: “What can I do that will serve the next generations—our daughters, sons, grandchildren, great-grandchildren? What can I contribute that will make the world a better place for them?”

We are at the stage where the motivation for our spiritual awakening is beyond personal gratification. Our inner directive is moving beyond self to recognizing our interconnection with the whole. We can’t evolve alone though! The more we envision others evolving and co-creating with us in new ways, the more we will contribute to the collective awakening.

Co-creating our new reality

When we pass through the initiation of the first chakra, we re- 96 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS ceive the gift of being able to recognize and open to unconditional support, love and nurturing from the feminine principle and the earth, aka Mama Gaia.

When we feel held in this unconditional field of support, we enhance our capability to exist comfortably on the material plane. We trust that we can follow the spark of our true authentic nature and apply our unique gifts in order to manifest everything we need on the physical plane for our survival and comfort. The challenge in this process is to find a structure or a container that will allow us to present our unique gifts to the world in a way that allows us to receive adequate compensation for our efforts (in whatever form desired). Realizing your personal vision takes a great deal of focus and power—both of which are qualities of a balanced, clear and energized first chakra.

We live in a powerful time—a time of transition where old world structures are no longer supporting new high-vibration vocation- al callings. We are being called to co-create the structures whereby we can offer our gifts. We are collectively evolving out of old forms in many of the root chakra areas—community, home, family—all of which are calling for re-creation as we evolve.

As you lift the vibration of your root chakra, begin to allow your highest vision to manifest. Having a sense of the highest vision for ourselves is a vital aspect for the awakening process. That vision becomes a guiding star to keep us on track so we know where we are going. Well—we may not know exactly where we are going, or

97 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA what it will look like, but when we place our intention on our heart’s deepest desire and imagine what it will feel like when it is fulfilled, what the energetic vibration of that feels like, then we can magnetize that experience into our life. In the same breath, surrender the vision up to the divine and the great mysterious unknown to allow ever-greater possibilities to emerge. Always remember that wherever we place our attention will manifest in our reality.

We don’t evolve alone. The power behind birthing the new chrysalis lies within the interconnected, collective field. So let’s do it together and include others in our inspired imaginings! A visionary is one who can imagine things that have not yet manifested. Through the power of the imagination we can birth new worlds.

Affirmations for the root

“When I lift the vibration of my root chakra and align it with creation, in truth I know and remember that it is safe to offer my gifts to the world. It is safe to be a vehicle of expression for the creative spirit of the Divine Feminine. It is safe to remember my path as evolutionary priestess. It is safe for me; it is safe for us all. When I am guided by love, love prevails through the shadows of doubt and mistrust. I remember. I live in trust. I follow my path and am supported. I am aligned with my essence.”

“I am a tantric priestess, a mapmaker, a technician of ecstasy, a guide into the realms of golden nectar essence. It is not only safe

98 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS for me to share my gifts, but it is crucial that I take my unique place in the circle of life. My gifts are an integral part of the whole. My gifts are received and inspire graceful awakening in others. I am a crystalline vessel for transmitting evolutionary consciousness. I serve the creative evolutionary field of life. Life supports me to flourish and, by offering my gifts, I support the flourishing of life. God/Goddess, may I be your instrument, your vehicle of expression! Take me, use me, I am yours.”

“There is enough intimacy. I am loved; I am love! I remember myself as the source of love, interconnected with all life. I generate connections, sustain deep bonds and nurture loving relationships. I love my blood family and my soul family. My family loves me.”

Practicing the art of visioning

Visioning is seeing what is not yet manifest. Enter the realms of your imagination to feel your highest potential in relation to the following root chakra themes:

Home

Imagine your ideal home. What does a good home feel like to you? Perhaps your nest or sanctuary feels warm, safe and nurturing? Birth a utopian vision of your yet-to-be-manifested temple. Allow your imagination to soar as you envision a sustainable dwelling, a pristine environment. What are the col- ours, textures, and shapes of your home sanctuary? What does

99 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA it feel like to live in balance and harmony with the earth? What does your garden look like? How does it feel to care for a garden and enjoy the abundance of the earth?

Community, family, tribe

What does it feel like to be interconnected and a part of a community, to live in harmony and joy? Imagine a family that shares, co-creates, cares, lives tribally and interde- pendently. Each family member knows their place and time. What does it feel like to make your greatest contribution in cooperation with your tribe and your family? To offer your gifts, and have your gifts be received. Sense the abundance as you and your family flourish and thrive. Live the dream of the golden era here on the earth.

Body

Feel your body—vital, healthy, strong. See yourself nurturing your body-temple with high vibration foods and daily exercise that aligns with your spiritual practice. Feel yourself listening to your body’s messages around what it needs and doesn’t need. What does it feel like to honour your body as a sacred vessel for your soul? See yourself walking barefoot on soft grass, breathing in the life force of the trees.

Work

What does it feel like to be deeply self-expressed and fulfilled in your work? Envision the channels where you will be most potently received for your offerings and feel what it

100 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS feels like to offer your gifts where they can have their greatest impact. Support the flourishing of your life’s work. Mov- ing beyond surviving to a vision of thriving! Enter the abundant stream. Loving earth, loving life, loving your tribe, loving your family, loving your work.

Evolving to meet the new frequency of the earth

Humans are evolving beyond being motivated by money and satisfied with material goods. Our satisfaction now arises from being who we are and contributing to the good of the whole. This evolution is an ever-unfolding experience that lifts our vibration and moves us beyond patterns of fear. It is a journey that takes focus and commitment to break the bonds of old unconscious patterns that no longer serve us. Our survival as a species right now requires us to take these new steps.

One of the requirements of our times is to come into harmonious resonance with the earth’s shifting frequency. As the planetary body is birthing into her new form, we are required to rebirth and come into relationship with her. Humanity is being called back to the garden.

Instead of taking energy from each other or substances and food, we can use energy from the earth to revitalize ourselves. Walk on the earth barefoot, breathe in the prana from the trees, smell the roses and give thanks for her sweet pink blessings. Mother earth offers so much support when we plug in to her. Open to her and she will light your core flame with love. This is the inner star

101 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA that will guide you.

Integrating archetypes4

We are all such unique creatures and the symbols in our subconscious landscapes vary greatly depending on our cultural background and influences. As such, we feel an affinity to different archetypes. In my own and my clients’ dance journeys, I often witness different chakra archetypes appear toward the end of a session in the integration phase. These “soul overlays” support the dancer to integrate aspects of their higher selves. Here are a few soul/archetypal overlays.

The Divine Mother

The Divine Mother is one of the most ancient and powerful archetypes in the collective human psyche. She holds unconditional compassion and embraces all with her love. She calls us back into earth’s garden, reminding us of our innate connection to nature. She celebrates our sacred sexuality and the pleasures of being in the body. The Great Mother reminds us that the body has its own inherent evolutionary intelligence to guide us on our journey of awakening.

4 Archetype: “A primal energy form or pattern from the mostly unseen realms. An archetype can be a god or goddess, an animal energy, a supercharged word or idea, or some human person, living or dead, who embodies and personifies qualities that you want to embody, or that will help you become more whole.” – Excerpt from the article, “Partnership Spirituality” by Jean Houston 102 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Green Goddess

During a shamanic dance journey into my base, I had the grace to be overlaid by the Green Goddess who realigned me into the remembrance of earth’s garden as a cornucopia of plenty and who supported me to move out of poverty consciousness. She is a Celtic archetype buried deep within the collective psyche, connecting to me through my previous pagan lives, when I worshiped the earth as the Goddess of Creation, the infinite sustainer of all life. The Green God- dess reminds us when we walk lightly on the earth we will be blessed with her grace.

White Buffalo Calf Women

Another soul level archetype dancers may meet in the root is the White Buffalo Calf Women, a protector and an aspect of the Divine Mother. Her presence kept alive by the North American Lakota tribes. Dancers that have been First Na- tions in a past life are likely to connect with her. She reminds us to nurture the inner child and awaken the inner mother.

Lakshmi

The Hindu goddess Lakshmi is one of the most exquisite forms that the Divine Feminine takes. She manifests as a deeply nurturing, nourishing energy. According to Hindu myth she embodies whatever we need in our worldly life and offers the gifts of the earth, fertility, wealth, prosperity and

103 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA earthly abundance in all forms. If we can call in her auspi- cious blessings, we receive her transmission of the sweetness and goodness of life.

Earth medicine pulls you down then when you are connected in plugged into her vital core, she rises up through you. she rises only on your invitation she is like a cleansing fire her vibration is pure love— burning, purifying, cleansing pulling all that is not of her back down into her loving essence. Om, Mama Gaia rising fire I call you. Come rise up on the current of my inhalation cleanse me, purify me, activate me, set my soul free that I may reclaim my birthright and live as one in ecstasy

104 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

Sacred Alchemical Root Chakra Dance: The Practice

Phase one: Breathe ~ Connect to the earth core

The breath knows what it needs to do to open the body to unwind our bodies and shift the twists of misaligned karma and outmoded dharma, carried within our cellular energetic imprints over time. The breath is the key that unlocks past shocks and releases energetic blocks that stop us from realizing that we are limitless and free, loving and living the life we are here to.

Here are the steps to activate the root chakra through breath, sound and movement:

• To start, place your attention and intention on connecting to the core of the earth. Invite the loving Divine Feminine energies of the earth to support you on your ecstatic transformational dance journey. On the exhale, relax your perineum and your knees and feel your feet connected to the earth. On the inhale, draw earth energy up through your feet, through your legs and into your perineum, which is the physical body’s access point to the root chakra which is one of the key energy gateways in the body.

• Breathe earth energy slowly several times into the root

105 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA chakra. In through the nose, and out through the mouth.

• Begin to make the sound ooooo (as in you) on the exhalation.

• The knees are bent, the legs are wide. Drop the tailbone down. Relax your perineum and anus. Plug into the earth’s core.

• Use subtle shaking movements and low sounds to clear and energize the root chakra. Sounds are soft and deep.

• Relax your jaw, maintain softness in your lips. Feel your perineum like a mouth with lips sipping the electromagnetic energy up from the earth. On the inhalation squeeze your perineum/anus. On the exhalation relax your perineum/anus.

• Begin Shakti cross-breaths (see next phase).

Music suggestion for phase one: Anahata, The Unmade Sound, Willow

Phase two: Activate the physical body ~ warm up

Here are some instructions to inspire the exploration of the body parts connected to the root chakra:

• Soften the perineum, stomp the feet on the earth, move the legs.

• Feel how gravity pulls you down. Send your energy down, surrendering to the earth’s gravitational pull. Offer into her all that holds you back from living in trust and

106 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS abundance.

• Dynamically kick and stretch the legs and feet. Explore many different rhythms and levels with the legs and feet. Explore dancing on the floor, getting closer to the earth.

• Your legs are a solid base from which the rest of the body moves. Ground down and feel the strength of your legs.

Suggested music for phase two:

Nargan, Sounds of the Aborigine, A Cave Inhabited By Spirits

Ganga Giri, Raising it Up, SaltSpring

Flowers of Wrath, Devil in the Detail, Aftermathmatics

Gaudi, Ayahuasca Deep Fall, Tribal Breakz Rmx

Caution for pregnant women

Pregnant women must contain the energy in their pelvic region so it is not appropriate for them to drop and release energy out of the base chakra area. (If you are teaching a root chakra class, please make this known to your participants at the beginning of the class.) Expecting moms can bring energy in, hold and contain it, but they should not release the energy to the earth, as we normally instruct in a root chakra session. In addition, full-power base chakra dancing is not recommended for women in the first trimester of pregnancy, but many women in the fourth to ninth month of pregnancy can enjoy a good root chakra dance, which will help to transmute trans-generational karmic patterns for their unborn child.

107 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA Women who are menstruating should also take it easy while activating the base chakra as it will intensify blood flow. I have known a couple of women who hadn’t menstruated regularly or at all for six months and began to menstruate regularly after a base chakra session.

Phase three: Shakti cross-breaths

We build and generate energy in the root with Shakti cross- breaths. Here are the instructions for this breath:

• Right side: Draw earth energy up through the chakra that is in the center of the right foot, up through the inner meridians of the right leg, through the root chakra and into the container of the pelvic bowl.

• Left side: Next, draw earth energy up through the left side of the body—through the chakra in the center of the left foot, up the inner meridians of the left leg, through the root chakra and into the pelvic bowl.

• Breathe slowly at first then quicken the breath using the “earth-fire breath” (see below) to deepen the rhythmic trance. Build more and more energy in the root chakra.

• Take some time to allow your body to open freely in a spontaneous liquid body dance.

Music suggestion for phase three:

An-ten-nae, Acid Crunk 3 EP, Outersect - Ikodia (An-ten-nae RMX) 108 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Phase four: The earth-fire breath

We purify the energy in the root with earth-fire breaths. Here are the instructions for this breath:

• Breathe in twice through the nose, and breathe out once through the mouth. Get into a rhythm with this. The hand gestures and movements are the same as with the shakti breaths but we move a little faster here. The inhalation is effortless—that is why we do two breaths. With the exhalation your focus is to become empty, so the impulse for the inhalation happens by itself.

• During the inhale: draw earth energy up through the chakras at the centre of your feet, up through your legs and into your root chakra centre at the perineum and anus. Absorb the magnetic frequencies of the earth to purify and revitalize you. Breathe in love.

• On the exhale: release any fear-based emotional energy and thought–forms that are taking your power in this level of your life. Sound out fear, pain, anger, jealousy, judgment and any other emotions that are not love.

Music suggestion for phase four: Kundalini Collective, Chakra Trancen-dance, Track 2: Earth Breath

Phase five: Earth elemental dance

Now allow your body to let go into spontaneous movement. Place your intention on exploring the element of the earth in

109 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA your dance. Let go and allow your body to open to receive and move all the earth energy you have been building with your breath. Dance to get out of your head and quieten your mind and allow yourself to go into a trance dance.

• When you allow your body to swing from left to right it will support the left and right hemispheres of your brain to shuffle and create a whole mind trance state. The whole mind state inspires higher creative states of consciousness. Beginning to take the leap from what was to feeling into the expanded possibilities of what can be.

Music suggestion for phase five:

Ganga Giri, Raising it Up, Shakin It Up Full

Phase six: Purify the emotional body

Alternate between earth-fire breath and shakti cross-polarity breaths, depending on if you need to build your energy or purify it. Go deeper to release whatever has been suppressed, whatever may be stagnating your energy flow. Allow yourself to express with sound—spontaneous sound that carries your intention to discharge the emotional signature of the energy that has been stored in the root chakra.5

• If you feel your mind is active, come back to the breath, come into repetitive movement, that swing your body

5 Sound healing is a powerful modality unto itself. To learn more about sound healing, check out Jonathan Goldman, Ashera Hart and Alex Theory. 110 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS from side to side that synchronizes brain waves and deepens your no-mind trance.

• What do you feel in your base? What is longing to be felt and freed?

• Drop in. Let go.

• Dancing from the witness—centred in that unchanging place you are the eye of the storm that observes and does not attach to the passing emotional currents that are flowing through, being felt, being expressed. After they are expressed open through them.

• Dance with the shadow. Remember, at the core, we are light.

Suggested music:

Any good tribal trance music is perfect for dancing the root chakra. There is so much out there. My current favourite tracks for the root chakra are:

Medicine Drum, Original Face

Medicine Drum, Talking Stick

Ganga Giri, Raising It Up, Raising It Up

Phase seven: Ecstatic alchemy

In this phase of the dance, we pulse the energy from the root chakra up to the heart chakra. All of the power we’ve generated in the root chakra can now energize and cultivate the light with-

111 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA in our hearts. Here are the instructions for how to link the root chakra to the heart chakra:

• Use the shakti cross-breaths to raise earth energy up from the root chakra to the heart chakra while taking short sipping breaths in, through the mouth

• You can also take sipping breaths directly through your central channel and out through the four auric layers of your heart chakra. Clearing out the emotional body layer with movement and sound.

• Sounding out with an aahhhh sound. Singing your heart out. Sing aheh ahehaha ehe aha ehe.

• Say aloud or to yourself: May the light intelligence of the heart guide the survival consciousness of the root chakra.

• Lift the vibration of the root chakra from mistrust to trust.

• Make peace with the mother, the feminine aspect of divinity.

• Connect with your dancing tribe, look into their eyes, link hearts. Feel the connected field of mutual support. Call each other’s soul out to dance.

Music suggestion for phase seven:

Ganga Giri, Bayami, Bayami

Phase eight: Opening to the light

• Connect with source. Dance as one with the intercon-

112 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS nected web of life. Dance as one in the light.

• Continue to breathe energy up from Mother Earth, into the root chakra and up into the heart chakra. Next, expand the energy from the heart out through all four layers of your energy field6 and through the spirit body layer to source. Connect up from your root through your crown to source.

• Find an organic flow in your dance. Find the stream and play with the different currents going up through the central tube from root through crown and also through root up to heart then through the four layers up to source. Explore your own energy to discover what feels best for you.

• Dance into the one. Dance and hang out in the golden light of ecstatic union.

Music suggestion for phase eight:

Shaman’s Dream, Dance : Dream : Dance, Afronaut

Phase nine: Open to the downflow of the Divine Masculine

In the next phase of this alchemical dance journey, we place our

6 The four layers of the energy field are: the physical body, the emotional body, the mental body and the spiritual body. More information can be found in Chris Gris- com’s book, “Ecstasy is a New Frequency.” 113 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA attention on opening to receive the downflow of energy from source (the Divine Masculine). We receive the downflow of source through the back of our chakras. Tapping into this realm is sometimes referred to as “going into the gold,” because opening the crown chakra opens us to experience the higher realms of golden light. Once you tap into the current of golden light, hang out in that current for a while. This light lifts and aligns our consciousness to align with the divine mind. The Divine Masculine, aka solar consciousness or source, enables us to co-create our inner and outer worlds through its power to manifest. The sun, for example, is a direct conduit of universal intelligence, communicating the language of light through sacred geometrical patterns. Breathing solar source-light down into our chakras supports the higher codes of creation, lifts our vibrations and repatterns our karmic stories, giving us the opportunity to break out of limiting programs and recreate our lives. The Divine Masculine empowers us to make choices and carry out actions that are aligned with love.

“May all memory and information stored in my physical body be uplifted into harmonic resonance with creation!

I am love, I am light embodied in form.

Aho, it is so.

Aho, it is so!”.

Music suggestion for phase nine:

114 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Shaman’s Dream, Dance : Dream : Dance, Eastern Shores

Phase ten: Alchemy

The alchemy of this practice occurs when the upward energy of Shakti, the Divine Feminine, meets the downward flowing energy of Shiva, the Divine Masculine. When these two polarities merge in your root chakra, you experience an ecstatic starburst— a feeling of ecstasy that ripples through every cell as the vibration of your root chakra is aligned with all creation.

This is the aim of the practice—to merge masculine and feminine polarities and align our energetic circuitry with the flow of creation.

Here are the instructions for the alchemy breath:

• Ground down. Feel gravity. Feel your perineum and anus relax.

• Anchor deeply into the core of the earth. On exhalation, make a deep sound that connects you into the earth.

• Breathe in through the nose with a short pulse. Pulse kundalini shakti up through your root chakra (while squeezing your perineum), up into your heart chakra.

• On the exhalation breathe out through all four layers of your energy body and up into spirit body layer, lifting the energy up to source. Link into the golden realms of source.

115 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA • Next, inhale the golden light of source, then exhale through the mouth with a gentle “haaah” breath, allowing the downflow of the Divine Masculine current to fill the back of your chakras all the way down into your root chakra.

• Feel the connection of the solar current and the earth current as they meet in your root chakra. Open to receive the integrative balancing power of this tantric union of feminine and masculine polarities. Continue to breathe in through the nose with quick pulses, allowing these polarities to meet in the base at least three times.

• Allow light to lift the vibration of the imprints through all four layers of the root chakra, the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. With every alchemical breath you take, all layers of your energy body are being imprinted with love.

• After cycling the alchemical breath for three minutes, be still. Breathe, settle and receive. Allow the new codes of light to filter in and redesign your divine blueprint.

Music suggestion for phase ten:

Marconi Union, Distance, Sleepless

Phase eleven: Align the mental body

Feel the open connection of the sun and the earth as you allow the solar source current to filter through your entire central ener-

116 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS gy channel and filter out through your base chakra into the earth. Take several long breaths, in and out through the nose, place your hands in prayer position above your head and then gently draw solar energy down and out thru your base while affirming the following:

Now, from this sacred moment, I align my root chakra with the abundance grid of the earth and the power of creation. I re-align myself to a sense of belonging. I belong and feel the power of commitment to people and places. I open my attractor field to receive my family—both blood family and soul family—with tolerance and acceptance. I align with and trust the Divine Feminine aspect of divinity. I align with and trust the Divine Masculine aspect of divinity. As I commune with the alchemical element of earth, may my physical body be rejuvenated and strengthened. I have limitless vitality to serve in the awakening of humanity. May my bodymind be a bridge for the expression of earth and sun, opening love of creation. I feel safe. Music suggestion for phase eleven: Jonathon Goldman, Chakra Chants 2, Earth Tones/Base

117 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA

Root chakra: Written dance of awareness

Personal reflection

As we dive into the practice of Kundalini Dance, we lift our vibration and in these high states of ecstasy we feel our limitless creative potential—we feel like we can do and manifest anything and it is true, we can. As long as we have an integrated awareness of our subconscious beliefs (the fears and false identities generated by past experiences), nothing can prevent us from establishing that which is aligned with our highest selves. Awareness of the patterns that may be sabotaging our ability to manifest what we desire is a major key to transformation and co-creation. Take charge of changing your thoughts and beliefs and you will change your life. Take a moment to reflect and write in your journal. The following questions invite you to dive deep into the layers of your psyche and anchor into your inner wisdom.

Shift the patterns of the past

1. Money

Do you have feelings of lack or “not enough” (not enough time, love, money or energy)? Explore your beliefs.

118 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS As you lift your vibration ecstatically, take a few alchemy breaths into your heart and expand your energy out to open to the abundance grids of this fruitful earth. What is the deeper truth about the abundance of life, love and the earth? Write from this place of connection.

Spend a moment writing a dialogue between the part of you that may be caught in false beliefs of lack and the part of you that is awake and remembers you are interconnected with life.

2. Support

Do you feel supported? What are your beliefs around being supported by others, by the universal field of life? How do you feel in your lower back, your sacrum?

Take some deep heart alchemy breaths and expand to connect to the supportive field of life. Open to feel support from the universal grid. Extend out to feel the support that is available to you from humans, plants and animals. When you open to receive it, it is there! Now write from this place of deeper truth about the support that is available for you now that you are open to it.

Spend a moment dialoguing with the part of you that may be caught in the false beliefs of lack of support. Speak with your evolved self that is already awake and remembers that you are supported by life.

119 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA 3. Trust

Do you trust the feminine? What is the nature of your relationship to the feminine? Do you feel connected to the sisterhood, to women, to your mother? What was your relationship with your primary caregiver as a child? Dive deep into your psyche and enquire about your beliefs as they relate to the trustworthiness of women. If you are a woman, do you trust yourself?

Are you grounded? Are you in your body? Do you feel connected to the earth, the mother, the Divine Feminine as a creative principle of life? Do you feel held and supported by life?

Take a moment to breathe and open to the creative feminine principle of divinity. Open to the mother through your feet and breathe deep into your soft belly. Feel your heart’s longing to connect with the feminine and to receive her nourishing support in every cell of your body. Write from this place of connection to the earth mother, the Divine Feminine principle. What is the deeper truth about the feminine?

Now begin to write a dialogue from the part of you that has been disconnected from the feminine to the part of you that remembers you are always connected to the feminine when you choose to receive. Allow the voice of the Divine Femi- nine to council the fearful or mistrusting part of yourself.

120 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Free write your dialogue.7

Create a power statement on the truth of your new relationship to the feminine—both human and divine.

4. Belonging

Do you feel you belong? Do you feel a sense of connection to community, tribe or place? Dive deep into your psyche to explore any false beliefs around your sense of belonging or separation.

Now take a moment to breathe and feel the connection to the relational field of all beings.8"/> Feel that sense of oneness and interconnection with all life. Write from this place of being deeply anchored in your capacity to experience and foster deep relational bonds that strengthen over time.

Ask your higher self to dialogue with the part of you that may be holding onto the illusion of being separate, isolated or disconnected from others or the creative field of life. Write that dialogue down.

Create a power statement about the deeper truth of your belonging and your connection to all beings.

7 Free writing, also called stream-of-consciousness writing, is a technique in which a person writes continuously for a set period of time without regard to structure or form. The writer allows what is in their subconsious to be expressed without censorship or judgement. 8"/>The “relational field” is the energetic field that is created by our communication with each other. 121 AWAKENING TRUST: THE ROOT CHAKRA Re-writing the inner myths

As you lift your vibration through this practice, allow yourself to recreate your inner myth in relation to the root chakra areas of your life. Take a moment to tune in and listen to your deeper truths.

Choose to leave behind the patterns of the past. Ask yourself, What are you choosing to create on the root chakra level of our life? Remember that you are a powerful creator working in cooperation with the force of life. When we vision our highest life, it is not like we are watching a movie instead, we are actually feeling what it feels like to be in perfect physical health, what it feels like to feel loved and nurtured and self-nurtured. We remember what is feels like to receive intimate touch and we remember what it feels like to trust.

What is your highest vision of yourself in relationship to your body, self-nurturing, exercise? See yourself in good health, taking on good habits. Write down or make a collage about the actions you will enjoy taking to manifest that vision?

What does your deeper truth want to express around intimacy, touch and your ability to sustain meaningful bonds with others? What are you choosing to receive, what do you need to release to allow more intimacy and nurturing into your life?

What is your highest vision for yourself around home and community? Feel what it feels like in a harmonious loving home environment and in a community that loves you.

122 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS What is your highest vision of yourself in relation to work, to offering your gifts in your community and to being financially rewarded? What belief do you need to shift so that you can open to the deep truth of abundance? What does it feel like to be living in that deep truth?

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CHAPTER TWO Awakening Creativity: The Sacral Chakra

Reclaim Sexual Power

Mesmerized by swaying hips full wet lips cheekbones raised to the heart’s shine, an inner smile, an inner love burning through false expressions. Belly soft and open Pubic bones pulsing Bones and feet are liquidized arms ripple on the currents of an inner wave. You are intoxicated by the fusion of middle eastern beats, your silk skirt flowing as you dance in the desert black butterflies flutter by reminding you to dance; to die to dance; to loose your virginity and every spec of dignity.

125 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA You are a shameless expression of sexual divinity a purring tigress a fierce feline a prowling panther a temple dancer centered in the storm of emotional waves eyes gazing into his primal fire take us higher passion playing with the force of creation your lips touch his creatrix merges with creation remember who you are forgive the forgetting. I am innocence returned an interconnecting circle of creative energy a sculptor shaping my life into divine reflections expressions beyond what you dreamed imaginable.

126 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

“Sexuality is an expression of the moving force

that underlies everything and gives it life.” — Starhawk

Dancing the Sacral Chakra Awake

Introduction

The sacral chakra primarily governs our sexual energy, our vital life force, and our inner wellspring of creativity. Here lies the seed of our life purpose—our greatest gift that awaits germina- tion. Through our sacral chakra we experience a longing for union—both the physical union with our beloved, and the divine union with the sacred masculine and feminine. In the exploration of the sacral chakra, we also face “the shadow.” The shadow is all that keeps us separate from sacred union, from union with each other and from oneness with the universal field of life. Our guilt, our shame, old traumas, all the ways we use sex as an escape, all the ways we have abused, misused or supresses our sexual power.

For women, working with the sacral chakra takes us into the experience of our womb as the keeper of Divine Feminine wisdom or shakti Shakti is pure love, she is the great awakener and she invites us to stretch beyond the confines our false identities and

127 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA to break down our delusional concepts so we can align ourselves with truth. Truth comes from the wisdom of our creative center, our wombs, our core, our intuitive gut-knowing. Men access their Divine Feminine qualities through the hara—the power center in the lower belly. In Kundalini Dance / shakti moves practices we explore ways to self-generate shakti.

If we want to open to the creative potential and intelligence within the sacral chakra, we need to allow ourselves to feel— deeply feel and free anything that has been held inside, so that our creative energy can be accessed and expressed. We dance to open, dance to feel, and to explore the tantric dance of awakening.

Surrender - Feel

To dance the sacral chakra open, be prepared to surrender control, to practise becoming soft and to yield to whatever is present, whether it be tiredness, resistance, sadness, pain, numbness. Still the mind, surrender to the river of emotions and drop deep into the pool of being. This vulnerability becomes a gateway to life force and the source of divinity.

The more we surrender to the flow of shakti’s sacred waters, the more she cleanses our pain, our fear, our guilt and our shame. She supports us to feel and then to free what has been held in our bodies and energy systems for aeons. The more we open to shakti, the stronger the emotional body purification. The more we let go, the more space is created to contain your life force energy.

128 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Flowing like water

The sacral chakra is associated with the element water and when we dance to embody the sacral chakra we flow like water— sometimes like a gentle tide, hips swaying side to side, and sometimes like a furious ocean, feeling the chaos of emotion.

Slow down and explore your sensual body, as if moving through thick, warm water. Become more aware of your breath and bring awareness into every joint, every muscle, every limb, every vertebra. The sacral chakra dance is the fluid expression of shakti. When we dance the sacral chakra, we dance until the body is liq- uefied, unified, breathed-open.

The womb – creativity – Ishtar / Innana

Feel into the depths of your womb, the deep void of shakti, the Divine Feminine mystery.

Sexuality

The sacral chakra is a gateway into sensuality and sexuality. We explore our sexuality as a creative evolutionary impulse that transforms and awakens consciousness. When we activate the sacral chakra, we activate our passion to create, our passion to love, our passionate expression of feelings and emotions. Here lies the sacred seat of Kundalini Shakti, divine awakener, healer, transformer, our inner alchemical fire that can transmute energetic density to gold, and can transform fear into love.

129 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA The location of the chakra

This chakra is located four fingers below the navel. It is associated with the womb, the genitals, reproductive organs and bladder. When our root chakra is open and receiving the vital energies of the earth, we draw the energy up into the pelvic bowl (the womb in women, the hara in men), the belly and the sacrum. The electromagnetic energy of the earth is like an energetic charge that enters the body through the root chakra and when it hits the nodal axis of the sacral chakra it ignites the awesome sauce of your life force and Shakti comes alive in you. You feel her— warm, juicy and thick. You feel your full wet lips, you dance and feel your silken skin and celebrate the source of love within. As you surrender to her flow, she opens your whole body, moving through you like a wave.

As we move with the rhythm of our soft belly breath, we feel the warm luminous liquid of Shakti begin to gently sway our hips, soften our lips. As we slow down and drop into feeling our sensual bodies, we move our hips in circles and spirals, we cultivate Kundalini Shakti, our Divine Feminine life force energy. You feel her like a wave rippling through the inside of your body, softening and melting away stress and tension. Dancing upon Shak- ti’s wave is like surrendering to the rivers of light that flow through your body.

The underactive sacral chakra

If the sacral chakra is underactive, we lack the juice to carry through on our creative impulses, we abort them and distract 130 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS ourselves. We have the possibility to shift creative inertia and activate our creative life force through purifying and energetically cultivating this chakra. Habitually repressing your emotions and fearing change also inhibits the flow of energy into your sacral chakra. An underactive chakra can also expresses itself as someone who has excessive boundaries, who denies themselves bodily pleasure and lacks passion, desire and excitement. It can also manifest as someone who is frigid and has a fear of sex, who could also carry rigidity in his or her body and in their attitudes.

An underactive chakra will come in balance by stimulating and activating the muscles of the pelvic bowl. Pulse the breath in and out while squeezing the perineum to contain and build the energy in the sacral chakra. The Shakti breath practice is also highly beneficial for activating and stimulating this chakra.

Those with underactive sacral chakras would also benefit from developing the capacity to make peace with the feeling and the pleasure of being in the body. Self-nurturing, oiling your body, opening to touch and being touched, exploring your sensuality through movement and self-pleasuring will all support the energy of the sexual chakra to flow more freely.

The overactive sacral chakra

In the case of an overactive second chakra, this can manifest as a highly emotional person addicted to social contact, getting high, partying and sex. They are often in the throes of emotional chaos, usually created through a lack of respecting their own or other people’s boundaries. People with overactive sexual chakras 131 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA tend to be emotionally and relationally co-dependant. When the sacral chakra is overactive, one can be also creatively inspired but lack the focus to follow through.

Discharging excess energy can heal an overactive chakra: sounding-out9 on the out breath, becoming empty, letting go. People with overactive sacral chakras need to develop their capacity to contain and channel sexual energy. Tantric practices are highly beneficial in training individuals to consciously circulate their sexual energy.

The sacral chakra in particular, swings back and forth, from overactive to underactive, depending on what pattern we are running at the time.

When the second chakra is flowing, we are juicy, radiant and magnetic. Our magnetism draws to us relationships and interac- tions that reflect our values and self worth. When our sexual energy is in balance, our creative energy is flowing, yet contained and focused. We are at ease with ourselves and are able to authentically express what we are feeling when it arises.

Developmental influences

The development stage for the second chakra is between six and 18 months, when a child begins to distinguish themselves from

9 Sounding out is done by concentrating on the chakra, connecting to it through the breath and then creating an authentic sound as if that sound was being made from the place in your body you feel the emotional energy, thereby resulting in an effective emotional and physical release 132 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS their mother (or principal caregiver) and begins to explore their personal autonomy and the world around them. A child this age needs to have a sense of trust and safety in order to confidently discover themselves and their world.

Related issues

When we are working with the second chakra we may confront issues of shame, fear or the need to control people or situations. Existential or karmic issues can include the fear of abandonment and/or the fear of being engulfed by someone, depending on the relationship we had in the past with our primary caregivers.

As we work through these issues, we begin to experience our sensuality and sexuality as well as a passion for life. We start to live honestly and authentically—without pretence or defence.

Sex and the cultural shadow

Sexual energy is so powerful that many cultures have gone to extremes in their attempt to repress it through shame, guilt and fear. This repression then blocks the sacral chakra and one’s vitality. Stagnant energy in our sexual center eventually dams the flow of our creativity.

In the west, we have come a long way since the shackles of the Victorian era, but our collective sexual expression still seems tainted by the cultural and religious values of the past. What has been suppressed will find its expression through its polarized shadow and we see this in our sexually obsessed popular culture

133 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA and in the porn industry, which keep the collective consciousness locked in lower frequency lust and perversion.

We witnessed a rebellion against repression in the 60’s and in my generation most of us in the west experienced our teenage years as highly promiscuous, a ferocious movement toward that which was so hidden. We also have an alarming amount of women who have been raped. As we integrate and lift the vibration of our sacral chakras, we strengthen our capacity to discern who and what energies to allow in and we communicate our boundaries with clarity and grace.

Our mainstream music industry is sex-obsessed because sex is what sells the best. Smoking is sexy, drinking Coca Cola is sexy and pretty much anything that the advertisers want us to buy is made to look like it enhances our sexual appeal. A woman’s sexuality has become a source of power in the world, her calling card for status and for getting what she thinks she wants. She “dresses to kill”, to seduce, to lure that which she desires or feels she needs to feel better about herself.

In 2007, I remember seeing a billboard advertisement in San Francisco: “Keep your fanny flower fresh, have a caesarean”! Un- doubtedly our collective of women are still in the process of opening to the full potential of our wombs as gateways of life, as gateways of pleasure and as gateways to divine union and expanded states of consciousness.

Culturally and collectively we are shifting out of an old cycle and are now witnessing a gradual inner transmutation to embrace our 134 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS sexual energy as an evolutionary current that will move us toward higher consciousness, greater freedom and synergy. The power behind this shift comes from the individual—each one of us— you and me. As we address our pain, hatred and blame, we evolve from within and shift the collective.

Shadow dance: Moving beyond limitations

Sexuality is one of the most distorted energies in our society. We are either overactive—obsessively using sex as an escape to fill the emptiness within, or we are totally off of it. Because there has been so much guilt, fear and shame around sexuality, many people don’t feel safe exploring their sexual energy in a group setting. In the past when I have suggested we explore our sexual energy many people freeze up. Why? There are different reasons for different individuals:

Sexual abuse

Past sexual abuse is also a big Pandora’s Box of feelings: grief, rage, hatred, shame, powerlessness. Our boundaries have been crossed and now we fear losing control again. It’s hard to soften and surrender to the flow when we fear losing control.

Unclear boundaries

For some of us, unclear boundaries have taken us into sexual experiences we would rather forget, and we are angry at ourselves for not saying no.

135 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA Past lives

Past-life abuse of sexual energy is common and due to the past misuse we can fear the abuse of this divine force so we shut it down and become underactive. Some of us would rather not go there at all.

We all have our individual stories, we dance to find the middle way, to inspire the inner witness. Notice where there is resistance—it can be a great teacher. Does flowing come easily or not?

Emotional release

Kundalini Dance ceremonies are a safe container in which to feel and release old suppressed emotions. Emotional release involves the whole body. It is not enough to recognize emotions with the mind. There is movement, sound and energy associated with each emotion and until the stagnation is freed-up the emotion will remain in the body.

Change is movement and in order for change to occur there has to be both internal and external movement of the body. Emo- tions held in the body fixate our energy in holding patterns, keep us locked in behavioural loops and make our life force unavailable to us. Once released, we can reclaim our power and channel our energy toward creation.

There are two very different approaches to emotional release. One is losing yourself in the emotion and reactivating the trauma

136 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS in your body, which causes physical depletion and energy loss. The other more creative approach we inspire in Kundalini Dance is where you remain as the observer and creatively channel the repressed energy through your movement and sound, turning pain into art. If we are totally present with the raw emotional energy of our pain—even for a moment—it releases that energy for transformation. Emotional release can be gentle and subtle or as wild and raw as you want to explore. Both ways are ok.

In Kundalini Dance, we focus on gentle opening, rather than “trying” or pushing. The dance is a prayer of devotion to Shakti, the Divine Feminine force of creation. We dance to invite her in, to surrender our bodies, to open. We ask her to lift our vibration to love and flow within us. Once we embody Shakti’s luminous light, this is what clears emotional stagnation and lifts our vibration.

The truth about who we are

The truth is that we are not our emotions or our thoughts: we are the timeless vast essence of love and consciousness. We practice centering in the stillness of our inner light. Our inner light is a love that shines through the shadow, through bodily tensions, the contraction of fear and whatever layers of protection we have felt necessary to wear. Love dissolves it all.

Focus on the opening; the cultivation of love within. Then, once we are overflowing with it, the body will naturally and spontaneously let go of anything in its way.

137 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA Integrating change

As mentioned previously, sounding out can be a powerful way to release emotional imprints out of the cells and out of the emotional body. Sound breaks up frozen or stagnant energy and encourages a better flow of life force. Sound creates space for love within to grow.10

Emotional release connected to awareness inspires real change. Connecting with source, the universal field of life, and with your all-knowing soul essence will facilitate ongoing integrated change, as you learn to dis-identify with thoughts and feelings or the illusions of the egoic self, attached to the pain of separation. You can then re-learn the cognitive processes that bring you into alignment with your true self. Like the unconditional love of a mother, your soul-self embraces and accepts all parts of you, dissolving them in the light of love.

Integration of our emotional release requires a new relationship with the self, because the wounded self may be attached to its old identities. Cultivating a kind “inner parent” is a huge step towards integration and the completion of old patterns. Speak to the younger self in kind and loving ways that are aligned with

10 “Emotions have a sound frequency or a vibratory signature as they are actually multi – levelled phenomena. The sound or the signature of an emotion is held on an inter- cellular level through resonant fields of the body. All these emotional reactions or patterns have specific effects in terms of the chemistry and electromagnetic field patterns of the body.….. the expression of emotion through sound is a beneficial phenomenon.” – “The Hathor Material” - Tom Kenyon 138 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS the deep truth of your inner essence, your evolutionary self. The inner parent is an incarnation where we can access so much wisdom and truth to help to shift old concepts and to reaffirm that true support comes from within.

Tantric awakening – Sex, love and evolution

“Sexuality is not what separates us from enlightenment; sexuality is an inherent quality of our Earth experience that merges us into enlightenment.’’

—Chris Griscom, “Ecstasy is a New Frequency”

Ancient yogis and yoginis of India studied sexual energy for the purpose of transformation, spiritual awakening, enlightenment and physical rejuvenation. This study is known as “tantra” and that word is derived from the Sanskrit words tanoti or expansion and trayati, which means liberation. Tantra also means “energy practices.” It can involve sexual alchemical practices that lead the practitioner into heightened states of consciousness and the spiritual experience of union.

Tantrikas were different from other ancient mystics because they embraced the body, seeing it as an integral part of spiritual evolution. Imprinted within the holograph of your sacral chakra are collective memories of this ancient practice.

The essence of Tantra is to allow the free flow of sexual energy and to channel it into higher creative expressions. The path of Tantra transforms sex into a spiritual practice where the act of

139 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA union opens a gateway to oneness that our bodymind vessel to become an instrument for the expression of the true self and an instrument for the evolution of humanity.

Step one of the tantric practice

Clearing the solar plexus chakra and the zyphoid process (above it) is the first step for opening your tantric pathway. The solar plexus chakra is the seat of the emotional body and is often blocked due to emotional suppression. This is particularly evident in men in western cultures who are conditioned to not show their emotions. That is why men sometimes find it more challenging than women to feel the bliss of full-bodied ecstatic sex. The zyphoid process, also known as the higher solar plexus chakra, carries our core imprints of separation from source and separation from each other.

Have you ever felt an intense ache in your upper solar plexus chakra after a relationship break-up? This is a call to feel and to free that core wound of separation from and mistrust of the mother, the feminine within and the earth so she can rise to the heart. After clearing suppressed emotion, energy can rise to the heart and higher chakras.

Once we have cultivated Shakti, our core feels juicy, warm and energized and we begin the tantric journey, regularly raising the energy up through the body’s pathways. I love to feel the energy shift on the dance floor as dancers pair up and invite each other to breathe sexual energy, their creative life force, up into the heart chakra. That’s when the full-bodied orgasmic fun really 140 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS starts. When sexual energy rises, it dissolves emotional blockages that are stagnating creative flow, it nourishes our organs, and energizes us to stay healthy and vital.

FBO – Full Body Orgasms

As the energy moves up the pathways you will experience heightened ecstatic states. A full-body orgasm (FBO) is when the sensation moves beyond the pleasure in your erogenous zones and travels up through your central energy channel to illuminate and fill your whole body with light. When we dance to raise sexual energy, you feel all tingly and light, ecstatic energy ripples through your whole body into every cell, opening us into sensing the expanded source of love that emanates from our core.

When this sexual energy rises, it nourishes our hearts, igniting the golden flame of love at our core.

A return to innocence

The Sanskrit name for the sacral chakra is swadisthana meaning sweetness. When we purify and lift the vibration of the sacral chakra, we disconnect from the collective trance that can be either polarizing in the sexual shadow of lust, promiscuity or shame, guilt and fear, or we align with the deeper wisdom of the soul and return to sweetness. I have found that return to sweet innocence has activated my deepest hearts desire to experience the act of making love as an expression of sacred union with my partner - when our tantric pathway opens our lovemaking be-

141 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA comes an act of devotion, a gateway to oneness.11

Awakening

Our sexuality can be one of the fastest routes to awakening. It is an accelerated evolutionary practice that requires us to face our wounded shadows. Merging with other people’s emotional bod- ies12 can lead us to inner chaos and emotional imbalance as it brings our deepest insecurities and wounds to the surface.

The role of vulnerability

To enter into deep tantric union, our hearts must open to experience the beloved, to source. Really opening our hearts requires us to be vulnerable to feeling pain that we has been buried deep within. It is sometimes easier to stay open sexually without being connected to our heart because we don’t need to feel the sadness and pain of past hurt, which can be buried deep within ourselves or which we have built a protective body armour around. As we raise our sexual energy to the heart that energy dissolves the armour as we feel the buried emotion, express it and let it go.

Ancient Egyptian Sexual Alchemy

Most people think of alchemy as the medieval practice of turning lead into gold. This is external alchemy, but this journey is into

11 Oneness is experienced when ego dissolves through spiritual practice and you feel unified with all that is and has been and will be. This experience is a common one among spiritually evolved people and brings about a sense of ease and peace of mind. 12 People’s emotional bodies become linked when we make love. 142 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS the exploration of internal alchemy. The purpose of inner alchemy is to elevate consciousness and to accelerate personal evolution.

Tantra involves alchemical practices that lead the practitioner into heightened states of consciousness and spiritual experiences of a union with the divine. Over the past few years in my tantric explorations, I have remembered and embodied Ancient Egyp- tian Sexual Alchemy keys. These keys were initiated and activated during tantric lovemaking with a partner, and I now see that this information was dormant cellular information that has begun to be remembered as my practice advances.

This information has been mostly visual in the form of “psychedelic” Ancient Egyptian imagery and scenes, as well as kinaes- thetic vibrational alchemical energy keys.13

Kundalini Dance as a solitary Tantra practice

Similar to Tantra, Kundalini Dance is an alchemical energy practice transmitted through dance, however, the keys we learn to embody on the dance floor can also be used in sexual partnership. The main difference is that in Kundalini Dance we generate energy and ecstasy through own efforts whereas people in a sacred Tantric relationship acquire energy and ecstasy from making love with a partner.

13 An energy key is a realization or remembrance that unlocks the free-flow of energy in a given area of the body and causes a shift in consciousness. 143 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA Kundalini Dance sex chakra sessions are one way of training yourself on an individual level for tantric awakening by opening your energetic circuitry. Through this dance practice, your sexual energy begins to recalibrate and travel up through your body to awaken higher consciousness.

One misconception you may need to rectify in yourself is the belief that order to practice Tantra we need to find “the ideal partner.” The truth is that we can begin to reclaim our sexual energy with ourselves right here and now. Solitary tantric practice is an ideal foundation for anyone (both in and out of relationship) as it involves learning to cultivate one’s own energy to initiate states of ecstatic oneness. In this way one becomes less dependent and needy on another in order to feel whole and can attract more healthy relationships that will hold a sacred container for growth, joy and erotic coupling. Instead of looking outside ourselves, let’s focus on developing deeper self-love and acceptance.

Sacred Tantric Relationship

Sometimes sexual relationships trigger core emotional wounds because sexual energy is an intensely transformative energy that accelerates our karmic issues. In the Ancient Tibetans texts it is said that the path of Tantra is the fastest and the most intense path of spiritual evolution and definitely not the easiest as once you start raising your sexual energy up through your chakras, it will burn through all that is not in alignment to love.

144 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS The characteristics of a tantric relationship

Both individuals in a tantric relationship are committed to a path of personal transformation and the acceptance of shadow and light. In a sacred tantric relationship, partners are willing to work together on issues related to personal growth and to hold each other in a safe container of trust. Tantric practitioners trust that everything which arises through the energetic intensity of sexual union will be embraced in love and acceptance. As such, the tantric relationship becomes an alchemical container for the shadow to be transformed.

The quality of love you receive mirrors the value you put on yourself. This is why those on the tantric path often take periods of aloneness to strengthen their relationship with themselves and enhance their capacities for self-love. When we truly love ourselves and give ourselves the emotional support we need, we can love one another in wholeness.

Same sex partners

Tantric practice involves balancing masculine and feminine energies within, whereas a tantric relationship involves polarizing our energy to merge with the opposite, in essence forming one unit of balance. This also applies to same sex partners who can also explore masculine or feminine polarities in themselves and their relationships. Heterosexuals can play with swapping traditionally defined gender roles as a way to bring tension and balance to their partnerships.

145 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA Sexual Alchemy Practices

The pathway of the two serpents

As stated previously, the tantric practice involves moving energy up the central channel and out through the four layers of the energy body. This practice is the best way to clear stagnant emotional energy out of the chakras and connect us into the earth and universal grids.

This Shakti energy also moves through the pathway of the two serpents—the solar and lunar serpent channels that run along either side of the central channel and cross at each chakra. In the Indian tantric tradition this is known as the Ida and Pingala channels. Running energy via the Ida and Pingala channels through the chakras brings energy into the subtler subconscious aspects of the chakras. It circulates the energy through the organs, the nadis (smaller energetic meridians) and the bodymind system. Running energy through the Ida Pingala channel, aka. the two serpents, also helps us to contain our vital sexual energy and rejuvenates endocrine glands.

The benefits of the two serpents practice are heightened states of consciousness and a strengthened etheric body, known in Egyp- tian alchemy as the ka (incidentally the first syllable my daughter spoke).

As the ka becomes stronger due to energy building practices, the power of the mind also becomes stronger. Thus practitioners can draw objects of desire more quickly to themselves. The ability to

146 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS magnetize desires arises from spiritual understanding in combination with an increase of life force. This is why, as our vibration increases, we need to develop a more diligent practice to discipline our thoughts. As the saying goes, “be careful what you wish for.”

Sexual energy and the third eye

When we raise our sexual energy to the third eye, we cultivate the intuitive wisdom that comes when our bellies, hearts and minds are all working together. Aligned with the wisdom of gut instinct (the wisdom of the Divine Feminine that is in our womb) we follow our truth.

A more advanced tantric practice is to breathe sexual energy up through the pathway of the two serpents into the pineal gland, the third eye. The purpose of this exercise is to generate enough energy to open up and energize the higher chakras. This will bring a lot of energy to the brain and balance the left and right hemispheres resulting in an increase in creativity and intelligence.

The Alchemy of Ecstasy

The ecstatic experience is a powerful transformative experience. As the cells vibrate into ecstasy they are interacting with the universal field. When we are ecstatic we shift our DNA from patterns of fear to patterns of love; this is the alchemy of ecstasy.

To the gardens of the phoenix I travel

147 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA the journey of ego death has brought me here… I surrender… I fall into the fire I die to form I die to thoughts I die to you. Your deep dark soul eyes hold me as I fall into the void of your embrace You are the cavernous mystery The void of pure potential In your nothing, everything is born Dark mother Destroyer Creator I give you all. I let go, I free-fall into the infinite spiral within your core. Here I meet the serpent— the creative spiral within all I invite her to enter into me, rise up through me to peel away the layers that keep me separate from her… the one… that is me… in all… I lick my lips, I dive liquid waves enter me from beneath me… I surrender to her wave… I ride and writhe… side to side… my breath gets longer as I let her in… she undulates under my skin… I liquidise and feel my kundalini rise… serpentine divine… stir within me…

148 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS sensuous undulations hypnotise me… I surrender into her wave... Mama Shakti is seducing me again… calling me to drop into my skin… I feel the space between my upper inner thighs get warm… Purring pussy… opening Sacred gateway to infinite mystery I caress you open Her petals moisten and unfold as she receives the warm vapours of the serpent’s breath Shakti comes alive… she follows the pathway up my spine.. I breathe her into my heart… my heart bursts on the outbreath… Shakti kundalini tickles me with electric effervescent starbursts of ecstasy… my heart bursts open in bliss… my whole body quivers and quakes and ecstasy rushes through my cells… whole body orgasmic bliss. Serpent’s wings unfurl take flight igniting soul codes etched under my skin a unified matrix of divinity holding keys, imprints of ancient memories flickering through my inner site I rise from ashes

149 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA memories of an ancient past I see… karmic patterns looping over time I’m feeling ancient… and patient searching to find the twist to shift this glitch that is creating pain in me it keeps on looping again and again karmic cycles looping over time it is time to refine and redefine the truth I am creating thoughts and beliefs that serve this new life I choose to live i am so over the glitched out bitchy twitch that flies out on in defence i am over that kind of deliverance Spatial light radiate… Inner light activate Vibrate this body out of its entangled state It’s time to update my mind-state and concentrate to recreate It’s time for soul-level liberation. Another level of exfoliation No more complication Simply an innovation of a new kind of inner state we all have the power to recreate

150 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Inner light radiate Activate a creative state Time to liberate my soul to a new state Set my soul free and liberate I dissolve… through you, within you, I am you… nothing to do but surrender now into your wings aaahhhhh….

My Sacral Chakra Journeys – Awakening Body Memory

In my dives into the sacral chakra, I have found the most ecstatic, juicy and also the murkiest pools of information. In my early twenties I would feel so much stuck dense energy there. It has taken much work, clearing, recapitulation and merging with light to get this chakra to ecstatically tingle in a higher vibration.

In the book Sorcerer’s Crossing by Taisha Alebar, she recounts her experiences as one of Don Juan’s apprentices. In those teachings it takes seven years to clear a past lover from the emotional body because we get “chorded.”14 It is no wonder we get confused and chaotic in our emotional bodies sometimes! In A Sor- cerer’s Crossing, she teaches how to recapitulate old lovers out of your sexual energy field.

14 When we make love with each other our energy bodies merge and we develop energetic chords that link us to each other. The strength of the chords depends on the intensity of emotional charge in the connection. 151 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA During my Saturn return15, I went tantrically celibate for seven months. During that time, I gave myself four days to clear my sexual past while on a ten-day vision quest in Kalalau Valley on Kauai, Hawaii. I remembered and recapitulated every lover out of my field and was amazed that it brought so much power and energy back in. I highly recommend it and will share with you some basic chord-clearing exercises.

The sacral chakra is where I have activated the soul codes of my gift, my knowing and remembrance of Tantra. The sacral chakra has been my gateway to an ecstatic full-bodied spiritual opening. Yet learning to harness the power of my sexuality in integrity has also been my greatest challenge. Learning to lift, shift and not leak sexual energy in inappropriate places, which can bring so much loss of power, scatteredness and mayhem into our lives. Harnessed sexuality is powerful.

For many years my gift was also my greatest distraction. There were so many relationship dramas. Since that time I have learned to cultivate the power of my sexuality for healing, transformation and creativity. I feel an immense positive shift in my consciousness and my creativity since learning to channel my sexuality.

At 23 years of age, I was diagnosed with cervical dysplasia which, left untreated, can turn into cervical cancer. So weak was this

15 The Saturn Return is an astrological phenomenon that occurs at the ages of 27-30, 58-60, 86-88, etc., coinciding with the time it takes the planet Saturn to make one orbit around the sun. 152 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS chakra that my reproductive organs were already degenerating at such a young age. My healing crisis16 turned me deep inside. Many, many times I would rest my hands in a triangular mudra over the sacral chakra breathing in light to rejuvenate those cells and asking to see what I need to see in order to shift my pattern of leaking my power. Ask and you will receive.

Integrating Archetypes

“As we are about to become citizens in a universe richer by far than any we have ever known, we deeply need our archetype, our beloved in the depth world, to partner us in this larger citizen ship. Our beloved knows the patterns, forms and places where the vast latencies and psycho–spiritual knowings are coded. In this way love grows reality.”

—Jean Houston, The Search for the Beloved

Inside my sacral chakra I find the archetypal feline, she has supported me immensely in honouring my sexual power as divine. Here is a journal entry describing her first emergence in Maui, Hawaii on October 3, 1993:

I feel a new archetypal self, emerging out of my soul. She is jagu-

16 A healing crisis a process associated with heightened cleansing and cellular rebuilding. A sign of improving health. Results in better health as disease-causing factors are removed. Often one will experience a temporary worsening of symptoms coupled with an awareness of the emotional causation of the disease, resulting in overall improve- ment of well being. 153 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA ar-woman, she lives in swadisthana chakra. Last night I lay alone, with my belly and pubic bone on the earth and began to repetitively rock my pelvis back and forth, the repetition took me into a light state of trance, I felt like I was making love with the earth. Earth pulsed me with her manna, awakening my inner feline. She emerged with a roar through my unlocked jaw and her sound seemed to come from my pubic bone. “Why have you kept me kept me caged for so long?” she exclaimed as I released her from the pain of being entrapped in the collective grid of shame. My jaguar woman is sleek in black. She looks ahead while watching her back. She holds her sexual power with no shame, no blame. My jaguar woman loves to come and play.

Since that time I have guided many women free their inner feline. Accessing the raw, wild inner feline unleashes pent-up energy and expressing it brings so much sexual creative power back into the bodymind.

For many women, the pubic bone can be a place where shame, blame and rage is stored due to the suppression and repression of the feminine sexual power and wisdom.

In my memories I have seen tantric priestesses ostracized, abused, tortured and shamed for holding the knowledge of sacred sexual alchemy. During the crusades, the Catholic Church attempted to stamp-out pagan and goddess cultures, turning once-revered sacred priestesses into prostitutes. Mary Magdalene was one of the more famous ones, and there were many.

The Catholic Church reversed many of the sacred symbols and 154 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS archetypes, turning Pan into the Devil, the creation serpent into a demon and midwives into witches.

Now is the time to recreate the new archetype of the empowered feminine and the aligned sexual masculine. It is time to open to new archetypes that will awaken the latent psycho –spiritual knowing encoded in our bodyminds and to remember sexuality as divine.

Awakening the Fierce Feminine: Kali

One of the most potent transformative qualities of the sacred feminine is embodied by the Hindu goddess, Kali. In her traditional iconography she carries the sword of truth in one hand and the dismembered head of Shiva, her tantric consort, in the other. This represents her tendency to chop off our heads, cut through our illusions and eliminate our false identities, which were created as a result of past experiences. She is a force that dissolves old thought patterns that have been transplanted by society, media or religion. Her gift is the love, compassion and stillness that is at the heart of her wild dance. Kali reveals to us that something has to die in order for the new to be reborn; she is a creator as much as she is a destroyer.

She sees everything clearly: your beauty, your woundedness, your doubts, your fears, your longing, your goodness, your secrets. She sees it and adores you. She holds you in the light and the dark. She is the sacred feminine incarnate and the force of grace and freedom, embracing all in her fiercely compassionate heart. She

155 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA holds all aspects of us—our shadow, our light. The dance to embody Kali is wild and fearless and I have seen women light-up in full radiant glow when Kali is embodied.

The lineage of Isis

This is the story of Isis and her lineage:

The star people came to earth from Sirius and the Pleiades through the gateways of Atlantis and Lemuria. They wanted to support humanity to awaken their light bodies and spiritually evolve so they transmitted the sexual alchemical keys to women and men, and these women and men became the priests and priestesses of Ancient Egypt, in the lineage of Isis and Horus. Their sacred sexuality teachings were carried across the Mediter- ranean into what is now known as France and England where the priests and priestess of Avalon received the teaching from Magdelene and the daughter she bore from her union with Jeshua, the Christ. This daughter continued the Isis tradition through her bloodline.

Awakening the Tantric Priestess

“A priestess lights the lamp for fellow journeyers so they too can more easily find their direct route to the divine.”

—Ariel Spilsbury

A story that has carved its imprint within the collective sacral chakra psyche occurred on the ancient isle of Avalon. The priest-

156 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS esses of Avalon worked with sexual energy as part of their practices in a time when we still had many siddhis or powers, such as being able to bi-locate and tele-transport ourselves.

The priestesses of Avalon lived in harmony and, though they were not married, they knew the power of sexual energy and community sexual rites were common. Their lovers were a part of this magical order and went off to fight wars with the Tem- plars and the Romans. When they came back from those crusades, they had changed and made the priestesses whores.

Some priestesses believing this lie, and others were raped, tortured and humiliated until their spirits broke. Some were sent into convents to become nuns. These celibate nuns connected to god only from above; denying the way of the priestess, who wor- shipped the earth mother as sacred.

I see that many women who are healers and light-workers still only connect with light from above, but are healing the disconnection from sacred sexuality. Kundalini Dance is a practice that takes us through a process of healing with the masculine and feminine forces of life to recalibrate one’s energy system to receive light from both above and below.

Priestess, Lover, Mother

Some of the old priestesses who chose to be wives believed that, in order to be a wife, they had to disconnect from their priestess power. Now is the time where we can merge the trinity of lover, wife, and mother and rebirth a sacred empowered feminine ar-

157 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA chetype. This archetype is not new: Isis was all three.

One of my clients, a married women with four children felt constant pain in her heart. She is the perfect wife, mother and lover who is a homemaker and caregiver and is married to a doctor. Through our work together she began to remember the divinity at her core again. She held the old beliefs: “I have to sell my soul… I have to give my power away to have love, to have a husband… if I am to serve as priestess I have to give up love… I can’t be in contact with my divinity if I want to have love. I have to give up the sisterhood to have a husband, to be queen.”

When she opened up to embracing the marriage of wife/mother/priestess, she had an incredible experience of energy pouring back into the chakras in her hands. She felt pinned to the table, hands facing up and was overwhelmed with the im- mensity of the energy. “Is it safe?” she asked. I said that yes, it was like all initiations—all codes and keys that she had learned in her past life as a priestess were coming back to her.

Earth Goddess, - Celtic Myth

Another client, who was also a wife and mother, healed a split in her psyche. She has been cut off from the whole feminine side. She has lost touch with the sacred feminine, the priestess archetype. Her sexuality had dried up; her life revolved around work. She cared for her children and loved them, yet felt something was missing.

She knew she was in need of healing, but did not know what was

158 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS missing. All she knew was that she was not whole. Toward the end of the third session, she was overlaid with an embodiment of the earth goddess, an aspect of her higher self. The archetype came through to help her remember how to connect to the earth. It was a delightful sight: I saw leaves wrapping around her, entwining her like a snake. She had the face of a jaguar.

Wise Woman/Crone

Another client, an elder woman, experienced an overlay of the wise woman archetype.

Her sessions began with exploring sexuality as divine energy. I saw Egyptian codes and rainbow matrixes all over her. She was written over with the most exquisite codes of the wise woman, such a stunning, graceful embodiment of the elder priestess.

Sacral Shamanic Journey

This is what my student Sarah wrote about her Kundalini Dance sacral session:

“I started in a posture that had me bent back almost to the ground. I begin to experience this energy pulsing through my sacral solar area and a realization that I had given my permission to a darker force to enter into me, to use my tantric sexual energy for their purpose, which I believed at that time was for the service of humanity. I soon realised that the power that was tapping into me was using my energy for their own personal gain.

I tried to pull back when I begun to see that I was being

159 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA used for something darker, but I got the feeling and visuals that I had pre-signed a contract of sorts. It apparently gave them access to my creative force, my sexual cultivated power that was being transmuted and channelled for a dark purpose.

I tried to open my heart to the light, one true pure essence, source. However every time I attempted to break free from the chains of the sucking dark force, I would be energetically attacked, stabbing and burning electrical pulses that were directed right to my sacral chakra. It was as though they had these invisible chords plugged into me and they could zap me anytime I tried to step out of line or breach the contract.

At this point I went through an almost acceptance, to be part of the dark side but in the process I was going crazy because I knew in my heart that, in truth, they didn’t really have power over light true pure essence source.

So I consciously choose to be in service to humanity when I was connected back to the light. I vowed to become re- purified to what I was originally created to be. I became humbled and in service to use my sexual and creative energy not for my own purpose, but a sort of spiritual artistry for greatness to come about on earth as it is in heaven and for our pure essence to be the doorway into the next phase.

The beginning never the end.”

—Sarah Fletcher, written during the

160 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS 2008 Kundalini Dance Facilitator Training in Wisemans Ferry, Australia

I have held space for deep healing for other women who have felt the same, some feeling like their ovaries have been chorded and their sexual life force siphoned off. When what has been unconscious becomes conscious, the agreement ends and we are free.

Releasing old contracts

It is important to release old contracts to reclaim our sexual power as our own. Below is one of the tools I find affective for the release of old contracts and agreements.

In the name of the light, with the angels and guides as my witness, I now make nullified and void any contracts or agreements I ever made in this life or any life, in this dimension or any dimension, where I gave permission for any forces that are not of the light to work with me or through me in any way.

I reclaim my sexual power as my own.

I align myself with the light and only the light and offer any positive energy or ecstasies that I generate for the awakening of humanity and the earth.

Repeat 3X.

Co-creating the new myth

When I channel my sexual energy through my body it literally lights me up. It feels luminous and golden, and it takes me to a 161 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA place of deep inner stillness where my consciousness begins to expand and my attention becomes centered in the place within me that is always awake and connected to the greater creative field of life. There is no thought, no mind, no should or shouldn’t. It’s a place of pure presence.

When I channel my sexual energy through my body, I feel it re- laxes my muscles. I connect to the potential of my life and the greater field of life I share with my culture with all of humanity.

Tantric keys are a crucial next step for humanity’s evolution. The majority of people from teens to late their sixties are sexually active. Just imagine if they all began to cultivate and contain their sexual energy and channel it up to the higher chakras. This would open so many to deeper connectivity and richer relationships. When sexual energy awakens higher consciousness, creativity and passion serve the flourishing of humanity.

The Evolutionary Impulse of Life

“A meme, like a gene, creates a body, a specific body. A meme is an idea that when you hold it in our mind collectively, not just one person, but a culture, it creates the culture. Many of the memes of modern society are failing. Of global corporations, of even liberal democracy becoming so oppositional, of organized religion, of aca- demic institutions - structurally, they are not able to handle what is emergent. So, there are new memes everywhere, new idea-forms.”

—Barbara Marx Hubbard

162 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS So let’s explore some of the foundational insights, and ideas that have come from visionaries, meme-makers17, sages and mystics that are shaping our ever-unfolding understanding of humanity’s evolutionary process.

One of the most influential evolutionary meme-makers of all time is Sri Aurobindo. A great meme from Aurobindo is: “Con- sciousness is supreme reality.” He reflects on the nature of God (the divine) as “pure being, pure presence, silence, eternal unchanging.” Another great meme from Aurobindo is that another aspect of the divine is “consciousness force, dynamic will, supreme intelligence, supra-mental.” This consciousness force is the evolutionary impulse of creation that is within us. He teaches that evolution is actually an expression of the consciousness force that animates everything, including ourselves.

What we know from the materialistic scientific neo-Darwinian perspective is that there is nothing but chance. There is no pattern; there is no direction; there is no meaning; there is no higher form. That’s one view. The spiritual perspective is totally opposite. From an evolutionary perspective there is consciousness force with direction, animating everything and every one of us. It has an agenda that is consciously going somewhere. This is what is being called the evolutionary impulse of life.

17 A meme is an idea that is born from an individual. At a certain point the concept or idea is suddenly embraced by a large part of the collective consciousness and becomes apart of our cultural awareness. 163 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA The great evolutionary sages, mystics and saints have all foreseen a new template being birthed in the human species. Some have called it homo universalis, homo luminous and, currently, homo transitionalis.18 We are transitioning from one stage to the next. We are in the chrysalis, in a process of metamorphosis. We are emergent.

Another great meme-master, Ervin Laszlo wrote in his book, Chaos Point 2012 and Beyond, that we are currently going through a chaos window and that there is an emergent structure that we are moving towards:

“A chaos point in turn is the crucial kicking point in the evolution of a system in which trends that have brought the system into its present state break down, and it can no longer return to its prior states and modes of behavior. It is launched irreversibly on a new trajectory that leads either to breakdown or to breakthrough to a new structure and a new mode of operation.”

Yet another incredible visionary and futurist, Barbara Marx Hubbard, loves to use the metaphor of the chrysalis to describe our current process of rebirth. Barbara so eloquently describes that our true heart’s desire is how evolution creates new structures through us:

18 Alan Lithman an evolutionary from Auroville, India, coined the term homo transitionalis: “The transitional human which this evolutionary agenda has called Homo transitionalis represents the first attempt by an earth based species in 13.7 billion years of evolutionary time, to consciously will its own mutation.” 164 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS “The heart’s desire is the actual consciousness force incarnated in each of us as our unique expression of the Divine. We have to realize that our heart’s desire is moving us right into our part in the earthly chrysalis.”

—Barbara Marx Hubbard

Our true inner being is always in direct communion with the higher consciousness of the creative impulse of life. God/spirit is not a parent in the sky that we beg to help us when we are des- perate, but is an actual evolutionary impulse that is already existing within us and that is longing to express itself through us, through our heart’s desires. The Latin root word of desire means: to await that which the stars shall bring, it is an attunement to that which is our destiny to express, that which is our birthright to experience, it is that which we are designed to create and contribute.

As you align to the part of yourself that is already awakened, that is already free, that is already connected to the creative impulse of life, you open up the vast potential of creative possibility for your own life. As you awaken to that creative possibility, you also contribute to the larger evolutionary unfolding of our shared humanity. The very heart of the evolutionary impulse is spirit- in-action. You are here as a pioneer of the evolutionary impulse of life, you are on the leading edge of human consciousness awakening to itself. So let’s take radical responsibility for our own lives and co-create with the evolutionary impulse of life.

165 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA Visioning practice: Co-create our future

Connect sexual energy up. Invite yourself to open to your deep heart’s desires. Open to the potential of your life, the knowing that rests deeper than mind, a deep knowing in your body and heart. Connect into the seed of pure creative potential that your heart desires to express through your life. Enter the realm of your imagination. Place your attention on the part of yourself that is awake and free and whole and interconnected with the creative impulse of life. That part of you knows there is so much more to explore, to express, to create. Align with that part of you that is motivated to participate and contribute to the evolutionary process of humanity. Align into the place of limitless possibility for your life, for all of humanity, for sexual expression and relationships. Open to the highest possibility for the expression of intimacy, sensuality and creative expression in your life and feel what that feels like in your body.

- What is your deepest heart’s desire?

- What creative seed wants to express through you?

- What do you most deeply desire to experience in your life, the thing that matters most?

- What does your deepest heart long to create and offer to life?

- What is life wanting to birth though you?

Now allow your self to free write and express your self uncensored. This is for you and the divine only to witness at this time.

166 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

Sacred Alchemical Sacral Chakra Dance: The Practice

The sacral chakra dance embodies the essence of Tantra: to cultivate sexual energy and raise it up through the higher chakras to activate higher consciousness and healing. This tantric dance doesn’t require a lover to experience a full body orgasm. We self- generate our own Shakti in the dance. Tantric dance can be a direct route to the divine, we just need to get the ego out of the way, put it on the fire of shakti kundalini and surrender our bodies open.

Sexual energy is one of the great paradoxes of life; it can keep us furthest away from our divinity or can bring us the closest to it.

Phase One – Breathe and set an intention

• As always begin your dance by grounding down and connecting into the earth’s kundalini core. On the exhale relax your perineum, your jaw and bend your knees.

• Create and intention to open to the Divine Feminine energies of the earth and breath the earth energies up into your thymus heart center. Now open to the Divine Mas- culine energies of the sun and breathe the light through the back of your heart center. Opening to the flows of creation.

• Set an intention for a full circle sacred alchemical dance 167 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA of your sacral chakra. If there are any issues that you would like to transform, or clarity you would like to receive in your dance, include that in your intention.

Music Suggestion for phase one:

Unmade Sound, Anahata, Moments

Phase two : Warm up your physical body

The physical body parts related to the sacral chakra are the hips, the pelvis, the womb, your lower belly, your sexual organs. Focus on these parts of your body as you allow your self to spontaneously dance your self open.

• Move to loosen your hips and your spine, trust that your body knows what it needs to do to open.

• We can also explore opening the hips and pelvis with our Shakti Yoga Sequence. (see Kundalini Dance website)

Music Suggestion for phase two:

Toires, Dakini Lounge, Prem Josh Remixes, Lahore Connection

Desert Dwellers, Down Temple Dub, New Generation) Kama Sutra Mix

Phase three: Shakti Cross-breaths ~ The activation

We generate fire and build energy in the pelvic bowl area with shakti cross-breaths:

• Draw feminine energy into the center of the left foot then up the inner meridians of the left leg, into the gon-

168 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS ads or ovaries and the sacral chakra.

• Draw masculine energy into the chakra in the center of the right foot then up the inner meridians of the right leg, into the gonads or ovaries and into the sacral chakra.

• Use the fire breath to deepen your rhythmic trance.

• Repeat the Shakti cross-breaths to keep building energy in the sacral chakra.

• After charging up, release the energy by shaking, free- dancing, sounding out… mhmh… ooohaahhh… mhmh… oohhaahh.

Music Suggestion for phase three:

Beats Antique, Blind Threshhold, Spiderbite

Outersect, Acid Crunk 3 –EP, Ikodia

Phase four: Elemental dance of water

The dance of the second chakra is like water; you enter in through a liquid flowing dance. It can be like moving through honey or heavy cream. As pranic breathwork activates the chakra, the whole body becomes more sensual, more soft and more fluid. We move this energy around and release the tension that builds up. We need to slow down in order to access the cellular information in our sacral chakras and come into our flowing dance.

As you breathe in and as you breathe out, a wave ripples through the inside of your body. Go with it, dance with it. In the dance

169 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA of the second chakra there are no more edges, only circles, spirals and waves. Hips and pelvis circle and spiral creating waves of sexual energy that open up your whole body, releasing stress and tension, letting your feelings flow.

Explore water in different ways. Stay in one place and move all the body parts like a wave. Or move all around the dance floor like a flowing river, letting the current move you. Surrender your entire body to its flow. It is really amazing to experience the li- quidity of the body.

Music Suggestion for phase four:

Kaya Project, Desert Phase, Eye of the Storm( feat.Omar Faruk Tekbilek)

Phase five: An invocation to the kundalini earth serpent

To invoke the kundalini earth serpent, say the following: “Mama Gaia, Shakti ma, serpentine love divine, we call you to rise up through us… purify us... set us free that we may dance as one in ecstasy.”

Call her up, dance her up, raise her up with your breath. Surren- der to the wave of kundalini energy rising up your undulating spine, traveling on the current of your breath, let her cleanse you, let her flowing rhythm open you and she will take you on a journey into ecstasy.

Music Suggestion for phase five:

Beats Antique, Tribal Derivations, Battle

170 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Phase six: Tantric purification breath

Here are the steps for the tantric purification breath:

• Build energy again with the cross-breaths.

• When there is enough heat, begin sipping breath softly and sensually in and out through your mouth, breathing deep full breaths into your lower abdomen.

• Raise earth energy up through your central channel and out through your sex chakra (also known as your hara or dan tien) located four fingers below your belly button. Every inhalation increases the energy flow, regenerating your vital sexual organs. Every exhalation is a purification, clearing dysfunctional behaviours and beliefs that may be causing an imbalance in the energy flow of your sex chakra.

• Place your palms on the front and back of your second chakra. Charge up that area with energy drawn up from the earth. Sip it up to the sacral chakra. Draw energy through base chakra and up to the sex chakra. When we take the energy right up through the central channel like this, it is a potent way to clear the four layers of the energy field.

• Tone with the sound ‘o’ as in ocean.

Phase seven: The purification ~ Shadow dance

“whoever finds love beneath hurt and grief

171 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA disappears into emptiness with a thousand new disguises…” —Rumi

Allow yourself to explore the darker side of your sexual energies without judgment—giving yourself the space to feel and explore the whore, the vixen, the aspects of you that you have denied or suppressed. Find your inner Kali: the dark mother, the destroyer, the one who wants to slay the ego that is trapped in the pain of the past, looping again and again. Let the shadow come out of the closet and be brought into the light of your awareness. Allow yourself to express the emotions that have been stored in the organs of your sacral chakra. Let yourself be witnessed there and loved unconditionally. Develop your inner witness, and see how the ability to witness can create change. Be the eye of the storm, watching but not identifying with passing emotional currents that flow through you. These emotions need to be felt, in order to be freed.

Music Suggestion for phase seven:

Jeff Stott, David Star Fire Remix, Faquir,

Phase eight: The power of sound

Allow yourself to drop into the emotional energy held in the organs related to the sacral chakra. We hold emotions in the wildest places so if you are a woman tune in to your ovaries, your womb, your sexual organs, your labia, your pubic bone. If you are a man tune into your sexual reproductive organs and your gon-

172 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS ads. Also tune into what has been held in the emotional body. Get in touch with the sound that naturally wants to be expressed… dare to make that sound. Allow the core sound signature to emerge from the emotion. Remember that Kundalini Dance ceremonies are non-ordinary social situations and anything is allowed. Explore shamanic vocalizations—yelling, laughing, grunting, groaning, screaming, toning or making resonant sounds are all okay.

Whatever your sound is, allow the emotion to express itself in its original innocence, without forcing it to be anything in particular. This will actually clear emotional energy from your energy field. Stay authentic and connected to your core sound, which will be very different from anyone else’s. Try to avoid “mimick- ing” or finding safety in the group sound phenomena. Be true to finding your unique core emotional sound.

Music Suggestion for phase eight:

Kaya Project, Desert Phase, Eye of the Storm (Chaos By Design Remix)

Phase nine: Ecstatic celebration

Ecstasy feels like pure cellular bliss, it is the embodiment of love in every cell. Ecstasy is an egoless state of no-mind, where our inherent dilemma of separation dissolves and we feel at one with the whole universe. When we are ecstatic, we are unified in our body, mind, heart and soul. When we are ecstatic there is no split, no fear, no duality. We are taken out of the confines of

173 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA egoic mind into a higher perspective based in universal love. Ec- stasy occurs when the being is empty, when the purification has happened. It brings us back to the present moment, where love and oneness reign.

Here are the steps for the ecstatic alchemy dance:

• Breathe with a soft sipping breath, beginning to raise the energy you have been generating in the sacral chakra to your heart chakra. Initially you may need to take many short breaths if you have been dancing hard and are slightly out of breath. Short panting sipping breaths also support the heart to open. When the sexual energy merges with the heart we move beyond localized pleasure into full-bodied ecstatic orgasm and our sexual energy becomes a gateway to oneness.

• As you feel the heart open, begin to slow down your breath softly and sensually, breathing in and out through your mouth. You can use the shakti cross-breaths to raise the energy into your heart.

• Sound-out oooohhhhh, ahhhhhh…

Music Suggestion for phase nine:

Kaya Project, Elixer, Salaam

Phase ten: Opening to the light ~ Shakti meets Shiva

Once you have raised the sexual energy to your heart chakra, move it out through the four layers of your heart chakra, out to

174 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS the spirit body layer and all the way up to source, travelling through the spirit body layer of your energy field and through the golden gate of your crown chakra. See golden light, feel joy and the gift of an ecstatic full-body orgasm.

Staying connected to your soft, fluid feminine body, ride the current of your breath and the waves of light to connect with source.

Take postures in your dance that reflect your intention to open up to divine consciousness (otherwise known as the Divine Mas- culine, source, the heavenly father, the sun, Ra, Shiva, etc.).

Music Suggestion for phase ten:

Kaya Project Oblique Industries, Desert Phase Remixes, Desert Child ( Oblique Industries Remix)

Kaya Project Tripswitch, Desert Phase Remixes, When Only Sand Remains ( Tripswitch Remix)

Phase eleven: Downflow ~ Balance and integration

When you have connected through your crown up to source you will feel it. For me it feels like pure bliss, my mind is silent. Ec- stasy tingles through every cell. I am “in the gold.” The intention here is to open our inner channel to allow the source energy to flow down through our central tube and then out through the sexual chakra, thereby lifting the vibration of the chakra into resonance with source and reprogramming it with a divine blueprint.

Often people in spiritual practices love the gold and fly out of

175 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA their bodies because they want to stay in a state of spiritual bliss. This practice is to do both. Fly out and then anchor the gold by bringing it back down through the central energy channel and out through the four layers of the chakra.

Drop into a rhythm with the downflow—opening to source light then channeling source back down and out through your sacral chakra. Allow the light of source to lift the vibration of any density, alchemizing it into gold.

Music Suggestion for phase eleven:

Adam Shaikh, Arcana, Satori

Phase twelve: Solar alchemical breaths

The alchemical breath begins at the solar plexus:

• Lift the vibration of your solar plexus into ecstatic resonance with creation by aligning personal power with source. Breathe the love of the mother (ma) and the divine consciousness of the father (ra) simultaneously into your sacral chakra.

• State this intention:

• “I open to allow the tantric union of the divine mother and the divine father in my solar plexus chakra. I open to new paradigm sacred sexuality and the highest expression of my creative energy to be birthed through me now.”

• Take three alchemical breaths into the front of your sacral chakra, moving divine ecstatic energy through all

176 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS four layers of your energy field. Visualize the tube torus 19 of the chakra to link the front and back of the chakra.

• Next, take three breaths into the back of your sacral chakra. Move divine ecstatic energy through all four layers of your energy field. Visualize the tube torus of the chakra linking front and back.

• Move the energy through the front and back of your chakra like this at your own pace until you feel the ecstatic currents lift the vibration of your energy field.

• Seal the chakra with the yantra of the flower of life, imprinting the chakra with the codes of creation. Chanting “ra ma ra ma ra ma” to seal.

Phase thirteen: Sacral alchemical breaths

To lift the vibration of your sacral chakra into ecstatic resonance with creation and personal power following these steps:

Breathe the love of life of the mother (ma) and the divine consciousness of the father (ra) simultaneously into your sacral chakra.

State the intention: “I open to allow the tantric union of divine mother and divine

19 The Tube Torus is basic in the study of Vortex formations and used to describe the inherent pattern is subtle energy phenomena. Modern seers such as Barbara Ann Brennan have confirmed that each “chakra” is shaped like a two-ended trumpet, and this is a visualization of where each spherical torus or energy body has its axis. See also Dan Winter for images and descriptions of the tube torus. 177 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA father in my sacral chakra, opening to the highest expression of sacred sexuality and creative energy to be birthed through me at this time.”

Take three alchemical breaths into the front of your sacral chakra. Intend the energy to move through all four layers of your energy field. Visualize the tube torus of the chakra linking front and back of the chakra.

Then take three breaths into the back of your sacral chakra. In- tend the energy to move through all four layers of your energy field. Visualize the tube torus of the chakra linking front and back.

Move the energy through like this at your own pace until you feel the ecstatic currents of creation up lift the vibration of your energy field.

Seal with the yantra of the flower of life20 and imprint the chakra with the codes of creation. Chant “ra ma ra ma ra ma” to seal.

Music Suggestions for Phase thirteen:

Jonathan Goldman, Chakra chants 2, Waters of Life/Sacral

20 The Flower of Life is the modern name given to sacred geometrical pattern com- posed of multiple evenly-spaced, overlapping circles. They are arranged to form a flower-like pattern with a six-fold symmetry. The centre of each circle is on the cir- cumference of six surrounding circles of the same diameter. It is also known as the matrix of creation believed to contain a type of Akashic record of basic information of all living things. For more information, please see the work of Drunvalo Melchizedek and Gregg Braden. 178 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Phase fourteen: Solar alignment ~ Mental body layer

Gently lay your hands in the triangular mudra over the front of your sacral chakra, opening to the downflow, absorbing the light of the sun.

State the following affirmations:

I open myself as a receptive vessel for the creative currents of source to flow through me.

I honour my sexuality as sacred and as a vehicle for higher consciousness.

I know and trust it is safe for me to embody and receive the wisdom of the Divine Feminine.

It is safe for me to embody the ancient feminine wisdom that resides within me and it is safe for me to openly act upon that knowing to serve the highest good.

I embrace my feminine power as love.

I open to the wisdom of the priestess within me and I remember it is safe to express my wisdom-body openly.

As I commune with the alchemical element of water, may my emotional body be purified and balanced as love.

This sacred day, with every breath I take, I allow the tantric union of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine to marry within me.

I am one. I am whole.

179 AWAKENING CREATIVITY: THE SACRAL CHAKRA

Sacral chakra: Written dance of awareness

Re-create your inner myth ~ Creativity

Reflect upon your creative energy and how it is expressed, anchor into the super-conscious mind and allow your creative vision to unfold. How does your creative energy want to express itself? What is your highest vision for your creative self-expression. Do not hold back, be bold, be brave. Unleash the power of creative shakti within and let her speak through you unimpeded. The creative evolutionary impulse of life is expressing its longing by sparking your deepest desires. Feel into your body, your belly, your heart.

What creative seed is wanting to express through you?

What is your deepest and wildest dream wanting to be made manifest through you that will serve the evolution of the whole?

Subliminal realms: Drop into the deep subconscious

Allow the imagery of the sacral chakra to dance through your pen. Break the rules, let go of being perfect or even making sense, allow yourself to write uncensored, give us the sauce, be as xxx-rated as you please. Write for nobody’s eyes but your own. Free-write without allowing your pen to stop for seven minutes, pouring forth whatever imagery, feelings and thoughts that came through during and after your dance. Take risks and go where 180 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS you haven’t been before. Bypass the conscious mind and begin to open the gateway to your unconscious.

While writing continue to breathe presence back into the your pelvis, your hips, your labia. Let your yoni, your lingam, your womb and your pubic bone speak—you'll be surprised what they say! Very revealing... oohhh la la!

Sacred Union

What is the new myth around sacred sexual relationships that wants to be birthed through you? What is your deeper heart/womb longing to experience inside the possibility for sacred sexual relationships? Spend some time in the feeling of what you most long to attract and embody in your life. Then write to crystalize and be witnessed in the highest possibility for your life.

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CHAPTER THREE Awakening Power: The Solar Plexus Chakra

Co creating new paradigms of power

May the fire within me burn awakening the courage to be me— untamed wild sacred flame blessed be Uncensored expression so free: Ho! Ha! Time to go far! Passionately directed. May I be a channel for the light of the sun May the creative expression of the divine pour through me I am your vessel for creation here expressing, spontaneous and free ego tamed by flames that burned me again and again my longing to live in the ocean I am your servant Have your way with me

183 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA May your will be done through me May my every action be a reflection of your will done through me AH HO

184 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

Dancing the Solar Plexus Awake

Inner Fire: Personal Power

Our solar plexus gives us the drive and the stamina to get things done; it is the centre of our will, our fire, our inner sun. It is the flame that fuels our inspiration and brings our creative energy to fruition. It’s the voice in our bellies that says, “Yes!” to life. It’s the power in our bellies that says, “No!” when we need to say no. It’s the power within that says, “I trust my way and I follow my spontaneous creative urges and see them through to manifestation”.

The solar plexus is intrinsically linked to our sense of personal power. It is where we carry our sense of self-worth and self- esteem. The solar plexus gives us the courage to set healthy boundaries and to communicate from our center, which means to express our truth without fear of the other person’s response. Its energy helps us to be self-respecting, decisive and confident.

When our solar plexus is “awake” (i.e. aligned, balanced, clear), we are connected to our gut intuition and act upon it. We know what feels right and we know what doesn’t and we trust what we feel. We know where we are going, and we get there.

Our solar plexus fuels us with the joy of giving, contributing and offering our gifts to others. Our true power flows when allow the creative impulse of life to infuse our actions with love.

185 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA What the dance looks like

Dancing the solar plexus chakra awake is a dynamic, invigorating experience. It is one of my favourite chakras to dance! You can’t go half-way and there is no way to fake it. Be electric and high- powered. When the inner fire ignites, we switch on the confidence to be ourselves and dance our own dance. Take your space and go for it! After just a few solar plexus breaths, suddenly everyone comes out! Eyes shine and dancers move around the space strutting their stuff like divas on a catwalk. Dancing in a room with people exploring the solar plexus chakra is like a wild Saturday night out—sometimes I look around and wonder if someone passed around a bottle of tequila when I wasn’t looking.

Because the solar plexus is connected to the element fire, the energy is sunny, warm and vibrant when it’s switched on. The solar plexus on fire wants to express itself through the body as direct, “masculine” lines and angles—we take our space and move with a strong sense of direction. We focus our power and take action. With feet firmly planted, we know where we are going, we know what we want and we put our foot on the solar pedal until we get there!

When we activate the solar plexus we become enthusiastic, pro- ductive and dance our vision awake. We become fearless warriors of love with the courage to stand up for ourselves and what we believe in. We are ready to participate in the global revolution. Activists, reformers and rebels all have a good dose of solar plex-

186 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS us fire.

The energy of the solar plexus gives us the fire to manifest the grounded, focused energy of the root chakra and the inspiration of the second chakra. The solar plexus gives us energy to manifest our creative impulses.

Our evolutionary work with the solar plexus chakra is to link it to the heart and learn the right use of our will. Are we motivated into action by an egoic desire for approval, or for recognition through what we have and/or what we do? Or are we motivated to serve the flourishing of humanity?

Solar plexus developmental stage

The developmental phase for the solar plexus is between one- and-a-half to three years old. If our spontaneous impulses or emotional expressions were somehow “made wrong” or blocked in this phase of childhood, our solar plexus chakra becomes imprinted with fear, we mistrust and suppress our creative impulses and we disconnect from our inner-knowing.

This phase of solar plexus development has become known as “the terrible twos.” It is the stage when children explore their right to say “No!” and to communicate what they want. One of the greatest gifts conscious parents and guardians can give a child is to support their sons and daughters to trust themselves and trust what feels right, to give them the space to express their ‘no’ with our support and protection.

The third chakra stage of individuation is where we learn to trust

187 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA the voice of our inner spirit. Here we become the rebel and break away from our internalized parents and the “shoulds” of the socially acceptable norms. Freedom in the third chakra is found when we embrace and accept ourselves as we are now and allow our true nature to guide our actions and the course of our lives. In this way we align our personal will with the divine focus of creation.

If a parent is threatened because their sweet baby has suddenly turned into Genghis Khan and they inappropriately respond with too much control, for example: “Jimmy, you are going to eat papaya whether or not you want to because I am your mother and I know what’s best for you,” and our “no” is undermined, this can manifest in adulthood as passive aggressive behavior— someone who is stuck in an undercurrent of “no.” For example, you might ask this adult to do something and they do it with re- sent, or they constantly struggle for personal power in relationships, groups and at work.

The push and pull game In this developmental stage of the solar plexus, children will push you away and then test to see if you still love them, playing around with their new-found sense of independence and boundaries. If someone in this developmental stage was not allowed to say no with the support of their parents, they may continue to play the push-and-pull game either consciously or unconsciously in their adult relationships.

When someone is not given the space to experience and act out

188 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS the developmental stages, they can continually loop in them as an adult until they find an appropriate container to move through them. This can be done in a conscious relationship if the partner can hold the space for the “no” and the push-and-pull game. Someone with a developmentally unintegrated solar plexus will push you away then want you to look them in the eye and push back. If, instead, you get hurt, take it personally and believe that they do not love you, the relationship probably won’t last. If you can hold the space for this push-and-pull playfully, with a smile and still hold them in unconditional love, then they will trust you and release the control game, surrendering into the love relationship.

The body parts connected to the solar plexus

On a physical level, the solar plexus is connected to the digestive system and governs our metabolism. It is our belly chakra. It’s amazing to feel how much emotion is held in the belly. Nausea is emotion that we don’t want to express—emotion that is repressed. We have all felt the butterflies we get in the stomach when we have performance anxiety or think: “will they love and approve of me?” or “will I get the job?” Unexpressed anger can feel like a quivering volcano ready to burst in the belly.

Emotional body memories

The solar plexus is the seat of the emotional body. The memories stored the third chakra are connected to intense emotions like rage and vulnerability, and to intense experiences like vio- lence, abuse and domination. If someone is dealing with issues 189 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA surrounding the abuse of power, they will often oscillate between the roles of victim and abuser.

Our solar plexus is where we energetically and emotionally attach to people who give us a sense of security (mothers, fathers, lovers or partners). The first person we attach to is our mother, then our best friends and our lovers. If we feel that those connections or our safety is being threatened this chakra goes into a panic and you may get “butterflies” in your stomach.

The weak solar plexus

When we are submissive to other people, the energy from this centre becomes weak and we find ourselves disempowered. The classic yes-man or yes-woman has a smile mask on even when it feels wrong. They are so consumed with needing to be liked that they forget to take care of their own needs.

The balanced solar plexus

When this centre is balanced, we can have satisfying and healthy relationships because we are relating from a strong sense of who we are and we do not give our power away. When we are in our power we accept our value, knowing that we truly deserve the best for ourselves, we invite people into our lives who show us kindness and respect. We know how to say no and express our boundaries when we are in unhealthy relational dynamics. We remember how to walk away when something doesn’t feel right. We learn true honest friendship is to “say it like it is” and not to tell our friends what they want to hear. When we are balanced in

190 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS our solar plexus, we know we are whole.

Explore the withheld “no”

For yes-people who have held back on saying no and who allowed themselves to be walked all over to be liked or for fear of losing their your job, I invite those dancers to explore the withheld “no” in their trance dance. The energy in the room becomes very intense.

Expressing the withheld no makes so much more space for a “yes” to life! If it feels right, give it a try and explore the withheld no.

Breathe in through the nose twice and out through the mouth. Make strong angular directional movements and use your feet to explore all four corners of the room. On every out breath say NO! Allow the sound of your NO to come right from your power center. Allow your inner fire to rise and purify all the ways you gave away your power or allowed your boundaries to be crossed, in order to be loved or liked.

Afterward, raise the energy up to the heart and forgive yourself or whomever you need to forgive. Embrace everything in love and acceptance. Have compassion for yourself and move on.

The overactive solar plexus

When the solar plexus centre is overactive we witness ourselves emotionally manipulating people for fear of loosing control. We want to possess and to hold on. Our sense of self-esteem is based on what we have and what we own. We want to amass things to make us feel powerful—friends, partners, properties, cars—the

191 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA list is endless when the desire-body takes over. We say: “I will be happy and satisfied with my life when I have…” We become driven by our ego’s desires and what we believe perfect beauty should look like.

We are driven by ideas of perfection: we will be happy when we have more money, or when our bodies are slimmer or more muscular. We discipline ourselves to achieve and we control what we allow in. We don’t eat dairy and we don’t eat fat and we go the gym every day after work. Discipline can be a good thing—we need it to achieve and manifest our vision—but too much control creates a cage built by “should,” and perfectionism is a prison for creativity and spontaneity. The worst aspect of discipline is the self-imposed guilt when we don’t live up to our all-too-high ex- pectations.

The immature masculine solar plexus

The immature masculine expressed through the solar plexus is a very driven energy, seen when we push through against all odds with stubborn willpower. It can be very ego-centered in spiritually immature people who are still in the first phase of solar plexus development, which is characterized by thoughts like: “I am because I can control my reality. I am because I do. I am because I have.” When people are centered in this kind of power they become controlling, dominating and competitive.

If this kind of power is seen in a woman, she will be a controlling mother or partner or a competitive business women who works overtime and is driven to succeed because this is how she 192 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS measures her self-worth.

The Divine Masculine solar plexus

When the Divine Masculine expresses through the solar plexus, our actions become imbued with love and integrity, in humble service for the good of all life. As we mature spiritually and integrate divine love we become less “I” centred and more “we” centred. We offer our vessel, our instrument as a medium for divine will to create more beauty and love for the good of all. The more we allow ourselves to feel and let go of old wounds and emotions that have been held in the solar plexus, the more space we create for divine light to enter. This is the highest initiation of the solar plexus chakra. As Jesus taught, “Lord let thy will be done through me, let me be an instrument of thy peace.”

The immature feminine solar plexus

The immature feminine is emotionally needy and sources her power from others. She seeks recognition and approval from others to feel a sense of inner value or worth. She is in a consistent state of anxiety around who does or doesn’t like her and who is or isn’t giving her energy or attention. She sources her false power outside of her self. She is needy and clingy in her relationships and behaves in ways she thinks she has to in order to be liked or loved. She is disconnected from her inner knowing and unable to make clear decisions for herself.

The Divine Feminine solar plexus

The Divine Feminine radiates love through the solar plexus and

193 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA heart centres and draws to her that which is the heart’s deepest desire. When the Divine Feminine flows through our solar plexus we trust our feelings and express our vulnerability freely and openly, knowing that the more we let go, the more divine love can flow into and through us. She gives her love and care freely. She knows and remembers how to take care of her own emotional needs as well as surrender and be taken care of. She is that part of us that knows how to surrender to the imperfection, the one who accepts and embraces her neurotic girlfriend, the mother who can sit in the centre and allow the children to play with her even though she has a lot to do. This feminine essence finds a centre in the chaos. She can multitask, let plans fall apart and be open to what is being dished up onto her plate in a given moment.

Balancing the masculine and feminine energies

In the Kundalini Dance practice, our dance becomes a prayer, an invitation for the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine to fill us with divine love. We invite the Divine Feminine / mother/ goddess to support us to feel whatever has been blocking our soul’s light and taking our power. We invite the Divine Feminine to support us to clear any wounds, to feel any suppressed feelings. We dance to open, to feel, to let go. And when we let go, we create space to receive the love of the Divine Masculine /the father/god. We dance and pray to receive his divine love.

When the feminine, yielding, open, feeling, receptive energy is

194 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS in equal flow with the masculine, solar, outwardly manifesting creative energy, they ecstatically merge and that brings balance to our power center. As the vibration of our solar plexus is lifted through the alchemical merging of the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine, it awakens new evolutionary pathways and new ways of being that are aligned in love and higher consciousness.

As we allow the unification of the Divine Feminine and the Masculine in our solar plexus chakra we begin to allow divine will to work through us and understand that true power is love in action.

The new paradigm of power

In Kundalini Dance we explore what it feels like to allow our solar plexus to express feminine energy. By balancing masculine and feminine energies in solar plexus, we become more magnetic and can manifest our heart’s desires in a soft, receptive way.

In our dance practice, we explore what it feels like to surrender and allow our solar plexus to be a vessel of expression for divine love. Which requires us to move our personal will out of the way so that the gentle power of the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine can express through us into the world. Many great artists have talked about this state—where they relinquish their ego so true creative impulse can flow through them.

True power is found in surrender and willingness to open to di-

195 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA vine love. Then we begin to radiate love through our power centre and this love dissolves our pain. We remember we don’t need to control our reality to stay safe. We remember that it is safe to feel, we remember that it is safe to love. We live more authentically, connected to our inner needs and spontaneous creative impulses. Emotional purification

As mentioned previously, our solar plexus is connected to our emotional body and the key to a balanced solar plexus is emotional purification. Balancing the solar plexus chakra is essential for maintaining a healthy metabolism and the distribution of energy throughout the body. A healthy solar plexus chakra enables us to chart the course of our lives with a balance of appropriate discipline and freedom. When our solar plexus is in balance we are in our power, fulfilling our purpose and choosing relationships that nurture heart, mind and soul.

How to bring balance to an underactive solar plexus

An underactive third chakra is energetically depleted, overly emotional, and needs to be rekindled like a fire that’s gone out. A person with an underactive solar plexus holds in their emotions and does not express their needs or emotions. It is like living in stagnant muddy water. To bring balance, rhythmically breathe into your solar plexus at a tempo that meets your current energy level. Continue to build your tempo gradually. Pumping air in the belly will stoke the fire that’s there and build the energy level. Building that fire promotes the flow of emotions; gradually

196 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS the murky pond will become crystal clear.

How to bring balance to an overactive solar plexus

A person with an overactive solar plexus has a tendency to abuse power to compensate for low self-esteem. They will often be in a flurry of activity, attempting to gain self-worth through ego- oriented action.

There are two types of overactivity: 1) Energy may build up if the chakra is blocked because of a lack of emotional expression in which case you would need to find a safe container for conscious emotional expression to discharge the energy through the sacral and heart chakras. 2) The second type of overactive energy manifests as a driving outward force that can be overly dominating, aggressive and obsessive. In this case one would create balance by discharging the energy throughout the whole chakra system, particularly the heart and the base chakra. This type of person is avoiding feeling by keeping overly active and would benefit by sitting still and being present with the emotions that come.

Clearing the power chakra & the adrenals

The solar plexus chakra governs the area of personal power and strongly influences the adrenal glands, which are associated with stress. When we’re overly stressed, the adrenals break down and cannot function. People often experience the most stress when they feel powerless in their lives so emotionally clearing the third chakra can heal adrenal autoimmune functioning and help us to feel powerful again.

197 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA Solar plexus chakra personas

Here are some fictional characters to illustrate how balanced, overactive and underactive root chakras affect a person’s personality.

David (overactive solar plexus)

David’s behaviour is predominately determined by an overactive solar plexus. The fire in him never stops burning and his core energy is strong. He is highly energetic, always switched on, an Aries fire horse, a powerhouse, a powerful manifester.

He looks like a sun god: he’s tall with a strong muscular build, electric blue eyes and fiery red hair. His skin is dry, he had a ruddy complexion, his lips are parched from an internal fire that never goes out. His voice is loud and he com- mands attention wherever he goes.

He drives a sports car. He drives fast, talks fast and walks fast. He is an Alpha male and his presence dominates any space, but he dominates it like the sun—joyously, bringing life and laughter wherever he goes.

He walks into his favourite restaurants and bars with an au- thoritative stride, he moves with a sense of pride, he is up- wardly mobile. He greets everyone with a smile and gives equal warmth to the restaurant owner and the bus boy.

This guy has the appetite of three men and a metabolism that most women would die for. He loves his alcohol and

198 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS has a taste for cocaine, both known to amplify solar plexus energy.

He dynamically builds his empire and is a property investor and a landowner. He’s not concerned about quality, he simply wants to amass wealth. As a leader, he treats his em- ployees with warmth and kindness.

His favourite position in bed is on top, pinning his woman’s arms above her head and ramming her with his Arian mas- culinity, inviting her to surrender and lose control.

He has a linear way, always on high-speed pursuit of something or someone, always on the run from his own pain, anger and grief. He tries to fill the hole inside of him with work, women, food, drugs and fun but somehow he is always on the run. When he is in this fight or flight mode, he magnetizes aggression and is ready to fight.

Offier (masculine solar plexus in balance)

And then there is Offier, a warrior and a music producer, who has harnessed the power of the solar plexus in a positive and honourable way. His solar plexus is dominant but balanced.

He is independent, original, unconventional, fiery and has a wildly beautiful smile. He lives in the world yet has taken vows as a Taoist monk. He does things his own way: solar, loud and proud. His body is lean and muscular, his sense of style is sleek. He’s a revolutionary, a rebel, a hero who is

199 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA committed to humanity’s positive evolution. He is directed and focused on his path; he knows his way and he isn’t going to walk any other way—there is no telling him how to do it! He has a background in the martial arts, Tao Wu Shin, which works the solar plexus in true revolutionary style. His dance style is a stable hip-hop groove with angular gestures that pulse to the earth.

As a music producer he is disciplined, focused and puts in long hours. He has the will to live, the will to serve and the will to give. He is dedicated and committed to his mission. Many ride on the back of his dragon-force and manifest their dreams through him. It takes commitment to be an artist—commitment to a cause with no need for applause.

He has a short temper and is easily irritated, but he can be as gentle and loving as a deer. When he is angry he can go off and shout the house down! Because he has not fully integrated his heart, his fiery words can be cold and sharp. He had strong boundaries and he knows what is yours and what is mine. No one could cut in on his time.

Annie (underactive solar plexus)

Then there is Annie. Her solar plexus is damp. She listlessly drags her feet with stooped shoulders, head to the ground, middle sunken and appetite poor.

Annie is a good girl, always does what everyone tells her to. She is very unsure of herself and does what she thinks she

200 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS should do always instead of checking in with what her belly knows is right.

She lives her life according to what others want her to be. She chose the career her parents wanted her to: her mother always longed to be an actress so she became an actress. She spent most of her teenage years and early twenties playing the roles that were chosen for her. She is successful, but she was so busy doing what other people want her to do that she doesn’t have a clue what she wants or who she really is.

She is needy and emotionally dependent in her relationships: allowing herself to be manipulated and controlled. She attracts men that are dominating so she can be submissive.

She is angry at herself for procrastinating and sabotaging her main mission, but there are too many choices and so much indecision. She allows herself to be consistently distracted by Maya and the seduction of social illusions.

Annie has no self-discipline, she is a social addict and always says yes when she needs to say no and not go with the flow. She spends so much time wine-ing and dining, prancing around to seduce lovers she hopes will fill the hole in her belly. If only she could remember she was whole and stop running away from herself! She feels ungrounded and lost, because she keeps choosing the path that leads nowhere.

Sometimes she feels nauseous when it’s all too much too

201 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA deal with. Too much activity makes her confused and chaotic. She is highly creative yet she lacks the motivation to manifest her ideas and visions. Annie had a very open third eye and her heart is an open flower, but her base and solar plexus chakras are totally uninterested.

The wound of abandonment / rejection

If you have ever felt rejected by a friend, lover, mother, father or partner, you may remember that twisted feeling you get in your gut. It’s as if the experience is an etheric fist that hits you right in the solar plexus. You go from feeling fine, even radiant or blissfully happy, to anxious and a little shaky in the belly. This is where you meet that part of you that wants to please, to be liked, to be loved, to be seen as the amazing creature that you really are, but instead you are given a psychic bruising and you sink in- to your wound.

One of the core soul wounds in the solar plexus chakra is the wound of abandonment. Which manifest as the fear of being rejected, of being left behind. From this wounded center we come out of the authentic expression of our power center and relate to others from a need to be liked. No longer sourcing ourselves for approval, value or self-worth, we scurry about to get our sense of inner worth or value from others. We relate from an emotional needy place and come out of connection with our own authentic feelings and needs, we behave in ways that we think others will accept, rather than from our authentic power.

202 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS The divinely infused solar plexus gifts us with the qualities of deep self-love, self-care and self-authority. As we lift the vibration of the solar plexus through our practice we become our own best friend, sourcing power, love, approval and acceptance from others is no longer an issue because we have learned how to give these gifts to ourselves.

The higher solar plexus or zyphoid process

As we evolve, our luminous bodies become more activated. This is part of an awakening process and is an individual experience as there are many ways that people are awakening: through creatively inspired action, having a kundalini awakening, the exploration of tantra, rising in love or doing spiritual practices that connect you with divine love. Many ways all leading to the same place, of divine inner union.

In this evolutionary process of awakening there are new chakras opening up. The higher solar plexus or zyphoid process, located just under the breast bone is one of these new chakras. This chakra is a major cross point of nerve ganglia and energy lines some refer to it as a mini brain and a crucial center in the current collective evolutionary or involutionary process. The psychology of which seems to be directly related to our relationship with the feminine masculine and the divine.

Have you ever had a painful feeling above your solar plexus when you are going through a relationship break-up or the loss of a loved one? Where you feel this pain is called the zyphoid process

203 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA or “the core separation point” and it is where the core wound of separation is held. Separation is one of the deeper soul wounds and often manifests as a gender-related wound where we feel the pain of separation from the feminine or the masculine both human or divine.

As our Kundalini Shakti becomes more activated, we become more sensitive to feeling a deep knot of anxiety here in this center as we are confronted with our fears of opening and surrendering in love to another. Wounds of abandonment, or enmeshment rise to the surface to be seen and felt. Fears of being consumed or swal- lowed up in a relationship or fears of being controlled or being manipulated by the feminine or masculine or any of the ways that the ego is afraid of losing identity as you move towards sacred union will arise to be felt in this center.

It is here in the zyphoid that we hold those early childhood memories of our feelings separation from our mother and father. Deep feelings of aloneness, isolation and core separation sur- round the inner golden core of inner union that is possible through this center. Allowing these deeper, often hidden feelings and old suppressed emotions to be felt is what will release the energetic blockages in this chakra and allow the experience of re union of the masculine and feminine polarities within. Until these feelings are felt and healed we will continue to attract those relationships and experiences with the opposite gender where we feel separate from, isolated, abandoned and sad so we can feel the feelings and shift them to love.

204 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS We often deny and avoid feeling these deeper feelings which keeps us on the surface levels of our relationships and never truly experience our deeper design which is divine union. To know oneness and union with our beloved both man or women through the sacred act of soulful sexuality in the context of a committed sacred relationship.

The zyphoid process is the gateway between the lower chakras and the higher chakras and when we feel the emotions and clear the energy here, we can experience inner union of the Divine Masculine and Feminine, Holy Mother, Father God within us. The union of the divine polarities can be evoked through our dance, movement breath prayer and we move beyond the pain of separation to the bliss of union.

The Kundalini Dance practice is in essence a journey of Inner Union, the sacred marriage of Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine. Transforming our deeper issues with mother, father god goddess is necessary for us to be able to fully experience the ecstatic alchemical potential of the practice.

My story

On my 43rd birthday, I received a belly massage from a Qigong master. As he pressed his fingers deep into my belly, I felt all of the ways I had suppressed my inner pain. I felt the rage of an angry little girl that felt psychically invaded by my mother, who wanted to say, “Get out of my space! You’re invading me!” but was too afraid to say it. As I didn’t have the emotional maturity to express myself back when I was a child, I learned to use the 205 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA energy from my solar plexus to create a boundary and push her out with my energy field. I still used that defense mechanism over the years with my partners, until l developed the courage and skills to ask for space when I needed it.

Another time, I remember dancing on the beach in Suffolk Park, Byron Bay. I would often go for a walk or run in the morning and then stop somewhere in the middle of the vast stretch of beach where nobody was looking and do my chakra-breathing practice. This was when I was going through an intense break- up with my daughter’s father and simultaneously falling in love with someone else. My new love kept pushing and pulling me out of his heart as if I was a yo-yo. Our situation was challenging and I was angry.

I visualized a sword of light and with all the power I could mus- ter and cut the chord that linked my emotional body to his. I felt a deep-seated rage that was beyond our small story and then tapped into the collective rage of the feminine: our frustration at all the ways we have given our power to men. I became a wild dancing warrior who wielded her sward with precision and prowess to cut through lifetimes of disempowered attachment and rage.

That relationship triggered a deep sense of disappointment, the feeling of being let down and abandoned by men and the Divine Masculine. The feelings felt ancient and I knew that having the opportunity to feel so deeply and intensely was a gift so I took the opportunity to offer all that pain and resentment to the di-

206 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS vine. I then let out a sound that would have knocked a house down (luckily I was on an empty beach in Australian winter). With that sound I released lifetimes and lifetimes of rage, pain, hatred and resentment of the suppressed feminine. I released the times I had given my power to men for love or security or protection. I tapped into deep feelings of being abandoned by the masculine, both physically and emotionally. I tapped into the anger I felt for abandoning myself at that time and for not loving and caring for my feelings and needs.

On the larger scale I now see that imprinted within the subtle matrix of my solar plexus is my soul’s journey with power and control. In this life I have seen myself giving my power away in my relationships because of my longing to be loved, seen and ap- proved of my the masculine. I have controlled my spontaneous expression and morphed into what I thought “he” wanted, but this had a price—the slow squelch of my solar plexus resulted in the compression of this chakra. I began to collapse.

At some point though I decided to take a stand for myself. I decided to love myself and be my own heroine, the source of my self-esteem and my inner fire turned back on. My spirit came alive. From this place I now connect to my own needs and feelings, and my intimate friends feel and trust me more too.

In my relationships I have also had to face my need to control the masculine in order to feel safe. Deep disappointments have fed my feelings of mistrust and that “he” will let me down, he is incapable of keeping it together, and if I loose control everything

207 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA will fall apart around me.

In my solar plexus I have found shame at the core. This shame is about shining and out-shining others. When I was growing up, the cultural message in Australia was to stay small whereas the solar plexus in about being big, being you and shining through no matter what anyone else says. It the little child inside who says: No, I’ll do it my way! I am so grateful to my mother for supporting me to have a strong and healthy self-esteem and to my father’s example of exploring what interested him even though it was not the norm. My parents had strong wills and the drive to survive and succeed. As a result, they built their empires.

In my solar plexus I have uncovered lifetimes of stories about the abuse and misuse of power, an ego that wanted to stay on top and in control. It has been a journey of transformation to arrive here where my solar plexus is in balance. I have found true power and true power is in love and surrender.

Affirmations for the solar plexus

In truth I know I am loveable. I follow my pure spontaneous expression and am loved as I am. In truth I know I am love.

In truth I remember how to surrender and allow his way and my way to blend in harmony. Yahweh. In truth I remember that I can choose to open to trustworthy people. In truth I remember that it is my vulnerability that will allow me to get close to others. It is safe to surrender, aho.

I trust my power and I know that my power is love. I trust my in-

208 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS ner authority and I allow the voice of the Divine Feminine to flow through me without fear. My solar plexus is in balance. I do not serve anyone by staying small. I feel whole and sovereign within myself. I see my soul gifts. I integrate the soul codes that I am here to remember. I am honoured to come back into my power.

Karmic life lessons: Ancient stories reflected in the now

What are the karmic life lessons imprinted in your solar plexus chakra? What are the loops that you have been living, time and time again, that are taking your power? The soul memories imprinted in your solar plexus chakra are usually polar opposites. You may have both the imprints of the abused and the abuser, the victim and the perpetrator, because souls in evolution usually explore both sides of a life lesson in order to develop the compassion and forgiveness needed to free themselves and live their highest potential.

Our soul will reveal our inner akashic records21 when we are at a stage of personal evolution when we can integrate what is being shown. The lesson is usually two-fold: for us to see a negative karmic loop that we are still playing out in this life and also to see and integrate a personal soul gift that will support our life’s purpose. The purpose of one’s soul to reveal a past-life incident is to understand our soul’s continuum—the karmic life lessons

21 Akashic is a Sanskrit term referring to the etheric substratum of the universe. A permanent record of every event, sound, sight, or thought that has occurred during the history of creation is stamped upon this electro-spiritual substance. 209 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA we are here to integrate for ourselves and the collective. As each one of us balances and integrates a life lesson, lifting the vibration of the imprint back into resonance with divine core, the matrix of creation resets itself within us and this, in turn, ripples into the collective consciousness. This is where our personal evolutionary quickening is always offered to benefit the whole of humanity. When we make an evolutionary leap we do it for ourselves and we do it for the whole.

Solar plexus and the Mayans

Often when exploring the karmic life lessons of the solar plexus, we are taken into memories of the Mayan/Toltec Temple society. This seems to be an archetypal theme in Mayan/Toltec culture around abuse and misuse of power. Particularly the abuse of sexual power, not only by the Spanish, but also very much by the Mayan priests themselves.

Guilt carried over from past lifetimes can be detrimental to one’s full empowerment in this incarnation. When this is the case a person may be physically sunken in their solar plexus and have a lackluster personality. Some evolved souls make agreements at the point of death or when they are overviewing their lives to never activate their personal power again. This guilt from their past actions blocks vital energy flow and inhibits the soul from moving forward to recognize their gifts, until reconciliation and forgiveness is achieved.

Archetypal expressions of solar power

210 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS “An archetype is a large mythic container of consciousness that exits beyond time, space and individuals. Archetypes are structured energetic forms behind a manifested form in physical reality. Archetypal energy heals, catalyzes, and transforms at a vibrational level of consciousness that goes far beyond what the mind cognizes.”

—Ariel Spilsbury

These are a few archetypes we may want to integrate when we are empowering the solar plexus:

The warrior/warrioress:

The warrior and warrioress helps us deal with guilt from the misuse of one’s power, and calls for integration of Aztec, Mayan, Japanese Samurai Shogun and Ninja lifetimes.

The emperor/empress:

Another archetype wanting to be integrated in the solar plexus is the emperor/empress or the King and Queen. As we integrate these archetypes we learn to lead with compassion and care.

The white wizard archetype:

This is the integrated aspect who knows how to shape-shift and transform aspects of his soul through multi-dimensional lightwork. He is the light warrior who works with the sword of light and cuts through old attachments and illusions. He remembers how to seal and repair his own etheric lightbody

211 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA of karmic wounds that are keeping him looped in negative patterns. He is the grid worker who is connecting to the planetary grid and healing the earth with his lightwork through the unification of the group mind and heart.

The shadow and the sorcerer:

He is aligned to the dark force. This is the aspect of the self that has aligned with the dark lords who give power for a karmic price. The dark lords have vested interests in keeping us looped in negativity and fear because they get power from fear and negativity.

Signing off from the dark forces

There are many people who decline the seat of integrity. At some point in the journey of empowerment most of us have aligned with the dark in order to gain power. Also, the dark force is better for material manifestation than the light.

Imagine that you’re living in a simple monastic life in China in the mountains, doing your daily shaolin practice and suddenly you hear that a huge tribe of Mongolians are going to descend on you and tear your clan apart. You feel helpless. You know you are a wizard of fairly high aptitude, but you are definitely not as potent as your teacher. Then, suddenly in that moment of fear and self-doubt, the lord of temptation arrives in your mind: ”you are not alone,” says a voice. “I can support you to slay your ene- my.” So you sign the dark lord onto your team and little did you know at the time that you were also signing up for their team

212 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS and that you would be signed up until the time—or at least until you woke up to what was happening and consciously signed off.

Cancel the contracts

In order to cancel any old contracts you may have made that do not support the highest good, ask a friend to witness you and call the seven archangels and their Divine Feminine counterparts to hold a circle around you and empower “the work.”

Call: “Michael Michaelah, Gabriel Gabrielah, Uriel Urielah, Raphael Raphaelah, Jophiel Jophielah, Chamuel Chamuelh, Zadkiel Zadkielah.”

Then say aloud: “In the name of the light, it is my free will and choice, I now make nullified and void any agreements or contracts that I ever made to align with any forces that are not of the highest frequency of light in this life or any life, in this dimension or in any dimension. From this moment forth I now choose to align only with the forces of universal love. Aho.”

Pray this three times.

I remember doing this with a client a few years ago and an etheric over-soul aspect22 came through and placed a golden six- pointed star in the back of her heart. Sensuous bliss and ecstasy rippled through her being. We sat eye-to-eye and melted into

22 The over-soul aspect is the "I AM" portion of living soul that descends to direct and influence the individual through the soul, or rational consciousness, when the soul is in an open receptive state of consciousness. 213 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA the heart-zone, to the place where there is no more story of dark or light, where there is only light.

She had been telling me that she had been having trouble feeling ecstasy in Kundalini Dance classes so she came for a private. Since that dance she has no problem feeling full-bodied ecstasy.

Re-creating the new paradigm of power

When our solar plexus is balanced and open we offer our bodymind spirit as a vessel in action for the evolutionary impulse of life to express through us, and we trust our unique individual heart’s expression.

As we lift the vibration of our solar plexus through the sacred alchemical breath keys offered in Kundalini Dance, we open up new evolutionary expressions of power. We feel more inclined to move beyond the old paradigms of competition, greed and control to new paradigms of co-creativity with source and each other.

In the old paradigm of power, the cultural norm was the belief “that your power was a threat to my own.” The alchemically vibrating solar plexus remembers that “your power enhances and contributes to my own.” We can now move from isolation and competition to co-creation and interdependence.23

23 In an interdependent relationship, all participants are emotionally, economically, ecologically and spiritually self-reliant while at the same time responsible and interconnected to each other. 214 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS In the old paradigm of power we saw each other’s differences as a threat to our own way. Now, as we recognize our unity, we realize that each individual has a unique role that makes up the whole. Our individuality is an intrinsic aspect of our unity. So let’s call each other out to express our unique soul codes and keys and let’s co-create heaven on earth.

215 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA

Sacred Alchemical Solar Plexus Dance: The practice

Diving into the solar plexus is a dynamic, invigorating experience. When we dance the solar plexus we build our inner fire and balance that fire with the other elements because too much fire makes the mind busy and makes the emotional body frazzled and reactive. So we balance fire with earth, water, air and ether. Then when completing the dance, we open to receive a good flush or downflow of Divine Masculine golden light that calms, balances and opens new evolutionary paths within.

Related body parts

The solar plexus is connected to the digestive system, liver and gut. When we dance the solar plexus we activate our metabolism. If we have a slow metabolism we can greatly benefit from activating this chakra and clearing out the old emotional sludge that’s slowing it down. If you digest your food as fast as you can get it down, work with the deeper layers of your karmic issues to bring balance. Liver disease, stomach ulcers and bellyaches can all be prevented and dealt with by working with the emotional, mental and spiritual body layers of the solar plexus chakra.

Sacred alchemical solar plexus dance

Here are the steps to experience a full circle alchemical journey of the solar plexus chakra. Initially ground your energy, then

216 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS begin to cultivate shakti and raise the energy to the solar plexus and higher solar plexus/zyphoid area. To alchemize old dense energy and behavioural imprints, raise the energy of the solar plexus chakra to the heart and then bring that energy out through all layers of the spiritual body an, finally, raise it up to source. We then open to the light of source and breath that light down the backs of the upper chakras and out through the front of the solar plexus. When the feminine energy flows upward to meet the downward masculine flows, we experience the alchemy of ecstasy in the solar plexus.

Phase one: Breathe and set an intention

• As always begin your dance by grounding down and connecting into the earth’s kundalini core. On the exhale relax your perineum, your jaw and bend your knees.

• Say: “I am relaxing my perineum. I am focused on rooting my energy in the earth.”

• Visualize a vertical tap root spiralling down and anchoring in the core of the earth

• Feel your feet. Sense the chakras in your feet. Now imagine you have roots growing down through your feet and being drawn into the central core of the earth. See those roots travelling deeper and deeper into the core of the earth.

• Visualize the roots coming out of your feet and your central tap root braiding into a vortex that travels deeper and

217 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA deeper down: one metre, 100 metres, 1000 metres, 10,000 metres and finally ten kilometres down, into the molten core of the earth.

• On the inhalation begin to breathe love up from the core of the earth into your root chakra, then into your solar plexus. How does it feel?

• Create an intention to open to the Divine Feminine energies of the earth and breathe the earth energy up into your thymus heart center. Now open to the Divine Mas- culine energies of the sun and breathe the light in through the back of your heart center. Open to the flow of creation.

• Set an intention for a full circle sacred alchemical dance of your solar plexus chakra. If there are any issues that you would like to transform or any clarity you would like to receive in your dance, include these in your intention.

• Invite the mother goddess to support you to feel whatever you need to feel in the solar plexus that has been blocking your soul’s light and taking your power. Invite the mother to support you to clear any wounds and to feel any suppressed feelings. Dance through your resistances. Invite the father god to fill up the new space you create by releasing suppressed emotion. Fill up that new space with his divine love.

Music suggestion for phase one:

218 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Anahata, the Unmade Sound, Moments

Anahata, the Unmade Sound, The Unexpected Visitor

Phase two: Warm up the physical body

Here are some instructions to inspire the exploration of the body parts connected to the solar plexus chakra.

• Explore your different body parts through dance: starting with your feet, then your legs, your hips, your spine, your arms and hands, your head and neck. Then dance your whole body open.

• Any body movements that pick up the heart rate and gets your metabolism moving will bring energy in your solar plexus. Try moving across the floor and explore angular arm movements, for example, a wood chopping movement sequence can help a lot in bringing the focus to the solar plexus.

• Walk quickly, begin to run, make noise!

• As you dance, explore sounds that come from deep within your belly, for example, chant ha he hi ho hu!

Music suggestion for phase two:

Kaya Project, Desert Phase, Desert Phase

Phase three: Shakti cross-breaths

We build and generate energy in the root chakra and the kundalini core with shakti cross-breaths. Here are the instruc-

219 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA tions for this breath:

• Charge then discharge three times. Shake your body, and move in spontaneous ways.

• Breathe slowly at first then quicken your pace to intensify the energy flow. Once you feel warm energy building in your pelvic bowl begin to raise your shakti breaths up to your solar plexus chakra.

• Now begin to move into your own directional dance (see below)

Music suggestion for phase three:

Gaudi, Ayahuasca Deep Fall, The Remixes - EP

Phase four: Find your directional flow

This part of the dance is a moving mediation set to the rhythm Gabrielle Roth coined as “staccato.” Here we draw lines in space with the arms and legs extended. The lines are angular, precise, solid and wide. We connect to the earth. We are self-directed.

220 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS We are ready to create. We find our bigness, we take our space, we make noise! Play with your bigness. Play with your smallness. Explore all four directions in the room.

Focus on being asymmetrical and a - rhythmical. Allow your body to find a rhythmic—almost robotic—groove. If you can break movement patterns, you can break social/emotional patterns. Let go of the need to look beautiful! Find stillness in the mind as you focus on the staccato movement of your body.

Here is one technique for training the mind to focus: When I dance this direction-oriented dance, my mind becomes more still if I watch my fingertips and move them from left to right. I also move my head also from left to right as I watch them and this inspires a light trance. If you can allow yourself to become fully centred in the power of your purpose, centred in the moment, surrendered in linear form, the dance will take over.

Stay connected to the energy flowing up from the earth and out through your solar plexus. Continue to explore sounds that come from deep within your belly. Chant as you dance.

Music suggestion for phase four:

Shaman’s Dream, Dance: Dream: Dance, Afronaut

Phase five: Fire breath-purification

Raise energy up from the earth through your central tube and out through the solar plexus—through the four layers of your energy field, as you clear emotional sludge with sounds like ha and ho.

221 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA Exhale—let go of all that’s trying to take your power.

Inhale—open. Expand your energy field. Exhale—let go of emotional congestion.

Inhale—receive earth mana. Exhale—purify.

Breathe in through the nose twice. Breathe out once through the mouth.

The inhalation is effortless: that is why we do two breaths. With the exhalation, your focus is to become completely empty, then the impulse for the inhalation happens by itself. The idea is to bring in more oxygen.

Phase six: Shadow dance

Use your movement to bring earth energy up through your central tube and out through your solar plexus chakra. Dance to the pulse of your breath. Move dynamically in angles and lines out over the edge of your boundaries. Activate your inner solar warrior, releasing, clearing, sounding-out on the exhalation to support the clearing of old emotional energy held in your stomach and dancing you back to your power.

• Using the fire breath, first charge up the energy in the solar plexus, then discharge the energy in the solar plexus. Do this three times.

• Alternate between cross breaths and fire breaths up into the solar plexus chakra.

222 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS • Shakti cross breaths charge and bring energy to the chakra as well as the ida and pingala channels, activating polarities.

• Fire breaths discharge and purify energy by drawing it up through the central tube and then moving it out through all four layers of the energy body.

• Dance to feel the deeper layers of your emotional body, dance to feel, dance to let go.

• Enter the realm of the solar plexus where we are called to deal with issues of control. Dancing to lose control and entering the no-mind state is powerful medicine to loosen the grips of the inner control freak and enter the fertile territory of the unknown.

Symptoms of purification

Remember that as we increase the amount of light and life force in the body mind system, all that which is not “of-the-light” will spontaneously clear. Allow your body to find its own pathway for purification: coughing, burping, yawning and crying are all great ways to purify. Remember not to collapse into the pain though, but open through it again and again. As you dance, offer whatever arises up to source.

Music suggestion for phase six:

Desert Dwellers, Musiki Ukabili EP, Musiki Ukabili (Phokus and Seed Remix)

223 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA Phase seven: Chaos catharsis

Fire is, by its nature, cathartic. It destroys so newness can come. This cathartic rhythm of fire is chaotic in nature. Watch the way a forest fire moves and you will see it jump and shift and change directions in an instant, with no apparent rhyme or reason. In dancing chaos we are challenged to let go of control and let the rhythm of chaos dance us. To dance chaos we let go of form, we open, we throw our egos on the fire and surrender to the flow of kundalini energy that is rising up within us.

Chaos is one of the most deeply emotional and cathartic rhythms if we surrender to its force. Hidden in chaos is the eye of the hurricane, our centre of power that remains unchanging in the tumultuous exterior. Here we find a centre of power deep in our belly where we are connected to true power, divine power. When we are this connected to our true self we respond instinctively and intuitively, rather than from fear or habit.

When dancing chaos be the watcher, still in your mind, grounded in your feet and fully surrendered to the beat. Let go. Dive into the void. Surrender it all up to goddess, allow yourself to fall apart and let goddess put you back together again—his way, her way, Yahweh.

Tips for chaos phase:

• Make sure you are grounded and dance with connection to your feet.

• At start of chaos track, do the fire breath for two minutes

224 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS to charge up the chakra and light your the inner fire.

• Get out of the way to allow divine spirit to flow through you. Dance to let go and let go of form in the dance. To let go of form means to not care what the dance looks like and to move outside of your habitual dance moves.

• Dance to let go of control. This is an opportunity to go into chaos.

• Dance to peel off your masks, your ego. Burn them in the fire.

• Burn the delusional self and your attachments to how you think should be.

• Set your ego on the fire. Dance to dive in and die.

• Allow your demons to dance you. Dance them out of the shadows and into the light of your acceptance. Embrace the shadow. Stay grounded in your feet.

• Explore sound. What sound will support you to release the energy in your solar plexus, in your stomach, your digestive system. Please remain authentic to your own signature sound.

The key to letting go is to embrace. We are not throwing anything out, but are going into the fire with the witness in order to embrace, accept and set ourselves free. When the emotional density is released it makes space for the love to flow. Deep emotional purification often occurs in the chaos phase.

225 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA Clearing the back of solar plexus

Breathing and clearing the back of the solar plexus will allow us to free ourselves from the illusion of competition. To realigning the back of the solar plexus with new codes, we release the need to have things “my way or the highway” and release the isolation independence has created, opening to the creative power of interdependence.

Whereas the old belief was based in the competitive mindset of “your power and radiance is a threat to my own,” the realigned solar plexus remembers that “your power enhances my own and together we can create even more beauty!”

Music suggestion for phase seven:

FUnkstorun, Disconnected, Fat Camp Feva (feat Tes)

Phase eight: Evoking the archetypal power of the sword

When we dance the solar plexus we evoke the sword dancer. Spanning through time, we draw inspiration for this dance meditation from the sword dances of the east.24 With complete focus and no-mind, dancers evoke the archetypal power of the sword. The sword we employ is an etheric sword, a jewelled weapon for initiates that cuts through our illusions to reveal truth. The energy of the sword trains consciousness in clarity and focus. With it we slay our inner thought demons, our egoic limitations, and we learn to set boundaries and say no.

24 226 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS The sword has long been a magical archetypal symbol for mental energy and harnessed power. The sword represents power—not in the sense of power over someone else but rather the power to cut through the veils that shroud our ability to perceive truth and make choices, the power to act upon what we see.

The sword gives us the power of discernment. It gives us the power to see what attachments to people, places or things are taking our power and gives us the strength to act from a place of detachment that calls back that power. The initiate25 uses this sword to cut through etheric chords that connect us to people who shroud our clarity and distract us from our true path. The sword supports us to harness the power of no-mind and break through illusions constructed by the ego.

This sacred tool belongs to the priest/priestess initiate. Being in resonance with this archetypal sword places us in a deep soul- level communication with each other. When given permission, the initiator can invoke the power of the sword to help them see through the veils that have been clouding someone’s perception. These veils are created by the ego and held in place by attachment. If the veil is seen it will disappear therefor the ego often protects itself through denial and will make it difficult for the initiate to see certain behavioural patterns or personality masks. The sword comes to an initiate when they have surrendered their

25 Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. In an extended sense it can also signify a transformation in which the initiate is 'reborn' into a new role. 227 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA ego and dedicated themselves to a path of awakening and service.

Verbal cues for the sword dance

Our sword dance supports us to gain clarity around certain issues in our lives. Our sword dance aligns us to the still place of the heart where we can cross the threshold into lucid awareness.

Begin your dance with a prayer of intention. Take a question or issue that is in your life and bring it into your sword dance. Al- low the sword to cut through what might be obstructing your awareness of the deeper truths around that question. What is it that might be obscured, denied or resisted and needs to be brought to the light of awareness?

While dancing with the sword enter the clarity of your heart and allow the clarity you seek to rise up from the silence.

Music suggestion for phase eight:

Ganga Giri, Raising it Up, UFO over Bald Rock

Phase nine: Ecstatic alchemy

After authentic clearing, the pathways are opened and the body is ready for ecstasy. When the illusion of separation that is imprinted in the higher solar plexus is cleared, the solar plexus becomes a bridge to the heart and we can more easily open to experience ecstasy. Ecstasy is the remembrance of our original state of union. It is embodied union.

• Allow yourself to press onto the zyphoid process and make a sound to clear any stagnant energy. Release the

228 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS growl of the pain of separation.

• When you feel you have cleared this point, begin to sip the breath up to the heart and, on the exhalation, make the sound aaaahhhhhhhhh. Through this gateway of sound, enter into the heart. Link the heart back down to the solar plexus and begin to blend the love of the heart into the power center. Re- member that true power is love.

Ecstatic alchemy: Link the solar plexus chakra to the heart chakra

• The solar plexus dance has likely increased your heart rate dramatically as it is such a high-energy dance so breathe rhythmically while you dance. Connect the solar plexus chakra to the heart with sipping breaths, lifting the energy up to the heart. Sip up the energy in short breaths: sip, sip, sip. These short sipping breaths work best to raise the energy flow. Breathe out in small ha ha ha breaths. You can combine short breaths with long breaths as you begin to feel yourself radiating more light from your heart.

• Focus on your inhalations as a way to ignite the flame of love at your core. On your exhalations, radiate the love and ecstasy that you are at your core throughout your whole bodymind system. Focus on blending the energies of the solar plexus and the heart chakras.

229 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA • Allow yourself to let go into a free ecstatic heart-centered dance.

Verbal cues for ecstatic alchemy Embrace all that has arisen to be cleared. Recollect soul fragments and ego fragments and embrace them with love and acceptance. Forgive yourself. Allow the past to be dissolved in the golden light of your solar heart.

I align my power to source. I remember that my true power is love.

Music suggestion for phase nine:

Tegma, Around the World in 80 Minutes, El Mariachi

Phase ten: Open to the light

Bring the energy of the solar plexus out through the spirit body layer of the heart chakra and then up to source by doing the following:

• Continue to breathe the energy up from the mother through the solar plexus and into the heart.

• Stream the energy out from the heart through all four layers and up to source.

• Find an organic flow in your dance. Connect up through your crown to source. Hang out in the gold for a while. Stay dancing, spinning, streaming energy upwards while moving and breathing and opening to that beautiful light.

You can also try this technique to raise the energy up to source:

230 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS • Breathe in through the nose in short pulsing breaths. In- vite all the energy you’ve been generating in the lower chakras to support the opening of the crown chakra. Pulse or sniff the breath in through the nose and using the high-pitched sound eeeeeee, raise the energy up through the crown to source. Breathe in through your nose and breathe out through your mouth. Lift your arms above your head to support the energy to move up into the higher chakras. Open to the silent bliss and the golden realm of light.

Music suggestion for phase ten:

Shaman’s Dream, Dance: Dream: Dance, Brasililero Nights Remix

Phase eleven: The downflow

• To channel golden source energy from above, bring that energy down through the crown and through the back of each chakra to the back of the solar plexus and then out through the front of the solar plexus and the four layers of the solar plexus.26

• Visualize the back of the solar plexus chakra and the front of the solar plexus linking together in a tube torus formation (see illustration), which follows universal

26 “The four layers” of a chakra refer to the four layers of the energy body that sur- round the human body and go out from each chakra horizontally.

231 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA pathways of energy.

For one whole track, continue to stream the energy down through the solar plexus chakra, both front and back, several times until you feel ecstatic tingles. Lift the vibration of your solar plexus chakra and re-align it with creation to birth new paradigms of power and self-love. Do it for yourself and do it for the collective.

Music suggestion for phase eleven:

Trentemoller, Miss You, Miss You

De-chording (to be done at any point in the solar plexus dance)

It is important to end contracts that don’t serve us. These contracts can sometimes be felt as cords that link our body to other people, places or experiences that we may be dependant on or give our power to (or, in some cases, take our power from).

To de-chord yourself from unhealthy/un-empowered dependencies, say the following:

“I am calling in the presence of Archangel Michael Michaela, Michael Michaela, Michael Michaela. Give me the courage to release attachment to places, people and experiences that no longer serve me. Give me the courage to embrace the fullness of my true power. Use your flaming sword of love and bring down that flame from my crown out thru my solar plexus. Cut the chords that no longer serve me or others. Cut these chords with love.”

232 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Then connect to the heart chakra. Draw a golden infinity symbol over the chakra to detach from any karmic attachments.

Say: “In the name of love, I take the power back I’ve given to you.

In the name of love, I give back the power I’ve taken from you.”

Emotional dependencies with parents, particularly mothers, often are still taking and leaking power in the solar plexus chakra. Cutting those chords is where we begin to take responsibility for our own lives.

Phase twelve: Alchemical breaths for the solar plexus chakra

Lift the vibration of your solar plexus into ecstatic resonance with creation and align personal power with its source. Breathe a love of life and the mother (ma) along with the divine consciousness of the holy father (ra) simultaneously into your solar plexus chakra.

State the following intention: “I open to allow the tantric union of the divine mother and divine father in my solar plexus chakra and open to the new paradigm of power that is being birthed through me now.”

Take three alchemical breaths into the front of your solar plexus chakra. Intend the energy to move through all four layers of your energy field. Visualize the tube torus of the chakra linking the front and back of the chakra.

233 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA Now take three breaths into the back of your solar plexus chakra. Intend the energy to move through all four layers of your energy field. Visualize the tube torus linking the front and back of the chakra.

Continue to move the energy like this at your own pace until you feel ecstatic currents of creation lift the vibration of your energy field.

Seal the chakra with the yantra of the flower of life to imprint the chakra with codes of creation. Chanting “ra ma ra ma ra ma” to close the dance.

Music suggestion for phase twelve:

Jonathon Goldman, Chakra Chants 2, Shaman’s Fire (navel)

Phase thirteen: Align the mental body

Gently lay your fingertips on top of your solar plexus. Take three breaths to absorb the sun’s light into your solar plexus and affirm:

“From this moment, with every breath I take, all my actions are aligned with love.

I am guided by the right use of will.

The new paradigm of power is expressed through me.

As I commune with the alchemical element of fire, my emotional body is purified and aligned with love.

Love is my power; my power is love.

234 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS I use direction and focus to serve the highest good of all beings.

I am inspired to act by the fullness of being.

I release control, I trust chaos and I align with my own unique flow.

I am a vehicle for the earth and sun. They merge inside my solar plexus chakra and create balance there.”

Gently move your fingertips to the back of your solar plexus. Al- low the light of the sun to align and lift the vibration of the chakra. Take three pulsing solar breaths into the back of your solar plexus and say:

“From this moment on, with every sacred breath, I soften my protective shields and remember that love is my protection.

I open myself to exchange power with others, as I move from independence to interdependence, from competition to co- creation.

I surrender in openness to align with source.”

Allow yourself to be still—body, mind, heart and soul.

235 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA

Solar plexus chakra: Written dance of awareness

Personal reflection

After your dance, sit comfortably with your journal and gently breathe into the solar plexus chakra. What does the consciousness of your solar plexus chakra want to say, to feel, to free? Let yourself free-write from your subconscious—write to empty, write to get more awareness of the beliefs patterning your solar plexus.

You can also use these following questions to help you explore specific issues:

Surrendering to divine will Reflect on the ways you keep yourself safe by staying in control, by controlling your emotions, others around you, your life. What would it feel like if you deepened your trust and surrendered to the divine? What would it feel like to move your ego out of the way and let life have its way with you? Bring this quality of deep surrender into your dance and put your ego in the fire. Be danced by life. Deepen your prayer to open, surrender and receive divine love—even just for one dance. What does it feel like?

Awakening true power

One of the deeper soul wounds of the solar plexus and zyphoid is the wound of separation, which can manifest as a gender-related 236 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS wound. As we deepen in the initiation of the sacred marriage through our Kundalini Dance practice this wound manifests as feelings related to either the Divine Feminine or the Divine Masculine. To whom and why do I give away my power?

For this exercise, open to your vulnerability, allow yourself to feel deeply into the layers of your body and soul to source new empowering ways of being in relationship with others. Explore how to be centred in your power and uncover where, why and to whom we give our power.

Contemplate and feel the ways you have sourced your sense of value and self-worth from others or from your accomplishments.

Contemplate a relationship where you have given away your power. What is the core belief that is at the source of your behaviour? Usually we give away our power to others when we are seeking recognition, acceptance or love from others.

The solar plexus is our power center and can gift us with qualities of deep self-love, self-care and self-authority. Breathe divine love in the solar plexus and give yourself the love, approval, acceptance and authority to be your authentic self. What does it feel like to be your own hero?

Abandonment rejection

Another core soul wound in the solar plexus chakra is the wound of abandonment or separation, which manifests as the fear of being rejected or being left behind.

237 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA The upper solar plexus chakra (the zyphoid process) carries this wound. It is where we feel the memory of separation and the wound of the masculine leaving the feminine (or vice-versa) at the point when the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine split apart from each other. For the feminine essence this feels like rejection and is generated by the false belief of “being abandoned by god.”

Take some time to allow your inner masculine essence to hold your inner feminine essence and honour any feelings that have arisen in this contemplation.

Allow the part of you that may be hiding in the wound of abandonment or rejection to speak. Free-write. What are the lies you have been telling yourself in regards to this wound? What are some of the false beliefs you have created to be true, for example, “I am not lovable, men aren’t trustworthy, women aren’t trustworthy, I am alone, I don’t matter, no one cares about me.”

In what ways have you been behaving to validate these false beliefs, for example, opening to untrustworthy men/women; not being present with your own feelings so others can’t feel or connect with you; closing off to men/women; rejecting men/women before they reject me; avoiding depths and intimacy.

Begin a dialogue to soothe your inner feminine and align her to the deeper truth, for example, “I love you, I will not abandon you, I can discern who to allow into my life; I commit to loving myself first and foremost; it is safe to open, it is safe to surrender to love; I am centered in deep self-love and self-care.” 238 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS What is an empowering dynamic? For example: a deeply loving relationship with oneself; a sense of value, love and appreciation from within; trustworthy men and women.

The solar plexus teaches self-respect, self-love, personal boundaries, how to hold your own power and take care of your emotional needs. What caring and loving commitments can you make to yourself?

Please write down three new ways you can begin to show up in your life that would demonstrate the love that you have for yourself? For example, checking in with your own feelings and needs and thereby relating to others with more authenticity; giving yourself more love and approval; speaking to yourself with love.

What commitments are you are making to yourself when you anchor deeply in self-love and respect? Write down these commitments to yourself. For example: I commit to deeply loving myself; I commit to always honouring the truth of my inner knowing; I commit to loving myself first and foremost.

Closing meditation

Take three alchemical solar plexus breaths as you allow the vibration of these deeper truths and loving commitments to settle into your solar plexus chakra.

Now as you allow your solar plexus chakra to be infused with divine love, create a power mantra that comes from the wisdom of that love. For example, I am loveable; I am love; god/goddess loves me; life loves me.

239 AWAKENING POWER: THE SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA Centred in this deep truth take some alchemical breaths to connect you to the flows of god and goddess and lift the vibration of your solar plexus. Let the wisdom of divine love permeate and integrate into your vibration.

240

CHAPTER FOUR Awakening Love: The Heart Chakra

Giving and Receiving Human Love and Divine Love

Warm waves of nectar open my back

I breathe; I receive.

my sensual full body opens, yearns for union.

Spine shaking, body vibrating, Gaia’s love pulses into me

Cracking open the holographic portal of my heart

I feel Kali’s roar calling me to explore the feelings inside

Back heart, left wing, left arm, left fingers janky…

something gone wrong: aahhrrrrrrrrr…YaaahWuuuhhhhhh…Aaaeeehhhhhhhh……

I crack, I roar, I cough the stuff out

241 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA I gently growl into the stuckness till it breaks apart:

ancient memories I remember the time when my trust got broken

My love… you just upped and left twisted the Shakti serpent myth and made Pan made the devil

believed the lie… you forgot.

I sound out through that spot

To dissolve the core pain of betrayal, again and again

She melts my armor, my self-imposed veil of protection

It’s been hell shutting you out

I forgive you

I forgive myself

Arms open, palms open, held tilted back

I surrender

tears melt a layer of ice

I open

I soften

Star bursts of ecstasy ripples thru me

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

242 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

Heart Chakra Ecstasy – Kaitlyn Field

243 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA

Dancing the Heart Awake

“I am no longer just one drop, I have become the entire Sea, I speak the language of the heart Where every part of me shouts in ecstasy!”

—RUMI

Introduction

The heart chakra is all about love, what love is and what love isn’t. In our journey into the heart chakra we gain awareness into how, if and why we give and receive love. We explore our relationship to the divine, and we reflect on our love relationships with others and last but not least our love relationship with ourselves. When our hearts are open we emanate unconditional love, to ourselves, to others and to all of life. Centered in our hearts, we become more loving, more accepting and kind.

The gateway of our heart chakra opens to the highest states of ecstasy and the deepest pain. To support the heart to wake to love, we need to feel all the buried emotions and gain awareness of our love wounds. The more we open to receive love, the more we can recognize the things we are still holding onto that are not of love.

The key emotions that are held in the organs related to the heart

244 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS chakra—the lungs and the physical heart—are deep sadness and grief. In the heart chakra we carry memories of our wounds of betrayal, mistrust and past resentments. We can face feelings of unworthiness and disconnection from human love and divine love.

Our alchemical dance journeys give us the opportunity to feel and heal past hurts and purify all emotions, thoughts, beliefs and identities that are not love. Bringing compassion, forgiveness and dis - identification with the ego states based in limitation, unworthiness and fear.

Centered in the silence of the still heart we can hear divine truth whisper. In the stillness of our heart we can discern what is love’s voice and what is not. In the silent heart, we deepen our connection to the compassionate inner witness. When we enter the gateway of the heart chakra we soar into the silent knowing of ourselves as one with the source of love. We remember union. Within the temple of our heart, there is no more separation; we are one.

In the inner temple of the heart there is a flame of love and light that burns eternally at our core. This is the flame of our soul; the spark of our essence. The light of this inner flame connects us to the spark of light within all existence. In this embodied knowing we are one with all of existence.

How did a rose ever open its heart and give to this world all its beauty? It felt the encouragement of Light 245 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA against its being, otherwise, we all remain too frightened.

—Hafiz

Awakening love

The heart chakra is the centre of our chakra system. It is where the rising Divine Feminine energy current (symbolized by a downward pointing triangle) blends with the downflow of universal masculine current (symbolized by an upward pointing triangle) and overlay in the heart chakra to become a six-pointed star.

It is in the heart that we experience the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine as one being, one soul, one creator. In the heart chakra dance we open to the sacred marriage of mother/father/god within us and when we embody this union we feel ecstatic and at one with all of life. In that union we can receive a profound vibrational quickening that creates permanent shifts in awareness. This is what we refer to as the alchemical process— when divine polarities merge within us and we become lit with the bliss of unity consciousness, the pure harmonic code of life. Our hearts are the gateway to the ecstasy of universal oneness and to freedom from the pain of separation. Through the heart we remember that our true beloved is the divine.

246 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Dancing in ecstatic union

To be an ecstatic being means to have a rapturous relationship with the divine, so we dance to pray for union with the beloved and we dance to feel whatever we need to feel in order to receive divine love more completely.

Entrance to the temple of the heart is given when we release the illusions and false concepts of the ego. The deepest most surrendered, dissolved ecstatic dance experiences are often catalyzed by the heart’s deepest cry to be one with the beloved and to be free of the illusion of separation. In that yearning, call out for the beloved: “Mother/father/god, take me, annihilate me! I dance to let go. I dance, I swing, I spin, I twirl, I whirl, I surrender my ego to the divine. I breath, I feel, I pray, I cry, I sound out, I forgive, I remember, I dissolve in the ecstasy of divine union!”

What does ecstasy feel like?

In this divine union there is no fear, no “I” and no “me.” In this union there is only divine love. There is no dancer; we are danced. Every cell of our bodies emanate and radiate love. Ecstasy is embodied love.

Unless one is completely annihilated Union is not a reality Union is not the merging of spirits The secret of Union is the annihilation itself.

—Rumi

247 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA When we are ecstatic we dissolve in love, our vibration lifts and old patterns are shifted. We are spontaneously freed from the suffering of the egoic mind and from insatiable discontent. Dis- solved in love, our energetic patterning realigns into the truth of divine intelligence. Fear dissolves, armour dissolves, separation dissolves. When there is love there is only light, and from that light new worlds are born.

The alchemy of ecstasy

Ecstasy is our birthright. Ecstasy is the embodiment of love. We are blessed to feel the tingles of ecstasy on the dance floor and in our daily lives. So many things we remember can trigger starbursts of ecstasy—when he/she touches your skin, when you hear a bird sing, when you smell a rose covered in morning dew, when you bubble over with bliss at the sight of falling spring cherry blossoms.

I have felt the ecstatic surge of energy passing through me as I breathed in the light of the morning sun, and when I heard the news that a friend wanted to come to the Kundalini Dance training. I even remember my heart bursting when I received a text message! Ecstasy feels like every part of me is merging with everything that is. It feels like every cell is having a mini-orgasm.

When we are ecstatic we are saying yes to life and yes to love. Maintaining ecstatic states for long periods is medicine for the soul. On an energetic level when we are ecstatic we are aligned into the divine blueprint of creation. Old karmic loops and ener-

248 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS getic patterns get a chance to upgrade and realign into universal geometries.

Sacred geometry

Everything is energy, energy is light, light is made up of geometric patterns and when people are in higher states of consciousness they often see universal geometries, such as the flower of life.27 When we are fearful, those patterns get wonky and this is reflected in our behaviour and thoughts. But when we are in ecstasy, our energetic pathways have an opportunity to “map” to sacred geometrical pathways so that we can choose new, healthy behaviours and thoughts that are aligned in universal wisdom.

A pure heart, open to the Light Will be filled with the elixir of Truth, You may see my body But I am only a grain of salt Dissolved in the sea of Love.

—Rumi

In Kundalini Dance we connect each chakra to the heart chakra. This ecstatically lifts the vibration of each chakra. For example, the heart centre shows the solar plexus that true power is love and it shows the second chakra how to realign raw sexual energy

27 Sacred geometry expresses in form the unfolding of life from seed to flower to fruit to seed infinitely manifesting, recurring structure. Geometry is the visual model of the unity within us and its relationship to our unlimited potential, individually, socially and universally."-Extract from "The Covenant" by Juliet Carter 249 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA into sacred sexuality that awakens higher consciousness and creative expression. Blending the heart chakra with the base chakra lifts the vibration of the base from survival, fear and lack to the consciousness of trust in the supportive field of life.

Transforming the relational heart chakra

"There is a way of breathing that’s a shame and suffocation and there is another way of expiring—a love breath—that lets you open infinitely."

—Jelalludin Rumi (12th century Sufi mystic)

The developmental stage of the heart chakra

“The developmental stage of the heart chakra is from about four until about seven years of age. The focus is on socialization, belonging and acceptance. Developmental tasks are to assert an identity that is separate from others while creating social inclu- sion. It is at that time that the child may get mixed messages about love, that twisted concepts of love and relationships may be stored in the back of the heart chakra, often creating tension around the shoulder blades. The development of self-love and self-acceptance is crucial to heal core issues of separation and aloneness stored in the heart chakra. “

“The main work in the Heart Center is to release unworthiness. The unworthiness begins in the lower chakras where the individual experiences being emotionally/physically abandoned by

250 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS parents and then transfers that as unworthy to receive God’s love.“

The Heart Chakra is the master key to all personal transformation and healing. The unconditional love of the heart center transforms all past wounds, through the heart we generate the healing qualities of acceptance, compassion for self and others and the wisdom of love.

Opening the heart

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

—Rumi

Our hearts open; our hearts close. We dive in love, we fly in love, we fall in love, we burn in love, we cry in love. We strip ourselves naked in love fearlessly bearing our souls. Then we get hurt and decide it’s not safe to love, we learn to protect our precious hearts—so soft, so delicate. We develop protective psychic amour, which is sometimes useful, but mostly not.

Opening the heart chakra requires letting go of energetic density and physical armouring created by loss of love, mistrust, abandonment, aloneness, hatred, unexpressed sadness, grief, pain, resistance and fear of surrender. We open by feeling these uncomfortable feelings. It sounds so simple! Why can it be so difficult to feel?

It can be difficult to feel because we may think that we will lose

251 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA ourselves and fall apart, becoming dysfunctional in our lives. Over the past 22 years, my observations of transformation lead me to believe that we need to break down in order to break through. This doesn’t have to mean crawling into a dark hole of despair and depression. There is a way to break down with awareness that a healing process is taking place and we are moving through our “stuff” by expressing our pain. Although it is challenging, we can celebrate these waves of emotional release as a way of creating more space for divine love. If we are courageous enough to dance with our demons and feel our pain, the jewel of the heart can shine again in its full brilliance. We’ve got to get lost in order to be found. By going down into the darkest tunnel we find the most brilliant light.

Underactive heart chakra

“Do not create a division in your being, between parts of your being. Anger is there: accept it. Greed is there, or whatsoever: accept it. I do not mean be greedy. Rather on the contrary, the moment you accept you go beyond, because acceptance creates a unity, and when you are united within you have the energy to go beyond.”

— Osho

When the heart chakra is underactive you can feel lonely, depressed, isolated and/or separate. You can become anti-social, cold and intolerant of other people’s differences.

Our heart chakra closes down and becomes energetically underactive when we don’t allow ourselves to feel our sadness, our grief

252 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS or our pain. When we shut down to feeling, we become numb, we collapse, withdraw and get depressed. Depression is a heart chakra gone numb through lack of feeling and the way to begin to open again is to admit you are numb and forgive yourself for shutting down. To heal depression, we need to grieve, cry and feel our pain. Tears melt the frozen layers of the heart and create space for divine love to enter.

The flipside to numbness is when someone can’t stop grieving to such a degree that they dig a big dark hole, climb inside and stay there. They have become overly identified with their painful feelings. They have forgotten to ask for help; forgotten to pray.

The organs related to the heart chakra

The organs related to the heart chakra are the physical heart (surprise, surprise) and the lungs. The lungs are where unfelt sadness and grief is held and deep breaths do much to heal the heart chakra, which is closely related to the element air.

Physical weaknesses are caused by both genes and karma that organize the light structure of our etheric bodies in misaligned imprints and weaken associated organs.

Some people inherited weak lungs, asthma or bronchial problems through their genes or their DNA, but that doesn’t answer the question as to why certain genes are weak and others are not. This is because our souls magnetize parents and genes that fit our etheric makeup so we can continue our evolutionary learning process.

253 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA Allergies may trigger asthma, but sometimes dealing with deep layers of grief will be what shifts the asthma. When we allow ourselves to enter into our core pain, we can realize that this pain is old. We can struggle and resist all we want, but until we are willing to feel the part of us that is frozen, we cannot shift the pain this frozenness may be covering up. In Kundalini Dance we learn to open these deeper layers and feel what has been repressed. Instead of pushing through, we open into. Instead of pushing down, we open up and offer it all up to source. This is when the heart will open and ecstasy will ripple through, alchemizing every cell.

Absolutley Clear

Don’t surrender your loneliness so quickly. Let it cut more deep. Let it ferment and season you As few humans Or even divine ingredients can. Something missing in my heart tonight Has made my eyes so soft, My voice so tender, My need of God absolutely clear.

—Hafiz

254 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Opening through prayer

To receive divine love, we need to pray. Pray to the divine and let mother/father/god/goddess know that we are longing to receive divine love. When the divine feels our longing, it enters our hearts with pure love. We go looking for love in wrong places, constantly trying to fill emptiness through relationships and romantic love. This is a roller coaster that leads to a string of disappointments and heartbreak. Human love always runs dry until we become open to receive divine love and can infuse our human relationships with the love of god/goddess. Only when we remember how to fill our heart’s cup with divine love can we truly give and receive love in our romantic relationships. Then our relationships become sacred evolutionary partnerships that strengthen and deepen our relationship with the divine and accelerate our process of enlightenment so we can become a beacon of inspiration for others.

When one begins to pray, it may not feel right. That is because there is no space for the divine to enter. Our hearts are blocked, closed and heavy with unexpressed emotions and past wounds. In our dance practice we invite the Divine Mother to support us to feel whatever is holding us back from receiving God’s love. Then we dance to let go of our pain, we sound it out and this creates space so God can fill the space. This is alchemical healing: when dense emotions are cleared by the feminine and then filled with God’s love.

255 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA Being disconnected from divinity

While we are disconnected from the divine flows of creation, we feel alone, empty, isolated and separate from life and from others. This empty cup of aloneness can only be filled by divine love, it is only God’s love that can really fill that emptiness within. Everything else is a temporary fix and sooner or later will run dry. When we partner with god/goddess our heart is always full. We constantly receive love from an infinite fountain—the well of life—and we remember that we are not alone because we are one with creation.

From this place we relate with an overflowing cup, our love is boundless and infinite because it is not ours. Then that love overflows into all relationships and reflects back to us in fullness. We can then experience ecstasy even when we smile at a stranger on the street, or in any moment when we are appreciating the beauty of life.

Overactive heart chakra

When we have an overactive heart chakra we can be too generous—to the point of self-sacrifice—when everybody else’s needs are more important than our own. We come out of connection to ourselves, and need to feel needed by others to feel valuable and worthy of love. This is connected to feeling unworthy unless we are needed. It is the classic mother syndrome or the “good wife” who loses herself in everyone else’s needs.

When the heart chakra is overactive, we have poor boundaries

256 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS and don’t know how to take care of ourselves. We can slide into the pattern of expecting others to know what we need and to take care of us, but this only leads to a downward spiral of discontent and victimization. An overactive heart chakra can also cause people to become demanding or jealous—they need their partner’s undivided love to feel okay.

Balanced heart chakra

When our heart chakra is in balance we are compassionate, loving toward others, self-loving and peaceful. When we look at life’s challenges through the heart, our perception is clear and balanced.

Forgiveness

The heart chakra teaches us how to forgive ourselves and others. When we sit in resentment we draw dense emotional energy into the body and the charge of that energy takes away our power and blocks love. When you hold resentment toward someone, you become bound to that person by an emotional chord. For- giveness is the only way to dissolve that chord and to become free of past resentments. Forgiveness ushers us back into the present awareness of love, which we are always surrounded by— even if we can’t always see it.

Compassion

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.”

—The Dalai Lama

257 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA When we rest in the sanctuary of the inner heart’s smile we act out of love and compassion and remember how to allow the wisdom of love to guide our lives. Compassion is the ability to get beneath somebody else’s skin and see the big picture from their point of view. When we are compassionate we no longer live from the fulcrum of our own needs and wounds; we see other people’s needs and wounds, too, and relate as beings in evolution. When we are compassionate, we do not judge. Instead, we embrace each other with love, wisdom and support. It is only a lack of love and acceptance for ourselves and our shortcomings that inhibit our compassion. If we make friends with ourselves, we will be able to open our hearts and minds to others.

Self-love

The ultimate act of self-love is to replenish ourselves by receiving divine love. When our heart chakra is full of love from mother/father/god we are kind to ourselves and our self-talk is loving and compassionate. Guided by love, we place our energy and attention in relationships that nurture our souls. We have more than enough juice to give and nurture others in our lives when we are connected to source.

Love - intimacy

When we look into the heart chakra it will reveal the patterns we live out in the realms of intimacy and love. From a tantric perspective, our sexual relationships are incredible containers for evolution—nowhere do we face ourselves more intensively than when we are in an intimate relationship. Nothing brings up our 258 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS fears, our mistrust and our pain more than a sexual relationship. To be in divine union is a primal longing; an evolutionary urge. If we can hold each other through the good times and the hard times our relationships can be an incredible accelerated portal for evolution as we transcend separation.

The evolutionary relationship

"Falling in love you remain a child; rising in love you mature. By and by love becomes not a relationship, it becomes a state of your being. Not that you are in love—now you are love.”

—Osho

In Kundalini Dance, the work with the heart chakra inspires us to examine our old stories about relationships and rewrite those stories from a different perspective. That new perspective sometimes takes into consideration the concept of evolutionary partnerships—when both partners see the divine as the source of love and relate in wholeness, with a full cup because divine love fills the relationship. Both partners sense that the love they feel is not generated by themselves or their partner, but is uploaded and downloaded from divine sources and amplified by their shared human love. This couple is a source of inspiration for others. Their love ripples out and inspires others.

When we are deeply connected to our own needs and feelings, and a have a loving and kind relationship with ourselves, our relationships mirror the love we give ourselves. We can then relate

259 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA from a place of self-respect and personal power, and can navigate from our core truth while fully and divinely entwined. In the evolutionary relationship we respect each other, care for one another and support each other to be all that we can be.

Sacred relationships recognize that the relationship will intensely reflect “all that is not of love.” Our wounds and patterns are amplified and arise to be transmuted within the alchemical crucible of this sacred relationship. Sacred partners accept the highs and lows. They hold space for each other when those wounds inevi- tably arise, and they know how to hold themselves. They take responsibility for their own feelings, they do not “project” their stuff onto their partners, and they also do not “take on” their partner’s stuff. The conscious relationship triggers old wounds in order to feel and transform those wounds. It takes skill and practice to not project our wounds onto our partners. For guidance on how to do this, please see “Presencing through the layers of the heart,” in the Practice and Reflections section at the end of this chapter.

The ego

The ego is a subject that can be discussed from many different perspectives. When I am dancing and guiding a group of ecstatic dancers, I sometimes use the phrase “dance to put your ego on the flame.” This is an opportunity to clear all those false identities that have been filtering through into our behaviour, attitudes and thoughts.

260 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS The ecstatic state is a no-mind state and no fear-based thinking exists when we are ecstatic. Yet in order for us to integrate heightened states of consciousness into the nitty gritty of our daily life, we need to gain a deeper awareness of the false identities and distortions of our ego and gently realign them through the wisdom of love.

“The ego in its purest essence is the driving force, the manifesting branch of the soul. It is the part of the soul that puts God’s will into action.”

—Louix Dor Dempriey

We will often hear spiritual masters and teachers say that ego must be destroyed. The quote above from the enlightened teacher Louix Dor Dempriey debunks that notion that the ego needs to die. Alternatively, Dempriey is saying that if everything is god’s love, then all aspects of ourselves are love and it is not loving to kill anything—especially our wounded selves. He says that through this experience of living in the illusion of separation with so many distorted imprints and teachings from parents, friends, siblings and society, the ego takes on distorted personali- ties or “false identities.”28

Particularly in our younger years, our ego is looking for an identity. We make that identity from what is being reflected to us by our parents, siblings, teachers and friends. For example, if our

28 False identities are taught in the Feminine Power work of Claire Zammit and Katherine Woodward Thomas 261 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA mother says, “You are a bad girl! You must not play with that!” and loses control in a moment of overwhelm, our developing egos hold onto the distorted identity of “I am bad” or “I am a burden.” Or, if our father is super busy and not present, the child can feel a lack of love and the immature ego will make false im- pression out of that experience: “I am not loveable. I don’t matter and I am not worthy of love.”

Re-parenting the ego

The ego does not need to die, it simply needs to be reparented, re-educated, reprogrammed and infused with the wisdom of love. This requires us to take radical self-responsibility for our behaviour. One of the traps we can fall into is blaming others for our unconscious behaviours: the poor me, victim syndrome that cycles in stories like “My father was not available. My mother was nasty; I really had it hard.” When we remember that our soul has created the perfect template for our evolution, we can grow through our soul’s difficult lessons. We can look into past experiences to raise our awareness about how to become a good parent and we can begin the process of re-parenting our younger selves through the memories of our life experience. Where our “inner child” has made false meaning out of a scenario or circumstance, we as adults can speak to our younger wounded selves from a more wise and caring place.

For people interested in learning more about uncovering their false identities and the process of re-parenting the ego, check out

262 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS the Feminine Power work of Claire Zammit and Katherine Woodward Thomas.

My story

I had been in a false belief around my worthiness to receive love from the masculine for decades. At the age of seven years old, I made a decision that I was unlovable and I didn’t matter and this idea was impressed on my ego. My dad wasn’t available, and had a very critical and judgmental way of communicating to others, especially his daughters. In retrospect I realize now that he had never had any good role models to show him how to love to his children. At the time I internalized his distance and decided that I wasn’t worthy of masculine love, that men don’t care about me, they would always let me down and believe that I don’t matter. I went about my life, often creating and choosing relationships with busy or unavailable men who would recreate that scenario— me feeling unloved, let down or unimportant. The ego has ways of “proving” its false identity: by having beliefs we magnetize the kinds of experiences that prove those beliefs.

Since inquiring into my false identities and re-parenting myself from a wise and loving place, I am now able to catch myself before I loop into old patterns. When I start to feel those old feelings I watch my ego-mind going off, feeling unworthy, unlovable, like no one cares. I am aware that I am in the old pattern of my younger self that is holding onto the wounded perspective. What do I do next? I talk to this little girl. I sooth her, I let her know “you are so loveable darling, don’t give your energy

263 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA to that. Don’t make somebody else’s behaviour mean something about you. Don’t give your energy away like that.” I have learned through trial and error to take responsibility for myself and be my own heroine. I don’t leave my sense of self-esteem up to other’s discretion anymore. And the funny thing is, that once I am loving to myself, I find the ripple effect immediate and the behaviour of others toward me also changes.

These days I make different choices. I open myself to men who can meet me and embrace me in my depths. I feel so loved—by my friends, by significant men in my life, and by God. And when I don’t feel loved, I anchor into my power mantras and talk to that little girl inside of me like her caring mother or best friend, lovingly guiding her back to the truth.

The back heart chakra

In the back of my heart chakra I have felt memories and the emotions of betrayal and mistrust. Life has brought me experiences, both physical and emotional, to gain awareness of and the keys to transform this wound. Thank you.

The wound of betrayal and mistrust

One of the most intense wounds of the heart chakra is betrayal. Betrayal is a breach of trust. When your beloved has betrayed you, your world shatters. The person you thought you believed in the most has irrevocably deceived you. From my experience betrayal is one of the most painful human experiences. I say this

264 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS because when betrayal happens, and you recognize you have also betrayed yourself, the incoming tide of emotions are huge—we experience grief, sadness, rage, anger, hatred and revenge. One will go to crazy measures to seek justice and to hear the truth. We can feel the fear of loss and aloneness and we can also feel abandoned. Then there is usually a round of shame and self- blame. One begins to question everything and often feels guilty or responsible for the entire relationship and its downfall. An- other damaging effect of betrayal is the loss of confidence in ourselves and in our ability to choose trustworthy partners. The heart chakra can become veiled by this lack of trust in others and ourselves.

When you have betrayed someone, you can experience shame, guilt and depression. You can become trapped in a cycle of denial and deception, which lower your vibration and get you stuck in the loop of old, and sometimes new, false identities.

The gift of betrayal

Every wound has its lesson—its gift. Initially when your lover or partner betrays you, it seems as if the world turns to ashes. It can be challenging to see this as a gift! When you've been burned, you need to treat your wound. We heal this wound by feeling it and offering it to Mother/Father/God. Once you have taken care of your immediate needs it is time to enquire within and ask how you got burnt in the first place; how you betrayed or abandoned yourself? Take radical responsibility for not listening to your intuition, your needs or your gut feel-

265 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA ing—either out of fear or out of attachment to how we wanted things to be because we superimposed a fantasy on the situation and refused to see it for what it was. In essence we betrayed ourselves by not facing the truth of “what is.” To heal betrayal, it is necessary to take these steps to understand how and why we attract certain situations and in what ways we let ourselves down or were not true to our instincts.

The next step to healing is to forgive ourselves! Forgive ourselves for our own denial or lack of self-love. There is no need to make yourself wrong, just love all and embrace all that has arisen as a perfect scenario to re-stimulate and heal a deep wound. When we fully feel and heal the deeper wound, we will create even more space for the love we desire with that partner or a new partner and, ultimately, with Mother/Father/God.

We always have the power to choose. We can choose to stay in the victim role or we can choose to take responsibility for the subconscious or conscious beliefs and false identities that caused us to attract the experience. For example, if we believe men/women will always let us down, they probably will comply.

Make the commitment to develop new ways of being that support more self-love, truth and trust and cultivate skills of courageous and authentic communication. Cultivating new ways of being in our relationships that support you to live and express your naked truth with others more fully will support you to anchor new ways of being.

266 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS For the betrayer When we don’t communicate with openness and transparency, when we lie or conceal truth, we set up the stage for mistrust. When you betray someone, it is highly likely that they will not easily trust you again. Trust is fragile, and the only way to begin to heal and build trust again is to become impeccably truthful. For the one who has lied or betrayed, they need to cultivate the courage to communicate in total transparency. It is only when the truth is spoken—no matter how much it hurts the person we love—that healing can begin to occur for both parties.

Reflect and enquire within as to the root of your actions. Do not make yourself wrong—you are not guilty, only human. Forgive and accept yourself and pray to Mother/Father/God to support you to feel through all the layers beneath your actions. When your partner feels your pure heart unveiled, humbled and longing for truth, trust can begin to develop again. Learn to love and accept yourself and all your impulses, release shame and embrace where you are at. For those needing to transform this pattern it can be empowering to enter into “open relationships” where you can practice being honest and transparent in all your sexual pursuits.

There is an art to being truthful and it is wise to create containers in your relationships that support authenticity and honesty. Open relationships can be a stepping stone for those needing to cultivate transparent communication and honesty with themselves.

Rebuilding Trust

The key to healing betrayal is rebuilding trust: trust in ourselves, 267 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA trust in others and trust that we are worthy of human and divine love. Trust your ability to create your deepest heart’s desire.

Trust is the elixir to heal the wounds of a heart that’s been broken. Trust is deep faith that all is as it should be, that we have magnetized the perfect opportunity for our soul’s growth. Trust returns when we regain our faith in the overall goodness of life and when we remember that we can connect to that fundamental goodness in ourselves, in others and in life at any time.

When we release our attachment to not feeling pain and welcome all experiences as a gift for evolution we can move through challenging experiences with grace. When we cultivate authenticity and welcome vulnerability in our expressions with others we are gifted the capacity to feel and let go. When we cultivate humility and engage in prayer we can move through the most challenging experiences with the guidance and grace of Moth- er/Father/God.

When all that is untrue glares at us in the face, exposing our blindness to truth, we have nothing more to do than turn inward toward truth. Being committed to living truth, restores our faith in life, in others and in ourselves.

Archetypes of the heart

The divine mother:

For most of us, when we say “Divine Mother” or “Goddess” we are talking about the Supreme Being as the creatrix of

268 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS the universe who expresses compassion and love in a very personal, direct and intimate way in the same way that a loving mother cares for her children. Words fail to express who or what the Goddess is but She can be known and experienced in a direct and personal way and she has taken on different forms in many traditions. In Tibet she is known as Green Tara, in China Kwan Yin, in Egypt she is Isis, in Ca- tholicism she is the Virgin Mother Mary and for Hindus she is Lakshmi—the source of nurturing, tender and nourishing energy. She is pure goodness, sweetness, harmony and love. She is the miracle of romance, the archetype of the wife and mother.

Shadow mother:

This archetype has many expressions and finds its way into our collective unconscious through myths and fairy tales about the evil stepmother, the spinster and the evil witch. The Grecian mythological figure Medusa can also be seen to represent the shadow side of the mother. Medusa, one of the Gorgons, is a terrifying female monster with snakes sprouting from her head, who turns anyone who looks upon her to stone. Medusa is one of many classical representations of the negative aspect of the Great Mother. The root of her destructive power is the same as that of a mother who thwarts her child’s sense of self-worth. The shadow side of a women’s feminine power represents itself differently to different individuals, depending on their past-life agreements

269 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA and cultural backgrounds.

The divine father:

The masculine archetype of the heart is the divine father. The nurturing, caring provider who has moved out of the selfishness and self-absorption of his solar plexus and is ready to give, to hold and to behold. He is divine consciousness and connected to the wisdom of divine intelligence. The divine father is radiant like the sun. He is light and the illuminator of consciousness. He is pure radiant consciousness. As the mother is the creatrix (forever birthing, moving, dancing and creating) the divine father is still, zen and silent as he holds and anchors the creative fire of the feminine.

270 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

Sacred Alchemical Heart Chakra Dance: The Practice

On the path of love We are neither masters Nor the owners of our lives We are only a brush In the hand of the Master Painter

—RUMI

Heart Toroid – Mark Lee

271 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA Dancing the heart chakra is an ecstatic dance of rapturous intoxication with the divine. Ecstasy is the embodiment of divine love, we radiate love radiate out through our hearts into every cell of our bodies. Our hearts are our gateways to the blissful silence of union with all that is. As we journey into the heart we surrender ourselves open to feel whatever is holding us back from fully receiving divine love. In the dance we dance and sound to let go and then we create more space within us to receive love. The more we feel, the more we become empty and the more we empty the more we can receive, the more we receive, the deeper our ecstatic rapture, the more total our divine intoxication.

Related Body Parts

The heart chakra is connected to our heart and our circulatory system and our lungs. When we dance the heart chakra, we dance with the awareness to open our upper body, our upper chest, our upper back, between our shoulder blades and our shoulders, arms, hands and finger tips, breathe into these areas and dance them awake. Your body knows what it needs to do to open, set the intention and surrender to the wisdom of your body.

Phase One: Prayer of Intention – Grounding

Begin the heart journey with soft long slow breaths, deep in your belly and up into your upper chest. Breath out through your mouth with a soft aah sound, like a sigh, allowing a sigh of relief, that you have come to feel and heal your heart. Place your fingers on heart and gently check in with yourself. How are you feeling? 272 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS What does your heart need to open more fully to receive divine love?

Invite the Divine Mother and the Divine Father into your dance, to support you to feel whatever has been held in your heart, that you can become empty to receive divine love. Inviting an ecstatic dance, a dance of rapture, a dance of connection and unity.

• As always begin your dance by grounding down and connecting into the earth’s kundalini core. On the exhale relax your perineum, your jaw and bend your knees.

• Say: “I am relaxing my perineum. I am focused on rooting my energy in the earth.”

• If you are already aware of specific wounds of the heart you would like to heal, make your intention more specific, or if there is a some heart chakra physical related heal-

273 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA ing, remember energy flows where attention goes.

Music suggestion for phase one:

Anahata, the Unmade Sound, Moments

Anahata, the Unmade Sound, The Unexpected Visitor

Phase two: Warm up the physical body

Here are some instructions to inspire the exploration of the body parts connected to the heart chakra.

• As always begin with warming up the lower body, it is always important to ground. Dance and stretch the legs open, then dance to open our hips and spine and then slowly begin to undulate and stretch your body, in ways that open your upper back and chest.

• Explore arm movements that extend your arms above your shoulder level, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Music suggestion for phase two:

Gaudi / Bass, Sweat Tears / Ayahuasca Deep Fall

Kaya Project / Desert Phase / Eye of the Storm

Phase three: Shakti cross-breaths activation

We build and generate energy in the root chakra, the sacral chakra and n the entire pelvic bowl and womb/hara area with shakti cross-breaths. Here are the instructions for this breath:

• Right side: Draw earth energy up through the chakra that

274 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS is in the center of the right foot, up through the inner meridians of the right leg, through the root chakra and into the container of the pelvic bowl.

• After breathing and generating shakti in this way allow your body to discharge any stagnant or stuck energies that get brought to the surface through your breathing, shake your body, particularly your hips and lower body and move in spontaneous ways.

Raising Shakti to the Solar Plexus

• Use spontaneous deep belly sounds to support the clearing and opening of your solar plexus chakra and your upper zyphoid area. Several shakti cross breaths up through the solar/zyphoic area should be enough to open your channel to your heart chakra.

Raising Shakti to the Heart Chakra

• Now begin to raise your shakti breaths up to your heart chakra.

275 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA • In the same way drawing energy up the left side, but allow it to travel all the way to the heart area.

• Drawing earth energy up the left side and allow it to travel all the way up into the heart area.

• Breathing in through the nose and then out through the mouth with a gentle aah sound.

• The sound Ah is the universal sound of the heart. The sound aah has been used in many ancient tradition to open the heart including the Sufi and Hindu traditions.

Music suggestion for phase three:

Kundalini Collective / Breathe/ Earth Breath

Kaya Project / Walking Through/ Walking Through

Phase four: Dancing the Element Air

The heart chakra is connected to the element of air. Dancing with the intention to embody the element of air, evokes the light and lyrical qualities of the heart. The quality of air, connects you to the lightness of your being, you feel your arms, hands and finger tips expand outwards and upwards.

• Dancing to feel your wings, like a winged one in flight, dance to feel your inner sprite, your angelic presence. Like the wind, blowing away the past debris, preparing you heart to soften open.

• Dance to embody the winged serpent. Stay juicy and liquid in your shakti hips, shakti’s liquid undulating and

276 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS opening your upper back and chest. Then dance to grow your wings and take flight, liquid juicy grounded flight.

Music suggestion for phase four:

Rara Avis/ Beneath the Radar/Massai

Ed Alleyne – Johnson/ Purple Electric Violin Concerto/ Oxford Suite Part 1

Phase five: The love breath

• Once you have built enough warmth and shakti in your body, through your dance and your shakti cross breaths you can begin to breath the love breath. The love breath is tantric breath that supports us to rise shakti, sexual energy, earth energy up into your heart. Remain centered in your prayer to invite, the Divine Mother Shakti to support you to open your heart.

• Focus on your heart chakra in the centre of your chest. Softly and effortlessly sip your breath in through pursed lips, breathing rhythmically and evenly one second in and one second out, in and out through your mouth. Feel your breath filling up your lungs, expanding your chest as you raise energy up through your central tube and begin to build love in your heart chakra.

• On every exhalation releasing a soft aah sound, using the sound to clear whatever emotional energy is blocking your heart. The more you clear the more you create the space for the love within to expand. Breathing yourself

277 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA into ecstasy.

Heart dance

Once you have activated the heart with your breath allow yourself to let go into your heart dance. Unifying your breath and your moving body, energy spiralling, rising upwards, purifying, unwinding, opening your heart chakra, sending your arms upward and out ward, lifting becoming wings, upper chest opening, breath filling your upper back and between your shoulder blades, trusting your body’s wisdom to move in ways that support the opening and clearing of all repressed emotional energy held in your heart, lungs and upper body.

Music suggestion for phase five:

Kundalini Collective / Breathe / Love Breath

Emancipator/Soon it will be Cold Enough/ LionHeart

Phase six - Heart Purification

• Raise earth energy up in short little sipping breaths and dance to break it up… shake out the upper lower body, allow sounds out to assist the release of the blocked energy held in your lungs, your chest, your physical heart, your upper back… dance to mobilize the energy between your shoulder blades. Dancing the heart chakra we are taken to our core, melted down, stripped back to essence.

• Now we focus on clearing the emotional body layers of the heart chakra.

278 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS • May every move be a prayer, offering the ego up to the sacred flame within. Dance to burn, dance to die, dance to dissolve, Take off the mask and dance…strip yourself down to bare bones and get raw dance let yourself dance in the darkness for while before you try and find your inner light. Pray to feel all that has been holding you back from fully receiving divine love.

• Dance your demons awake… let them have one last dance, before they are thrown onto the fire of the core flame at heart central. Dance to be empty…. Dance to be empty….Dance to surrender to lose control… give it all up to the beat, dive in and LET GO

Music suggestion for phase six:

Nikodemus / Sun People Remixed / The Love Feeling (Chris- tian Prommer Remix)

Phase Seven - Ecstatic Alchemy Dance

Tonight I found a gateway to a love that is endless and vast as the sky.. A love that is free.. a love where I simply BE I dance, I spin, I twirl , I whirl, I free fall into my back Then my heart began to expand as wide as the sky the gold tickled me and caressed me until bliss was bubbling over then my arms dissolved so they could no loner cling or grab and turned into wings. Now all I can do is fly

279 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA The more your heart opens you feel the light within expanding, a deeper sense of surrender, of Divine intoxication, of ecstasy will fill your whole being. Spiralling into infinite oneness with the source of creation, ecstasy filling every cell.

Music suggestion for phase seven:

Jakatta / Visions / American Dream - Ecstatic Alchemy

Phase Eight – Opening to the light

The opening to the light phase is a continuation of our ecstatic dance. We don’t stop the dance, but please note I am only making a distinction here of the alchemical process. When we have cleared the emotional body of the pain and we offer it up to source, it naturally begins to lighten. This is the bridge point when we begin to open up to the divine father, to the pure light of Divine Masculine consciousness.

• Continue to breathe the energy up from the mother up into your the heart.

• Stream the energy out from the heart through all four layers and up to source, the holy father the Divine Mas- culine.

• Find an organic flow in your dance. Streaming the light up through and connecting into your spiritual body. Hang out in the gold for a while. Stay dancing, spinning, streaming energy upwards while moving and breathing and opening to the golden light of the divine.

280 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Music suggestion for phase eight:

Stryke / Pages from the Blue Diary / Heaven

Phase nine: The downflow

In the down flow phase, we are deep in our prayerful invitation to receive the light the Divine Masculine, the father, Gods love.

• To receive God’s love from above, bring that energy down through your crown chakra and through the back chakra’s and into your back heart and then out through the front of the heart chakra. Exhaling out through the mouth as you breath the light down supports the opening.

• Visualize the back of the heart chakra and the front of the heart chakra linking together in a tube torus formation (see illustration), which follows universal pathways of energy.

For one whole track, continue to stream the energy down through the heart chakra, in through the back and out through the front, several times until you feel ecstatic tingles. Lift the vibration of your heart chakra and re-align it with creation to open new evolutionary pathways inside the themes of the heart, sacred relationship and love. Do it for yourself and do it for the collective.

Music suggestion for phase nine:

Tripswitch / Geometry / Floating Point

281 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA Phase ten: Alchemical breaths for the heart chakra

Opening to allow the sacred tantric marriage of the earth and sun to unify in balance through your heart chakra and through all the layers of your energy field. Lifting your vibration into ecstatic resonance with creation.

• Breathe the love of life and the mother (ma) along with the divine consciousness of the holy father (ra) simultaneously into your heart chakra. Feeling them merge is one in your heart, one soul, one creator, Mother, Father, God.

• State the following intention: “I open to allow the tantric union of the divine mother and divine father in my heart chakra and open to the new paradigm of evolutionary relationship that is being birthed through me now.”

• Take three alchemical breaths into the front of your heart chakra. Intend the energy to move through all four layers of your energy field. Visualize the tube torus of the chakra linking the front and back of the heart chakra.

• Now take three breaths into the back of your heart chakra. Intend the energy to move through all four layers of your energy field. Visualize the tube torus linking the front and back of the chakra.

• Continue to move the energy like this at your own pace until you feel ecstatic currents of creation lift the vibration of your energy field.

282 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS • Seal the chakra with the yantra of the flower of life to imprint the chakra with codes of creation. Chanting “ra ma ra ma ra ma” to close the dance.

Music suggestion for phase ten:

Jonathan Goldman / Chakra Chants 2 / Heart Song (Heart)

Phase eleven: Align the mental body

Gently lay your fingertips on top of your heart chakra and softly breathe into the center as you affirm:-

“From this sacred moment, with every sacred breath I take, may the pulsations from the light of the sun and the love of the earth effervescently pulsate each cell of my physical body into ecstatic alchemical resonance with the source of creation.

I make peace with my brothers, father, husband, lovers and sons. I forgive and release you from the abandonment and rejections I felt in the past and in my forgiveness I remember there is nothing to forgive.

I make peace with my sisters, mother, and daughters. I forgive and release you from the betrayals of the past and in my forgiveness I realize there is nothing to forgive.

May we live as one in peace in this garden on earth. May we transcend the lie of separation and once more fall into the eyes of the beloved through each other.

As I commune with the sacred element of the air through my breath, through the power of the wind or the gentle breeze ca-

283 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA ressing my face.

I remember myself as one with the source of creation.

I am guided by the power of compassion and may I be an instrument for the benevolence of creation in all my actions, thoughts and communications.

I remember I am love.”

284 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

Heart Chakra: Written Dance of Awareness

After dancing and energetically activating your heart chakra, I invite you now to take pen to paper or fingers to keys and deepen in your awareness of your inner heart myth.

Take a few breaths to presence back in focus on your heart chakra area and ask yourself, what am I present to in my heart now? Now we are going to tune into the questions below and write what you feel on the physical, energetic, emotional, mental and spiritual levels.

• Sensing the quality of the energy around your heart, does it feel light and flowing? Or does it feel tight, heavy or dense? Does it feel warm or cold? Breathe and be present to whatever is there without trying to fix it or change it. Write down how the quality of the energy in your heart chakra feels.

• What bodily sensations come to you when you focus on your heart chakra?

• What feelings or emotions come to you when you focus on this chakra? Allow yourself to free write whatever arises.

• What thoughts come to your when you focus on your heart chakra? 285 AWAKENING LOVE: THE HEART CHAKRA • What images come to you? Mental images or symbols?

Now ask HOW DOES THE TRUTH OF LOVE GUIDE YOU HERE?

Align back into core essence, breath into your heart and allow yourself to write from a place of alignment to your deeper truth. How does the truth of love want to guide you here?

Dancing through the layers of your emotions:

Dance is powerful way to move through emotions. The next time you are overwhelmed with an emotion try this. The next time you are looping in a feeling state and want to move it through try this.

• Allow yourself to be present with what is there, dance to express and explore what is. Move into the feeling, not to try and change it but to feel it more deeply. With the first layer don’t try and release or clear or throw it out of you… dance to explore what is there… Explore its sub- tleties….where do you feel it in the body…? what chakra do you feel it in…? explore give it a sound… give it expression and begin to move it through…

• Now ask yourself… what is beneath that…???

As you begin to fully embody what is there… without the intention to change it but simply be present with it…awareness will come and it will begin to change…

Clearing… 286 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS • Breathe and sound into the chakra or body part where you feel the emotional energy intensified…this will discharge the emotional energy…

• Now again ask yourself. What is beneath that???

• Dance to embrace, dance to lovingly accept and be present with what is in your emotional body and it will change…Deepen into your trance dance…allow the mind to become still…drop into the heart and bring it all back to the heart…

• Now I invite you to take out your journal and allow the wisdom of your heart to guide you to the deeper truth. How does love guide you here?

287

288

CHAPTER FIVE Awakening Oneness: The Thymus Chakra

Moving beyond Separation to Surrender

I am the seed of soul essence

A portal to infinite oneness

A golden ocean that has no shores

I am boundless infinite light

A golden gateway to intoxicated union with the Divine

Seat of the soul

A gateway to oneness

A gateway home

to rest in your divine essence.

Enter the gold and remember

the flame of love that you are

Beloved Divine, Lover of my Soul

289 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA I long to return home to your garden

Take me as I am

I am yours

Beloved Creator please help me

Help me

feel and release all that stands in the way of our union

I surrender it all up to you beloved

Please give me the courage to stand in your holy fire beloved

I am ready to burn

I am ready to feel

I can no longer live with this wall of pain that shrouds my heart

And keeps me separate

Come to me beloved

Kiss my heart with your love

Fill my heart with your sweet golden nectar

I long to dissolve back into your arms of love

and bathe in the ocean of your divine love

290 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

Dancing the Thymus Awake

Introduction

“The tiny flame that lights up the human heart is like a blazing torch that comes down from heaven to light up the paths of mankind. For in one soul are contained the hopes and feelings of all Mankind.”

—Kahlil Gibran

The thymus chakra is a gateway to unconditional love and a portal to unite you with the Divine. This chakra is also known as the seat of the soul—the aspect of self that constantly lives in enlightenment, the part of ourselves that is already awake and free. When we concentrate our attention in the thymus center, we feel the peace of the soul.

The thymus chakra or “higher heart,” as it is sometimes called, carries the memory of our original state of oneness. The lower heart chakra is the relational heart and holds all the experiences and feelings related to human relationships. As we journey to awaken the thymus chakra we explore our relationship with divine love and see how that relationship reflects and mirrors our human relationships. If we have abandonment or betrayal wounds that come up in our human relationships, these will almost always be transferred onto our relationship with the Divine Creator or Mother/Father/God.

291 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA In the Taoist system, the thymus gland is known as the seat of enlightenment, the seat of love and the seat of essential lifeforce energy or qi. The ancient Taoists would cultivate this gland through their practices for health and longevity.

Soul essence

The thymus chakra is known as the seat of the soul. It is where we access our original essence—the pure innocence of the soul. In order to fully reclaim our soul’s light, we are required to fully feel all the deep feelings of our soul that we have chosen not to feel and that have prevented us from receiving love into our soul’s seat.29 As soon as we feel those deep soul emotions, we touch that deeper longing of the soul to re connect with divine love and we open to receive the spark of mother/father/god’s light; this activates this chakra.

When you are in soul essence you perceive the world and your relationships through the eyes of love. You experience harmony and bliss. Communication becomes based on addressing the essence of all you contact. When you look for the divine in another, that is what you will see.

29 Barbara Brennan who wrote, Hands of Light, refers to the thymus chakra as the “soul seat.” She describes this chakra as having a diffuse light extending in all directions, and as being the source of meaning and spiritual longing in life. If this is cloud- ed, one is unable to know what his or her purpose in life is, and life appears meaningless and empty. 292 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS The relationship to the immune system

The thymus gland is at the base of the neck and plays a key role in the immunological defence system, stimulating the production of white blood cells that fight disease and infection. The thymus gland is fairly large at birth. During the first few weeks of life, T- lymphocytes created in the thymus migrate to the blood stream and colonize lymph nodes through the body. These later begin to manufacture powerful antibodies vital for immunity. Throughout our childhood the thymus gland continues to grow until adolescence, when it begins to shrink. By middle age the thymus is smaller, but still an important factor in the immune system.

The thymus gland plays a critical role in the prevention of cancer in adult life and when you are under stress the thymus gland is the first to be affected. In the book, Your Body Doesn’t Lie by John Diamond, M.D, Dr. Diamond presents a study that shows the thymus is the master controller that directs the life-giving and healing energies of the body. The theory of cancer formulat- ed by Sir MacFarlane Burner, the Australian Nobel Prize win- ner, also suggests that increasing the thymus gland’s activity will result in a greater ability to ward off cancer. The function of the T cells, which are produced by the thymus gland, is to recognize abnormal cells and destroy them. Of the billions of cells produced in the body each day, some will be abnormal. If the thymus hormone does not activate the T cells, the abnormal cells may continue to multiply and develop into a cancer.

293 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA When we activate the thymus chakra we strengthen our immune system. Pranically breathing into the thymus chakra is preventative medicine. You may notice a direct correlation to low immunity and times when you feel emotionally low or heavy- hearted. If you activate your thymus and open to love, you will rarely get sick.

According to Renee Brodie: “Our immune system functions more effectively when we are happy and creative, and affects every cell in our body when its energy flow is harmonious. When we feel out-of-sorts, unwell, the cells of the immune system do not ‘ring true,’ and this will affect every part of us. We see now how important the thymus chakra is to our well-being.”

The body as messenger of the soul

The thymus chakra is a truth baramoter. Our thymus chakra is a conscious organism operating in cooperation with our soul essence and it assists us in developing awareness of when and where we are operating from a place of oneness, or from a place of separation. As we sensitize we can learn to read its signals: the thymus chakra will glow when we are living in love and truth and it will contract when we are operating in separation-based thoughts or emotional responses. When you are in an egoic pattern, you will feel a dull pain of contraction in the thymus upper chest area.

Just as the thymus chakra holds the key to oneness, it also holds the codes of separation. It is the valve that opens our awareness to knowing the difference between motivation by truth and love

294 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS or motivation by fear.

The wound of separation

The thymus chakra is where we carry the original wound of separation—when the soul split apart from our Divine Source.

This deep-seated sense of separation from Divine ripples and affects how we relate to ourselves, others and Divine. Our whole egoic identity structure creates default behavioural mechanisms like judgement, designed to keep us feeling separate, isolated, alone and disconnected from our fellow humanity. When we feel disconnected from source, we can become centered in the mind instead of the heart, believing the lies generated by the egoic mind.

Judging others is one way that we perpetuate the illusion of separation. We judge others as different from us, by the clothes they wear or whether they are fat or thin, beautiful or ugly, too old, not cool, too straight or too freaky. Our judgements keep us from truly feeling the soul of others and we go into the loops of feeling either superior or inferior that create a barrier, a veil that keeps us disconnected. This disconnection makes the body rigid, as if it has frozen over and we can’t feel ourselves or others and we feel isolated and alone.

In our separation-based culture, people become self-serving and insensitive the needs of others. Separation is a “me versus them” mentality, which leads people to become dominated by fear- based thoughts. People who are afraid can be easily controlled

295 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA and manipulated by material desires and mass media; they are easily distracted by false values and cultural conditioning as a way to fill the emptiness of a soulless culture.

When we feel separate, we resort to our conditioned personality and wear a mask carefully orchestrated to fit into the status quo. Sometimes we think we need to put on this mask in order to survive or be loved. We feel closed off to life. We may become controlling and guarded.

Love, however, needs no protection. Love radiates though darkness and dissolves fear, separation and illusion.

I Follow Barefoot

I long for You so much I follow barefoot Your frozen tracks.

That are high on the mountains That I know are years old.

I long for You so much I have even begun to travel where I have never been before.

Hafiz, there is no one in this world Who is not looking for God.

Everyone is trudging along with as much dignity, courage and style

As they possibly can.

—Hafiz 296 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Spiritual Longing

Our spiritual longing, our deep yearning for connection with the Divine is the emotional quality that supports us to cross the gap between separation and oneness. When we are in a separation mentality, we do not feel the truth of our inter-connection with all living things and the chasm between these two polarities seems huge.

All the sufi mystics speak of this deep longing of the soul to reunite with the true divine beloved of our soul. There comes a point on our soul’s journey when the pain of separation is un- bearable, when we can no longer live without the connection of the Divine infusing our relationship to ourselves, to each other and to life.

When we express the deep longing of our soul, shed the tears, cry and howl with the passion of the lioness’ heart, we create the space to receive divine love.

Opening to surrender

When we are in surrender we trust that all is as it should be; we trust in the goodness of life and in one another. In surrender we are in acceptance and allowance of everything that is happening right now. We trust life’s flow. We trust that life has our back, surrendering our victim mentality or resistance to life. We trust the perfection of all that we bring to us even when it is painful. This acceptance and trust that “everything is as it should be” also extends beyond our own lives and out into local and global

297 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA events.

When we surrender in the dance, our heads fall back, chests lift, our arms stretch out and our palms open out. We recline in the arms of the divine; we give up all our fear, our shame, our pain and our blame and we open to feel whatever we need to feel to free the light in our soul.

When we dance in surrender, we are in rapture. There is no thought—only love, joy and deep inner peace. When we are ecstatic there is only oneness.

The balanced thymus chakra open

When our thymus chakra is open and balanced our heart feels warm and strong. We feel love for ourselves and longing for the divine as well as unconditional love for those around you.

When the thymus chakra is activated, you feel your soul expand in your body. This warm glowing presence fills your being with the spark of divine intelligence, truth and love. You become totally aware, totally awake and radiate the essence of being one with Source. You feel heart-centered. You remember that you are interconnected with all of humanity, with the web of life, and within your body, mind, heart and soul.

The overactive thymus chakra

When the thymus is overactive you become so open to higher levels of consciousness that you lose your grounding on the practical

298 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS levels of life. Overactivity causes imbalance: people can become spiritually narcissistic and so completely indulged in the heights of spiritual union that they ignore the needs of those around them.

The underactive, blocked or closed thymus chakra

When one’s thymus chakra is closed, this indicates a fear of higher spiritual realities and a rejection of the existence of the divine or a loss of faith in the divine. These qualities can be underlying in people who are highly pragmatic or materialistic.

Sometimes a crisis can cause a shift in perspective—for example, if what a person believes in is revealed to be a lie, they may shift from being materialistic to being more open-minded about spirituality. More and more people are opening to the idea of a spiritual reality after being unsatisfied with the rat race of materialism.

The thymus can also become blocked or underactive when one is unable to express their emotions even though they can feel them. Releasing denial and expressing soul-level emotions will support the thymus to recharge and return to a state of balance.

Healing through sound

The thymus chakra is very responsive to sound and the most potent way to shift the density of the separation wound is through sound. We can release the core emotional signature of separation by exploring deep vowel sounds that vibrate in the higher heart, upper chest, thymus area and shift the pain of separation. Sound healing coupled with a deep prayer to mother/father/god will

299 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA magnify the transformative benefits.

There is much sensitivity in the area of the thymus chakra because of the bony structure that overlays it. Try tapping the thymus as you make sound and feel the effect this has on the release. Joyful heart-centred sounds that are made when we sing, chant or tone stimulate the energy flow to the thymus.

Awakening oneness

We are living in incredible times, witnessing the birth of a new world that is grounded not in separation but in the unity of all life. At this time of transition, when one era is dying and another is being born, we have a choice to stay in fear and separation by holding onto the old ways of being and the old material structures or we can envision a positive future and trust that all is flowing in accordance with the divine plan to unify a spiritually centered humanity.

One of the key requirements for evolving with this vibrational shift is to surrender. When we surrender we trust that all is as it should be, we open to “what is” as perfect and we recognize that there must be death and dissolution of the old to allow the birth of the new.

As the earth is going through her birthing process, so are we being called to rebirth ourselves. To open to the shift in earth and planetary energies, which are arising to support us to awaken to oneness. Practicing surrender is an art. We can surrender every

300 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS day to feeling uncomfortable feelings, to sounding through them and to opening. These are all essential keys for surviving the shift into the Aquarian age.

“In traditional mystical teachings, enlightenment means it's all over. You have reached the end of becoming. But in an evolutionary teaching, enlightenment is where it all begins. Everything begins when you become enlightened. That's when you become available—free from narcissism and self- concern and available for the noble endeavor of creating the future. That's when a new life opens up before you. That's when the work of evolutionary becoming starts. So you want to get to that point quickly, because there is so much you want to do once you get there. There is so much you want to take responsibility for. There is so much you want to create.”

—Andrew Cohen

Awakening your soul’s vocation

Encoded in our thymus chakra are the codes of our unique soul blueprint—our soul’s true vocation. As the thymus chakra is activated, gifts of the essential self are revealed. The mystery of who we really are unravels and unfolds, deepens and grows as we mature, evolve and surrender to being a vessel for divine will.

As we awaken and experience more moments of oneness with creation, we deepen our loyalty to love and truth and become more conscious of each step taken on the evolutionary journey. Every

301 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA time we resonate in unity with the whole, that experience ripples out and effects the consciousness of the whole. As we awaken, so too will our passion to serve and support others to evolve.

As we evolve, we will become aware of our soul signature—a way of being that expresses the divine and serves others. This may initiate in you the birth of a contemporary priestess or the ecstatic evolutionary, the writer, the poet or the lover—all are ways in which you may express your soul essence to serve the whole. Sometimes the evolutionary self serves others through being “out there” in the world and sometimes it serves through the private realms of my relationships with others.

Starseed remembrance

Journeying into the thymus opens the gateway to remembering your stellar lineage. It is a portal to the stars. Encoded within our thymus chakra is a holographic blueprint of the original state of oneness.

This lifetime is the culmination of a long cycle of darkness and forgetfulness. We have the opportunity now to remember our karmic lifecycles and burn away the imprints of fear and separation. We can alchemize negative egoic patterns to birth ourselves into the age of enlightenment.

These are not comfortable times. Those of us who have chosen awakening are on “the burn” and it is crucial to come together and support each other to purify and open to the light. We are in an accelerated evolutionary cycle and we must throw ourselves

302 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS into the fire of purification. The time is now. We do it for ourselves and we do it for all of humanity.

My story

“Initiation is the focusing of energy in a pattern that serves the evolutionary process. Initiation is a portal to the direct experience and knowing of larger spiritual realities.”

—Ariel Spilsbury

I had been living in England for 3 years and the week before I was to leave England, Chris and I visited a recently discovered crop circle. Whilst in the crop circle that evening I had a powerful experience that activated my thymus chakra. Prior to that, I was not even aware that I had a thymus chakra. That experience in the crop circle helped me develop a practice to self-generate states of love and oneness—a practice I have taught to thousands of people. In the beginning of Kundalini Dance workshops and ceremonies this practice is known as the “plug in” and when we activate our thymus through the “plug in” we instantly move into unity consciousness.

303 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA

Sacred Alchemical Thymus Chakra Dance: The Practice

Dancing the thymus chakra is similar to dancing the heart chakra in that they are both direct access points to blissful states of ecstatic oneness. The quality of the subtle energy is very different though, as the thymus takes us into a deeper longing for divine and we can have a direct experience of union with mother/father/God.

Phase one: Prayer of intention and grounding

Feel your feet on the earth and ground yourself. Place your fingertips on your thymus gland at your sternum and bring your breath and intention to that point. Intend that today you are going to journey into the thymus to awaken any latent potentials, qualities and gifts of that chakra.

Invite the Divine Mother and the Divine Father into your dance, to support you to feel whatever has been held in your thymus so that you can become empty and fully receive divine love. Invite an ecstatic dance, a dance of divine union, a dance to release the pain of separation, a dance to embody oneness.

• As always begin your dance by grounding down and connecting into the earth’s Kundalini core. On the exhale relax your perineum, your jaw and bend your knees.

• Say: “I am relaxing my perineum. I am focused on root- 304 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS ing my energy into the earth.”

• Feel your feet. Sense the chakras in your feet. Now imagine you have roots growing down through your feet and that they are being drawn down into the central core of the earth. See those roots travelling deeper and deeper to the core of the earth.

• Create an intention to open to the Divine Feminine energies of the earth and to breathe earth energy up into your thymus/upper heart center. Now open to the Divine Masculine energies of the sun and breathe the light in through the back of your thymus heart center. Open to the flows of creation.

Music suggestion for phase one:

Anahata, the Unmade Sound, Moments

Anahata, the Unmade Sound, The Unexpected Visitor

Phase two: Warm up the physical body

Here are some instructions to inspire the exploration of the body parts connected to the thymus chakra:

• Dance each body part, beginning with the feet, then the ankles and knees, the legs. Find different levels to dance on, kick, stretch, do things with your legs you have never done before. Dance for one track, moving slowly and mindfully then pick up the pace for a tribal leg dance.

• After the leg dance, move your hips. Let your hips guide

305 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA you around the space. Move them in circles, shake them, rock your pelvis, try it all. Then let that movement cascade up the spine into your shoulders, your arms, your whole upper chest and back. Let go into the neck and head. Soon the whole body dances, opens and lets go.

Music suggestion for phase two: Gaudi, Bass, Sweat Tears, Ayahuasca Deep Fall

Adham Shaikh, Collectivity, Dougoulanta

Phase three: Shakti cross-breaths activation

We build and generate energy in the root chakra, the sacral chakra and in the entire pelvic bowl/womb/hara area with shakti cross-breaths. Here are the instructions for this breath:

• After breathing and generating shakti in this way, allow your body to discharge any stagnant or stuck energies that arise through your breathing by shaking your body, particularly your hips and lower body, and by moving in spontaneous ways.

306 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Raise shakti to the solar plexus

• Breathe slowly at first then quicken your pace to intensify the energy flow. Once you feel warm energy building in your pelvic bowl begin to raise your shakti breaths up to the solar plexus chakra.

• Use spontaneous deep belly sounds to support the clearing and opening of your solar plexus chakra and your upper zyphoid area. Several shakti cross-breaths up through the solar/zyphoid area should be enough to open the channel to your heart chakra.

Raise shakti to the thymus chakra

• Now begin to raise the shakti breaths up to your thymus chakra. In the same way, draw energy up the left side and allow it to travel all the way to the heart area.

• Now, draw earth energy up the left side and allow it to travel all the way up into the thymus area.

• Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth with a gentle aah sound.

• The sound ah is the universal sound of the heart and has been used in many ancient traditions to open the heart (including the Sufi and Hindu traditions).

Music suggestion for phase three:

Outersect, Acid Crunk 3 – EP, Ikodia (An-ten-nae Remix)

307 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA Phase four: Dance of the winged serpent

Feel your hips and anchor into your liquid sensuality. Slow down. Feel Shakti come alive with every movement of your hips. Every breath invokes her to rise. Move in serpentine waves. Un- dulate and allow the currents of Shakti to flow up your spine to ignite the spark of light in your thymus heart and loosen your wings. This is dance is great to explore with a partner: allow yourselves to be sensual with each other to inspire the rising your sexual energy to your heart. Your upper body and your arms entwine with your partner. Open your hips. Root in order to fly. Visualize yourself as a winged serpent taking flight.

Music suggestion for phase four:

Tripswitch, Circuit Breaker, Deer Park

Phase five: Thymus chakra breath

Once you have built enough warmth/shakti in your body through the winged serpent dance and your shakti cross-breaths you can begin to breathe the love breath (the same breath we used to activate the heart chakra).

• Activate the thymus chakra with the love breath—a one- second breath in and out through the mouth.

• Visualize the earth’s ascending energy current rising up through your central channel with every inhalation. On every inhalation you are receiving, opening, magnifying

308 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS and radiating universal light throughout your entire circulatory and nervous system.

• On every exhalation release a sound from your gut—the core sound that may be blocking your energy and your essence. Observe as the density in your core begins to move and gradually leave your body.

Once the block has shifted, feel the warm glow of essence permeate your entire bodymind system. Feel the star within you glowing golden, emanating out through every cell. Feel your star essence activating with every breath. Ecstasy fills every cell. Es- sence revealed, essence seen, essence lived.

Essence Dance

As we breathe and dance open the thymus, we begin to cultivate our inner light. Become aware that your breath is creating a pathway for the movement of energy through your central energy channel, and expanding the light within your thymus. Strength- en your inner radiance; shine your light. Dance to know your true self—that unchanging place, the flame of your eternal soul.

Music suggestion for phase five:

Adham Shaikh, Fusion, Krishna Raga

Phase six: Thymus purification to transcend separation

• Take short sipping breaths into your thymus to support you to open even if you feel any armoring or contraction of your essence. Focus on the front and then the back of

309 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA the thymus. Continue to breathe in short rhythmic in- hales through your mouth, then sound-out to purify.

• Focus on the back of the thymus right around the T4 vertebra. This area of the body is often quite armoured or tense because people often freeze here whenever they feel unsafe. Choose to open your whole body to the flow of earth energy that is rising up through your central energy channel and soaking into your thymus chakra, then flowing out through all four energetic layers of that chakra. It feels so good!

• Say, aaaahhhhhh…

• Dance to feel whatever emotions have been suppressed in your higher heart. Dance to open your upper chest and your sternum. Totally let go of control in your upper back, moving energy into the emotions that have been locked in here, letting whatever has been suppressed to loosen, move and leave your body. Deepen your devotion to the mother: call earth energy to rise up and purify/cleanse your thymus chakra.

• Other words to inspire purification: “What is the sound of your soul’s cry for help? What is the sound your soul is longing to express? What is the sound that will help you release the pressure in this vertebra? Remember your authentic soul. You have been hiding for too long. Forgive yourself for the past. It is time to open.”

310 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS • Ground your feet and legs and let your upper chest and back go. Sound-out the tightness in your upper back. Loosen the emotions that are blocking the channels to your life force and the current of the divine.

• Radiate love out. Let your heart glow. Reclaim your right to live in the light.

You are heart-centred and within you is the alchemical union of the earth and sun.

We are all connected.

Music suggestion for phase six:

Nickodemus Christian Prommer, Sun People Remixed, The Love Feeling (Christian Prommer Remix)

Phase seven - Ecstatic alchemy dance

• Focus on your upper heart chakra. Sip your breath in and out, through your mouth. On every inhalation your thymus heart chakra is expanding with divine love. On every exhale, you are letting go, deepening your sense of forgiveness and acceptance. Forgive yourself for any times you ever held yourself back from expressing your essence. Forgive the outside forces that may have caused you to shut down your inner light and temporarily forget who you are.

• Dance to open to the ecstasy of complete presence and acceptance of the love that is now. Embrace your soul’s

311 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA ancient voice, its cry for unity. Allow your whole body to vibrate with ecstasy. Breathe, receive, expand.

• When your body is vibrating ecstatically, begin to breathe the ecstatic energy that has been generated in your heart up into your thymus chakra. Let them link together, then allow the light to radiate through your entire bodymind system. Your throat chakra will begin to vibrate ecstatically as it opens to express your soul.

• Ecstasy is an alchemical frequency that shifts the vibration of karmic loops that have been held in your thymus chakra and transforms fear to love. As this happens you will feel golden starbursts of love, ahhhh.

Music suggestions for phase seven:

Emancipator, Soon It Will Be Cold Enough, Lionheart

Emancipator, Soon It Will Be Cold Enough, Safe In the Steep Cliffs

Phase eight: Opening to the light

The “opening to the light” phase is a continuation of the ecstatic dance, but the reason to distinguish this phase is to bring our awareness to the alchemical process that is occurring.

When we have cleared the emotional body of pain and offer it up to source, the energy body naturally begins to lighten. This is the point when we begin to bridge up to the divine father, to the pure light of Divine Masculine consciousness.

312 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS • Continue to breathe energy up from the mother and into your upper heart/thymus chakra.

• Stream the energy out horizontally from the thymus through all four layers of the energy body and then up to source (aka, the holy father or the Divine Masculine).

• Find an organic flow in your dance. Continue to stream the light up and connect into your spiritual body. Hang out in the gold for a while as you dance, spin, stream energy upwards, breathing and opening to the golden light of the divine.

• Lift the ecstatic energy through your crown chakra, linking to source as you dance. Your body is a chalice of overflowing light. Energy spills over along the pathways of the tube torus that surrounds and interpenetrates you. You are a body of golden light.

Music suggestion for phase eight:

Spiral System, Gathering the tribe: In celebration of Pachamama, Elephant

Phase nine: The downflow

In the downflow phase, we are deep in a prayerful invitation to receive the light the Divine Masculine /the father/God’s love.

• To receive God’s love from above, bring the energy down through your crown chakra and through the back of the third eye and throat chakras, into the back of your thy-

313 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA mus chakra at T4 and then out through the front of the thymus heart chakra. Exhale through the mouth as you breathe the light down.

• Visualize the back of the thymus chakra and the front of the thymus chakra linking together in a tube torus formation (see illustration), which follows universal pathways of energy.

For one whole track, continue to stream the energy down through the heart chakra, in through the back and out through the front, several times until you feel ecstatic tingles. Lift the vibration of your heart chakra and realign it with creation to open new evolutionary pathways inside the themes of the heart (such as sacred relationships and unconditional love). Do it for yourself and do it for the collective.

Music suggestion for phase nine:

Trentemøller, The Last Resort, Miss You

Phase ten: Alchemical breaths for the thymus chakra

Open to the sacred tantric marriage of earth and sun as they unite in your thymus chakra and spread through all the layers of your energy field. This will bring balance to the chakra and lift your vibration into ecstatic resonance with all creation.

• Breathe into the heart chakra. Breathe in a love of life and the mother (ma) at the same time as you breathe in the divine consciousness of the holy father (ra). Feel the two energies merge in the heart as one creator, moth-

314 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS er/father/god.

• State the following: “I open to allow the tantric union of the divine mother and the divine father in my thymus chakra and open to the new paradigm of unity consciousness that is being birthed and embodied in me now.”

• Take three alchemical breaths into the front of your thymus chakra. Intend and feel the energy to move through all four layers of your energy field. Visualize the tube torus of the chakra linking the front and back of your thymus chakra.

• Now take three breaths into the back of your thymus chakra. Intend the energy to move through all four layers of your energy field. Visualize the tube torus linking the front and back of the thymus chakra.

• Continue to move the energy like this at your own pace until you feel ecstatic currents of creation lift the vibration of your energy field.

Music suggestion for phase ten:

Marconi Union, Distance, Sleepless

Phase eleven: Align the mental body with the sun

Gently lay your fingertips on top of your heart chakra and softly breath into the center as you affirm the following:

“From this sacred moment, as I commune with the element of stellar radiance, I am remembering at my core that I am light. I

315 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA open to fields of golden light. I remember. I am one—one in light, one in love. With every sacred breath I take, the veil of separation is dissolving into the ecstatic light of oneness.

May all my actions, thoughts and speech reflect this oneness that I am.

In every moment I witness all that arises in my thoughts and feelings and I choose to remain the witness no matter what arises. I am grateful for all that is reflected to me through the actions of others. I choose to see all humanity as one; I choose to see all humanity as divine light at the core. I choose to remember my unique soul codes; I re-activate the remembrance of my vocation of destiny.

AHO

Phase twelve: Completion / Storing the energy.

This is a very important part of the practice. For long-term health benefits and our overall aliveness, we must store the energy after each practice. The energy that we build during our Kundalini Dance practice will dissipate after three days unless we store it.

Sit down or lay down on your mat. Breathe into your navel and rub your navel with your hand in a counterclockwise direction and spiral three, nine or thirty six times. Spiralling counrerclock wise we draw in the energy we have generated through our practice from all parts of our body. Then reverse the spiral in a clockwise direction again three, nine or thirty six times. Spiral-

316 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS ling clockwise we condense the energy into a smaller and smaller opalescent pearl ball of light.

Once we are done spiraling, we imagine the collected chi moving into our sacral chakra/ womb / hara/ ovarian palace area ( three fingers below your navel and several centimetres inside your body. We visualize our energy into a small pearl coloured ball of light and contain it there for future use.

317 AWAKENING ONENESS: THE THYMUS CHAKRA

Thymus Chakra: Written Dance of Awareness

Write a poetic prayer that expresses your longing for union with the Divine Beloved.

Touch into that part of you that is humble enough to admit you don’t have all the answers, you know there is more and ask for divine help. Access the place inside of you that is fearless and ready to feel the deepest pain of your soul. Touch the part of you that knows you have the limitless capacity to expand and embody even more love.

Create a 30 minute play list of music that really moves your soul. Music that reminds you of special moments in the past, music that really moves your soul. When creating your play list, start with slow tracks and then pick up the pace then make sure the last two tracks are very still and meditative. Create a soft and intimate space for yourself to explore your dance prayer. Dim the lights, you could get out a matress and or a mat and some cush- ions on the floor. Then sit and pray your longing prayer for the divine and pray for help to feel whatever keeps you separate. Pray for the courage to feel whatever gets in the way of you and the divine. Dance, breathe, lay down, sit whatever comes, simply surrender to the fire of divine love and see what happens. Trust that the divine will hold you and that it is safe to feel. Then

318 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS when you are done, lay still and let things settle.

Take out your journal and free write uncensored for ten minutes. What emotions arose through your dance prayer? Did you dissolve into the silence? Let your soul speak to you through your pen.

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CHAPTER SIX Awakening Authenticity: The Throat Chakra

Creative Self Expression

Shakti ma, ignite the creative spark within me

I offer myself as an instrument of creative expression.

May my voice, be your voice

My body, be your body.

Mother, muse me, dance me open.

Shakti ma, melt the resistance in my clenched jaw that’s been locked in fear, afraid to speak, for so long.

Inner snake liberate

with your shimmering blue hue

Divine Feminine wisdom expressed

with the passion of a lioness

321 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA and the gentleness of a deer

I listen, I hear your gentle whispers are near

the codes of secrecy have been broken

I cry tears for what was unspoken.

I sing the ancient Divine Feminine mystery.

I sing the remembrance.

of her story

Shakti take me…come through me I am yours

322 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

Dancing the Throat Awake

Introduction

The throat chakra is the centre of communication, creativity and self-expression. It is through the throat that we express our authentic feelings with words, art, dance and ideas. When the throat chakra is awake, we listen to our inner voice and give ourselves permission to express the truth of our essence. The throat chakra is the vehicle for the creative voice of the soul.

The imprints in the front of the throat chakra are related to expression and communication and how authentically you express your inner world. The back of the throat chakra is how you let the expression of others in and also holds the imprints of judgment, rejection, denial, self-criticism, self-doubt, self-worth and how you perceive your inner world is received by the outer world. When the back of the throat chakra is ecstatically awakened, we open into deep acceptance of ourselves, others and life.

When our throat chakras are vibrating in resonance with creation, we are aligned with truth. We are eloquent, articulate and express ourselves creatively. We accept ourselves as we are and have a healthy sense of self-esteem. Our throat chakra is the vehicle for the fulfillment of our life’s purpose. The vibration of ecstasy awakens dormant destiny codes in the throat chakra. When we regularly feel the joyful waves of ecstasy ripple through

323 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA our throat chakras, this awakens our soul’s blueprint.

In Kundalini Dance, the journey with the throat is to shift that which is holding us back from expressing our true selves and being ecstatic. By purifying any density in the energy-body layers that extend from the throat chakra, we lift the vibration of the chakra and open ourselves to new ways of being and expressing ourselves creatively.

What the dance looks like

When we purify and activate the throat chakra our dance becomes an energy dance that weaves our bodymind system back into alignment with the flow of creation. The dance helps to seal places where we may be leaking energy and weaves the alchemical flows of Divine Feminine /masculine creation throughout our being. Dancing the throat looks like spontaneous tai chi; it is a dance of energy. The union of the sacred feminine and masculine in our throat awakens our creative potentials and feels ecstatic.

Purifying the throat chakra

The Sanskrit name for this chakra is Vishuddha, meaning purification. The throat chakra both easily contracts and responds well to regular purification. Whenever we hold back our natural expression, the flow of energy throughout the body is restricted and this causes the throat chakra to contract. When we hold back expressing our thoughts and feelings out of fear, energy flows in but can’t flow out again and, as a result of this dam, en-

324 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS ergy becomes stagnant. This is why, when we aren’t expressing ourselves freely, we become less alive. The Divine Mother often takes us through a few deep and powerful purifications of the throat chakra, leading people to cough, spit or dry heave as the light of the Divine Feminine clears constrictions in the throat. It takes effort to restrict our natural expression and, if we feel we have to maintain that restriction, this can cause physical, mental and emotional stress. Clearing the throat chakra will leave you feeling more creative and alive than any other chakra.

Opening up with sound is a powerful way to release repressed emotional energy in the throat chakra because authentic sound moves trapped emotional vibrations out of the body. Speaking gibberish and letting out sound in an uncensored way is a great way to discharge stagnant energy in the throat chakra.

We all carry a key resonate tone, finding our unique sound is another way to effectively realign with the frequency of our true essence. By facilitating a deeper connection with your essence, you will naturally develop trust in your ability to fearlessly express your truth any time, any place with anyone.

Transforming through the throat chakra

One of the benefits of transforming the throat chakra is that we reclaim our authenticity. We become more ourselves, more self- accepting and confident of our inner authority. The throat chakra entrains to a higher potential when we gradually open the ecstatic energy flow. It is then that we will develop the capacity to

325 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA express our authentic, unique self and learn to honor the unique- ness in others. Our differences are an essential part of the whole circle of humanity.

What holds you back from expressing your truth, your outrage, your joy, your creativity and your needs? What makes you close down your throat, withhold your emotions or doubt yourself? What makes you hide in silence? What is at the core of your creative inertia? Maybe you are afraid of being criticized and judged? Perhaps as a child you were shamed for spontaneously expressing yourself or it felt safer to stay silent and not “make a scene” rather than face the wrath of parents or guardians whose love and acceptance was crucial to survival. This survival mechanism protected our vulnerable inner self from harm or ridicule but it also blocked the gateway to our true thoughts and feelings.

Our younger self may also have adopted some of these false beliefs: “It’s not safe for me to express myself freely; being myself is not ok; I need to conform to keep the peace.” The key to transforming these beliefs is to nurture the disillusioned younger self (sometimes referred to as “the inner child”) and, when triggered, watch ourselves for habitual responses. Learning to identify when we are telling ourselves a lie is also an important skill in aligning ourselves with the truth.

Truth and denial

The throat chakra is the vehicle for expressing truth and wisdom. Denying truth will lower the vibration of the throat chakra and

326 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS can keep us trapped inside of a cycle of illusion. It is a choice to not see and accept certain things about ourselves because we are attached to a false identity or way of being. Denial occurs when we refuse to see the truth, even when it is screaming at us in the face. It shuts out the possibility of receiving the truth—both divine truth, personal truth or the truth that is being offered to us by those who are around. For example, denial is when you keep telling yourself that coffee is good for you even though you become anxious and short tempered when you drink it. There is information being given to you, but you don’t listen because your addiction to the substance inspires a lie that “coffee is not that bad for me, after all everyone drinks it.”

Life is constantly giving us an opportunity to learn and change, either directly giving us guidance and assistance when we ask for it and are receptive to it, or indirectly through life circumstances that bring our attention to the truth of the matter. Life often keeps slapping us in the face over and over with certain lessons until we start praying to see what we need to see and are willing to finally listen and accept the truth.

The stronger our fear and denial the more intensely we attract the situations that are required to shake us out of our trance and face the truth. It takes humility to accept our faults and failings, to embrace our life lessons and improve ourselves through this challenging process. Humility and vulnerability is what melts the veil of denial and opens us to the fact that there is a higher force in the universe that is inviting us to evolve. It is time to embrace

327 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA everything that we attract as an opportunity for growth.

Judgment and criticism

Judgment is one of the emotional patterns that keeps the throat chakra vibrating at a low frequency. This includes judgment of others and self-judgment. We are judging ourselves when we hold back on speaking our truth or being who we really are for fear of being rejected by others. Self-judgment is also present when we don’t have the courage to say what we see and we second-guess our perceptions with emotions and ideas. It is an expression of our harsh inner critic, tainted with an edge of self- loathing and perfectionism.

When we judge others for who they are, what they have said or done, what they look like or how they smell, we create separation. Judgement is another way that the ego keeps us isolated and alone. We are either better than or not good enough, superi- or or inferior, the egoic mind dishing out an endless stream of reasons why we can’t stay open to others. When we are in judgement, we are frozen over, we can’t feel ourselves or others. The judge is cold and cruel. The judge casts out and pushes away, staying ultimately alone on his own pedestal. I say behead the judge, with his ceaseless internal chatter, and come back to the heart of acceptance.

If you are energetically sensitive, being judged may feel like a dagger in the back of your throat, shoulders or heart. You may tense-up or feel a prickly sensation wash over you. The inner

328 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS judge is the persecutor, eating away at our self-esteem until we collapse.

When we accept ourselves as we are—with all our so-called faults, weaknesses and imperfections, we find compassion for ourselves and cultivating compassion is how we end the cycle of judging both ourselves and others. Compassion leads to transparent communication and deeper connection, where we can share what we see, rather than closing down and judging. Com- passion and acceptance can embrace even those who judge us, as it is really they who judge that suffer, not the one who is judged.

Fear of rejection

Fear of rejection is rooted in low self-esteem or a lack of self- confidence. It will often manifest as a fear of approaching people, and this is perceived by others as aloofness or unavailability. When we fear being rejected we do not initiate connections and our capacity to reach out or engage in new relationships is constantly being sabotaged by the subconscious fear of being rejected, ridiculed, pushed out, left or abandoned.

Ecstatically awakening the throat chakra develops self- confidence, self-esteem and our sense of self-worth. Accepting ourselves as we are, including our limitations as well as our gifts, will shift the imprint of rejection.

It takes courage to be vulnerable and express our naked truth; we risk being judged or rejected. Yet it is only through taking that

329 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA risk that we can liberate ourselves from this pattern. The first step of taking this risk is to feel any uncomfortable feelings. By feeling them totally we have given ourselves an opportunity to transform. Healing doesn’t happen in the safety of avoidance and denial.

A male friend once told me how he had a fear of rejection and he wanted to get over it so he decided to keep asking women out for a couple of months to fully experience being rejected over and over. He was doing this consciously and with the intention to feel and transform the pain by holding the rejected little boy inside of him through the pain. Gradually, he transformed this fear through feeling it again and again, and then ended up becoming incredibly magnetic to women through the process.

Self-doubt

Even those of us with a healthy sense of self-esteem can get tripped up when self-doubt creeps in. It’s part of our human condition to question and to look outside ourselves for recognition and reassurance but, ultimately, we need to give ourselves permission to be ourselves.

Self-doubt is one of the most debilitating energies when it comes to living our soul’s purpose and pursuing our dreams. Self-doubt seems to come with the territory as you expand your sphere of comfort and take the necessary risks to live your true design. Self-doubt comes up when we feel we are not enough as we are and when we compare ourselves to others rather than reveling in

330 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS being ourselves.

As we awaken the power of the throat chakra we come back to the truth that no one can be us better than ourselves and that our unique message, our unique soul expression, can only come through a pure filter of original essence. There is so much freedom, so much creative license that can be taken when we finally get that piece. Remember to celebrate everything you have done till now and bathe in the perfection of your unique journey. No one can do you better than you!

Developmental stage

The throat chakra develops between the ages of 7 – 12 and the experiences that occur during this time determine the patterning of the throat chakra. At this stage of life, the primary concern is expressing and discovering one’s true self.

“Developmental tasks are to learn skills and learn from mis- takes and accept one’s own inadequacy; to learn to listen and collect information; to learn the appropriateness of having and expressing wants and needs; to learn the structure of the family and the culture; to learn the consequences of breaking rules; to have one’s own opinions; to disagree and still be ac- cepted and loved; to identify with same-sex role models and peers; to compete and test abilities against others.”

— “Journal of Heart-Centered Therapies” 2000, Vol. 3, no 2, p. 46 - Zimberoff and Hartman

331 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA As children, we might not have been encouraged to be true to ourselves. We may have even been silenced or shamed around aspects of our expression. Children in previous generations were often taught to be “seen and not heard” and this idea would affect the free-flow of one’s communication and expression.

The primary developmental task of the throat chakra is to face all the ways we adapt or repress our true selves. If we were not held or guided to honour our authentic expression or were not allowed to express our needs as children, we will need to re-parent ourselves as adults—to sooth and give ourselves complete self- acceptance. We will benefit from giving ourselves permission to transparently express our needs and desires. Once these issues are worked through we will be able to speak our truth, express our feelings and discover our unique creativity.

Creativity

The throat chakra and second chakra are both directly related to creativity. When the throat chakra is open it allows the creative energy in the second chakra to be expressed. So when we dance the throat chakra, we cultivate energy in the second chakra, open the pelvis and allow the rocking motion of the pelvis to ripple up the spine to the throat, opening the neck and shoulders. Moving energy up from the second chakra to the fifth chakra transforms physical sexual energy into creative energy that is connected to our essence. The energy that moves up the spine is like a wave that has the power to pulse the throat and jaw open.

332 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Many creative people need to let go of perfectionism, which halts the flow of creativity. The most lively and profound throat chakra sessions are the result of downright silliness—when participants allow themselves to let go of “being beautiful” or “doing it right” and spontaneous creativity flows in and out onto the dance floor. Slapstick playfulness often allows the pure genius of one’s soul to shine through.

Listening

The throat chakra is as much connected to speaking as it is to listening. In childhood if we hear lots of harsh words, we shut down and develop selective hearing. By elevating and purifying the throat chakra, we can become much better listeners. If you catch yourself zoning-out when someone is talking, or worrying how you are being perceived, working on the throat chakra can hone your ability to focus and hear what is really being said. At- tuning your listening skills will ensure that you can receive any important messages that are being communicated.

Conscious speech

The throat chakra activation reminds us to bring consciousness to our speech, our words and the vibration behind the words. Our words create resonant or dissonant fields of energy, depending on what we say. In highly attuned states of consciousness you may even be able to see the light that is generated by resonant conversations.

333 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA Our words carry an energetic current and affect people either positively or negatively depending on how we choose to speak. Let’s manifest what we love and take responsibility for every word we offer.

Clairaudience

Activating the throat chakra activates clairaudience, the ability to receive guidance from our inner voice, the voice of spirit guides, the voice of ancestors and voices from other realms.

My story

One morning when I was walking along the beach, I began to chant. I had just taught a throat chakra class the night before and the chants brought my consciousness into alignment with a few of my North American guides, who had been helping me in my work. These guides gave me clear instructions about how to uti- lize my creative energy: they showed me where I was leaking my power and guided me to adopt a daily writing practice. That conversation gave me enough juice and determination to sit at my computer for three months and write the manual for the first teacher training. When our mind is quiet enough, our questions clear enough and our heart open enough, we can hear our inner voice and our guides.

Attunement to energy

The element related to the throat chakra is “ether” or energy. When the throat is open we become more attuned to the subtle vibrations of sound and light and we become more sensitive to

334 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS the subtle energy currents in our body mind system.

When we purify and activate the throat chakra we can re-weave the energy pathways of our body into alignment with universal energy and seal the energy leakages30 with light. The union of the Shiva and Shakti in the throat feels ecstatic and awakens dormant codes in the throat chakra.

The most profound throat openings occur when you let your soul’s song out. The wise old soul within you is shouting, “Let my wisdom be heard! Let my soul be sung! Don’t be afraid, little one.”

Overactive or underactive throat chakra

It is easy to recognize an overactive or underactive throat chakra. This is the gateway between inner and outer worlds and the only thing we need do to discover how open or closed this chakra is, is listen. Are you a quiet one, only talking when necessary, or when you are spoken too? Are you comfortable with silences? Does your voice have harmonic resonance or is it pinched and whiny? Do you talk so much that you sometimes wear yourself out? Fast talkers are often discharging energy from their overactive throat chakras, whereas quiet people are sometimes locked inside themselves without enough energy to break through the block at the throat chakra. It is common to have both excessive and deficient

30 When we are caught in an negative pattern or thought process or emotional collapse it leaks our energy. 335 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA characteristics, allowing us to communicate well in some in- stances and poorly in others, depending on the external condi- tions and triggers.

Mainstream America reveres overactive throat chakras. General- ly, American culture is to stand out, dress loud, talk loud and be proud of what you got.

When the throat chakra is overactive, we may speak a lot but it is not necessarily from a place that resonates with our soul. Instead we speak to gain attention or seek approval from others. Those with overactive throat chakras will also be unable to listen or ask questions as their outflow is on overdrive.

Australians and Brits are slightly underactive. In Australia the cultural message is to blend in so we tend to be more reserved. We have what we call “the tall poppy syndrome,” namely, if your head towers above the rest, you will be cut down. Australian culture revers those who stay small.

People with underactive throat chakras will have difficulty expressing their feelings. They may be introverted or shy and will likely have a massive fear of public speaking. These people will hold back on communicating their truths and feelings for fear of judgment.

A serious imbalance in the throat chakra can manifest as thyroid problems. Other physical symptoms related to the throat chakra include: a stiff neck, tight shoulders, TMJ and problems with the ears or the voice. A sore throat and swollen glands are also ways

336 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS the body indicates an energetic imbalance in the throat chakra.

Balanced throat chakra

When our throat chakra is in balance we fearlessly speak and hear the truth. Our communication is clear and we are regularly learning about new communication skills. Our creativity and self-expression is free-flowing and our listening skills are refined and open. When the throat chakra is in balance we have a developed a sense of timing and rhythm.

Personaes of the throat

One common characteristic between many successful, self- actualized people is that they feel free from “the need to be liked.” They have freed themselves from the need to be perfect and often possess wild untamed spirits. It is clear that they are not doing “their thing” for show, rather, their passion is an unbridled creative expression that is fueled by their essence and a commitment to their craft. The fire that fuels these writers, artists and creators has little to do with desire for fame.

Jolene (throat chakra in balance):

Jolene is an eccentric young woman who expresses her throat chakra lotus with plenty of sass. She sings with the soul of a funky black mama and reinvents herself regularly, transforming from dreadlocked forest-dwelling hippy, to a blue-haired techno shaman, to a horseback-riding, checked- shirt cowgirl.

Lee (root chakra in balance):

337 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA Lee is a beatboxing puppeteer with a fondness for unicorns and tutu’s. This quirky comic hip-hop rockstar spends his days sipping tea on the couch, but in his imagination animat- ed streams are playing in full colour. He is a pioneer of quirk.

Opening new evolutionary pathways

Awakening the throat chakra is the next collective evolutionary step, supporting us to manifest and express our life’s mission, our soul’s purpose. The throat chakra is the chalice whereby the soul’s gifts can pour out into the world. We are ancient and patient souls who have been waiting for this time—when we have the soul-level maturity to help activate and serve the global awakening of humanity.

It is the throat chakra that inspires the urge to serve and contribute our gifts to the whole. I am convinced that if enough of us awaken to our destiny and express our soul’s work, we will be able to shift fearlessly out of the age of Pisces and into the Aquarian age.

We are now at a critical phase on the planet and we need to make major transformations at many levels in our society—in our economic structures, education systems, family structures and intimate relationships. The way to empower change on a global scale is to empower individuals. When individuals embrace and own their unique personal gifts and have the boldness to take risks, create structures and make the transformations necessary in their homes, communities and workplaces, these chang-

338 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS es ripple-out and effect the whole world.

This is the time to make personal changes for the better and to “confidently move in the direction of your dreams.”31 By doing so you will be participating in the creation of the new earth32 and a new society that will reflect evolved consciousness.

This is a time to co-create, communicate and consolidate. The old institutions are crumbling so it is time to let go of them and co creating new forms in culture, in relationships and society.

Sacred prophecy and the shift of the ages

Humanity is in the midst of a huge evolutionary leap. Both western astrology and the Ancient prophecies reveal that the period between 2012 and 2017 is a pivotal time to prepare for a possible birthing of new paradigm in human consciousness around 2027.

“The sacred teaching of the east and west have their parallel in those who recently brought forward by medical anthro- pologist Dr. Alberto Villoldo, who has spent many years studying and transmitting the teachings of the Incan shamans of Peru. These shamans have told him that humanity has reached what they refer to as the ”parchacuti,”or the period of renewal that occurs at the end of time. During this transitional time of upheaval when the world will be turned

31 Quote by Yogi Bhajan 32 “The new earth” is a term coined by Eckhart Tolle in his book A New Earth, Awakening to your Life’s Purpose, published by Penguin. 339 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA “right-side up again” there will be a ”tear in the fabric of time itself,” a window into the future through which a new human species will emerge. They call this new species HOMO LUMINOUS.”

—Sharron Rose 33

The fact is, nobody really knows what will happen in the future, but if you feel deep into the core truth of your belly, chances are your intuitive body will tell you that ‘yes,’ this is the time to evolve. You are the one that you have been waiting for!

Externally we are witnessing some enormous changes on a global scale, both environmentally and politically. Western culture is at its breaking point and, as is the case with every crisis, we also have a fantastic portal of opportunity. The death of the old is bringing with it a resurgence of hope and a call to a deeper level of personal and collective responsibility. It is crucial that those who feel they have “work to do” and gifts to share at this time are fearlessly offering those gifts. Genius is born of fearlessness: it is time to be bold and do what we came here to do.

As you know, we only use 10% of our brains. Many of us feel that there is more power in the human brain that can be harnessed. We are still a fairly young species and are on the verge of a collective awakening that could help us harness this dormant intelligence. The power for change is in our own minds.

33 Excerpt from page 146 of The Way of the Priestess: A guide book for the Awaken- ing the Divine Feminine by Sharron Rose 340 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Step up and embody the awakened human; have the courage to be true to our soul’s vocation. Express the sacred in your family, your community and your work. This is not the time to hiber- nate; it is time to come together and participate.

Karmic soul memories

I have had fear around expressing my gifts as a contemporary tantric priestess, a keeper of the Divine Feminine mystery teachings and over the years I watched myself sabotage myself again and again. I was afraid to be seen and heard and until quite recently I have been in hiding. I see this pattern in myself and in others who carry the same archetypal blueprint. It is understand- able because Goddess worshippers or tantric adepts were (until fairly recently) shamed, persecuted and tortured in the West. If I can move beyond these fears and live courageously, you can too. Let’s inspire each other.

Shamanic dance journeys into the throat, often reveal that the karmic issues are polar opposites: those who experienced lifetimes as victims of persecution for expressing truth and mystical knowledge, were also abusers of power and knowledge in other lives. It seems that the soul needs to experience both ends of the spectrum in order to find balance. In ancient Egypt, Atlantis and the early Grecian, Mayan and In- can civilizations, the priests and priestesses were honored and revered as gods and goddesses for their wisdom. They guarded this mystical knowledge and kept it a secret, perhaps because

341 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA they didn’t trust humanity or feel that it was ready and because they had an egoic attachment to positions of power. If they taught what they knew to the masses, they would have lost their positions of influence. As a result of their selfishness, at some point, this knowledge was lost. It is only now, when we are ready to co-create and share, that the remembrance of the ancient teachings are being rediscovered in ourselves. The sacred teaching of the Divine Feminine lineage of Isis and the Divine Mas- culine lineage of Horus are accessible and can be embodied in us through the evolutionary tools of Kundalini Dance.

Activating and clearing the throat chakra brings us the power and inspiration to step up and be fearless and express our unique gifts. We all have our unique ray, our soul gift and, when we offer it to our community, it makes the circle whole. What is the gift inside of you that will bring peace to both yourself and the world?

Affirmations for the throat

In truth, it is safe for me to express and embody the Divine Feminine. The Divine Feminine is an evolutionary force. It is an honour to be a vehicle for her expression.

I release the secrecy that has held me back from remembering and sharing the evolutionary keys that are within me.

I release myself from the past by forgiving myself for not speaking my truth or following my inner wisdom. I am strong, I am wise, I speak my truth with clarity and compassion.

342 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

Sacred Alchemical Throat Chakra Dance: The Practice

The dance of the throat chakra focuses on two things: 1) the purification of any physical or energetic blocks that may be imped- ing your expression, and 2) total embodied ecstasy. The vibration of ecstasy awakens the throat chakra. With regular practice, you will unlock latent soul-codes and strengthen your capacity for authentic self-expression and divinely inspired creativity.

A lot of energetic density gets stored in the throat chakra but, as you cultivate Kundalini Shakti in your body, purification will become easier (and more powerful) over time. The more fully you can allow yourself to feel and forgive yourself for withholding your authentic expression in the past, the deeper your clearing process will be. Energetic purification of the throat chakra can manifest in some people as burping—a kind of dry heaving as the throat is purged of constrictions. Do not be alarmed because as soon as you allow these body symptoms to happen freely, your vibration will lift and the energy will be able to flow much more freely. The more emotional density you clear in this way, the more ecstatic energy you will feel flowing through your throat chakra and this is when you know that you are now opening to new evolutionary ways of being that are related to your communication and your creativity.

343 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA Related body parts

The focus here is on opening and releasing any tension in the shoulders, neck and jaw. We want to build the juicy shakti energy in the hips and then use that energy to dance a soft liquid dance that will open and relax the body. As mentioned previously, the sacral and throat chakra are linked, so when we cultivate the creative energy in the sacral chakra we can then move that soft, liquid energy up into the shoulders and neck.

Phase one: Prayer of intention grounding

Begin the throat chakra journey with long, soft, slow breaths. Breathe deep into your belly and your upper chest, then gently caress the front of your body up into your throat. Breathe out through your mouth with a soft ehh sound. Set an intention: you want to feel, heal and lift the vibration of your throat chakra. Place your fingers on your throat and gently check in with yourself. How are you feeling here? What do you need to feel to allow more energy to flow through your throat so you can actualize the highest possibilities in this area of your life?

Invite the Divine Mother and Divine Father to support you to feel whatever has been held in your throat so that you can become empty to receive divine love. Invite an ecstatic dance, a dance of connection, a dance of communion with divinity.

• As always, begin your dance by grounding down and connecting into the earth’s core. On the exhale relax your perineum, your jaw and bend your knees

344 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS • Say: “I am relaxing my perineum. I am focused on rooting my energy into the earth.”

• Feel your feet. Sense the chakras in your feet. Now imagine you have roots growing down from your feet into the central core of the earth. See those roots travelling deeper and deeper until they connect into the core of the earth.

• Create an intention to open to the Divine Feminine energies of the earth and breathe earth energy up into your throat chakra. Now open to the Divine Masculine energies of the sun and breathe light in through the back of your throat chakra. Open to these two currents of energy.

• If you are already aware of specific patterns related to the throat chakra that you would like to heal, or if there is a related physical healing that you desire, set a specific intention and remember this: energy flows where attention goes.

Music suggestions for phase one:

Rara Avis, Beneath the Radar, 1000 Suns

Anahata, the Unmade Sound, Ixchel

Phase two: Warm up the physical body

Here are some instructions to inspire the exploration of the body parts connected to the throat chakra.

• Shakti yoga breath: Beginning on your yoga mat, get on- to all fours and call upon your inner feline. Start with cat

345 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA stretches to warm up the spine then move your hips in circles to generate shakti in the lower body.34

• Dance to open your hips, undulate your spine. Dance to loosen your lower body and ground into your legs.

• Explore arm movements that support you to loosen your shoulders and your neck. Breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Rotate your head in your dance.

Music suggestions for phase two:

For shakti yoga: Desert Dwellers, Downtemple Dub: Roots, New Generation

For shakti yoga: Shaman’s Dream, Dance: Dream: Dance, Pranayamystic

For body warm up of hips and throat: Kaya Project, Ummah Oum Remixes, Ummah Oum (Kaya Project Slow Hop Mix)

Phase three: Shakti cross-breaths

We build and generate energy in the root chakra, sacral chakra, pelvic bowl and womb/hara area with shakti cross-breaths. Here are the instructions for this breath:

• Right side: Draw earth energy into the chakra in the center of the right foot and up through the inner meridians of the right leg, into the root chakra and the pelvic bowl.

34 Please note, videos for all the alchemy breath sequences are available on utube. 346 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS • Left side: Draw earth energy up into the chakra in the center of the left foot, up the inner meridians of the left leg, into the root chakra and the pelvic bowl.

• After breathing and generating shakti in this way for a while, allow your body to discharge any stagnant or stuck energies that have been brought to your awareness. Dis- charge these dense energies through the breath and by moving spontaneously or shaking your body—particularly your hips and lower body.

• Dance a free dance35 and allow your body to move in a soft and flowing way like honey. Continue to cultivate shakti while you dance, breathing deep into your belly, moving your hips and softening you lips.

Music suggestions for phase three:

For shakti breaths: Outersect, Acid Crunk 3, Ikodia (Ant-ten- nae Remix)

For shakti cultivation: Beats Antique, Collide, Beauty Beats

For shakti cultivation: David Starfire, Bollywood Bass, Shakti

Phase four: Raise Shakti to the clear solar plexus and initiate ecstasy

Take a few shakti cross-breaths up and out through the four

35 “A free dance” is similar to free writing in that it is unscripted, spontaneous and continuous. It arises from no-mind. 347 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA layers of the solar plexus and upper zyphoid area to clear any dense energies or emotions. This will help the energy to rise to the heart.

Raise Shakti to the heart chakra and initiate the ecstasy phase:

• Now begin to raise the shakti cross-breaths up to your heart chakra, drawing energy up the right side and con- tinuing to draw it all the way up to the heart. Draw earth energy up the left side and allow it to travel all the way up to the heart.

• Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth with a gentle ahh sound. Ahh is the universal sound of the heart and has been used in many ancient traditions to open the heart, including the Sufi and Hindu traditions.

Music suggestions for phase four:

Bridge energy to solar plexus: Cheb I Sabbah, La Ghriba (La Kahena Remixed), Alkher Illa Doffor (Nectar Remix)

Heart chakra: David Starfire, Six Degrees of Middle East, Mystic Whomp (David Starfire Remix)

Phase five: Throat chakra activation

• Take several shakti breaths to build energy in the pelvic bowl area.

• Begin long slow breathing—two seconds in and two seconds out through the mouth. Open your mouth wide and breathe into the back of your throat. This is called the

348 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS cat’s purr in yoga and the Tibetans call this the “wind in the back of the cave” breath because it sounds like wind in a cave. On the exhale keep your mouth wide open and breath out of the back of you throat as if you were fog- ging up the window pane.

• Raise shakti up through your central tube and into your throat. Clear and activate your throat chakra with a whis- pered “ehh” sound. Breathe love in and sound out anything that is not love.

• Focus on the back of your throat chakra around the cervical plexus. Allow stagnations to clear by releasing authentic sounds with each exhalation. Support the clearing by spontaneously moving your arms and hands to guide the energy up and out.

Energy dance

Dancing the throat chakra is a dance with energy. Become aware that your breath is creating a pathway for energy to move up and down through your central channel. Move with it and let your spine undulate like a wave. Feel Kundalini energy pulse up your spine to the rhythm of your breath, purifying your throat chakra. Your hands and arms follow the energy as it circulates through your body, clearing any blockages. Channel the light. Dance with energy, let it open your body. Roll your head from side to side, stretching your neck, and relax your shoulders down your back. Make sound to clear any old repressed emotions—all the

349 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA things you wanted to say but didn’t.

Music suggestion for phase five:

Desert Dwellers, Downtemple Dub: Lost Grooves, The Dub Sutras (Tantrika Dub)

Phase six: The purification shadow dance

Pulse your breath into the back of the throat through your open mouth to intensify the current of earth energy. Your whole body is opening to the flow of earth energy that rises up through your central energy channel and penetrates deep into the throat chakra then out through the four layers of energy body. First, focus on the front of your throat chakra, then focus on the back.

• Dance to totally let go and release control of your head and neck. Your head spirals and swing to welcome in earth energy. Call mother earth to purify and cleanse your throat chakra.

• What is the sound of your soul’s longing? Open your throat and let out the wisdom of your soul, fearlessly. What is the sound of your soul calling you? What is the sound of your truth? Forgive yourself for holding back in the past and dance yourself open.

• Ground your feet in and let your head and neck go. Sound out the tightness in your neck. Prowl, growl, howl. Loosen and open the emotions that have broken the channels that connect you to the lifeforce of the divine. Let the karma of the past go.

350 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Let the old masks go. Let the love flow. Let your heart glow. Reclaim your right to shine your light.

Music suggestions for phase six:

Pulse energy up to throat, start purification: Leftfield, Rhythm and Stealth, 6/8 War

Let go, purify: Graham Wood, Soul Vibration #001, Mori Morma

Phase seven: Ecstatic alchemy

• Now focus on your heart chakra. Sip your breath in and out of your heart. On every inhalation your heart chakra expands, deepening your sense of forgiveness and acceptance of all the ways you have ever held yourself back from expressing your creative energy—all the ways your have withheld your authentic expression and judged or doubted yourself or others in the past. Embrace it all in love and forgiveness.

• Dance to surrender to the ecstasy of total presence and acceptance of what is right now. Embrace the ancient voice of your soul. Let it out! Sing your song! Nothing is right, nothing is wrong; anchor deeply into self- acceptance.

• Continue to sip your breath into your heart chakra and allow your whole body to vibrate into an ecstatic state. Breathe.

351 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA • When your body is vibrating ecstatically, breathe/lift the energy generated in your heart up into your throat chakra.

• Your throat chakra is now vibrating ecstatically. The vibration of your throat is lifting, aligning all soul codes in- to the matrix of the flower of life. Ecstasy is an alchemical frequency that will shift the vibration of any karmic loops or fear imprints that have been held in your throat chakra. These golden starbursts of love are dissolving all fear and alchemizing lead to gold.

• Make a sound that moves the energy from the heart to the throat and blend energies. Ahhh (the sound of the heart) turns into ehhh (the sound of the throat). Ahh- ehh.

Music suggestion for phase seven:

Dom Um Romao, Reserved (Music for VIP Area), Lake of Perseverance (Opaque Remix)

Phase eight: Opening to the light

A change occurs when we have cleared the emotional body and offered our pain up to source: this shift is known as “opening to the light” and this is the point when we begin to open to the pure light of Divine Masculine consciousness. Here are the instructions for this phase, which is a continuation of the ecstatic alchemy dance:

• Continue to breathe energy up from the mother, into

352 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS your heart and out through all four layers of your heart chakra.

• Stream the energy up to the throat chakra, out through all four layers, then up to source. Pay particular attention to the emotional body layer. Accept, forgive and let go.

• Find an organic flow in your dance. Continue to stream the light up through your body and out through the energy layers of your throat chakra. Connect to your spiritual body layer—the fourth layer of your energy field— and hang out in the gold for a while. Dance, spin and stream energy upwards while moving and breathing and opening to the light of the divine.

Music suggestion for phase eight:

Bluetech, Lynx Janover, Love Songs to the Source, To Mend

Phase nine: The downflow

In the downflow phase, we are immersed in a deep prayerful invitation to receive the Divine Masculine /God’s love:

• Open to receive the love that God/Spirit has for you. Feel your unconditional love and acceptance for every single part of yourself. Remember that you are worthy to receive divine love!

• Now breathe the energy of God’s love down through your crown chakra, through the back of third eye chakra, into the back of your throat chakra and out through the

353 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA front of the throat chakra. As you breath the light down, exhale out through the mouth to support this opening.

• Visualize the back and front of the throat chakra linked together in a tube torus, which guides the energy along universal pathways.

• For one track, continue to stream energy down through the throat chakra—in through the back and out through the front—until you feel ecstatic tingles. This awakens your throat chakra to its highest potential and ushers in new profound ways for you to creatively express yourself.

• This work is done both for ourselves and for the collective.

Music suggestion for phase nine:

Shen, Outlines, Embrace

Phase ten: Alchemical breaths for the throat chakra

The sacred marriage of Divine Feminine and the Divine Mascu- line will now occur in your throat chakra, thereby lifting your vibration into ecstatic resonance with all creation.

• Breathe the feminine/earth current along with the masculine/solar current simultaneously into your throat chakra.

• State this intention:

• “I open to the marriage of the divine mother and the divine father in my throat chakra so a new paradigm of

354 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS communication and self expression can be birthed in me now.”

• Take three alchemical breaths into the front of your throat chakra. Intend the energy to move through all four layers of your energy field. Visualize the tube torus of the chakra linking front and back of the throat chakra.

• Then take three breaths into the back of your throat chakra. Intend the energy to move through all four layers of your energy field. Visualize the tube torus of the chakra linking front and back.

• Move the energy like this at your own pace until you feel ecstatic currents lift the vibration of your throat chakra and tingle in every cell and molecule of your body.

Music suggestions for phase ten:

Jonathan Goldman, Chakra Chants 2, Language of Light (Throat)

Phase eleven: Align the mental body

Find a comfortable, meditative sitting posture and face the sun if you can. Place your fingertips on the front of your throat chakra. Breathe and receive the geometric designs of light and the sun into your throat chakra. Say:

On this sacred day, with every breath I take, I activate the remembrance of my soul covenant and effortlessly re-enact divine will here in earth’s garden.

355 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA On this sacred day I carry out the divine plan through all of my actions, through all of my words, through all of my thoughts. I see all those who cross my path as an expression of divine truth.

The living language of light expresses itself through me. My speech is a reflection of that light.

The earth and the sun’s ecstatic song of marriage is sung through me. I offer my art as a container for their union.

My creativity is free-flowing, it is an instrument that serves divine will at this time of awakening. I express spiritual intelligence. I am guided by truth. I commune with the element of ether.

Place your fingertips on the back of your throat chakra. Pulse the breath in. The light of the sun is soaking into the back of your throat chakra. Say:

On this sacred day, I accept all that I am and all who I magnetize on my path.

I remember that I am worthy of love—both human and divine!

I forgive myself for past judgements and for denial.

I forgive and remember there is nothing to forgive.

I love myself. I embrace the reflection of my unfolding perfection.

I am guided by the power of acceptance.

I am sovereign, I am whole, I am complete.

356 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Breathe the light of the sun and the magnetism of the earth into your throat chakra. Use several pulsing breaths to magnify these polar forces in your throat chakra. The marriage of earth and sun balances the energy in your throat chakra.

Visualize the flower of life symbol in your throat chakra to complete

357 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA

Throat Chakra: Written Dance of Awareness

Practice the throat chakra sequence at least three times over one week, without music.36 If you can practice in nature you will intensify the experience. As you are clearing, I invite you to begin to flesh-out your capacity to presence through the layers of your throat chakra and alchemize your throat organically. This will look like tai chi—just body, breath and energy.

The vibration of ecstasy awakens dormant codes in the throat chakra. With regular practice you will awaken latent soul codes and strengthen your capacity for authentic self-expression.

During one of your throat chakra sequences, please dance and journal with the following guidelines:

Identify core feelings and beliefs:

Move and breathe to build the shakti in your body then slowly dance the energy up into your throat chakra. When you begin to feel like you are clearing stagnant energy in the emotional body, notice the following:

• What is the quality of the energy in your body? What

36 There is a throat chakra alchemy instructional video on my utube channel spirtual evolution if you would like clear visual guidance. 358 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS does it feel like? Describe the quality of the energy, for example: stuck, thick, tight or frozen, etc. If you are a visual person you can describe it visually, for example: a small black box, a chalice, a bunch of white feathers, etc.

• Now presence into the feelings or beliefs that are held in this layer, for example: a judgement of self or others, a lack of self-acceptance, feeling misunderstood, low self- worth, self-doubt, self-sabotage, self-loathing, self- criticism, feelings of moral superiority, inferiority, etc.

• As you identify the feeling or belief, open to fully feeling it. Deepen your prayer to the divine mother and ask her to help you feel what needs to be felt in order for it to heal. Allow the feelings to come, know that you are strong enough to feel them and no be overwhelmed. Journey into the core emotional experience and ask yourself where the pattern began.

• If you feel really done with this pattern, take a stand for your transformation and ask yourself, “what do I need to shift this pattern?” Now deeply listen and let go into the wisdom your body. Feel the feelings or hold your younger self, as she or he feels.

• As you feel, offer the delusional patterning up to source or the divine father. Move it up through the emotional layer, the mental layer and the spiritual layer and return it to source. Offer love to the little child inside that has been stuck in this pattern. 359 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA • Receive divine love. It is flowing down through the back of your chakras and out through the front of your throat chakra. Open to receive love, compassion, forgiveness and wisdom. Allow divine wisdom to guide the aspect of self that has been stuck in the old pattern. Write down any insights received.

• Ask your higher self: What are the new qualities that will be the antidote to the low-vibration emotions and thought-forms that have been stagnating my throat chakra and inhibiting my sense of self-worth, creativity and expression.

• Create a power mantra that polarizes the negative belief. For example, “self doubt” shifts to “deep sense of inner value and confidence.” You can also write an affirmation to polarize the old belief such as: “I am a confident, creative, communicative person who inspires others. I accept myself as I am. The creative impulse of life pours through me.”

• Allow your power mantra to become more than words and to lift your vibration, breathe in your mantra and allow the frequency to ripple through your throat chakra.

• See yourself embodying the qualities of your power mantra in the world. See yourself living and acting from this new, aligned deep truth.

• Ask yourself: What are the new ways of being that will

360 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS help my authentic expression and soulful creativity to come through more freely? Now practice the art of deeply listening to the voice of wisdom and truth within you and write down your thoughts.

Deep listening

Listen deeply to your inner voice. Allow the wisdom of your heart to speak through you. Ask for guidance or clarity about something (or someone). Breathe into your heart and listen to the wisdom that resides within. Stop. Breathe. Empty your mind. Detach from the world. Breathe and receive. Listen. Now free-write from this place for five minutes.

Communicating your truth

Who do you need to speak your truth to? Intend your communication to come from a place that will bring more depth, intimacy or understanding. How can you honour your own needs, communicating them authentically while also honouring the other’s point of view? Practice seeing from their perspective, as well as honouring your own needs. Practice speaking and listening—listening both to your own heart and tuning into the other heart(s) involved.

Self-expression

Create a power statement and personal intention around the fulfilment of your soul’s vocation, for example: “I am a vessel for the create impulse of evolution.”

Ask yourself: “What action can I take to bring my creative

361 AWAKENING AUTHENTICITY: THE THROAT CHAKRA inspirations/visions to fruition. How can I become more committed to taking those steps?” Even if they are small steps, commit to taking them daily.

362

CHAPTER SEVEN Awakening Intuition: The Third Eye Chakra

Manifesting your Highest Vision

Opening to the fields of golden light

where silence prevails all thought

as my arms reach above my head

I receive a jewel embedded etheric sword

descending down through my third eye

bringing me crystalline clarity

cutting through the veils of delusional reality

giving laser light perception

piercing through the veil of egoic deception

divine truth illuminates all

ecstatically symmetrized

I am the light in the divine’s eyes

363 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA one with all

crystalline geometry

resonates divinity

embodied in your earthly form

in JOY the alchemy

of density to light

from karma to dharma

from lies to truth

from pain to bliss

kissing every cell

bliss kissing every cell

moleculized symmetrized

I am the light of the divine’s eyes

364 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

“Once Kundalini enters the Ajna Chakra, She completely looses her coils and becomes straight and unencumbered by the three covering, She can express herself fully. Conditioned knowledge is always slightly distorted, only unconditional knowledge is truly straight.”

—Aghora II: Kundalini, Robert Svoboda (conversation with his teacher, the Aghori Vimalananda.)

Dancing the Third Eye Awake

When we move through the gateway of the Third Eye chakra we open the doorway to our inner vision, we learn to trust our intuition and we learn to read the symbolic language of the Universal mind that speaks to us in our dreams and visions. Third eye development increases intuition, imagination and our capacity to visualize. When the Third Eye chakra is clear we can easily access Universal truth, our intellectual abilities are astute, and we are open to the ideas of others.

The third eye is directly related to the pineal gland and after being touched by the vibrating luminous light of Kundalini Shakti, we can experience the “light in the head” that aligns us to divine intelligence and heightens our spiritual abilities. The Third Eye chakra is about divine wisdom; as we cultivate life force energy into the third eye chakra we increase our capacity to align with

365 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA deeper wisdom and higher guidance.

The element of the chakra is light, which is a higher and faster vibration than any of the elements of the chakras below. The ancient Sanskrit name for the chakra is Ajna, which means both to perceive and to command.

Third Eye Dance

Dancing the third eye is a moving meditation; we focus on the no-mind zone. The zone where insights may or may not drop in, we trust that we see or intuit what we need to see. We don’t hear Divine wisdom from a noisy mind. We receive Divine wisdom through the quiet whispers of an open heart and silent mind.

The dance rhythm for the third eye is stillness; it’s slow and focused. When we dance focused on the third eye we dance into the deep indigo night sky depths of our inner mysteries. We dance for clarity, for truth emerging from the stillness.

Dancing the third eye is a deep inner journey. We use the body and the chakras as starting points to gain awareness of both our limitations and our strengths. The communication with each body part is articulated clearly as we practice the art of listening to the body as a messenger of the soul. If we listen carefully enough and the mind is silent enough we can experience different points in our body as communicators of our subconscious mind. Our bodies and chakras are record keepers, the places we store feelings and experiences that form the unconscious, default

366 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS patterns that often run our lives. It’s amazing what we hold, for example, in our calves or in our hips: things that can only be felt when we slow down and dance with the curiosity of an innocent, open mind.

Cultivating Higher Wisdom

“When Kundalini sleeps in the Muladhara Chakra at the base of the spine you are awake to the world and asleep to reality. When She awakens to unite with her Shiva in your brain then you wake up to reality; you “fall asleep” to the world.”

—Aghora II: Kundalini, Robert Svoboda (conversation with his teacher, the Aghori Vimalananda.)

Third eye awareness is gained through no-mind states of softness and inner silence. When one can enter into deep states of meditation, one can access the divine mind that brings us into cooperation with the wisdom of universal intelligence, also known as our entelechy.

The Greek word entelechy was coined by Aristotle. Our entelechy is the part of us that is encoded with our destiny. It is the pure soul itself, the deepest, holiest most whole part of us. The entelechy provides the kind of guidance that can help us discover our deeper purpose and destiny and is sometimes called our essence. When we connect with our essence or entelechy it puts us in touch with unexplored rooms in the palace of the inner being.

367 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA The inner being has a multi-faceted radiance that is far richer than the mundane egoic self. When we access the gifts of the inner self we experience the fullness of being alive, no longer needing to fill ourselves from without, we realize that we are complete within. The entelechy is the part of us that has already realized the highest potentiality of our being. As an acorn is destined to be a pine tree or a caterpillar is destined to become a butterfly, our entelechy contains the fractal blueprint of our pure soul that guides our becoming.

When we connect and cooperate with our entelechy, we align with the creative principal of life within us: the part of ourselves that knows, the part of ourselves that is already awake and already free. This force can align us to go beyond the conditioned self that does what she thinks she needs to do to survive or be liked. That subconscious part of us operates from the default patterns of the wounded soul. The entelechy is the monad, the divine self, the inner guide and when we awaken the higher chakras, the third eye becomes a portal to accessing the divine wisdom of our soul.

Cultivating Intuition

In addition to bringing us in alignment with the entelechy, cultivating the third eye develops and enhances intuition. What could be more important than re-aligning with our intuitive faculty, which brings us insights aligned with unity consciousness and universal love? To reboot the force field of universal information

368 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS that guides and aligns us with divine truth?

While our physical eyes are our organs of outer perception, the third eye is the organ of inner perception. Third eye perception moves beyond the confines of the conventional conditioned mind and gives us a direct link to the crystalline clarity of divine truth. Third eye perception is within everyone’s capability, it only requires dedication to practice and face denial, to see through the veils of egoic illusion and come into truth.

It is through the third eye that we see the invisible, it is where we can witness the internal viewing screen where, memory, fantasy, images, imagination and intuition are on endless display. It is through the third eye that we begin to decipher the light language of the universe speaking to us through symbols, images and dreams, bringing the light of universal consciousness to all that exists within and around us.

Dancing for Awareness

Through the third eye chakra we can learn to recognize our unconscious patterns. It is here we can rest in quiet self-reflection and ask to see that which we don’t see, that which keeps us blindly acting-out the unconscious patterns of the small separate self. While each of the chakras brings us information, it is the task of the third eye to recognize the patterns by which we create our lives. Third eye perception can also help us to become aware of where certain early childhood wounds or soul injuries have locked us into a distorted perception. Our past wounding focuses

369 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA our subconscious energy on a frozen perspective, jamming up our system in the cycle of fear-based thinking, the default mode of the unconscious mind. Underneath its tyranny we are prone towards being compulsively driven by the false identities of the wounded self, relentlessly playing out the same stories again and again. The spiritual lesson of the third eye chakra is to align our mind with the universal no mind, and allow our intuition to open us to a larger reality, a new possibility that is based in a greater version of ourselves. What was once a limitation becomes a strength, guiding us toward its polarity, which is so often our greatest gift. Each wounding carries a seed and within that seed lies the potential for transformation and infinite possibility.

The third eye is the center of our mental energy. When we open our third eye, our ability to see things we do not normally see about ourselves increases. We can see that in truth we are not victims but the creators of our lives through our thoughts and we become clear on how we are magnetizing and creating our experiences through our subconscious patterns.

We have both positive loops and negative loops. Through working with the third eye we can become aware of the negative loops and programs that we are creating in our lives. We begin to really see the synchronicity of meetings and events as our patterns literally magnetize (magnetically attract) these events to us. As we change the vibratory pattern we change our thought processes and we change what we create in our life. As we link into the flows of creation through the Kundalini Dance practice we align

370 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS to our higher consciousness and highest inner guidance, giving us access to the creative mind to support and reinvent our lives from a more loving and limitless perspective.

When we dance the third eye, we dance with the intention to receive the wisdom of our higher consciousness or entelechy or essence. We go into the dance with a question around a theme in our lives and seek clarity and guidance. We then journey through each of our chakras, connecting each chakra to the third eye and journeying within to receive evolutionary wisdom from each chakra.

Each chakra is a nodal point of information, a hologram carrying both memories and a particular quality of wisdom. Each chakra has a different lens or perspective. When we view our lives through the lens of our heart chakra, for example, we receive guidance that is based in the unified relational field and we are guided by the power of love. The root chakra will impart wisdom from a grounded, focused, foundational life perspective. Root chakra guidance is often practical and focused in the physical aspect of our wellbeing. The sacral chakra will center on emotional intelligence and guide us in our sexual integrity and we receive direct wisdom from the creative force and field of life. The power chakra will guide us around where we are attached or leaking power, bringing to our attention relational dynamics that are taking power, or enlightening us on where we need to implement great courage for radical change. The throat chakra’s perspective will often be around how we are taking care to express our

371 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA unique and authentic self and how we can be more true to express our unique soul’s gifts.

Each person has a unique way of accessing universal information. Some of us are more kinesthetic, feeling-orientated people and will sense truth in the body. Some of us are more clairaudient where we receive divine intelligence through listening to the gentle whispers of our inner voice, for those people guidance is received as direct verbal messages from the inner voice of truth within. Some of us are more visual, receiving messages as symbols or short movies or psychedelic patterns that link us into higher universal information. No way is better, but it is valuable to know your own learning style and to learn to listen and decipher divine wisdom however it comes to you.

Initially I was more kinesthetic, and as I have been doing this practice for many years I have become very visual and also clairaudient, when my mind is silent enough. I find it is a constant process of learning to refine my intuition and to have the courage to listen to my deeper knowing, as it is all too often not what my linear mind would have me think. Learning to decipher the language of our intuition is part of the practice of developing third eye awareness.

Multi-Dimensional Awareness

Reconnecting to third eye awareness brings us into an expanded multi-dimensional awareness. We can communicate to universal information through images, symbols, archetypes and holo-

372 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS graphic imagery that speaks the language of the soul. Everybody has different symbolic reference points and needs to learn to de- cipherer their own soul codes. Our soul codes are the repeated fractals of our soul’s journey, manifesting in our current life experience.

The function of the third eye chakra is that of record keeper. It stores all the memories of everything we have perceived with our physical eyes and it is the visual doorway to accessing our soul memory and the Akashic records37. These records are the fractal memory of human experience existing across space and time and they help us remember the patterns that have repeated on the journey of one’s soul. Memories that are relevant are given to the seer to support the seer’s awareness of patterns that are valuable for one’s soul growth.

The third eye is filtered because if it weren’t the influx of information that would flood in would be overwhelming. In my experience certain memories are given sequentially and act as puzzle pieces that make up a whole past life story. Usually the whole karmic story is totally relevant to something that I am learning, as in a skill or gift I am developing. Sometimes memories of another life anchor me into a deeper knowing that this is what my soul has done for lifetimes. The tantric arts, for example, are

37 The akashic records – akasha being a Sanskrit word meaning "sky", "space" or "aether" – are described as containing all knowledge of human experience and all experiences as well as the history of the cosmos encoded or written in the very aether or fabric of all existence. 373 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA something my soul has done for thousands of years in various cultures and times of history. My memories support me to embody those ancient gifts in this life and are the basis of the Kundalini Dance teachings. Sometimes I feel like visions are given to help me unlock another aspect of my soul’s puzzle and different pieces come together slowly when relevant in this lifetime.

Sometimes I am given memories that come through like movies in my inner eye while I am making love. These memories will often give me an understanding of where and when I have known my lover, what our life lessons are with each other, what gifts we are passing back over (transmitting) to each other through the act of our holy union. This occurs particularly during the final stages of lovemaking when I raise my sexual energy up to my third eye, and rest and nestle into my lover’s skin. The soul codes and memories we carry in our skin never cease to amaze me.

Sometimes visions will be given when I am practicing Kundalini Dance blindfolded during a third eye session or a shamanic drum journey. This usually occurs when my integrity is clear and I have a strong intention and yearning to breakthrough a recurrent theme that I am no longer wanting to live out. On these occa- sions, a past life or akashic memory is given to help me get clear- er on the source of the fear or the behavioral loop I have been living. For example, as I began to awaken my gifts as a tantric priestess and come out through the teaching of Kundalini Dance, I found an incredible polarity. While I was teaching I felt

374 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS very empowered to share information and practices with those who would come to my sessions and workshops, yet in the not- so-sacred arena of normal social life I would often freeze up and remain in hiding. This fear of being seen would feel like a tight noose around my neck, a constriction in my upper body. So many journeys in my initial years of journeying would show me memories of experiences where I was persecuted for simply being myself, in more than one lifetime and in more than one historical or cultural context. These memories gave me an understanding of the root of my fear and helped me develop compassion for myself, which was the healing balm I needed to step into the self-love and courage it took to simply be me, uncensored, no holding back, just all of me.

Gifts attained through cultivating the third eye are much more than the esoteric preoccupation with astral travel, past life memoires and psychedelic visions. The third eye is our direct link to receiving a transmission of the higher wisdom of divine intelligence and unity consciousness that guide and grow our souls in love.

Blocked Third Eye

When we are not listening to our intuition, are in denial or are holding onto illusions, the third eye becomes blocked. This can manifest as foggy head, scattered thinking, poor ability to focus, headaches and migraines. The tantric energy practices we use in Kundalini Dance support the clearing of the blockages and bring

375 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA clarity and healing where needed.

As we awaken our Kundalini Shakti you will feel where you are in denial more directly and physical symptoms like headaches or pain in the back of the head may occur. We need greater discernment of what is real and what is illusionary as Kundalini Shakti (as an evolutionary current) will always show us where we are attached to belief systems or to what is illusory and false. Kundalini Shakti will show us all the ways we deny our intuition and accept the lies and she will reveal the naked truths about ourselves and the conditioned world matrix which influences our lives.

The Pineal Gland and the Anti-Aging Hormone

When we cultivate the third eye chakra on a physical level we are nourishing the pineal gland. The pineal gland produces DHEA, melatonin, and other hormones and neuro-peptides, which enhance and prolong our lifespan. These hormones are currently getting synthesized and bottled and sold for their anti-aging properties. Through pranically breathing and focusing our intention on the pineal gland we can do it for free.

The Pineal Gland is about the size of a pea, and is in the center of the brain in a tiny cave, behind and above the pituitary gland, which lies a little behind the root of the nose.

In our Kundalini Dance practice the first level is to raise Kundalini Shakti up to the pineal gland to activate and clear this

376 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS potent and often dormant gland. The pineal gland is located in the geometric centre of the brain. This gland is activated by light and it controls the various bio-rhythms of the body. It works in harmony with the hypothalamus gland, which directs the body’s thirst, hunger, sexual desire and biological clock, which determines our aging process. When it awakens, one feels a pressure at the base of the brain.

The pineal gland is directly connected to the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone. The pineal gland calcifies with age and melatonin production correspondingly decreases. This decline in melatonin has been suggested to be a trigger for the aging process. As we raise Kundalini Shakti into the third eye/pineal gland we nourish the pineal gland and support the production of melatonin. This is why people who practice tantric sexuality and raise sexual energy to the third eye are known to experience longevity.

While the physiological function of the pineal gland has been unknown until recent times, mystical traditions and esoteric schools have long known this organ to be the link between the physical and spiritual worlds. Considered to be the receiving organ for the most powerful source of ethereal energy available to humans, the pineal gland has also been associated with spiritual powers and psychic talents.

The gland is also responsible for excreting the hallucinogen DMT or dimethyltryptamine into our bloodstream during REM sleep, enabling us to enter the dream state where any number of mysterious and mystical things can happen.

377 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA A clean pineal gland and strong mental health are important in order to tell the truth from the lies and take your power back in- to your own hands. When activated, the pineal gland becomes a direct line of communication with the higher planes. Rene Des- cartes, the 17th-century French philosopher, concluded that the pineal gland was the seat of the soul. The energy of the crown chakra vortexes down through the pituitary gland into the pineal gland. When the correct balance is reached between the pituitary body and the soul (operating through the pineal gland/third eye), a magnetic field of high vibrational light is created.

Altar Major Chakra

The altar major chakra is located at the back of the head also known as the back of the third eye or the feminine wisdom center. The altar major chakra is also known as the mouth of the goddess in the Asian Tantric traditions. This chakra is where Shakti ignites the dormant circuitry in the brain and then travels down the back of the spine, creating a full circle of energy around the front and back of the body.

Together, the pineal gland with the altar major chakra are the seat of our intuition. When we consciously connect these chakras we accelerate our evolutionary process and awaken latent energy pathways in the brain opening up higher evolutionary capacities and expanded consciousness and awareness.

The altar major is the lunar, feminine entrance to the third eye. The pineal is the solar masculine entrance. In most of us these

378 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS two entrances are disconnected. The second level of Kundalini Dance practice we do practices to link these centers and enhance our intuitive faculties. The more we are connected and aligned, the more of ourselves can come into our present experience of life.

The altar major, the mouth of the goddess, holds the power to co-create with the divine intelligence. Co-creation with the divine requires courage to take risks and go beyond what you have known yourself to be. It is through our imagination that we can open to the vast infinite possibilities that are available to us. Im- agination is the key that gives us the power to bring form to what has only been an invisible seed of potential.

The Significance of Symbols

We enter the symbolic realm as we enter the third eye and the mental body. Symbols are a means through which the mind perceives archetypal energy. Likewise archetypes, which are non- physical templates for psychic energy, become integrated into our consciousness through symbols.

When we are working with healing through the third eye we often work with symbols, like the flower of life, to step down the universal frequencies and integrate them into our fields.

The Flower of Life: the Matrix of Creation

According to the teachings of Drunvalo Melchizedek, everything that has ever been created or is in existence now was accom- plished through the pattern of the flower of life. Contained

379 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA within the flower of life are the codes of creation. In Greg Braden’s research he has discovered that the flower of life governs the very manner in which the genetic code arranges itself within the DNA molecule.

"The matrix of creation; the underlying structure of all form, guiding its propagation and very existence, is a series of interlocking hierarchical grids. These grids however are not cubic or rectangular in nature. They are based upon spheres—specifically spheres within spheres—The Flower of Life! It is upon this framework and the intersection planes created through interlocking sphere cells that the energy/information/light is directed, translated and propagated throughout creation."

—Awakening to Zero Point by Gregg Braden

All that is not vibrating in harmonic resonance with the universal fields of creation has come out of sync with this universal fight/life/information giving, sacred geometrical code.

In the transformational Kundalini Dance sessions, we work with the code of the flower of life in order to realign all patterns, information and memory held in our cells and subtle body matrix, bringing them back into alignment with our divine blueprint.

Third Eye Developmental Stage

The developmental stage for the third eye is from the age of 12– 18 and is focused on sexual identity and healthy independence from the family. Developmental tasks are to achieve independ-

380 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS ence, a clear separation from the group and the family and to gradually re-emerge as a separate person with one’s own goals and values: to be responsible for one’s own needs, feelings and behaviours.

Problems and substitute behaviours

Include: desperately seeking companionship to fill the emptiness one perceives in oneself; refusal to accept traditional standards of behaviour; flaunting of differences through extremes of dress or style, thumbing one’s nose at society; either extremely dependent or isolated; without needs and wants; forming codependent sym- biotic relationships in which one loses a sense of separate identity; extremely rebellious; conflicts with authority figures such as police, bosses, teachers, the government, etc.; sexual games, ad- dictions or dysfunction, confusing sex with nurturing; use of psychological games to avoid real intimacy; self-absorbed; needing to be one-up on others; vengeful; difficulty with completion, beginning or ending jobs or relationships; abandons others to avoid separation or completion; confused sexual identity.

—“Ego Strengthening and Ego Surrender Journal of Heart-Centered Therapies”, 2000, Vol. 3, No. 2, p 47-61 by Zimberoff Hartman

Awakening Intuition

One of my favourite aspects of the Divine Feminine to evoke when I need inspiration or intuitive insight is the Hindu God- dess Saraswati. Saraswati is the Divine Feminine in the form of wisdom, learning, speech and communication. She is one of the

381 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA subtlest forms of Divine Feminine energy and her name means “the flowing one”. She is the creative power that arises inside consciousness itself. She is the creative Shakti of all forms of written communication, the inspired power of creative thought. She is the deity of both the student and the teacher and often in India and Bali students will evoke her to pass exams.

She is the goddess of the musician; she rules sound, song and music. When our Kundalini energy is awakened and we receive creative inspiration that is Saraswati Shakti coming through us. We can evoke her inspiration when we want to create through speech, music and writing or when we simply want to tap into the higher mind and receive intuitive wisdom and guidance.

When I need clarity around a question or clear inner guidance, I will evoke her. You can also evoke her for the gift of eloquence and good memory. If I need intuitive guidance, I will simply write down the question and invite Saraswati, as the Divine Feminine in the form of higher wisdom, to come through. I feel her energy like the white light of a moonbeam flowing into me like water. She has guided me, time and time again, aligning me straight into my intuitive knowing and higher mind.

The seed mantra to evoke and receive the inspiration of the Sar- aswati energy is:

Om aim saraswatee namah om (x 9).

Awakening Inner Vision

One day I was exploring sound with a singing teacher in Lon-

382 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS don. It was our first class together and we were spontaneously exploring and toning together, getting into some beautiful harmonic unified resonances. Even though it was so long ago and I can’t remember his name, this evolved young man felt like an ancient soul brother to me. At one point our sound locked in and I started to remember a lifetime in early ancient Egypt:

I was sitting within a circle of four androgynous high skulled star people. We were dressed in white robes and toning in very high- pitched sounds, shooting light out of our third eyes. Our individual, sonically generated lasers beams would meet at the center where we were focused on cutting a large stone slab. We were building the first pyramids in Ancient Egypt in this way. We were centered over the top of a major earth lay line crossing and connecting to our home star Sirius. We utilized a pillar of light to raise the stone blocks upon. We built the pyramids from the top down. We were creating the pyramid as a temple structure that supported us to stay in connection with our fifth dimensional consciousness.

We were Syrian star people who were going through a kind of morphing process at the time between our original fifth dimensional light bodies stepping down into three dimensional form.

I also had a memory of being one of a soul group of 12, who were part of a group 144,000 souls who were from the star lineage of teachers and who had a soul contract to support the birthing of the “homo luminous” to help bring earth humans out of entrapment/separation in third dimensional reality and into the

383 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA golden era of love and oneness. I remembered us merging with earth women seeding the first star children on earth. There seems to be a number of 144,000 souls who hold specific transformational keys. Once all 144,000 remember, a portal will open for all humanity to step through, birthing the age of enlightenment on the earth.

It has been a long process, much longer than we thought. We had no idea when we originally signed up for the journey that we would have to spiral into more than ten thousand years of karma and forgetfulness. There has been a long cycle of darkness and separation from connection to our home in the stars.

When we originally came to the earth in fifth dimensional light bodies, we did not have emotional bodies. As star people we were permanently radiating love. So when we came to Earth to help humanity awaken we did not realize that we would have to spiral into the density of separation, and experience the polarity of darkness and evil in order to understand the technologies for transmuting the emotional-body back to light.

The forces of darkness have been keeping us shut down and cap- ping our connection to our core star essence. Many of us have been implanted and shut down with etheric templates. I see them in people I work with privately all the time. Sometimes I see etheric metal chips, sometimes they are like caps that have etheric screws on. It is like we have been shackled, our power and connection to source cut off. We have also been monitored. It is time to take back our power and come out of hiding.

384 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Call your higher over-soul self that has been existing in the fifth and sixth dimension to overlay with you again and to support you to see how you have been wired and unwired. It is time to reconnect all circuits in our energy system so we can function in our highest form as love.

It is time for all of us who remember to come back together and re-create the portals of light that will link us back to our support system in the stars. The dark forces have united and are working together to keep us distracted. The people of the light are still not united, caught up in “my way is better than your way” or consumed by the delusional distractions of survival consciousness or petty child-like insecurities. Whatever it is, it is time we all wake up because this is the time we’ve been waiting for and WE ARE THE ONES we have been waiting for. Motley bunch but, hey, it’s time to get over the past bashings, call back power and get ONTO what we set out to DO…THE TIME IS NOW!

Ceremony

“Ceremony is another name for the conscious creation of resonant fields of energy. Ceremony is the open spontaneous intentional focus of energy into a pattern that serves evolutionary process”.

—Ariel Spilsbury

As we begin to open up to working with divine intelligence we also become aware of the presence of divine beings that are there to support our evolutionary journeys. In Kundalini Dance sessions the facilitators will invoke the sacred elements, angelic be-

385 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA ings and guides of the work, to hold a sacred space. Anyone can create sacred space anytime anywhere so if you are wanting to do a sacred Kundalini Dance practice at home I would advise you to begin by creating sacred space.

First, create a four directional medicine wheel honoring each element and corresponding direction, including the fifth element of ether in space, as well as the angels of each direction. We visualize an octahedron, tetrahedron or icosahedron to contain the ceremonial space. An octahedron (see image below) consists of two pyramids; one above the ground and one below the ground. The upper tip of the pyramid connects us to the sun and the lower tip connects us to the core of the earth. A tetrahedron is a three-dimensional six-pointed star with points above and below the ground. An icosahedron has 20 faces that are all equilateral triangles. All these elements combined support the creation of a quantum healing field, a high-frequency light zone for alchemical transformation, an etheric temple of light for our work.

Working with the elements

“The elements are designed to serve the unfoldment of your intentions from thought into manifest reality. Their powerful forces can be called on through loving evocation, invitation, invocation and ceremony.”

—Ariel Spilsbury

When we call upon the assistance of the elements, their power assists us to fuse our thoughts and prayers into manifestation.

386 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS The elements help create an intensified field of light for alchemical/transformational ceremonies. When we summon the elements we are also called to purify any aspect of our intentions that are not aligned with the consciousness of love. Creating a field fused with the power of the elements, angels, spirit guides and archetypes is what makes deep inner soul work possible.

About the Five Elements

Fire: Fire brings the raw shakti power of creation and holds the energy of purification and illumination, the power of passion and the alchemical blue violet flame of transmutation. Sacred alchemical fire burns off the energetic dross of the personality to reveal the true nature of the soul. Creating a resonant frequency with one’s spiritual body, the initiate is called to invite the spiritual body to palpate through the layers of all the bodies (mental, emotional, etheric and spiritual) to lift the vibrational imprints into resonance with one’s true soul nature.

Water: Water is the fluid container of feminine consciousness, water brings with it the quality of cleansing through the high vibrational potential of surrender. Water dissolves and cleanses the emotional body by working on the subconscious layer, on those deep buried emotions that can sometimes distort the expression of our true nature as love. Water is the medium of transduction of the mother’s magnetic frequencies. The element of water empowers the intuition.

Earth: Earth nurtures and sustains life. The earth’s pulse sustains the life that runs through our bodies, our blood, our veins. The 387 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA green life force of nature, the prana, feeds our vibration. Earth grounds our visions, thoughts and prayers into manifestation. Earth is fertile, she multiplies effortlessly, bringing spirit into matter. Earth is the bringer of form.

Five directional altars

When you work with the elements it helps to have symbols of the element in whatever direction that you assign to them, for example, when evoking fire have a candle flame or when evoking water place a bowl of water on altar you’ve assigned to that element and direction. You can make your altars as elaborate or simple as you like. The directions assigned to the elements vary greatly between traditions and it doesn’t seem to affect the power of the container: what matters is the loving intent and strong feeling held in our invocational prayer.

Archangels ~ Invisible Allies

Each element also has an archangel that is connected to it. When we call in an archangel, we also call in their feminine counterpart. Here is a list of the four major archangels and their qualities for you to evoke when creating sacred space. Simply chanting the angelic names three times over will create a high vibrational field for healing work or sleep.

Michael/Michaelah: fire ~ bearer of the sword of truth ~ blue flame ~ strength ~ courage to surrender the ego to love’s transmutational flame ~ ability to release attachments ~ solar plexus chakra ~ integrity ~ spiritual body

388 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Gabriel/Gabrielah: water ~ white ray ~ purity ~ cleansing ~ emotional body ~ flow ~ surrender ~ the messenger ~ prophecy ~ assisting to remember one’s true calling

Uriel/Urielah: earth ~ physical body ~ DNA ~ cellular re- encoding ~ grounding ~ manifestation into physical ~ practical solutions ~ alchemy of matter ~ divine magic ~ earth changes

Raphael/Raphaelah: air ~ compassion ~ healing ~forgiveness ~ mental body ~ clarity ~ astral spirit release ~ space clearing ~ safe travel

Zadkiel/Zadkiela: ether ~ transformational alchemical violet flame ~ alchemy of ketheric karmic blueprints ~ ally Saint Germain

389 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA

Sacred Alchemical Third Eye Dance: The Practice:

“The fantasy arts are to make what is invisible visible.”

—Paul Clay

When we dance the third eye we intend to have a dance of insight so we begin by formulating a question around something in our life that we are seeking more clarity on. As we breathe and dance into the third eye we open into a no-mind state, a silent peaceful place. Our higher intuitive mind can be heard when the mental chatter ceases, so that is why we focus on a no-mind state for the dance.

The third eye dance has a very different structure to the other chakra dances. Although feelings can arise and often do, we don’t focus on emotional-body clearing or ecstatic-body activation as much. The dance of the third eye is more about weaving new pathways of energy and balancing the chakras.

The focus of the third eye dance is to integrate a deeper awareness of the life issues and patterns in all of the chakras. It is a dance of integration rather than purification. It is a dance to open up to the new evolutionary ways of being. We dance to gain clarity and insight, as cultivating the third eye aligns us to divine mind and higher consciousness.

We use a blindfold for the dance of the third eye. This supports 390 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS the dancer to deepen their internal focus. The pineal gland also responds to darkness and darkness can support deeper visioning states where we can receive universal communication through images and symbols, however, the main goal of the dance is not to receive visions, but to silence the mind and nourish the pineal. If visions come through the silent mind then that is great. High- er consciousness can also drop in as very simple mental concepts. Just focus on the no mind and see what happens. In the past, some dancers have been disappointed “for not seeing anything”. To receive information in images is not the focus though; the focus is to silence the mind.

We dance with each chakra, link it up to the third eye and then focus back down into that chakra again. As each chakra is a mini-brain it has its own unique form of intelligence and will bring wisdom and insight to the point you have in question. Each chakra has a different perspective on a certain thing.

Phase One: Tantric breathing and meditation

We begin the dance by sitting and cultivating the energy in the third eye. There are two breath practices to bring life force into the pineal gland. Central channel breathing will clear the third eye of any stagnant energy that gets built up through mental chatter, confusion and fear-based thinking. Central channel breathing is good for those times when your head is feeling foggy, or you feel a headache coming on. It will still the mind and help bring clarity.

391 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA The Ida Pingala breath is an Ancient Egyptian tantric practice where we channel Shakti/sexual energy up through the masculine and feminine, solar and lunar currents into the pineal gland and then into the mouth of the goddess in the Atlas Major at the back of the head. This breath nourishes the pineal gland with life force, dissolves calcification of the pineal and opens up the dormant energy in the back of the brain. The breath will balance the production of melatonin and activate dormant evolutionary pathways in the brain.

Ajna Chakra – Central Channel Breathing:

• Begin by cultivating Shakti sitting on the floor. Deepen your prayer to the Divine Mother to come and support you in your third eye dance journey.

• Pray: “Beloved Ma, Shakti Ma, please help me to connect my womb to your womb of living light. Beloved Ma, Shakti Ma, help me to receive your luminous love, your warm river of pure ecstatic joy. Light me up, Mother, ignite the sacred fire in my womb. Thank you, Mother. Thank you for your love and thank you for the possibility of receiving it. Please help me to clear my third eye and nourish my pineal gland with your light.

• Shakti breaths. Crossing both hands simultaneously as you sniff your breath into your womb or hara (if you are a man). Squeeze the pelvic floor muscles as you draw energy from the womb of the earth up into your womb/hara.

392 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Do this three times.

• Take long slow breaths up through your central channel, breathing up into the pineal gland in the centre of your head. Then sound a high pitched “eee” sound as you clear the four layers of the third eye. Do this several times.

Ajna Chakra - Ida Pingala Breath:

• Shakti breaths. Crossing both hands simultaneously, sniff your breath into your womb/hara. Squeeze the pelvic floor muscles as you draw the energy from the womb of the earth up into your womb or hara. Do this three times.

• Breathe once through each chakra, crossing hands over each chakra following the pathway of the entwining serpents. Breathe in through the nose and breathe out through the mouth with a “HA” sound.

• Next, do three Shakti breaths while sitting, and focus on cultivating energy in your Shakti – bowl womb/ hara area.

• Then in one long inhale through the nose, breathe up through the ida pingala channel all the way into the pineal gland. Sniff into the back brain and hold the breath in the back of the brain at the Atlas Major centre for eight or thirteen counts.

• Exhale with a “ha” sound, allowing energy to flow down the back and out through the root chakra. Do this several

393 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA times.

• If you feel a lot of heat in the sacral chakra, you may not need to do the three Shakti breaths just raise the energy up to the pineal from pelvic bowl and into back of the head and then stream down again.

Phase 2: Creating intention

This phase begins with a Chidakasha meditation for clarity. Speak the following:

“Visualize a room of light in the top of your head, the floor of which is at the level of your eyebrows. Visualize a white wall of light at the back of your head. Visualize a white wall of light on the left side of your head. Visualizing a white wall of light on the right side of your head. Visualize a white wall of light at the front of your head behind your forehead.

Focus on the white room of light in the top of your head. This is Chidakasha, your internal viewing screen.”

Give students a silent space for a minute then ask them to formulate a question around anything that they may be needing more insight with. Or if there is a blind spot, a weak place that they want to strengthen, ask them to take the time now to set their intention for the third eye dance.

Music Suggestions for Phase 1 and 2.

Anahata/ The Unmade Sound/ track four and six.

Samadhi / Shaman’s Dream / Kerala Dream

394 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Phase 3: Opening the physical body

Ask dancers to get their blindfolds ready but don’t put them on yet. Play a couple of tracks to support a physical body warm-up. Inspire dancers to get into their bodies: ground, dance legs and feet and then hips and spine.

• Dance to ground. Dance the legs. Use the whole space, take your place and expand into your fullness, your bigness. Open the liquid body.

• Hips opening, spine opening, upper chest, upper back opening. Head neck shoulders, letting go and opening. Sounding open.

• Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Music suggestions:

Taking Flight (Drum Spyder Rmx) / Desert Dwellers /Ummah Oum.

Now you may put your blindfold on.

Free Flowing Liquid Dance

Dance to open to liquid body. Feel your liquid body opening. Hips, Shakti flow to open up the whole body.

• Begin breathing deep down into your hips, and explore circling and spiralling your pelvis.

• Allow the movement from your pelvis to rock and wave your whole body open.

395 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA Music suggestions:

140 BPM_DAYS_GO_BY_REMIX /, Mimosa, Taking Flight (Drum Spyder Rmx) / Desert Dwellers.

Ummah Oum/ Kay Project

Kalya Scintilla/ Eastern Liquid

Phase 4: Third eye dance of the root chakra

• Ground energy down. Link womb/hara into the womb of Gaia. Breathe out and soften the perineum, anus, and yoni and “drop your energy down”.

• Connect in to your root chakra.

• Cultivate the energy in the root chakra with Shakti cross- breaths. Draw energy up through the root chakra on the inhalation and build energy in the pelvic bowl.

• Raise the energy and link the root chakra to third eye with central channel breathing, sounding “eee” on the exhalation and then anchor the light back down into the root chakra.

• Let go into a slow introspective root chakra dance, explore your root chakra.

• Dance to feel what is present in your root chakra and dance for insight. Dance for clarity. Dance to embody no mind.

• Do whatever you need to do to complete.

396 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Music for root chakra:

Roots Rise / Africa Moves / Africanism 3

Phase 5: Third eye dance of the sacral chakra

• Raise the energy up into your sacral chakra now.

• Cultivate the warm liquid fire of Shakti in your pelvic bowl, breathing energy into it

• Link the sacral chakra to third eye. Raise the luminous light of Shakti into your third eye now and sound “eee” three times on the exhalation and then anchor the light back down into the sacral chakra.

• Let go into a slow introspective sacral chakra dance.

• Dance for insight. Dance for clarity. Dance to embody no-mind.

• Allow any subconscious material to arise to the surface.

• Do whatever you need to do to complete.

Music for sacral chakra:

Edge Hill / Groove Armada / Rafiralfiro-Istanbul Engloutie (Monkeymarc remix)

Phase 6: Third eye dance of the solar plexus chakra

• Now we are going to raise the energy up into your solar plexus chakra.

• Solar Plexus activation breaths.

397 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA • Link solar plexus to third eye.

• Enter back into your solar plexus and dance for clarity, insight and to embody no mind.

• Open to the deep layers of subconscious information about your solar plexus chakra.

• Do what you need to do to complete.

Music for solar plexus chakra:

Finished Symphony (Boom Jinx Mix) / Hybrid/ Finishes\d Symphony EP

Phase 7: Third eye dance of the heart chakra

• Raise the energy up into your heart chakra now. Be present with your heart. How are you feeling?

• Sip your breath into your heart and move and breathe to expand your heart chakra. Dance open your chest and upper body, your arms and your hands.

• Link your heart chakra to your third eye.

• Go back into your heart chakra dance to feel what is present and dance for clarity, insight and to embody no mind.

• Dance to feel the deep layers of subconscious information in your heart chakra.

• Do what you need to do to complete.

Music for heart chakra/third eye dance:

398 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Arno Elias / The Dance of the Flames/ Buddha Bar Nature

Phase 8: Third eye dance of the thymus chakra

• Presence into your thymus chakra now.

• Sip your breath into your thymus chakra and move and breathe to expand your thymus chakra. Dance open your chest and upper body, your arms and your hands.

• Link your thymus chakra to your third eye.

• Enter back into your thymus chakra to dance for clarity, insight and to embody no mind.

• Open to the deep layers of subconscious information in your solar plexus chakra.

• Do what you need to do to complete.

Music for thymus chakra:

Anthem / Emancipator / Soon It Will Be Cold Enough

Phase 9: Third eye dance of the throat chakra

• Presence into your throat chakra now.

• Raise all the energy you have been cultivating to your throat to activate your throat chakra.

• Breathe into your throat chakra and move to open your throat chakra. Dance open your shoulders, neck and head.

• Link your throat chakra to your third eye with central 399 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA channel breathing and sounding “eee” on the exhalation (repeat three times).

• Link your throat chakra to your third eye.

• Enter back into your throat chakra to feel what is present and dance for clarity, insight and to embody no mind.

• Open to the deep layers of subconscious information in your throat chakra.

• Do what you need to do to complete.

Music for throat chakra:

Luminous (Original Mix) / Phutureprimitive / Luminous EP

Phase 10: Third eye dance

• Breathe to cultivate the third eye. Use the Shakti ida pingala breaths, nourishing the light in your third eye.

• Explore a dance of stillness and dance of no mind.

Music for third eye chakra:

Leyolah Antara Decker / Vision Breath / Third Eye Chakra

Second track: (optional) Deepest Night / Cell

Phase 11: Open up to the Light (Crown chakra/Soul star chakra)

Link third eye up thru crown to source/universal mind now. Nose breath up thru crown linking in to spirit body layer. Open- ing to receive the light of creator. Open to receive the light of our source. Staying open in our soft feminine body longing to 400 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS connect with the beloved. Divine light shines down, sparkling alchemy in every cell. As our bodies become luminous and awake. Third eye, pineal gland balancing with the light of divine feminine and divine masculine. Calling the light of our purest source to align with our highest potential.

• Inviting earth energy up through ida pingala to activate third eye, then up to crown to connect with golden light of source.

• Link third eye up through crown to source/universal mind now

• Nose breath up through crown, linking into the spirit body layer. Open to receive the light of creator. Open to receive the light of our source. Staying open in our soft body longing to connect with the beloved. Divine light shines down, sparkling alchemy in every cell as our bodies become luminous and awake. Third eye and pineal gland balance with the light of the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine. Call the light of your purest source to align with your highest potential.

• Invite earth energy up through ida pingala to activate the third eye, then up to crown to connect with the golden light of source.

• Open to no mind, higher wisdom from source. Allow divine wisdom to speak to you through symbols and signs (inner wisdom).

401 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA Music Suggestions:

Benjy Wertheimer / Jala: complied by Shiva Rea / Remem- brance.

Phase 12: Downflow and Stillness

• Connect into the Divine Masculine and pray to receive the light of the Divine Masculine through all chakras, all parts of your soul/spirit body and wherever love has been absent.

• Soften to receive the highest light in the back of your head. Open to the highest frequencies and lift the vibration in alignment with source and truth. Feel how these codes in the back of our brains switch on and ignite the frequencies of our highest potential.

• Softening to receive highest light in the back on our heads. Opening to the highest frequencies and liftinb the vibration in alignment with source and truth. Feeling how these codes in the back of our brains switch on and ignite with the frequencies of our highest potential.

• Liquid light flows down through the back of all of our chakras, and the pelvic bowl offers everything back to the earth. Weave balance between earth and source.

Music Suggestions:

Trentmoeller / The Last Resort / Miss you

402 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Phase 13: Completion, Grounding and Lying down

• Take some breaths up through the crown chakra and then all the way back down, deeply rooting into the earth (three times). Stream the downflow all the way back to the root chakra and deep into the earth.

• Lie down on your back. Cover your eyes and rest for at least 5 minutes.

• Child’s pose and then slowly roll up.

• The last phase is to tap your body and massage your body (to bring yourself back into your body).

Music for completion:

Miss You –/ Trentmeoler

Continents / Healer /Wonderground.

Third Eye: Solar alignment

Gently place your fingertips on your third eye, alternating between the front and back of your head as you attune your vibration to these words and breathe the light of the sun into your third eye:

“From this sacred moment now, may my thoughts align with the divine consciousness of the solar source that I am. With every sacred breath I take, I open to receive the geometric codes of divine intelligence emanating from the sun. May every thought be guided by the intelligence of pure consciousness.

403 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA I am the crystalline clarity of divine thought. Truth is revealed to me through my still mind. As I commune with the element of light, I remember that I am light, expressed as pure consciousness. I open myself to receive perception and vision that is aligned with universal mind on all dimensional levels of being.

This sacred day, with every sacred breath I take, I allow the tantric union of the Divine Masculine and feminine to merge as one, in balance, in my third eye. I allow the wisdom of the Divine Feminine and Masculine to express through me. I am divine light.”

Gently pulse your breath in and out of your nose at least three times. Breathe the light of the sun and earth into the third eye, using several pulsing breaths to magnify the amounts of light. Open to allow the alchemical marriage of earth and sun in your third eye and lift the vibration of your third eye into resonance with the frequency of creation.

404 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

Third Eye: Written Dance of Awareness

These first two exercises are for you to refine your intuition and your connection to the deep feminine wisdom voice within you.

Exercise 1: Divine Feminine Free Write

When we cultivate our third eye, we fine-tune our intuitive knowing. Sit for a few minutes breathing into your belly then begin to breathe clear luminous light up from your Shakti core into your third eye. Turn your attention toward your heart and ask that your inner power of inspiration, the sacred feminine in the form of insight, flow through your pen. Allow yourself to write without stopping for about ten minutes.

Exercise 2: Refining your intuition

How do you recognize genuine intuition? How do you tell the difference between true insight and a random thought or fantasy? What does it feel like in your body, your heart, how is the quality of energy different? What does it feel like in the body, heart and soul to be open to deeper truth and intuitive insight?

Ask yourself: “How can I discern the difference between the voice of my ego or false self—even when it seems intelligent or witty and the communication seems to be coming from a heart- felt inspired place?” Again, allow yourself to write uncensored for ten minutes. 405 AWAKENING INTUITION: THE THIRD EYE CHAKRA The next two exercises are practices you can do when you have a specific question you are seeking guidance on.

Exercise 3: Asking and listening to intuitive insight

Formulate a very clear question about some area of your life that you are seeking more clarity or direction on and write down the question. Now take several pranic breaths into your third eye to connect to your entelechy, your essence, imagining this higher aspect of you overlaying onto you like you are merging with your fifth dimensional self, your divine self. Take some moments to breathe, feel or visualize your entelechy, your higher self. Then center into your heart and deeply listen to your inner voice, allow yourself to free write from this point of alignment. Time yourself and write, uncensored, for ten minutes. Then when you are finished, ask yourself “is there anything else?” and if there is keep writing until there is nothing more.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I pray that you find wisdom and clarity this day and all days. May you be guided by the higher wisdom of your own pure soul, and remember that all the wisdom you seek is within you.

406

CHAPTER EIGHT Awakening Co-Creativity: The Crown Chakra

Inner Union

Shiva Shakti

I am longing for HE to come and take me..

Carry me across my own THRESHOLD

Where there is no more He, Me or She and we are ONE..

come to me… beloved come

I long for the penetration of your light this night..

fill my empty cup with your luminescent consciousness

I wait…my soul yearns for union in body to go beyond body to surrender to HE the great Mystery

I call him the one among the sons of men

Beloved soul flame I call you back to me again

feel my body yearn to return to God’s garden

407 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA breath into me that my fragrant nectar will become your elixir of eternal life

may we be the bridges for heaven on earth through our union

The one who comes to prepare me to surrender to HE arrives.. he invites me to lay down my shield and float in the warm sacred waters….

I recline, I float on my back.. I gaze into the starry night sky.. I feel the call home..

take me, I whisper.. take me...so I can remember who I am… he is the ferry man.. the one who carried me to the other side...in his arms...deep under that water I died...breath held all the way out… there is no turning back.. I am falling into the void of nothingness… to the place where I remember to surrender my heart and open.. layers of protection melt.. mistrust.. betrayal.. fear.. dissolving in your embrace

I say yes.. I open.. my heart field widens to meet the expansive sky..

He is holding me..

I am softening into his firm body…

Our breaths synchronize..

I love to feel his silken skin…we melt in…

I feel her heat entering me.. Shakti Ma she enters like a wave..

408 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Wet.. n moist between my thighs

I feel Shiva’s conscious presence entering I see it in his eyes

his gaze is unyielding…he holds me tight this night

I invite HIM under my skin

To enter the chamber of HER mystery

To drink the nectar of her wine from my lips

Intoxicated by your longing to be free we caress…we kiss…u bless me…with your full breathing Shiva lips

his nectar so sweet to my taste

Shiva meets Shakti… consciousness meets radiance

One in eternal embrace

Radiant cascade

an overflowing fountain of light

through us new worlds are born

one in ecstatic continuous creation

ohm…i am…we are... home

409 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA

Dancing The Crown Chakra Awake

“I am the stillness of pure conscious presence, breathing divine love, divine light and divine truth into your body, mind, heart and soul. You will meet me in the stillness of your longing heart and I will enter you when I feel the prayer of your soul yearning for our reunion.”

We are living in incredible times, where life is constantly inviting us to reclaim the magnificence of our souls and live our greatest life. Never before have we had the opportunity to recollect all the fragmented, disowned parts of our soul and return to the fullness of our true power and beauty. We are called to strengthen our bodies and reclaim our wisdom voices. Each day brings experiences to refine our self-awareness and embrace the fullness of our personal power.

If we couragously face our pain, step into the fire of transformation and feel what is real, we can generate whole new energy pathways that activate new thought patterns and new ways of being. Every time we choose to enter into our fear or pain without resistance, we bring more gold back into our bodies.

The golden light of divine is healing balm for our bodies and souls. It softens the hard places that have been defended and cold. The gold melts away the old crystalized emotions that we hold onto so tightly. The golden light will flow through the

410 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS cracks in our psyches, repairing our fragmented life, replenishing our atrophied muscles and meridians, lighting up new pathways that lead to a life lead by love.

Every time we open into a contracted place in our bodies or choose to feel an emotion without defense, we create space for golden light to enter our bodies and slowly but surely our old companion, our emotional pain body, slowly begins to glow. From this sea of feeling, we expand into the ocean of gold.

As we receive the golden light of the divine into our bodies and souls, we open into the field of pure possibility, and the inspiration of divine mind guides our thoughts. This is when we can truly co–create our greatest and best life with the divine as our ally and guide.

Dancing the Crown Chakra

As one awakens the crown chakra, it allows us to receive the divine love and light of the heavenly/celestial aspect of Universal Consciousness, known in many traditions as Great Spirit, Shiva or Holy Father, God, the Divine Masculine. The crown chakra is the gateway that opens us to the infinite ocean of golden light, the pure silent, spaciousness of pure consciousness. It is here that we develop the spiritual competency that meditation practice aims for, the gift to rest in the stillness of a silent mind.

Staying connected to our sensual, grooving liquid bodies, feeling our hearts longing to merge with the great HE, we invite the

411 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA Divine Love of God/Shiva to anchor down through our bodies into form. It is through our open hearts and sensual bodies longing to merge with her Divine Beloved that Kundalini Shakti rises through the crown at the top of the head to her ultimate destination—union with her Beloved Creator, her Shiva, her Divine Masculine counterpart.

As we dance and open to Shakti, the Divine Feminine, She gently asks us to let go of our old scripts and removes the veil that hid our inner treasures. It’s funny how, when she does that, our fear transforms into our dance partner.

Dancing the crown chakra can be pure orgasmic bliss. It’s like slow dancing with the divine in shameless, erotic longing. It feels like bathing in a golden ocean of divine light, drenched in a sea of pure possibility with God as my lover king and me as his humble servant and magnificent queen.

Dancing the crown chakra is an invitation to return to God’s garden on earth, where we can dance in the fullest expression of our humanness. The gateway to the garden opens when we remember we are worthy of God’s love, that we are enough as we are and that there is nothing we need to change or fix to receive the blessings of divine love. We deserve to live this magical life and we can stand in the fullness of our whole being in all its aspects.

It is time to return to the Garden of Eden in full badass 21st century style. God loves us when we are raunchy, God loves us when we are sad, God loves us when we are good and God loves us 412 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS when we are bad. God loves us when we love ourselves.

Whoever had the notion that our sexuality was shameful and would keep us away from God definitely had the wrong idea. What I feel, see and witness is the more sexy we are in our longing for union with the divine, the closer the divine comes to us.

Sacred Marriage – Shiva Shakti

Both the urge to merge and make love with a beloved in the flesh and the longing to unite with God are wired through the same biological hardware, we just express and live them differently. They are interconnected and both relationships create a crucible for the alchemical metamorphosis of the soul.

Just as Shakti, the Divine mother Goddess, the Great She, longs to merge with the masculine principle of God, Shiva, so too does the Divine Masculine God long, ache, and yearn to reunite with his feminine essence inside our heart, body and soul. We receive the divine love and light of God/Shiva through the descending downward current of energy.

The Divine Masculine is the still ground of being for the creative dynamism of the Divine Feminine, Shakti to be birthed into manifestation. Their union is an ecstatic alchemical act of continuous creation. After SHE has purified, emptied and reignited us with our passion for life, HE fills us with divine light and penetrates us with pure crystalline consciousness.

It is in the blending of both the upward rising sexual energy

413 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA (feminine) and the descending light energy (masculine) that we can experience the most potent healing, energizing and transformational benefits of the Kundalini Dance practice. The alchemical key to the practice is in the blending and circulation of Shiva Shakti through one’s entire energy system. We do not just dance to go up and out of our bodies, we dance to raise the energy we build and connect to source and then to ground the light back down into our bodies and energy system. Circulating and blending Shiva Shakti within our entire energy system in this way, we get to experience long-term benefits from the practice of cultivating sexual energy on physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels.

Aligning to Divine Intelligence

The purpose of the crown chakra is to connect us with the divine light of source and bring divine consciousness back into our bodies, our daily thoughts and our actions. Allowing the higher consciousness of spiritual intelligence to guide us in our physical lives. When the silent wisdom of the crown chakra is able to radiate through all levels of the chakras, we are able to integrate new evolutionary ways being in all aspects of our lives.

The crown chakra contains the energy that generates devotion, inspiration and prophetic thoughts, transcendent ideas and mystical connections. By cultivating our inner energies through spiritual practice, we build the light in the pituitary and pineal glands and receive the boon of spiritual sight.

414 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS When we open the crown chakra, we can open to a wider portion of the Universal field and can expand our boundaries of perception to align with the Universal grids of awareness. It is through the crown chakra that we open up to the transpersonal field and can receive wisdom from spiritual intelligence. This also occurs through meditation and other spiritual practices that enhance altered states of awareness and support us to be still and silent enough to sense beyond the chatter of our internal dialogue. Moving through the gateway of the crown chakra, we enter into the transpersonal dimension of life and must face our attachments and false beliefs that limit our ability to expand into the fluid state of the universal dimension.

We can feel the universal energies of the Divine Masculine as the light of pure consciousness, a clear crystalline presence that brings clarity of mind, mental focus and higher consciousness. He is the sacred geometrical lattice of universal mind. He is the guiding force that inspires us to think higher positive thoughts based in creative thinking and action. He is the source of divine healing intelligence, recalibrating our cellular molecular structure, our DNA, into alignment with creation.

As we open to receive the divine light of source the divine current begins to stream through all the old glitchy energetic patterns that have been limiting us, awakening us to higher possibilities and new ways of being and doing that are aligned in higher consciousness. When we embody divine light, we can truly begin to co–create and recreate our lives with the divine in the

415 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA sculpting of our best life. Embodying the Divine Masculine opens us to the spiritual competency of movement, giving us the power to change consciousness.

The rising current of the Divine Mother Shakti cleans out the old, supporting us to feel and release the deeper emotions that have been stuck in our bodies and our chakras. Opening to the down flow of the Divine Masculine opens us to new paradigms and new possibilities aligned with the creative principle of life. The down flow of divine light activates new energetic pathways that ecstatically awaken higher potentials and ways of being.

Inner Union

Our exploration of the crown chakra in Kundalini Dance is nothing less than the ultimate spiritual initiation of the Hieros Gamos, the sacred marriage of the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine. When the luminous love light of Shakti and Shiva merge, we experience inner union, the ecstatic alchemical tantric marriage of God and Goddess within.

The sacred marriage occurs by surrendering into the energy of the divine mother and father through the spirit of devotion. We also must be fully prepared to feel all the emotions that arise as we open to embodying the divine energies. This process gradually clears any blockages held within our emotional energy centers, our chakras, until it completes an alchemical cycle. When the emotion is felt, the block is cleared and the divine energies can flow into that specific chakra, lifting the vibration of the chakra

416 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS to its highest potential expression. When the union occurs, we experience inner illumination and a heightened consciousness of various levels of our lives.

Directly experiencing the inner union makes us feel whole— whole in body, mind and soul. We feel connected to the divine and we no longer need another to complete us. We still desire to make love and have intimate relationships but our desire to merge with another is no longer based in emptiness and need. We are already full, our hearts are brimming over with the warm nectar of divine. As we become less needy of the love of others to feel good about ourselves, our capacity for greater intimacy increases and we can truly love others from this place of overflowing love.

It is a crucial step in our inner development and maturation process to embody both the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine qualities. As women, we are required to balance our inner healthy masculine, which will develop our capacity to access divine intelligence, clarity of mind, presence and stillness. Just as it is important for men to develop the capacity to feel their emotions and express their bodies ecstatically and all the precious gifts that embodying the Divine Feminine brings. As we open energetically to the divine creative principles of life, we are supported to embody the characteristics that they imbue.

Aligning with the powers of co-creation.

When the divine male and female polarities merge within us, it

417 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA creates a union of opposites and one enters into the subtle realms of “the gold”, where all is silent, where all is light. It is here in this ecstatic field of silence that we can get in touch with the field of pure potentiality, where the creative seed of the highest potentials of our souls can be imagined, birthed and grounded into our lives.

This exquisite combination of Divine Masculine, still, presence, pure consciousness along with the passionate, creative, moving energy of the feminine creates the perfect balance of stillness and movement from which you can co-create your deepest heart’s desires. When you align yourself with this blend of opposites, it opens you into the world of energy, the quantum field, the non- material, non-stuff that is the source of the material world, enabling you to unleash your creativity in all directions – wherever your heart’s desire and imagination take you.

Transforming our relationship to the masculine

From the energetic gateway of the crown chakra, we seek an intimate connection with the Divine Masculine. It is here we face the quality of our relationship to both the Divine Masculine and men in the flesh. If you have shut down to the masculine in some way or another, it will affect your capacity to receive the divine light of Creator.

The core issues that affect the energy flow of light through the crown chakra are related to the masculine, our relationship to our father and spiritual issues related to our “divine father”; mistrust,

418 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS anger, feelings of unworthiness, fears of abandonment, that God has abandoned you and is somehow not supporting you or pun- ishing you will all affect your capacity to receive the down flow of God’s love.

Deep down many women feel unlovable or unworthy of love. This false belief usually stems from early childhood experiences where, for whatever reason, our father or primary masculine caregiver didn’t meet our deeper primal need to be loved. As a child, we make everything about us. We don’t see the pain of our father, his own wounding or incapacity to express love. We just belief it means we are unloveable or that there must be something wrong with us. If we feel unworthy or undeserving of a man’s love and adoration, it will directly transfer onto our beliefs of being worthy of love from our beloved creator.

Healing comes from really holding our younger self that is stuck inside the old identity and allowing her to feel the deep emotions while letting her know that she is so worthy of love, that you love her and that there is nothing that she needs to do to be worthy of love. Life loves you and wants you to experience the limitless of creation.

We are all so worthy of God’s love, I just can’t imagine the Di- vine having favorites.

Crown Chakra Developmental Stage

“The developmental stage for the crown chakra is through-

419 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA out adulthood, and it is associated with the final developmental stages: adulthood and maturity, with a base need for self-actualization. Focus is on creating meaning in one’s life through relationships, contribution to the community, self- actualization, and spirituality. We must develop spiritually and emotionally in balance to experience true transformation. If we develop spiritually but not emotionally, we become psychics blinded by personal projection, or ministers filled with rage rather than compassion, or meditators who take refuge in the safety of meditation at the expense of social obligations. If we develop emotionally but not spiritually, we become therapists who avoid our clients’ spiritual experience, or become stuck in ‘meeting our needs’ and isolated from the peace that surpasses all understanding. One must face the ego issues of lack of self-aware confidence: grandiosity or unworthiness.’’

”Ego Strengthening and Ego Surrender Journal of Heart-Centered Therapies” 2000, Vol. 3, No. 2, p 47-61 - Zimberoff Hartman

Faith and Trust

The primary strengths of the crown chakra is faith in the presence of the Divine and faith in the overall benevolence of creation. The crown chakra represents all that faith represents in one’s life, such as inner guidance, divine insights for transformation and a sense of trust that all is as it should be in the Uni- versal order of things.

420 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Some of us experience a loss of faith in the Divine causing the doorway of the crown chakra to close. Perhaps we prayed to God and didn’t feel that God answered. We had to face a deep sense of disappointment or disillusionment. We lost trust in the overall goodness of life when life seemed to be dishing out some pretty hard punches and we couldn’t make sense of why we were so harshly challenged while others seemed to be having all the fun. Some of us have been conditioned in a very Western logical, science-orientated worldview in which no spiritual creator or divine intelligence fit. Believing in God was for the naïve and supersti- tious. Whatever the reason, some of us gave up and disconnected.

Pray to feel

If you don’t feel the deep bliss of connection to the divine through the energetic processes of the Kundalini Dance practice, I advise you to look into your relationship with God and pray to feel and release any issues you have around the masculine. These are deep causal emotions, and it is important to go to the core of them and feel them fully. When the resistance, or the mistrust, the disappointment, loss of faith or unworthiness arises, simply embrace those feelings. Pray for the courage to feel whatever you need to face that gets in the way of your longing for union with divine and others. Pray to feel them at a causal level and dance, breath, sound and express yourself. This will empty your cup and strengthen your capacity to open to receive the divine love of the

421 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA divine mother and divine father in equal measure, experience the ecstasy of divine union and the transforming evolutionary acceleration that comes through that process.

Through this process of longing for divine union, feeling emotions that are blocking the flow of Shakti and Shiva, you will begin to receive more of an equal balance of the Divine Mascu- line and Divine Feminine flows of divine love into your body, DNA, your mind, brain, heart, soul, chakras and spirit body. This begins the ecstatic alchemical process of transmutation, and you will begin to shift old soul memories, subconscious fear- based behavioral programs, inherited genetic beliefs, birth traumas and old love wounds, supporting your soul to progress in love and opening to the vast yet untapped creative potential of your divine soul.

When we are cultivating our Shakti and opening to divine— whether through Kundalini Dance, tantric breath work or in sacred lovemaking practices—we open our subtle bodies to the divine flows of creation and allow them to weave within our energy system. When the two divine polarities meet energetically in each chakra, we experience an ecstatic inner alchemy that lifts the vibration of each chakra into resonance with creation, opening us to our highest potential on every level of our lives.

Ecstatically awakening the chakras by marrying the masculine and feminine within us literally switches on new possibilities in the chakras. It’s like new evolutionary pathways open up or like we are switching on new neural pathways, as we know the chak-

422 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS ras are like mini-brains so when we light them up we light up new possibilities inside our consciousness.

What that is exactly is still beyond me, but here is an exploration of what I am experiencing in my own development and teaching practice.

Co-creating the highest possibilities for our life.

The energy available to us through the crown chakra opens us up to inspirational thoughts and higher guidance. What that looks like is different for everybody, depending upon where we are in our lives. When we dance the crown chakra, we take the time to really bathe in the divine light of the down flow and receive divine wisdom and guidance for each chakra—opening up to new possibilities and ways of being that are available in that chakra, thus completing an alchemical cycle within each chakra. That’s the alchemy of the two: The Divine Mother cleans out the old and the Divine Masculine brings in the new.

Root chakra

For one person, opening to new possibilities in the root chakra may be focusing on building a foundation that supports greater financial abundance and prosperity. For another, it may be focusing on taking care of their bodies and their health by exercis- ing and changing their diet. Others may receive simple guidance about cleaning and decluttering their home or others may receive a vision for a new model of sustainable community.

423 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA If we ask and have the courage to feel, Shakti will cleanse the root chakra. In the root chakra, we face our collective survival fear and any old scripts of there not being enough abundance, food or love. She will bring to our attention all the ways we feel we don’t belong or don’t have a place in our communities or tribe or any other false notions we carry. Shakti will encourage us to feel our mistrust in the feminine, old wounds of betrayal, competition or abandonment. She will bring up all the ways we feel un- supported or not worthy of our mothers’ love, both human and divine.

After she has cleansed us, we move into the spaciousness of still mind, where we have the possibility to rewrite those old scripts that have been looping over time, and tell ourselves a new story based in the deeper truth. The truth is that there is always enough, you are safe, and you belong. The truth is we are all worthy of love and deserve to receive creation’s unconditional support.

As you take the time to bathe in the infinite love of divine, allow your creative imagination to run wild. It’s all possible. All we need to do is feel it and dream. Dream, beloved, dream and open yourself to the infinite stream of the golden light of creative intelligence. In this state of receptive silence, you can manifest that which is beyond your wildest dreams.

This is how we engage a complete alchemical cycle in the root chakra. Shakti Kundalini cleanses us and at the end of the tunnel we open into the golden light of divine intelligence, their ecstatic

424 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS union awakening new possibilities and ways of being inside of the root chakra.

Sacral chakra

Allowing the creative principle of the Divine Masculine to satu- rate and lift the vibration of the sacral chakra opens us to higher evolutionary possibilities in our sexuality and our creative expression. For some people, this may be guidance to contain and calm their sexual fire, and for others it may be to unleash their sexual power and creative life force by expressing repressed emotions like anger. The divine light of source will bring balance in whatever way necessary.

It is very powerful to merge the Divine Feminine and masculine inside your sacral chakra, womb/hara area. It activates the unique seed of the creative gift within you. Allowing ourselves to spend time in the feeling of what it would be to be totally creatively self expressed and passionately and joyously sharing our gifts brings power and energy into our co-creation.

Shakti, the Divine Feminine, will cleanse the sacral chakra of all the energetic sludge accumulated from past sexual encounters. Shakti offers us the power and strength to face our pain, to express the rage locked in our lower backs or the hatred that has calcified in our pelvises over time. She encourages us to cry and grieve the loss of our sexual innocence, the ways we have been unappreciated and entered without love.

At the end of the tunnel, we meet love, the golden light of Shiva,

425 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA the Divine Masculine, he fills the sacral chakra with light, repairing our fragmented life, replenishing our womb and sexual organs with his love. The dull ache subsides, the numb parts come alive and the area around our hips and womb will begin to soften. The sexual pain body, our companion for lifetimes, begins to glow and we shift at a cellular level.

One of the evolutionary, collective challenges for us to move through the shift of the ages is to release our collective taboo of sexuality and reclaim our sexual power as a sacred evolutionary, creative, force of life. Harnessed with awareness, our sexual energy (Kundalini Shakti) can awaken latent potentials and inspire us to create at genius levels wherever we choose to focus our attention.

Sexual energy is life force energy. When it is cultivated and channeled into our vital organs, it can increase our vitality, health and well-being. It is time to reclaim the pure innocence of sexuality as a replenishing, rejuvenating and an awakening and transformative energy.

Standing gratefully under the waterfall of divine light, we have the opportunity to edit our story about sexuality and creativity and open to the highest expression of each.

The key for co-creation of your best life is to spend time in the feelings that you would like to experience in your sexual life, feeling cherished, honored, sexually ecstatic and orgasmic, appreciated and deeply loved. Merging beyond separation into divine union with your beloved and God. Energy flows where your at- 426 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS tention goes. Let your imagination take you and always give space to get out of the way and let the divine play through you.

Solar plexus chakra

Receiving the streams of divine intelligence into our solar plexus chakra, we are inspired to recreate and envision a new paradigm of power. We move from the old competitive scripts of power and control, where the essential view was your power was a threat to my own. In the new power paradigm, we see that our power enhances and contributes to another’s and we learn to embody the new consciousness of interdependence, collaboration and shared power. This new model requires us to develop our compassionate communication skills, and a whole lot of commitment to letting go of control.

As we breathe and raise the liquid light of Kundalini Shakti up into our solar plexus chakra, Shakti will assist us to untwist those knots of dread in the pit of our stomaches and she will calm the anxiety in our nervous systems. Our primordial feminine source of life will clear the guilt and all the ways we played small and dimmed ourselves down out of fear. She will urge us to let go where we have tried to stay in control and held on so tight in fright of the great mystery of this life. Shakti gives us the courage to feel our anger and rage and to feel all the ways we gave our power away, all the ways we felt helpless, powerless, or looked outside ourselves for power. She inspires us to source our true power from within.

Whilst we feel and release whatever has been obstructing the 427 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA flow of our life force, we open into the alchemical cycle and receive more golden light into our solar plexus chakra. We feel juicy, empowered and enthusiastic about our lives. We radiate warmth and feel the joy of giving. Contributing our gifts to others energizes us. We embody the courage to stand up for ourselves and what we believe in. We have the power to harness our passion, put creative inspirations into action and take our pro- jects all the way to completion.

When we align our solar plexus with the light of the divine. we trust our gut and learn to follow our true spontaneous expression and creative impulses. We give ourselves the love and approval we used to seek outside ourselves and we become our own inner authority. We allow our wisdom voice to be expressed fearlessly and we honor our unique ways and gifts. We love ourselves. We take care of ourselves—physically, spiritually and emotionally. We become our own best friend.

That’s the alchemy of the two: the mother cleans out the old and the Divine Masculine brings the new.

Heart Chakra

Receiving divine love into our heart chakra heals our wounded hearts and can open us up to the feeling of the highest possibility for relationship that we are able to experience. The alchemical dance of our heart chakra is an ecstatic rapturous dance with the divine linking us into the interconnected field of all life. As we dissolve in divine union, we embody love and practice relating and dancing with others from this place of connection, this place 428 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS of wholeness.

Shakti, the Divine Feminine, moves through our bodies like a warm river of love, softly inspiring us to surrender our hearts open and shed the tears of a heart that has been broken or cry and grieve for love that was lost. She will encourage you to feel the pain of betrayal that you have been holding in your chest for too long and she will inspire you to trust in love again and sing your sweetest heart song.

Shakti offers us the power and passion to roar and howl the call of your lioness heart longing for the true beloved of your soul. In the courage to feel the depth of our longing for union, the golden gateway to true freedom will open again.

The golden light of the divine pours through our body like liquid honey, sealing our hearts with his unconditional love. Divine nectar will fill up all the cracks in our hearts with love, relaxing the tightness in our lungs that have been holding onto grief and the armor around our upper chests will begin to soften. The gold will unwind us from the old relationship patterns that have bound us and offer us the possibility to weave a new sacred relationship anchored from this place of wholeness and connection to divine.

The highest possibility for relationships comes when both partners are mutually open to the Divine as their primary source of love. Then we can relate in wholeness, from an overflowing cup. When we receive the well of life from the infinite fountain, our cup never runs dry and then we remember we are love. When 429 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA our hearts are so full of love and we no longer look to our partners or lovers to fill those empty spaces, we can truly love another for who they are, not just loving them for what they give us. Then something new can happen. The potential of a love like this knows no bounds, the possibilities are endless and still unfolding. Our only limitation is our own imagination.

The alchemy of two souls, united in divine love, is a vessel of love, an alchemical crucible for our souls’ greatest unfolding. Sa- cred sexual relationship offers the possibility to remember the majesty of our souls, igniting the holy fires of eros, burning through lifetimes of karma and all the old wounds that cause the drama, melting them in the embrace of our love. When a man and a woman come together in love and they both have a direct relationship to the divine, miracles can happen.

In sacred relationship, we acknowledge it as the primary container for soul growth and realize that our tantric sexual exploration will bring up our deepest wounds and that healing is in learning to hold each other in love even when the shadow is arising to be seen, to be felt, to be freed. We are required to be like an eagle flying above the relationship sometimes, seeing the wider perspective of the soul’s journey and not taking the small stuff personally.

As we open into the sacred union of the Divine Masculine and feminine in our hearts, we can progress through a full alchemical cycle where we experience forgiveness and compassion for those who have wounded us, perhaps breaking our trust, and see they

430 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS are doing the best that they can. Centered in our heart, we are more loving, accepting and kind—both to ourselves and to others. Our silent heart can hear the whispers of divine heart knowing, we can hear what is love’s voice and what is not. We strengthen our intuition.

Throat Chakra

As we ecstatically awaken our throat chakra, we open up to new possibilities for expressing our life’s mission, our soul’s purpose. We embrace our unique personal gifts and have the boldness to take risks to offer our unique creative expression to the world. We move into a higher octave inside our communication skills, we are gifted the courage to speak our truth. We become more honest and more transparent as we learn to express of our true feelings in ways that are authentic, vulnerable and real.

As we breathe and raise the liquid light of Kundalini Shakti up into our throat chakra, she will help us cleanse the energetic sludge that has been damming our creative flow. She will show us all the ways that we still hide behind the silence and hold back our authentic expression for fear of being criticized or judged. Shakti will purify our self–doubt, our low self-esteem and all the ways we don’t feel worthy of the life that we dream.

When we have sounded and discharged and purified our emotional body, we lift our vibration and align with the golden light of creation. He fills our throat chakra up with light, restoring our damaged self-esteem and inspiring us to accept ourselves as we are and let ourselves be seen. Our jaws begin to soften, our 431 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA shoulders drop and relax and the stiffness gently melts. Our emotional pain body, our companion for lifetimes, begins to glow and we once again trust that it is safe for us to speak and allow our deep feminine wisdom voice to be heard.

As we receive the divine love from above and below, after we have purified and let go, we can experience an ecstatic orgasm in our throat chakra. Shiva and Shakti merging in the throat opens new possibilities for creative expression. We reclaim our authenticity and we become more ourselves, more self-accepting and confident of expressing our truth and our inner authority. We give ourselves permission to express our full luminous, radiant being in her full feminine power, aligned in truth, eloquent, articulate and we accept ourselves as we are.

Third Eye

As we allow divine light to flood our third eye, we enter into the spaciousness and the soft inner silence of no mind. Resting deep in the spaciousness of silence, we have a direct access to the infinite knowing of divine intelligence, where we are no longer bound by the separate ego-based consciousness with all its fears. We are guided and illuminated by the intelligence that has access to a wider perspective outside the small self with all our petty concerns, where we are no longer separate but interconnected. Here something new can happen.

After being touched by the vibrating luminous light of the Kundalini Shakti, our pineal gland will begin to glow and we can develop a direct connection to our intuition, our innate divine 432 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS intelligence, providing higher guidance and insights aligned in the integrity of universal truth, unity consciousness and care for life.

Kundalini Shakti is an evolutionary current and she will show us where we deny our intuition and inner knowing. She will reveal the naked truths about ourselves and bring awareness to our inner personality structures. She will expose where we are consumed by our inner stories and she helps us see that we don’t need to be bound by them anymore. Our awareness is our key to freedom from our stories.

As we link into the flows of creation through our practice, our third eye begins to vibrate at a higher and faster frequency. As we change the vibratory pattern, we change our thought processes and we change what we can create in our life. We align to truth and higher consciousness, with one foot in the spaciousness and stillness of the unformed presence of divine and one foot in the movement, changing feminine we co - create our lives with the Divine.

Crown Chakra

Our crown chakra is the most enchanted of all places, where everything meets at the end of the rainbow. The color of the crown chakra is violet. The violet ray is the ray of alchemy. When we transmit violet through our bodies and our chakras, we can experience an alchemical transmutation, freedom from the karmic patterns that no longer serve us.

433 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA The transformational path of the crown chakra is the return to remembrance of our breath. We move away from our shallow breathing back into central channel breathing where we expand into the fullness of our spiritual body. We begin to breathe as the whales and dolphins do, with our breath streaming through our central channel and extending into our spiritual bodies, like a tube torus, connecting to the core of the earth and the central sun. When we breathe this way, we emerge as ecstatically awakened beings, all of our chakras integrating and unifying so that we can experience the full spectrum of consciousness.

As we awaken the competencies available through the crown chakra, we can experience gradual or sudden realizations, as we unify our fields with the creative fields of life. It is a journey of maturation that takes place over time as we become more integrated and whole. It is not that we become more “spiritual,” leaving our passionate natures and miraculously becoming flawless, rather we have the opportunity to raise consciousness so that we can extend our perception outside the lower vibrational fear- based ways of behaving and operate from a more unified connected consciousness that is more aware, loving, kind, compassionate, understanding and forgiving in our relationship to ourselves and to others.

When Kundalini Shakti, the upward flowing current and the Di- vine Masculine, Shiva down flowing currents of creation meet and merge in the crown chakra, we activate the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland is the gland that releases hormones that si-

434 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS lence our thoughts. Much like the silence of a Japanese Zen monk, sitting in meditation for weeks on end, or the ferocity and passion of the whirling dervish disappearing in the dance.

Dancing the crown chakra we dissolve into the stillness at the center of the movement. Stillness is not death, or no longer engaging with life. Tue stillness is bursting with limitless potential, potency and life. The mystery of the universe is constantly pouring through you and within this stillness.

Stillness is effortless. It’s beyond the mind. It’s beyond understanding. In true stillness, we are blessed with awareness. It is like our emotional body becomes soothed and slows down. We feel calmer and there is no more interest in engaging in drama. There is no more part of you that is interested in or playing the game anymore, the stillness is simply too enchanting. It wells up inside you, bringing such peace, stillness is in every cell, in the heart of your DNA.

Now there is only the breath, silently moving in and silently moving out, and of course there is the stillness at the center. Within the stillness is the wellspring of joy, a fountain of bliss. It’s the end of all seeking. It’s the most magical of all places—the place where everything meets at the end of the rainbow.

435 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA

Dancing the Crown Awake

As we begin our dance journey into our crown chakra, we contemplate upon our relationship with the masculine, our fathers, our husbands, our lovers, friends, brothers and sons. We explore our relationship with our inner masculine and we explore our relationship with God, the Divine Masculine creative principle of life. Our journey with the crown chakra involves deep healing with the masculine, within and outwardly, in the flesh and in spirit. Are we at peace with the masculine, do we trust, do we have faith in the overall benevolence of creation, do we believe that life loves us, that life is on our side, can we open to receive “his” love?

Our initiation into the crown chakra is an integration and embodiment of all the most gracious qualities of the masculine. It is beneficial for both men and woman to have a healthy relationship with our inner masculine. He is our inner still-point amongst the sea of feminine emotion, he is our grounded anchor, he is the part of ourselves that is focused and aligned in pure consciousness and divine intelligence. Our inner masculine knows how to hold ourselves through our emotional expression and purification without judgment. He has a most crucial place in our alchemical dance journey and in our daily lives. We need him to stay grounded, focused and on track with our lives. We need him to put our creative feminine inspiration into action.

436 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS We need him to master our mental body and align our random thoughts with the impeccability of divine mind.

We also explore our connection or disconnection from God, Great Spirit, as the activation of the crown chakra involves receiving divine light through the spiritual body from the Divine Masculine. Opening the crown chakra requires realigning our faith in a higher power or an exploration into where we lost faith in God. Sometimes we discover that there is a deep disappointment around our relationship to Divine, where we no longer feel that life has our back, so we become increasingly independent and self reliant. For some of us, we can’t feel divine love because there is an inherent lack of self-worth, for whatever reason we believe we are unworthy of love of the masculine.

Opening to receive Divine light back into our bodies requires a deep humility, where we move from self–reliance to reliance on God, where we have come to a place inside ourselves where our need of God is absolutely and utterly clear. So we remember how to pray, we ask for help to receive. We pray while we dance and we give thanks while we dance and the more we give thanks, the more we receive and the deeper we pray. We dance and we remember God as our beloved, our most intimate lover, as our holy father, as our most wise guide and ally. We dance and cry our longing for reunion with divine through our sensual open erotic bodies and free voices. We dance and we make ecstatic love to the Divine.

Our intention as we open into the crown chakra dance is to open

437 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA to the flows of creation and allow the sacred marriage of the Di- vine Feminine and the Divine Masculine to unite in every chakra, bringing the holographic blueprint of every chakra into alignment with creation.

The Sacred Marriage: Hieros Gamos

Our sacred dance journey into the crown chakra is nothing less than an initiation into the sacred marriage, the union of the Di- vine Feminine and the Divine Masculine, also known as Hieros Gamos. The Hieros Gamos is the Latin term for inner union, the divine marriage of the male and female aspects within and outside us. Here there is no longer a distinction between the Di- vine Masculine and Divine Feminine but a Divine Mother – Fa- ther God who are in eternal embrace, one in their blissful and continuous act of creation. As we enter into the dance of the crown chakra, I invite you to participate in the sacred initiation of the Hieros Gamos divine union within and to commit to remembering yourself as sovereign, whole and complete as you are.

As we begin our practice, I invite you to recite this invocational prayer.

Prayer for the Sacred Alchemical Marriage:

Divine Union of Shiva and Shakti

Beloved Father, Holy Father God,

Creator of all that is,

438 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS I ask you to please come, help me to receive your divine love, your divine light and your divine wisdom into all the places in my body, my soul, my chakras where divine love has been absent.

Thank you Father, thank you for your divine love. Thank you.

Beloved Mother Gaia, Beloved Father Sun,

I invite you now to merge as one, that I may feel the ecstasy of your divine union birthing within every cell and every chakra.

I offer myself as a vessel for the conception of heaven on earth,

May the new paradigm of love be ecstatically embodied through me.

May the new myth of the new humanity be birthed through me.

I offer myself as a vehicle for the conscious creative expression of love in action.

Through your marriage within, may higher consciousness and pure presence be lived through me.

May I be unified by your union within me.

A chant to open to the ecstatic alchemical union of Divine Mas- culine and Divine Feminine:

RA MA RA MA RA MA

Sacred Alchemy: The Dance of Divine Inner Union

As we raise the liquid feminine light of Shakti through our crown chakras, we open up to the realm of golden light, the vast

439 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA silent infinite fields of pure consciousness, also known as “the gold”, Shiva, God or the Divine Masculine. Hanging out in “the gold” is pure bliss.

Staying connected to our sensual liquid feminine bodies, feeling our hearts longing to merge with the great HE, we invite the Divine Masculine to anchor down through our bodies into form. We offer our bodies as a bridge to anchor heaven on earth. We breathe the light of the Divine Masculine down through the back of our chakras, beginning with our receptive back heart chakra.

The quality of the Divine Masculine down flow is very different from the up flow of the feminine. The Divine Masculine current is so subtle, so still, gently filling up the space that has been created by the purificational current of the Divine Feminine, bringing the clarity of consciousness and divine insight. Dancing the crown chakra is the highest transmission of divine consciousness we can receive.

Through opening the crown chakra, we have the opportunity to experience the alchemical divine union of Shiva and Shakti within every chakra. In the crown chakra sessions, we open to receive the alchemical merging of the Divine Feminine upward rising earth current with the Divine Masculine down flow. It is at the point when both energy flows meet that we have the opportunity to open to experience the transformational alchemy of pure ecstatic bliss. Kundalini Dance is a Shakti Shiva practice.

If you are having trouble feeling the down flow, then it will be 440 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS important for you to allow yourself to feel all the ways you have felt abandoned or betrayed. It’s important for you to inquire into your trust issues with the masculine in order to fully receive the alchemical gifts of the Divine Masculine down flows.

The emphasis in the crown chakra session is on the integration and balancing of all the chakras through opening to receive the high vibrational source energies that are available to us when we open the crown chakra. Here we are settling things down, calm- ing and completing, and lifting the vibration of each chakra into resonance with creation.

It is really important as we raise our Kundalini Shakti through our crown chakra, that we anchor the light back down into the body again. It so easy to just lose all the luscious sexual energy we have been cultivating if we shoot our energy out through the crown and go up and out of body. Although it can feel really blissful to hang out in the light of source, we don’t integrate higher awareness or energize our body if we do that, we really just lose all the precious energy we have cultivated and give it away.

Many spiritual or tantric traditions use practices to open the crown linking the practitioner into the golden light of source. It feels blissful to dissolve into the light, and it has its place sometimes but it is important to know when you are doing that, one leaves the body. This can be very un-grounding and even though it is blissful and ecstatic momentarily, we leak and lose the energy we cultivated. In order to benefit from cultivating and har-

441 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA nessing the energy of creation, we need to ground the energy back into our bodies, circulate the energy and eventually store the chi back into our womb / hara area.

In Kundalini Dance we practice circulating the energy back down into the body and out through the four layers of each chakra linking back up through the spirit body layer to link in with the wider universal field. Like a tube torus, we draw light towards ourselves and emanate light outwards, again reaching out into the universal field. We are constantly cycling universal energies, both the upward feminine and the downward masculine divine flows of creation, in and out of our bodies and each chakra.

As an energetically activated woman who has worked mainly with women for the past 22 years, I have observed that woman feel the energy more potently when we rise our sexual energy up the front of the body and then bring it down the back. The back of the body is where we receive energy and it feels natural to soften the back to receive the light of source and allow it to trickle down in that way. In the ancient Taoist teachings, they teach to raise the sexual chi up the back and down the front of the body. When I have tried that, it really makes me dizzy and not right. I think that ultimately it is just crucial that you circulate the energy around the body, whether it is up the front and down the back or the other way around, just make sure you circulate. If you go up, make sure you come back down to balance and then store your energy in your womb/hara to complete. This way you ground

442 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS appropriately after your practice.

Dancing with the down flow – Shakti and Shiva unite in each chakra

When we dance the crown chakra dance we dance through each chakra, activating each chakra with its own breath sequence and then raising the energy up through our heart chakra, then up through the crown, establishing that flow through the dance. Inspiring the consistent streaming of energy upward through the crown and then back down again through the back of whichever chakra we are focusing on. Filling the tube torus of the chakra from the back to the front through the four layers of that chakra.

Through the crown chakra, we open up to the highest most refined Universal frequencies of light. We activate each chakra and then breathe the Shakti flows up from that chakra through the crown. Then pulse the breath through the nose once it’s up past the throat. You usually need to open the heart first, both front and particularly the back (as the back of the heart is how we receive the masculine) so that your energy system is open enough to receive the light of source through the crown. Then when the crown chakra is open, we channel the light through the crown chakra down through each chakra. As we do this, we align each chakra into the consciousness of the Universal field. This integrates the higher consciousness aspect of each chakra and lifts the vibration of each chakra into its original divine blueprint, giving us the opportunity to experience the limitless possibility of pure void consciousness and get into some divine planning and

443 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA creative life choosing.

Our work with the crown is to open the energy up so that we have a more direct energy connection to the Universal field/ Di- vine Masculine /pure consciousness and we can the channel the light through the chakras and into the body. We embody the higher frequencies that come through the crown from source to help facilitate the shifting of the DNA and the cellular blueprint from fear and contraction back to Divine blueprint.

This requires sitting in the Divine field for long, extended periods of time. So when you breathe up to the crown, hang out up there for a while, bathe in the feelings of ecstatic devotion, then gently allow the light that comes through the crown to wash through a chakra, lifting the vibration and aligning with creation. Then go back up again, stay up there. Focus on a vortex of golden energy that gets larger and larger as it connects to source. Hang out there for a while then channel it back down into the body through the back of whichever chakra you are working with.

In this phase of the work, we are integrating, not purifying but balancing and stabilizing and grounding the light of source, “the gold” into our body mind energy system.

444 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS

Sacred Alchemical Crown Chakra Dance: The Practice

Phase 1: Prayer of Intention – Central channel opening – Heart Plug in

Begin your crown chakra dance with long slow breaths, deep in your belly and then up into your upper chest. Breathe out through your mouth with a soft “aah” sound, allow yourself to soften and sigh. Place your fingers on your heart and gently check in with yourself. How are you feeling? What does your heart need to open more fully to receive divine love?

Invite the Divine Mother and the Divine Father into your dance, to support you to feel and release whatever emotions are held in your heart, so you can become empty to receive divine love. In- viting an ecstatic dance, a dance of surrendering open to the Di- vine Masculine and inviting the union of Shakti and Shiva within.

• As always, begin your dance by plugging in, grounding down and connecting into the central core of the divine mother. On your exhalation relax your root chakra gates (perineum, anus and yoni lips), your jaw and bend your knees. Feel your longing to connect with the Divine Feminine.

• Pray: “Beloved mother help me to connect my womb to

445 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA your womb of living light.” Thank you Mother, Thank you for your love. Focus on feelings of gratitude and devotion.

• Now imagine a grounding chord going from a point in the centre of your womb or hara and travelling deeper and deeper into the core of the earth.

• Create an intention to open to the Divine Feminine energies of the earth and breathe the earth energy up into your Shakti bowl (womb and hara area) three times and then right up into your thymus heart centre and out through the four layers of your energy field. Now open to the Divine Masculine energies of the sun and breathe the light down your back, let it fill the back chakras and in through the back of your heart centre, first filling the spirit body layer, then the mental body layer, then the emotional body layer, then into the centre of the heart in the chest cavity and then breathing back out through the front. Open to the flows of creation streaming from above and below out through your heart chakra. Opening to the tantric fusion, the divine union of God and God- dess within.

• Holding your palms open and your arms outstretched, open to the source, the light of pure consciousness. Take some time to really honour the Divine Masculine aspect of consciousness. Welcoming the Divine Masculine to blend with the creative life force of the feminine, ecstati-

446 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS cally awakening every chakra, every cell, every atom, every molecule of your DNA. Give thanks to God, Shiva, Great Spirit the Divine Masculine for helping you receive divine love.

• Asking if there is any relationship with the masculine that needs healing, may it come into your awareness, and may your dance journey support you to transform any old wounds that are no longer serving your soul. May the dance support you to find clarity for healing and growth in your sacred relationships with men and in your evolutionary partnership with God.

Music suggestion for phase one:

Anahata, the Unmade Sound, Moments

Anahata, the Unmade Sound, Nystagamus

Phase 2: Physical Body Warm Up

Here are some instructions to inspire the exploration of the body parts and themes connected to the crown chakra:

• Bring your awareness into your feet, then breathe deep into your lower belly and begin to move your hips, exploring the full range and dynamics available in your hips, gently circling, swaying side to side, one way then the other way. Then breathe into your spine and allow your liquid body to come alive.

• Surrender to the inner flow of water, moving through the

447 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA dance space, imagine the dance floor like a river and you are flowing and floating on your back on the river of divine grace. Every limb exploring fluid movement, softening and opening your whole body.

• We receive the Divine Masculine through our back heart chakra, so we focus on the upper back, softening and opening the upper back with our free form movement.

• Bring awareness into the back of your body, dance backwards, walk backwards, sense into your relational environment with your back. Breathing into your upper back and sounding in through your nose and out through your mouth.

• Feel your full body opening, your hips, your upper back, breathing into your upper back and allowing sound out on the exhale. What is the sound that is going to open your spine? Allow your sound to open your back.

Music suggestion for phase two:

Kaya Project, Desert Phase, Dust Devil

Beats Antique, Collide, Beauty Beats

Phase 3: Root Chakra to Heart and opening up your spirit body layer

Shakti cross-breaths activation

We build and generate energy in the root chakra, the sacral chakra and in the entire pelvic bowl and womb/hara area with

448 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Shakti cross-breaths. Here are the instructions for this breath:

• Right side: Draw earth energy up through the chakra that is in the centre of the right foot, up through the inner meridians of the right leg, through the root chakra and into the container of the pelvic bowl.

• Left side: Next, draw earth energy up through the left side of the body—through the chakra in the centre of the left foot, up the inner meridians of the left leg, through the root chakra and into the pelvic bowl.

• After breathing and generating Shakti in this way, allow your body to discharge any stagnant or stuck energies that are brought to the surface through your breathing, shake your body, particularly your hips and lower body, and move in spontaneous ways.

Base Chakra to Heart up through spirit body layer

• Ground your root chakra back down into the core of the earth.

• After doing several Shakti cross-breaths to build energy into the base chakra, let go in your dance to get into your legs and feet and energise your root chakra for a few minutes.

• Ground down again and begin to do Shakti cross-breaths again to build energy in your Shakti bowl. When you feel the juice and the heat built up, then raise a few breaths to your heart chakra, presencing into the feelings in your

449 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA heart, giving some space to feel, sound and release some emotional energy. Then focus on feelings of love, compassion and forgiveness, embracing all you are present to and aware of in your heart and when you feel your heart overflow, take it through the four layers up through the spirit body to connect to source. Stream your breath like this, over and over. The spirit body layer is connected to the crown, so for now we just open the crown through opening the heart layers.

• Come into your deep prayers of intention now, your prayer of intention deepening as your dance unfolds. Di- vine Mother (Mama), please support me to transmute any resistance that I have to the masculine. Allow yourself to drop into your deep heart’s longing to merge with the masculine and God in body and soul.

Music suggestion for phase three:

Gaudi, Tribal Breaks mix, Ayahuasca Deep Fall

Ganga Giri, Bayami EP, Bayami (Extended Dance Remix)

Phase 4: Sacral Chakra to Heart thru Crown

• Come back into your feet and back into your hips. Ex- plore movement in your hips. Come into your fluid body, liquidize, start with some slow breaths into the sacral chakra, pelvis and then slowly speed up the breath building Shakti in the pelvis. Rock your hips forward and back to support you to build the energy.

450 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS • Let go into a fluid free dance. exploring sensual whole body movement and embodying the element water. Ex- plore your sensual, sexual, passionate, deeply feeling self in the dance.

About half way through the first track, come back to the Shakti cross-breaths and after several breaths raise the energy to your heart chakra up through the four layers to your spirit body layer, loving and embracing all that has arisen and offer it up to source. Open your wings in full flight and dance into the light of source.

Music suggestion for phase four:

Tantric Lounge, Theivery Corporation, Indra

Buddha Bar, Carmenita Lounging

Phase 5: Solar Plexus Chakra to Heart thru Crown and back down

• Come back to the earth, slowly start to breathe the energy to the solar plexus and out with a long “hoo” or “haa.”

• Start to build the energy in the solar plexus chakra with the Shakti cross-breath, this time taking the energy up to the solar plexus. We call this the fire cross-breath. Take two breaths in through the nose and one out through the mouth. Make a few long breaths through solar plexus to clear and become present to any emotions here.

• Then raise the fiery energy of the solar plexus up through the heart, feeling love and forgiveness for all the past is-

451 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA sues around your power, then lifting the old energetic stagnations up through the spirit body layer dancing it up to source. Dance to raise your energy up and open to the light. Hang out in the light, spiral and celebrate the crossing over into the upper chakras now.

• Then when you feel drenched in golden light, breathe the light back down through the solar plexus. Dancing your connection to the Divine Masculine and Divine Femi- nine and let them merge in your power centre. Opening to new ways of being around the expression of your deep feminine power.

Music suggestion for phase five:

A- Ab BZL – Progressive Trance by Tatti - 05

Phase 6: Heart Chakra thru Crown and back down

• Take some slow breaths to raise the energy up through your heart now. Tone the sound “aaaahhhh” on the exhalation. Start to sip your breath in and out through your mouth as you raise energy up through your heart chakra. Feel your love for those in your life or who you are dancing with and feel your devotional heart and your longing to surrender open to the divine. Presence into the emotional and energetic composition of your heart chakra and give yourself space to feel and release and open to love.

• When you feel your heart overflowing, breathe the energy

452 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS right through the spirit body layer of your heart chakra, spread your wings and dance to fly into the light of source. The deeper your longing for union with the divine, the more your heart will surrender open to the divine. Hang out in the light and fly.

• When you are in ecstatic overflow, you can breathe the light back down through the back of your heart and drink in the golden nectar of divine love.

Music suggestion for phase six:

Rara Avis/ Beneath The Radar / Massai

Il Murretto / Essential Gooves

Phase 7: Throat Chakra thru Crown and back down

• Raise the ecstatic energy that you have generated in your heart chakra up to your throat chakra. Explore this in an organic way with your movement and breath for a moment.

• Now begin to build some more Shakti in your pelvis area with your Shakti cross-breaths.

• Then when you feel warm and activated in your womb / hara Shakti bowl area, raise the energy again up into your heart and then into your throat chakra. Stay connected to Shakti and dance to open your shoulders and neck and let your head go.

• Use the throat chakra breathing to focus on some emo-

453 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA tional body clearing. The throat chakra breath is a cat’s purr breath in and out through your mouth. Visualizing your breath going into the back of your throat like the wind in the back of the cave. Presence into the emotional layer of your throat chakra. Feel free to allow your energetic purification with sound, burping, yawning— trusting your body has its own way of releasing stagnant emotional energy.

• Then slowly begin to focus on the spirit body layer pulling out any energetic dross from the emotional body and lifting it out of the spirit body as you link into the central sun. Dancing and praying to connect with Divine Source.

• Once you feel you have connected to Divine Love, anchor that light down through the back of your body and through your throat chakra. Opening to receive divine light into your throat chakra as you dance and move energy organically.

• Staying in your authentic expression as you dance to embody the ecstatic union of Shiva and Shakti in your throat chakra.

• Opening new evolutionary pathways and opening to new possibilities and ways of being inside your communication and self expression.

Music suggestion for phase seven:

Deli 2 Dublin/ Delhi 2 Dublin / Get on the Bus

454 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Phase 8: Third Eye Chakra thru Crown and back down

• Come back into your hips and build more Shakti in your hips and when you feel enough juice, slowly breathe up through your central channel into your third eye.

• Breathe and focus on your pituitary gland just behind the bridge of your nose, then breathe into your pineal gland and link up into Source. Then feel the golden light of divine ignite (pour into) your pineal gland and illuminate your third eye.

• After a few central channel breaths to clear your third eye, begin to do some ida pingala breaths up to your pituitary and then your pineal, which will link you into divine source and let that energy fill up your back brain.

• Allow yourself to sit in the silence of no mind. Opening new energetic circuitry in your brain and opening new evolutionary pathways of thought as you link directly into divine intelligence.

Music suggestion for phase eight:

Kundalini Collective/ Chakra Trance n dance / Vision Breath

Phase 9: Crown Chakra and back down

• Dance to fully open your feminine yielding body to the light of the Divine Masculine. Softening your back and dancing in your sensual hips and soft lips.

• If you need to build more juice, come back down and fo-

455 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA cus on breathing and moving into your hips and generate more heat and sensual energy in your Shakti bowl.

• Then raise the energy through your crown and hang out in the gold, opening and softening your feminine body to receive the light of the divine.

Music suggestion for phase nine:

Adam Shaikh/ Arcana ( VA) / Satori

Phase 10: Dancing with the down flow

• Start to stream divine love down through each chakra.

• Starting with the third eye, open to receive the uplift- ment of divine consciousness in the third eye, stream the energy down out through toroidal channels several times, lifting the vibration of the third eye receiving it in the back brain, filling the back brain with divine light and let it flow out the front.

• Now stream divine light down to the back of the throat chakra, filling the throat chakra with light, lifting the vibration of the throat, let the energy radiate all the way out the front of the throat then lifting back up through the spirit body layer following the toroidal pathway of the throat chakra.

• Then repeat this flow in every chakra, your thymus chakra, your heart chakra, your solar plexus chakra, higher and lower if you are feeling it, then the sacral chakra, then the

456 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS root chakra.

• When you get to the root chakra, spend some time streaming the energy down through your central channel and out through your root chakra and up through the spirit body layer and back down through your central channel. Then ground the energy down through the legs and into the earth.

• Reaching up to Source, surrendering open to the Divine Masculine, surrendering to connect to source of oneness and universal connection. Open your body to receive the highest alignments with the source of divinity.

Music suggestion for phase ten:

Marconi Union/ Sleepless/ Distance

Phase 11: Alchemical Union Breaths for Crown Chakra

• Breathe the love of life of the mother MA and the divine consciousness of the holy father RA simultaneously into your crown chakra.

State the intention:

“I open to allow the tantric union of divine mother and divine father into my crown chakra, opening to the sacred marriage, the divine union to birth the sacred trinity of the holy spirit to alchemize every molecule of my being into oneness now.”

Take three alchemical breaths into your crown chakra. Moving the energy through all four layers of your energy field with your

457 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA sound and your breath. Visualize the tube torus of the crown chakra linking heaven and earth.

Move the energy through like this at your own pace until you feel the ecstatic currents of creation lift the vibration of your crown chakra and travel into every molecule of your body.

Sealing with the yantra of the flower of life, imprinting the chakra with the codes of creation. Chant Ra Ma, to seal.

Music suggestion for phase eleven:

Marconi Union/ Sleepless/ Distance

Phase 12: Crown Chakra Solar Alignment - Mental Body Layer

“In this sacred moment now,

Through my conscious communion with the ALCHEMICAL ELEMENTS of CREATION,

My pure soul expression aligns in GRACE with all aspects of my being; Bringing the highest expression of my divine presence into all aspects of my being and in all that I do.

Opening to allow the sacred tantric marriage of the earth and sun to unify in balance through me, in every chakra, in every circuit through all the layers of my energy field. Lifting my vibration into ecstatic resonance with creation.

With each sacred breath I take, may the pulsations from the light of the sun effervescently pulsate each cell of my physical body into ecstatic alchemical resonance with the source of creation.

458 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS In truth, I am source, I am one.

I am sovereign, I am complete, I am whole.”

459 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA

Crown Chakra: Written Dance of Awareness

Trance Writing Meditation:

Asking for and listening to the guidance from your higher self.

Allow yourself to rest in the golden light of universal wisdom.

Allow the wisdom of your higher self to guide you in all areas of your life.

Free write from his place of clarity.

• What is the message of your higher self to your third eye?

• What does your higher self want to say to your throat chakra?

• What is the highest wisdom of your thymus chakra?

• What does your heart most need to hear from your higher self?

• What is the message from your higher self to your solar plexus chakra?

• What does your higher self want to say to your sacral chakra?

• What does your higher self want to say to your root chakra?

460 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Integrating the Divine Masculine

Now, go deeper in contemplation: I invite you to sit in a meditative posture and keep your journal and pen nearby. Take several deep breaths into your belly, rising the light up through your crown chakra linking to source and flow the light back down your back and through your heart. Pulse your breath you’re your nose.

• What are the qualities you recognize as part of the Divine Masculine?

• Which qualities of the Divine Masculine do you find in yourself (whether you are a man or a women) at this point in your life?

• Which qualities do you feel you need to discover or develop or contact now?

• Which qualities of the Divine Masculine do you feel are ready to emerge in your life now?

Reflections about your relationship with the Divine Masculine, God.

How is your connection with the down flow, are you feeling ecstatic bliss as the light of Shiva and Shakti merge as one within you? If not, are there any beliefs or feelings around the Divine Masculine God that are holding you back from opening to the light of source?

Was there any belief that got set up as a child in relationship to

461 AWAKENING CO-CREATIVITY: THE CROWN CHAKRA your father? If so, what was the belief? (i.e that the masculine is not there for me, men abandon me, they always leave, I don’t feel the masculine presence in my life, I am not supported by the masculine.)

Do you see where you have made that a false truth around your relationships with other significant men? Do you see where this belief links in to your faith in the Divine Masculine’s presence in your life?

Now drop into your heart and align with the deeper truth, the part of you that has matured and evolved. Allow the mature wise part of you to council the part of you that has been holding onto the false belief about men and God. Let that part of you know that you are so worthy of love from the masculine and Divine Masculine Source. Create a power statement around the truth of your worthiness to receive love from the Divine Masculine.

462

Kundalini Dance in the Bedroom

By the time you read this, you will be immersed in the essence of the Kundalini Dance practices, dance journeying, chakra healing, exploring the healing power of sacred alchemical breath work and awakening to the remembrance of the sacred feminine and the sacred masculine mystery teachings with you.

I feel that it is important to emphasise that the Kundalini Dance practice is a white tantra practice, which involves solo tantric practices that will open up the tantric energy pathways inside of you and potentially open you up to more ecstatic, full-bodied orgasmic sexual experiences as well as contributing to a much richer and more spiritual sexual life if you choose to explore the Kundalini Dance keys with your sexual partner in the bedroom.

Kundalini Dance has been my way of facilitating others to embody the essence of Tantra or sacred sexuality. I was having my own tantric awakening with my partner when the Kundalini Dance work began to come through me 22 years ago. I have been awestruck at how powerful the keys are in transmitting the energetic essence of tantric practice.

So I would like to take a little time here at the conclusion of this

463 KUNDALINI DANCE IN THE BEDROOM guidebook, to place the use of the Kundalini Dance work in the context of Tantra, sacred sexuality and sacred relationships. Kundalini Dance practice is a great way to clear your energy channel and open your tantric energy pathways, to remove the blocks to intimacy and to deepen your connection to Divine. The next step is to explore sexual union and deeper relating from that place of connection to divine. I passionately feel without a doubt that our sexual energy is the way that the bulk of humanity can spiritually awaken their consciousness and spiritually evolve.

What is Tantra?

Ancient yogis and yoginis of India cultivated their sexual energy for the purpose of transformation, spiritual awakening, enlightenment and physical rejuvenation. This practice is known as “tantra.” The word is derived from the Sanskrit words “tanoti,” or expansion, and “trayati,” or liberation. Tantra also means “energy practices.” It can involve sexual alchemical practices that lead the practitioner into heightened states of enlightened consciousness and the spiritual experience of divine union.

Tantrikas were different from other ancient mystics because they embrace the body, seeing it as an integral part of spiritual evolution. The essence of Tantra is to allow the free flow of the Kundalini energy that is generated through sacred sex and to channel it up through the higher chakras to know union with God and your beloved. Tantra is in essence a sacred path of union, union between two lovers and God.

464 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS You cannot really access pure Kundalini energy whilst making love until you deeply desire to dissolve the limitations of your egoic personality that has been conditioned to survive in the maya of this world. This is true essence of Tantra, not the Califor- nian, neo-tantra, feeding each other grapes and eating slowly and sensually, while looking glamorous half-naked in your purple sarong, but the true tantric path of the mystic lover who is ready to feel and release whatever is in the way of the true liberation of the souls’ journey to unite with the divine.

The ancient Tibetans say that the tantric path is the most accelerated path to spiritual liberation, yet it is the most challenging. When we raise the Kundalini energy that is generated whilst we are making love, we can experience ecstatic awakening and deep intimacy with ourselves, our partner, and the divine. The sexual act opens up to become a multi-dimensional soul journey, where we can have access to visions of our past lives, where we really get to open into a deeper connection with the souls of our partners and ourselves. Bringing awareness to the archetypal aspects and soul stories that have been central to our inner myths, the stories or narratives that have been living out for lifetimes. These kind of sexual relationships have a tremendous transformational potential to bring so much empowerment and grace into our lives.

You can use the chakra breath tools from the previous chapters to raise your sexual energy up through your higher chakras and experience the ecstasy, deeper intimacy, soul communion and

465 KUNDALINI DANCE IN THE BEDROOM union with God while making love.

When you use the “love breath” for the heart chakra while making love, you directly link your sexual energy to your heart and all self-consciousness and separation between you and your partner dissolves, opening you to a vast field of infinite love and deep intimacy. You begin to make love on a soul level, sensuality being a gateway to Eros the deeper currents of God force within you. The love breath is a key for opening up to full-bodied orgasm, where you can become multi-orgasmic and you can begin to ride the waves of your orgasms to deeper levels of selflessness and touch the precious nectar of you and your beloveds true selves.

When you use the third eye breathing techniques at the later stages of lovemaking, you can experience deep stillness and the dissolving of mental chatter. From this place, you can also experience past life visions or access archetypal myths that are reinforcing new qualities and gifts in you.

When our longing for union with divine is clear, our sexual energy will link us to the Divine Source. When we bring the divine into our lovemaking, our lovemaking and sexual relationships become our path to spiritual awakening. We feel the blissful union of the divine polarities merging within us and from that place we have access to vast transcendent consciousness where we feel one and interconnected with all life. It is here that we enter the deep peace of sacred union.

466 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS Sacred Union

This inner alchemical process of union of the divine polarities within oneself that is the essential focus of the Kundalini Dance practice is a preliminary rite of passage on the path of Sacred Union between lovers in the flesh. Throughout the ages, Sacred Union has been known by many other names, such as Hieros Gamos in Christianity, Yab-Yum in Tibetan Buddhism, and Sa- cred Marriage in the Kabbalah. It is the stage of alchemy known as unio mystica that signifies the bringing together of all elements that turn the base matter into gold.

Sacred Union is our birthright and occurs when soul lovers merge as one with each other and in full reunion with Mother Father God whilst making love. When Mother Father God is invited to over-light the relationship, a sacred trinity is formed and the relationship becomes a crucible for accelerated evolution and soul growth. The relationship then becomes a sacred container for the enlightenment, freedom and soul level liberation of the couple.

The ancient scriptures tell us that when this reunion occurs, God bestows a great blessing on the two lovers in rapturous sexual union. An ecstatic orgasmic explosion of light occurs, enveloping the lovers and bringing forth the fullness of the potential of their soul union. When the couple reach this state of peaceful union with each other, where they reach states in their lovemaking where they feel divinely merged, their union will have an incred-

467 KUNDALINI DANCE IN THE BEDROOM ibly positive affect on the wider field of collective consciousness bringing peace and harmony into the wider field of masculine and feminine relating.

Sacred Union can be experienced by those with a courageous loving heart who have the willingness to experience and embrace all that arises in the crucible of their sacred relationship. It takes courage and commitment to say “yes” to being consumed by the holy fire of soul love, for in a sacred sexual relationship everything that is not love will arise to be seen, to be felt and to be released. One of the deepest wounds human beings face is the wound of separation. Separation from the mother at birth and separation from God when the soul split from source are often the core wounding points. For Sacred Union to occur. each couple needs to have a direct relationship to Mother Father God and be in a consistent process of feeling and releasing all parental and gender-based wounds of love that may be in the way of letting love in.

If we did not feel loved or held by our first initial primary parent of the opposite sex, for example. For women, if we did not have a strong bonding with our father, or if he was not present, busy all the time and not really available for us or loving towards us, we develop the belief that we do not deserve love from the masculine. This will affect both our relationship with men and our relationship with the masculine aspect of creation, Holy Father, God. As the soul grows through feeling, we consistently attract the experience that will bring us to the feeling that we are not

468 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS loved and not worthy of love.

When we can take ourselves away from our partner as the trigger of the deeper emotions that are already within us, when we can take self-responsibility and take the sacred space we need to release the emotions, we can experience transmutation of the old gender-based wounds. This will balance the masculine and feminine aspects within. As you balance your inner male and female, you can then relate to your partner from a place of wholeness. If you are male, you integrate the female qualities and become a whole man in every way. If you are female you integrate the male qualities and become a whole woman.

Men have Shakti within them too, and it is necessary for men to become more deeply feeling and connected to their sensual, intuitive natures to become balanced. Just as it is crucial that we as women connect to our Divine Masculine qualities and align to our pure consciousness and presence. The Divine Masculine gives us the power to hold ourselves through all our emotions, without judgement. The Divine Masculine does not compare our experience to another’s, but embraces all aspects of self as OK. He is the courageous warrior within us that is willing to be himself, no matter what the consequences. This is the freedom that the masculine part of ourselves longs for - the permission to be oneself totally and completely.

Part of the process of evolution is that we will become more and more androgynous, as men and women integrate both the Divine Feminine qualities of deeper intuition, body wisdom, compas-

469 KUNDALINI DANCE IN THE BEDROOM sion and love, and the Divine Masculine qualities of stillness, presence, consciousness, divine love and truth within us.

Integration of our inner masculine and feminine is the deepest alchemy possible, and the purpose of sacred relationship. When this alchemy establishes itself in one or both partners, then relating transforms into its highest potential. As there is no need or wanting something from the other to complete oneself, all that remains is pure essence that shares and embraces all in love. This process is a fundamental step toward one’s wholeness and our ultimate capacity to unify with a man or woman in sacred soulful sexual tantric union.

Sacred Tantric Relationship

Sacred relationship is a commitment to the journey of Sacred Union, and the sacred mirror of the relationship will bring to light our deepest shadows and every part of the egoic mind that is still in fear and separation. It is within the sacred container of a sacred tantric relating that we become aware of the wounds of love, those old childhood wounds that, until the intensity of the tantric relationship, have laid hidden and buried in the deep subconscious corners of our psyche.

All the ways we still feel separate, isolated, alone, helpless, sad, powerless, controlled, manipulated or dominate others to feel powerful and stay in control, all our egoic shadows will be felt in the dynamics of sexual partnership. Any of our soul wounds of abandonment, betrayal, fear, shame, terror, unworthiness and

470 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS self-doubt will arise and be played out in our sexual partnerships. The key is not to get into the trap of projecting your story onto the other and avoid, deny or suppress feeing these feelings but to pray to feel them to their causal level. They will usually be childhood memories or experiences with our parents, and if we can hold our inner child through the feelings and be the good parent for ourselves, we can get through to the other side.

According to the Sufi master Rumi, “Our task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” When we approach our human relationships in this way, we welcome our pain, we commit to feeling and not avoiding.

The average person uses their relationship or longs for a lover or partner to avoid feelings and to fill up the holes and empty places. In the old paradigm of sexual partnership, one would leave when the shadow of their partner began to arise. We would either escape, avoid, deny or quite simply go emotionally numb. This avoidance of feeling has a detrimental effect and actually blocks and stagnates our life energy, dimming down our innate effervescent joy for life. In a sacred tantric relationship, we welcome these emotions in ourselves and in our partner and we learn to hold the space for each other to feel and to heal the wounds of love.

Self-responsibility is a crucial foundation in a sacred tantric relationship and in all relational dynamics. We must take radical responsibility for ourselves as the source of our own healing and

471 KUNDALINI DANCE IN THE BEDROOM transformation. It is our own responsibility to evolve ourselves beyond the wounds and patterns of our past reference points. You must accept that no one is coming to make this better for you and commit yourself wholeheartedly to taking a stand to be your own hero or heroine.

Self-responsibility means being committed to feeling your emotions as they arise and going to the casual layer of the wounds. Self-responsibility means that when you are triggered emotionally, like when you feel you are not good enough, or your heart is aching and you are feeling unlovable, or you are feeling sad, you don’t project your feelings onto your partner, making your uncomfortable or painful feelings about them. You always turn the mirror back onto yourself and make it about you. This is the only way to grow, for we will continually attract the same reflections and relationship dynamics until we do.

Even when our deepest shadow and causal wounds are revealed, we must love and accept ourselves as we are now, embrace our imperfections, love ourselves even when we are not as we want to be. This does not mean that we don’t desire change or transformation. Quite the opposite. We deeply desire to grow beyond the patterns and wounds of the past. The only way to break free from the cycles of suffering that these old wounds attract to us is to move more deeply into them when they arise. Every time we choose to feel rather than project, we move closer to the Divine and create more intimacy with our beloved partner. This is the way of deep immersion in the currents of life. This is the way of

472 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS surrendering to what is. This is the way of freedom.

Now this feeling and healing may all sound a little too much like hard work. Sometimes it seems easier just to stay comfortably numb, pointing the finger and making it everyone else’s problem and not our own. It seems so much easier to push back and walk away from uncomfortable feelings and move toward what feels easy and flowing, especially when it comes to our sexual relationships. Yet what we human beings often don’t realise is that the grail we seek is hiding underneath our fears. The very thing that terrifies us the most is our most direct route to spiritual evolution.

Peace Between the Sheets

Human beings are unconsciously addicted to conflict and drama, our emotional pain bodies thrive on it as those lower frequency emotional states are the basis of its identity. We long for peace individually and globally, but our collective low frequency unconscious behaviours ensure that we keep reinforcing the old patterns of conflict. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in our sexual relationships.

If we are utterly ruled by our emotions, there can be no peace and harmony inside of us. It is emotionally exhausting to be constantly living in a state of reaction, resistance and protection. It takes a so much energy to continue to sweep our uncomfortable feelings under the carpet or point the blame elsewhere. Denial is a heavy burden to bare, and we only get to know how heavy it

473 KUNDALINI DANCE IN THE BEDROOM actually is when we begin to take responsibility and consciously feel our emotions. You’ll feel so much lighter, so much less reactive, so much less defended. Actually spending a little time loving yourself enough to feel your emotions, burns them out of you and gives you the opportunity to begin to respond rather than react.

The conflict between male and female is part of the oldest archetypal wound there is. This imbalance between man and woman over time has given rise to this notion of the battle of the sexes. This battle or conflict is not just about men and women. It’s about the balance of the polarities, religion and science, rich and poor, good and evil. Facing our pain, rather than running away, shutting down, pushing away or blaming, will transform it and we can then begin to be truly intimate and truly present in peace with ourselves, with the divine and with our beloved partners.

These deep core wounds of separation that cause the patterns of conflict and defence are deeply rooted in our collective energy system. These low frequency patterns are embedded in the holo- grams of our chakras magnetically attracting all the right situations to ourselves to feel the same emotions again and again until we actually surrender and feel them. We are born imprinted with these patterns in our DNA and it is our evolutionary responsibility to transmute them.

We are all interconnected, we are all one. Whatever change we make within ourselves, we do it for the whole. Our greatest service to humanity can come in the smallest change we make in

474 KUNDALINI DANCE: SACRED ALCHEMICAL EVOLUTIONARY KEYS ourselves. When we can experience peace within ourselves and in our intimate sexual relationships with our beloved life partners, we contribute to world peace. If we can end the war between man and woman and integrate the masculine and feminine energies within us, we contribute to the cycle that will end all wars. It will be men and women creating together, leading together, en- visioning new possibilities together that we will create the new paradigm for this earth.

To create a new paradigm and come back into cultural and collective balance, we need no less than a spiritual revolution in consciousness. So I am down for an ecstatic revolution, a Kundalini revolution of consciousness, where our transformation can be an ecstatic act of celebration. Please join us.

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Conclusion

We live in incredible times. Humanity is in the midst of a huge evolutionary leap. Science and spirituality are finally aligning, revealing what the poets, mystics and indigenous shamanic cultures have pointed to for eons. The fabric of reality is like a gossamer web woven of pure light consciousness, every form of life is a seamless whole connecting us all inseparably as one. This in essence means that whatever positive change we integrate within ourselves, whatever leap of consciousness we make from fear to love, affects the whole of humanity. Basically, you are an electrical or energy body, so whenever the vibration within you moves to a higher frequency, the energy that surges outward from you affects everyone. Through embodying our highest potential, we send ripples out into the collective, supporting collective change and awakening. As Mahatma Ghandi said: “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

We are being asked to step up to create the new myth of humanity, to step up and embody the awakened human and live a life guided by our passion and soul presence. We are being called to remember and reclaim our deep feminine wisdom and have the courage to be true to our souls’ vocations and express the sacred—in our families, in our communities, in our work places.

477 CONCLUSION The time is now to come together to co-create and participate more than ever before.

There is no greater task than this journey of transformation and transmutation of our fear-based emotional pain body and the embodiment of the divine self. How magnificent it is that this journey is so rich, filled with beauty and grace, and we get to feel the embodiment of our exquisite ecstatic sensual divine selves. I pray that the transformational keys shared with you in this book serve you well on your path of ecstatic awakening, the highest potential of your soul.

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About the Author

Leyolah Antara has been transforming lives for twenty-two years as a tantric practitioner and teacher, ecstatic dance facilitator, and guide to exploring the chakras and clearing the blockages in these emotional and psychological energy centers. In her Kundalini Dance™ practice, she teaches individuals how to embrace sexual creative energy for healing and spiritual growth.

Antara’s practice has taken her all over the world to share her knowledge at retreats and workshops. And she has trained over seventy facilitators in Australia and North America to become active in the global awakening to the evolutionary power of achieving union with the divine feminine.

Go to www.kundalinidance.com to learn more.

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