Chakras

I would like some help with chakras.

I think Jackson mentioned that second path is "all about the chakras", and clearly I am not there or even first path, but some energy stuff is happening to me that I (in my naivete) call "chakras".

I have been feeling pressure in my breastbone area, a second or two at a time, and mostly off-cushion. After eliminating the obvious -- no, I am not having a heart attack, and my stress test was "perfect" -- I am left wondering if it has something to do with my sitting. More significantly, there is the "iron ball in the throat" sensation that I have documented in the "Spoon" thread. This happens fairly regularly, and tends to work itself out with noting, and lengthening my spine while sitting. It is usually followed by a big head space feeling that I am calling "equanimity".

From what little I know, these are kind of where the chakra centres are. So, I am looking for pointers/sources to good chakra information, and advice, to help me identify and "open" these blockages, if that is indeed what they are.

Thx.

Try reading Duncan Barford's essay:

openenlightenment.org/?p=326

I had similar experiences, and still do since I began meditating over 9 years ago. I never did anything to work with these blockages except keep practicing vipassana. I would just let them be there, develop equanimity towards them and watch them bubble and spit and be very very impermanent. 2nd path has so much chakra activity for me especially in the thrid eye and crown area. Before 1st path most of the activity was at the chest and throat. I got really good at being equanimous when the sensations and flow was very negative. I was always curious as to why I'd get so much activity in the chakra areas but no teacher (in the Goenka tradition) gave me any help or explanation. I asked that question about the heart area ages ago on the old DhO. Tarin gave some helpful advice for me.

bit.ly/97s4eE

Other than using those experiences as just more "grist for the mill", I am not sure what else you could do. I am not very knowledgeable about energy work.

Thanks Chris and Nick! And now that I see that thread (on DhO), I do recall reading this back in the day. Too much dharma advice to keep tabs on.

"I had similar experiences, and still do since I began meditating over 9 years ago. I never did anything to work with these blockages except keep practicing vipassana."-Nikolai

Yes, this is excellent advice! Not that it isn't useful to have a conceptual framework that includes familiarity with chakras, but, practically speaking, as long as you continue to balance concentration and investigation, you will continue to make progress.

No doubt, but I suspect that (vipassana) is just one approach. A cursory googling of chakras shows a number of sites that talk about helping to "unblock" things. For me, it is difficult to separate wheat from chaff on this as there is a high dose of mysticism thrown in. But clearly something real is happening. There is also chakra mentioned in the context of qigong -- which I know nothing about, by the way, except for the rudimentary stuff I discovered to help me stretch between sits this weekend. While doing the practice, I felt no energy stuff at all. Not surprised, but curious.

right in cue with Jackson, im at 2nd path and its all about chakras for me.

I posted about my latest progress at the DHO.
www.dharmaoverground.org/web/guest/discu...oards/message/519327
I did some Goenka scanning, and i think this works well with targeting trouble-area chakras - trying to soften the chakra solidity in the spot where u think ur having problems.

-Lately, my object of meditation is my root chakra itself, because this is my trouble area, it is the cause of a lot of my ignorance.
-Pre first path, i had the tendency to overwork my crown/third eye chakras and get headaches. A solution would be to switch attention somewhere else so as not to accidentally harden it anymore. switch the object of meditation down lower.

Based on my practice, what i would suggest would be to a) dont accidentally harden, damage those areas by focusing on other areas while doing concentration practices, & keep the object of meditation down low at the root

and b) can also soften those areas consciously. ala goenka style. body scanning but only those areas


c) notice what activities and habits u do off the cushion that directly hurt those areas. (in my case, cravings, interactions with people, fears, neurotic behavior, obsessions, these sorts of things)

If u so happen to find a strong link with a certain activity/habit of yours to that particular chakra ur having trouble with, then you can also d) use the thought of that particular issue as the object of meditation, and try to soften that up or release that up. i.e. if the direct link for me was someone i had a bad relationship with, i'd take him/her as my object+ the thought of release

-

ps. i dont guarantee the usefulness of my advice or my credibility, however these are the things that are going on in my mind & my practice as to the chakras and technique

suggestion D is something i picked up from the "Chod" tibetan meditation. The meditation ritual is pretty complicated but the core of it is you "give yourself up for them to feed on". them being an outside person, or a part of you.

It's interesting to hear others talk about their experience of chakras and kundalini, especially in the context of 2nd path. Yes, I have said on more than one occasion that "2nd path is all about the chakras." However, we don't have enough data to know whether this is the case for a majority of practitioners. It's better to take such statements with a grain of salt.

For me, and for others, 2nd path was/is characterized by a sort of kundalini overload, or super-charged chakra syndrome. The third-eye/brow chakra is probably the most commonly affected, causing some nasty headaches. The crown chakra also takes a great deal abuse. I even noticed that fruitions occurred when the energy passed from the brow chakra to the crown chakra, causing some fascinating visual phenomena.

Fortunately, it goes away. The occasional kundalini headache occurs for me, but the energy frees up over time and chakras become less of a big deal. I hardly notice them anymore, as they seem relatively unimportant and uninteresting at this point.

Anyway'¦ the chakras seem like a big deal when kundalini activity is strong. It's fun to talk about chakra models in terms of the overall path, but I don't really find them all that useful most of the time. There are better ways to spend your time. Just know that this stuff happens, and that it will more than likely change as you continue to travel the path. My experience has taught me that understanding chakra theory does little to open them up. Good practice over time is all it takes.

"
Try reading Duncan Barford's essay:

openenlightenment.org/?p=326

"

Fascinating article!

I never heard of chakras until very recently. I was interested to see an artist's rendition of the 7th chakra, and I was like, "hey, I have that!" It just happened to be something that I was cultivating again and again in my meditation, and since my latest path about a week ago it seems to be locked in. It makes it hard not to agree with Kenneth that there is a relationship between this energy flow and path development. It is like there is this continuous stream of energy extending in both directions no matter what my perspective is, so it's very easy to see through the illusion of "the buck stops here".

I like to make a distinction between what happens in the front of the body and what happens inside the spine. It isn't all just "chakras." These are specific places inside the spine, but I think you are referring to sensations in the front of the body.

I had these awful knots in my chest and throat, which have been progressively unblocked these past few weeks (without me making any particular effort, kundalini will unblock these whether I want to or not). It feels very good, now I feel that energy can flow down, which, curiously, makes me feel more grounded and "down-to-earth".

For me my experience of downward flow matches very well the location of the "functional channel"/"governing vessel." e.g. see the images in www.healing-tao.co.uk/ht_microcosmic_orbit.htm (disregard the psychological aspect of it)