Alignment Goals

It was my goal to spend the week coming up with a plan to attempt the alignment of my chakras based on the imbalances I have been experiencing. There are so many different things you can do to balance your chakras that range all the from the foods you eat, to the clothes you wear, to the scents you smell, to the physical exercise you perform, to even just the little actions you perform on a regular and consistent basis. I thought it would be neat to incorporate a variety of methods into my alignment plan in order to see if the combination affects the results in any sort of way, and to see if it certain methods are more effective than others in general and on specific chakras.

Base: Fatigue, lower back pain (Physical Exercise: Go to the gym and workout 1 hour a day, 6 days a week... Variety of 50% cardio and 50% strength training)
Spleen: Depression (Massage: Schedule routine deep tissue massages once a month)
Solar Plexus: Digestive problems (Aromatherapy: Buying and having Lemon Oils on hand to smell multiple times a day)
Heart:Passivity (Nature Walks: Make time for a weekly nature hike at new locations every week)
Throat: Mood swings, bloating (Plant Based Diet: Try to eat as many natural and organic foods as possible... 80/20 ratio of plant based nutrition to non)
Third Eye: Sleep disturbances (Meditation: Start with 10 minutes once a week, add 2 minutes each week until reached 30 minutes)
Crown: Headaches (Clothing: Purchase and wear more purple clothing!!)

Some of these things seem pretty odd, but as long as I believe that they will work, I guess I trust that they will! I plan to keep track of my progress and hopefully, with modifications made as needed, this plan will be successful for me!! My intent is to continue to go about my life with a constant awareness of the state of my body and chakras... This project helped get me started and I can't wait to see how far I can take it!

Personal Imbalances

Today I decided to finally focus more deeply on my personal chakra imbalances. I was able to take a test that gave me an idea of the areas I needed to concentrate on aligning. This test however was not extensive and quite frankly did not offer what I was looking for so I needed to do more research. I was surprised to find I am suffering from imbalances in ALL of my chakras! Some more severely than others, but I now realize the amount of work it will take to find balance and a state of health throughout my entire system.

Base: Fatigue, lower back painSpleen: DepressionSolar Plexus: Digestive problemsHeart: PassivityThroat: Mood swings, bloatingThird Eye: Sleep disturbancesCrown: Headaches

This week I will concentrate on coming up with a plan to begin the process of aligning my chakras so I can feel as healthy and happy as possible!!

Pitch

This past Tuesday several classes of the classes at H.H. Dow High who have been dedicating their time towards their individual topics got together and shared the progress they have made on their 20 Time innovations. It was a neat experience to be able to share what I have become so passionate about. Spectators seemed to be very interested in the knowledge I had to offer them. Below is a picture of me with my poster. I had bought a bag of each Original and Tropical Starbursts candies with the intention that the Tropical bag would offer a variety of wrapper colors. I had planned to interact with audience through asking about chronic health symptoms they experience and then explaining which chakra imbalance that would indicate, what they could do to realign it, and offer them a Starbusts candy with the color coordinating chakra wrapper, but the Tropical Starbursts unfortunately included only different shaded wrappers from the Originals, so only pink, orange, red, and yellow were available. So it turned out to be just random candy I offered haha. Overall it was a fun event and I really enjoyed it!

New Focus

As my blog indicates, my ultimate goal is to find a start to an evolving state of enlightenment. My purpose for this blog was to gather all the information and tools I felt would lead me towards the intellectual journey of enlightenment that can only be done effectively on a personal level and cannot be shared between others. Because this specific assignment was meant to be done on a personal level that could be shared with the general public through this blog, I have found that I will need to modify my project to focus on the chakra aspect of my enlightenment. I feel that chakras are a compromise between finding and sharing my own imbalances to help others greater understand the chakra concept while still allowing myself the intellectual part of trying to find a way to balance all my chakras. This modification has also been made due to the limited time I have to find what I would like to share at our class's upcoming convention that will allow me the opportunity to enlighten others with the importance of chakras. Below is the invitation I made for all those whoa re interested in attending!!

For those who know absolutely nothing about chakras, I would like to explain it briefly on a simpler scale: Everything in your body is connected. Chakras are a spiritual take on this. Each chakra has a purpose and when one isn't functioning properly, the others are bound to suffer as well. Expanding your knowledge of the functions of the chakras can help you become more aware of your body as a whole.

Questions I still have about chakras include the history and origin of the concepts, as well as how seriously certain group of people take the belief of chakras around the world.

Koshas

"According to the Kosha system in Yogic philosophy, the nature of being human encompasses physical and psychological aspects that function as one holistic system. The Kosha system refers to these different aspects as layers of subjective experience. Layers range from the dense physical body to the more subtle levels of emotions, mind and spirit. Psychology refers to the emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of our being. Together, all aspects make up our subjective experience of being alive."

– (Belling, Noa (2006). Yoga for ideal weight and shape. Sydney, Australia: New Holland Publishers (Australia) P/L.)

Five Koshas:

Physical Annamaya Kosha

Anna means food. All of the physical aspects of life come and go, and are consumed by another aspect of external reality. Thus, the outermost of the koshas is called the sheath of food, or Annamaya kosha.

Energy Pranamaya Kosha

Prana means energy. It is the vital force that produces the subtle vibrations related to breath, and which are the driving force behind the physical aspect of the senses and the operation of the physical body. It allows the invisible indweller, our True Self to be able to animate in the external world. At the same time, however, it allows the eternally still, silent center of consciousness to be mistakenly identified as the moving, visible physical body.

Mental Manamaya Kosha

Mana means mind. It is the level of processing thoughts and emotions. It is in direct control of the operation, through the prana, of the physical body and senses. It is like a supervisor in a factory, in that it gives instructions, but is not supposed to be the manager of the factory of life. Because of this, it naturally has doubts, and created illusions. When it receives clear instructions from the deeper level, it functions quite well. However, when it is clouded over by its illusions, the deeper wisdom is clouded over.

Wisdom Vijnanamaya Kosha

Vijnana means knowing. It is the sheath of wisdom that is underneath the processing, thinking aspect of mind. It knows, decides, judges, and discriminates between this and that, between useful and not useful. It is also the level of ego consciousness, meaning the powerful wave of I-am-ness. This I-am-ness itself is a positive influence, but when it gets co-mingled with the memories, and is clouded over by the manas, it loses its positive strength.

Bliss Anandamaya Kosha

Anandamaya kosha is the most interior of the koshas, the first of the koshas surrounding the Atman, the eternal center of consciousness. Ananda means bliss. However, it is not bliss as a mere emotion experienced at the level of the sheath of mind. Ananda is a whole different order of reality from that of the mind. It is peace, joy, and love that is underneath, beyond the mind, independent of any reason or stimulus to cause a happy mental reaction. It is simply being, resting in bliss called ananda.

Atman Self

Atman is the Self, the eternal center of consciousness, which was never born and never dies. In the metaphor of the lamp and the lampshades, Atman is the light itself, though to even describe it as that is incomplete and incorrect. The deepest light shines through the koshas, and takes on their colorings.

– Bharati, Swami. "Koshas or Sheaths of Yoga." Swamij.com. Traditional Yoga and Meditation of the Himalayan Masters, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.

Chakras

I dedicated my research today to Chakras. Chakras are an Indian concept that is based on each of the centers of spiritual power in the human body. By understanding what thoughts or issues may prevent a chakra from fully developing, it allows you to gain more self-knowledge. Rather than spewing information in the form of a sentences upon sentences, I found a handy-dandy, color coded chart of all the chakras. Below is the MLA link for the chart. This website has lots of additional informational about becoming enlightened about your own chakras as well.

"Chakras." Your Information Source for Chakras. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.

28 March 2014

Enlightenment is the action or state of attaining insight and awareness that frees a person from the cycle of rebirth. It is also known by the philosophic movement of the eighteenth century marked by a rejection of traditional, social, religious, and political ideas and an emphasis on rationalism. Spiritualists see enlightenment as a final blessed state marked by the absence of desire or suffering. It is my goal to achieve and maintain a growing concept of enlightenment. To get started I will learn about many different spiritual topics and produce a journal with all the information I have attained. This journal will serve as a daily reminder of the holistic state of mind I aspire to maintain.

These are some of the aspects of enlightenment I have chosen to get me started. I have a lot of information I need to learn and absorb this coming week, but I look forward to every moment of the process!

Reflexology, Palm Reading, Tarot cards, Koshas, Chakras, Energy, Mandala, Sacred Geometry,Astonomy, Astrology, Galaxy, Hamsa, Evil Eye, Yin Yang, Balance, Namaste, Meditation, Yoga, Sanskrit, Buddha, Dalai Lama, Nature, Eco Friendly, Organic, Lotus, Elephants, Feathers, Arrows, Free Spirit, Hippie, Flower Child, Metanoia, Exercise and Nutrition, Karma, Dharma, Adventures, Travel, Change, Love, Peace, Acceptance, Awareness, Values, Truth, Focus, Emotions, Consciousness, Religion vs. Spirituality. Religious Concepts