AwakenedTruth

The word chakra has been borrowed from the Sanskrit word that means wheel of light. It is said that our body and our consciousness is composed of seven major and twenty-one minor chakra points. These major energy centers or chakras are responsible for circulating energy throughout our body and this is known as "prana" and minor chakra points are mainly used for healing purposes. The seven chakras have seven colors of the rainbow associate with them. If the chakras are not properly balanced or are blocked due to some reason or not aligned properly, it can adversely affect the mental and physical state and energy levels of the body. So, the chakras and spiritual health are related to each other to a large extent. Each chakra located in our body carries a different meaning.

Each point of chakra in our body is tuned to a particular frequency of vibration. When the chakras in human body are properly balanced, the body is said to be happy and healthy. The variation in vibrations is affected by music, mantras, chants, colors and gemstones. Each chakra functions independently. So, they should be energized properly. The chakras are responsible for raising the physical vibration of the human body and this can be experienced when the chakras attain a position of unison. This is measured on the scale of one to ten, and when the body achieves a maximum level of ten it is called the highest level. When all the chakras are raised to ten, the human body attains a position of enlightenment.

This article intends to explain the chakra points and meanings and how to unblock the energy points. But before we move further, let us first understand the meanings associated with each energy point and their location in the body.

Chakra Points Chart
Energy Points	Color	Location	Element	Significance
Muladhara Chakra or Root Chakra	Red	Located at the base of spine and groin area	Earth	Signifies animal or base nature.
Swadhisthana Chakra or Sacral Hara Chakra	Orange	Located at genitals	Water	Monitors sexuality and reproduction.
Manipura Chakra or Solar Plexus Chakrs	Yellow	Located at solar plexus/naval	Fire	Provides a sense of identity.
Anant Chakra or Heart Chakra	Green with pinkish shade	Located at the center of chest	Air	Provides consciousness and love.
Vishuddha Chakra or Throat Chakra	Blue	Located at throat	Ether or space	Responsible for self-expression, creativity and search for truth.
Ajna Chakra or Third Eye Chakra	Purple	Located between the eyes	Light	Provides intelligence and psychic power
Sahasrara chakra or Crown Chakra	White	Located above the head	Sky	Connects individual with the universal

How to Open Chakra Points
The best way to open chakra points is through chakra meditation for beginners accompanied with music. This meditation technique involves certain mudras. The mudras are the positions of the hands that intend to open the blocked chakras by enhancing the supply of energies to them. The sounds that are enchanted are borrowed from Sanskrit. The sounds that are produced are "A" as "ah" and "M" as "mng". Now we will see how to open each of the chakra points.

Meditation to Open Chakra Points
Root Chakra	Pronounce the sound "LAM", with the tip of the index finger touching the tip of the thumb. Focus your mind on the location of the root chakra that is, at the base of spine and groin area.
Sacral Chakra	Place your palms facing upwards one above the other on the lap (right palm above the left palm) and the thumb tips touching each other. Focus on the sacral point or 2nd chakra and pronounce the sound "VAM".
Solar Plexus Chakra	Joint the tip of each finger of one hand to the finger tips of other hands and place your hands just below the naval point, pointing outwards. Concentrate on your solar plexus and pronounce "RAM".
Heart Chakra	Sit in a position with a straight spine and legs crossed. Rest your left arm on the left knee and place your right arm in front of the lower part of the chest. Focus on the point located at the center of chest and chant "YAM".
Throat Chakra	The fifth chakra can be opened by crossing only the fingers, not the thumb, inwardly and allowing the tip of the thumbs to touch each other. Pull the thumb upward making an oval shape with your hands. Put all your focus on the throat chakra located at the throat and pronounce the word "HAM".
Third Eye Chakra	Keep your middle finger and thumb straight touching each others tip and pointing upwards. Bend other fingers in such a way that they touch the upper two phalanges. Place your hand at the lower part of the chest. Focus on the point located at the middle of the eye brows and pronounce the word "OM" or "AUM".
Crown Chakra	Cross all the fingers except the ring fingers and let your ring fingers touch each others tips pointing upwards. The thumbs should be in a crossed position with right placed on the left one. Focus on the chakra point located on the top of the head and maintain silence. The meditation for crown chakra should only be performed once you have a stable root chakra.

So, now we know how to unblock the seven major chakra points that are responsible for our psychological well-being through the circulation of positive energy throughout the body. The energy points provide peace of mind and also govern our mental and instinctual properties, so they need to be active and balanced.

What is altered state of consciousness? To get a clear picture of altered states of consciousness, let's first understand the model of human mind. The mind has three basic functional zones. The rational conscious mind which makes you aware of the self and you as being you. The other zone of your mind is the sensory conscious mind which evolved long before the rational mind. It works with the help of the senses and does not understand the language or abstract words. It is more connected to the third part of your mind that is, your subconscious mind and you rather than the rational mind.

So, when the dominance of the rational mind is reduced, the sensory consciousness becomes more active in receiving the information. As the sensory mind shares the sensory circuit with the subconscious mind to process the information, it gets access to the subconscious store house which has a wide range of experiences and abstract thoughts. Thus, we can say that altered states of mind is a state when a person looses self-awareness. There may be many reasons for altered states of mind. An individual can experience an altered state of consciousness through neurochemical imbalance, trauma, overload or fever. These states were due to a particular situation, but there are intentional ways also to create such a state like using psychedelic drugs, meditation and chanting. A tussle is still going on between the scientific researchers and parapsychologists on, what is altered state of mind and does it actually exist? Researchers consider the claim of parapsychologists for existence of altered state of mind as baseless.

What Studies Say About Altered State of Consciousness?
The researchers who are studying the conscious state of mind say that a human brain can quiver from various states of mind in a day. They categorize this absence of self- consciousness or non reflective consciousness in six states.

• The bodily feelings which are the non reflective awareness of the functioning of the cells and body organs.
• The memories that are stored in the sub-conscious and do not come live unless they are retrieved.
• Coma, a prolonged state of non reflective awareness of the whole body.
• A state of marginal consciousness due to excess dosage of alcohol or psychosis which reduces the individual's capacity to receive the external sensations.
• A state when there is no rapid eye movement during sleeping and has least mental activity.
• A state of rapid eye movement, generally during night sleep cycle.

Types of Consciousness
Now, let's have a look at some of the types of consciousness of various degrees that can be included in altered states of consciousness.

• Hysterical consciousness, generally stimulated by neurotic anxiety, fear, anger and drugs.
• Trance state consciousness, caused by focusing on a single thing and is very similar to hypnotism.
• Fragmented consciousness, which is due to some psychological stress, accidents or drugs.
• Daydreaming, which is because of isolation and boredom.

The altered states of consciousness can accidentally occur due to fever, insomnia, infections like meningitis, lack of oxygen and nitrogen, mental illness, temporal lobe epilepsy and painful accident. This state can be intentionally attained through intake of psychoactive drugs and traditional hallucinogens. This state can also be scientifically induced applying the techniques of neurotechnology, binaural beats and stimulation by sound and light. These techniques are an attempt to create waves in the brain that can alter the state of consciousness.

Majority of the researchers are still doubtful about the authenticity of altered states of consciousness. They consider this state as deceptive and fake, but many of the para psychologists are sure that repeated research for this altered states of mind may discover something extraordinary.

For most people, doing something that brings inner peace and calmness is considered to be good. By contrast, anything that causes stress or strife is considered to be bad. Things that bring temporary peace—alcohol, drugs, sex—may seem good for a brief while, but they are actually bad. For an activity to qualify as being a "good" activity, it must bring you everlasting peace. Peace for now and the future, with no regrets.

Usually peace such as this does not come easily. As an example, it often takes the misery of war to bring about peace between two countries who are enemies. The United States, Russia, Japan, and Germany were deadly enemies during World War II, but now all of these countries are diplomatically close and they are all working together toward global progress.

Each person has within themselves the same sort of war-peace interaction that goes on continually, each and every day. Decisions to make, reactions to situations, interactions with people—all of these things produce mental, physical and emotional reactions inside you that make your inner self constantly in turmoil, bouncing back and forth between happiness and sadness, and there is no real peace to be found. This constant anxiety is always watched byy our inner self—your Witness. The Witness to the events of your life has always been inside you, silently watching, not judging you, not commenting, not labeling you, and it is inside you right now.

Your Witness is always aware of everything going on inside your mind, your emotions, and your body. If you can concentrate on stopping your internal chattering and emotional stops and starts, you will be able to stop and evaluate your body’s reactions to situations and your mind’s perception of events. It is at that precise moment when the intuitive center of your being—your Witness—will enter the picture and tell you exactly what to do. With that kind of clarity, you wil be able to either stop the actions and reactions that have taken your peace away, or you will be able to begin activities that will bring peace.

For instance, have you been banging your head against the wall struggling with an addiction or a self-destructive behavior for years, knowing that it is causing you terrible suffering? Have your friends and family told you over and over again that you would be happier if you would just stop this foolishness? Perhaps you have justified the behavior or rationalized it by offering yourself and others some ridiculous reason for continuing it. Perhaps you laugh and acknowledge, "Guilty as charged!" while feeling ashamed and embarrassed to have to defend yourself. No matter what your reaction on the outside, on the inside you surely are angry at yourself. And your Witness, all the while, is silently watching and remembering.

Imagine that you are on the outside of yourself watching silently. If you actually saw yourself banging your head against the wall, wouldn’t you step in to stop it? If so, then if your inner self sees you emotionally reacting to events inappropriately, stealing your peace away from you, wouldn’t you want to stop doing that so peace will enter your heart and stay with you? The 108 Meditation will allow you to lose the grip your emotions have on you and let your Witness guide you in healing your mind.

1. Relax your physical body. If you have meditated before, then you know which position brings you the most relaxation and physical peace. If you have not meditated, then find a comfortable position in a silent place with no outside distractions. Sitting is preferable to standing, so you don’t inadvertently get too relaxed and fall asleep.

2. Focus on your breathing. Close your eyes. Take a couple of deep breaths, and as you do, pay close attention to how the air feels entering your body. Imagine it as a cleansing cloud, opening up your body and your mind to the healing power of fresh air. Clear out an empty, refreshing space in your mind for your Witness to slowly take over.

3. Count to 108 without letting anything distract you. You’re probably thinking, "That’s all there is to it?" When you first practice this meditation, you absolutely will not be able to do it. Your thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations will surely distract you in some way. Your mind has been in charge of everything you’ve done for your entire life, and it won’t let your Witness take over without a battle. Your mind has been the source of all the regrets about your past, the disillusionments of the present, and the fantasies of your future. When you try to live in the present and let your Witness take control of your life as it unfolds, it is at the expense of clearing your mind and letting it not control you. And taking the control away from your mind is a formidable challenge, but it is an essential battle to win if you want to achieve lasting peace.

4. Let your breathing guide you. Begin by saying silently to yourself, "One." Take a breath and say, "Two." Your breathing is always going to occur right at this moment. So if you pay attention to your breathing, then you will be experiencing reality as it happens—right now in this moment. You will not be as likely to be distracted by your mind’s chattering or rambling from one thought to the next if you are concentrating on something that is happening right now, in this moment—your breathing. Slowly continue counting until you reach 108. Take one last cleansing breath and open your eyes.

After completing the meditation, take a moment to consider how successful it was an how it made you feel. Don’t be surprised if you were unable to complete it without distraction. As we said before, your mind has been in control for your entire life, so letting go will be difficult at first. With this meditation you will be able to see exactly what things are causing you distractions, and you will be able to see how you react to those distractions. If you see that your mind is taking you away from paying attention to your breathing, do not get angry or disappointed—those are negative reactions, and therefore distractions from achieving inner peace. By the same token, if you feel that you are concentrating well and paying close attention to your breathing, be careful not to be too happy or proud of yourself—those emotions are also distractions from achieving inner peace. Peace and happiness are two different things.

The 108 meditation gives you an easy way to track your progress over time. The first time you try it you might only reach the number 14 before you become distracted by the voices in your head, an itch on your scalp, a sound outside the door, or an emotion lurking in the back of your mind. Don’t let these things stop your pursuit of the goal of 108—take a moment to put them out of your mind and start counting again where you left off. After a few days you will hopefully see that you are able to maintain your concentration up to 42—an improvement of 300%! Eventually, as you continue practicing, you will be able to let your Witness take over completely and your mind will be obedient to your command to step aside so you can reach 108 without distractions.

At that point—on the day that you successfully reach 108 without distractions—you will have succeeded in making your inner Witness the master of your mind, emotions, and body. Those three things will be slaves to the Witness inside of you, and you can then use them in the present to control your future and achieve the inner peace that you have been looking for and it will live happily in the future as long as you continue letting your Witness be in charge.

1. Breath watching. Can meditating be as simple as paying attention to your breath for a few minutes? You bet. Relax in whatever position works best for you, close your eyes and start to pay attention to your breathing. Breathing through your nose gets your diaphragm involved and gets oxygen all the way to the bottom of your lungs. As your mind wanders, just re-focus your attention on the air going in and out of your nose. Just do this for several minutes, or longer as you get used to it.

2. An empty mind meditation. Meditating can create a kind of "awareness without object," an emptying of all thoughts from your mind. The techniques for doing this involve sitting still, often in a "full lotus" or cross-legged position, and letting the mind go silent on its own. It can be difficult, particularly since any effort seems to just cause more business in the mind.

3. Walking meditations. This one gets the body involved. It can be outside or simply as a back and forth pacing in a room. Pay attention to the movement of your legs and breathing and body as you walk, and to the feeling of your feet contacting the ground. When your mind wanders, just keep bringing it back to the process of walking and breathing. Meditating outside in this way can be difficult because of the distractions. If you do it outside, find a quiet place with level ground.

4. Mindfulness meditation. A practice Buddhists call vipassana or insight meditation, mindfulness is the art of becoming deeply aware of what is here right now. You focus on what's happening in and around you at this very moment, and become aware of all the thoughts and feelings that are taking your energy from moment to moment. You can start by watching your breath, and then move your attention to the thoughts going through your mind, the feelings in your body, and even the sounds and sights around you. The key is to watch without judging or analyzing.

5. Simple mantra meditation. Many people find it easier to keep their mind from wandering if they concentrate on something specific. A mantra can help. This is a word or phrase you repeat as you sit in meditation, and is chosen for you by an experienced master in some traditions. If you are working on this alone, you can use any word or phrase that works for you, and can choose to either repeat it aloud or in your head as you meditate.

6. Meditating on a concept. Some meditative practices involve contemplation of an idea or scenario. An example is the "meditation on impermanence," in which you focus on the impermanent nature of all things, starting with your thoughts and feelings as they come and go. In the Buddhist "meditation on the corpse," you think about a body in the ground, as it slowly rots away and is fed on by worms. The technique is used to guide you to an understanding that your rationalizing mind might not bring you to.

There are many other meditations you can try, such as the "meditation on loving-kindness" or "object" meditation, and even meditating using brain wave entrainment products. Each type has its own advantages and effects. For this reason, you may find that at different times and for different purposes you want to use several different types of meditation.

Steve Gillman has meditated and studied meditation for over twenty years. You can find a good mindfulness exercise and subscribe to The Meditation Newsletter at: http://www.TheMeditationSite.com