Last Friday was my first group in many years, and it was like returning home.
Topic: Giving Voice to Choice, the 5th Chakra,
Conscious Communications
Fabulous... returning 'home'. There was a small group, six counting Bill (not me) so it was perfect for both diads and triads. Only one other woman attended. First, I shared a short introduction and a bit of history about the Eclectic Consciousness series. My first group was in 1991!! I used to schedule all four Fridays, bringing in an outside presenter twice and I'd lead twice a month.
I kept it brief and quickly had them pair up with someone they didn't know. I asked them to say "hey dude, how was your week?' (In my singles group I used to have them say "hi honey, how was your day?"). Anyway, it got them talking/connecting for a while, then I had them introduce their partner to the whole group and tell us what gift they would like to give their partner.
One of the men said he had heard of chakras, but had no idea what I was talking about. The
Italian man said he really needed to work on his 5th Chakra because he had just broken up with his girlfriend. He was one of those jewels in group work, who is very, very self aware and verbalizes his processes.
Next, I led a 15 minute guided visualization through all the chakras. Fortunately, no one fell asleep. I tried to modulate my voice and breathing instructions to keep them attentive. (I'll include the guided meditation at the end of this post.)
Then, I had them share with their partner, how they felt after the meditation.
Next, I had them find a new partner, introduce themselves, then asked the shorter partner to turn their back on the taller partner, and the taller partner to give a relaxing shoulder massage.... during which, I invited them to take the touch deep into their body, relaxing so deeply that if felt as though they just had a full hour massage. Then, I had them reciprocate.
For the discussion, I had them get in two groups of three to share their thoughts about the topic. Here are my notes...
√ TOPIC…..
Give VOICE to CHOICE…..
Christine Northrup: 5th CHAKRA = faith and higher communication.
discover your inner truth and use your voice to convey it to the world.
Spiritual and emotional issues that can block energy in the Fifth Chakra are the struggles between speaking versus listening, pushing forward versus waiting, and being willful versus compliant. I repeated that several times. Then continued.
Do you shy away from speaking up, even if you have a definite opinion about the subject at hand? Communication issues can manifest as failing to be heard or being misinterpreted by others. Do people try to put words into your mouth? Do people assume you mean one thing, but misconstrue your silence? Are you a bad listener? Do you feel unable to express your thoughts in an appropriate manner?
.. After they discussed this for a while, I listened in and could hear one group going deeper with it, the other group had the engineers and were more superficial. So the next exercise was finishing sentence stems, still in their groups of three. Each was to quickly, without thinking too much, finish the sentence I was about to state. (They were to go quickly around their circle, like the hot-potatoe game). It went VERY well, and much deeper! I gave them about three minutes on each stem before introducing the next sentence stem. Each go around took them deeper. Here are the three sentence stems:
If I listened more….
If I always spoke my truth….
If I had a soap box I’d ….
.
And then... the time was over! 9:30 and time to complete the evening! In our closing circle we went around the room to share our insights from the evening. It was sweet, seeing the softening of the engineers, and the deeper reflections of each participant.
Lastly, I invited them to stand and hold hands and one more time we went around the circle, sharing our 'nugget'. It was so sweet and beautiful!
Throughout the evening, I had my trusty laptop playing background music. I found my beloved Robert Gass chants, plus some Steven Halprin for the meditation, especially beautiful during a pause where I increased the volume. (There was a bit of outside noises which I invited them to consider part of the fabric of the evening.)
GUIDED CHAKRA MEDITATION.... Please feel free to use this in your own groups.
You are invited…. To let your body relax, unwind, loosen up, ever so gently, as you take a few deep calming breaths, bringing your awareness into this time and space, this very precious moment. As you breathe deeply, breathing in…. Breathing out…. I invite you to let go of any busy thoughts. Allow your mind to empty itself, letting go of what it no longer needs… let it go, flow away. There’s a large container just outside the door. All your concerns are being stored there, ready for you to pick them up later, or not.
As you draw yourself back from where you’ve been today, you feel your energies home, here, centered, grounded in this moment.
Just breathing, sweetly, deeply, letting go, sinking deeper and deeper into relaxation. Feel your belly relaxing, your legs and arms getting heavier. Your eyelids are so relaxed they are happy to remain closed.
Feel the support beneath you, your connection to the earth. Just allow your weight to be supported by the loving arms of the earth.
Maybe you notice some sounds around you…. Just let them be there. Be aware of the air touching the surfaces of your body…. All of this takes you deeper into relaxation.
Bring your awareness to the top of your head, allow your scalp to relax. Feel the skin of your forehead and face relaxing. Allow your eyes to relax, your jaw to soften. Your ears, nose, teeth, mouth, all relax as you go deeper into beautiful peace. Feel this tranquil relaxation flow down your neck, feeling it sooth your throat. This tranquility glides down to your shoulders, upper arms, like smooth melted butter, flowing down your forearms, wrists and hands.
Gently, this peacefulness begins to fill your torso… you feel your chest relaxing, your heart expanding, your internal organs sweetly smiling, grateful for this serenity. I invite you to allow this serenity to envelop you in a pillow of love as it softens all your back muscles.
Just breathing in health, happiness and harmony. This peaceful feeling flows down your hips and legs, all the way down to your knees, calves, ankles and feet… your whole body feels sweetly comfortable.
As you continue to breath deep relaxing breaths be aware of a golden sphere of glowing, luminous, light. Notice the color, or the colors of the light. As you breathe in, allow the light to enter your body through your crown, down through the center of your body, all the way to the seat of your tail bone. As you exhale, that light, those colors return back up through your crown. With each breath, this circle of love and light energy begins to balance and align your body, your spirit, your energy centers, your chakras.
Allow your focus to center on your 1st chakra at the base of your spine. Here you visualize a brilliant red orb of light, like a red crystal. As you breathe in red light you feel empowered and connected to earth energies. Breathing in and out the red light you feel healthy, hapy, feeling radiant health and energy…. Just allow yourself to feel the radiant glow of that red light.
Moving your focus now to the area around your navel, your 2nd chakra, the seat of power, sexuality and creativity. Here you breath in a swirling, liquid, orange light. Breathing in and out your are aware of the gifts of the abundance that is in your life right now. It is easy for you to imagine unexpected riches flowing to you in unexpected ways. Your seat of creativity feels revitalized and renewed as you are open to new ways of expression your imagination. Take another deep breath of the gifts of that amber/orange light as you bring your awareness now up to your 3rd chakra.
Your 3rd chakra is just above your navel… you are stunned by the striking yellow glowing light…. As you breathe in this vigorous and vital light, you feel it expand your joy, self worth and personal power. You can feel yourself successful and deeply fulfilled. Just allow yourself to breath in the power of this luminous loving light, filling your self with the essence of you.
As you exhale, I invite you to bring your attention to your heart area, your 4th chakra, your heart chakra. This is the center of familia love, love for yourself, love for other. Breathing in the light from this chakra you feel the sweetness of the green hues of nature. Breathing in the verdant green light you see yourself living in harmony, with gratitude. Feeling your heart swell with compassion and forgiveness, for yourself and others.
As the green light continues to spin and glow, you gently move up to your throat area, your 5th chakra, center of voice. You notice the many nuances of lighter blues, turquoise, cobalt, sky, each representing the myriad forms of communication. This center enables you to communicate your truth, your wisdom, your choices. Even when you hold your words, and choose to not communicate, your are still choosing. Just breathe in the light as you see yourself joyfully expressing your uniqueness, through dance, sports, art, talk.
As you continue to breathe gently in and out, you notice the blue deepening and you raise your awareness to your forehead, your 6th chakra, the center of your imagination, psychic inner knowing and wisdom. You see a deep purple blue indigo empowering your personal growth, taking you gently towards your next steps towards fulfillment and self actualization. The purple, indigo light continues to radiate as you feel fully supported by the Universe.
You feel yourself drawn up to the top of your head, your crown, the seat of your 7th chakra. Here you notice the brilliant violet, white, gold and silver lights, cascading over you, bringing clarity, balance, insight and understanding. With every breath your are aware of your spiritual connection to the Universe, the All. You are aware of the gifts of self-knowledge, spiritual connection and the bliss of Oneness. Breathing in and out, you feel yourself surrendering into the Divine, feeling love, joy, bliss.
Feel that light streaming down your body, flowing and mingling with every energy center, as you feel the fullness, the richness, the radiant balance. Breathe this into your core. You might say to yourself, I am radiant, I am whole, I am perfect just the way I am. Allow the sweet energy to bathe your body, mind, emotions and spirit.
Spend a few more moments in this peaceful state as you visualize your dreams coming true. See yourself reaching, achieving, and going even beyond your goals.
Gradually, allow yourself to become aware once again of your body, here in this time and space… this very precious moment. Check in with yourself. How is your body feeling. Notice anything different? How is your mental or emotional state? Anything different?
Gradually, open your eyes, and come back in to this time and this space.
