Wholistic – Theallthatis

Chakra Series: Solar Pleux/Manipura.

The Solar Plexus chakra is known in yoga as Manipura. It is the firey 3^rd chakra, associated with one´s sense of self, expressed in the world. It is the chakra of action, will power and confidence. Through this exploration, we will focus on the importance of a balanced Manipura chakra, what that looks like, how imbalances can be acknowledged and what we can do to harmonize this aspect of our being.

The solar plexus is the area of the abdomen above the naval and below the heart. It is energetic power house of the chakra system.

Manipura is depicted as a yellow 10 petaled lotus flower. It is associated to the fire element and as such, is seen as a transformational energy center.

We see a lot of people with a strong Manipura, in business and sport. where being the best, is rewarded with respect, money and influence. Someone with drive and determination.

A person with a balanced Manipura will have a healthy amount of drive with an ability to know when to take the foot off the gas, in business, relationships and vocations. We all need to have a direction in life and a balanced Manipura will energize the will and courage to overcome life’s challenges, to achieve our goals.

By balancing the energetic body, we can greatly improve the health of our emotional, mental and physical bodies and likewise working on any one of these bodies will promote health in the others. They are all connected.

If our solar plexus chakra is lacking in vitality for example, we must look at ourselves and the lives we live, to see if there is a need to cultivate discipline, focus and accountability for our actions. If we do not have that destination or goal, it is obviously going to be difficult to find motivation and determination to manifest the life we want.

As with any chakra, imbalances can materialize in extreme polarities. In the sacral chakra for example, a lack of creativity (writers block) can be a sign of a under-active Svadhistana. In the root chakra, a hoarder, attached to material

things may have an imbalance in Muladara. In the case of the 3^rd chakra, we can picture a tyrannical, financial tycoon, as someone who would likely have an overactive Manipura, or someone without direction, living on benefits would be a sign of a under-active Manipura.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to confirm if your solar plexus chakra is out of balance?

Do i feel i can do?

Am i eager to wake up and start the day?

Is there enough excitement in my life?

Does my life have too many toxic elements in it?

Do i often feel tired?

Do i feel like a victim of the World?

Am i over reactive to unsuspecting turns of events?

Am i obsessed about money?

Am i over critical and judge others?

Am i unable to switch off from work?

If you’ve answered any of these questions in a way that resonates within you, there is likely some attention needed on this chakra.

Here are also some simple daily practices that can get the fires burning again.

Chant LAM continuously. This tone resonates with the frequency of Manipura.

Practice Trikonasana (triangle pose), naukasana (boat pose)

Meditate on the 3^rd chakra visualizing fire.

Make a fire.

Wear yellow tops and tshirts.

Set daily goals and cultivate accountability for the goals you set.

If we think about it, we need all three of the “lower” chakras on form to function well on the material plane. We need to be grounded. We need to recognize the potential of our sexual/creative energy and we need the will power to manifest what we want. Do we want to be in the passenger seat or the drivers seat in our lives?

If you feel there is work to do in this area, feel free to revisit these questions, practices and meditation to further deepen your inquiry. You hold the answers within.

Take some moments to integrate these ideas and find yourself a comfortable seated position.. When you are ready we will dive into a short meditation..

Close your eyes and interiorize.

When you feel ready, take a slow deep inhalation through the nose and exhaling fully out of the mouth.

As you feel the air exhaling, feel youself dropping into the body.

Take another slow deep breathe through the nose and again feel yourself melt into your body as you exhale through the mouth.

With a third deep, slow breath feel yourself center in the abdominal area and as you breathe out, rest in this energetic space.

Staying connected to the breath, begin to breathe intentionally through this chakra.

You can visualize a fire pit that intensifies through every inhalation and exhalation.

Internally affirm your strength and resilience, Within the flames, acknowledge what you have over come in your life and breathe that knowing into the fire.

Absorb the wisdom of this sacred element, fire, the great energizer.

What do want to energize with this aspect of you?

You are a powerful being who’s spark can ignite an entire planet.

Awen.

Chakra Series: Sacral/Svadhistana

In this tutorial we are going to explore the second chakra know as the sacral chakra or Svadhistana in yoga terms. This chakra is based slightly above the sexual organs, below the navel and is recognized to effect our creativity sexual energy, emotions and abundance. The elemental energy of Svadhistana is water.

The scaral chakra is physically connected to the health of the sexual organs, bladder, kidneys and lower back and is represented as an Orange 6 petalled Lotus flower.

Each chakra can be said to be an evolution from the previous, in terms of its context, vibration and experience. Where the root is about the foundation, physicality and connection to the Earth, Svadhistana is living with and manipulating the sexual energy which inspires creativity and is connected to the kundalini, that resides at Mulhadara.

When we have balance in the Sacral chakra, there is control of the sexual energy and we are vibrant, confident and attractive. This sexual energy is the creative force of the Universe. Galaxies and stars are made from this very energy. It is important, at very least, to balance this potent force.

The frifolous Dating apps, porn and the sex industry in general are designed to keep us in lust and desire, very far from mastery of this chakra. When discharge our sexual energy, which is our life force, according to the yogic tradition of tantra, we are diminishing our vital energies. When it is discharged grossly with pornography & prosititution, for example, we are lost in the material World of the senses, driven and controlled by them.

It is highly advised to abstain from these habits, to allow the bodies energies to replenish and learn how to control this superpower. By doing this we are not only honouring this life force, but storing up creative potential that can be channeled through whatever you wish to express or create.

By recognizing ourselves and the other as divine beings, and not objects, humanity can heal our deepest scars and heal the releationship we have with ourselves and each other. Relating to each other is a sacred act. Making love to each other is a sacred act. The sexual energies that are shared in love making are cosmic in nature..

This energy is the funemental creative force of everything.. and it resides in you!

We must acknowledge imbalances in the sacral chakra that often lead to a disstabilized emotional body, especially in those that have had unpleseant sexual experiences in their younger years, which can follow them into future relationships until the imbalances are resolved Imbalances can also manifest themselves in financial difficulties. We must remember that the phenomonal world is a manifestion of the relationship we have to ourselves, throughout the spectrum of of our emotional, physical and mental bodies.

There are many techniques to activate Svadhistana. As always, intentional meditation on any chakra will energize the area of focus. Abstinance as we already know is a great technique.

Wearing orange, particluarly underwear will stimulate Svandhistana. Certain yoga poses like Shalabahasana and Ardha Chandrasana will specifically work on the sacral area. As Svadhistana is a water element, it is obviously important to drink water. You can connect to the fluidiy within you by using the visualization technique of waves cleansing any blocks in your energetic and emotional bodies.

Orange, the colour assosiated with the sacral chakra is synonymous with abundance. The diety Savaswati, Hindu Giddess of wealth and fortune is often coloured in orange.

Another great technique is to chant the vibatory frequency of each chakra, in this case it is VAM. By chanting like OM continuosly, this mantra harmonize with the frequency of Svadhistana.

Where as the Mulhdara is more masculine in nature, Svadhistana is more feminine. A balanced Sacral will create a strong receptive sexual energy, that embodies patience, sensitivity with a complementary magnetism of confidence, spontenaity and creativity.

Here are some questions, you can check in with yourself, to see if you need to focus some extra attention on the sacral chakra.

Do you feel free in your creative and sexual expression? Or do you feel a sense of procrastination, guilt, shame or discomfort?

Do you have any lower back pains, or tensions?

Do you drink enough water?

Do you have any issues with the reproductive system?

Do you have money issues?

Take some moments to consider these questions and come back to them if you need a reminder.

Find yourself a comfortable seated position.

And begin to connect to your breath.

Taking a slow deep inhalation through the nose.

Exhaling fully out of the mouth.

As you feel the air exhaling out of your lungs, feel and sense your awareness drop into the body.

Take another slow deep breathe through the nose and again feel yourself melting any tensions left in the body as you exhale through the mouth.

Taking a third deep inhalation through the nose and out of the mouth. As you exhale, feel your energetic self, drop down to the sacral chakra between the navel and sexual organs.

Continue to breath into this space..

You can visualize this energy center within the body with a orange cone emminating out in a clockwise spiral.

Connect to this phenomenon and see if you can intentional expand this energy out. You can visualize the spiral getting bigger and more vibrant.

Keep your attention here for some time and become aware of any thought that might arise assossiated to sexuality, creativity or abundance.

With each breath in, breathe life into this chakra, envisage abundance coming your way in new experiences and opportunities.

Feel a sense of positivity through the body.

If this can not be felt at the moment, do not judge and simply continue to breathe, witness and allow any feelings or sensations to rise.

This inquiry into the root chakra has been written, as one of a series, that is part of an amazing meditation app called Souse Guru. Created with Martin Bone’s vision and guidance of meditation. I am honored to be asked to contribute to this beautiful project, to spread this sacred art form we know as meditation.

You can download the app for free via this link which gives you access to the basic content. With monthly donations you gain access to a library of wisdom, including guided meditations, breath work, techniques, practices & podcasts.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinbonemeditation.scouseguru

Awen.

What Would A Perfect Town look & Be Like?

I was recently asked the question, What would my perfect town look like? Having a mind that loves a good opportunity to dream, i thought id share what i see..

Firstly, i feel to give more clarity on the direction of this article, i am considering how an integrated, wholistic/whole-system would look, scaled up to that of a village/small town. Given that our current urban areas rely almost completely on the national/privatized utilities and consumer outlets, i feel returning to nature to rebuild community areas, that’s ethos is living to-gather, integrating with nature, learning from the greatest teacher, is the only way to go.

It is pretty clear to me that the current system and infrastructure, sometimes brilliantly designed and engineered others not, is fundamentally flawed, in that many of our systems are not aligned with natural laws. They are designed to be practical and efficient yet often disrupt natural processes and subtle energies . Take water as an example. We have a plethora of processes and pipes that deconstructs the water by forcing unnatural movements and filtration. Water taken straight out of a fresh spring will be structured geometrically, alive and full of natural minerals. Where as the tap water we receive, if drinkable, looses this geometric structure in the way it is forced unnaturally through the pipping.

Housing construction is another. very practical and often cost effective, yet built with little consideration of natural geometric structures outside of the 4×4 cube matrix construction we have been knocking up for too long. Nothing in nature has straight lines yet the vast majority of our buildings are these box like structure, that to me, feel stifling.

The towns i am familiar with in the UK for example, are nearly all concrete. Pavements, roads, office and apartment blocks, supermarkets and malls. Great for use of function but not to great when you like in a town and there are barely any trees or grounding soil to walk on.

A major dysfunction of our urban areas is the over production and consumption of products and disposing of the waste. As well our dumping our waste into water, through sewers to our oceans, we are breaking a fundamental cycle of nature. What we eat (ideally fresh fruits, and vegetables) should be passed through us, back onto the earth, for the seeds we excrete to be fertilized. It doesn’t take a smarty pants to imagine what shit is like sitting in water.. not good.This type of ignorant foundations must be eliminated for wholistic communities to integrate with the wider natural eco-system.

Instead of focusing too much on and highlighting what is wrong with our current infrastructure, i will now focus on how i see my perfect town.

As im writing this article, i do not consider myself to be an expert in any particular field in regards to the multitude of disciplines it takes to build a wholistic community; however i have a vision. Taking what ive learnt from others who have more experience than me in their fields, and what i have felt to be true and aligned with natural law and processes, as i feel and know it, i will share what that vision looks like.

This community i dream of, must at its core be built using the latest sustainable materials, designs and engineering methods.

As i begin to unpack this vision, i realize it is first of importance to find suitable land. This land must have a water source, a fresh spring or year round flowing water, with no major industry on the river upstream. Ideally the land will be within a 20-50 mile radius of an existing town, where materials and specific items can be sourced.

To purchase the land there must be investments and investors which will be found presenting the project, mapping out the obvious mission and vision, infrastructure as well as communal structures and features, value systems within the community and the scalability of the model to connect other communities. This means certain outlines and agreements will have needed to be met before moving forward.

This in itself, need not be such a huge undertaking. With a well detailed plan of a model community, outlining the major criteria like potential plot size in hectors, Water source, forests, access and location in relation to towns and local geography, “business” model for leasing, renting, events etc. a strong investment pitch can be put together. With the current times we are in, investing in land is the one of the most valuable thing we can invest in, especially when the land is untouched and fertile.

Plans for guidelines would have founding parties form contractual agreements in regards to the size of the investment, what can be built, what materials, how many people per sq feet of land to name some obvious ones. The guidelines would be articles in themselves, that would cover the topics above in detail. One particular facet of these guidelines, that has proved challenging to define is, the recognition of value, particularly in relation to each man or woman and what they provide for the community. How is value defined? Some may have cash, some may have crypto, others will have skills, other may have resources and land. There can be infinite ways to contribute to the planning, implementation and continued infrastructure of the community.

The community must be based near a fresh water source so that a multitude of processes can be harnessed using the water system, to create sustainable energy sources. water for drinking, cleaning and feeding the vast permaculture gardens, and animals is a necessity. Ideally this area will be around forests, maybe higher in altitude near mountains.

As was mentioned before regarding human waste, it is essential that my dream community implements wholistic systems into their homes and lifestyles. My perfect community must raise the bar, by combining the high standards of modern design, integrating with nature and embodying the wisdom of nature and how to utilize its potentials to create, in essence a fully functioning community, living with all their basic needs met – food, water, shelter, energy, & community for free, once the project(s) have been sufficiently energized with initial costs for investment and construction of each plot/property.

As with any vibrant community, there must be a strong focus on communal events, offering within the community and outside, to generate connection and abundance. The infrastructure designed and built will function as a integration of the freedom that nature provides, with an intimacy and privacy for the individuals and community. This is underpinned by clear guidelines and agreements that will provide clarity and functionality to the community.

Imagine this perfect community further underpinned by a computer network. A network that not only connects you digitally to the community, its services, management and eco-system but one that can connect to other communities providing the same network with its guidelines and systems set or accustomed. This live network can link people of interest within the network & communities, quickening the synchronic like connectivity and fluidity.

Let me give you an better example.. So you want to build your sustainable house using the latest materials and engineering methods.. imagine using a computer system that answers your question relating to how to build for example a tiny house using the cheapest, most sustainable materials. The A.I. may suggest a number of options ranging from whats designs have been approved by the trust network, what materials have been confirmed to be of high quality, any community & network member who might have that material or all vendors nearby, giving their prices to compare. The A.I. Would, through the trust network, offer solutions based on the community´s input and validation of the process that are submitted. This in essence offers a system that can help teach anybody who does not know the process of building a tiny house as well as update or refine its suggestions based on the experience and input of the community members who have found cheaper, more sustainable materials, engineering designs etc..

The process of vetting potential investors and community members can be made using simple questions to gain access to the contact info.. for example.. Are you Vax´d? This simple question can eliminate a great deal of people who, at least on a fundamental position, is easy to filter.

Imagine this perfect town already designed,modeled and defined, to be built and rebuilt, and improved upon. The potential of integrating an A.I. Technology with a fundamentally organic project is exciting. It will be a utilization of ideas and methods to present ever updating, correcting system that provides us options to create the best possible results, sounds like a perfect tool to ensure a wholistic and high standard is met, that can be implemented by each new community member.

Any wholistic community must integrate with the environment, land, climate and resources to achieve true sustainability. It is a must that we live again from the land, for those who have the knowledge to share it to others to create sustainable gardens and permaculture techniques that people can implement. These projects can be documented and released in courses which can provide a great source of education and abundance for the community and those sharing their wisdom.

This community will have shops and restaurants that provide a platform for community members to offer their services as well as communal areas for relaxing, exercising and spiritual practices like yoga and meditation, set in lush surrounds where bio-construction blends in with the nature it came from.

I feel the initial guidelines if set correctly in its formative stages, will become its community’s law, that each member respects and upholds.

To wrap up this visionary exercise, i feel to share that any community that thrives will thrive through cooperation, utilizing the knowledge and skills of its members to uplift themselves and each other. A wholistic vision requires that we align with the processes of life, embracing the wisdom of sacred geometry, feng shui, permaculture, bio-construction and other practices. Their have been models such as Michael Tellinger’s contributionalizm movement from South Africa that recognizes each persons contribution to the community as equal to any other, binman to doctor for example. As far as i am aware this community still functions where each person provides their skill to the community and in return receives from the community everything they need (locally produced food goods and services). We must recognize as a culture that things must change if we want to have a healthy society. Those that do, know that now is a pivotal moment in the story of this civilization, it may not be long til these communities are going to be needed en-mass.