Discernment ☥ Wisdom Of Our Chakras ☥ Part I

Chakras are junction points between consciousness and physiology. These centers of energy govern the core emotional and physical functions of your being. When these energy centers are congested or out of harmony your vital life force is unable to freely circulate resulting in distress, disease, and lack of mind/body integrity. ॐ       ॐ Deepak Chopra ॐ

It's Electric! ☥ You can't see it (it's electric!) You gotta feel it (it's electric!) ...                 You gotta know it (it's electric!)                                      Now you can't hold it (it's electric!) ...        But you know it's there ...                           Some say it's mystic (it's electric!) ...                                   You can't resist it (it's electric!) ...                 You can't do without it (it's electric!) ... ☥ ☥ Marcia Griffiths ☥ From The Song, 'Electric Slide'

Have you ever had the experience of walking into a room and immediately feeling uncomfortable? You tell yourself that it is only in your mind and push past the discomfort. Time seems to pass more slowly than usual and each moment becomes increasingly more difficult to get through. Thoughts begin to flow through your mind: Is the air suddenly thicker? Why is it harder to breathe? Why am I putting myself through this? Then, you begin to craft exit strategies, and as soon as you find a viable one, you use it to leave. Once you are out of the room, you begin to feel better, lighter, relieved. What happened during this time of discomfort? It wasn't anything that could be seen with the naked eye, but you felt it and it felt real. What you were feeling is known in the Ayurvedic system of healing as the chakras.

Discernment ☥                   The ability to perceive, understand, and judge things clearly, especially those that are not obvious or straightforward. ☥                          ☥ Wikipedia

The wind is invisible, but when it brushes against our skin, we feel it. Similarly, the chakras are not visible to the naked eye, but they can be felt and they can directly or indirectly influence our thoughts and actions. Although the actual form of the chakra is a pyramid, the literal definition of chakra is "wheel" and refers to energy centers that exist throughout our body. Depending on how our energy is flowing, these "wheels" may spin in balance and collaboration with the flow of our bodies. When this happens, we are at ease within ourselves. However, if these "wheels" are spinning too fast, too slow or are blocked, we become vulnerable to dis-ease of the mind, body or emotions. This blog is going to focus on our seven primary chakras, according to the East Indian Ayurvedic modality, with a few enhancements from North ☥ West African ☥ Indigenous Elemental Theory. It represents a deeper dive into the healing of our emotions and contains tangible strategies that we can use to balance the spin of our "wheels." If you haven't yet read How To Demystify ☥ Heal Our Emotions, please add it to your self-care "to do" list.

There is nothing supernatural, everything is natural. We in Africa know that the human being possesses twelve senses, not five senses as Western people believe. ☥                                      ☥ Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa ☥

Discernment comes with continuous pluralistic practice. It is impossible to cultivate discernment with the intellect alone. As I've mentioned in my social programming blog, the spiritual process is practical. Many people have asked me to explain the difference between a spiritual awakening and a spiritual initiation. The process is unique to each individual because what we have come to bring to the world can only happen through us. That said, there is a universal definition that may apply to Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People. When the colonizers came to us, they blew us apart - sort of like a glass that shatters when it hits the ground. Some of the pieces are easy to find, but other pieces are so small that they could disappear beneath another surface. The force of the fall may cause other pieces to become embedded deep within surfaces. Often times, the surface moves.

For example, a piece of glass could get lodged inside of a surface that is thrown into the trash or an object that belongs to someone else who is visiting from another part of the country. Although the larger pieces are visible to us, social programming gradually trains us to adopt self-hatred and xenophobia. Our programming causes us to abandon the larger pieces and conform to the colonizer's ideas of who we are and how we need to function in the world. We are spammed with these ideas until we accept them as a part of ourselves, even though the pieces don't fit. We anesthetize ourselves to help us cope, and convince ourselves that we must conform in order to survive in a hostile world. Time passes and then life goes on as if those missing pieces of ourselves never existed. But then one day, the voice deep within us - the voice that we tried to silence with workaholism, alcohol, drugs, social media bingeing or other distractions - refuses to be silenced any more. In a moment of insight, it throws the equivalent of a cold glass of water in our face, and we can no longer pretend that we are in control of our thoughts and all is well within our soul.

A spiritual awakening is what happens when our soul forces us to recognize the futility of our coping mechanisms and beacons us to process the pain of having lost those missing pieces of ourselves. A spiritual initiation is the work required to reclaim ☥ heal ☥ reintegrate those pieces so that social programming and outside influences can no longer drive our thoughts ☥ actions and the foundation of our life is grounded in the truest part of ourselves.

To be clear, those “missing pieces” of ourselves never left us in consciousness. Discernment ☥ Wisdom Of Our Chakras teaches us how to access and then elevate our thoughts and behaviors to the suppressed part of our consciousness that has been beaconing us to awaken. Those of us who continue to ignore the nudge often succumb to depression, self-destructive behaviors and even suicide. The essence of who we are cannot be taken from us, but trauma caused by social programming can cause us to forget who we are and how to tap into to the truest part of ourselves. The cultivation of our mental health self-care toolkit is like an internal GPS system that guides us back to our essence. The fear associated with spirituality is a social program designed to keep us from accessing the solutions to our challenges by convincing us that our lives can change if we reach for something outside of ourselves (dream house, job, car, magic bullet pill/cosmetics, etc.). However, our lives cannot change if we stay the same because the peace that we are seeking cannot be purchased and does not exist anywhere outside of ourselves. Studying spirituality is not the same as living it. For example, I can memorize and recite the Apostles' Creed or Bible verses in public, while privately becoming an alcoholic. In order to find peace within my soul, I have to learn how to process and heal my pain so that I don't anesthetize myself with alcohol. Discernment shows me:

☥ That there is a choice to make

☥ The consequences that accompany each choice

☥ How to recognize and transcend inner saboteurs

☥ How to make the choices that serve the highest good

The chakras are a tool that we can use to unlock and embody the wisdom of discernment.

Although we have thousands of chakras, our seven primary chakras are located within an area generally referred to as our "astral spine." Astral means "nonphysical." It is what we can feel, but not see with the naked eye.

If we light a candle or incense, we will notice that the smoke travels in an upward direction because heat rises. The chakras also travel upward. We will cover one chakra at a time beginning with the bottom chakra (root) and working our way up toward the top (crown). The illustration above presents each chakra as a separate entity, but they are deeply interconnected and flow into each other. If we are climbing a ladder, but the person ahead of us has stopped to take a picture of the view, we'll have to wait until they start climbing again before we can move. As we go through each chakra, I will share what happens within our bodies when our chakras are balanced, imbalanced or blocked. For clarity and further study, I will also share the mandala (appearing as sacred geometry within lotus flowers to symbolize the chakras), Sanskrit and English terms for each chakra and suggestions for Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant deities to study ☥ emulate. Many of the pictures within this blog link to songs that help us to understand the chakras in a way that transcends words. As we begin to understand how these chakras function within our bodies, we cultivate the wisdom of discernment and empower ourselves to transform frustration into inspired actions that catalyze healing.

At the center of Mūlādhāra, represented by a four-petaled lotus flower, is the Sanskrit symbol for "I am." When we chant the word "Lum," we create a vibration that cleanses and heals the root chakra.

Mūlādhāra ☥ The Root Chakra

Mūlādhāra means "foundation ☥ root ☥ support." It is the first chakra and governs our reproductive system, spine, tailbone, legs, feet and sense of smell. The location of Mūlādhāra resides in the space between the anus and the genitals. It is a meditation to sit with ourselves long enough to locate this spot within our minds as we attempt to strengthen our pelvic floor. Our root chakra is the embodiment of the earth element and is symbolized with the color red. It cultivates discernment through our ability to follow our path, live in truth and take care of our basic needs such as food and shelter. If the root chakra were a coin, one side would our truth and the other side would be our security.

When our root chakra is in balance, we live our lives with integrity and feel secure within our identity. When this chakra is out of balance, we may experience constipation, hemorrhoids, sexual dysfunctions, addictions, low circulation/low blood pressure and narcissism. A blockage of the root chakra could result in an array of disorders such as:

☥ Self worth or trust issues, fear of path

☥ Injury, accidents, edema in joints

☥ Depression, grief, sexual abuse

Sexual abuse and social programming that reinforces self-hatred are an inseparable part of the colonization of Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People and leads to an array of dis-eases that keeps us from evolving in consciousness. Colonizers discovered that people with imbalanced root chakras can be more easily controlled because it blocks our ability to discern solutions and implement counterstrategies to thwart their actions. For this reason,

it is imperative that Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People work diligently to keep their root chakra in balance.

How Racial Fatigue Causes Imbalances In Our Root Chakra

To understand how racial fatigue works, let’s look at an example of emotional fatigue. Before I was old enough to get a job, I was a popular babysitter in my neighborhood. During the summer, I took care of two Black boys during the week while their parents worked. It took two weeks of training to get them on the same page as me because they were used to getting their way with their parents. During my first meeting with the boys and their parents, I was devastated that one of the parents said, “My kids are bad so you can do anything to them that you want. You can beat them, punish them - you have our permission.” I couldn’t believe that they would say such a thing - especially in front of their kids. Social programming has often influenced our engrained ideas such as concepts of “good” and “bad:”

He knows if you've been bad or good                                   So be good for goodness sake                                      … So you better watch out                                      YOU BETTER NOT CRY                                    You better not pout I'm telling you why ... ☥                 from the song, ‘santa claus is comin’ to town' by j. fred coots and haven gillespie

This song is a complete lie, unhealthy (promotes emotional suppression) and represents a powerfully effective social program. How do we cultivate trust with a lie? Its lyrics are engrained in the minds of most American children. To make sure that we never forget the song, it is played repeatedly in multimedia, elevators and stores during the winter holiday season. Most Americans have this song playing in their homes and cars either via the radio or within their holiday playlist. Unless a child or adult, who lives in America, stays in their home and off of multimedia during the holiday season, it is virtually impossible to avoid. When I was a child, many adults would say things to me like, "Have you been a good girl?" or "Be good and Santa will bring you that bike you wanted." Do we realize how deeply these social programs are embedded within us? I understood Osho to say that children are a blank piece of paper. If this is the case, what are we writing on that paper?

Open doors of unknown directions to the child, so [they] can explore. [They do] not know what [they have] in [them], nobody knows. [They have] to grope in the dark. Don't make [them] afraid of darkness, don't make [them] afraid of failure, don't make [them] afraid of the unknown. ☥                             ☥ Osho ☥

The younger boy tested me first. The conversation with him went something like this:

Child: Can I go outside and play?

Me: It’s, ‘May I go outside and play’ and your mom said that you need to clean your room,

so clean it first and then you may go outside and play.

Child: May I go outside and play?

Me: Have you cleaned your room?

Child: No.

Me: Then you may not go outside and play. Now please go and clean your room.

He pouts and goes to his room. About ten minutes later, he comes back and the conversation goes something like this:

Child: Can I go outside and play?

Me: It’s, 'May I go outside and play' and your mom said that you need to clean your room,

so clean it first and then you may go outside and play.

Child: May I go outside and play?

Me: Have you cleaned your room?

Child: No.

Me: Then you may not go outside and play.

Child: (crying) But I want to go outside and play!

Me: Why are you crying, have I hurt you?

Child: No.

Me: Then why are you crying?

Child: I wanna go outside and play!

Me: I told you that you may go outside and play after you clean your room. Now, if you

come back to me one more time to ask me to go outside and play without cleaning

your room, I will not let you go outside at all today. You will stay in your room, clean it

and practice your writing until your parents get home.

The child had big beautiful brown eyes that were so hard to say “no” to, especially when he cried, so he was used to getting his way by tugging at peoples' hearts. He had never met anyone like me before. Those eyes didn’t sway me at all. I know what I didn’t get as a child, so I was a very no nonsense babysitter. Once I say something I mean it, and it is easier for me to restrain myself from using a sarcastic or condescending tone because I don’t allow myself to get worn down by emotional fatigue. To my surprise, the kids I watched loved me. I went through similar rounds with both boys for about two weeks, and then after that the conversation went something like this:

Child: I just cleaned my room, may I go outside and play?

Me: That’s great! I’m so proud of you. Good job! Yes, go outside and play, but remember

to stay where I can see you. We’re going to make stir-fry for lunch today, and I’m

going to need your help.

Child: (As he heads for the door) Yeah!!! (He loved cooking with me in the kitchen.)

I rarely had issues with those boys after those two weeks of training, and their parents would sometimes call me to get their children to listen to them. They were very intelligent boys with open hearts, so I’m still troubled by their parents labeling them “bad.” Racial fatigue is a type of emotional fatigue. A person nips away at us and uses some kind of emotional pull to attempt to get their way. They think that we will forget or relax our boundaries if they bug us enough to wear us down or charm us with their “puppy dog eyes.” Strong healthy boundaries kill racial and emotional fatigue. I used the example of a child, because people learn how to manipulate with racial and emotional fatigue during the Page stage of development. Parents get tired and just want their child to go away, so they cave in to their child's demands which rewards the child's substandard behaviors.

However, to transcend racial fatigue we need strong healthy boundaries + self-awareness + self-care. Here’s how it could look in everyday life:

Strong healthy boundaries through repetition

Regardless of what the person says or does, if the answer is no, the answer is no. Repeat verbatim whatever we say the first time until we can be sure that the person hears us. Then, introduce consequences. For example, “As I mentioned before, I don’t want your flyer. Your behavior has caused me to lose interest in what you are saying. Please leave me alone, or I will report your actions to the authorities.”

Self-awareness

When we feel that tightness in our chest, knot in our gut or some other discomfort, investigate whether the sensation is a red flag or an awakening that alerts us to a past trauma. In either case, breathe, pause and take the time to complete the investigation before responding. This will help us to choose a response instead of giving in to a knee-jerk reaction which leads to more stress.

Self-care

When we develop our mental health self-care toolkit and heal our emotions, we cultivate the skills ☥ discipline needed to thwart the manipulative behaviors of others.

Racial fatigue is covert strategy for keeping our root chakra off-balance. Think of the root chakra as truth and trust. When we speak our truth and cultivate benchmarks for trust, we prevent people from gaining enough traction to wear us down.

In the example above, it was laborious for me to repeat myself over and over again to the child. However, children have very short attention spans, so repetition of the truth and enforcing the boundary is an important way to build trust. In other words, even though my actions seemed firm, the child knew that he could TRUST my word which gave him a sense of peace even though he often didn’t agree with me. It was two weeks of hard work that led to collaboration vs. three summers of all day drama fighting with the boys. Racial fatigue starts with a few infractions that nip away at us. We let it slide which gives the person permission to keep nipping at us until there is nothing of our essence left. When we check colonizers immediately, it shocks them because they expect to get away with what they do. I have practiced this technique with colonizers so many times that it is now entertaining for me to watch them attempt to come up with new ways to nip at me, because I do not allow them to exhaust me. Set and enforce the boundary immediately and hold it until the violator realizes that we are a lost cause for their manipulative tactics. To be clear, all colonizers are not white. The Phillis Wheatley programming can infect anyone now, so our diligence and discipline is our ticket out of the Matrix of racial fatigue:

The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it. ☥                                              ☥ Morpheus ☥ From The Movie ‘The Matrix’ ☥

Colonization has demonized/made a mockery out of the spiritual practices of Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People. As a result, we are often afraid or ashamed to investigate other spiritual practices. We may even fear that evil can somehow be transferred to us through a simple investigation. It is important for us to understand the power of social programming (which began in early childhood) as a formidable tool of psychological manipulation to embed deep fears within us during a time when we were highly suggestible. If you experience these fears, please study our "Journey To The Dream" blog. Fear is not real because it is based on a projection of what we think might happen in the future. Practice breathing exercises to help you transcend fear. This woman is emulating the Goddess Śakti. The placement of the red in the center of her palms and forehead are not just decorative. They represent connection to the truest part of ourselves. When we emulate a God or Goddess, we learn about the essence of who they are and practice the embodiment of life lessons that they came to teach us.

Balancing Strategies For The Root Chakra

Discernment is the wisdom of our chakras. It is that innate intelligence that guides us to the actions that serve our highest good. Red is the color of action and passion. We catalyze balanced movement of our root chakra by:

☥ Wearing the color red

☥ Building a beautiful red altar with red candles ☥ healing gemstones such as jasper and

garnet

One day, I was in the supermarket, and I kept roaming around and ending up at the same spot in the produce section. Finally, I looked over at the produce and noticed the beets. They looked really fresh and delicious. I walked by and zoned out again, only to end up standing right by the beets. After this happened a few more times, I finally picked up a bunch of beets and laughed because I realized that my body wasn't going to let me focus enough to leave the store until I got those beets. Red fruits and vegetables are very nourishing and balancing to our root chakra. Enjoy foods such as beets and beet greens, pomegranates, berries, cherries and watermelon (with seeds), etc. Many people do not realize that we can eat watermelon seeds. They taste nutty, almost like sunflower seeds, and are loaded with nutrients. Seedless watermelons are genetically modified. Please support local farmers and demand that your local supermarkets carry seeded watermelons. If we stop purchasing genetically modified foods, manufacturers will stop producing them. The power is in your hands.

Essential oils ☥ herbs that heal the root chakra include vetiver, cedarwood, ginger, black pepper, clove, basil, marjoram, shatavari and ashwagandha. Meditations such as Mula Bandha/Lift The Hui Yin and hip opening exercises bring much needed oxygenated blood and circulation to the area. Investigate and emulate specific Gods ☥ Goddesses such as Geb ☥ God Of Earth ☥ Obalúayé ☥ Supreme Creator ☥ Tlāltēuctli ☥ Goddess Of Earth ॐ Śakti ॐ Primordial Creator to strengthen our connection to our root chakra. Mantras that heal and balance our root chakra include:

☥ Lum

☥ Om Lum Namaha

☥ Om Dakini Namaha

☥ Om Bhu

At the center of Svādhiṣṭhāna, represented by a six-petaled lotus flower, is the symbol for "Vum" which, when chanted, creates a vibration that cleanses and heals the sacral chakra.

Svādhiṣṭhāna ☥ The Sacral Chakra

Svādhiṣṭhāna means the "dwelling place of the self/the established self." It is the second chakra and governs our adrenals, spine, tailbone, kidneys, hip, urinary system and sense of sight and taste. The location of the sacral chakra resides just above our pubic area → our lower abdomen. It is the embodiment of the water element and is symbolized with the color orange. Our sacral chakra cultivates discernment through connection to our passions, desires, benevolence and actions → sexuality, creativity. If we think of the sacral chakra as a coin, one side of the coin is our sexuality and the other side is our creativity.

When our sacral chakra is in balance, we are patient and have the wisdom to cultivate endurance. We are motivated to create, sensual and enjoy the procreation of children, projects, etc. When out of balance, may experience fatigue, anemia, asthma, diabetes, impotence, sciatica, kidney/gall stones, low back pain, colds, low libido or obsessive/compulsive disorder. A blockage of our sacral chakra could result in an array of disorders such as frigidity, sexual/creative block, jealousy, feeling reserved/emotionally withdrawn, exhibiting excessive pride or manipulative behaviors.

This woman emulates Ọṣun (Goddess Of Fertility, Sexuality, Sensuality, Water {For Cleansing}, Purity). Ọṣun is generally represented wearing the color yellow in the Orisha tradition. Keep in mind that the chakras are not separate, but flow into each other sort of like a rainbow. It is not necessary to dress like the God ☥ Goddess to emulate them. Learning more about the life lessons that they represent and applying those lessons to your daily life is a great way to emulate a God ☥ Goddess that resonates with you. This blog offers a tiny sampling of potential deities to emulate. If your culture is not represented, choose one of your deities and share them with phyllishubbard.com so that we can learn more too! Sharing destroys ignorance ☥ promotes the cultivation of higher consciousness and a better world.

Balancing Strategies For The Sacral Chakra

Orange is a juicy color of sensuality. We can catalyze balanced movement of our sacral chakra by:

☥ Wearing the color orange

☥ Building a beautiful orange altar with orange candles ☥ healing gemstones such as

carnelian and tiger eye

Orange fruits and vegetables are very nourishing and balancing to our sacral chakra. Enjoy foods such as sweet potatoes, butternut and kabocha squash, pumpkin, mangoes, persimmons, papaya, oranges, apricots, etc. Essential oils ☥ herbs that heal the sacral chakra include turmeric, jasmine, clary sage, lemon verbena, ylang ylang, rosewood, cinnamon, pine, geranium and marjoram. African and belly dance movements bring much needed oxygenated blood and sensual energy to the area. Investigate and emulate specific Gods ☥ Goddesses such as Hathor ☥ Goddess Of Love ☥ Ọṣun (Goddess Of Fertility, Sexuality, Sensuality, Water {For Cleansing}, Purity) ☥ Xōchiquetzal Goddess Of Love ☥ Beauty ☥ Sexuality ॐ Kāmadeva (one of the names of Vishnu) God of Love ॐ Pleasure ॐ Rati ॐ Goddess of Love ॐ Pleasure. Mantras that heal and balance our sacral chakra include:

☥ Vum

☥ Om Vum Namaha

☥ Om Rakini Namaha

☥ Om Bhuvaha

Discernment ☥ Wisdom Of Our Chakras ☥ Part II offers a deep dive into our solar plexus chakra (the energy that fuels our personal power). Learn how our solar plexus chakra affects discernment and decision-making. Explore practical strategies for healing and balance.

Discernment ☥ Wisdom Of Our Chakras ☥ Part II 

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