This moon I am working on the third chakra:the Ego, straight up. The solar chakra is home to the ego self, which drives us forward. Sometimes it does not know what to do; it reverses, or takes short cuts, avoiding what is being presented to us, determined to go down a path of our own choosing, instead of a path that is suggested by someone else. The ego doesn’t like doing what is told. How many times do you find yourself acting out against your best interest because you can’t stand doing what someone else has told you to do?! We all do it. Part of life’s lesson is to learn the tell tale signs that you, yes you, have taken a wrong turn and, instead of admitting that you are wrong, carry on blindly down the path to destruction. Hopefully the results aren’t too disastrous, but our pride can get us into all sorts of scrapes.
‘Take Back Your Power’ was a lesson taught to me by a yoga teacher some years ago, and I am still working with what it means. The meaning has resonated with me along the path as I find myself regaining control over certain aspects of my life, places were I have been out of control, acting like other people would prefer me to act instead of me putting my foot down. Instead of listening to others, balancing the ego can also be about standing on your own two feet, ignoring what others expect of you, and asserting your right to live your life how you choose to. This can mean hurting, or at least rejecting, the help of well meaning others.
What a difficult balance this is to strike! Free will is what makes life worth living, but as we search for approval and success in the eyes of others it can also be suffocating. Sometimes what we want to do is not what anyone else wants us to do.
‘The electron spins both ways’, this is my personal favourite lesson of third chakra work. No matter how much we want things to go one way they can equally be found to be going inthe other. Unlike molecular physics, we believe that we have a choice in how our lives work out, when we see two paths ahead, only one can come true. At least that’s how it looks. But thre’s always more to it, everything happens for a reason and they say every cloud… Also, just because one door has closed now doesn’t necessarily mean it will never reopen, you just never know.
The philosophy of yoga teaches us that ‘Thy will be done’ not ‘My Will be done’, challenging that part of us that wants to do things ‘my way’ every time. In a chakra of contradictions, where the ego and divine meet, how about surrendering to a higher power? The key to fidning happiness in the third chakra is to master the art of acting powerfully, while surrendering to what may be; it’s important to learn to assert oneself, but to renounce the fruits of one’s actions. There is control, but without attachment. There is power, but with humility. There is courage but with temperance. This is how we learn to take back our power.
Sarasvati Flow 