Another moon, another theme! As the third ego merges into the fourth chakra, the heart, we begin to see a magical combination. When loving kindness influences all our actions we are said to be liberated, or enlightened.
What is enlightenment? For me, it is freedom from pain thrugh a deeper appreciation of each moment. Contradicting the old adage, sometimes, what we don’t know can hurt us. For me, having greater insights into how my mind, and the minds of others worked, actually liberated me from quit a lot of suffering. Many yogis turn to the yamas and niyamas to guide their actions and to become an enlightened being (for a list see, Healing Ourselves to Healing the Planet). Ahimsa, the first of the yamas, is non harming. It sounds simple, don;t hurt people. But what if it’s more than that? What if it’s animals and the earth too? Over 80 billion animals are killed every year to supply us with meat, dairy, leather and other products. A vegan diet is the best thing you can do for the planet and all the creatures living here.
Tapas is the third niyama and it means austerity, or suffering. Often performing activists tasks is enlightenng because just by setting aside your valuable time to do something for others, you are creating the kind of heat, or tapas, within the body that purifies karmic seeds and creates enlightenment. A vegan diet means you are performing an act of kindness every time you eat. Performing acts of kindness creates a brdge between the ego and the heart chakra; they can give you pride in yourself as well as others, helping you to literally stand tall and love yourself that bit more.
When we meditate we are usually working the physical muscles that help us to sit up tall, our core, shoulders, chest and hips all get a work out by the lotus poses, which naturally open the body. The kundalini energy can pass from the base of the spine up through the sushumna through the points of the chakras. The connection between third and fourth is particularly potent, where the lower forms of the ego are said to meet the chakras of higher wisdom. If we do not know how to work the diaphragm when we breath then we will stop the flow of energy from the base of the spine, from rising up into the heart space. This month, I have combined twists with heart openers to bring a greater awareness to this area of the body and to tone the muscles around the diaphragm.
Not all connections between the third and fourth chakras are positive. In Eastern Body Western Mind, Judith Anodea reflects how conditional love from one’s parents, or indeed anyone, creates a situation where the third and fourth chakras are ‘at odds with each other’. If we are on the receiving end of conditional love, we find ourselves either able to love only bu surrendering our own will, or asserting our will with the expectation of rejection. We therefore need to go through a process of reintegration where we imagine a world in which both willpower and love are possible.
When the chakras are aligned we are able to achieve a state of enlightenment. When the third and fourth are connected, love informs our actions toward others and our own self is nourished by the love that we feel. Love isn’t something that is outside of us that we ca commoditise or use to control others, it permeates our being and nourishes us. So go ahead, love doing what you do.
Sarasvati Flow 