Prana Light

Sensual Healing

From the Root Chakra, which I explored here last week, my chakra journey continues with a new creative exercise in the Rainbow-licious Creative Healing Circle e-workshop. Up now to the second chakra, the Sacral Charka (Svadhisthana, in Sanskrit, which means sweetness). It's energy is the color ORANGE. The Sacral Chakra takes us from our most basic needs & existence (as explored in the Root Chakra) and helps us to accept & embrace the pleasures of living--everything that makes life worthwhile. The Sacral Chakra is the house of pleasure, sexuality, nurturing, movement, fluidity, creativity and change--the ability to change what is necessary to fulfill a pleasant and pleasurable life.

Again, using watercolors, pens & collage, I had a great dance with my juicy ORANGE energy! I also created an altar on the corner of my art table to celebrate my time with my Sacral Chakra, having tangible things to aid in tuning into the vibration of this chakra...lighting sandalwood incense, a starfish--the element water is associated with the Sacral Chakra, a strand of citrine gemstones, candles and fragrant jasmine tea to sip between brush & pen strokes. My chakra page is a creative approach to tuning in to the ORANGE energy, really feeling the color vibrations. The double seated figure image is symbolic of enlightened sexual union, sacred sexuality. The roses & butterflies, symbolic of delights of the senses.

Many were the discoveries I made while doing this creative exercise on my Sacral Chakra. A big one is that I feel blessed and coming into a time where the doors of joy, vitality, wonderment, happy experience and fulfillment are opening to me. And that I am worthy of these many blessings & abundance coming my way. That I am enough in who I am right now. That life is sweet & full of gifts. And that I am part of the gifts, for I have much love & abundance to share. I feel better able to make the changes necessary that I've learned while exploring my Root and Sacral Chakras to live better in and with my body, and better able to explore sensual healing to enhance & embrace more pleasure in my life. That I am coming also into a time of really sharing my creative and expressing my inner truth creatively. I am also feeling empowered in saying YES to what really resonates with me, and saying NO to situations & other things that don't.

My collage page, I really had fun with this! This page is all about the BRAVE NEW WORLD of me exploring & expressing my sensuality, my inner Goddess, my embodiment of feminine divinity, and inspiration as I explore more body movement & enjoying being in my body. I am doing some new yoga practice which combines body movement--a lot of hip movement, which I'm finding a great connection with & expression of my ORANGE energy. Suddenly I feel like dancing all the time! Maybe some belly dancing in the future?!

I find it is high time to welcome me home to myself as the beautiful, sensual, sexual being, creative energy that I am! To be more open to the pleasures of the senses, to explore physical abundance. To allow myself to flow into and with pleasure and trust it, enjoy it. My key words/affirmations: LOVE, JOY, ABUNDANCE, DELIGHT, PLEASURE, DIVINE SEXUALITY, CREATIVITY. I am the Beloved. I am all that is abundant, giving and receiving. I am the expression of LOVE and JOY in spiritual and physical form!

The Inner Fire

"If we know how to create the energy of love, understanding, compassion, and beauty, then we can contribute a lot to the world." --Thich Nhat Hanh

"Inner Fire" --by Tracy Bakkelokken -- 12 x 16 inches (30 x 40 cm) Acrylics on linen with modeling paste and metallic pigments

Continuing with the RED ENERGY this week, I'd like to share this, my new completed canvas, "Inner Fire." This one flows very much with what's been happening in recent months as I've been exploring chakra healing & balancing.

Here I have used some copper metallic pigments along with a love of warm and earthy colors. Depending on where you stand to view this work, the effect of the copper is very subtle or bold and changes the feeling/response to it.

This one is all about connecting with the inner fire, my life force & Source, about connection with love, passion, truth and beauty... And learning the courage to take all the beauty within and make it visible.

Wishing you beauty, peace, love & joy in this moment!

At the Root of Things

At the end of last week I began the first exercise for the Rainbow-licious Creative Healing Circle e-workshop hosted by Andrea, an artist & creative coach and just all around vibrant spirit. I love this woman's energy & attitude--very inspiring!  The e-workshop is divided into three supports--chakra healing meditations, a healing circle in the form of a forum where other participants in the e-workshop can meet, share & connect, and creative journaling. The aim of the workshop is for you to meet yourself as you are right now. Who are you? A creative personal discovery journey.

The beginning is at the root... The Root Chakra, located at the base of the spine.  It's Sanskrit name is Muladhara, which means root or support.  The root chakra is concerned with all our basic human needs: support, grounding, rooting, survival, solidity, the physical body, abundance.  Its element is associated with the Earth. There is a link between the Root Chakra and gravity, which constantly pulls us gently downward, connecting us to our material & physical existence and experience. 

I will be sharing here a bit from my creative journal as I engage in this project. I made a special notebook/sketchbook for this project.  Just took some watercolor paper, plain paper and card stock and made it all up into a book.  I used a Japanese bookbinding stitch to put it together.  I was inspired by this YouTube video tutorial for the binding. It's very easy, and very fun to make journals.  I made a simple decoration for the cover of my journal, using colorful glue-on rhinestones to represent the location and color energies of the seven chakras.

After listening to the Root Chakra healing meditation, I pulled out my creative supplies and set to work exploring my meeting with my Root Chakra!  Using pens and watercolor paints on one side of the page I experienced a real magical wave of energy and connection to this part of my body. The fluidity of the watercolor medium a great way to bring about the creative energy of the chakras.  I felt no resistance--I just let the sensations arise and went with the flow!

On one side of the watercolor paper pages I will be painting/drawing.  On the back side will be some collage and play with colors and images that resonate with me in my experience of the individual chakra energies.  On the plain paper, I journal my thoughts, assessing where I am in my body, who I am, what is happening with the energies.

Some discoveries while doing this first creative chakra exercise... I have a firm foundation, root well into the Earth. I am a daughter of the Earth. And I feel blessed and thankful that all of my most basic needs are met by way of food, shelter, safety, health and the support of family & friends. I have an abundance of love to give. I am for the first time dancing with my RED energy--the color energy of this chakra! And really coming to honor my physical body.

I have a beautiful body!  I never knew that before! I am only just now for the first time in my 38 years understanding this. I have never had a very positive mental image of what my physical body looks like.  Something always lacking, something never right, something never enough.  And as I've for a long time had problems with fatigue, it was sometimes very hard to connect with this body... to feel the fire of energy.  By tapping into the RED energy, the vibrant energy of my life force, I now have a better appreciation of my physical self. And that I have the physicality of a divine feminine being.

Something else that also came up during my creative & meditative time with my Root Chakra, I realize that much of the time I tend to dwell more in the realms of the mind and spirituality, not so much the physical body. I have always tried to be healthy, eat right, practice my yoga and mindfulness regularly.  But more was happening in my mind, my physical body seemingly floating along with it.

So I need to be dancing more with my red energy for some balance of this chakra! I plan to try more activities that engage the body--more yoga, body movement, dancing. And work on a better connection with my physical body and appreciate it more every day. To honor the gift of my life in this feminine form. A deeper connection with the senses in relation to the body, not just the mind.

I am beautiful, like a vibrant flower, rooted, but reaching up--flexible, yet strong.  The Earth supports me in all that I need.  Abundance and love are my gifts--to receive, and best of all to give .  :o)

Being Here Now: Music and More

• Taste--homemade RASPBERRY SORBET with our own raspberries...YUM!  (To make, blitz in a blender 2 cups fresh raspberries with 1 cup of sugar + 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. Blitz separately 1 cup of whipping cream/double cream. Add the raspberry puree to the whipped cream and blitz in the blender together briefly to creamy goodness. Freeze in a large container for at least 6 hours. Let sorbet sit 8-10 minutes at room temperature before serving--easier to scoop out. Use Online Conversion for measurement translations, if you need them.)
• Scent--wearing The Body Shop's Neroli Jasmin Eau de Toilette
• Sound--in heavy rotation, listening to Bruce Springsteen's The Promise and Darkness on the Edge of Town. Feeling a bit "retro" with my listening at the moment. For some raw, transcendental Springsteen guitar magic you can't miss this from The Boss --1978!
• Touch--a cool tumbled gemstone, grows warm in my hand as I hold it in meditation.
• Sight--Watching the Foo Fighters documentary Back and Forth, as well as the BBC's sophisticated & gripping  mid-1950's drama, The Hour.
• Delight--beginning Andrea's Rainbow-licious chakra/creative healing e-workshop. I made a journal/sketchbook for this project... will share more soon!
• Intuition--taking time to tune into autumn just around the corner, a time of change. Thinking about what I want to focus on, try, do, etc.
• Comfort--my fave unique artisan printed t-shirts from The Banyan Tree...fun designs, soft cotton! I were this one with dragonflies, and this one with silver OM.
  
• Making--finished knitting a poncho for myself, photos coming soon. And playing with linen & vintage lace (in photo today) for a potential shawl for my PranaLight Etsy shop.
• Doing--if sunny, Saturday we hope to go to a river-walk arts & music festival!
• Dreaming--of an art course...either in real life time, or online...
• Reading--Crossing to Sunlight Revisited  poems by Paul Zimmer and Real Happiness, a 28 day meditation program by well-loved Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg.
• Gratitude--that there are still some summer left to sip here in the Far North... ;o)
• Happiness--bouncing & dancing around the living room to Jai Uttal's  special mix of world music and kirtan in his new Queen of Hearts and his Thunder Love... Yes, a lot of music just now!
• Love--LOVE to Dear Husband, my family, and to all you good friends!

What's happening with you right now?  Tell me about the ordinary... and the extraordinary!  Wishing you all a JOY-filled weekend!

P.S. Occasionally I've been receiving emails for some of you, wondering if your comments are "getting through"... Yes, they are!  :o)  The comment moderation is still in place, and there does seem to be an odd "disappearance" act of comments after one does the verification. But please rest assured that I am receiving all comments. And I do my best to get in and update/publish them as soon as I can.

Summer's Last Song

The August Queen

so swift she flies
lifted by butterfly
and sparrow wings
summer--
her petals scatter
as the sun
fades her gown
slowly
she sings
her farewell song
until leaf by leaf
she will
be gone
the last
of her rose
perfume
lingering
on the breeze...

My own little poem today as I muse on summer... A change is in the air here in the far, far north, in the northern hemisphere. Early mornings and evenings are cooler. There are differences in the quality of light from day to day. Trees, bushes, plants, flowers hang heavy. Here and there, a yellowed, withering leaf. All the change seem so soon this year.

But inwardly, I a sense a shift too. Even while sipping the last of summer's delights, I find myself thinking ahead ever so gently. Imagining cozy fireside evenings with my Dear Husband, our kitty Charlie in his basket nearby. I'm already making mental lists, anticipating some slow season nesting: must soon make plum jam, shop for ingredients to make an English Christmas cake, checking my supplies for autumn crafting & creating, the bed could use a new blanket, wondering what little outings can we still be taking before all the snow sets in...

Summer is throwing her last party, while Autumn in her soft, moss-covered feet nips at the heels. This transition between seasons is very interesting, both mentally and physically. Summer is so very fleeting here in the far, far north. While, for instance, I don't always have an easy time with winter here--so dark, so cold, so snowy!--I find all the seasons offer lessons big and small. I am preparing my hands to let go... and receive.

Wherever you are, what are you preparing for now? What lists are you making? What songs are you singing?