Tag: Healing

How to heal the solar plexus chakra with music
Healing · Marathi · music · Spiritual

How to heal the solar plexus chakra with music

Featured radhikab

The solar plexus chakra, or Manipur chakra in Sanskrit, translates to, “city of jewels.” This chakra governs personality, ego, and identity, as well as personal freedom, choice, and authenticity. The solar plexus chakra also has to do with motivation, willpower, and purpose. Self-confidence is connected to the solar plexus chakra, as well. It also governs the digestive system and its respective organs; as a result, it has jurisdiction over both the gut’s emotional brain and stored emotions.

Some imbalances in the Manipur chakra can cause the following diseases :

Gastric or digestion issues like stomach pain, heartburn, acid reflux, nausea, ulcers, or a loss of appetite. More serious conditions like diabetes, gallstones, hypoglycemia, eating disorders, high or low blood pressure. Emotion wise - it can result in irresponsibility, an excessive need for control, victim mentality, and feelings of helplessness, insecurity or inauthenticity can be connected to this chakra.

There is a raag called ‘Ahir Bhairav’ in Hindustani classical music, which helps balance a person’s solar plexus chakra. A raag is like a template of a musical composition over which various lyrics can be set. Every raag is supposed to invoke certain energies, emotions and feelings in the listener. Ahir Bhairav raag creates a feeling of relaxation, compassion, sympathy, motivation, devotion and surrender. It helps balance a person’s blood pressure, cures digestion issues, skin problems, ego issues. You can hear it as much as you feel like or can even keep it playing in a low volume while not actively listening to it. The vibrations themselves can cause healing. The lyrics do not matter so much, but are definitely a cherry atop the icing in most of the good raags, but for purposes of healing – they do not matter as vibrations are much subtler than lyrical meaning which is of a logical construct. Hope you experience the healing of your Manipur chakra through these beautiful songs.

Here are some beautiful songs based on the raag ‘Ahir Bhairav‘ :

Apsara aali :

Albela Sajan :

Medley of both these songs :

Cover art taken from : https://meditativemind.org/how-to-heal-solar-plexus-chakra-aka-manipura/

Moksha mantra
Healing · Mantra · Sanskrit · Spiritual

Moksha mantra

Featured radhikab

In Hinduism there is a mantra called the “Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra”, this mantra is very useful for people who are suffering with physical ailments, for people who are about to leave their body, or those who have already left their body, or those who died in a sudden way, as well as, for the loved ones of the person who has passed away. It is usually chanted either 21 times or 108 times.

English : Om Trayambakam Yajamahe, Sugandhim Pushti Vardhanam,

Urvarukmiv Bandhanat, Mrityurmokshaya Mamratat.

Sanskrit : ॐ त्रयम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् ।

उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान् म्रुत्योर्मुक्षिय मामृतात्

Meaning:

  • Om : Naad brahm – the sacred sound
  • Triyambakam : Three eyed Lord Shiva
  • Yajamahe: Worshiped in Yagya or sacred fire rituals
  • Sugandhim: Fragrant
  • Pushti vardhanam: Nourisher of health, wealth and life
  • Uravaruk : Cucumber-like – physical and mundane
  • Bandhanan: Bondage or fetters like
  • Mrityu : Death like
  • Mukshiya: Liberate or give Moksha
  • Ma : Me
  • Amritat: Divine nectar of life, serenity and prosperity

Om, Tryambaka (the three-eyed Shiva), fragrant nourisher of life. May we be bestowed with liberation from this cycle of life and death, just as a cucumber is severed from its bondage to the creeper.

This mantra was incorporated very beautifully in a Hindi movie called ‘Neerja’. The plot is based on a real-life event: Libyan-backed Abu Nidal Organization’s hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan, on 5 September 1986. The film is shown from the point of view of the flight’s head purser, Neerja Bhanot, who thwarted the hijack attempt by alerting the pilots, thus grounding the plane; Neerja died trying to help save 359 of the 379 passengers and crew on board. Posthumously, she became the youngest recipient of India’s highest peacetime gallantry, the Ashok Chakra Award, as well as several other accolades from the government of Pakistan and the United States.

A celestial mantra to experience a mother’s unconditional love
Healing · Spiritual

A celestial mantra to experience a mother’s unconditional love

Featured radhikab

Recently I heard a story from a client that had me experiencing deep feelings of grief. Having trained myself to hold feelings and hold space for my clients, it’s usually easy; but I have to admit, this one hit really hard.

Growing up with a neglectful, absent or abusive mother is one of the hardest things in the world. A mother’s love is the closest to unconditional love most of us experience. Unfortunately, many of us do not get this opportunity. But it does not mean that you can never experience it. Here is a beautiful celestial mantra that will fill the gap of a mother’s unconditional love in your heart. I know a lot of people do not believe in the power of mantras; but trust me – just give it a go. Listen to this beautiful mantra by Nirinjan Kaur once a day for 40 days, and feel the love of the celestial mother descend upon you. This mantra will heal the mother wound that most of us carry within our hearts. Translation is below :

Oh my child, this is thy mother’s prayer. This is thy mother’s prayer.
Remembering the Lord, all sins are erased and past and future generations are saved.
May you always say His name, He who has no end.
Oh my child, this is your mother’s prayer that you don’t forget the Lord even for an instant.
Worshipping forever the Lord of the Universe. May the true Guru be kind to you, may you keep company with the Saints.
May your clothing be the protection of God, may your food be the singing of God’s praise.
May you drink the divine nectar. May you live long, may the meditative remembrance of the Lord give you infinite delight.
May joy and pleasure be yours. May your hopes be fulfilled, and may you never be troubled by worries.
Let your mind be a bumble bee, and let the Lord’s feet be the lotus flower.
Says Servant Nanak, attach your mind to them, and blossom forth like the songbird, upon finding the raindrop.

Post picture credits : EvitaWorks – https://www.pinterest.com/evitaworks/_created/

How to heal diabetes with energy
Healing

How to heal diabetes with energy

radhikab

Disclaimer : These are my opinions only. Please have a proper medical treatment when this condition occurs. These techniques are supplemental energy cures.

Diabetes is a condition where the body either does not make enough insulin (type 1 diabetes), or is not able to use it well (type 2 diabetes). Anything that manifests in the physical, first exists in the astral i.e., the thought realm. Thoughts are also a form of energy.

This is energetically caused by an imbalance in the solar plexus chakra (Manipur chakra). This chakra is the seat of the human ego. It can either be caused by the overflow or the underflow of energies moving to and from the solar plexus chakra.

Overflow of energy :

Have you always been a person of action? Always taking on all the pressure from any situation on yourself? Are you the first one to start thinking of how to solve a problem, take on a responsibility, plan something, make something happen? Do you find yourself taking on more responsibility than you can handle and then dropping the ball somewhere?

If you do – then this might be a result of growing up in a dysfunctional family. You might have learnt from a very young age to shoulder tough responsibilities. The case could have also been that you were given conditional love; only and only if you performed well and did what was expected of you – i.e., your parents did not give you ‘unconditional love’. Because of this overuse or abuse of your own body – your body is telling you to take a break and asking you to relax. That’s why diabetes.

How to fix it :

Stop being everyone’s savior. Your intentions might be pure, but this might be putting additional pressure on your own body-mind-spirit. Service to others comes only after service to self. People can save themselves.

If your job is stressing you out, then take a break and try for a low-stress job. If you feel like you are over-giving – to your family, to your job, to your friends; take a step back and say ‘no’ – give some of that time to yourself. This might come as a shock to them as they might be used to you giving all of your energy and attention to them, but they can reset their expectations with time.

Explore your own passions. Practice self-love. You are still a hero, but one cannot pour from an empty cup. So first fill your own cup, take care of your own health and then help others.

If you are able to control your reaction and your energy every time someone tells you their problem; you can remain fully in your own energy (without taking on any of their energy). This will enable you to help them from a grounded and centered place without losing your peace of mind.

If you remain on this path, then with time – your body will relax and stop being in overdrive. It will be more in the rest-and-digest mode rather than the fight-or-flight mode. This will greatly reduce the pressure on your pancreas and hopefully diabetes will slowly disappear.

Underflow of energy :

Have you had a childhood where you, your feelings, your identity was not validated and appreciated? Were you bullied by your own family or at school? Have you been scapegoated in your family or at work? Do you always have a fear of things going wrong? Have you repressed and stored a lot of anger and resentment from your childhood years? Did you feel safe during your childhood? Do you have a low sense of self-worth or self-esteem? Are you always down playing your achievements? Pushing yourself too hard to improve?

If this is the case, the pancreas and other organs create a layer of fat around them. This is the body’s way of dealing with the feeling of continued unsafety.

How to fix it :

Self-love is the magic pill here. Having a strong sense of self, which comes from putting yourself first (not in a selfish egoic way, but as a way to nourish your mind-body-soul). Be the person you want to be, even if your family or society does not approve it, be authentically ‘you’.

Love yourself unconditionally. Validate yourself and know your own self worth, even if no one else sees it. Give up correcting and judging yourself for everything. Embrace your imperfections. Go easy on yourself.

Also, start grounding – walking barefoot on grass, ground or sand – this works wonders because mother Earth works as a wonderful grounding agent of all our extra energy. We humans are also like a circuit and we should ground ourselves regularly so that we can release any extra energy build-up we have in our systems.

To get rid of the anger which is exclusively a Manipur chakra energy, one can try a marital art form. Breath of fire or Kapalbhatti pranayam is amazing to release suppressed anger. A person who has repressed anger experiences a lot of coughing while doing meditation or yoga. So check if you cough and you shall know 🙂

Some Yoga Poses to balance solar plexus chakra :

  • Sun Salutation series
  • Seated forward bend (Paschimottanasana)
  • Tree pose (Vriksasana)
  • Extended side angle (Uthita parsvakonasana)
  • Bridge pose (Setu bandha sarvangasana)
  • Alligator twist (Jathara parivartasana)
  • Relaxation pose (Shavasana)

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Hope this helps you in some way! Sending lot of love and light your way!

How to heal with gratitude
Healing · Spiritual

How to heal with gratitude

radhikab

Gratitude is an alchemic emotion. When a person is experiencing gratitude i.e., feeling thankful for something; it is impossible for the person to be angry or bitter at the same time. Usually, a human’s emotional body is quite complex and many emotions can exist side-by-side. But, when a human charges their emotional body with gratitude – no negative emotions can exist along with gratitude for the time being. Fear can soon come in after a human is done feeling gratitude, but not along side it. To make sure that ‘fear’ doesn’t come after gratitude, the other emotion needed is ‘faith’ – but that’s a whole different story.

Healing with gratitude is a very ‘feminine energy’ way of healing. It does not specifically look at a wound or hurt, try to analyse it and then try to find ways of healing the issue – this process is very ‘masculine energy’ based – logical, analytical. Healing with gratitude, does not go into the depth of a particular issue, it is more holistic. It is healing by surrender and alchemy – very magical, just like the feminine energies. For a person like me, and I think most of us nowadays – who are used to being more in their masculine energy of  being logical, analytical and deep diving into issues – it requires some patience and practice to cultivate the act of being grateful. Because masculine energy is always out to fix problems and issues, it becomes a natural habit for people in this energy to always strive to improve – which in turn means looking at short-comings and trying to overcome them.

This itself is against the emotion of gratitude in which there is an inherent element of being content in the current condition. The true emotion actually even goes beyond being content – it goes to the extent of bowing your head to the event/person/entity which is causing this feeling of being thankful. The very moment a person experiences this, the ego dissolves for how many ever moments gratitude is experienced and with this ego dissolution – all the ego-based emotions (coming from the Manipur chakra i.e., Solar plexus chakra) disappear. In Buddhism this can be described as when the cause is removed, it’s effect gets removed too. That is why, the emotions of fear, hatred, jealousy, envy, anger, bitterness, etc. which are ego-based cannot exist along with gratitude. Gratitude alchemizes these lower vibration emotions and converts them to love. Love toward the event/person/entity that we feel grateful for. This love also is an ego-free love, a devotional love.

How then can one cultivate gratitude? Here are some ways :

  1. Make a list of things you are grateful for. Keep it with you in your phone. Read it multiple times in a day.
  2. Doing something that ignites your passion. This will make you a magnet for gratitude.
  3. Helping those less fortunate than you are.
  4. Being open about asking for help and making it a point to thank whoever helped you.
  5. Make a list of the tough situations in your life and list all the people who helped you out from it. If something else helped you come out of it – music, books, spirituality, exercise, art, adventure – you can make a list of these. Thank each of them again, if you haven’t already.
  6. Go out in nature and admire whichever aspect of nature you like.
  7. Look at a thing of beauty – this maybe a person, a mountain, a tree, anything – and try to get lost in it’s details. The moment you are completely lost in its beauty is the the moment gratitude will automatically flood your heart.
  8. Say ‘thank you’ whenever you get the chance to.

Once you start magnetizing your being with gratitude, you will start attracting more things to be grateful for. Little by little, your life will start moving from a materialistic realm to a more spiritual realm – where magical synchronicities will fill your life – giving you more and more events/persons/entities to be thankful for.

Here are some songs which I think are the same frequency as gratitude. They talk of different religions, but I find their vibrations to be very similar (P.S.: Not my intention to endorse any of these religions)

  • My everything – Owl City
  • Aaqa – Abida Parveen, Ali Sethi
  • Bolava Vitthal – Mahesh Kale
How to heal the heart chakra with music
Healing

How to heal the heart chakra with music

radhikab

Heart chakra (Anahata chakra) is a very important energy center of a human. It is a decision point – a conditional, which if solved correctly takes a human to the higher energies of the throat chakra (Vishuddha chakra) onwards towards a subtler existence that is closer to divinity; or if solved in another way, can take a human back to cruder energies of the solar plexus chakra (Manipur chakra) towards a more mundane existence and animalistic tendencies.

Here are the vrittis (propensities, tendencies) of the heart chakra:

The aim is always to balance these tendencies. An overflow or underflow of them causes unfavorable emotions.

1. Asha: Over-optimism (overflow) / practical hope combined with effort (balance) / hopelessness (underflow)

2. Chinta:  Anxiety, over-worrying nature (overflow) / caring nature (balance) / non-caring, hardened nature (underflow)

3. Chestha: Stubbornness, non-relenting (overflow) / effort (balance) / not making any effort (underflow)

4. Mamta: Possessiveness (overflow) / fondness (balance) / non-loving (underflow)

5. Dhamba: Arrogance, vanity (overflow)  / necessary vanity  (balance) /  not caring at all about vanity (underflow)

6. Vivek: Judgements, overly critical (overflow) / discrimination (balance) / lack of discrimination (underflow)

7. Vikalata: Choosiness, high maintenance (overflow) / discomfort (balance) / depression (overflow)

8. Ahamkara: Ego (overflow) / pride, self-worth (balance) / no boundaries (underflow)

9. Lolata: Covetousness, avarice. greed (overflow) / practical earning for survival (balance) / giving away everything (underflow)

10. Kapatata: Duplicity, hypocrisy, manipulation (overflow) / diplomacy (balance) / blurting out hurtful words (underflow)

11. Vitarka: Indecision, argumentativeness (overflow) /  sharing ideas, innovation (balance) / talkativeness backed with no action (underflow)

12. Antuptata: Regret, burning misery (overflow) / feeling remorse then forgiveness, letting go, learning and moving on (balance) / not feeling remorse, regret for wrongdoings (underflow)

There is a raag called ‘raag Bihag’ in Hindustani classical music, which works wonders for healing the heart chakra. A raag is like a template of a musical composition over which various lyrics can be set. Every raag is supposed to invoke certain energies, emotions and feelings in the listener. With raag Bihag, the heart chakra can be healed i.e., balanced. You can hear it as much as you feel like or can even keep it playing in a low volume while not actively listening to it. The vibrations themselves can cause healing. The lyrics do not matter so much, but are definitely a cherry atop the icing in most of the good raags, but for purposes of healing – they do not matter as vibrations are much subtler than lyrical meaning which is of a logical construct.

Here are some songs based on raag Bihag :

1. Laal Ishq :

2. Mama Atma :

3.  Tere Sur Aur Mere Geet : Old song, instrumental version of same song

Listening to these balances the heart center, is what I have myself experienced. It is indeed very true that music touches the heart and sometimes even heals it 🙂

How men store stress in their body
Healing

How men store stress in their body

radhikab

Disclaimer: All of these views are my own from my own experiences. I am not a man hater & what I have observed may not apply to all men.

Stress was a very important emotion which kept humans and many other living beings alive through the ages. The ages where the world was savage and all about survival. But fortunately for most of us, stress is not a primary emotion anymore. Nowadays, usually it is an emotion which gets created when a human is storing many other repressed emotions inside their body-mind complex. It’s very interesting how men and women store stress differently in their bodies.

So how do men store stress? They usually store it in 4 places : Jaw, Shoulders, Lower back and Feet.

Jaw and Shoulders: Have you seen a man clenching his jaw? There might be a big chance that this man is not speaking his truth, and usually it is not because he is scared or inauthentic – but because he has a lot of responsibilities  to fulfill which he thinks might get jeopardized if he expresses himself in his most authentic form. This is related to the throat chakra (Vishuddha Chakra). Also, check if the guy always keeps his shoulders slightly raised up instead of keeping them relaxed – another sign that he is stressed.

Lower back and Feet: Let me tell you a secret, men get hurt too. I frankly feel most men have fooled themselves into thinking that ‘they don’t feel hurt – because they are a man’. This is not their fault though, evolutionarily men were the hunters, the gatherers, the protectors, the warriors, the soldiers and therefore, it was indispensable for them to be a bit unemotional, a bit indifferent to hurt. Again, fortunately most men in the world today might not have to physically endanger their life to provide for others. However, different feelings come up in life, but men seem to have lost a way to express it over the ages and due to societal conditioning.

The primary feelings that come up in men (or boys) are usually heart based feelings – feeling of hurt, being abandoned, feeling betrayed, feeling taken advantage of – but they try not to feel these, deny them and repress them. This results in a blockage to the energy flow from their heart chakra (Anahata Chakra) and due to repression this energy usually goes back to the solar plexus chakra (Manipur Chakra). Here it expresses itself as anger.

Now, anger is an emotion that most men seem to be ok with. They are able to express it, but expressing anger incorrectly can do irreparable damage. So overtime, they start suppressing this anger too.  This is the time when any emotion that is too heavy to handle will quickly turn into stress. This results in lower back pain.

Feet get affected too because in all of these repressions – a man is still trying hard to be a solid foundation, appearing cool, collected and be grounded in the midst of this chaos that keeps brewing inside of him.

 

If you have a male in your life who maybe in a stressful work environment or any other stressful environment and you want to try reducing their stress – I highly recommend giving them massages in the following areas :

Problem Area : Clenched Jaw and non-relaxed shoulders. Give him an upper body massage. Maybe shoulders, back, hands, jaw and forehead.

Problem Area : Lower back and feet. Give him a full shoulders and back massage, followed by a foot massage.

 

 

And if you are a man reading this, please notice these signs in yourself and please go easy on yourself. Lifting crazy weights and pushing your body endlessly might transmute some of your anger but it is going to leave your body sore and agitated. So it has to be done only in moderation.

Take care of your inner world and don’t worry about always trying to be ‘strong and silent’. If you are acting from your awoken part – you are going to be our hero, always!  <3

 Image credit : Warner Bros.

DIY feet massage for stress relief
Healing

DIY feet massage for stress relief

radhikab

This is my technique for a gentle feet massage which almost always puts my spouse in a deep meditative state. By the end of this massage he has dozed off to wake up only next morning. So try to relieve some stress off a special one or you can do it for yourself as well. In all healing techniques setting intentions is important, also it is important to not simply rush through the massage but give each and every rub a lot of love <3

Time: Approx. 30mins.

Setting: I highly recommend getting a Himalayan salt lamp and a peacock feather for the area where you plan to do the massage. Something as simple as the picture below is good. I will make another post explaining why I think these are helpful. Even if you don’t have this, it’s not a deal breaker 🙂  Make the person comfortable with a blanket, pillow, etc.

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Music: Mul Mantra from Kundalini Yoga is best to support the root chakra (Muladhar chakra). Feet are related to root chakra. If you plan to chant the mantra, it is recommended to cover your head. Please find the two links to Mul Mantra below the post.

Lotion: I use ‘Stress Relief’ by ‘Bath and Body Works’ Aromatherapy line of products. Picture below.

Process: 

1. Apply one-by-one on both feet.

2. Place one foot in position and apply lotion.

3. Fingers and thumbs: Start massaging the thumb – especially the back of the thumb – this is the brain point in Chinese reflexology and puts the brain in a relaxed state. After that hold the thumb in your fingers and move it in circles ~10 times anti-clockwise and then ~10 times clockwise. You might hear some crackling type of sounds because the thumb muscle are loosening. Next rub all the fingers and similarly start circling the fingers clockwise and anti-clockwise. There could be more crackling sounds. Give a good rub to the fingers one last time.

4. Middle of the foot: Trace and rub the area just below the fingers horizontally while applying some pressure. Rub the foot from below the fingers to above the heel. Continue this for sometime. You can use all your fingers. This feels extremely relaxing – you can do this horizontally first, then increase pressure and do it vertically.

5. Heels: Hold the foot in your hand below the heel. Then with both the hands massage the heel with a lot of pressure. This area also feels wonderful to be massaged – stay here for a good amount of time. This has pressure points for the lower back, knee, ankle, gonads, insomnia point and sciatic nerve. No wonder it feels so good 🙂

5. Stretch: Hold the foot in both your hands. Now turn the whole foot in clockwise circles, then anti-clockwise circles. Then stretch the foot from left to right and then right to left. This can be done 5+ times.

6. Same thing for other foot.

This is the process I follow. I hope this helps you in some way to relieve someone’s stress.

Wishing everyone lot of love and light!

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