Tag: heart

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 women store stress and trauma in their body
Healing

How women store stress and trauma in their body

radhikab

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

Before we start talking about stress and trauma in women, I think we need to mention feminine and masculine energy. These are super broad topics in themselves, but for the purpose of this article, all we need to know is that – every woman has both masculine as well as feminine energy inside her (all humans do). Masculine energy is the forward moving, ‘doing’, controlling energy – it’s actually much more but for this article, this will suffice. Similarly, feminine energy is the waiting and watching, ‘being’, letting it go energy (+ a lot more!). Both energies are present in every human being and they are not in competition with one another, they should actually complement each other.

Now the women who deal with stress, tend to be more in their masculine energies – i.e., they are more in the doing mode, they want to get things done quickly and in their way. In short these women are task masters and therefore they have a higher need of control than the average woman. If you work in corporate culture, you might have seen such women somewhere in the management chain. For such women, stress often shows up in the same places as that in a man. Stress in women can also be held in the head, near the third-eye chakra (Ajna chakra) and in the neck.

Now the other kind of women, who are usually balanced in their masculine and feminine energies or the ones who are more in their feminine energies – of letting it go, relaxing, being – such women usually don’t experience much stress – but they experience trauma. This is because they might not be trying to control a situation but might be trying to get a particular outcome they wished out of the situation. If the outcome does not match the expectation – women might experience feelings of sadness, despair, grief, helplessness and heartbreak. These are feelings from the women’s heart chakra (Anahata chakra). We can categorize this as trauma when it occurs in a prolonged or frequent fashion,

A woman who has experienced considerable trauma, can also store this trauma in her hips. Hips relate to the root and sacral chakra (Muladhar chakra and Svadhishtan chakra). This can manifest as a woman who gets petrified under a situation which is considered threatening by her. It can cause her to freeze up. Most women also carry an abandonment wound – which has been carried over for multiple lifetimes – which does show up in the hips and sexual organs. Sexual trauma is held in the heart and in the sexual organs.

So if you are a woman or if you are reading this for the special woman in your life. Here is how you can help them.

Stress: For stress you can do similar things as mentioned in men’s stress blog post. For stress stored in neck or head – neck massages and standing in your power and speaking your truth is key.

Trauma: For heart  – mantra meditation does wonders for a broken heart. Please see link to a beautiful heart healing mantra below. For trauma stored in hips, moving the hips, playing, dancing, swimming, activities in water, etc. can help transmute it. There are many hip opening exercises explained online.  Sexual trauma healing needs more time and professional guidance. Talk therapy with a licensed therapist is also wonderful for any type of trauma described above.

So women, who are reading this blog – the ultimate purpose of any human being is to find the right balance, get union within themselves of their masculine as well as feminine energies. The core wound of ‘abandonment’ keeps surfacing for most women, but every time it does – we are challenged again to be whole within ourself (by building the masculine energies). When a woman gets stressed because things are not in her control, it’s a clue that it’s time to let go of expectations (from a man, a job, society or anything else) and go within to align with the flow of the Universe. You are all Goddesses in disguise, all you need to do is realize your true self! <3

Mantra for heart meditation. This mantra will definitely make you cry, once you are a bit advanced with it. Doing a meditation with it for 40 days without a break  is helpful:

Image credit : https://www.covenofthegoddess.com/goddess-asherah/

Hafiz poem interpretation – What Happens
Hafez · love · Poem · Poetry · Spiritual

Hafiz poem interpretation – What Happens

radhikab

Here is my interpretation of Hafiz’s poem ‘What Happens’

What happens when your soul
Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great Journey of Love?

First there is wonderful laughter
And probably precious tears

And a hundred sweet promises
And those heroic vows
No one can ever keep.

But still God is delighted and amused
You once tried to be a saint.

What happens when your soul
Begins to awake in this world

To our deep need to love
And serve the Friend?

O the Beloved
Will send you 
One of His wonderful, wild companions –

Like Hafiz.

In this poem Hafiz first describes someone who is falling in love – in the worldly ‘love’ sense – with another human being, with expectations of love being returned. This ‘great journey’ of love is what slowly makes this human being feel alive. In this love, we make a lot of heroic promises which we obviously break over time as this love/relationship becomes a mundane thing in our life. He says, God is truly amused at this childlike behavior of humans but God still appreciates that humans try to be noble, brave and saintly in the name of love.

Then he says, similarly a person might have another type of soul awakening to love – but this time, it could be to a divine type of love – one that is free of attachments and expectations. It is the deep need to love anyone whom you see hurting or suffering, the need to serve those who need help. What happens to a person like this? Hafiz answers this by saying that God will send you one of his messengers to help you out, to show you the way, to guide you. A messenger, just like Hafiz 🙂

Taken from  ‘I Heard God Laughing : Renderings of Hafiz’ by Daniel Ladinsky.

Image credit : me

 

Rumi poem interpretation – Love is reckless
feel good · love · Poem · Rumi · Spiritual

Rumi poem interpretation – Love is reckless

radhikab

Here is my interpretation of Rumi’s poem ‘Love is reckless’

Love is reckless; not reason.

Reason seeks a profit.

Love comes on strong,

consuming herself, unabashed.

Here the author is comparing logic and love. Love cannot be made to happen by a logical reasoning or conclusion. Love just happens – it is reckless. It can happen to anyone at any time – it does not see if this is in the person’s profit or not. When it happens it consumes the person – body, mind and soul. It is an all consuming feeling.

Yet, in the midst of suffering,

Love proceeds like a millstone,

hard surfaced and straightforward.

Love is also a very strong feeling – no matter how much suffering surrounds it – it keeps carrying on like a strong millstone.

Having died of self-interest,

she risks everything and asks for nothing.

Love gambles away every gift God bestows.

Once a person is in true love, the idea of selfishness does not occur to the person – for they start living only for the benefit of their beloved. In this love frenzy they don’t mind giving up anything valuable that God has bestowed upon them.

Without cause God gave us Being;

without cause, give it back again. 

The author says that God has given us this life and the many experiences it provides in a completely selfless manner – in true love for us. In exactly that manner, we can use our being to serve everyone with love and ultimately give our being back to God. It is not necessary to always do things with a profit in mind. This is akin to the idea – ‘Let all you do, be done in love’ 1 Corinthians 16:14

Masnavi: Teachings of Rumi

by Jelaluddin Rumi (Author), E. H. Whinfield (Editor, Translator)

Image Credit : https://hdwallpaperfx.com/lovers-in-nature/

Hafez poem interpretation – The Woman I love
feel good · love · Poem · Poetry · Rumi · Spiritual

Hafez poem interpretation – The Woman I love

radhikab

Here is my interpretation of Hafez’s poem ‘The woman I love’

Because the Woman I love lives inside of you,

I lean as close to your body with my words as I can
and I think of you all the time,
dear pilgrim.

Hafez is talking to the woman he is in love with – he refers to her as the woman inside her – because he is actually in love with the soul (not merely the body) of this woman. So he says, instead of leaning his body closer to his lover’s – he prefers to lean closer to her with his words and thoughts. He cannot stop thinking of her.

Because the One I love goes with you wherever you go,
Hafiz will always be near.

He says, because he thinks of the one inside her all the time (this means God – as God dwells inside all of us) – he is going to be near her always, even though physically he is distant. He is alluding to the fact that we are all connected via energy and via God as we all are nothing but unit consciousness.

If you sat before me, wayfarer, with your aura bright from
your many charms,

my lips could resist rushing to you, but my eyes, my eyes
can no longer hide the wondrous fact of who
you really are.

He says that if he were physically beside the woman he loves, he would see her aura shining around her bright. This bright aura is an indication of the many good quality that this woman cultivates within her being – here is where he gets a glimpse of God within her. He says, he could control himself from the urge to kiss her – but his eyes are going to give him away. They are going to give away the secret that he is in awe of her and that he can clearly see the divinity that lives inside her and is very much in love with it. He calls her pilgrim and traveller to show the fact that ultimately, she is on her way to be one with God.

The Beautiful One whom I adore
has pitched Her royal tent inside of you,

so I will always lean my heart
as close to your soul
as I can.

He says, God has made a permanent home inside her. And so he will try to be with her soul always, through his heart – love, prayer and thoughts. He is talking here about a divine kind of love, where the lover does not physically need the beloved in his life. It is a love that surpasses physical limitation. It is a love that extends into the 5D of love, thoughts and prayers – where he can love her through any distance and where one day, they both will be one with God and merge with each other in him.

Taken from The Subject Tonight is Love by Daniel Ladinsky

Image credit : Bernd Vogel / Corbis

Rumi poem interpretation – Cry out in your weakness
Poem · Poetry · Rumi · Spiritual

Rumi poem interpretation – Cry out in your weakness

radhikab

Here is my interpretation of Rumi’s poem ‘Cry out in your weakness’

A dragon was pulling a bear into its terrible mouth.
A courageous man went and rescued the bear.
There are such helpers in the world, who rush to save
anyone who cries out. Like mercy itself,
they run toward the screaming.
And they can’t be bought off.

If you were to ask one of those, 
“Why did you come so quickly?” he or she would say, 
“Because I heard your helplessness.”
Where lowland is, that’s where water goes. 
All medicine wants is pain to cure.

Rumi says that there are people on this Earth who are heroes. They are almost like an incarnation of Mercy itself. Such good-hearted, brave people as well as helpful beings like Angels, Ascended masters, Devdutas, and other light beings are always present to help anyone who needs help and asks for it. They gravitate towards anyone who asks for help. They cannot even be bought off by money or any other temptation – they are born with the purpose of lifting a person from a state of helplessness to empowerment.

And don’t just ask for one mercy.
Let them flood in. Let the sky open under your feet.
Take the cotton out of your ears, the cotton
of consolations, so you can hear the sphere-music.
Push the hair out of your eyes.
Blow the phlegm from your nose,
and from your brain.

Let the wind breeze through.
Leave no residue in yourself from that bilious fever.
Take the cure for impotence,
that your manhood may shoot forth,
and a hundred new beings come of your coming.
Tear the binding from around the foot
of your soul, and let it race around the track
in front of the crowd.

Loosen the knot of greed
so tight on your neck. 
Accept your new good luck.
Give your weakness to one who helps.

Rumi says open your arms to the Heavens and ask for all the mercies you need. Don’t be afraid to bow before God and ask for whatever you want. Do not keep any ego, which Rumi calls as ‘bilious fever’. Basically, Rumi says the authentic way of being completely strong is to surrender to consciousness, but this action of surrender however, has the opposite effect of unleashing more potential in a person. So accept this new fortune or luck which comes after giving up ego, which is given by consciousness/God and be grateful for it.

Crying out loud and weeping are great resources.
A nursing mother, all she does
is wait to hear her child.
Just a little beginning-whimper,
and she’s there.

God created the child, that is, your wanting,
so that it might cry out, so that milk might come.

Cry out! Don’t be stolid and silent with your pain. 
Lament! And let the milk
of loving flow into you.

Rumi compares this surrender and asking for mercies, help or wants to how a new born baby cries when born. The sound of the baby crying is what makes the mom’s body secrete the milk. Similarly, God is the mother and we are the child. Rumi says don’t suffer your pain in silence – but lament – not in front of humans – but in front of God and then let God send his love towards you.

The hard rain and wind
are ways the cloud has
to take care of us.

Be patient.
Respond to every call
that excites your spirit.
Ignore those that make you fearful
and sad, that degrade you
back toward disease and death.

God takes care of us in different ways – hard rain is like the pain which we get in life and winds are the relief that God gives us when facing difficulties. So even if it is not obvious, God is always taking care of us like a mother takes care of a child. This process might take some time to become clear to you, so be patient. In order to see this quicker, you must follow anything that makes you feel extremely happy from the inside – which excites your soul. Stay away from those who make your spirit weak and bring you down – because this will take you further away from seeing the mercies that God is laying upon you.

Taken from The Essential Rumi

translated by Coleman Barks

Image credit : http://thejacksonpress.org/?p=13507

Take me
feel good · Poem · Poetry · Rumi · Spiritual

Take me

radhikab

Rumi, take me with you,
Show me the places you have seen.

We don’t belong to this world,
Both you and me.

Lets explore the realms together,
Find adventures old and new.

Hopefully we will find a home
A place we belong to.

Image credit : Google Images

Rumi unnamed poem interpretation
love · Poem · Poetry · Rumi · Spiritual

Rumi unnamed poem interpretation

radhikab

When I am with you, we stay up all night.

When you’re not here, I can’t go to sleep.

Praise God for these two insomnias!

And the difference between them.

This poem describes the feelings of lovers – when they meet they don’t want to sleep – they would rather do other things and not waste their time sleeping.

And when they are not together, they cannot sleep because they miss the other and are lost in thoughts of their lover – due to which the brain cannot relax and they cannot sleep.

Rumi thanks God for these feelings and these two different reasons for having this insomnia. He is basically emphasizing what a wondrous thing love is! In love one can enjoy being apart as much as being together. As love is the core feeling which is given by God and takes us near God as well.

Taken from The Essential Rumi

translated by Coleman Barks

Image credit : Google Images