Saturday, August 15, 2009

Kathleena the Cat

Kathleena the cat
Considered fat
Was sitting up in a tree

Kathleena the cat
Considered fat
Was sitting up there with me

Kathleena the cat
Considered fat
Had an itching flea

Kathleena the cat
Considered fat
Gave that flea to me!

1984

Chakras and Kundalini

This is going to be hard to explain without pictures, but not impossible.

In Asian medicine and philosophy, such as acupressure, acupuncture, shiatsu, reiki, herbal medicine, yoga the thinking involves a system of lines of energy (energy being called chi or qi). The lines are called meridians, and are related to various organs. The idea is to keep the energy balanced like the yin/yang symbol that is so fashionable amongst "hippies" and "surfers" etc. Balanced means not too active (fast) or passive (slow or stagnant), hot or cold, yin or yang. There are points along meridian lines called meridian points.

In both Indian and Chinese medical thinking, there are major centres in the body called chakras. Common examples that people are often aware of are the "third eye" (between the eyes on the forehead), which is where you picture things in your mind, and the solar plexus (just above the belly button) which is your centre where you are taught to focus your energy from in martial arts or the healing arts. However, there are a few chakras along the spine/centre of the body. They are whirls of energy (chi) that, when healthy, open out to the back and front of the body. Each chakra is associated with the glands that are in its area.

Although some of the concepts may seem unusual to anyone fresh to them, think about where you feel things in your body and where reactions and activity happen, use your observational skills, and you may find correlations. Everyone is unique, and experience, observation, reflection and application are the best teachers.

Here is a list of chakras starting from the top of the head. There are slight variations in different schools of thought.

The one at the top of your head is called your crown chakra in English or "Sahasrara". It is associated with integration. It manifests as cool vibrations. It's where the higher order, cosmos, "God", your higher Self connects and communicates with your humble earthly self. It is clear light.

The one called your "third eye", already described, is also known as "Agnya". It is associated with forgiveness. It manifests as sight, hearing, thought and a sense of "I". It is where inspiration and vision is seated. Its colour is purple or violet in some schools of thought.

The throat chakra, or "Vishuddhi", is your communication and expression chakra. It is located in the throat near the bottom of your neck. It is associated with diplomacy, collectivity, and the witness state. It manifests anything to do with the face, mouth, tongue, neck or arms. In some schools it's colour is blue.

The heart chakra is on your spine at heart level. It is associated with love and compassion. It manifests in the heartbeat and breathing. In some schools its colour is green or pink.

The next one down is the solar plexus or "Nabhi", already described. It is associated with peace, satisfaction, and well being. It is your energetic core, where your strength and personal power is seated. It manifests in the working of the stomach and liver. It's colour is yellow (like the sun).

There is another chakra that surrounds the solar plexus called the void. It is associated with self-mastery and manifests in the liver, kidney, spleen, pancreas and uterus. Uncertain of its associated colour, but suspect it's green.

The sacral chakra or "swadisthana" is located above the pubic bone where the womb is in women. It is associated with abstract thought, creativity, aesthetics and sexuality. It manifests in the same things as the void. Its colour is orange.

The lowest official chakra is the base chakra or "mooladhara". It is located at the base of the groin. It is associated with innocence and wisdom. It manifests in reproduction and elimination. It is a source of primal, earthy, animal energy. Its colour is red.

Just above the base chakra is the seat of the kundalini, located at the sacrum bones. It manifests in the parasympathetic system. It is associated with motherly love.

The colours represent different energy or light vibrations which inspire different emotional responses. Here is what they are generally associated with. Like a rainbow, the high vibration (more spiritual) colours are at the top, and , as the vibration gets slower and lower (more earthy, physical and manifest) they are lower down on the rainbow.

White is pure or raw light, containing all colours.
Purple/violet is high vibration spirituality.
Blue is expression and communication.
Green is healing and growth.
Pink is unconditional or pure love.
Yellow is personal strength and power.
Orange is creativity and sexuality.
Red is primal energy, passion.

The kundalini is the energy that is used in tantric (tantra being a form of sexual meditative practice) schools of thought. The medical symbol of a sword with a snake or snakes wound along it is a representation of the kundalini (snake) rising up through the chakras along the spine (sword). The kundalini is seated in the region where the sacral bones are (back of hip), and is a primal, sexual, energy source referred to as a snake, or the "goddess" or the Mother. In tantra the loins of a woman is often referred to as the "gateway to the heavenly palace". When the kundalini is awakened (this can happen through spiritual awakening and meditation or through a traumatic event), it can rise up the spine, through the chakras (activating them with the primal energy of the kundalini), to raise and activate the soul into the higher vibrations. However, because it is such a strong raw energy that can be destructive as well as creative, one should be careful and healthy when one is playing with it's energy. If there are blocks in the chakras or the kundalini gets "stuck" it can be unpleasant to put it mildly. However, with expert guidance and experience, it is a very potent and wonderful area of Life to explore, understand and utilise.

If you want to find out more - and there is a lot more - just google the key words, pop into your local new age book store, yoga class or alternative health practitioner with an eastern influence.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Child with the Blue Heart

Hey there, child with the blue heart
Standing in the royalty of tears
To blue for fears
Take a story from my green soul
Before I return into my green world
Life might have brought you to tears
But Life can return you to the breeze
Remember me
When the sun shines through leaves
And I'll remember you
When the same light
Echoes in sea caves
Clear and blue
Like shattered tears
For scattered years.

Late 1980's

Hospital Tax or Rationing

This is inspired by watching reading and hearing information on things like diabetes, death stats, hospital funding problems. Diseases like diabetes, heart disease etc. are often caused by lifestyle choices, and are detrimental on mortality rates and hospitals.

During wartime periods where there was rationing, people had less access to unhealthy products (sugar, cigarettes, etc) and were consequently healthier. There were less dental problems, less cholesterol problems, less heart disease, less smoking related cancers. You don't actually need to have a war to put rationing in place. If junk food products, alcohol, and cigarettes were rationed, we would all be healthier. Sure, people could swap rations (I'll give you my chocolate rations for your alcohol rations), but a lot of consumption would be curbed. A black market would of course arise, and policing it would take a fair amount of resources, but most people would not be that desperate. However, things would be more difficult to monitor if they are driven underground, and I'm sure the idea would be most unpopular with the freedom fighters of the world. The next idea is more practical and liberated, though a bit band aid orientated.

If you put a Hospital Tax on all products that contribute to people spending time in hospital, you could cover the expenses to the hospitals at the point of purchase. You would of course make sure the monies raised by the Hospital Tax gets to the hospitals. So, if the food is junk food (high energy, little nutritional value), put a Hospital Tax on it. Cigarettes and other smoking products could have a Hospital Tax on it. Alcohol could too (for long term damage and accidents), as well as vehicles and weapons. Anything that is likely to raise cholesterol, blood pressure, give you cancer, make you obese, or harm you in any way (directly like an accident or slowly or indirectly like pollution) could have a mandatory Hospital Tax. The tax could be worked out to cover the costs to the community in health care, and to prevent overzealous taxing (ie taxing lentils for choking hazard) simply tax the most common forms of hospitalizing products and the ones that cause the most grievous forms of harm. If you want to also put the purchaser off the product, you could insist (by law) that the product clearly displays it has the Hospital Tax on it and on any advertisement of the said product.

Come, said the little psyche

Come, said the little psyche
Come to my den
And we'll feast on the blood
Of the soldiering men
We are innocent and free
We are all that will be
We are angels and demons alike.

(not to be taken literally)
approximately 1988

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Quotations from others

Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end.
Anon

Listen to your intuition, it will tell you everything you need to know.
Anon

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
Demosthenes

When you reach the top, keep climbing.
Anon

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.
Guillaume Apollinaire

The human heart has hidden treasures.
The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures.
Charlotte Bronte

Destiny is not a matter of chance,
Its a matter of choice;
it is not a thing to be waited for,
It is a thing to be achieved.
William Jennings Bryan

Allow the beauty of your soul to shine.
Anon

Imagination is more important then knowledge.
Albert Einstein

Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realise they were the big things.
Anon

Be thankful for everything that happens to you.
Anon

Live in the present and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering.
Buddhist saying

The secret of health for both mind and body is to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.
Buddha

You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts will take you.
James Lane Allen

The love we give away is the only love we keep.
Elbert Hubbard

If you are content to simply be yourself and don't compare and compete, everybody will respect you.
Lao Tzu

When you let go of what you are you become what you might be.
Anon

It makes absolutely no difference whatsoever what people think of you.
Rumi

The most effective way to achieve right relations with any living thing is to look for the best in it.
Anon

Nurture your mind with great thoughts.
Benjamin Disreali

If we go down deep inside ourselves we find that we possess exactly what we desire.
Simone Weil

Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but rather make the right things happen.
Horace Mann