Tantric Yoga Techniques

How to Tune and Balance your Chakras

The techniques of chakra tuning are similar whether you are working with your own energy centers or assisting someone else. If you are working on another person, you may have them lie comfortably on the floor or bed. This will allow them to relax physically so that they may experience the maximum healing effect. If you are working on your own chakras, you may also sit or lie comfortably as you so desire. It is best to be in a soothing quiet atmosphere so that you may focus and allow the tones to be heard and felt more completely. Soft lighting, candles, soothing scents or other elements may help enhance a chakra tuning session.

If you are aware of which chakras may need tuning, then you can proceed with the instructions for balancing. If you have not done a chakra tuning before, it may be helpful to do a simple chakra awareness meditation to help you become more aware of them and any blockages of energy which may be occurring.

Chakra Awareness Meditation

Sit or lie down in a comfortable position. If you are sitting, you should try to sit with a relaxed but upright posture, so that your spinal column is aligned and straight. If you are lying down, you should avoid fluffy pillows which lift the head out of alignment with the spine. Take as much time as you feel is necessary for each chakra. This mediation may also be repeated at any time to help you become more aware of what is happening with the subtle body on a day to day basis. This meditation is designed to help you get in touch and create awareness, not to balance.

Once you are comfortable, take some deep relaxing breaths and try to clear your mind of distracting thoughts. If you need to, you can imagine a peaceful scene where you like to go. When you are fully relaxed, move your awareness to the location of your first chakra, which is located at the base of your spine. Become aware of how the energy center located there feels. Is it rotating? Which direction? Is it glowing? What color is it? Is it large or small, does it feel energetic or quiet? Is there energy flowing through the area? Make note of what this area feels like, and then move on to the next chakra. Repeat the process on all of the chakra centers in your body. If you like you can do this with a small notepad on which you can write down the impressions you receive of each chakra, or perhaps take notes with a tape recorder.

If you are assisting someone with this meditation, you can use your hands held at a distance of a few inches from their body to help sense what is happening, or you can take notes for them as they do the meditation.

How to Balance Chakras

Once you have a better awareness of which chakras may need work, or if you would like to do an overall “tune-up” then you can follow the steps below. However you choose to work, be aware that most people have their own ways of working with their chakras, and it is important to recognize that a way of working that resonates with one person may not work for another. It is critical to learn how you personally work best. Some may have difficulty visualizing light entering a chakra, but can “sing” along with the bowls just fine. Others may choose to “massage” the area with their hands while concentrating on sending love to the chakra. There is no wrong way of doing things, as long as the intention of healing and love is present. Again, a soothing atmosphere is more conducive to doing healing work. You or the person being worked on may choose to sit or lie comfortably.

It may help to specifically state your intention or offer a short prayer at the beginning of your session. We have found that doing so helps to set the tone and contributes to the overall effect.

Sound the singing bowl by striking the rim three times and then run the striker around the rim of the bowl to begin the resonance. If you are using a bowl for a specific chakra, then you may visualize filling the energy center with light that is the color of the chakra while the bowl plays. You may also simply imagine love pouring into the area and filling it with warmth and healing. If you would like to tone your voice with the bowls, you can feel or see the vibrations from the bowl and your voice joining to balance the chakra. If you are using a Practitioners Bowl, or smaller singing bowl, you can sound the bowl then move it over the area in a clockwise direction. The use of positive affirmations (i.e. “I am filled with love and healing”) can be effective.

If you are doing an overall “tune-up” it is best to start with the root chakra and work your way up to the crown and then back down. If you are working with a single chakra, you can also do a quick once-over of the other chakras to ensure that they are all resonating in tune with each other, or simply feel the energy spreading up and down from the chakra you are working on. If you are working on another person, you can help direct energy into the chakras by moving your hands or a singing bowl in a circular pattern (clockwise) above the energy center while focusing on sending love and healing to the chakra. You can also use stones or crystals associated with each chakra, colored candles or other aids to assist in balancing and tuning the chakras.

You may do the balancing as often as needed and for as long as needed.

Precautions

No medical claims are made about the use of crystal bowls to replace the need for medical advice.

If you experience any health problems you should always consult your regular physician.

Do not place a person’s head inside a crystal bowl while playing it.

Do not strike or play bowl too loudly, especially near a person’s head.

Place bowls at least 12 inches apart, or the vibration may shatter a bowl.

Bowls may also shatter if several are playing in a small room.

Some have noted discomfort or pain if they have metal pins or stainless steel ball joints. Ask before sounding the bowl.

Chart of Chakra Correspondences

Sourse: http://www.crystalsingingbowls.com/chakra-balance.htm

YOGA TANTRA: Paths to Magical Feats

by H.H. the Dalai Lama, Dzongkaba, and Jeffrey Hopkins (and ed.)

The Dalai Lama opens the door to the topic of Yoga Tantra with an extraordinarily detailed teaching on a classic text. Rarely in the Dalai Lama’s lifetime has he given teachings of such a nature on this topic. There follows a translation of the Yoga Tantra section of Dzong-ka-ba’s The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra, one of his most important works and a monument of Tibetan Buddhist literature. Jeffrey Hopkins concludes this book with an outline of the steps of Yoga Tantra practice. This is an invaluable book for anyone who is practicing or interested in Buddhist tantra in general.

This is the third book in a series presenting The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra. The first two books were Tantra in Tibet and Deity Yoga. Tantra in Tibet, part one of The Great Exposition, describes the differences between the Lesser and Great Vehicles and between the Sutra and Mantra Great Vehicles. Deity Yoga, parts two and three of The Great Exposition, presents Action Tantra and Performance Tantra.

“In this extraordinary book, the Dalai Lama opens the door to the topic of Yoga Tantra with a detailed teaching on a classic text. In a Snow Lion newsletter last year, translator Jeffrey Hopkins explained that ‘magical feats’ are not just walking on water or finding treasures–rather, knowing all treatises is a magical feat in itself. And in the same way, accumulating merit in order to benefit all sentient beings is an important accomplishment on the path to enlightenment. This invaluable book includes a translation of the Yoga Tantra section of Dzong-ka-ba’s (Je Tsongkhapa’s) The Great Exposition of Secret Mantra, which is a monument of Tibetan Buddhist literature. In this section, the focus is on the development of calm abiding and special insight, and the book concludes with an outline of the steps of Yoga Tantra practice.”–Mandala Magazine

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, leader of the Tibetan people and Nobel Peace Laureate, is a remarkable Buddhist teacher and scholar, versed in the teachings of all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Dzong-ka-ba (1357-1419), founder of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism and of Ganden Monastery, was a prolific writer and one of Tibet’s greatest philosophers.

Jeffrey Hopkins is a seminal and influential scholar of Tibetan Buddhism. Professor emeritus at the University of Virginia, he is the author and translator of numerous books on Tibetan Buddhism.