I began painting the chakra series a little over a year and a half ago. I wanted to express what each chakra meant to me, the inspiration came when I sat in meditation. I kept seeing a butterfly emerging from its cocoon after a long period in its pupa state. The second chakra (butterfly) came to me first before the first chakra and then I knew that the boat I kept seeing afterwards was how I would start the journey..
I have added links to blogs I've written on each of the chakras as those were written a long while back. This time as I painted there was poetry that emerged and grew along with these paintings.
First Chakra - A Boat to start the journey, a boat navigating through life, feels like a metaphor of our lives. Navigating through friendships, relationships, finances, jobs and changes in our lives. A boat helps us move across huge expanses of water, what if our boat was oarless? Would we surrender then to what opportunities are brought to us rather than using our oars to direct us to a goal or purpose?
What if there are times where we should surrender those oars and TRUST in a higher power and what if there are times when we should be using those oars to navigate the current? These are some of the questions that come up for me. Since this is the same chakra or energy center that governs our home, relationships and finances, it makes sense to me, what do you think?. To read more : https://www.7raysholisticcenter.com/post/red-the-base-chakra
Second Chakra - A butterfly emerging from it's cocoon shedding its former self or an old way of being to emerge and fly - metamorphosing. We go through our own metamorphosis and change at different points in our lives, we emerge each time with a new understanding of how we can make different choices, sometimes we can go through many of these metamorphoses before we can learn or make a new or different choice. Some lessons are harder than others! I believe it is really important to be present in the cocoon stages in our lives, even if it is painful or difficult. This can also be the time when we rest, collect the energy and strength we need to emerge.This part of the process cannot be rushed we all want to become the butterfly because the butterfly is so more enticing and the cocoon stage seems dull or painful in comparison! Most times we struggle to enjoy the rest and quiet before emerging, yet this too is just as valuable! What are your thoughts?
This center governs our creativity, self- esteem and our sexuality:
https://www.7raysholisticcenter.com/post/the-color-orange
Third Chakra - Solar plexus - an orb or an embryo, an awakening to our own power and what it means. To be aware of our own contributions ( even if they seem little) in the world and not to underestimate the potential influence we can have on others and each of them on us. To speak with awareness and thought. A rebirth and a solidifying of our own power and strength means we can trust our own wisdom and intuition whilst discerning the good wisdom and guidance from others too. To me it is both with listening and sharing that we can learn. Solar plexus, governs our center of power, facing our fears and the triggers that cause them: https://www.7raysholisticcenter.com/post/yellow-solar-plexus-chakra
Fourth Chakra - The heart space - when I sat meditating to understand how this complex center could possibly be represented, I kept seeing a dandelion, a dandelion has one central base from which just a gust of wind can disperse so many individual seeds each with its own wings. Imagine the potential of what that can do! It represents our capacity to love without condition or expectation, sending that love far across the world, when we love with an open heart who knows how many souls we can touch. So to me the dandelion is not a weed but a vehicle to take love all over the world. To love unconditionally. It governs our heart, letting go of guilt and shame and setting healthy boundaries for ourselves with others : https://www.7raysholisticcenter.com/post/green-open-up-your-heart
As I write this blog I'm also getting ready to offer a free event: Meditation for Transformation- Reawaken the power within you! on May 1st from 10.30am -12.30pm at the Rinconada Library in Palo Alto. This event is FREE but Donations from this event will go to CORA (Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse)
I invite you to this event, so please save the date and if you can't join us and would still like to donate, then please donate via the link below:
Fifth Chakra - The communication center - I chose a salt heliotrope because like us it is tightly coiled at first hiding the beauty of its flowers inside until it unfurls and the most beautiful flowers emerge. As humans, we have a tendency to do the same, hiding what we really want to say because we are afraid of being judged or being told and believing that what we have to say doesn't hold enough value. This can happen over and over again until, we feel strong enough to really express. Then we unfurl and the most beautiful "flowers" emerge when we speak from a place of integrity and kindness. When I watch nature she, shows me this and so it felt right to paint this plant. What are your thoughts, is this true for you too? To read more about this chakra: https://www.7raysholisticcenter.com/post/express-yourself
Sixth Chakra - The center of your intuition and inner knowing. The lighthouse came to me in meditation long before I even saw the throat chakra (communication). I have used the analogy of the lighthouse and safe harbors for as long as I can remember and have written a blog about that too. The lighthouse represents for me what I believe we all are, beacons of light for ourselves and for others. To listen to our own knowing or intuition and to truly see means we have to be still and listen from within. This is where a practice of meditation can show us how. Our meditation practice does not need to be long or always with our eyes closed. Sometimes when I observe mother nature and notice how the purple flowers have a blue halo around them or that after the wind has finished rustling the leaves they go back to being still and present, in these moments I am in meditation because not once did my mind overtake me and continue with it's usual diatribe or should have's and must do's! What brings you to that place of quiet, stillness or silence?
To read more: https://www.7raysholisticcenter.com/post/listen-to-your-inner-voice
Seventh Chakra - The crown chakra found at the top of our head. The lotus felt appropriate to paint since, like the lotus that grows in muddy water, we are often bogged in muddy thoughts and our mind can fabricate stories that we can end up believing, even if they are not true! Like how we should be in the world, what we should do and shouldn't do, what we should say and shouldn't say, how we should act and not act etc etc..
The lotus grows in muddy water but from that mud the most beautiful pure flowers emerge. The lotus gives me hope that I can transcend or grow from those muddy thoughts too.
To read more about this chakra( this is a 3 part series): https://www.7raysholisticcenter.com/post/listen-to-your-own-rhythm-part-1
https://www.7raysholisticcenter.com/post/listening-in-to-your-body-part-2
https://www.7raysholisticcenter.com/post/what-is-my-rhythm-part-3
I would like to end this blog with a few lines from my Heart chakra poem:
"The dandelion reminds me that it may look like a weed
But
It exists because of an unspoken network.
Our human heart is networked with other hearts in our communities.
Giving and releasing
Easily and quickly.
Sharing and allowing our love to take seed"
So from my heart to yours,
Hemla
P.S: I hope you decide to join me on May 1st and if not please donate to CORA
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