By Acolyte Sunil Patel
The last year has been a transformative year for me. My spiritual practice has been focused mainly on the development of the upper chakras. What I discovered is that the divine is much more than just being in the upper chakras. Though important to know what they are and how they integrate with the whole of your being, I found that if I did not really look at what was hiding in the lower chakras of my being, I was not going to make much progress to know the divine in this body. I was thinking I was much bigger and better than everyone else and the body did not matter.
It is to embrace both the dark and light side of yourself rather than resist it. When you notice these dark sides and you put attention on it and explore, something wonderful happens. The energy gets released. Then the integration of heaven and earth happens, bringing in the glory of God into your being.
What I am discovering is that every day matters. The big things, and the little things, all of it matters. The moment-to-moment experience is important.
Life becomes a dance with the divine.
Whenever you encounter a disharmony, things like sadness, anger, irritation that is a sign that part of you is needing love and light. Simply put your attention on it and it will start to release and expand little by little to the greater you.
There will be times when you are in intense reaction emotionally and the mind is running lots of thoughts, triggering many emotions. I suggest you break the cycle by doing something funny. Some say put on your chicken suit. Find something that will make you laugh. For me, it was Daffy Duck saying “quack, quack, quack” and that made me laugh, breaking the cycle. It should make you become more present. Another option is to go for a walk, jump up and down on the trampoline, or do some exercise. This will create movement in your body, allowing you to become more present. Sometimes it’s hard. In that case, reach out to someone you trust and those who can help you with some healing or give you a different perspective.
What I am really trying to convey is for you to recognize that this human body is a precious gift from the divine. You have incarnated here with the intention to experience life. Live it to the fullest. There is a lot of grace and divine support available to you in every moment if you only take a moment to pause and allow it to help you.
In Hinduism, the Shiva dance depicts the very thing that I am talking about. The dance of Shiva Nadarajah is the pulse of the universe. He activates the destruction of illusion and the creation of enlightenment, and His dance of bliss represents the human and the divine forever engaged in sacred movement.
Here is one YouTube link if you are interested in exploring further: