1. Manipuraka Chakra - Lessons 4 to 6

'Chakra' means wheel, something circular that rotates, which is how our centers look to those who can perceive them.

The chakras lie along a central line that runs up our spine from the tailbone to the crown of the head. This central conduit for energy is called Sushumna. Entwined around it on the left and right sides of the spine are two other energy lines, the Ida and the Pingala, which carry feminine and masculine energy respectively. Ida and Pingala run from the tailbone to the nostrils, weaving back and forth around Sushumna. Wherever they meet and cross lies a chakra.

Chakras are the subtle energy hubs of our body. The seven major chakras are:

Sahasrara Ajna Vishuddhi Anahata Manipuraka Swadishthana Muladhara

Though they have no physical location, these energy centers are present along the length of the body.

Chakras roughly correspond to, and influence the activity of, the important glands of the body. The chakras deeply impact our physical and mental health. Chakras are, in turn, affected by our thoughts and emotions. The chakras are direct channels to the boundless energy of the Cosmos.

Immoderate lifestyles, stress and negative emotions can 'lock' the chakras, or cause them to malfunction.

Without even being aware of it, we are continuously blocking off these important sources of energy.

That's why almost all physical and mental illness can be partly or wholly cured, simply by cleansing and energizing the corresponding chakra. What are chakras?

These chakras were discovered a long time ago during the Vedic age. In fact, in many of the spiritual chants, you will find referen Today science has proved that there is a gland located near each of these chakras that is related to that particular chakra. These seven chakras supply energy to the glands.

These seven major chakras deeply influence our physical, emotional and mental activities.

Chakras are energy centers and if they are kept in a cleansed and energized condition, they can cause us to live an ecstatic and healthy life.

Dis-ease is only an imbalance in any one of these chakras, because our body and mind are rooted in our inner consciousness. Keeping these chakras in a healthy state, we can see a transformation happening in us at the mental and physical levels

After World War I, a biplane was abandoned near a remote tribal settlement in Asia. The tribal people had never seen an aircraft in all their lives. There was a lot of excitement and commotion about it and a big crowd gathered around it. They wondered what it might be and each one started giving some suggestion about it.

They finally concluded that since it had wheels, it must be a bullock cart! News spread in the village about the new bullock cart. There was a lot of celebration in the village and the biplane was taken around the settlement yoked to bullocks, and it served as a bullock cart.

Some weeks later, a young tribal boy who had returned from the city where he was studying, saw the biplane. He got into it and looked around. He saw all the gears and mechanisms in it. He fiddled with the switches and levers.

Suddenly, the engine came to life!

He managed to taxi the plane on the ground for a short distance and the villagers were shocked at what they saw. The boy had seen tractors being used and declared to the people that the biplane was not a bullock cart but some kind of tractor.

There was great celebration once again and the biplane started being used as a tractor!

Six months passed by and a retired army officer came to the village. He saw the biplane being used as a tractor and was shocked! He told the villagers that it was not a tractor and that the plane could actually fly. They refused to believe him because the only things they had ever seen flying were birds! The army officer got into the aircraft, flew it for a short while and landed.

The villagers were wonderstruck. Then they understood its true potential.

Understand: man is a wonderful mechanism meant to fly. But we don't know our true potentiality.

We have a very limited view of ourselves. Most of us operate only as a bullock cart, at the instinct level, surrendering to our emotions.

Just like this, there are mechanisms or gears inside us, called the chakras, which are boundless energy centers. Each of them is associated with a particular emotion within us. If we understand how to handle the emotion properly, we can function as an aircraft.

Each chakra is connected to a different endocrine gland in the physical body. The endocrine glands govern our hormones and therefore also our emotions.

Any positive or negative experiences we have had relating to the emotion of a specific chakra is stored inside that chakra.

The second chakra, lying between the navel and the pubic bone, governs fear. If we have had a deep fright at some point in our lives, the feeling of it is stored in that chakra. It determines how we react to future situations that remind us of our fear. It may block us from achieving our goals in life by interfering

whenever we need courage to face our situations. The existence and location.

It has been proven that when a person is locked with a particular negative emotion, the chakra associated with that emotion shrinks to the size of a coat button. It becomes that small.

But when the same person experiences the associated positive emotion, the chakra expands to the size of a cartwheel! This is the effect that our emotions have on these energy centers, our chakras.

Our energy flow in these chakras is blocked by our negative emotions and activated by our positive emotons and we are totally unaware of it!

worries. When you feel negative emotions, depressed, disturbed from some outer incidents which is unbearable, immediately your stomach will get affected.

When you feel depressed, negativity, some outer incident which you are not able to bear, immediately your stomach will get upset and you feel the weight itself in stomach only when you feel depressed.

In all the languages, there is an expression 'I cannot digest this' , 'I cannot stomach it'.

If something happens which you are not able to bear, you never say, ' I cannot smell it'. You never say, ' I cannot hear it'. You say, ' I cannot digest it'. Negativity and worry, these two affect this chakra.

If you look deep inside, you will find that worry is nothing but your response to an event. Whether a situation makes you worry or not, depends entirely on how you choose to react to the situation.

For example, suppose your friend gets a new job and comes and tells you about the perks and benefits of it, how will you react? Unconsciously, you will be chattering inside yourself: "Oh, he's got a new job. He is enjoying so many benefits. What about me?

What will my wife say if she hears these perks and benefits? Better not allow this guy to meet my wife, or else I will get into trouble. Should I start looking for another job? What if I don't get it? Nothing ever works out for me …"

Worry is what happens when you constantly compare yourself against external frames of reference and continuously chatter to yourself about it. Over time, this sets in as your mental make-up.

Your very mental make-up becomes worry. You will think:

"Am I doing as well as my neighbours? How can I impress my boss? What will my children think?"

All the time, we need to get approval from others – whether it is family or work or society. This is a major portion of our worry.

Our whole life is nothing but a process of collecting certificates.

Only thing, don't worry about worries. Just accept the worries. Acceptance is the only way for transformation.

Please be very clear, there are few things which can be altered. Alter those things. There are few things which can never be altered. So accept them. There are few things completely can be altered. There are 3 way. One thing, you can completely change. There are few things. It is under your freedom- completely change them. There are few things which you can change half, in other remaining, you have to accept them. Accept them. There are few things which you cannot change. Accept them completely! Just have your clear consciousness and stop worrying about worries.

Accept the worries. 1

When you feel worry, 2

just go and sit in separate room and worry perfectly. Don't resist the worries. ' yes, you (worry) have come. now, what to do? there is no other way '. Some or other worry will come. There is no other way- there will be some worries.

The situation is controlling you. Continuously you say, ' what to do? the inevitability. When you deeply start worrying, you will come to a great understanding that all your worries are your own creations.

When you deeply worry and create some more worries, sit in a room and create some more worry. If nothing is there, you can simply create.

For example: Opposite house person is looking at me everyday and he is trying to do something'-

All of us are masters. Just create some worries and worry as deeply as possible. Within half an hour you will come to a tremendous understanding, you come upon light that all our worries are just our creations, nothing but our creations. Then no worry can touch you.

When you get worry, when you get depressed, practice.

Sit alone and think 'yes, now these worries are there, this worry has come. What to do? Anything can be done to change? So let me be deep with my worries. Let me completely die with my worries. If you feel like weeping, just weep. If you feel like morose, just be morose. If you feel like sad, be sad and see.

Within few minutes, within few hours you will come to a tremendous conclusion and tremendous clarity that all your worries are your own created thoughts. You are creating it.

When that clarity has come, you will see that no worry can touch you. You will be beyond the depression. You will be beyond the worries. You will be beyond dukkha. Then only man can transcend the dukkha. There will be so many dukkhas but you will not be touched by any dukkha.

Emotion: Worry

Chakra: Manipuraka Chakra

Location: Navel region In Sanskrit, Manipuraka means 'The City of Jewels". This chakra is locked when you constantly worry and it flowers when yon stop worrying about your worries!

Meditation Technique to be an innocent and egoless being:

Manipuraka Shuddhi Kriya

Teach the children about going beyond depression or negativity.

GOALS: To make the children understand how the mind is an excellent recording system.

The mind is an excellent recording system. It stores your negative thought patterns, your complexes and your worries. Whatever you teach the mind, it learns and repeats faithfully. This is how you create a solid mental make-up of negativity. So be very careful what you tell your mind. We always take so much care in how we speak to others, but we never care about how we speak to ourselves. Just like poor eating habits cause cholesterol to accumulate in your arteries, constant worrying causes worries to solidify in your being. In the same way as cholesterol create blockages in your arteries, worry creates blockages in your energy.

Over a period of time, worrying becomes part of your nature; it becomes an unconscious act. Even if you reason with your worries the low mood still remains. If you go beyond inner chatter even for a few moments, you will become more aware, more alive. You will understand that worry is unreal, unnecessary.

• ¤ Which is an excellent recording system?
• ¤ Which stores your negative thought patterns and your worries?
• ¤ When does worry becomes a unconscious act?
• ¤ How do we go beyond depression?
• ¤ When do you become more alive?
• ¤ When will you understand that worry is unreal, unnecessary?

Paper, poster color, Ladies finger vegetable pieces.

Ask the children to do vegetable printing in an unorganized pattern randomly.

If you go beyond inner chatter even for a few moments you will become more more alive. We always take so much care it how we speak to others, but we never care about how we speak to ourselves. Conclude the topic by reiterating the important details.

How we evaluate ourselves: Child Vs Adults

Two Teams of two players are formed. In these teams one player will be the thrower, the other the catcher. The throwers stand on one side of the play area and the catchers stand about 10 feet away on the other side. The

throwers are then blindfolded and the catchers are given a basket or something similar to catch the thrown items in. A stack of scrap paper is then placed in the middle of the play area. The blindfolded players must listen to the verbal commands of their teammate, who directs them to the pile of paper. The player must then return to their starting position, where they crush the paper into a ball. They then throw the ball towards their teammate, who must try to catch it in their basket. Any paper balls thrown in front of the starting position don't count. The first team to Catch 10 paper balls wins.

Conclude the topic by reiterating the important details

To make the children understand that worry is nothing but familiar developing patterns entering our minds.

Worries are nothing but familiar dwelling patterns for our mind. These familiar patterns are called engrams in the field of human psychology. Engrams are the engraved memories of the past, which serve as an undesirable resource inside us for all our present and future actions. Because of these stored engrams, we react illogically in the present. We are so tuned to worrying, that even if there is nothing to worry about, we worry about how long this state of no-worry is going to last! When we are enjoying ourselves, we worry about how much time is left to enjoy. How will we ever enjoy then? When you are continuously thinking this way, you are keeping yourself in the future all the time. When you do this, you have missed the pleasure of the moment!

Everyone feels important and productive when they harbor worries. Actually, the more a person worries, the more he feels good about himself because he feels he is managing so much worry! That is why most often you will see that when you talk about your worries to someone, they will say, Ah! This is nothing; listen to my problems; then you will know what worry is.' People feel superior in shouldering big worries! By ' thinking of worries all the time' , what is going to happen? Nothing. With your ten worries, an eleventh worry called depression will happen, that's all.

We worry while we work. When there is worry, you cannot work and when you are really working, you cannot worry. Where there is worry, there cannot be any creativity and where there is creativity there cannot be any worry. Creativity is god's job. When you create, you are closed to god. Creativity comes from the heart, worry comes from the mind.

• ¤ What are worries?
• ¤ What are engrams?
• ¤ What do we do when we are enjoying?
• ¤ When have you missed the pleasure of the moment?
• ¤ When everyone feels important?
• ¤ Which is god's job?
• ¤ Where do worry some from?

Part 2: Manipuraka Chakra - Lessons 4 to 6_English_part_2.md

Various shaped cookie cutters and play dough

Encourage the children to use various cookie cutter and make play dough structures

Whatever cookie cutter mould we use, we get those imprints on the play dough similarly whatever engraves we have we reset accordingly.

The topic of this discussion is: Creativity Vs Worry Vaakyartha sadhas

Players are divided into two or more teams. One player from each team is then blindfolded and let into the play area. Then a pompom is placed somewhere in the play area. The game starts and the blindfolded players must listen to their team mates who are directing them to the pompom. They can also shout out "tag" if they are near another team's player. If a player tags one of the blindfolded players their team gets one point.

If they find the pompom their team gets three points. The player with the pompom can then remove their blindfold and return to their team. Another player on their team is then blindfolded and led into the play area. The pompom is then re hidden and the game continues. The game should be played until everyone has been blind folded once. Whichever team has the most points wins.

the past is unwanted baggage so we need to drop it.

GOALS: To make the children understand the worry energy center.

GOALS: To make the children understand the worry energy center.

The past is an unwanted baggage. Drop it.

By going behind the past or thinking about the future, you miss the present. Spirituality is all about dropping the past and living in the present. Right now, you are accumulating the past. You feel bogged down because of this. You don't know how to unload your past. You feel that you have to carry it with you. Society has taught you that you have to carry it with you. You are taught to feel guilty if you try dropping it.

Society tells you that you are ungrateful if you drop the past. There is absolutely no need for you to carry your past with you. The people who tell you these don't know that gratitude is something that you have to feel continuously in you and in existence and everyone as a whole. It is not something you feel towards isolated incidents in life.

Society always teaches you to enjoy the present as past, never as present. It teaches you to make everything a past and then enjoy it.

• ¤ Do we need to carry the past?
• ¤ Which is an unwanted baggage?
• ¤ What is Spirituality all about?
• ¤ What happens when you drop the past?
• ¤ Do you become guilty by forgetting the past?

• 1. Paper
• 2. Pencil
• 3. Eraser
• 4. Coloring items. PROCEDURE:

Encourage the children to draw their negative thoughts in a pictorial format. Ask them to explain what they have drawn.

Worry is closely related to the Manipuraka Chakra. The entire energy center lies in the navel region and is directly related to negative thoughts.

Vaakyartha sadhas

Talk about dropping the past

All players are blindfolded, they are then handed in turn a length of cord with a rope in it. Each player has 1 minute to identify the knot by feeling it. After everyone has felt the knot they are handed a cord. When told to tie their cords each player must tie the knot they thought they felt.

Conclude the topic by reiterating the important details