Chakras for Starters: Unlock the Hidden Doors to Peace & Well-Being

By Savitri Simpson

Unlock the Hidden Doors to Personal and Spiritual Growth

The chakras are the body's invisible energy centers that store information and distribute life force. When out of balance, they hold the root cause of a variety of physical illnesses, emotional disturbances, and general unhappiness with life. Understanding and awakening the chakras will help you achieve a state of well being on every level.

In Chakras for Starters, Savitri Simpson demystifies the chakras. She explains in easy-to-understand terms what they are, shows you how to work with them, and describes the many benefits you will experience. Using the wisdom, techniques, and exercises in this book, you can increase your calmness and will power, expand your heart and intuition, develop a greater sense of personal security and self-control, and experience spiritual transformation. This simplified, yet deeply meaningful, exploration of each chakra offers powerful keys to personal growth and inner peace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crystal Clarity Publishers
• Release date: Jun 10, 2004
• ISBN: 9781565896079

Savitri Simpson

Author Savitri Simpson For over thirty years, Nayaswami Savitri Simpson has taught classes and workshops on yoga philosophy, meditation, the chakras, and many other related topics, primarily based on the teachings of her guru, Paramhansa Yogananda and her spiritual teacher, Swami Kriyananda. She serves as a counselor, minister, and teacher at Ananda’s Expanding Light Retreat Center, teaching extensive workshops on chakras and healing. She has worked the director of the Ananda Meditation Teacher Training Programs and assisted the Spiritual Directors of Ananda Sangha Worldwide. She has written three books previous to this one: Chakras for Starters, The Chakras Workbook, and The Meaning of Dreaming. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Baylor University, Texas. In addition to her primary devotion to meditation, yoga philosophy, and all related subjects, she is a musician, herb gardener, gourmet cook, and nature lover. She lives with her husband, Nayaswami Sudarshan Simpson in a dome-home at Ananda Village near Nevada City, California.

Book preview

More praise for Chakras for Starters:

"Chakras for Starters is a succinct but power-packed presentation. Simpson restores the essential spiritual understanding of each of the chakras; this book is a valuable tool for seekers on the path. The meditations and exercises she presents for each chakra brings the material out of the conceptual and into practice."

—David Pond, author of Chakras for Beginners and Astrology and Relationships

"Chakras for Starters is not only rich in information about the chakras, it offers techniques that can help you learn how to tap into these energetic bridges that connect the physical with the spiritual…bridges that will change the way you see yourself and others forever."

—Carol Ritberger Ph.D. author of Your Personality, Your Health

"Chakras for Starters is the one truly essential book on the chakras that I have read. In this clear, easy-to-understand presentation, Savitri Simpson tells you exactly what you need to know about the chakras and how to work with them for your own upliftment and spiritual growth. I highly recommend it."

—Jyotish Novak, author of How to Meditate

Chakras for Starters

Unlock the Hidden Doors to Peace and Well-Being

Savitri Simpson

Based on the Teachings of Swami Kriyananda

CRYSTAL CLARITY PUBLISHERS Commerce, California

© 2002 Hansa Trust

All rights reserved. Published 2002

Printed in USA

3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4

CRYSTAL CLARITY PUBLISHERS

crystalclarity.com | 800-424-1055

1123 Goodrich Blvd. | Commerce, CA 90022

[e-mail]

ISBN 978-1-56589-156-2 (print)

ISBN 978-1-56589-607-9 (e-book)

[Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data2002010815]

Cover photo by Swami Kriyananda

Original cover design by C. A. Starner Schuppe

Reissue cover and interior layout by Michele Madhavi Molloy

The Joy Is Within You symbol is registered by Ananda Church of Self-Realization of Nevada County, California.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Seven Chakras (diagram)

Chapter one: The Seven Gates to Freedom

What Is a Chakra?

Locating the Chakras

Functions of the Chakras

The Chakras and the Elements

Chapter two: The Earth Element (First Chakra)

Steadfastness, Endurance and Faith

Loyalty: The First Law of God

Meditation for the First Chakra

Chapter three: The Water Element (Second Chakra)

Flowing with Life’s Changes

Wishy-washy-ness

True Discrimination

Intuition and Inner Guidance

Meditation for the Water Element

Chapter four: The Fire Element (Third Chakra)

Fiery Self-Control

Concentration of Energy

Meditation for the Fire Element

Chapter five: The Air Element (Fourth Chakra)

Expansive Love

Developing Divine Love

Desire vs. Devotion

The Meaning of Impersonal Love

Meditation for the Heart Chakra

Chapter six: The Ether Element (Fifth Chakra)

Calmness and Expansion

The Voice

Singing Through the Chakras

Meditation for the Ether Element

Chapter seven: Sixth and Seventh Chakras: Enlightenment and Liberation

The Medulla Oblongata

The Spiritual Eye

Spiritual Eye Meditation

The Seventh Chakra and the Goal of Samadhi

Samadhi

Chapter eight: The Colors and Sounds of the Chakras

Colors

Metals and Gemstones

The Inner Sounds

Meditation for All the Chakras

Chakras Chart

In Conclusion, from the Author

Index

About the Author

Further Explorations

Acknowledgments

Much of the material in Chakras for Starters is based on the books, lessons, and audio tapes of Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters.) For over 60 years, Swami Kriyananda lectured and wrote on yoga, meditation, and other related spiritual topics. He was a direct disciple of the great yoga master, Paramhansa Yogananda, upon whose teaching this book and all of his works are based. The subject of the chakras and how they work appears in many of his lectures and books; but until now, they have never been brought together in one place.

For over 30 years I have had the great privilege of being Swami Kriyananda’s student, striving to absorb his teaching and through him the teachings of his (and my) guru, Paramhansa Yogananda, reading all his books, studying his lessons, and listening to every tape I could un-earth from the massive Ananda archives. Swami Kriyananda’s teachings on the chakras are truly remarkable in their clarity, humor, and practicality; in these teachings he has been able to present some of the deeper and more esoteric teachings of yoga in a way which is simple and easily applicable to one’s daily life. It has been my great honor and joy to help bring Chakras for Starters into existence.

I would like to thank the following people for their help in this project: Nayaswami Jyotish and Nayaswami Devi, Julie Morgan, Sean Meshorer, Latika Parojinog, Roy Gugliotta, Nayaswami Lakshman, Dharmadas and Nirmala Schuppe, Sarah Brink, and my husband, Sudarshan Simpson, along with all my fellow gurubais, friends, and students on the path of Self-realization.

I offer this book with love and humility at the feet of the Omnipresent Spirit, which is within us all.

Savitri Simpson

Ananda Village

Nevada City, California

Introduction

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:37) These oft-quoted words of Jesus are central to his message to his disciples and to the whole world. When questioned by the Pharisees as to where this kingdom might be found or when it would manifest on earth, Jesus replies: Behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21)

We may be as confused by this right now as Jesus’ listeners were so long ago. How do you seek within and where exactly is this inner kingdom? A look inside our physical bodies would not show us anything that might be called the kingdom of God, even though our human bodies are magnificently created and worthy of awe. Yet we all sense that there is something else going on within ourselves—something beyond flesh and blood, corpuscles and teardrops.

Once, while the great yoga master Paramhansa Yogananda was speaking to his students he paused to say: O, if only you could see yourself as I see you. I can see beyond the flesh and entrails, when the light comes. It is so beautiful! This light body of which Yogananda speaks is also called the astral body, of which the chakras are key components.

In addition to offering information about the chakras, this book includes guided meditations and experiential exercises for each chakra, for it is important for the chakras to be experienced internally as well as being understood intellectually.

May God’s light and blessings fill you completely and bless your inner journey toward final freedom and oneness with all that is.

Chakras for Starters

The Seven Chakras

CHAPTER ONE

The Seven Gates to Freedom

"Who is in my temple?

All the doors do open themselves,

All the lights do light themselves,

Darkness like a dark bird,

Flies away, O flies away."

—From a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, set to music by Paramhansa Yogananda in Cosmic Chants, 1938

What Is a Chakra?

Chakra is a Sanskrit word literally meaning wheel or circle. In a deeper sense the word describes the whirlpools or vortices of energy located