Awakening the Spiritual Spine: A Journey Through Chakras

The spine is the axis of your being, the foundation from which your body grows and develops. Throughout your life, your spine supports you as you face the world, channeling energies from the unconscious to the conscious realms. These energies are transmuted through the chakras, bridging the cosmic forces and our everyday experiences.

The chakras lie within the central nervous system, primarily in the brain and spine, controlling the body and mind's functions. Chakra meditations focus awareness on the spine, targeting specific areas where these energy centers reside.

To truly work with the chakras, you must direct your awareness inward, into the spinal cord. The physical spine is not only a structural support but also the basis of individual consciousness, carrying nerve signals essential for all states of being—waking, dreaming, and sleeping.

Controlled by the maha gunas—tamas, rajas, and sattwa—the spine governs our physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual functions. When these elements are balanced, the chakras operate optimally, promoting health and awareness. Imbalances, however, can lead to blockages or dysfunctions that require attention and management.

The maha gunas are explained in detail in the recorded lecture on Yoga Therapy, Ayurveda, and Immunity, in the Introduction to Yoga Psychology and Psychotherapy Course, and in the Facing the Shadow Course.  Each of these teaches meditations that balance the maha gunas and awaken the spiritual spine.

Through meditation, you can awaken your spiritual spine, harnessing the energy within each chakra to heal and balance yourself. Practices like yoga asana and pranayama strengthen the spine, opening channels for the free flow of prana and mental energies. This journey inward allows you to tap into subtle realms, awakening dormant energies and revealing your true nature.

Ajapa Japa, a guided yoga and meditation technique, is particularly powerful for awakening the spiritual spine. By integrating breath, mantra, and awareness, it purifies and transforms body, mind, and consciousness. This practice not only awakens the chakras but also heals the mind, offering a pathway to a balanced, joyful, and meaningful life.

Explore the transformative power of your spiritual spine and discover the profound truths of who you really are through dedicated meditation and guided practices.

The chakras lie in the central nervous system (the brain and spine), which controls all the functions of the body and mind. Chakra meditations focus awareness onto the spine at specific areas where the controlling points for the chakras lie.

The spine is the axis of your being

The embryo in the womb first creates the central spinal axis, and then the body grows around this axis, the axis of your individual world. The top and bottom of the body, the two sides, and the back and front of the body develop soon after. You then spend the rest of your life with your spine “behind” you. You face the world, and all of life moves from back to front, from the spine into the world, from the unconscious dimensions of your being into the conscious.

The chakras lie in the spine and transmute the vast, mainly invisible cosmic forces of the universe, bringing them down from a cosmic order of magnitude to a level that we can safely use. Physical and psychological energies in the chakras then motivate our body and mind, creating thoughts, feelings, and desires that motivate us to move forward into the world.

The spine is the basis of individual consciousness

To work with the chakras, you need to take your awareness back into your spinal cord. The physical spine is the primary supporting structure for the body and mind. It is also the physical basis of your individual consciousness as the spinal cord because the nerve cells within the spine carry all the nerve signals that are required to sustain our waking, dreaming, and sleeping states of being.

The spine is controlled by the maha gunas

The maha gunas (the elements of reality) govern the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual functions of the spine and are the basis for individual consciousness:

• Tamas governs structure and creates the physical structure of the spine.
• Rajas governs movement and creates nervous energy and prana, the basis of physical and mental energy.
• Sattwa governs awareness and creates individual awareness and the higher aspects of the mind.

Complex patterns of nerves and chemicals in the brain and in the spine, the physical basis for the chakras, are formed by tamas and motivated by rajas. They create the physical basis for the chakras to express themselves in the world. When sattwa dominates over tamas and rajas, the bones, nerves, and chakras are healthy. When they are not balanced, you suffer. If tamas or rajas are in excess, sattwa cannot operate freely. You lose awareness or experience some form of weakness, either a blockage or dysfunction, that you will need to manage if you are to regain balance and health.

Awaken the spiritual spine through meditation

Cultivating your spiritual spine enables you to use the energy and abilities within each chakra to heal, strengthen and balance yourself. You can transform yourself into a powerful, aware, and compassionate person who is in touch with the vast cosmic forces of creation and beyond.

Yoga asana (postures and stretching) and pranayama (breath control) create a strong and flexible spine. They open the channels of the spine and support the unimpeded flow of nerve impulses, prana, and mental and spiritual energies.

Once the channels are open, you can then apply other guided yoga and meditation practices to awaken the dormant energies within.

Meditation takes your awareness into the subtle realms, beyond the gross, mundane, socially constructed reality, to the universal dimensions of your being. As your awareness becomes subtler, you cognize the very powerful underlying energies, forces, symbols, drives, and impulses that create and maintain your individual existence. You become aware that the ego part of you that thinks it is in control is not really in control. Rather, there is a great force within you called kundalini that, when activated, rises up the spine to awaken you to your true nature. This is the true you, the part of you that is in control. By learning how to activate and awaken the vast cosmic forces within the spine, you realize this great truth, the truth of who you really are.

Ajapa Japa to awaken the spiritual spine

Ajapa japa guided yoga and meditation is one of the best and most powerful ways to awaken the spiritual spine.

In this practice, the breath, a mantra, and our mind and awareness are all fused into a potent force that is made to travel up and down the spine. The breath moves in a psychic passage, either in the nostril to awaken the third eye of intuition, in the frontal passage to awaken the heart chakra, or in the spine to awaken kundalini shakti.

The various Ajapa Japa guided yoga and meditation techniques combine and integrate physical, energetic, and psychological energies to purify and transform body, mind, and consciousness. Old impurities are removed in the chakras and their connecting channels, allowing your pristine natural state of being to shine forth.

Consciousness and energy travel through the channels of the spine to awaken the chakras and reveal their hidden gifts. The spine becomes like an antenna that we use to tune into the gross and subtle realms at both a microcosmic and macrocosmic level.

Healing the Mind

Ajapa Japa combines many forms of meditation into one powerful practice that heals and transforms your mind. It is the most powerful of the yoga tantra guided yoga and meditation techniques for healing the mind from many forms of mental illness. Ajapa Japa is highly supportive in the treatment of stress and anxiety, depression, trauma, and many other forms of mental illness. It’s effective because it reduces negative mental and emotional patterns and lays down new healthy patterns. By aligning yourself with these patterns, you lift yourself out of the gravitational pull of old neurotic patterns and can experience other parts of yourself that are stronger and that enable you to live a full, joyful, and meaningful life.

Big Shakti's Healing the Mind course takes you far beyond just learning a technique. Learning a technique is easy. However, it can be difficult to understand the method, that is, the method of applying the technique to achieve your desired results. That is why we created the Healing the Mind yoga and meditation course. It provides you with both theory and practice.

Theory informs you of what to do, when and how to do it, and what you should emphasize while you are using Ajapa Japa as a tool to transform your mind. Theory shows you how to convert a weak, fractured mind into a strong, integrated, and enlightened mind. You can't drive a car without first learning the rules of the road so as to avoid an accident. And you can't practice Ajapa Japa without the theory that informs you how to be successful. Then when you practice the guided yoga and meditation technique, you will get the results you desire.