The chakras, and the multiverse

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This article is a deepish dive into the chakras and how they work, based in the teachings of the author Cyndi Dale.

I found her books after I’d been teaching level 1 for 7 years or so, and realized students were learning to sing technically well, but that, even though I was trying my best to help them connect with a song emotionally, it was just words on my part. They needed to have their own experience, and build the path to expressing a song truthfully through practice, so that it became instinctual. I knew there was a way forward, but couldn’t see a way through.

Then a dear friend, who had done a sound healing course, needed a guinea pig and I said sure why not. It was based on the chakras and a lightbulb went on. Of course! We’re drawing on the energy of the chakras when we sing! They’re the power houses of the body! My friend also introduced me to the Cyndi Dale book “Illuminating the Afterlife”, which I loved, and from there I started reading more of her books. She explains energy and how it works right down to protons, neurons and electrons. I found I understood what she was saying. It was enlightening and inspiring.

Slowly, her teachings crept onto my teaching (since I was immersed in it) and Level 2 came into being. It was all very organic, and I stuck with it because students were benefiting from it. They were opening up, and their performances were bigger, bolder, and more truthful.

The path of a lesson changed. It would be:

1. 20 mins warm up and technical practice
2. A 10 minute meditation
3. Improvising on a drum track, the student getting in touch with their own flow and intuition, usually 10-15 minutes tops.
4. Practicing a song of their choice (in their key, of course).

By putting stages 2 and 3 in a lesson, students connected more with the “true them”. The lessons were more rewarding and they found their own voices. This encouraged me to stick with it and go deeper.

For this program, I’ve created some drum tracks in a number of different genres to improvise to, plus a few meditations so you, too, can create your own singing lesson in this way. There are also a number of karaoke sites listed, with many songs from many genres to chose from where you can change the key to suit your range. YouTube also has many karaoke songs available.

There’s an article (listed below) that explains, step by step, how to create and develop your own singing lessons, “Create Your Own Singing Lesson”, with links to the drum tracks, meditations, and various karaoke sites.

However, you might find this approach too esoteric, (which is totally understandable:) If this is so, then simply the Level 1 and 2 videos, the manual and Level 1 articles plus the Daily and Vocal exercises would be a good fit, and from there find a song/songs to practice to from the karaoke sites. Or practice songs with your band, or however it works out for you.

That being said, the journey to Level 2 was an organic one, and I found using these methods with my students helped to open up their performance, get out of the head and into the body, and trust their intuition more. Hence a more confident and “freed up” performance. Which is the aim of Level 2.

And in truth, I’m simply sharing information that I’ve found to be helpful, and hope that it resonates with you, and also helps you in your learning to sing/performance process.

I go really deep in this article, in an esoteric sense, showing the complete energetic body, and bodies. The reason for this is so that, although when singing we’re thinking of “singing”, and are hopefully simply in the moment, the ego can hi-jack us and keep us in the head, freezing up our energy, and thus our performance. It only takes a split second, and you’re out of the moment, and have to scrabble around within yourself to find the meaning of the song again.

Having an understanding of our true energetic selves, and what’s going on for us dimensionally, can make all the difference. We don’t feel like one big lump, not sure how to stand, or what to do with our hands, or express our true selves.

We’re, each of us, a multi-dimensional energetic powerhouse, and can do anything we set our minds to. For example, in your own singing lesson, as you listen to the meditation and hum and connect with the 7 in-body chakras, having an awareness of your 12 chakra system, and your auric bubble (connected to the center of the earth below you and the heavens above you), can change your focus entirely. You’re coming from inside out, not outside in. Then when you start to sing, this puts you in a completely different space from being in your own head, disconnected from the earth and the heavens, and doubting your own performance.

For I noticed with students, across the board, experienced singers and beginners, that the tendency was to try too hard, to over-sing, and make the song happen, rather than letting it happen. To over breathe, for example, and then lock up their energy.

To get the best out of our voice and our performance, using our bodies’ energy, we need to surrender and let go, first and foremost. The feeling that the breath is like “the big bang” that expands simply and naturally and then pow! We use that energy, always coming back to the still center every breath. For that, once again, we need to get out of the head (where the ego is housed) and into the body, centered on the heart (where our true self lives).

Simply put, energetically there’s lot going on within us. I could delve much deeper, but I’ve tried to share just the information regarding our energetic selves, because that’s what’s relevant to singing.

Singing can be daunting or electrifying; terrifying or freeing. Get your energetic chakric system into balance, and the path is clear. Simply understanding where the chakras are and where you’re breathing into and why, a where to put your attention as you do so, can make a huge difference.

The chakras

In origin, the Sanskrit word “chakra” literally translates as “wheel” or “disk”, and refers to centers of energy throughout the body.  Most commonly there are seven, but for this program we’re working with twelve, once again based on the work ofCyndi Dale. In this article I’ll explain what and where they are in our energetic system, and how we use them to sing.

As in the diagram, there are 7 in body chakras, and 5 more situated in and around the body, 12 in all.

Traditionally, all of the chakras have a color. However, I have read about healers who say that all chakras resonate with all of the colors, since we’re thinking so much all of the time, our emotions taking us all over the place. I can’t corroborate any of this, so will just relay the traditional information. For me, the color denotes the chakra’s energetic frequency, which we draw upon to sing.

Also, chakras have a positive and a negative aspect – in this world of duality this has to be light and dark.

1st The root chakra

The root chakra is traditionally red in color, and is our root center.

Positive aspects:

Stability, security, grounding, manifesting and vitality

Negative aspects

Insecurity, anxiety, uncertainty and depression

2nd The sacral chakra

This chakra is a rich orange, situated about 2” below the belly button/above the pubic bone (all of the chakras are centered in the spine, but their energy centers also can be found along the central channel of the body, like a reflection of the chakras’ energy.

Positive aspects

Creativity, emotional intelligence, joyful passions, nurturing relationships, and self acceptance.

Negative aspects

Shame, guilt, lack of motivation, and repression.

3rd The solar plexus chakra

This is a rich gold color, the same hue as a daffodil. This is where our emotions are housed.

Positive aspects

Personal power, confidence, self worth, and action.

Negative aspects

Victimhood, low self worth, control issues and powerlessness.

This is also where the diaphragm is housed. No wonder it can be challenging to sing from here! If we have/haven’t yet worked through our self worth issues, they of course come up when performing:)

4th The heart chakra

The heart is the chakra’s center, and so the very center of us. I heard someone describe it thus: “We receive information, in whatever form, firstly through the heart. A nanosecond later it goes up to the brain to be processed.” Typically we believe it’s the other way round. Our societies generally put the onus on the thinking, rather than the being, way of being on this planet. Which is why, when singing, we get a much better result when we train ourselves to put our energy in the heart (as you prepare, or as you breathe in to sing).

Also, with the attention in the heart, it’s much easier to just “be”. Magic always happens in the here and now, never the past or future. Heart energy brings us to the here and now. When we sing from heart energy we connect an audience to their heart energy. The energy is raised and we become a conduit.

The heart is either spring green in color, rose pink, or white gold, depending on a person’s age or spiritual evolvement.

Positive aspects

Love, self-compassion, compassion, empathy, joy, forgiveness, inner peace and wisdom.

Negative aspects

Fear, insecurity, jealousy, envy, codependency, and loneliness.

5th Throat chakra

This chakra is a periwinkle blue and where we literally speak our truth.

Positive aspects

Clear, confident and truthful communication, enhanced creativity, strong listening skills, inner authenticity and emotional release.

Negative aspects

Difficulty in expressing oneself; and finding it challenging to communicate thoughts, emotions and needs clearly and confidently.

When we’re nervous, the throat and diaphragm contact, also contracting the heart. This makes it super difficult to sing. Learning not to do this is why the meditations and exercises as in the Imagination pathway article. We can’t think our way out of fear. It can help to a certain extent, but generally we need to train our psyche to know that there is no threat and that we are powerful beings, naturally. And to learn to embody that, the energy of the true “us”.

6th The 3rd eye chakra

The 3rd eye is in the same place energetically as the pineal gland. It’s situated in the center of the head equidistant to the top of the ears. In this way it’s on the plum line from the back of the crown chakra all the way down to the perineum (down the center of the body).

It’s a deep indigo, blue-violet hue.

Positive aspects

Clarity, intuition, wisdom, spiritual insight, inner guidance, focus, and the ability to see beyond illusions.

Negative aspects

Mental fog, overthinking and delusion, lack of intuition and blocked inner connection.

The 3rd eye is also potentially a place of connection to our multi-dimensional self, a doorway and portal, a place of magic.

7th The crown chakra

The crown chakra connects us to our higher self, multiplied by the resonance of the 8th chakra above the head and the 6th chakra below it in the center of the head.

It is either lavender, purple or white depending on a person’s spiritual evolvement.

Positive aspects

Spiritual connection, inner peace, clarity, enlightenment and transcendence.

Negative aspects

Feeling spiritually disconnected, existential dread, mental fog, depression, lack of purpose, closed-mindedness, and confusion.

8th Chakra, the Akashic records chakra

This is situated about 2 1/2 inches above the crown chakra. It’s rooted in the chest and creates the “high heart”. The akashic records are where the knowledge of everything, and especially the knowledge of the totally of all our experience, this life and every life we’ve lived, everything we’ve been, is stored. When they’re working in harmony, the 7 in body chakras spin in a clockwise direction. When the akashic records chakra is working in harmony, it spins anti clockwise (this includes the chakra in the chest that roots the akashic records chakra).

9th Chakra

This chakra is an arms length above the head and connects us to the heavens and our higher self. It’s at the top of our auric bubble. It’s a white gold color.

10th Chakra

This chakra is an arms length below the feet and connects us to the earth. It’s brown in color, and literally roots us.

11th Chakra

Also brown in color, it’s connected to the 10th chakra and surrounds the body. It connects to the nadi’s, a mesh like system within the skin, and to the earth through the 10th chakra.

12th Chakra

We live in a twelve chakra system, and this is our highest connection, rooted in the aura. It connects into the body in 32 different points.

There are, apparently, 12 inner planes that correlate to the 12 in body chakras. We regularly travel to the inner planes, when sleeping, through the alchemical spark in the center of the chakras.


7 in-body chakra properties

As in the diagram, the seven in-body chakras listed above all have similar properties: an inner and outer wheel, a front, back and sides, and an imagination lens at the center, with an alchemical spark that’s the doorway to our multi-dimensional self right at the center.

“The lower six chakras are actually two-sided, with one side spinning out the front of the body and the other out the back. I perceive that the highest chakra, which emits from the crown, has a back side as well. The back side is less apparent because it opens from a higher dimension than the others. Every in-body chakra is composed of two wheels, an inner and an outer; the inner wheel reflects our spiritual essence, as well as divine essence, and the outer wheel relates to our human programs; ideally, these run in concert with each other.”*

The Inner Wheel. In essence the inner wheel deals with your connection to your spiritual self. “The inner wheel links you to your subconscious and, potentially, your Higher Self and even your spirit. On the elemental pathway, this inside wheel processes tachyons or antiparticles, which can move faster than the speed of light.”**

Each inner wheel has a different resonance depending on the chakra.

The outer wheel deals with our connection to our physical self.

The Alchemical spark is at the center of the imagination lens. It is made of a substance found no where else in the third dimension, and because of this works as a doorway to other dimensions – which can be a simple thing, when we day dream or zone out during the day, for example.

I’ve heard from a number of healers and teachers that we also often visit the inner planes when we sleep, usually about once a week. Cyndi Dale takes this further, however, stating that each of our twelve chakras is connected to a correlating inner spiritual plane that make up “the heavens”.

So, in essence, the 12 chakras that make up our energy system correlate with the 12 dimensional planes that we are a part of in this, our “learning grid”.

So, in essence, we’re always in death and life, since we travel dimensionally all the time, which makes death itself a construct of our own making:)

The Anti-world.and the Imagination Pathway

This diagram shows the imagination pathway and the “anti-world”. As already mentioned, the imagination is everywhere and nowhere, but we can connect with it through intention as in the diagram, visualizing it as existing in the area in pink between the center and back of the body, and behind the spine.

Behind the spine it becomes the “anti-world”. The first five chakras are centered in the spine, and each chakra is about two inches in diameter, so the “anti-world” is the back side of the first 5 in-body chakras and is where we can connect to ourselves in a powerful way.

Simply breathing into the back, as depicted, we naturally connect with the energy of the anti-world (I’ve shown it also going around the head to the crown chakra, since we need to use our consciousness to connect to the emotions of a song when singing, especially when breathing in). When we give the imagination pathway a home when singing, and connect using the first 4 chakras, it’s easier to visualize. This potentially opens us up to worlds within.

The anti-world

The front side: Oversees your conscious and day-to-day needs.

The back side: regulates your primal, emotional and spiritual matters.

The sides: “The left side is feminine and regulates female-oriented issues, the right side is masculine and runs male-oriented issue

A really great way to connect to your intrinsic self as you breathe on, is to first breathe in through the first 4 chakras, as in the diagram, then let the breath go sideways.

This relaxes the diaphragm and allows it to expand naturally. It also means we’re breathing into the here and now (the front of our chakras energy dealing with the future, the back, the past), and balancing our male and female energies. This brings us back to neutrality, where we can choose our emotions, making us free to think clearly and be one step ahead as we sing.

Male and female properties of the chakras

“Our feminine functions involve receptivity, attraction, relationship, intuition, and programs regarding one’s own femininity or the female gender. Our male functions involve action, domination, success, and rationality, and programs about one’s own masculinity or the male gender.” *

Our in-body chakras 1-6 also resonate with male and female properties.

The male chakras are the odd numbers
Chakras 1, 3, 5,

The female chakras are 2, 4, and 6

Once we get to the crown chakra and above, they are both.

This means men generally resonate with the properties of these chakras:

1 – action and stability
3 – power, self worth and action
5 – speaking one’s truth, self confidence

Women

2 – intuitive creativity, fluid flow of energy,
nurturing relationships
4 – a focus on love, loving relationships, empathy, joy, forgiveness, and inner peace
6 – intuitive, empathic, spiritually oriented

This means men are generally more yang, and action oriented
Women are more generally yin, and intuitively inward-looking

From chakra 7 upward the chakras are both male and female in vibration.

Both men and women can, and do, resonate with all of the chakras of course, but in general men and women resonate intrinsically with the chakras listed above.

Chakras 8 – 12

There are 5 more chakras that are situated in, on and around the body:

8th chakra

This is situated about 2” above the crown of the head and is about the size of a silver dollar (smaller than in the diagram). It’s rooted in the chest, where it connects energetically to all of the chakras.

Just as the in-body chakras rotate clockwise in their positive aspect, this chakra rotates anti clockwise in its positive aspect.

It can be silver when it’s clear and cleaned, or black if there’s a lot of negativity in it. Quite often it’s both – silver on the top, black below.

It’s also the home of our Akashic records. Everything we think, say and do creates, and created a resonance footprint and is therefore recorded in the records. We can also tap in to the records of anything from the akashic records if we know how. Any time, any one, anything. This can be developed, and is a skill.

9th chakra

This is situated an arms length above the head and is a luminous, white gold light. It is the top of our “auric bubble”, or “energy egg”, and connects us to our higher self and the multi-dimensional universe.

10th chakra

This is brown in color and is below our feet. It is the bottom of or auric bubble, and connects us to the earth, literally grounding us. It runs around the body, directly around our skin.

11th chakra

The 11th chakra is mystical in nature. It wraps around the 10th and is like a mesh of sensory energy. Since it is so close to the 10th it is also very grounding.

It also connects us to the quantum field through the 10th and 12th chakras; it is a mediator.

People who are weather workers and shamans works with it to connect with powerful inter dimensional energies.

12th chakra

We are in the 3rd dimension of a 12 dimensional system. There are many dimensions above and below us. The 12th dimension exists in our aura, and connects to our bodies via 32 entry points. It is mystical and spiritually powerful.

A Healthy Chakra

Each wheel of a chakra, inner and outer, can either spin clockwise or counter-clockwise. When both wheels are spinning clockwise and in harmony with each other, you have a healthy chakra. When they spin anti clockwise we’re either obsessing the past in that area of our energy, the energy is stagnant, or we’re thinking negatively. Or we are in the process of releasing negative energy.

When the chakras are in balance with each other, they spin clockwise, each in tune with the chakras above and below. So for example, the heart chakra is directly affected by the solar plexus below and throat chakra above, and the 8th chakra, rooted in the chest.

The Chakras and Singing

Since every one of the chakras has a function and a purpose for us spiritually, mentally and emotionally, we’re connecting with them all of the time, whether we’re aware of it or not. A healthy chakric system is a healthy human being in mind body and spirit. By balancing them and coming into balance with them, we’re also coming into balance with the essence of who we truly are (irrespective of what our egos tell us who we are or who we should be:be). Since the essence of every living thing is a form of energy, it’s this complex embodiment that gets up in front of an audience and connectswith their vital energy! Once again, no wonder it’s challenging!For thinking can either help or hinder us when truly expressing our essence. But, in truth, all that really needs to happen is for us to express our “essence” truthfully and authentically is to surrender to our heart and energetic self, stop trying so hard, and let it take us on a journey. Breathing into the Sides of the Chakra

Breathing sideways helps the diaphragm relax and expand.. Breathe first into the first 4 chakras through the back, as in the diagram, then let the breath expand sideways.

Since we’re constricted by time in this realm – past, present and future – we tend to breathe and think forward or backward. This often means we sing with the front of the body or tense the back, which locks up our energy and voice. When we breathe sideways we connect with the here and now. The left side of the chakras are feminine in quality, the right male. So by breathing sideways we also connect with our vital intuitive (and sexual – music is all about sensuality) self, and with our personal identity. This then gives us confidence, and expresses our personality authentically.Try this exercise: Breathe sideways and imagine that you’re breathing into both sides of an infinite mirror.

Breathe left and right, to the extent of your energy. Go as far as you possibly can. Imagine you’re reflected infinitely on your right and left hand side.

Breathe into this space and feel your infinite self breathing in and out as you breathe in and out.

As you can see, you are infinite. Your energy is infinite. And vast:). You are a great soul. Literally!

Singing a Song

Obviously, one can’t be thinking of all this when singing a song. When it comes to singing the song, we need to concentrate on it absolutely. The feeling of the song, the meaning of the lyrics. The practice has led you here, now forget about it completely and just sing the song.

It’s all about the truth of what you’re thinking and feeling. Stage fright, as we all know, is our worst fears made manifest, but simply connecting with our chakra’s energy, the true us, can by-pass the control of the ego, which is rooted in the head. In other words, getting out of the head, into the body.

When you know their energies, how they feel and how you connect with them emotionally, then you can access that power when singing. It won’t be something you do consciously, but will happen because it’s a pathway that you’ve opened up and developed – told your psyche where to go, in other words.

We need to practice the technical exercises to build vocal power and strength so we can let go and “just do it” – you can’t think technically when singing the song. In the same way, by listening to the meditations within this program, we get to know our vital and subtle energies, their power and pathways, and learn how to express them, while also programming into the unconscious where to go when we need to draw on those energies.

Our multi-dimensional self

This comes from delving deep over the years, and is an amalgam of knowledge gained from various teachers, healers and philosophers. Obviously, it’s simply my take on this, but is also nothing new as far as these theories go:)

Once again, I’m simply sharing information, because I feel this is pertinent to the singing process.

The subtle bodies

First of all, as mentioned earlier, we don’t just have a physical body. We also have a:

Mental body – which includes all of our thinking processes,

An emotional body – all of our emotions

Vital body – our vital essence, connected to the physical

Etheric body – the next step up from the vital and physical bodies

Astral body – this is the body we inhabit when we sleep, and is the next step up from the etheric (as in it is less material)

Causal body – the deep essence of who we are, the seed of our individuality, holding karmic imprints and our intrinsic bliss

Spiritual – our immortal body, or higher self.

So, a lot of bodies! Yet again, no wonder singing can be so challenging…all of this energy needs to be aligned for us to feel completely centered and clear.

On top of all this, our alchemical park in the center of our chakras connects us to our multidimensional selves, which is a highly mystical topic and not relevant to this one. But it’s also something we’re all a part of.

The beauty of singing, though, is that if we can take a step back, stay in the heart and enjoy the experience, our own resonance can balance all of these bodies, bringing them into alignment. Which is why we persevere, and why it feels so good when we get it right:)

All this and singing

To sing well we need to be completely present, resonating with all of our bodies on a deep level; in the moment, trusting our intuitive selves; being vulnerable and strong at the same time, while letting go and enjoying it. No biggie then.

But by the same token, this is exactly why singing is extremely good for the soul on all levels:) You’re learning to:

Be present
Trust your intuition
Be in your body
Resonate with your own energy
Remember how to be joyful
Share with others
Bring others together in the spirit of community
Be vulnerable and strong at the same time
Forgive your mistakes
Bring your fragmented, and often stressed, self together in the present, if only for a short time.

So…..worth all the practice and focus, absolutely and completely!

By getting up on stage and sharing your vulnerability with others, you’re not only helping to balance your chakras and subtle bodies, resonating with your multidimensional self and your own resonant energy, you’re also being incredibly brave:) Love yourself for it. You’re a great soul, participating in the grand adventure of the multiverse:)

The ego

Although, having said that, be aware that the ego can be very sneaky. Prepare, record yourself, practice, practice, practice! Know that what you’re doing is coming from an authentic place. And you’ll know it when you do, because people will come up to you and tell you so. Always. When a student connects to their diaphragmatic energy and really “gets it”, that connection is always corroborated soon after:) And if you don’t get the corroboration, then keep practicing. Its all a matter of time:)


*   Quotes from “The Complete Book of Chakra Healing” by Cyndi Dale

** Quotes from “Advanced Chakra Healing” by Cyndi Dale

Related articles, book and videos

The imagination pathway

The Four Pathways of Energy

Why meditate?

10 minute meditation

5 minute meditation

How to feel rhythm meditation

Cyndi Dales’s books (all available on Amazon):

Advanced Chakra Healing: four pathways to energetic

healing

Illuminating the afterlife

Complete book of chakra healing