“Buongiorno”, the waitress greeted me, as I lowered myself into the chair next to a delightful Italian buffet breakfast. I glanced over at the table. Home-canned apricots, fresh yogurt, olive-oil infused breads, and … dolci. Oh, dear. I intuit that it was going to be hard to lose the weight I had gained from my visit to Germany.
It is the day after my Higher Chakra Intensive in Munich, Germany and Yui and I are now in Tuscany in September, 2010, for Lipizzan horse riding, as well as to spend time later in Florence. And I feel awful. The base of my neck is tightly contracted, and I have a headache. My brain is slow, and although I am functioning fine there are no thoughts in my mind. Oh, and it feels like someone is holding a flashlight over my forehead, and everything is very bright. Even with my eyes closed, and in a darkened room.
Welcome to chakra upgrade time, I think to myself. It’s not always fun.
With intellectual studies you can expect to feel tiredness after all your efforts. You may even have a normal tension headache. That’s to be expected. But with consciousness transformation studies, such as spending time with a spiritual teacher or the days following a meditation retreat, there are often physiological changes that may be a result of an energetic upgrade to your auric consciousness system. These upgrades may be uncomfortable or – as in my case – downright painful. They usually pass after a few days, and so there is nothing to do but wait for integration to happen. Discomfort is part of the price we all pay for change.
When we attend any kind of spiritual healing training we are not just spending time learning from the teacher, but we are making ourselves available to the spirit world that accesses the material and etheric world through that teacher. In previous blog entries I have stressed the need to assess your teacher thoroughly, as well as suggested some differences between initiation (transformation into a whole new stage of consciousness) and an “upgrade” (a shift in level of consciousness and chakra functioning). The ideal teacher has moved through various initiations and upgrades of their own, and can now act as a doorway for others. But you should know that an uninitiated/failed initiation teacher cannot fully initiate others; they can only unconsciously exploit the longing of their students for authentic initiation. They cannot take you to where they, themselves, have not evolved. And how to spot the difference? An initiated teacher helps you grow and become free to fly on your own; an un-initiated teacher keeps you in bondage to them.
At the Higher Chakra Intensive I would spend a lot of my time lying on the floor, closely attending to Rosalyn’s words, but mostly my eyes were closed and I was in a state of rest. Yes, I had jet-lag, and the Intensive was a welcome break from my busy private practice, but there was more was going on than mere recuperation. My system was being rewired, by the spirit helpers in the room.
I would not have trusted this “upgrade” process to anyone, or just to any energy healing event. In fact, on many occasions I have consciously erected psychic boundaries and rejected spirit beings who wanted to mess with my auric field. Why? Because it did not intuitively feel right to me at the time, and I seriously questioned their motivations. Just because spirit beings don’t have a body does not mean they always have our well-being as their highest priority. It is important not to confuse naivete with a healthy trust.
In my case, clearly the chakra upgrade work is centered around Talu chakra (brainstem), Sahasrara (crown chakra) and Ajna chakra (aka, the sixth chakra. Verification of my current state came from Yui, who experienced a similar upgrade experience at the similar Higher Chakra Intensive with Rosalyn many years ago. That’s how you get useful feedback, by the way: from someone who has been through the process themselves. Experience beats opinion hands down.
Upgrades occur in any chakra. If you are doing a creative movement or dance workshop, the upgrade can occur to Muladhara chakra; your physiology and balance may become altered. If you are doing emotional clearing or trauma healing work, the upgrade will be in Swadhisthana, your second chakra. You will begin to “feel” emotional attachments to others shift to a higher functional level, and you may gain increased emotional safety. And so on, up the chakra system. Upgrades will alter the chakra that is related to the issue you are transforming in your life.
So, before you grab your aspirin or head out for a CAT scan to search for physiological complications, wait a few days after your workshop or retreat. If the discomfort subsides, and your mind becomes still and clear, know that your energy consciousness system is “rebooting”, and you will be starting at a new level in your personal growth.
Be willing to be uncomfortable, upon occasion. The wiring of your auric system will always need to be upgraded in order for you to progress as a spiritual being … which means you will need to embrace upgrades and change. And change, sadly, is not always fun.
© 2013 by Dean Ramsden. All rights reserved.
Thanks for this Dean.
Very syncronicitous
as I am having a parallel experience. Having had one or two hours weekly Zhan Zhuang (static qigong) instruction for a few years I have spent the last month having several hours a day before my teacher leaves these shores for the New World.
Someone asked me today how it was going – I said I was tired, back hurts and morale low! [Of course they then said why not take tomorrow (the last day) off].
In addition to what you so helpfully write above I think I would also add that (provided ones trusts the teacher and the process) then (just like any tough stuff – rowing training eg) one is increasing ones equanimity (so useful in life) by the endurance. Its also a brilliant opportunity to differentiate between ones reactions and ones true self (Buddha-nature/Christ-consciousness/beingness) … the feelings are just clouds scurrying across an otherwise blue sky. *But* the greater the challenge the greater the contrast between the feeling/reaction and the unchangable mirror-like knowingess. So its easier perhaps to spot the mirror in such circs. “Get” the wavelength of that and its your friend for life.
So it seems to me … its not just a question of enduring a necessary “price” – from another angle its one of the best opportunities in and of itself
OK end of lecture mode Lol! I waffled longer than I expected … your post must have inspired some muse to molest my fingers
Anyway with pretty pics like that of Tuscany, from a cold, dark, grey, wet England autumn evening I ain’t gonna shed too many tears for the Tuscany esconced
Thanks once again for all your sharings … so helpful for all our growth.
Kindest
Mike
Hi Dean…just wanted to report this, relative to your post and previous posts from the Bruyere classes. Upon deciding to follow your higher chakra blog, I spiritually stated that I open my consciousness to receive any teaching from this class that was available and willing to be shared by Rosalyn with those of us who could not be physically present in the classroom.
A headache ensued…particularly at the VPC exit/entrance location on top…and it stayed for the duration of the class. I just breathed through it and invited communication of all chakras via levels and VPC.
Now for the discomfort and release of control and release of my neurotic dependence upon the symbolic security I have placed on all of my physical stuff. I am in the middle of a move (furniture and appliances moved) and I am down with a cold/sinus and as soon as I feel better, I must sift through my seemingly unlimited collection of books, art supplies, clothing, decor…and prepare to place it in a space that is less than half the size of what I had expected. It feels as if I am faced with what are my real needs versus what are my fantasized needs. I feel like “AARRRGH!”…and I see what a relief and free feeling I will have when I am on the other side of this…and it is uncomfortable!
Many thanks,
Marla