Cakras strenghtening

This class will show how asanas (Yoga postures) and other cakras strenghtening activities can
correct cakras and glands malfunction, and regulate the expression of low propensities (mental agitation) detrimental to spiritual practices.

By meditating and thinking about God, your thought wave flattens more and more. That flatenning decreases the energy consumption of your mind, (because of the increasing wavelength of the thoughts). This saved energy starts rising in the form of Kundalini, that is an energetical flow rising upwards following the spine, from it's lowest point (called the Root Cakra or Root psychic center) and crossing 5 other psychic centers to finally reach it's final destination at the top of the head (Crown Cakra). There, a state of pure consciousness is reached, corresponding to a maximum level of energy. This is the level of final merger with God, where bliss and infinite consciousness are experienced. This is our ultimate spiritual goal.
When due to our past actions and thoughts, we inherit from some mental attachments or weaknesses, they will come along with a block on one or several of our psychic centers. This will stop the rising energy at the level of the blocked centers. Each center controls some of our emotions and thoughts, which are divided among the 6 lower centers. The propensities associated with the blocking center will be expressed.

Our mind is divided into 7 thinking centers (cakras).

In response to an external stimulus, our individual mental flow will express through a particular thought. This thought produced in the brain has a certain psychic vibration or energy that will vibrate the thinking center dealing with this kind of thought. (for exemple, a fearful thought will vibrate a diferent center than a loving thought).

Each of these thinking center has an interface able to transmute the incoming psychic vibration or energy from the brain into an outgoing physical vibration or energy that will affect the hormonal production of the endocrine glands, which in turn controls our emotional and physical response.

If our glands are strongs and healthy, even an incoming fear vibration will cause the production of the right amount of adrenaline resulting in a restrained (mature) emotional and physical response. But if the gland is weak, the same vibration may cause an oversecretion of adrenaline, and a reaction out of balance.

Everyone lives with a particular set of cakras/glands which will determine it's way of thinking and it's level of subtlety.

One problem arises: If several cakras are weak, each one will absorb (block) a certain amount of mental energy, and express it as propensities located in this cakra. The whole of our mental energy is stuck in our cakras in a particular manner (different for each individual), and makes us move and think accordingly. We first have to discover in which way our mental energy is blocked. When we have identified our weak cakras, we can then target corrective practices on them.

Everyone has a different level of energy. A crude person with crude thoughts and agitated mind has a low level of energy. Because most of his vital energy is taken by the expression of lower propensities. A subtle person, with subtle thoughts and a quiet mind, has a greater level of energy. Because his mind is not jumping from one object to another, (activity very demanding in energy), a lot of vital energy is saved. The subtle person uses some of it's vital energy to express subtle propensities of it's higher cakras. But the crude person uses more of it's energy to activate the crude propensities of the lower cakras. For exemple, the expression of greed, demands a constant jumping of the mind from a desired object to another which is very energy taxing. But a subtle expression like universal love which is not object based, has a much more smooth mental wave, which is much less energy taxing. This higher level of energy in the subtle person will have benefits on the physical level (better health), and on the mental level, (more will power, positivity, concentration, memory etc.).
So we can say that:" the subtler our thoughts, the higher the energy. "
Each subtle thought will build up our energetical level. As each crude thought will deplete it.
For this reason, we have to try to think only subtle thoughts and avoid at all cost crude thoughts.

What makes us think crude in the first place? And how to reverse that tendency? According to the theory of reincarnation, our mind went through numerous vegetal, animal and probably human bodies in previous life times, before our present human incarnation. From our lives in less evolved organisms, we have inherited some of their mental tendencies. For exemple, the animal instincts of fear, reproduction, food and sleep are in also in all humans. Many humans possess also the greed, cruelty, and territorialism of their animal past. Each life we live makes us learn something, some particular lesson, and brings us nearer to the extreme subtlety of spiritual realisation.
If a person had very few lives (or none at all) as a human being, the animal impressions of the past lives are still very strong and influence greatly his/her life. He/she will have the tendency to live as an animal though still in a human body. He/she will be born with weaknesses in specific cakras/glands that will chanelize his/her mental energy towards the specific propensities that were impressed on his mind in the past.
But, by meditation, (forcing the mind to think subtle), and proper exercises which correct the cakras or glandular defects, we can accelerate the learning process tremendously, and make the best use of our human body and human brain.

First Cakra

General Description:

Name: root Cakra (Muladhara Cakra).
Location: Base of the spine, precisely the nerve center at the mid-point of the last vertebra of the spinal column.
Element controlled by this Cakra: Solid element.
Physical sense: Smell.
Bodily function controlled by this Cakra: Excretion of solid matter from the body.
Endocrine Glands and Sub-glands: Sexual Glands (testes in males, ovaries in females).
4 propensities: four propensities (mental or emotional tendencies) are controlled by this cakra: Physical longing, Psychic longing, Psycho-spiritual longing, and Spiritual longing.

Exercise: Let them lie down or sit in meditation pose. Try to feel your root cakra. Imagine it as a point at the base of your spine. Feel the flow of solid element in your body taking place at this cakra and controlled by it. Feel it at the center of the solid element. Now take some time to feel each propensity of this cakra. First, locate your physical longing. Find this emotion in you. What object do you long for? Feel the flow of this desire taking place in your root cakra and controlled by it. Do likewise for the other propensities.

When this cakra is very weak, the "physical longing" is the strongest, and the person go on with his or her animal like life-style. But painful experiences and clashes will eventually teach us that this running after physicalities cannot fulfill all our longings (as they are still expressing themselves), for knowledge, spiritual development and spiritual realisation. This progressive strengthening of the cakra, will allow other longings to surface, first the psychic one, then the psycho-spiritual, and finally the spiritual.

In the same way he explored his physical longing, the person will experience each of the other longings, first developing his intellect in quest of absolute knowledge, then embarking into a journey of psychic expansion towards the spirit, then finally culminating with the blissful realization of the self, the only experience that can fulfill us completely (the other longings having been exhausted through the cleansing lessons of life).

As long as the person is alive, the first cakra is never completely purified. If it were, the person would loose all motivations for life as none of our basic longings would express. The first cakra get progressively purified though, giving scope to each longings to guide our life at a turn (as seen previously). When due to ideation on the Great, our vital energy is pulled upwards,

When the first cakra is almost completely purified, and a strong spiritual longing expresses, the constant ideation on the Supreme Entity generated by meditation will cause the temporary suspension of the lower propensities, as the Kundalini crosses each cakra (controling these suspended propensities), on it's way up. If all cakras are pure, this energy will reach it's maximum level of expression, at the seventh cakra (related to the pineal). This is the state of spiritual realisation, beyond one's I feeling, pleasure and pain, a realm of infinite cognition and bliss. The nearer we are from this state, the stronger is our intuition and joy. This is state of trance, because some of our vital energy is pulled from it's normal function of body control, which is normally achieved through our conscious and subconscious mind that are shut down in this stage. If this trance last more than a couple of hours, the person will "die" a glorious "spiritual death", completing by the merging of the unit mind with cosmic consciousness, his or her journey as a mind. But the trance can also be temporary, if we we still have some desires or propensities. Though they stopped expressing for a while, they ultimately have to express again, pulling our kundalini downwards, and restauring the function of our conscious and subconscious.

But if the upper cakras are still weak, they will block the upwards movement of the kundalini. If the person's first cakra is not pure enough for the expression of a strong spiritual longing, the person will not get the inspiration to purifiy all the upper cakras. Only when the first cakra reaches it's maximum strenth all the other cakras will be already purified. So the first cakra is the last to get totally pure, and at the exact time when it reaches that state, the kundalini start it's upward's movement. We cannot have a situation where the first cakra is pure and the kundalini is stuck for exemple at our third cakra (blocking the way). If we had such a situation, we would be deprived of the longings motivating our life. We would stop all actions right there! But as our propensities can be temporarirly suspended, the kundalini could leave the first cakra up to a higher blocking cakra, experiencing a limited expansion of our consciousness and bliss. But these states, though building our wisdom have to be ended by a pull downwards towards our first cakra and it's associated longings, if we have to continue our life.

Signs of weakness of the Root Cakra:

Problem with the excretatory system.
As seen above, the nature of the longing guiding our life can give a clue on the strength and purity of our root cakra.
Physical longing predominant: weak
Psychic longing predominant: average
Psycho-spiritual longing predominant: strong
Spiritual longing predominant: very strong

As each cakra is linked with an element, the craving for a particular element, may indicate a weakness in the particular cakra, may be an hormonal under secretion. A repulsion for an element, may indicate hormonal oversecretion traping too much of this element in the system, who becomes sensitive to exposure to the same element. (the normal state for elements is to transmute into each other in a balance way). Feeling confortable with an element (without craving or repulsion) may indicate a healthy state of the cakra controling that element.
The same rule aplies for the physical senses associated with each cakra, and strong craving or dislike for a particular sensorial experience may indicate a weakness in the concerned cakra.

People with a weak root cakra (controling solid element), may have an eating disorder (like overeating or anorexia). Their craving for solid could express through a need for earth related activities, like farming, gardening, stones or statues collections. Their repulsion for solid could express through strong dislike of the same.
Intense craving or dislike for strong smells.

The first cakra is controlled by our conscious mind. This mental layer deals with our day to day reactions to our direct environment. When this layer is out of control (absorbing most of our energy), our live becomes a simple reaction (of attraction or repulsion) to the surroudings, and a course after sensual gratification. In response to the defectuous conscious mind our first cakra gets also out of control, and some it's associated propensities get expressed. In conclusion, people who show a weak conscious mind that runs after physical pleasures, and live a passive life of reaction (and not of proaction), have most probably a weak first cakra.

Methods to strenghten the root cakra:

Any exercises designed to reinforce the conscious mind, (like making a list of personal goals and acting upon them, following the guide for a human conduct, specially aparigraha, shaoca), will in turn purify the first cakra and progressively stop the expression of it's related propensities. In this respect Baba's advice is to follow strictly the principles of a human conduct.

Concentration on cakras:

Cakras, being both pychic centers, and a particular point in the body, can be influenced mentally. Bringing our mental focus on the cakras can have a crudifying or healing effect, according to our ideation. If we let a particular cakra bathe in a flow of fear based, greedy, or selfish thoughts, it will certainly weaken the targeted cakra. But if we send healing or loving thoughts, based on the cosmic feeling of oneness, it will surely affect it positively.
The following exercises are designed to purifiy the cakras by concentrating on them:
- For the three lower cakras: Lie on the back. Spread the arms on the floor beside the body. Close the eyes, and concentrating the mind on the cakra to be purified, breathe in, and, without pausing, breathe out. Practice seven times.
- For the other cakras (except the highest one): Standing erect, press the nipples with the third joints of the middle fingers of both hands. The remaining fingers will stay in their natural positions on either side of the middle fingers. Now bring both the elbows backward while inhaling. After complete inhalation, exhale. The elbows should be relaxed a little when exhaling. Practice this exercise with the eyes closed, concentrating the mind on the cakra to be corrected. Practice seven times.
For all these exercises involving concentration on cakras, it is important to take a subtle ideation as discussed previously.

Work on propensities:

Correcting the behavior itself will have a strenghtening effect on the associated cakra and glands. A psychotherapy could help us become conscious of the longings that rule us, and their consequences. It could also help us explore our deep self and adopt a longing more in tune with our present understanding and excpectations.

Second Cakra:

General Description:

Name: Sacral Cakra (Svadhistana Cakra).
Location: On the spinal cord, directly behind the root of the genital organ.
Element controlled by this Cakra: Liquid.
Physical sense: Taste.
Bodily function controlled by this Cakra: Excretion of urine and sexual fluid.
Endocrine glands and subglands associated with this Cakra: Sexual glands, testes for males and ovaries for females.
Controlling mental layer: the second cakra is controlled by the subconscious mind. This layer of the mind has the duty to manage deep thinking, imagination, memory, dreaming and giving shape to mental waves coming from our unconscious that allow their perception.
6 propensities: Indifference, psychic stupor (lack of common sense), indulgence, lack of confidence, helplessness, cruelty.

Exercise: Let them lie down or sit in meditation pose. Try to feel your sacral cakra. Imagine it as a point behind the root of your genitals. Feel the flow of the liquid element in your body taking place at this cakra and controlled by it. Feel it at the center of the liquid element. Now take some time to feel each propensity of this cakra. First, locate your indifference. Find this emotion in you. What object are you indifferent to? Feel the flow of this emotion taking place in your sacral cakra and controlled by it. Do likewise for the other propensities.

The propensity of indifference comes because our weak subconscious is unable to hold long term memories, that should influence our behavior. For exemple, if we are unable to remember painful experiences from our past, we will also be indifferent to the condition and pain of others. We cannot relate to them as we have forgo||en how painful they were. In the same manner, the propensity of cruelty is linked to our weak memory.

Similarly, "psychic stupor", (lack of common sense), is cause by the poor thinking capacity of a weak subconscious.

As for "indulgence", it is caused by a combination of a poor memory, making us forget past experiences where we got hurt by our indulgence, and allowing us to repeat this behavior and hurting ourself again. The other reason is a poor rationality that fails to stop the endulgence however irrational it is.

Finally a weak subconscious isolates us from our mental base, that is the unconscious mind, and this alienation from our deeper self causes the condition of "lack of confidence" and "helplessness".

Signs of weakness of the Sacral Cakra:

Lack of rationality, mental activity, imagination and strong memories denote a weak subconscious which in turn fails to control properly our second cakra.
The expression of the above propensities.
Problems in the urinary or sexual function.
Strong craving or dislike for water, (drink too much or too little), seaside, swimming or bathing, strong taste.

Specific corrective practices:
Exercise designed to develop the subconscious, like reading, writing, remembering, visualising etc. will help us in purifying our second cakra. Baba suggestion in this regard is to practice Prana Yama, a special meditative technic using alternated breathing.

Third Cakra
Description:

Name: Solar plexus Cakra (Manipura Cakra).
Position: Navel
Element: Luminous, Fire
Physical sense: Sight.
Bodily Function: Digestion
Glands and sub-glands: Pancreatic Islets and Adrenal glands.
Controling mental layer: the Supramental.
Our third cakra (at the navel) is controlled by the third layer of the mind, the first layer of the unconscious called the supramental mind. The function of this mental layer is to generate deep and often premonitive dreams. The premonition occurs because our samskaras first vibrate in this layer, before we even experience the reaction, and we can sometimes receive this vibration from this layer.
This layer will act as a store-house of universal knowledge, which we can be accessed through dreams, premonitions and intuitions. Vibrations from this layer will be capted by the subconscious which possesses the conceptuals tools to make sense of them. Also, positive feelings like the yearning for Sadhana, and other inspirations from our souls are generated by this layer.

10 propensities: "shyness", "sadistic tendency", "envy", "staticity or sleepiness", "melancholia", "peevishness", "yearning for acquisition", "infatuation", "hatred, revulsion", and "fear".

Exercise: Let them lie down or sit in meditation pose. Try to feel your solar plexus cakra. Imagine it as a point at the center of your navel. Feel the flow of fire element in your body taking place at this cakra and controlled by it. Feel it at the center of the fire element. Now take some time to feel each propensity of this cakra. First, locate your shyness. Find this emotion in you. What action or person makes you shy? Feel the flow of this emotion taking place in your solar plexus cakra and controlled by it. Do likewise for the other propensities.

This feelings are egoistic complexes created by the subconscious. Because, when the supramental is weak, the subconscious mind is free to express. And when the subconscious is weak, it is influenced by the body, the organs and the sensual desires.

Superficiality of the "I" (not soul centred), and identification with a non-permanent center (as seen previously) generates "fear" to loose the very center that sustains our personality. "Shyness" comes when we fear to be inferior to other people, according to the values of our adopted center. For exemple, if our center is the body, we may feel shy with someone fitter or more beautiful. "Envy" sometimes accompanies shyness, when we start wanting to be in the other person's shoes. This shyness and envy will automaticly disappear when we become god centred, and start seeing everyone as expression of God of the same value. For the same reason we will have a "yearning for acquisition" or "infatuation" towards objects and people that reinforce our personality in her center. Similarly, we will feel "hatred and revulsion" towards people and objects that belittle or weaken our personality or our center. For exemple we are infatuated with role models who have elected the same center, and are apparently successful and happy.

"Peevishness" comes when we our center is constantly challenged by objects and people we hate, and our mood becomes unstable.

"Melancholia" is a reaction to the lost of a loved object, or person, or to some event that belittle us or make us loose confidence in our center, pushing us to look for another one. Sometimes, people react to the same by escaping into the unconsciousness of sleep, through the expression of "staticity and sleepiness".

Signs of weakness:
Someone showing symptoms of a weak supramental (poor intuition, creativity, problem solving ability), has most probably also a weak third cakra.
Problems with the digestive system.
Expression of the above propensities.
Strong craving or dislike for sun, fire, light, heat, cooking, images, sights from TV or the surroundings.

Specific corrective practices
Exercises designed to develop the supramental will have a positive effect on this cakra as well. Exemple of such exercise include: intuition development exercises like writing down one's dream, automatic writing or talking, use of tarot cards etc.
Baba mentions that the practice of mental withdrawal from his usual objects helps develop that layer. Exemple of mental withdrawal exercise: Sit down in meditation pose, close your eyes, imagine yourself on top of a very high mountain. You sit there alone. Everything is pure and peaceful. You feel the blissful presence of the Supreme Entity all around you. You can feel her love all around you, in everything. Baba Nam Kevalam. Start repeating silently. Baba Nam Kevalam. Everything is Love.

Adressing the Fear: here fear is the main enemy. And a psychotherapy could help you deal with it and overcome it.

Fourth Cakra:

General Description:

Name: Heart Cakra (Anahata Cakra).
Position: Center of the chest.
Element: Air
Physical sense: Touch
Bodily function: Respiration.
Glands and subglands: Thymus.
Controling mental layer: the second layer of the unconscious, called the subliminal mind.

The main functions of the subliminal mind is to store not only our samskaras, but the samskaras of all beings, and to generate in us the qualities of true knowledge, wisdom and renunciation. If this layer is properly developped and refined, we are able to see all samskaras, that is the potential reactions to past actions. You are able to see what event awaits you, and others in the future, and which original actions in the past caused it. The access to this layer gives you an unlimited knowledge of the past and future, as you follow the chains from actions to reactions.
You will also be able to see whether a planned action will cause future reactions, and if so, what kind (positive or negative) of reaction it will cause. This gives the power to discriminate and act and advise others with wisdom.
Another quality will be achieved, that is renunciation or non-attachement. If you get pleasure from a specific object or a relationship day after day, you will create more and more desire for this pleasure, that is, you will get addicted (or attached) to it. As a consequence, the lost of the pleasure causing object or person will certainly distress you. A non attached person will make sure not to derive any pleasure from passing entities, and instead will try to derive joy and bliss from the Supreme Entity only.

12 Propensities: "hope", "worry", "endeavour", "attachment", "vanity", "conscience", "nervous breakdown", "ego", "avarice", "hypocrisy", "altercation", "repentance".

Exercise: Let them lie down or sit in meditation pose. Try to feel your heart cakra. Imagine it as a point at the center of your chest. Feel the flow of air element in your body taking place at this cakra and controlled by it. Feel it at the center of the air element. Now take some time to feel each propensity of this cakra. First, locate your hope. Find this emotion in you. What do you hope for? Feel the flow of this desire taking place in your heart cakra and controlled by it. Do likewise for the other propensities.

Here, we see some more positive traits like endeavour, and conscience. They get expressed when the cakra is almost purified, and some our subliminal is also refined to some extent.
When we ignore the output, the final reaction of one's actions, we make up for our ignorance by "hoping" for a good result, or "worrying" about a possible bad one.
"Attachment" (as explained previously), is a direct consequence of a weak subliminal. "Avarice" is obviously a direct consequence of attachment. And the lost of object or people to whom we are extremely attached, can cause a severe depression ("nervous breakdown").
Deep in the subliminal mind, the feeling of individuality is greatly reduced, as it is a common layer to all. As consequence the propensities of "vanity" and "ego" are overcomed. Reversedly, they will express when we are not connected with this layer. Moreover, "hypocrisy" and "altercation" are direct offshout of the ego, as they both tend to protect it (respectively by lying to, or confronting others).
Finally "endeavour", "conscience" and "repentance" express when we do have some degree of wisdom, but still not enough. We work hard (expressing "endeavour"), in one direction, but in a flash of wisdom ("conscience"), from our subliminal, we see that our efforts are going in the wrong direction. We then become "repentant" of our past actions.

Signs of weakness:
Signs of a weak subliminal: Weak or limited knowledge of the past and future, lack of discrimination, wisdom or renunciation.
Respiratory proplems.
Expression of the above propensities.
Strong dislike or craving for wind, fan, parachuting, balooning, touching things and people or be touched.

Specific corrective practices:

Exercise to develop the subliminal will help purify the heart cakra as well.
Exemple of such exercises are:
Second lesson. Before acting, think if the action will be productive, what consequences it will have. Listen to the voice of intuition. Generally intuition speaks first. Then rationality and analysing take over. They both should agree on the course to take, the right action to be performed.
Write daily diary: what wrong actions did you commit. How can you avoid them in the future. Baba's suggestion is to practice mental concentration through meditation and repetition of a mantra.

Fifth Cakra

Name: Throat Cakra (Vishuddha Cakra).
Position: Region of the throat.
Element: Ether
Physical sense: Hearing
Bodily function: Speech
Endocrine glands and sub-glands: Thyroid and Parathyroid
Controling mental layer: the deepest layer of our unconscious, called the subtle causal mind.

The main function of the subtle causal mind is to generate a special kind of intellectual activity (the pointed intellect), which aims at concentrating all mental attention and energy towards the soul, the pure consciousness beyond the mind. In this process the individual "I" feeling already very weak in this layer, will transmute into the cosmic "I" of the Great Entity. The completion of this process is the merger of the individual mind into the cosmic mind, a state of trance accompanied by bliss, omniscience and all kinds of powers.

16 Propensities: "Peacock", "Ox", "Goat", "Deer", "Cuckoo", "Donkey", "Elephant", "Awakening from lethargy", "Rising kundalini", "Practication (putting a theory into practice), "Expression of mundane knowledge", "Welfare in the subtler sphere", "Performing noble actions", "Surrender to the Supreme", "Repulsive expression", "Sweet expression".

Exercise: Let them lie down or sit in meditation pose. Try to feel your throat cakra. Imagine it as a point at the center of your throat. Feel the flow of the ether element in your body taking place at this cakra and controlled by it. Feel it at the center of the ether element. Now take some time to feel each propensity of this cakra. First, locate the "awakening from lethargy". Find this power in you. What makes you use this power? Feel the flow of this desire taking place in your throat cakra and controlled by it. Do likewise for the other propensities.

Here the presence of animal names means that the main propensity guiding each animal (it's spirit) will influence us.
"Awakening from lethargy" is the first propensity to express at the very begining of the process of perfecting this layer.
"Rising Kundalini" is the last to express at the time of completion, just before the total purification of the layer and the merger into cosmic mind.
The other propensities are various expressions of a developed, egoless and generous human being.

Signs of weakness:
A weak subtle causal mind (feelings of separation with the Supreme Entity, lack of devotion, lack of occult powers.)
Speech problems.
Strong dislike or craving for vast empty space, and sounds (music, sounds of the surroundings, noise, etc..).
Expression of the above propensities.

Specific corrective practices:
Practice to strenghten the subtle causal mind will have a corrective effect on the throat cakra. Exemple of such practices are:
Deep meditative contemplation on the Supreme Entity (dhyana). Kiirtan.

Sixth Cakra:

Name: Brow Cakra (Ajina cakra).
Position: Between the eyebrows.
Entity controlled: mind.
Endocrine glands and sub-glands: Pituitary Gland.
2 propensities: "Mundane knowledge" and "Spiritual knowledge".

Exercise: Let them lie down or sit in meditation pose. Try to feel your brow cakra. Imagine it as a point between your eyebrows. Feel the flow of mind taking place at this cakra and controlled by it. Feel it at the center of the mind. Now take some time to feel each propensity of this cakra. First, locate your mundane knowledge. Find this quality in you. What object or people do you know? Feel the flow of this knowledge taking place in your brow cakra and controlled by it. Do likewise for the other propensity.

"Mundane knowledge" will be the first propensity to express, as the brow cakra is still weak. Pushed by the extroverted longings of the first cakra, we pursue and explore all kinds of mundane objects and goals, that will end up with the expression of "mundane knowledge." This expression is also a realisation of the limited nature of this knowledge, that doesn't satisfy our deep spiritual longings also expressed by our first cakra. This realization is the first step towards acknowledging and following our psycho-spiritual and spiritual longings, that will lead us to the expression of "Spiritual Knowledge", ultimate expression of one's limited mind, before it's merging with the Cosmic Mind.

Signs of weakness:
Expression of the propensity of mundane knowledge.
Failure to merge one's mind into the Cosmic Mind.

Specific corrective practices:
All exercises of positive affirmation "I am God", and especially meditation with a mantra help this cakra.

7th Cakra:

Name: Crown Cakra (Sahasrara Cakra)
Position: Top of the head.
Function: Sit of Consciousness.
Endocrine Glands and Sub-glands: Pineal gland.
Propensities: No mental propensities but expression of pure Consciousness.

When this cakra is pure, the psychic energy can freely move upwards and reach it.

How to identify our weak cakras?

Let them fill up a psychological questionary evaluating their level of fear, anger, stress, lasyness, overactivity, love, greed, instinctive drives, possessivity, compassion, etc.

Let them write a list of their most current ailments and physical problems. As cakras are linked with physical functions and organs, it can give a clue about their psychic setup.

Self-analysis: Let them write a list of their psychic weaknesses. Then give them a list of vrttis and they should write (no, little, some, a lot) in front of each vrttis.

Other corrective practices for Cakra strenghtening

Asanas

"Posture easily taken". (different from the popular image of extreme difficulty).
Hatha Yoga uses 50000 asanas. But Sarkar selected 42 asanas and 13 mudras.
The asanas work
- by massaging glands: some asanas expand the glands, which may rectify any hormonal oversecretion. Others compress the glands, which may rectify undersecretion of hormones. (Exemple of a toothpaste tube we press).
- by direct pressure on cakras: some asanas put the cakra in contact with the ground or another part of the body, which brings your focus on it, together with a subtle and cleansing mental energy.
- by increasing the flow of vital energy towards a certain gland: each gland is sustained by certain currents of vital energy flowing through certain meridians in the body. Movements of torsion, pressure can clear specific points blocking this energy, which in turn will strenghten the targeted gland.
- by increasing blood circulation: some asanas will bring more blood to a gland, making it stronger and healthier.
- by mental concentration on a particular cakra. This is particularly true in the case of Mudras that involve more ideation than asanas.

Show some exemple of asanas for each type of action:
Ask: "Which gland is targeted?"" Why, and in which way?"
Give answer if they cannot find.

Let them invent one asanas, and present it to the class.
(they can also choose an other asanas they know).

Give to each a list prepared beforehand of personal asanas for their particular weaknesses, identified in the last class (cakras identification).
Demonstrate all the asanas mentioned in their lists. They practice, following the asanas teacher's lead.
Ask for feedback. Was it their first time doing asanas? What's the feeling?

Homework: Practice your personal asanas daily.
Rules for asanas:
- Clean air, no smoke or strong smell, no wind.
- In empty stomach, wait a minimum of 3 hours after meal.
- Clothing as light as possible. (if possible take off your shirt).
- After asanas, wait 15 minutes before drinking or eating.
- A walk in a solitary place is beneficial just after asanas.
- End your asanas session with self-massage and dead pose for 2 minutes.