InnerBliss: How Bright is Your Radiance?

A beautiful, old tree in our park.

Listening to: Something new enough that my partner had not heard it. (High fiving myself -- she normally is ahead of me on the music learning curve...by miles and miles.)

Bliss: Getting out cold weather clothing and finding some tops that didn't fit last winter but are fitting now! Rediscovering sweaters. By the end of winter, I can barely stand the sight of sweaters, but at this time of year, I adore them. That's the fun part of seasons, I suppose.

At the Chautauqua Institute in New York, there are these awesome trees. A cluster of them down near the lake. Frog and I love to take a blanket and sit in the middle of them. No one else is ever there, which always amazes us, because these trees just feel powerful, and they are so soothing. We always take books and journals and sketch pads and then we always just end up sitting.

And of course, the edges of Lake Erie feel like this to me, too. I take books and things to do whenever I visit her, but I just end up sitting and staring and listening.

Those trees and our lake emanate energy that is calm and makes me feel centered and serene.

Like some people.

Then there are people who make me feel instantly scattered or sad or negative.

It's all the energy.

We, the trees and the lake and people and animals, we, all of us, are bundles of energy. And that energy is not contained in some sealed package that doesn't leak. This is not some new age chatter. At the cellular level, we are vibrating and emanating and leaving trails everywhere. Things that look solid are not. Physicists have proven this already.

So to think that the aura, or the 8th Chakra according to Kundalini yoga, is a figment of our imaginations is false. Speaking of the energy signature of a human as an aura is simply a language choice.

Everybody is a candle, true. But everybody is not lit. --Yogi Bhajan

And to speak of different auras is not the babbling lunacy of a carnival freak. We all know it's true, through direct experience, that different people have different energy levels for a wide variety of reasons.

What is yours?

What kind of energy are you putting out? Are you a dimly lit, fading bulb or are you the star that you are capable of being?

The 8th Chakra is your radiance. Is it cloudy? Do you need a good cleansing?

Through our 8th Chakra, we project ourselves to the world and we protect ourselves from it when necessary. It is another sense; it is how we give and receive information with our surroundings without ever speaking. It is the "sixth sense," the one that kept us alive in the wilds when being eating was a possibility every day.

The aura is also believed to hold our karmic residue and so through working with it, we can release old patterns that are holding us back; we can come to know our true natures; we can come to understand universal love and our part in it.

So some questions to consider:

Are you overly sensitive to the emotional weather of other people?

Do you feel drained when you are around negative people?

Are there parts of your past that you are unable to let go of?

Do you keep repeating patterns and not learning from them?

Do you have a constant supply of positive and productive energy?

Do you find passion in your life on a daily basis?

Do you see life as a hardship or as an adventure?

Are your interactions with other people not only good for you but also for them?

Do you feel dissociated from your life?

Do you feel emotionally numb?

One basic way to work on your aura is to sit and meditate on it. Breathe deeply and relax your mind. Then picture yourself and your aura. What do you see? Is it gray and cloudy? If so, concentrate on "glowing" yourself.

Also, when you are in a difficult situation, focus on visualizing yourself in a globe of light. See the negativity of people hitting the globe and bouncing off. Or see the negativity dissolve in your light.

Be careful: taking on other people's junk is not your responsibility. Being the most radiant you is your main job. That alone will help everyone around you.

If you are having an extra hard time with this, before you leave the house, a prayer of sorts can be helpful. Here's one of my favorite from the writer Caitlin Matthews in her book Celtic Devotional (and there are tons of these gems in this little book):

I weave the cincture of protection
from the nine powers of nine trees,
strength of oak,
straightness of ash,
purity of birch,
absorbency of alder,
brightness of beech,
elegance of elm,
healing of willow,
power of holly,
everlastingness of yew.
Nine trees to circle me,
nine powers to guard me,
as the Autumn song resounds.

When your energy is waning or when it has been drained by another, what do you do to brighten your radiance?