Working with Positive, Powerful Affirmations

An affirmation is a statement we make about a person, thing or situation. It is something that we “state” to ourselves or to others on a regular basis. Affirmations are created based on our beliefs and can be positive or negative in nature.

Whether the statement is positive or negative you are affirming that belief on a regular basis and eventually you will believe it and act according to that belief.

The amazing thing about affirmations is that those negative statements can be turned into positive, powerful statements, which in turn can be used daily to bring more light, love and happiness into your life.

Positive thinking is essential for your personal growth.

By working with positive, powerful affirmations you can begin to change the way you think and feel about yourself, and start to create a future that you desire. You do this by identifying the negative and unproductive beliefs you have, and turning them into positive, supporting beliefs.

We suggest that you create affirmations that are in tune with your current situation but that can still effect change in the areas that they hope for.

Before you begin to create your positive, powerful affirmations, it is important to remember a few key points:

Present Moment – Your affirmation must be written in the present moment. For example, “I am financially supported” represents the now, whereas, “I will be financially supported” makes you feel like it is off in the future, not in the now.

Positive Words – Chose your words carefully because if you said “I am not poor” your energy is focusing on not being poor, and the universe hears the word “poor”. Instead change your words to be positive and uplifting “I have enough money for all that I need” or “I am wealthy” are better choices of words.

Short and Specific – While creating your affirmation, you want to chose words that are to the point and allows you to keep your affirmation short. The more succinct your affirmation, the easier it is to remember and the easier to work with.

Feels Right – When creating your affirmation, you want it to “feel” right and be in tune with your current situation. For example, if you are completely broke and there are bills attacking you from all sides, it is not going to help just saying "money now pours into my life offering me great abundance" as this is clearly not the case and trying to repeat such an affirmation would just create an undercurrent of disappointment with your current circumstances. Instead you could use an 'umbrella affirmation' such as "the universe now supports me in my endeavours to manifest great wealth". Create something that you feel is right for you but is also a little bit of a stretch.

Repeat, Repeat and Repeat – Once you have created your positive, powerful affirmation say it to yourself as often as you can, write it down as often as you can and think it as often as you can throughout your day. The best way is to write it down and place it where you can see it often. They say it takes 21 days to break a habit, use this rule with an affirmation and repeat it often throughout the day for 21 days.

Visualise – As you repeat your affirmation, visualise yourself being in the situation. Really feel yourself there, having achieved whatever it is that you wished for. Visualisation helps you with the feeling and belief of your affirmation.

Update – As you work with your positive, powerful affirmations your energy will change and you will begin to feel better and better. Update your affirmations with your feelings and take into consideration that you want affirmations to be a little bit of a stretch for you.

It is better to create your own affirmation that is applicable to your own situation however if you choose an affirmation from a book or the internet, change it to fit your situation. If you are using an affirmation daily and it is not manifesting, think about why and maybe you need to create an ‘umbrella affirmation’ that will help support you in achieving your affirmation when the time is right. You need to honour where you and why before you can move forward.

Affirmations are truly the key to getting yourself in line with what you want, need and desire in life.

Blessings in creating positive, powerful affirmations,
Nicole and Tara

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Nicole Graham and Tara Spicer are currently on a virtual book tour promoting their recently released writing journal, Journal for the Modern Goddess.

Awakening the Chakras | 9 week cycle

ENROLLING NOW!

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A journey into Self, using creative visualisation, music and dance, this 9-week cycle is designed to help participants to explore, experience and balance their own chakras, and is more indepth than the 8 week cycle.

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It starts with an introductory overview, and goes on to focus on the seven major chakras in turn (one per week) before culminating in an integration session.

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Although music and dance form the primary focus, sessions also include sensing, working with elements and colours, guided visualisations and short meditations.

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This class runs for 2 hours, 1 night per week, over 9 weeks.

From: Monday 28th April

Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm

Where: Om Shanti College, Griffith Shops

Cost: $250 ($225 if booked and paid before 14 April)

For more information email Michelle.

For bookings email Om Shanti College.

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www.chakradance.com

Journaling through change

We (Tara and I) are very excited that Michelle is one of our Virtual Book Tour Hosts (thank you Mich). We are touring the virtual world promoting our recently released guided journal and companion meditation CD, Journal for the Modern Goddess.

In our previous article we discussed the benefits of journaling, today I thought I would talk about ‘Journaling through Change’. Having moved from Australia to Hong Kong, I went through a huge cultural change and journaling helped me cope with those cultural changes.

As we go through changes within our life, whether it is a change in relationship, a job, a family member passing away, moving to a new home or even a change within you, journaling through your life changes can be more beneficial than just talking about them.

When we created our Journal for the Modern Goddess we included a section dedicated to ‘Moving Forward’. This section allows the journal owner to recognise the changes she is going through, at that moment and turn them around to focus on how she can move forward, and through the change.

There are many different journaling techniques you can use to help you move through change, the three journaling techniques we used are:-

Asking Yourself Questions – In our guided sections (Dreams and Inspirations; Moving Forward; Gratitude and Happiness), we provide a number of questions that allows the journal owner to ask herself. By asking herself the questions she can start to journal her answers and allow her answers to flow.

Our questions are guides; therefore any journal writer can ask herself a range of questions such as “how do I feel at this moment in time?” “What makes me happy?” “What changes are going on around me and how do they affect me?” etc.

Asking yourself questions provides you with prompts to move from not writing to writing, and from there you can allow your pen to flow.

Guided Meditations – Our journal comes with a companion guided meditation CD and we encourage the journal owner to write down her experiences from the meditation and if there are any actions she may need to take to move her forward in her life.

One of our tracks was specifically designed to release your fears and when there is change going on, usually there is a fear about the change.

Meditation allows a person to relax and journaling directly after listening to a meditation CD is powerful because the insights you gained through your journey can be put onto paper immediately.

Free Flow Writing – We have also offered journal pages for the journal owner to write whatever she feels like without being guided. Some call this “intuitive writing” and others call it “free writing”. Free flow writing has one rule, and that is, there are no rules.

Free flow writing is you put pen to paper and write whatever comes into your head. If it is “I don’t know what to write”, then you write that and any thought or feeling, you write and you don’t stop. At first you may set yourself a time limit of 10 minutes and over time you may increase the time.

During this time you do not worry about punctuation, spelling, grammar, capitalisation, paragraph breaks etc. Do not worry if it doesn’t make sense, because you are writing purely for you. Free flow writing leads you places you never would have imagined. Allow your thoughts to flow and your pen will naturally move without you having to think about it.


Overall journaling can be an effective tool for processing the changes going on in your life – As they say; the only constant in life is change. Don’t be afraid to journal your way through your change.

Happy journaling!


Nicole Graham and Tara Spicer are currently on a virtual book tour promoting their recently released writing journal, Journal for the Modern Goddess.

Journaling Techniques

Feeling a little stuck? Not sure what to write or how to start? At a loss for ideas? There are a range of journaling techniques that you can use to get your thoughts on to paper.

As mentioned in our article, Journaling through Change, we have used three different journaling techniques (Asking Yourself Questions, Guided Meditations and Free Flow Writing) in the Journal for the Modern Goddess.

There are many other techniques and some of them are:-

Qualities and Attributes: Write down the qualities and attributes you possess and then write down ones you wish you did. Identify one quality you demonstrate well and write about the how and the why, then identify on quality you wished you possessed, and write how you could demonstrate it in your life. You’ll be amazed what comes forward during the writing process.

This technique can be adapted to use words that describe how you are feeling in this moment and you can write about why you are feeling the way you do.

Dialogue: Another technique is to dialog. Dialogues are imagined conversations between two or more people or higher beings. It could be a dialogue between two parts of a person.
Dialoguing could involve writing a conversation between a present or past relationship, someone who is living or deceased. It could be about your role as a mother, sister, aunty or friend. Dialoguing could involve writing about an event or circumstance, traditions, cultural background, marriage, religion.

Dialoguing helps you move through any patterns, resistances or disagreements you may be having with yourself or with others. If you need to discuss a situation with someone, this technique can be powerful as it will allow you to form your thoughts so that you can say what needs to be said in a constructive and diplomatic way.

List Making: List making is a great way to help writers block. You could create a list of 100 things you are grateful for, or if 100 is a little daunting start with 25 or 50. Some examples are listing ways you could nurture yourself, how you can improve your life, what you wish for, places you would like to visit, things you value in life, ways to be more creative, ways to be more productive etc.

Once you have your list you can ask yourself questions to get the writing process flowing.

Art Journaling: This technique uses a combination of sketching, collage, scrapbooking, writing, clippings from the newspaper, images from magazines, photos – anything visual. Art journaling is a powerful way to move beyond words.

Use your journal entries as triggers to inspire art. Review what you’ve written over the past week or month and find word images you can translate into drawings or paintings. If you are concerned it will look messy or you will not like what you create, use separate paper and paste it into your journal once you’ve finished. This is a very creative alternative to words.


Overall journaling can be an effective tool of healing and self-empowerment for everyone. There are many more techniques beside the ones I’ve mentioned; however it is recommended that you find the techniques that suit you. Once you become confident in journaling, explore and experiment with other techniques.

Happy journaling!

Nicole Graham and Tara Spicer are currently on a virtual book tour promoting their recently released writing journal, Journal for the Modern Goddess.

Benefits of Journaling

Journaling is the practice of keeping a journal that explores your thoughts and feelings surrounding the events of your life. It is more than keeping a diary and recording the activities of your life, journaling allows you to clarify your thoughts and feelings, thereby gaining valuable self-knowledge.

Below are some examples of the benefits to keeping a journal.

Reduces Stress: Journaling has a proven benefit of reducing stress. The process of writing your thoughts and feelings down allows you to let go, and not carry as much with you throughout your day. This is a powerful form of self-expression, and through that expression you can gain clarity, release, and relief.

Increases Focus: Taking the time to journal can help you disentangle thoughts and ideas so that you can identify your true feelings and bring a clearer focus to what you want. This allows you to begin to live your life to the fullest.

Promotes Self-Healing: Through journaling and reflection you can uncover and record patterns and cycles as well as heal the past, heal relationships and soothe troubled memories. You will gain surprising and valuable insights into yourself as you journal, and again when you revisit past writings.

Encourages Personal Growth: As you express yourself you can integrate life experiences and learnings, explore night dreams, day dreams and fantasies, which in turn allows you to move forward in discovering who you really are.

Better Know Yourself: Journaling helps you create awareness of your beliefs and options, as well as help identify your values. This self discovery reveals different aspects of yourself, and allows you to better know yourself and make changes where you feel there is a need.

Better Communicator: Instead of saying something you may regret at a later stage, journaling is a safe way of expressing feelings and half-formed thoughts until you are ready to communicate them to others in a healthy and constructive way.

Setting Goals: You can clarify what you want and what is most important to you through journaling. Once you have identified those, you can begin to set goals and create action plans to support you in achieving what is important to you.

No Structure: Start today, stop tomorrow and that is how it should be. Journaling allows you to write whenever you feel like it. It is your journal, and your journey – record what you want and when you want based on your personal needs.

Overall journaling can be an effective tool of healing and self-empowerment for everyone, from those suffering great personal battles to those who wish simply to empower and clarify their own unique light and wisdom.

Your journal is your own sacred space, where you honour yourself and the unique light that you bring to our world.

Nicole Graham and Tara Spicer are currently on a virtual book tour promoting their recently released writing journal, Journal for the Modern Goddess.

About the Journal for the Modern Goddess:

This beautiful hard covered, spiral bound writing journal helps women uncover the beautiful, unique and powerful Goddess that they really are.The journal features 6 coloured inserts with inspirational quotes, guided questions, affirmations and 204 lined pages for journaling. The coloured inserts divides the journal into sections - Gratitude and Happiness; Moving Forward; Dreams and Visions; Journal Pages; Guided Meditation; and Sanctuaries and Sisterhood.The companion guided meditation CD features 3 tracks that provide women with sacred journeys that inspire and encourage them to create positive life patterns. These tracks help them to recognise and invite magic, inspiration and loving energy into their lives.

The journal retails for $34.95 AUD including GST.

To view or purchase the journal, please visit Nicole and Tara’s website, Journals for Empowerment. Please visit:

Tomorrow, Nicole and Tara will be talking about the best way to use their beautiful journal over at Chakra Goddess. Visit them at www.chakragoddess.com


There is a reader’s competition, to find out more, visit http://www.journalsforempowerment.com/virtual-book-tours/competitions/ This week’s clue is: Our Goddess is gracious in victory

Coming soon to Rainbow Dreams, a series of articles from The Modern Goddess, Nicole Graham. To read an article with Nicole, click here.

The Crown Chakra

It is within you
that the Divine lives.

Joseph Campbell

Thought, Universal identity, oriented to self-knowledge

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The crown chakra relates to consciousness as pure awareness. It is our connection to the greater world beyond, to a timeless, spaceless place of all-knowing. When developed, this chakra brings us knowledge, wisdom, understanding, spiritual connection, and bliss.

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The Crown chakra is the final chakra in our journey. Anodea Judith asks us to imagine that our torso is a sturdy stem with its roots sunk deep into the earth. Imagine your roots are nurtured by water in the sacral chakra, and that your stem is fed by the firey solar plexus to rise into the air, vibrating in sound and light, to at last explode into a thousand shining lotus petals at the top of the crown. At the centre of the lotus, your individual point of awareness connects with the orarching field of divine intelligence, knowing there is no separation. In the true meaning of the word yogo as union, the individual and divine are at last linked in their common field of consciousness. To be aware of this unity and to go beyond that awareness into simply 'being' this unity is the essence of realisation.

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The crown chakra represents the underlying conscicousness that is the basic operating principle in all of the chakras. Only consciousness is capable of seeing, speaking, loving, doing, feeling, and living. In our work in the seventh chakra we seek to free that consciousness from its usual distrations to experience its own limitless nature. This is the ecstaatic culmination of the liberating current in its final goal of ultimate freedom (mukti). This is the seat of enlightenment and the ultimate source of awakening.

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Yogis spend their lives in practices designed to achieve this state of ultimate freedom, although there are few who achieve full enlightenment. Yet, we all have some enlightening moments, those little 'ahas' of realisation that give us a small taste of liberation. For most of us, it is only a glimpse from which consciousness then descends back into manifestation. But from this awakening the sweet nectar of divine wisdom condenses into ever firmer realities, step by step, extending downward through each of the chakras. Like raindrops collecting into pools, the chakras condense consciousness into the various qualities of manifestation, both within and around us. In Sanskrit these ualities are called tattvas, represented by elements we have been balancing in the lower chakras.

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Manifestation begins in consciousness with an initial conception. You first conceive of an idea, then daydream about it by creating pictures or blueprints (chakra six), talk about it to others (chakra five), bring it into relationship (chakra four), give it energy (chakra three), achieve connection (chakra two), and finally manifest it on the physical plane (chakra one). If you want to see what divine consciousness looks like, you need only look around you to see the hidden signature of creation in the natural world. To see the manifestation of your personal consciousness, just look at your immediate surroundings. As you remove blocks and distractions from your consciousness, through healing old wounds and focusing the mind in meditation, the field around you will gradually become ordered and spacious.

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Consciousness is the operating force in each of the chakras.

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Chakra Attributes

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Colour: Violet

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Function: Understanding, Knowing, Bliss

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Healing Essence of the Chakra: Located at the top of the head and extending upward to the Heavens, it is called the “Crown Chakra,” “the gateway to divine spirit.” A true aspirant grounds such energy to include the work and focus of daily life. Wisdom emanates from those who walk in spirit with both feet firmly planted on the ground.

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Keywords: Enlightenment, Prayer, Meditation, Transformation, Divinity, Wisdom

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Affirmations:

• I am guided by my higher power and higher wisdom.
• I am awakened.

Interpreting excess or deficiency in the seventh chakra

Excessive characteristics

• Dissociation from the body
• Spiritual addiction
• Confusion
• Over-intellectualisation
• Living "in your head"
• Disconnection from spirit
• Excessive attachments

Deficient characteristics

• Spiritual cynicism
• A closed mind
• Learning difficulties
• Rigid belief systems
• Apathy

Balanced characteristics

• Spiritual connection
• Wisdom and mastery
• Intelligence, presence
• Open-mindedness, ability to question
• Ability to assimilate and analyse information

The seventh chakra self evaluation

1. What attachments do you have in your life and how could you release them?
2. What is your concept of the divine and how much time do you put aside to contemplate this?
3. Tune into what thoughts occupy your mind on a daily basis and decide if they serve you in a positive way or are they self-limiting beliefs?
4. How can you bring a sense of the sacred in your daily life?
5. How often do you show gratitude towards everything that you have in your life?

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Participant's responses:

You make my day

I would like to thank Rebecca from Gratitude Practices for honoring me by awarding me the You Make My Day Award.

Rebecca, it has indeed been an honour sharing this journey with you and the other participants at Rainbow Dreams -- in fact, you made my day!

I thank you all for your support and love, its humbling. So now its time to honour my fellow travellers.

The Rules: Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times!
There are so many people who inspire me on a daily basis with their courage in showing up for their lives, following their hearts and working to manifest their dreams. I don't read a lot of blogs, but the ones I read are listed on the side of my blog.

All these goddesses visit and participate in Rainbow Dreams regularly. Visiting their blogs always brings a gentle smile to my face as I witness their strength, vulnerabily and beauty:

1. Hélène Deroubaix
2. Aurora
3. Creative Spirit Faery
4. iGoddess
5. The Modern Goddess
6. The Dream
7. Midwest Musings

Please visit their blogs!

The Third Eye Chakra

Your vision will become clear only

when you look into your heart.

Who looks outside, dreams.

Who looks inside, awakens.

Carl Jung

Chakra Six: Light, Archetypal identity, oriented to self-reflection

This chakra is known as the brow chakra or third eye center. It is related to the act of seeing, both physically and intuitively. As such it opens our psychic faculties and our understanding of archetypal levels. When healthy it allows us to see clearly, in effect, letting us "see the big picture."

After refining your energy body through the purification of sound in the fifth chakra, the journey moves deeper into your inner world. Anodea Judith guides us to our sixth chakra, the centre of illumination, the gateway to wisdom, and the luminescent source of the light within.

To enter this chakra is to discover a world of indescribable beauty. It is to seek the light of consciousness and learn how to focus that light in order to see clearly. This is the homeland of intuition, dreams and visions.

The sixth chakra is often called the third eye, an etheric organ of consciousness that lies directly behind and between your two physical eyes. The third eye is capable of seeing beyond the density of the physical world into the subtler realms of energy and spirit. Only be training your consciousness to be focused and directed can you harness the immense gifts of this visionary centre.

Shiva, one of the principle Hindu gods, is sometimes depicted with a thunderbolt emanating from his third eye for the purpose of destroying illusion. As you learn to focus your attention, you have a means to free yourself from illusion and begin to perceive the ultimate nature of reality.

The name of this chakra, ajina, means both to perceive and to command. To perceive is to see or recognise a pattern. To command is to hold a picture in your mind as a guiding template for manifestation. It is important to be conscious of these internal pictures so that you create from clarity and intention rather than illusion.

The sixth chakra is about seeing in the deepest sense. What does it mean to really see? Even when our eyes are open, we remain unaware of many things that are within our visual field. To see deeply requies a focus of consciousness in a particular direction and to look at something long enough to turn its patterns into meaning. We use the expression "I see" to denote understanding, even using it in reactin to words, feelings, or ideas. It is this kind of seeing that is the basis of insight, the ability to see inside, and to perceive the patterns we create. Through insight we are able to free ourselves from constricting patters and to achieve liberation.

As you enter this chakra, look deeply within. Take time to detach from your suroundings and look at them objectively. Focus your attention. Validate your intuitions. Follow your dreams.

Chakra Attributes

Color: Indigo/Cobalt

Function: Intuition

Healing Essence of the Chakra: Located in the center of the forehead between the eyebrows, it is identified with the Third Eye. This chakra asks that a person look within to find the wisdom of the soul. It affects the brain and the neuralgic system, which stimulate the endocrine and pituitary systems. At the highest level, when this chakra has connected with the Heart Chakra, divine love and light emanates out to the world.

Keywords: Clear Vision, Genius, Imagination, Dreams, Quiet, Inner Peace

Affirmations:

• I see the light and it guides my way.
• I listen, I hear, I speak the truth.

Interpreting excess or deficiency in the sixth chakra

Excessive characteristics:

• Hallucinations
• Delusions
• Obsessions
• Nightmares
• Intrusive memories
• Difficulty concentrating
• Excessive fantasising

Deficient characteristics:

• Lack of imagination
• Difficulty visualising
• Insensitivity
• Excessive skepticism
• Denial (can't see what's going on)
• Inability to see alternatives

Blanced characteristics

• Strong intuition
• Penetrating insight
• Creative imagination
• Good memory
• Good dream recall
• Ability to visualise
• Has a guiding vision for life

The sixth chakra self-evaluation

1. Can you see what is really going on in your life or do you try to keep certain things buried?
2. Do you have a personal vision for your life?
3. Are you aware of what archetypal influences may be guiding or limiting your life?
4. Are you aware of your dreams and the symbolic messages they may hold for you?
5. Do you trust your intuition?
   

The Throat Chakra

Kind words can be short and easy to speak,

but their echoes are truly endless.

Mother Teresa

Chakra Five: Sound, Creative identity, oriented to self-expression

This is the chakra located in the throat and is thus related to communication and creativity. Here we experience the world symbolically through vibration, such as the vibration of sound representing language.

As we move into working with our Throat Chakra, Anodea Judith tells us to take a beath and listen to the air rushing into your lungs. Let the breath out with a sound, touching your fingers to your throat, and feel the vibration of the fifth chakra. With this simple motion of moving air through your body you express the consciousness inside and influence the reality around you. This is the essence of communication.

Sound, vibration, rhythm, music, voice, words, communication. Thse are all aspects of the fifth chakra, located in the throat, literally the bottleneck of the whole chakra system. Its name, Vissudha, means purification, as the release of sound urifies and orders the energy body for entry into higher consciousness.

This chakra is about opening the voice, speaking your truth, and freeing your creativity. It is where you take the will from the third chakra, add it to the breath in the fourth chakra, and energise the ideas coming down from the mind to express yourself in the world. Through communication you connect, expand, and unite with others, creating your world as you go.

The essence of this chakra is to find resonance and harmony with all that is vibrating around you. It is to open to speaking and listening, toning and singing, moving and dancing, and from this synergy you open your creativity to express your deepest self.

To open the fifth chakra is to commune, a word which forms the root of communication, and literally means to be one with. To communice with self and spirit is to take yet anotehr step toward the realisation of unity with all things.

Chakra Attributes

Color: Blue

Function: Communication, Creativity, Connection

Healing Essence of the Chakra: Located in the throat and neck region of the body and extending upward to include the lower region of the brain or cortex, this area holds the communication center. Through the Throat Chakra one may speak long-held truths of past hurts and, in the process, find much inner peace and a sense of personal freedom. With a healed and healthy fifth chakra, one’s words are kind, clear and truthful.

Keywords: Truth, Self-Expression, Song, Poetry, Clarity, Communication

Affirmations:

• I am the messenger.
• I speak my truth with clarity and courage.

Interpreting excess or deficiency in the fifth chaka

Excessive Characteristics

• Talking too much or inappropriately
• Gossiping
• Stuttering
• Difficulty being silent
• Excessive loudness
• Inability to contain (keep confidences, etc)

Deficient characteristics

• Difficulty putting things in words
• Fear of speaking
• Speaking with a small, weak voice
• Secretiveness
• Excessive shyness
• Tone deafness

Balanced characteristics

• Reasonant, full voice
• Clear communication with others
• Good communication with self
• Good listener
• Good sense of timing and rhythm
• Lives life creatively

The fifth chakra self evaluation

1. Are you comfortable with your own voice? Have you ever listened to its reasonace?
2. Do you allow other people to have their say and be heard?
3. In what ways do you express yourself creatively?
4. Do you feel that people hear you?
5. Do you communicate your feelings open and honestly?