Beginning Meditation

The muladhara chakra, at the base of the spine, is also the base of our being. It corresponds to the body below that point, the legs and the feet as well as the anus, and is represented by a square or cube. It's also where one of the body's three diaphragms, the mula banda, which we know as the perineal floor, is located, and is the foundation upon which our being rests.

If the foundation is shaky or compromised in some way, our lives will undermined by feelings of insecurity and dread, someties called "existential anxiety."

On deep inhale, think of the muladhara chakra as the earth, and imagine it as a solid cube, stable and secure. Suspending the breath after inhalation, mentally invest your first chakra with its innate immutability and its low center of gravity, strong, but flexible. On exhale, mentally chant the syllable "lahm," the sound associated with this chakra. Five repetitions.

Two inches above the first chakra is the focus of the creative instincts, the svadisthana chakra, associated with the genitals, sacrum, bladder and kidneys. Our children emanate from this spot, and our own origins as well, as it is associated with water, in which the earth of the first chakra can be dissolved. All life begins in water.

As you inhale, visualize the svadisthana chakra as a crescent moon with the two points turned upward, and imagine activating the enormous reservoir of untapped creativity which till now may have been bottled up by feelings of insecurity and doubt generated by an unstable foundation in your first chakra. Suspending the breath, survey the huge potential of the latent creativity you possess. On exhale, mentally chant the syllable "vahm," the sound associated with the svadisthana chakra. Five repetitions.

Take a cleansing breath, then inhale deeply. On exhale chant "Om." Three complete breath cycles, three times.

Open your eyes slowly. You've been meditating deeply, so don't move too fast too soon.

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