Yoga With Rob Chambers

Do not be surprised if this exercise makes you emotional as it is designed to stimulate the Sephiroth and clear any emotional blocks. If you feel tearful it is best to give in to your feelings as suppressing them can sometimes lead to health problems and an increasingly negative attitude to life in general. Regular practice of this meditation will help create a feeling of being 'centred' and in control so that you are not so easily knocked off balance by things that would have upset you in the past.

Get into your chosen position. Close your eyes, and begin by focusing on your breathing. When you feel sufficiently relaxed, imagine a soft white pinpoint of light above your head and visualize it as it grows in size and intensity. This is the crown Sephirah, the source of celestial energy.

Absorb the light until it fills your head dissolving all tension and activating your third eye in the middle of your forehead between the Sephirah of Binah (Understanding) and Hokhmah (Wisdom). At this point you might feel a tickling sensation between the brows as your psychic senses are stimulated, but if you receive any spontaneous images or symbols do not be tempted to analyse them now. Stay focused on the light and leave any analysis for when you have returned to waking consciousness.

Now visualize the light being absorbed into the other Sephiroth activating these energy centres. Firstly see it being taken in by the throat which corresponds to Daat, the Sephirah representing the veil to higher knowledge. Then see it moving to the heart centre governed by the Sephirah Gevurah (Judgement), Hesed (Mercy) and Ttferet (Beauty), the latter symbolizing the place of the 'Higher Self'.

Next it moves to the solar plexus centre, the realm of the emotions, governed by the Sephirah Hod (Reverberation) and Nezah (Eternity), which represent the intellect and the instincts. The light then travels to the sacral centre, the place of the 'Lower Self' or ego ruled by the Yesod (the Foundation) Sephirah.

Finally it moves to the feet, the root centre, governed by the Sephirah Malkhut (the Kingdom). This is where we are grounded in the physical realm.

See each Sephirah as a spinning crystal or whirling vortex of light. See them forming a single shaft of light energy from your crown to your feet and feel yourself 'centred', radiating light in an oval-shaped aura that illuminates the space that you are working in.

Now gradually inhale and imagine the energy rising from your feet back up into your crown until it overflows in a fountain of light cascading down your left-hand side as you exhale.

Inhale slowly again, drawing the energy up the right-hand side of your body and back through your crown and down through your body to the toes as you exhale.

Repeat this process several times until the energy is freely circulating. On your last exhalation, visualize the energy overflowing from your crown down the front of your body. As you inhale again draw it up behind you from your heels to your crown: Imagine yourself bathing in the shower of light energy as you repeat the sequence until you feel 'centred' and cleansed.

End the exercise by closing your energy centres from the top downwards, and bringing yourself back down to earth - 'grounding' yourself by stamping your feet.