Chakra Balancing using Singing Bowl: The Demonstration

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If you have read my previous posts then you have already known that I had a good time with the monk, Wangchuck. The most wonderful part of the conversation is he helped me to learn some of the techniques using the singing bowl to heal oneself.

I also mentioned that I went to visit him in the monastery with the motive to understand about Buddhism and singing bowls. During my visit, he demonstrated some of the techniques using singing bowls. He focused on Chakra balancing. He also mentioned that before balancing, one should be aware of the chakra. So we should do chakra meditation to be aware of the conditions of different chakra.

Chakra Balancing

He first explained about the environment. He stressed that the environment should be cool and calm which will foster the comfortableness experienced.

He then explained about the chakra meditation.

For Chakra Meditation, the person can either sit in the chair or lie down on the mat. In either of the case, we must remember that our spinal column is aligned and straight. This meditation can be done by oneself or through the guide of another person.

After he explained the environment and sitting position, I choose to sit in a chair. Then as instructed I took deep and relaxing breaths with my eyes closed. I try to clear my distracting thoughts that were hovering in my mind. I then imagined a peaceful scenery of mountains and greenery landscape. I bet it was very hard to concentrate and imagine that scenery but Wangchuck helped me a lot. He clarified that it is normal to be lost and remember the distracting thoughts but the main point is to return and concentrate the imagery when oneself gets conscious about the distraction. So every time I got lost I would again return to the imagery. When I was completely relaxed, I then shift my awareness towards the base of the spinal column as instructed by Wangchuck. He then shared that the first chakra is located at the base of the spinal column. He then slowly suggested me to understand the feeling of the energy that is located at the base of the spinal column. He asked me whether the energy is rotating or in the idle position. If that's rotating then in which direction. What is the color, size of the energy? Whether it is glowing or not, and is that flowing throughout the area or not?

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I know I was experiencing a calm and relaxed time but as soon as Wangchuck enquired about the energy that I experienced in the base of the spinal column I feel puzzled because I didn't experience the energy or I couldn't figure out the energy. I believe my calm and relaxed period was at the end because I was trying hard to figure out the energy. Later I shared my experience with him and also I said that it was very hard for me to figure out the first chakra.

In reply, he suggested me to do the meditation two times a day in the morning and in the evening. He shared that this exercise will help me to understand about the chakra. He stressed that after knowing the energy at the base of the spinal column, shift the awareness towards the lower abdomen. This is second chakra and then afterwards solar plexus, heart, throat between eyebrows, and lastly top of the head. These are the location of third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh chakra respectively. He also suggested me to take a note of how I feel at the certain position.

He then added after awareness of the chakra, the person can then step to balancing the chakra. The chakra balancing can be done in two ways: one by oneself and the second one with the help from another person. The posture is same as while doing chakra meditation.

He then clarifies that if the person is doing chakra balancing to oneself then he must place singing bowl near to the chakra location and then strike the singing bowl three times gently and then the person can imagine the sound energy entering the chakra location. But for the head or seventh chakra, the singing bowl is placed on the head in an upside-down position.

If the person is doing chakra balancing to another person then he will hold the singing bowl in the palm near to the chakra location and then strikes the singing bowl three times gently. For the seventh chakra, he places the bowl on the head in an upside-down position.

He also explained that there are different singing bowls for different chakra, just like different buddha statues depending upon mudras, because sound note for different chakra is different. So he stressed that use of different singing bowl is better for proper chakra balancing and noted that if the person has metal pins of stainless steel ball joints then the sound might create discomfort for them due to resonance.

After the explanation, he then demonstrated how to use the singing bowl for chakra balancing. I then thanked him for the demonstration and promised him to practice chakra meditation and chakra balancing if I buy a singing bowl in future. The conversation with Wangchuck has turned me to be more introspective which I think is good for my overall development.