This question came in – Christine, do chakras still exist?

A member of our community perked up some time ago when I offhandedly remarked in a live event, “Well, if you still believe in chakras, that is.” She was relieved because she had been perceiving a similar reality, and had even voiced it aloud in a community. But then in a later event she heard me reference chakras with full acknowledgement of their existence. So, she wondered… which was it? I thought I’d dive into my response on behalf of all of us!

I have been aware for some time that, for many of us, our energy systems have moved beyond chakras. These spinning energy vortexes have actually dissolved and become a different, more singular system. My sense is it’s like aspects of separation that have fulfilled their course are now moving back into a more unified, integrated expression.

I also see a lot of us moving back-and-forth between the energy anatomy of the chakra system and this more unified field energy system. We are in the tweener phase. So this beautiful soul was looking for my definitive position to help her gain clarity and a greater confidence in her perception.

The answer, as you can imagine, is simply, “Yes!” For me, this is a perfect example of mutually exclusive realities that are both true. Chakras exist and also don’t exist. Likewise, single individuals (you or me for instance), can move back-and-forth between these two realities.

One of the shamans we work with in Bali bases a large portion of his healing method on the chakras – whether they are open, healthy, etc. He is also aware of a planetary correlation with each chakra, and how through your chakras you can get in touch more deeply with the energies of the planets and the universal truths therein. He is a powerful, perceptive healer and seer.

I still regularly reference chakras in regards to singing bowls, as these instruments use a system of pitch where given notes correlate to various chakras or glandular systems in the body.

So is it possible you no longer have chakras? Absolutely. Do chakras still exist? I believe so.

I think this exploration invites us into something even more interesting than whether or not these energy centers are still here, and it is this: our minds seek to know an exact, precise answer, which by its nature negates all of the other answers. Then we know the “right” thing instead of the “wrong” one. Then we can relax. Then we are secure.

However, I find that the more expanded and spacious our consciousness becomes, the less satisfying this dualistic, polarized way of viewing the world is. We cease finding reassurance in our correctness and more delight in our curiosity. It isn’t then about, “Is it this, or that?” All of creation becomes more of a , “Yes, and…” And everything gets bigger and bigger.

The most interesting part for me becomes how are we in relationship with this information and our perception? What is true for us? What feels like that full-on, vibrational YES in our system? Do we trust it? How deeply do we honor it?

This is a beautiful avenue towards your sovereignty and mastery, to trust so deeply your own knowing and experience that it really doesn’t matter if it’s corroborated, affirmed, or experienced by others. What if it is enough that, if something is true for you, it is simply true? Feel that in your body.

My experience shows me that the deeper I go into the mysteries of life, the less I know. Less and less is absolute, and more and more is wondrous and ineffable. Could it be that everything exists in the universe (and more), and is of equal value and truth simply because it is?

I begin to become weirdly satisfied in this messy incompleteness and uncertainty. The not knowing, the depth and breadth of contradiction, paradox, and the sheer vastness of possibilities begins to feel powerful to me. True.

In this I feel open and free. How about you?

All Love,
Christine

Do you ever wonder if what is happening in your life is due to some choice you made at the soul level before you came here? If you are wondering, this is likely a factor in your current experience! You may be familiar with the concept of soul agreements or contracts. These are mutual plans that souls forge before coming here so that they might serve each other in various ways.

First of all, it’s helpful to know there is always great love at the core of our soul agreements. I say this because, depending on the contract, there may be a lot of heartache along the way! Sometimes we agree to come and play a role that may be painful or difficult for someone else, or they agree to do the same for us. Keep in mind the only reason we agree on this is because we love one another so purely and deeply. We are willing to do pretty much anything in service to our soul beloveds so that they might gain what they wish from this lifetime.

The soul is brave. It is wise and ready. And it has a sense of confidence and clarity that isn’t necessarily evident in our fragile human situations.

I’d also encourage you to keep in mind that when you make these agreements, it is your soul that makes them, not your human person (she/he didn’t exist yet when this deal was struck, remember?). How your human feels when the contract plays out may be fully at odds with the soul choice, particularly when situations of victim/perpetrator, heartbreaker, or betrayer arise.

It’s why we made the choice before coming, because once we’re here, honestly, I think there are many situations we simply wouldn’t choose or sanction. In this way our human experience is a bit like becoming delirious from a lack of oxygen at high altitudes. Before we ascended the peak (came here), we agreed to follow the wisdom of our guide (our soul). We knew they (as us) were the ones to see us through. We were on their team! But then the delirium of the veil of forgetfulness sets in, and we find ourselves adrift. That’s when we can really get in our own way, just as someone with altitude anoxia can wreak havoc on their life.

Another analogy I heard recently to illustrate the relationship between our soul and self is that our soul is acting like a parent to our human (thank you, Nikola, for this one). Just as a parent sets parameters and makes requirements of their children which the children do not always like, sometimes our soul is delivering a kind of tough love to our self.

I would go so far as to say this soul-parent/human-person dynamic plays out as agreements with those who show up as our perpetrators, heartbreakers and betrayers in this particular divine mystery play. They come to play a role so that we might glean some wisdom or other soul expansion through a deeper awareness of what it truly means to love and be love. They are here in service to us, but lots of times all we can feel is the well-justified anger, hurt, and dismay.

But then, there aren’t many children who actually like going to bed when they feel like staying up all night at a sleepover, or eating all of the foods that their parents deem as necessary nutrition instead of constant cereal and candy. This is what soul love is – the celestial nourishment that we so courageously choose but for which we have no human appreciation. We feel more like, “That stuff is wrong! It hurts! What do you mean I chose it? Screw you!” And we are right! And… there is another truth at play here. It takes a real maturity of consciousness to find the entire feast of earthly experience not only palatable but perfect. It doesn’t mean we like it or that it doesn’t hurt. It means we are with it in a different way.

I was able to understand this nutrition analogy very directly when I had been diagnosed with an auto immune disease some years back. My naturopathic physician suggested I might want to give up eating wheat and dairy. I told him no thank you, I wasn’t interested in that, and I went about my way. How many healthcare providers (or guides or coaches) have encountered this, where there is a clear knowing of what could assist an individual to literally get them where they say they want to go, but that person just isn’t interested!?

Well fast forward a bit to when I signed up for a yoga detox camp. It was a two-week series where we met every morning for class, coupled with an elimination diet to give the body a cleanse. Within about five or six days I felt soooo much better. My pain level was significantly reduced and I had more energy. It was actually amazing. I began to wonder about the food triggers. There was a whole host of things I wasn’t eating in this particular cleanse, so at the wise counsel of my naturopath, I added them back in one at a time at two-week intervals. Guess what immediately lit up my symptoms? Dairy and wheat.

Well now I was motivated, because I’d experienced both what it was like to indulge my personal preference as well as to feel better from choices in accordance with my greater overall health. The latter easily won out, and my diet shifted for good.

Isn’t this how so many of us learn, through experience? No matter how many times a parent tells a child about consequences, the dangers they’ll risk, or the pain that will come if they go a certain direction, that child simply has to experience it for themselves before they’re ready to make a different choice. That was me with dairy and wheat.

This has also been my human’s response to my soul’s parental wisdom at times. Not so much any more, because I’ve learned the folly of the short-sightedness of my human awareness and small-self preferences.

Now whenever I am in a phase of eating that which I would rather not eat, soulfully speaking, I have simultaneous access to the wisdom underneath it. But I still don’t like it! So I just go ahead and grump in my garden of dislike while giving my wholehearted “yes” to the process.

Because I’m all in: for embodied consciousness, for living beyond just my small self, for living as the whole of me. It’s clear to me that this is what we’re here for: all of the experiences, not just the comfy ones. Again and again, experience shows me that Love expresses as the whole spectrum. Because Love is infinite and infinite includes all. As a friend likes to say, “All is the single, undivided beloved” (thank you, Andrew Kalki Forrest).

So when we talk about unity and oneness, it necessarily includes everything. Every vibration. Darkness. Density. Pain and anguish. Brilliant love and light. Our truest nature shies away from nothing, and is up for everything (just like our souls!…our human selves not so much). This process of embracing the whole in love expresses as embodied enlightenment.

I for one really don’t l like it when my soul is doing tough love on me. Even when I know that all of my experiences are of my own creation for the ultimate good of everyone involved, I just don’t like it.

I’d also like to add that there is nothing in me that thinks it must be hard, that our soul lessons are destined to be painful, that tough soul love is required. I don’t believe that we ever need be at odds with ourselves, dimensionally speaking. It’s just that I see it play out, over and over. I see it with my clients, as well as in my own life. For now it seems to be one of the primary ways that we do ascension here on earth. Through the body. Through the stuff. Through the messiness of being human. And, my friends, this human thing requires stamina, courage, and grit.

So when I’m eating my soul-love pie, I can soften into the moment. I can honor the pain or rebellion of my human heart, knowing that my being always has my back. I know that everything is Love, and this abiding wisdom walks along side me. It holds and cradles me in my human weariness, like the comfort of an unconditionally loving parent, a love that never ends.

Living in this awareness also allows me to experience my past differently, such as the man who woke me at knifepoint and raped me. He is now a guardian angel energy of protection in my life, which absolutely blows me away. And this is real for me. But that is a story for another time!

This is how I love to guide others, bridging their human awareness to their advanced consciousness, the absolute wisdom and love of their being, so they can relate to their lives from far beyond the limited perceptions of their small human selves. Then they can see the incredible generosity of others as they play the tough roles, and deliver the soul lessons. They can actually come to see that there is no separation between their less-than-noble characters in their divine mystery plays and themselves. It’s all one infinitely grace-filled dance of love, for the love of all. The single, undivided beloved.

I wish you a blessed and gentle journey through your tough soul love junctures. We all have them, and they can be challenging! I wish you the grace to love your human self with tender devotion, the courage to step surely onto your soul path, and the presence of awareness to know you are always so much more than anything you can think or see. You got this.

All Love,

Christine

Ready for some transformational fun? Because I have a question for you.

Are you piling frosting on your poo? This is what I call it when you put a spiritual concept (almost always one that is true and beautiful at some level) on top something painful in your life with the intent of making it better.

Examples of what I call “frosting phrases” might be:

“Everything happens for a reason.”
“You are creating your reality.”
“This is here for me to learn lessons and grow.”
“Everything is Love.”

Whether or not these concepts are true isn’t the point for me here (because I find that at the level of soul and spirit, they are!). What I’m curious about is how these beautiful truths turn into poo frosting according to when and where we apply them. Frosting may be yummy, but no amount of it is going to taste good on top of poo. Rather than making the poo better, it just ruins the frosting. Because that’s not where frosting goes!

Likewise, placing a spiritual truth on top of a personal pain or challenge does not bring healing or change. Instead, it creates a debilitating loop-de-loop that actually digs you deeper into the middle of where you don’t want to be. Some call this spiritual bypassing, but honestly, I kind of like bypasses. They get me where I want to go – faster, quicker, and easier. This phenomenon, on the other hand, is more like going deeper and deeper into a hole where you continue to recreate the very thing you wish would go away, never arriving at your destination.

So what exactly is this poo we are frosting and where does it come from? It’s what I call the waste that’s left over from ingesting your life experience. This includes the limiting beliefs that form, the thoughts and fears that wake you in the night on repeat, and the stuck patterns of energy in your body that can lead to dysfunction and disease, to name a few. Succinctly put, it’s the residue of pain.

This pain residue does a lot of things. It fires up your triggers. It fuels your emotional melt-downs. It is also largely responsible for your incapacity to digest certain information in the news or lives of others without experiencing a deep, personal upset (this was the case for me for years with anything around rape or sexual abuse – I just couldn’t handle hearing about it). This pain residue (some call it the pain body) holds the glowing hot remnants leftover from the burn of experiences that were too much to bear.

Now, we all know there’s nothing ultimately wrong with poo. It’s natural. And it’s equally true that we’re not meant to hang on to it. When it’s time for excrement to exit your system, it’s a good idea to follow that urge! Likewise, once out, you don’t want to keep it around, adorning it with explanations of what it’s teaching you or its deeper meaning, no matter how profound. Because underneath that, well, it stinks!

So let’s take a further look at what’s happening with frosting phrases such as “creating your reality” or “happening for a reason.”

Here is an example: A young couple experiences a miscarriage. Their hearts are broken and grieving, and someone says to them, “Everything happens for a reason.” Ouch.

Another: A woman is with an abusive partner, and her friend says to her, “I wonder why you are creating this reality?” Oof!!

Or more subtly, you are experiencing a repeating pattern of something difficult like self-sabotage, lack of financial resource, or feeling unloveable, and the thought inside your head says, “This is here for me to learn a lesson.” Poo piling!

Again, all of these things may be true at the deepest level, but when said in an attempt to address your or someone else’s pain, they’re actually more hurtful than helpful. So when it comes to healing, the human part always needs to be first in line, long before we get to upper dimensional truths, which truly are the frosting on the cake. Otherwise that soul/spirit wisdom can feel more like abuse.

I can tell you this: In the midst of life’s deeper challenges, your human self is never consciously opting in for pain so that you can learn, grow, or have a reason. Nope. Not doing it. Your soul? Sure, it seems to be up for everything. Your masterfully wise and infinite presence? It is always here in equilibrium and peace, saying, “Yes. All Is.” But your human? No, she is not learning a lesson, creating a reality, or happening for a reason in these moments. She is simply hurting. Which means all of those frosting phrases plop like a heavy heap in the lap of her pain.

So what’s another option?

First: Realize understanding does not equal healing.

It’s helpful to remember in the moment that, while you’re seeking to understand so you or someone else can stop hurting, emotional pain is not alleviated by understanding any more than physical pain is (just because I know why my broken ankle hurts doesn’t mean it suddenly stops hurting!). The path to healing is much deeper than mental understanding, even if – especially if – what you understand is true. You’ll likely need to practice this awareness more than once.

Second (likely you’ve heard this one before): You often need to feel to heal.

This means you get to actually experience your poo in the form of flushing or having a trash out, aka taking an emotional crap. How deeply can you allow everything you feel, keeping in mind you may not even know what you feel when you begin? Anger? Rage? Despair? Are you willing to feel it even if it feels like you won’t survive the process? Because this is likely what your mind will tell you when you’re up against your deepest core wounds. How fully can you allow emotions to pour through unchecked, no matter how intense they become?

The goal of this phase is raw, honest movement. Don’t leave the feelings in, express them OUT! Feel and express them purely and simply, no stories attached. Then let them go without commentary. You do this in the privacy of your own space, not spewing them around at others (I mean, would you poop that way?). Keep it clean, contained, and complete. And if there is more poo? Have it out and flush again! Do this as long and often as necessary, and not a moment longer. Commit to refrain from “thinking about it” further. Otherwise you’re literally fertilizing your poo to create more piles, one thought at a time.

It’s good to note that if you’ve been piling for a while (frosting, pooping, and frosting again), you may have a well-layered poo cake. You may have some excavation to do. A backlog of stuck life experience can get sluggish and solidify over time (chronic pain comes to mind). Often the first movement is the most difficult. Be brave! It gets easier, and is totally worth it.

And finally, there is the truly transformative, 3rd ingredient:

We feel the feelings, yes, but we do more than that. We meet the feelings with something that is beyond them, something that has a greater capacity than our human mind, emotions or body. This is the alchemy of unconditional love. Some call this faith, or God. For me, it is presence, which is both an inside job and something we all are already. I have found that pain is ultimately healed through a loving relationship of presence with our lives. We do this through loving and being love unconditionally, with everything. Poo and all.

“Do I really need to love my poo?” you may ask? YES! (I mean, who doesn’t look at it out of curiosity, anyway?). But not with little human love. This is where many stall out in the concepts of self-love without the actualization. We must learn to love, be love, from a space much bigger than any human small self could ever be. This loving presence is infinite, peaceful, and compassionate. It is constant. Relating to your life from here is the game changer. And the great healer.

What if your poo is truly here to lead you home to what you’ve always wanted? That’s a pretty noble job for something so essentially unpleasant! How utterly ironic and amazing that your gold is buried in your poo (and gold is way better than frosting in the end). Sure, you might get a bit grubby digging for it, but in this transformational healing you’ll also discover your richest blessing and gifts. You’ll come home to the unfailing, abiding love that you are, and finally be able to live it.

Then you wake up in the sheer ecstasy of having what you wanted all of your life: love that always has your back, that totally sees and gets you, that lets you know you’re never alone, and are infinitely cherished. Your presence truly is your home of unconditional love. And it’s been here all along, just like Dorothy and Toto in the Wizard of Oz. They never left, but they sure got tossed by a mighty and convincing whirlwind of a dream!

My greatest joy is helping you to not only understand this, but also live and experience it, day to day, moment by moment, all the way through. Then you not only have your “poop in a group,” but you can truly live and love the beautiful, golden truth of all of you.

You’ll find this guidance and support for this in all of my offerings, from free community events and messages to custom-tailored group programs to deep-dive, one-on-one mentorship. It’s my honor to help guide you home into You.