Chakra: Heart
♎Sign: Libra
Mantra: I Balance Hydrogen. I Balance the visible and the invisible within me.
🔥Activation: Bring the palms together in front of the chest and breathe deeply.
Hydrogen is part of a gas (hydrogen sulfide H2S) used by the neurons in the brain to regulate our breathing pattern. This balancing mechanism represents Hydrogen in Libra. It plays an important part in regulating the balance in our system.
During a special Navaratri at the ashram, a well known singer in the Bhakti community named Wah! came to sing with us. It was a beautiful session, filled with energy and devotion. When it was over, I came to sit outside of the temple and Wah! And her partner came to sit with me. We chatted for some time, and I got to hear the story of how she came to be a singer, and how the two of them met. Near the end of our conversation, her partner looked at me and said, “You don’t receive well, do you.” I looked at him intensely trying to understand where he was going with this.
“You don’t receive well from others, and you’re an over-giver.” He said again.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I can tell by your breathing. You breathe in too fast like you are trying to hurry up to exhale. Your exhale is uneven, and you have to take deep breaths to manage it.”
“Ohhhh Kay…” I just looked at him and didn’t know what to say. Wah! Said it was time for them to leave, and so I was left to contemplate that assessment for the rest of the evening.
He was right about me, of course, but how could he tell that by just watching me breathe? I started to weave the ideas of that concept with lessons my teacher gave us on the importance of both breathing in a mantra, and breathing out a mantra. There is a special technique to breathe in a certain number of syllables, and breathe out a certain number of syllables. It creates a balanced rhythm in our internal energy system. By consciously doing this, we can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, weave into our field the vibrations of our voice, and heal the ailments in our bodies.
I began working on equalizing my breath. I realized quickly that I was holding on to a lot of fear and mistrust in my breathing. My teacher suggested I use a conch shell to regulate my breathing. So every day, I blew on that conch shell until all the fear of losing my breath and not having enough were dissolved in the vibration of the conch. My breath became more regular, I felt a much deeper peace, and I could finally perform the breathing in and breathing out of the mantra sadhana. From there, I could move forward with expanding my practice with equilibrium.
I Balance Hydrogen. I Balance the visible and the invisible within me.