I sat this morning to do my usual alignment and realized that my energy was barricaded with armor! After the violent upheavals of this last week and subsequent political yelling, in the context of increasing worldwide co-vid infections and of political threats and of reports of violence, my poor solar plexus and heart had retreated behind hard shields. I could imagine the armor like metal plates around the center of my body, but I couldn’t pry them off more than a crack. Hmmm. Not a very comfortable way to go about my day.

I know from long experience that trying to force off protection just doesn’t work. My inner self just whimpers, retreats more and throws up more barriers. First question: is there an immediate real threat? No. What I fear are projections into the future – what might happen. Even the fearful events of the last week, while I saw and heard them through the media, were not actually in my presence. It should be OK to lighten my armor. Some armor is from early trauma, but right now I just want to clear out the excess from last week.

Chakra breathing usually helps. I imagined myself breathing in and out of each chakra.

— The root chakra at the base of my spine. After three or four breaths I could feel my muscles and energy flex with each breath. Good.

— I moved to my sacral chakra in my lower abdomen, front and back. After five breaths I could feel flexing in that area.

— Now up to my solar plexus, at my diaphragm. Oops. Six breaths – still no flexing. Still hard as a rock, solid with armoring. Will adding color work, maybe a soothing green? Nope. Nothing.

For you:  If you try this and can feel flexing, keep going with the chakra breathing. Go up to the heart, then to the throat, next to your forehead and finally to the top of your head.

This morning though, I was stopped at my solar plexus, the place I most often feel fear. I need something more to clear this area. So I switched to adding motion to my breathing. My Crystal healing teacher, Katrina Raphaell, taught up some very gentle moves to clear the aura.

— I started over at my base chakra. Still sitting up straight, I gently move my body in circles around the base of my spine. I continue with the chakra breathing, inhaling as I circle to the right and forward, exhaling as I circle to the left and back. After three or four circle, I change direction, inhaling as I circle to the left and forward, exhaling as I circle to the right and back. This feels good!

— I move up to my sacral chakra. Sitting straight and centered, I place my arms relaxed on my thighs. I gently lean forward, keeping my spine straight. This stretches my lower abdomen gently as I inhale. Then I lean back as I exhale, feeling the flexing in my lower abdomen.

— To moving this motion up to my solar plexus, I straighten my arms as I breathe and flex. Ahhh. That’s better. I can feel the stiffness start to loosen. I continue until my solar plexus feels more fluid and less armored.

I won’t describe the rest here but there is a nice video on YouTube that is similar to the gentle process Katrina taught us: Cleanse Your Chakras: Kundalini Pranayama Practice. I found many of the chakra clearing yoga practices on YouTube to be much to vigorous for me, but this one I can follow in a gentle manner.

 Ahhh, this time once I clear my lower chakra, the upper ones clear more easily. I feel less weighted by emotional armor. More fluid and resilient.

But I think I’ll not read or listen to news for the rest of the day. News is no longer the dry public information service of my youth but now needs to grab as much of an audience as it can. Unfortunately the best way to do this is by headlines and sound bites that are very scary. “”If it bleeds, it leads.” “body bag journalism”.

Part of my anti-fear maintenance is monitor my own body, my own energy, and move what is stuck. But another part is to remove myself from the influences that try to trigger my fear.