And you’re breathing it, too

Draw in a series of deep breaths, and imagine these currents of air being expelled through the top of your head until this area feels clean and permeable.

Draw in another series of breaths; expel them through the middle of your forehead until this area rings with clarity.

Draw in a third series of breaths, expelling them through your eyes, making your vision crystalline and penetrating.

Do the same for your ears and for the hollow of your throat, deepening your ability to hear beyond the surface of words and things, and to clearly, fully and creatively express the energies you perceive and the truths you learn.

I used to teach chakra work of all kinds, but I am less of a Chakra Queen today than I used to be. I’ve learned that spirit beings are heavily into simplicity and, for the most part, nonlocality. Any concept that emphasizes a specific physical or time/space location for things (such as “the Heart chakra is located in front of the chest”) makes them roll what would be eyes if they had eyes. We have energy centers all over the physical body, and we have energy centers that are not local to the physical body, just as we are not confined to the physical body.

This breathwork practice is very simple and relatively quick. You can do it anywhere--sitting, standing, walking, lying down--and without anyone knowing that you're doing. You need no equipment, magickal tools or special supplies. Spirits, I've learned, are not Thing Freaks. They leave that sort of thing to us. And as I've worked with them, I'm feeling less of a need to use things or to engage in complex, formalized practices, more of a need to work with a simple magick of the mind. Call it quantum hoodoo, if you will. I continue to keep sacred images and things around, and work with visual symbols, because they are beautiful and provide focus and energy for my own consciousness.

If we like to use all kinds of beautiful, powerfully evocative items to move our own consciousness, the spirits are happy for us, and we can use those symbols and things to our hearts' content, but the spirits do not require them. This frees us to do what feels good and right for ourselves.

The breathwork practice is a good daily routine, spur-of-the-moment tension- and stress-reliever, an initiator for creative work and for any kind of self-expression. Moreover, it's a good beginning for any formal or informal prayer, meditation and communion with Spirit.