This week I am dancing “Ajna” also known as the Indigo Third Eye Chakra and this is my 6th blog on dancing the chakra energy system. The Third Eye resides up between the eyebrows and perhaps this is the most famous chakra, as people talk about it widely. It is responsible for our vision, intuition, imaginations, dreams, psychic powers and is associated with higher or even altered states of consciousness. Clairvoyance? Clairaudience? Hmmm, I don’t know!
I am anticipating having some trouble with Third Eye and Crown Chakras. They are very “otherworldly” and spiritual. Pre-pandemic, I didn’t spend a lot of time in these arenas. Now, during pandemic times, I have been rather drawn to intuitive and spiritual matters with more time to reflect. I would like to think most others are also introspective during these times and that we have some higher reason for living in this pandemic!
Before dancing, I set up some decorations in the corner of the room to create a blue/indigo space for extra energy! I used vintage batiks found in a big trunk from my mother and grandmother’s days in Malaysia, and then set up my flamenco fans & flowers, Chinese turquoise fantails. I also enlisted some help with some crystal gem stones including blue and purple stones: Labradorite, Sodalite and Amethyst. Come onnnnnn blue powers.
The first time I danced “Ajna”, the music was very ethereal and meditative, but with beats and pulsing energy. I didn’t know what to do at first, so I just sat on the floor in cross-legged meditative position to listen with eyes closed. In my imagination, I was transported to Van Gogh’s painting “Starry Night” and had images of the deep indigo night and brilliant yellow moon and stars swirling around. Through the repetitive droning, I had visions of a green-eyed Black Panther (definitely not me, who is it?) and my characters from past Chakradances, Moon Cat and Tiger Warrior, in the moonlight.
Most of my dance was on the floor level, on back or belly or sitting or rolling. Other visions came to me. I relived scenes from flamenco study trips to Seville, Spain and experienced the incessant ringing of church bells! Then I was transported to the wild streets of Malacca, Malaysia and the rich wet markets of Kuching, East Malaysia. Also, this trance like music somehow had me recounting relationships with past boyfriends. Wow, crazy!
The second time I danced “Ajna”, I was able to get into the vibe of the music much faster. With eyes closed, old dreams from my childhood came to me. Things I had completely forgotten about, like seeing a planetary alignment from my childhood balcony and hearing an omnipotent voice talking about the planetary alignment and being scared! I also often have dreams of being chased and all of a sudden finding myself soaring over treetops, over rooftops, in and out of old buildings with arches and escaping easily. It was like having a whole different experience the second time.
Today is July 4th and I woke up to Facebook and Instagram posts about ALL the planets being aligned tonight (yes, all… Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto will all line up on one side of the sun.). This is so rare it will not happen again until 2161. Is this coincidence or synchronicity? Freak me out. This post by Matias di Stefano on Facebook. Furthermore, it’s a full moon called Buck Moon and a lunar eclipse tonight. Things that make you go hm… I have had a headache for whole week.
Photo Credit: Matias di Stefano
If anything about Chakradance, it certainly keeps you on your toes and draws upon “other energies” we either have pent up or brings awareness to things other than daily routine life. Honestly, it has been a process and learning experience to surrender to the music and allow the body to just move and respond to it intuitively, to get what you need out of the emotional experience.
This is my 6th week dancing through the chakras and it has taken me up until now to abandon the intellectual process of creating aesthetically pleasing movement and sensible choreography during these dances.
The Throat Chakra and Third Eye Chakra were both very meditative. Though the quality of the music was very different, both dances had an ethereal vibe that one just cannot “grasp” in a concrete way. It was a lesson in learning to just flow, just be “ether”.
I must say the Third Eye chakradance can get a bit psychedelic with visions snapping very quickly into the brain and out again. The creator of Chakradance said that the idea behind the music was to induce trance (reminiscent of many cultures) to open the third eye chakra where each dancer drifts into his or her own visual universe. It is said that the third eye has no boundaries. It is not bound by time or space. Thus, the dancer can be transported to other realms of consciousness.
With my feet firmly planted on the earth, I can say that it has been an interesting, eye-opening experience. Special thanks to Chakradance (link to http://www.chakradance.com/) for the experience, opportunity and challenge!
Stay tuned for final blog, Dancing the Crown Chakra…
“Dancing The Third Eye Chakra, Ajna”
North Vancouver, BC, Canada.
July 4, 2020
About The Author
Kasandra “La China”
Flamenco Dancer and Instructor, Director, Producer, Choreographer
Kasandra is one of Canada’s leading flamenco artists well-known for her unrelenting drive to push the artistic envelope. A tirelessly ambitious artistic director, soloist and prima bailaora, Kasandra is always hungry for new sources of inspiration and knowledge, constantly pushing her musical and choreographic mastery to its limits. She has been identified as “Vancouver’s flamenco star who has embodied flamenco with her dynamic, precise style” by Flamenco-World magazine. Read More
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