2020 & Stones & Stuff...

Today is Friday the 3rd of April 2020 and, for the last month, my massage studio space has remained empty of clients. I am, like most people in the world, practicing social distancing and self-isolation. This year will surely make it to the history books—the magnitude of the what-if scenario can seem daunting and scary—so much so that today I feel like a ghostwriter of just a small part of humanity’s recorded history.

We all have to adapt, as many of us at home shift our work and social engagements online. At this point in the game, the only certainty we have is change. So staying healthy and focused is paramount for our mental, physical, spiritual and emotional health.

Focusing on my work helps me to stay healthy and engaged in life. I visit my work studio each day to keep it clean—wiping down the oil bottles, lighting the beeswax candles, changing the water where the stones are stored, polishing the copper vessels that hold the warm oil for the Ayurveda treatments, disinfecting the steam canopy with essential oils, burning incense, and ringing the chimes to keep the space clear and energetically charged for the future arrival of my next client.

During this process, I become fixated on my massage stones. I hold each stone in my hands, admiring their different colors, shapes, and sizes as though it were my first time. Because stones have been embedded in the earth for millions of years, some of them contain iron-bearing minerals such as magnetite; thus they can take on the magnetic attributes of the earth’s magnetic field. The stones not only offer us energy, but they receive energy from us as well. They act like magnets on a subtle level and can absorb negative energy from our physical and energetic fields. Each stone helps in drawing out repressed emotions, deep sorrow, and pain. In short, the stones can polarize any imbalances and bring about deep and transformative healing.

I think about their healing power and how they work in each session to provide my clients with not only grounding warmth, comfort, and support but also, because of their physical and energetic balancing qualities, provide clients with a psychological uplift and a lighter sense of wellbeing. Something many of us may feel we are missing in these precarious times. Spending too much time indoors and on the computer can leave us disconnected from the earth and the grounding qualities that the stones represent. Periodically, in order to charge my stones, I have to take them outdoors back to the earth and back into nature where they were born. The stones get “tired,” and they need to have their energy, as humans do, recharged. I leave them for days in my garden under the rain, the sun, the moon, and the stars.

It is interesting to note that in Tantra Yoga the first chakra is ruled by the earth element. Tantra, a Sanskrit word, is basically a device (tra) for expanding (tan) and working with the mind to help us deal with our psychophysical energy, lifting us out of our own suffering first, then helping us transform our animal nature into our higher, spiritual selves so that we can have a direct experience of a deeper truth and connection to the world around us. The stones, representing the earth element also represent spiritual energy because they physically ground us and energetically lift us up simultaneously.

The first chakra is also home to the well-known Kundalini (spiritual) energy. It’s worth noting that Ayurveda correlates the sense organ, the nose, with the organ of action and elimination, the anus. Meditating on the tip of the nose can help connect us with Kundalini energy, which can induce inspiration, creativity, and vitality.

And pranayama (breath control) is a Tantra yogic device that uses breath to awaken spiritual or Kundalini energy. Basically, with breath control, we can induce states of hypoxia and calm our bestial nature, stabilizing our thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and making us less reactive and more responsive. It calms the beast and awakens the spiritual warrior.

Since the first chakra is connected with the desire for security in the form of jobs and shelter it becomes important in our current times, when there is a direct threat to our livelihood and security. Meditating on the first chakra can help keep us guarded against the fear and anxiety that can overwhelm us and destroy the creative energy we’re going to need to start fresh with a new paradigm and a new perspective.

In Jyotish, Mars, the fiery red planet (red is also the color of the first chakra) that represents our will power, ambition, and the goal to seek new ways of living gains its maximum strength and dignity in the first chakra. This exalted warrior nature gives us the qualities of strength— mental, physical, and spiritual fortitude. The spiritual warrior chooses the high road in the face of adversity, while the beast prefers pettiness. The beast fails to understand itself because it’s always running wild, chasing its tail as it consumes the world with its five senses; it easily falls prey to hedonistic behavior as it loses its divine memory. The irony is that the beast and the spiritual warriors are one and the same nature: we are both simultaneously.

Considering our quarantined lifestyle, this could be a good opportunity to start practicing meditation and pranayama so that we may know the difference between these elements in our nature. I consider my massage stones like meditative sentient beings that act as agents of the earth to help heal our first chakra issues around greed, anger, and avarice. The stones’ healing energy balance our first chakra so that we have the clarity to choose creativity, as opposed to fear, as the intelligent foundation, upon which we can build our new realities through this challenging year and years to come.

I am grateful to have them in my studio, and in my life today even more so than ever. So the next time you’re outside enjoying the beauty of the spring season, notice the red tulips jutting out from the ground, straight and strong like a Martian warrior’s red-tipped arrow aiming at the heavens toward a supreme goal. And smell early spring’s sweet and uplifting cherry blossom perfume, the woody evergreen clematis with their faint vanilla-scented white star-like flowers, and the clusters of highly fragrant hyacinth. The sweet smells of spring can help awaken us from the stupor of first chakra small-mindedness.

Most importantly, don’t forget to pick up a few stones and plop some in your pockets or hold them in your hands for grounding and raising the quality of Mars’s vital energy. Or even try holding them in your hands when you meditate or for fun balance a small one on the tip of your nose. Who knows—no pun intended—you may even find yourself starting your own stone collection at home and discovering new ways of working with these sentient beings, new ways of meditating, and new ways of connecting with nature.