Compassionate Inquiry and Step 4: Healing Desire
Do you struggle with issues of craving, longing, loneliness or abandonment? Or do you feel like your creativity is blocked? I know for me I’ve been working with disappointment around not being able to manifest something I’ve desired deeply for many years. As I do a compassionate inquiry into these feelings, I see how there are many spiritual lessons in this experience for me, including a reminder to look more closely and see how full my life actually is. And I remember that my life has always flowed towards fulfillment in new and unexpected ways. See below for some embodied ways to skillfully work with these aspects of life.
Rachel is also available to work one on one, and she has created a series of videos guiding you through each chakra and emotion. Learn more about that course HERE.
The following are excerpts from Rachel’s recently released Step 4 Guide called Compassionate Inquiry
STEP FOUR: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
The creators of KY12 chose to combine the seven chakras with the seven difficult emotions in order to experience an embodied Fourth Step. We like the term Compassionate Inquiry instead of “moral inventory” because it reminds us to approach ourselves with kindness and with the intention to see ourselves more clearly so we can heal. Healthy, supportive self-care is vital during this time, along with a solid foundation in acceptance and self-compassion.
This KY12 Fourth Step inventory combines the work of Gurumeher Singh and Senses of the Soul® with Guru Rattana Kaur’s embodied exploration of the chakras. We will explore each of the seven difficult emotions (Fear, Desire, Anger, Grief, Depression, Guilt, and Shame) and learn to understand and work with it more skillfully. This exploration is embodied by incorporating movement, meditation, mantra, breathing, and other practices relating to the relevant chakra.
Fear and First Chakra
Desire and Second Chakra
Anger and Third Chakra
Grief and Fourth Chakra
Depression and Fifth Chakra
Guilt and Sixth Chakra
Shame and Seventh Chakra
The pairing of the emotion with the chakra is unique to the KY12 approach. As you explore each emotion and learn to come into dialogue with it, you will also learn about the associated chakra, as well as movements, breathwork, mantras, meditations, and other embodied tools to heal and balance each chakra and emotion. We have also included Worksheets that can be used to explore and document your work with each emotion. The underlying understanding about the emotions is that they are our allies, they are here to teach us how to take care of ourselves, and that when we listen to them without acting out, we get access to an inner guidance system that is invaluable for living life. As you use these tools during your Fourth Step, it is our hope that you will gain skills to work with difficult emotions throughout your whole lifetime.
Below is some information to help you understand the Second Chakra and Desire:
Second Chakra: Pelvis, sacrum, sex organs, and glands. Bladder. Color: Orange. Element: Water. Themes: Sexuality, creativity, addiction, relationship dysfunction, bonding, emotional attachment, passion.
Imbalanced: Loneliness, abandonment, rigidity, craving, indulgence, codependence, lack of boundaries, people-pleasing, obsessive behavior. Self-rejection, repressed emotions, frustration, living in fantasy. Crave but avoid connection. Ashamed of the body and sexuality. Emotional commotion. Sexuality not integrated with love.
In Balance: Emotional warmth and connection, emotional awareness, inner satisfaction, non- judgmental, relaxed, feel deserving of love, spontaneous, empathetic, capable of true intimacy. Ability to be creative, self-loving, passionate. Connected to inner child. Joy, happiness, enthusiastic, unrestrained, relaxed, and free. Magnetic personality, spontaneous. Can take care of own emotional needs. Can be in relationship without losing yourself.
Desire/Longing: Connect with yearning, needing, wanting, craving, obsession, addiction. Desire ultimately leads to self-sufficiency, deep contentment, empowered self-containment, and the freedom of desirelessness. Brings you clarity to understand your needs and the energy to satisfy them so you can feel contentment and serenity. Helps you move towards a sense that you have everything you need and develop a sense of feeling complete, capable of getting what you need, trusting that you will be provided for, so you can begin to desire only what is. Unite with yourself and your energy to feel satisfied and complete.
Here are some embodied practices that help you to access, bring compassionate inquiry to, and heal the Second Chakra and Desire:
Holding the breath out
Visualize the color orange filling and healing your pelvis
The Step 4 Guide also includes guided visualizations to work with Desire, and Worksheets to help you take compassionate inventory of how Desire is showing up in your life and what some potential solutions might be. May you find contentment, connection, and creativity!
