Our addictions show us where we have an imbalance in our root chakra.
Our root chakra is ruled by the Earth element, it is our security to family, home, our primary needs for survival, our financial well being or lack of it, our connection to sex or disconnection from it, and our connection to family, tribe or community or disconnection.
As cities continue to swell with millions of people co existing in one place we have more disconnection from each other than ever before in our human history. Is it any wonder so many people are suffering from addiction to either pharmaceutical drugs, other drugs and alcohol, and with the internet providing in your face pornography breeding a growing generation of addiction to pornographic sex as people struggle to find connection and have their basic human needs met?
To heal from any addiction one must be brutally honest with one’s self and look the addiction in the eye and face that you have an addiction.
That is step numero uno!
Then you need to see what is it that this substance or feeling is providing externally that I am not sourcing internally. Ask yourself why do I keep grasping for something out side of myself even when I KNOW it is not good for me?
It may even be as subtle as grabbing for your phone first thing in the morning to see how many likes you received on your last post instead of getting up and stretching.
Be honest, brutally honest, what’s your addiction?
Many years ago I had an addiction to tobacco. I realized how it was manipulating my behavior so much so that I could pretend I really wasn’t a smoker but not only manifested living with smokers but smokers who smoked the brand of tobacco I liked so when the urge was there it was easily available.
Then one night on the rare occasion I was drinking in a bar and I observed myself, I spotted that yellow and red champion ruby packet and moved close to start up a random conversation with the owner of the tobacco so I could bum a smoke from them! After that night I heard the words loud and clear!!
CONTROL YOUR ADDICTIONS OR ELSE THEY CONTROL YOU!
That night I realized my addiction was controlling my behavior and decided to quit forever!
I did an over night burial in the earth.
I offered two packs of tobacco to the earth and I was buried with just my face sticking out for 18 hours!!!
It was one of the most intense things I think I have ever done!!
Needless to say I have never smoked again and broke the addition. I realized very early on in my life that the powers that control society have capitalized on our human weaknesses and use addiction to guide us in the direction they want which may not be the direction YOU want!!
This is where we as people must exercise our freedom of choice and to realign our third chakra which controls our will with our higher self.
This requires awareness commitment and perseverance to break any addiction.
The powers that control our world have used the best of human intelligence not to better humanity but to control and manipulate for capital gain and ease of control. They have studied the human tongue and know every nuance for chemical tastes and placed and laced so many of the foods people feed their children right at their eye level in supermarkets turning children into little demanding junkies.
The same system knows that generally parents want their children to be happy so when the little demanding junkie is screaming for that sugary coated cereal they are addicted to, they will eventually give in and give them what they want to quell the beast of addiction until it next rears its ugly head to be fed again.
Sex addiction is the most difficult to break as well as to unveil as it can hide under many guises of connection and pleasure. In todays climate of awakening feminine energy it can also be seen as empowering to reclaim your sexuality and explore all of it and break taboos etc etc and I am all for that but I am also keenly aware of how sneaky addiction can be especially hiding under the guise of spirituality. It can get very confusing!
In our world now statics show that one in three women and one in 10 men will experience some form of childhood sexual abuse. Statics show a disturbing rise in internet pornography and child sexual abuse on the internet on the rise despite efforts to quell this sickness of humanity.
It is a universal problem with grave life-long outcomes for us all.
So how do we as individuals deal with our own personal addictions in a world that is using addiction as a tool to control and manipulate us?
…We find our way back to our centre, we find our way back to connection with our self, we find our inner truth, we find our connection to the earth, and then we choose to heal and move beyond the realms of addiction to higher frequencies, we surround ourselves with people that we can be honest and authentic with to support us to RISE above our addictions and we learn to ask for what we need in the present moment so the need for touch, connection, love, vulnerability doesn’t disappear into our shadows and become a hungry ghost creating the addiction and feeding on our energy body trying to subconsciously get its needs met. NO we bring those wounded parts fully into the light and nurture them back to wholeness.
I love using the power of ceremonial space to support healing and shadow work because within a ceremonial safe container we can allow our psyche to journey to other dimensions and view our lives from a higher perspective.
One of my dear new friends from the Tantra Fest was addicted to smoking, he really new he needed to quit but was struggling- addiction is real in the body and chemistry of the brain. So I took some of his tobacco and I prayed with it. I buried it in the avocado tree I had for the cacao ceremony and asked the Divine Mother of us all to help him and asked the spirit of the tobacco to release him!! I received a message from him yesterday with the good news he has quit!!!! That is how Shamanism works it bypasses the logical mind and ventures into the unseen realms for guidance and assistance.
I have come back from my recent trip more committed than ever to my Spiritual path and to surrendering to the will of the Divine Mother who is working through and with me.
We need to dance and move the body to break free of all this conditioning we have suffered for eons- both men and women. There was a lot of workshops and talk about consent boundaries and self responsibility at the Tantra Fest this year. And I couldn’t agree more with all of that, however I also see that because the oppression and inequality of the sexes has been so prevalent for 1000’s of years, one 2 hour workshop on consent and boundaries may not be enough for some people to find their NO in the moment especially if the people of power ie teachers, facilitators, therapist etc are misusing their position to satisfy their own needs versus truly being of service to the empowerment of the individual students who have come to us looking for direction and support.
This is especially delicate territory if you carry wounds around your sexuality. I feel like just being a human being at this time and with all that we carry in our DNA from our past human history most of us carry some sort of distortion in the root chakra- hence all the addiction in our world.
Woman especially need to rise up and know your boundaries and to do this you need to know yourself intimately and to really heal from past traumas in the body so you don’t keep attracting the same situations over and over again. As woman we have a responsibility to teach men how we need, want and deserve to be treated and as men we need to support the rising and healing of men to get in touch with your feelings, your rage, your emotions, and redefine what does it mean to be a man in the 21st century and empower you to be sensitive and strong.
Then together we can walk and create a better world for the next generations. But as long as we choose to be controlled by our addictions we give our power away to external forces that don’t always have our best intentions at heart!
If you resonate with these words and if you are seeking support to break an addiction, and if you feel like you need to have a somatic (in body experience) of what it can feel like to choose a different path for yourself, Come and join me and amazing team of assistants in the nurturing environment of Mama Bali as we stretch the boundaries of not only our bodies but our imagination to envision a world where everyone’s needs can be met with love and expansion.
All retreats are for men and women unless specified~ Together we shall RISE!! All retreats include beautiful shared accommodation and meals and trips to one of Bali’s largest waterfalls for a purification ceremony.
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To learn more about what do in my programs, connect with me at www.inmyelements.com
X Malaika MaVeena Darville