breaking the chains
the unstruck sound circle
Firstly, welcome if you are new here! :)
Whether we met at a show, a yoga class, a soundbath or you just stumbled upon this space—I hope you find it cozy, of service and inspiring. I believe the revolution exists in how radically accepting we can be of ourselves and others as we share this life. I hope to cultivate a space for this in all things I create- this newsletter being no different.
I love to share about the music that flows through me, sound-healing tools/science and upcoming irl gatherings here. Hopefully, it is useful to you in one or many of these ways!
I am so glad you joined us.
The word karma gets thrown around a lot. In our culture, it is usually referenced with a nod to good and bad behavior, “what goes around comes around”—but mostly its viewed as a way to protect oneself from future misfortune.
This just skims the surface of the karmic system—a cavernous and vast web cause and effect related to this life, past lives, and generational history.
In yogic philosophy, the karma exists to help humans reach liberation—moksha.
Karma is not about reward or punishment, good or bad.
Karma is simply about cause and effect.
It is a natural law like gravity- existing whether you believe in it or not. Even if you were to sit still in a room and never speak to anyone —you would accumulate karma from that experience.
Each action or inaction you take accumulates karma. Your life and the communities you inhabit are a product of your actions. This type of karma is called Prarabdha Karma- the soul lessons, actions and reactions active in your current lifetime that simply must be faced.
Take a moment- who are you surrounded by? What is it teaching you about what you have chosen?
All experiences— “good and bad”- exist to draw you closer and closer to your liberation. An experience only you can define for yourself. Many of us get very lost along the way and need a lot of suffering to remember this is what we are here for. This is so normal. So human. The suffering causes us to choose differently, which causes us to accumulate karma that moves us to liberation.
The second type of karma to consider is Sanchita Karma- this is the karma you accumulate lifetime to lifetime that has not yet born results or effects. We often do not get to know what this karma is, because each lifetime our consciousness is wiped clean and we must begin again as a soul facing our lessons. This karma is also related to the actions of our ancestors and their imprint on our souls.
When we have accumulated karma from past actions (this lifetime or past lifetimes) that have brought suffering, we can always change our choices and intentions in this lifetime/moment to consciously shift our experience over time. This is how we practice the breaking of the cycles.
When we have accumulated karma from actions that breed freedom, we can look to what is working and amplify those choices, make more of those choices. The ones that bring us peace.
Regardless of which type of karma you have accumulated, you can always make a different choice. Again- it is not about good and bad. It is about suffering or peace. And when you make that choice, you can accumulate more liberated karma, affecting the peace in your life, but also in the collective consciousness. One person’s liberation contributes to the liberation of all.
These moment to moment choices are called agamya karma, which means the karma you are working with right now. You have agency and power over what you choose in this moment consciously and therefore can shift your agamya karma. The more often you shift your agamya karma, the more likely it is you can eventually shift the sanchita karma. Prarabdha Karma is something you are stuck with.
So, you see….breaking the chains of the accumulated Sanchita Karma from past lives is not something that can be done so easily. This is why, being nice one time may not have an effect on how “nice” your lifetime is. There is past life karma at play. In order to shift sanchita karma, we need focused work and constant attention, and even then, it is completely possible that the heavy karma that has accumulated may not move this lifetime… depending on the karma of the soul at hand.
The Vajrasattva mantra is 100 syllables long and is said to help break the chains of sanchita karma when practiced every day for 40 days. This mantra is actually of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition but is often used by yogis for purifying karmic weight. This is the mantra we will be chanting together for the next Unstruck Sound Circle Meditation intensive which starts November 9th. We will chant this together every sunday morning. You can join us here.
The question still remains…do we still eventually get a nice life if we hold the door open for the person at the grocery store though?! In a way, yes. In a way, no. The timing of karmic cycles is not linear and does not match one to one. Also, intentionality is everything.
If I am opening the door with the intention of selfishly creating a nice future for myself karmically…I am serving myself…not the liberation of all beings. The effects of my actions can only bear fruit of that nature…likely suffering. The kindness of the action is not enough to bypass the intention of the action.
If I am running late and have my hands full and see someone really struggling with the door- and then take the time to put my things down and help them because I want to help them with no thought or mention of karma, that is a different story.
But! I may never know if that action was a karmic debt being repaid, or planting a seed for a future karmic blessing. And that is where I must remain if I want to move towards liberation. Expecting nothing. Knowing nothing. Moving from honest spaces internally. Humbly untying the knots from the past and taking responsibility for the future.
Consciously choosing compassionate action from a place of honesty as often as possible, and curating a life that breeds that awareness, is the key to breaking the chains of heavy karma that weighs us down.
This is a necessary action that does not happen without conscious choice. It sounds passive, but it is hard work. easier done together.
I hope you can join us to break some chains together this fall.
Thank you to everyone who came out to the Bruised Peach Festival last week. It was a super special time to dress up as the spice girls and sing into the night with such beautiful people.
The next gatherings are all soundbaths in November. The next sound portal arrives on November 19th with the new moon.
November 8th 2:30pm Yoga Tribe Brooklyn
November 13th 7pm Old First Church FREE soundbath
November 14th 7pm Craft Pilates Soundbath (Yes soundbath plus pilates!!! It sells out fast- grab a ticket asap)
November 19th Jivamukti Paris! Soundbath plus Yin Yoga
Break those chains!
Elly