Workshop - Climbing the Ladder Kundalini Basics & the Eight Chakras

A M O N T H L Y W O R K S H O P S E R I E S 

Climbing the Ladder 

Kundalini Basics & the Eight Chakras 

through an Integral lens 

What if the chakras were more than energy centers? What if they were also a map of how we grow, and a doorway into the states and stages of consciousness we can touch along the way? 

Kundalini Yoga gives us the tools: breath, movement, mantra, and meditation. Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory gives us the orientation, a map of the stages we grow through and the states we can wake up  to. Together, the eight chakras become a ladder: energy centers in the body and gateways in human development. Each center transcends but includes the one before it, so no part of the self (or ladder) gets left behind. Each month we spend a session with one chakra and ask two questions: 

• Growing Up: What stage of development lives here? What does it ask of us, and what might be ready to stretch our views and beliefs about ourselves, the communities we are in and our culture?

• Waking Up: What state of awareness does this center open? States come and go like emotions (happy, sad, blissful, angry, etc). How do we meet each state fully without grasping onto them?

T H E E I G H T - M O N T H A R C 

Each session includes 

A short teaching · A guided kriya · Mantra and meditation · Time for reflection 

No experience needed. Beginners are welcome, and seasoned practitioners often find something new in the map. Each session stands alone, or walk the whole ladder. 

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Climbing the Ladder: Kundalini Basics & the Eight Chakras

A monthly workshop series exploring the eight chakras through Kundalini Yoga and an Integral lens. Kundalini Yoga offers the tools: breath, movement, mantra, and meditation. Ken Wilber's Integral Theory offers a map of how we grow and the states of awareness we can touch along the way. Each month we spend an afternoon with one chakra, as both an energy center in the body and a gateway in human development. Come for one session, or walk the whole ladder.

1. Ground & Trust (Root Chakra)
 Where do we learn to trust life?
 We begin at the base of the ladder, with the body that carries us and the ground beneath us. This is the earliest stage of human growth, where safety and self-preservation shape how we meet the world, and the state of simply being in a body. Through a grounding kriya, mantra, and a meditation for feeling held, we explore what it means to feel at home in yourself.

2. Flow & Belonging (Sacral Chakra)
 What moves through you when you feel you belong?
 The second chakra is the seat of feeling, connection, and flow. In Integral terms, it's the tribal stage of growth, where belonging shapes who we are, and the home of emotional and psychic states of awareness. Fluid, rhythmic movement, breath, and mantra help whatever is stuck begin to soften and move.

3. Kindle the Fire (Navel Chakra)
 Where does your will live?
 This is the center of energy, confidence, and action. It mirrors the stage of the achieving, individual self, and the felt experience of prana and will. We'll work with a strong, warming kriya to build inner heat and reflect on what it means to act with courage and clarity. Modifications are offered for all levels.

4. The Widening Circle (Heart Chakra)
 What happens when care grows beyond "my people"?
 The heart is where the ladder turns from me to we. This session explores love and compassion as a stage of growth, where our care extends to all beings, and as a state, the subtle experiences of devotion and archetypal vision that arrive on their own schedule. Breath, devotion, and meditation help us stay present with whatever arises.

5. Sacred Sound (Throat Chakra)
 What is true for you, and how does it want to be said?
 An exploration of voice, truth, and expression, from everyday speech to sacred mantra. Through the Integral lens, this is the integrative stage, where we can hold many perspectives and speak from that wholeness, and the doorway to subtle states of sacred sound and inspired speech. We'll chant together and work with the breath. You don't need to be able to sing.

6. Inner Seeing (Third Eye Chakra)
 What becomes clear when you look beyond the ordinary frame?
 This session turns toward intuition, perspective, and inner vision. It marks the early transpersonal stage, where our sense of self begins to reach beyond the personal, along with the subtle and mystical states of inner seeing and higher mind. Expect a slower pace, with breath and meditation that invite stillness and clarity.

7. One Taste (Crown Chakra)
 What's left when the sense of separateness softens?
 A quiet, spacious afternoon exploring unity and simply being. Here we touch the advanced transpersonal stages and the causal, nondual state of pure awareness, sometimes called "one taste." We'll move gently, then settle into a longer meditation.

8. The Radiant Field (Aura)
 What does it feel like to hold it all at once?
 We close the ladder with presence, radiance, and the field that surrounds and holds us inviting a glimpse of integrating all previous stages of consciousness through a state experience.  A lovely place to arrive whether you've joined every month or are coming for the first time, finishing with a long, restful relaxation.