Astral Flow – The Inner Journey Through the Chakras

Astral Flow is a new painting inspired by returning to the chakra teachings through Yogananda’s perspective.

I’ve been working with the chakras for many years. I’ve taught about them and channeled guided visioning meditations connected with their energies. And yet, I remain a lifelong learner.

There is always another layer to discover.

This summer, I joined Ananda Worldwide’s online course Know Your Chakras, wanting to go deeper into the chakra system through the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda. I was already familiar with many aspects of the chakras, but returning to them from this perspective has opened up new ways of understanding the relationship between energy, consciousness, action, and our spiritual journey.

I painted Astral Flow to mark the beginning of my journey through this new course.

The meditator in this painting may look familiar if you’ve been following my work this summer. But this time, I intentionally elongated the figure to fit the 12″ x 24″ canvas.

There was something meaningful in that stretching.

Life asks us to stretch. Sometimes life itself can be a stretch.

And our inner work is to keep returning to balance and alignment—to become increasingly conscious of what moves us upward and what pulls us downward.

The elongated figure also speaks to the astral spine described in yogic teachings: a subtle channel just forward of the physical spine, through which life force moves. The chakras can be understood as energy centres or doorways along this pathway.

I love the image of an inner highway.

Energy can move up or down this highway, and according to the teachings I’m exploring, the direction of that energy influences our attitudes, our behaviours, and ultimately how we move through life.

In the yogic tradition, the ultimate goal is Moksha—freedom, liberation, or ego-transcendence: the realization of our true nature beyond the limited identification with the ego.

The teachings describe this as a gradual awakening in which the energy rises through the central channel of the astral spine. As it moves upward and the chakras become increasingly clear, the seventh chakra at the crown opens naturally.

That’s why I painted the lotus above the figure’s head.

It represents that opening.

Not something we force.

Something that unfolds.

And I find that distinction beautiful.

This isn’t an overnight transformation. The yogic path describes it as a progressive practice—a work of lifetimes.

One of the teachings that has particularly stayed with me is the relationship between action and energy.

In yogic philosophy, action creates karma. But not all action comes from the same place.

We can act from the ego—with attachment to an outcome, wanting something in exchange, seeking a reward, or trying to gain or protect something we already have.

Or we can act from the soul.

Soul-motivated action isn’t about what we’ll get back. It’s action offered without that same attachment to personal reward or protection.

According to the teachings, ego-driven action binds us more deeply to delusion, while soul-motivated action helps lift our energy.

And we don’t have to be perfect at this.

Even beginning to practice this attitude can change the way we move through challenging circumstances.

I find that incredibly encouraging.

We can be in a difficult situation and still ask:

Can I respond from my soul rather than from my fear?

Can I act without needing a particular outcome?

Can I choose the action that lifts rather than the one that binds?

Even when we don’t get it right, the effort itself becomes part of the journey.

We already carry karma—patterns of thought, feeling, attachment, and behaviour—that can affect the free movement of energy through us.

This is one reason the chakra system is so valuable as an inner map.

The chakras can be understood as places where energy becomes concentrated, including places where fear, attachment, and karmic patterns can influence us.

But the goal isn’t necessarily to go hunting for and resolve every individual piece of karma.

Instead, the teachings offer another way:

Lift the energy.

Through meditation, through conscious choices, through the practices and attitudes that support spiritual awakening, we gradually create a stronger current of upward-moving energy.

A river of energy.

And as that energy flows more freely, it naturally works through the chakras.

For me, this is one of the most hopeful aspects of the teaching. We don’t have to have everything figured out before we begin. We practice. We return. We lift the energy again.

Balance is not a permanent achievement.

It’s something we return to, again and again.

Creating Astral Flow has reminded me that spiritual learning doesn’t have an endpoint.

I can teach about the chakras and still be a student of them.

I can have years of experience and still discover a new perspective that changes the way I understand something I’ve worked with for decades.

That’s one reason I continue taking courses with Ananda. They help me stay engaged with the teachings, deepen my understanding, and—perhaps most importantly—keep me aligned and on track in my own spiritual practice.

Astral Flow is my visual exploration of that process.

The energy moves.

We respond.

We return to balance.

We lift again.

And, little by little, the path opens.

Perhaps that’s what the stretching in this painting is really about.

Not striving to become something we’re not.

But creating enough openness for the energy already within us to move more freely.

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P.S. As of this morning, this painting is part of an exhibition of my work at Prana Shanti Yoga Centre in Ottawa. If the painting calls to you, see more photos and buy it in my online shop.