Part bathing ritual, part wellness activity, part sensory journey, this immersive experience invites you to engage with colour, light and winter like never before. It’s also an opportunity to reflect on your chakras, either for the first time or in a whole new way.
Come nightfall, each of the seven Amphitheatre pools is illuminated in one of the seven colours associated with the chakras. Alongside a chakra-inspired solfeggio soundscape, the experience is a way into exploring the qualities associated with each chakra – from groundedness to connection with your higher self.
As you move through the seven pools, you might notice that one or two pools, in particular, resonate with you. And whether you’ve already experienced Seek the Heat or are yet to do so, let’s take a closer look at the seven main chakras (along with corresponding affirmations) and how you might currently relate to each one.
As the first chakra, the root chakra (muladhara in Sanskrit) is all about feeling safe, stable and grounded. When out of balance, muladhara is associated with primal fear and insecurity. Physiologically, this is the chakra that’s said to be connected to our adrenal glands.
If you’ve been navigating tumult or upheaval in your life, feeling untethered or unmoored, spending too much time in motion, or dwelling in your head rather than your body, you might be drawn to the red hue of the muladhara pool. Because of the adrenal connection, this is also a great pool to immerse in if you’ve been experiencing burnout. Find stillness, let the tones of Josh Roydhouse’s 396 Hertz soundscape wash over you, and meditate on the affirmation:
I am here. I am grounded. I am safe.
Connected to the water element, svadhisthana is an especially poignant chakra to consider when soaking in a geothermal pool. This ‘sacral’ chakra corresponds with our creativity, emotions and sensuality, and might need addressing if we’re feeling creatively or emotionally blocked. The physical component of svadhisthana is our reproductive organs, representing creation in both a literal and metaphysical sense.
This pool, lit by a warming and deeply restorative amber glow, might resonate with those who want to spend more time in a flow state – that state of being where we feel creatively aligned and fully present, as if the rest of the world has faded into the background. While in the svadhisthana pool, bring your awareness to the pleasant sensory experience of being immersed in a geothermal spring and to Josh’s 417 Hertz piece of music. You might also like to reflect on this affirmation:
I flow and create with ease.
The third chakra governs our confidence, passion, sense of identity, motivation, gumption and guts (physically, it relates to our digestive system). To be connected to manipura is to be connected to our innate power, instinct, and how we present ourselves to the world. If you’ve been feeling disconnected from yourself or your purpose, a session in the solar plexus-inspired spring is an opportunity to bring these things into clearer focus.
As you immerse in the yellow aura of the manipura pool listening to the 528 Hertz track, hold this affirmation in your mind:
I know who I am, and I am capable.
Most of us could do with a little more love and compassion – including self-love and self-compassion. Anahata, the ‘heart chakra’, is responsible for these qualities, often spoken about in Buddhism as loving-kindness. The physiological system relating to the heart chakra is the respiratory system.
For those who have noticed they are relating to themselves or others with coldness or lack of understanding, the green-coloured Anahata pool is the perfect place to pause and cultivate warmth in the ‘heart space’ (the centre of the chest) while in the embrace of Josh’s 639 Hertz piece of music.
Metta (meaning loving-kindness) meditation is a simple, popular Buddhist meditation that encourages greater love and gentleness towards ourselves and the world around us. To help cultivate metta, silently recite the following affirmation, repeating it several times but changing the words each round from ‘I’ to ‘you’ (bringing someone you know to mind), and then to ‘all beings’.
May I be safe. May I be happy. May I be free.
Being able to express ourselves clearly and honestly is crucial to our sense of wellbeing. Vishuddhi, the ‘throat’ chakra, governs the act of communicating with the world around us, including being heard and understood. While the throat is responsible for our vocal ability, a balanced vishuddhi relates to our authentic selves being witnessed, however we choose to actually communicate – through writing, music, visual art, or any other method of conveying our thoughts and feelings.
If you ever feel as though you project a version of yourself that differs from the ‘authentic’ you, some quiet time reflecting on the throat chakra might be a way to return to yourself, who you are beneath the mask, and what it is you’d like to share with the world.
While you immerse in this pool’s blue tone (and in the soothing tones of 741 Hertz), your affirmation is:
I express myself freely and with authenticity.
Between the eyebrows – the spot where some Hindus, Buddhists and Jains affix a bindi – is the site of ajna, the ‘third eye’ chakra, which is associated with insight, intuition and clear vision.
In a world where we are often distracted, racing around and outsourcing our knowledge, our connection to our inner knowing and wisdom can be disrupted. Those feeling craving clarity about which way to turn might find the deep indigo of the ajna pool is a calming spot to call in your intuition. This is the pool to turn inward, ponder and listen. The corresponding soundscape is a clarifying 852 Hertz. Your affirmation for this third eye chakra is:
I already know the answer.
The first chakra is concerned with our earthly experience; the seventh chakra (sahasrara) is all about the metaphysical. Like samadhi, which is the eighth limb of yoga and the state of ultimate oneness and bliss that yogis are aiming to reach, the crown chakra is responsible for spiritual liberation, universal consciousness and integration.
While attaining this state is said to be the culmination of a dedicated spiritual practice, those who have their feet firmly planted in the material world might enjoy turning their attention to their mystical side in the sahasrara pool.
Bathed in violet light, this is the pool in which to consider our place in the universe and contemplate our connection to all things – including ourselves, each other and nature. As you listen to Josh’s 963 Hertz track and soak into this hot spring against a backdrop of remnant bushland, allow yourself to feel expansive.The affirmation for the sahasrara pool is:
I am one with everything.
With this information in mind, you might make a beeline for a certain Amphitheatre pool during our Seek the Heat activation – or you might approach the experience in an open and holistic way, observing what the colours and soundscapes of the different pools and other rituals evoke in you. If it resonates, you could bring a journal with you and note down any reflections before, during or after the experience.