Bridger of Worlds
The Bridger of Worlds podcast is an in-depth walkthrough between the world of matter and world of spirit. I struggled with porn addiction for close to fifteen years, and all of this led me to discovering some very crucial and beautiful things about not only the physicality of my existence, but the spirituality of it as well. Since then, I‘ve been building bridges that have served me in feeling more whole and well-integrated. I’ve now made it my mission to share with you whatever it is I’ve learned.
Themes, topics and healing modalities such as spiritual embodiment, psychosomatic practices, Shadow Work, Masculine/Feminine energetics, conscious sexuality and archetypal meanings are brought to the forefront in order to raise awareness around what is out of sight because it is only from there that new life can ever emerge.
The greatest paradox of the human condition is to live amongst duality as we seek unity. This is a podcast honoring both and in doing so, creating the loving connections and honest-to-raw conversations we so desire in our lifetimes.
Bridger of Worlds
From Root to Crown: The Alchemy of Sexual Energy, Breathwork and Kundalini
In this enlightening episode of the Bridger of Worlds Podcast, host Ioannis Kokkinos delves deeper into the profound connection between sexuality and spirituality, focusing on the metaphor of 'inner fire' and the transformative practice of breathwork. Building upon the themes from the previous episode, Kokkinos explores the symbolism of chakras and their links to different elements and stages of spiritual development.
Kokkinos highlights the significance of the Kundalini fire, starting from the root chakra and ascending through the spine, and explains how unresolved trauma can block or distort this vital energy. He shares how, through breathwork, the Kundalini energy can be consciously raised, aiding in spiritual awakening and facilitating the union of the lower, animal chakras with the higher, more spiritual energies.
Additionally, the episode touches on various cultural perspectives on inner fire, drawing from different religious and spiritual traditions. Kokkinos concludes by reinforcing the idea that sexuality and spirituality are essential, interconnected, and creative aspects of the human experience, inviting listeners to embrace and harmonize these energies for profound personal growth.
Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Bridger of Worlds podcast. I am your host Ioannis Kokkinos. Thank you so much for joining me. If you are on YouTube watching, thank you for tuning in. And if you're on one of the podcast platforms, thank you for tuning in as well.
Recap of Previous Episode
So today I want to build on the previous episode.
In the previous episode, I talked about the connection between sexuality and spirituality. And how basically the bridge, the link. for those two polarities is fire. I talked about Kundalini fire. I talked a little bit about breath work and how pivotal that is in this practice.
Exploring Breathwork and Symbolism
So today I want to talk a lot more.
About breath work. I want to bring in symbolism because when we're talking about chakras, we're talking about symbols. We're talking about energy centers in the body. Where there is a plexus of neurons and hormones and all kinds of biological, networks that is going on.
That's why we have these energy centers. It's not just a woo woo, uh, you know, school of thought. So, I want to talk more about fire as a symbol and what it means when we're working with inner fire, when we're incorporating breathwork, and further making the connection between sexuality and spirituality and how they are actually not opponents, but two polarities that serve.
one another. Okay. So for the sake of today's episode, I will be talking more about Kundalini fire, the fire serpent that's located at the base of our spine. But it is important to know that many cultures, a few religions, Most esoteric teachings, schools of thought talk about this inner fire through different symbolism, maybe through different animals.
The serpent is universal. However, it is an archetype. So when we're saying archetype, we mean the universal energy, the universal meaning, no matter what culture, no matter what teaching.
And universally speaking, archetypally speaking, the serpent is a symbol for our sexual energy.
Understanding Chakras and Elements
so every chakra in the human body is associated with a certain element. You would think that the bottom chakra, the root chakra would be associated with the fire element because the Kundalini serpent is symbolized by fire, .But this chakra is actually associated with the earth element. The sacral chakra, the second, is associated with water. But we see fire again as an element at the solar plexus, the third chakra. So, we have the kundalini fire that is basically meant to be raised all up along our spine and energy centers.
And it comes to meet fire again at the solar plexus. This is symbolic, and this is significant, right? It's not random. And then how breathwork comes into the picture, the heart chakra is associated with the air element. So when we're breathing, we're inhaling air, we're exhaling air. Ah, right? So, we can actually use breathwork.
Symbolically and practically speaking to raise This inner fire. So why is the solar plexus chakra associated with fire? And why is the root chakra associated with earth? Well, yes, they are seven chakras Yes, they are seven energy centers, but we have to see them as basically seven different links on The same chain, right?
It's one spine It's one bridge, it's one chain with seven links. So we can talk specifically about one chakra, one energy center. But, in some way, shape, or form, the other chakras are somewhere there in the background as well.
Kundalini Fire and Inner Energy
So the inner fire, the kundalini fire that is located at the root chakra starts from the earth element.
Because the root chakra is how we ground ourselves into physical reality. This is, as I mentioned in the previous episode, our foundational nature. A lot of teachings will tell us to negate this part of ourselves or repress this part of ourselves because most of our stored trauma is in this area, along with the other bottom chakras, along with the other chakras as well, but because each chakra develops at specific stages of our life, Of course, the root chakra is the first one to develop and this starts from our time inside our mother's womb according to Anodeya Judith, Jungian psychoanalyst and somatic therapist.
If we have trauma at the early stages of life, very early stages, even stages where we have no conscious memory of, this will be repressed within the root chakra. So when this fire is located there alongside this unprocessed and unresolved trauma It can cause a lot of damage.
It can lead to a lot of turmoil chaos and even addictions potentially within our lives So this is why we have to raise the fire we have to move the fire up the And this will happen organically as well. It doesn't mean that we have to meditate and we have to do breath work.
Of course, yes, eventually it would be great if every single human could meditate and do breath work, but the energy in itself, the Kundalini energy does rise on its own as well. And sometimes we have a Kundalini awakening without even doing anything. Kundalini awakening means.
The energy rises up the spine, we become enlightened, we become awakened, there are whole other things that can go on when that happens, but I won't be getting into that in today's episode. But basically, we need to also become conscious of this energy because if it remains unconscious, it will basically wreck havoc within our lives.
So, fire, energy, the inner fire at the level of the earth because we are grounded into physical reality. Of course, the spiritual teachings say this is not all there is, we need to rise above matter, we need to realize that matter is not the whole story. When I say matter, I mean earth, I mean the physical experience.
The Role of Ego and Heart Chakra
So, we raise this energy, and when the energy comes up to the solar plexus, which is the fire element, This is basically the will center of each and every human being. And as I mentioned in the previous episode, this is where the ego forms. This is where we form our ego.
Our egos, actually, if we want to locate it somewhere. is at the third solar plexus chakra. Even when we have an ego death, it doesn't mean we get rid of our ego. No matter how spiritually enlightened we want to become, we need our ego because we are still physical beings. And the bottom three chakras are very much about the physical experience.
We need the ego to come along for the ride, right? I said it is to stay in the passenger seat. It's not to drive. We are not to put the ego in the driver's seat. It will be in the driver's seat up until a specific point in our life until we become spiritually awakened. But It is not to stay there in order to put the ego into the passenger seat We have to move up into the heart and eventually up the crown, but the heart chakra is the energy center that makes everything happen and makes everything possible because the heart chakra is the energy center of love of connection and what does love actually do it unites two polarities it brings two entities together right when we make love that is two human beings coming together to become one.
So we can apply this to symbolism as well. When the fire comes up to the solar plexus chakra and we experience our ego death, and when I say death, I mean, Metamorphosis, because energy never dies, right? So when we experience that ego death, we realize we are not just our ego.
We move up to the heart center and the heart is associated with the air element. So when we are practicing breath work, we are actually activating at the same time.
Breathwork Techniques and Practices
our heart chakra as well as our inner fire. The breath of fire in kundalini yoga talks about the kundalini fire that is to be raised and it is basically belly breathing.
The tibetan tamo breathing technique , is also said where fire is located at the ancient Greece, the fire in the belly. was Thimos and it's ancient translation. meant spiritedness and meant vitality. So we can see this connection between spirituality and fire. We can also see this with the etymological meanings. of certain words in certain schools of thought.
Prana, which is what kundalini energy is, translates to breath, translates to life force. In the Taoist tradition, qi translates to life force. and also translates to breath. Now, in the Taoist tradition, we do see a lot of psychosomatic practices where they are circulating breath and the chi within the body.
This is known as the microcosmic And it is a part of sexual kung fu. So when we want to raise the sexual fire, we want to raise the chi fire within the body. . We basically start in the genital area and we move that energy up the spine the back channel through breath and Conscious awareness We bring it up to the top of the head and then down the front channel storing it in the navel area Now that is the Taoist school of thought.
It is similar to Kundalini Yoga philosophy, but, of course, there are differences.
Spiritual Teachings and Symbolism
In the Christian faith, there are no psychosomatic practices that talk about breathing, fire, or anything like that, right? But we do see the connection between breath and fire.
In the etymological meaning of Pnevma. So in Greek, the Holy Spirit or Holy Fire is Agio Pnevma. And Pnevma comes from the Greek word Pnoi, which means breath. And these are not the only spiritual teachings that speak of the connection between life force.
And when I say life force, I basically mean that inner fire within ourselves.
So when we are practicing breath work, as I talked about a little bit before, we are activating our heart chakra and we are activating the fire within ourselves. When we experience that ego death and we realize we are not just our ego, we come into union here at the heart chakra, which is basically the union of the bottom three energy centers and the upper three energy centers.
Because as I said in the previous episode, the upper three chakras are our spiritual chakras and the bottom three chakras are our animal chakras. So do you see how we need to all energy centers. Do you see how we actually need the bottom to basically cultivate, enhance, realize, and actualize our upper energy centers?
Integrating Sexuality and Spirituality
So do you see how this inner fire is basically the bridge between sexuality and spirituality? Basically, we are to make the sexual fire
Just because we have a sexual nature does not mean we've realized our spiritual nature. This is where we have to come to terms with our inner traumas, with the repressed and denied emotions within ourselves. This basically means working very much and very intimately with our bottom. Energy centers.
This is basically why we need to work and come into relationship with our inner fire. Because fire ultimately is , to be our source of truth, our source of light, our source of enlightenment, our source of vitality. But in some way, shape, or form, this fire has been severely misconstrued as well.
And it has a connection to our sexual energy. And sexual energy, is our creative energy. Fire is very creative. Fire is very transformational. Fire is very transmutational. Fire is transformation as well as creation. Just think of fire in our day to day, right? Just look at cooking, right?
When we're heating food, when we're creating a meal. How much we need fire, right? Like fire is very creative as it is transformative. Uh, our metabolism, right? When we have a high metabolism, we're burning calories at higher levels, right? Burning when we're exercising and our muscles are burning when we're losing weight, we're fat burning.
Right? Fire as a symbol is very present in our day to day, in our lives, in our bodies, as well as all of life. So we have to work with this fire, and breathwork would be a pivotal pivotal component in this working with the fire because we can actually learn how to temper this fire We can harness this fire.
We can work with this fire and that is the ultimate Goal, right? Like that is the ultimate end game of Like being able to live With ourselves and within ourselves and eventually with others around us. Because this fire can lash out. This fire can be destructive. This fire can be detrimental.
But this is why we need to move up into the heart Chakra, and we do this by first first and foremost loving this fire, loving our inner fire and breathing. We can actually through a very practical and grounded way Moving beyond the realm of symbolism, work with our fire through breathwork. The heart chakra is the air element, the solar plexus is the fire element.
The fire element, the solar plexus, is meant to serve the heart. Right? Like the heart sits on the solar plexus. So basically all of the energy that is down here and moves up to the solar plexus is meant to serve the heart, not serve itself.
And serving the ego, serving basically the bottom false self, let's say. Is not having loved the denied and rejected part of ourselves, because that is where most of the trauma is stored. So, when the trauma is there, as I mentioned, and it's unresolved, it's unwitnessed, it's unfelt, it's unprocessed.
It can make a very, very, very big mess because that is where fire begins. Fire begins at the root chakra. But we need to raise it. We need to bring it up to the heart and eventually up to the crown. Because archetypally speaking, light is associated with the crown chakra, obviously light is not an element, but we are talking about archetypes here.
Because the crown chakra is basically our connection to source.
So when we raise the energy up through the heart and up to the crown, we connect to the source. We connect to the infinite creator. We connect to the universe. And the universe is infinite light. The source is infinite light. Bliss. Nirvana. Nirvana literally means the flame that has been extinguished.
Because we've become one with everything and everyone. So we need the bottom to get to the top. And once we get to the top, we can come down back to the bottom. Because that is essentially. the point of practicing spirituality as part of the human condition. We can't just stay up here. We come back down.
We come back down with all that knowledge. We come back down with all of that light, with all that infinite creation, with all of that creative Potential and we live our lives, we live our mundane day to day lives in the physical reality. We still have our root chakra, we still have our sacral, we still have our solar plexus, we still have our ego, but our heart is in play, our upper three chakras are in play and breath really, truly is the thread that connects it all. Because as we breathe, we stoke our inner fire. As we learn to practice breath work, we stoke our inner fire. And the fire needs to be stoked. The fire needs to breathe. We need to bring the fire up so that it can breathe. So that it can enlighten us, vitalize us, illuminate us, catalyze us into our spiritual self.
So yes, all this starts with the sexual fire. It starts with the Kundalini fire because our sexual energy is our creative energy and we need to use that creative energy so that it becomes spiritual energy. What did I say in the previous episode? It's all one energy. It's not, let's put sexual energy in this box.
Let's put creative energy in that box. Let's put spiritual energy in that box. You know, that is more convenient to work with. That is not convenient to work. That's not how, that's not how spirituality works. That's not how creation works. Everything works in synergy and everything. Everything manifested from the one energy, that one energy is within us.
And this is why we need to start from the ground. We need to start from the earth. We need to start from the bottom, but this is where the fire is. This is where the inner fire begins from in order to. Initiate its ascension journey. It is a journey up through the energy centers and it is a basically inner adventure at every single chakra, every single energy center, we meet a different aspect of our energy.
And as we bring the elements into the conversation, we can, you know, use the symbolism of water, let's say, when we are up in our second sacral chakra, what does water mean for you? What does water mean to you? What does it feel like to be around water?
How do you feel when you take showers? How do you feel when you go into the sea? Right? That is communicating In some way, shape, or form with your sacral chakra, and what about what happens when you're around fire? Well, you know, when you're sitting around the fire, when you're, you know, in a heat, when you're sexually aroused, right?
Like. That is all heat. When you're under the scorching hot sun on a very hot summer day, how is that communicating with your solar plexus chakra? Right? We can use archetypes, we can use these symbols to further understand ourselves , and to really see what wants to come through from within our own unconscious because it is all unconscious. and the unconscious is always, always, always wanting to be made conscious. The unconscious is the dark. Consciousness is the light. We need both. We have to work with both. Because if there's no dark, if there's no unconscious, there's no light. There's no consciousness. We all want the light.
We all want consciousness, right? But if we take away the dark, if we take away the unconscious, this too gets removed. They are two polarities along the same axis. We can't negate one polarity because it's more uncomfortable, or it's been shamed, , or it's been distorted, or it's been tainted, or it's been painted as something evil, or to avoid, or to repress, or to suppress.
So you see how, even though sexuality is a polarity, and spirituality is a polarity, they're actually on the same axis. Because sexuality is creative. It's physical creation. It's also energetic creation, right? And then spirituality is creation as well. They are both creative polarities. It's just one manifests very differently and the other manifests very differently.
But even though we're in the realm of duality, everything is still encompassed within oneness. So even though sexuality and spirituality are a part in the realm of oneness, they're actually the same.
Conclusion and Next Episode Teaser
so I'm going to leave it here. I think that's enough food for thought for today. Uh, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for coming along for this ride. I will be back next week. If you are on YouTube, please hit that like subscribe button. I so greatly appreciate that. If you feel like a friend or family member may benefit from this information, please go ahead and share this video.
If you are on one of the podcast platforms, thank you for tuning in. Um, if you want to connect with me, you can leave a comment down below. You can find me on Instagram and Tik TOK with my full name.
I will be back next week with another special episode. Next week is Holy Thursday in the Greek Orthodox tradition. I do have something. that I'm cooking for that episode. . So please be on the lookout for that. And as always, please remember that you are the medicine and I am just the messenger.
Thank you very much.