(To work with the chunpis and ñawis, you have to have undergone the Chunpi Away and Ñawi K’ichay karpay.)

The chunpis are the five energetic belts of the poq’po, the personal energy bubble, that surround and interpenetrate the physical body. You can read other posts to learn more about the system as a whole, but in this post let’s look at the belt at the base of the spine and lower trunk of the body—the yana chunpi. Like the other belts, it has an “eye,” located at the back of the body, at the “root” of the spine. It is called the siki ñawi.

What are some of the characteristics of this belt?

For starters, the yana chunpi is the belt where the most hucha (heavy energy) collects, so it is especially important to continually cleanse this area using saminchakuy.

The color of this belt is black, and its element is water.

Of the personal capacities that are associated with this energy center, three are of most interest to us in this post. First, the yana chunpi is the center where you can most precisely measure your personal power at the current time. Second, it is the place for determining proper timing. Third, its eye can help you see your future. All three of these capacities can be grouped under one Andean concept—that of atiy.

The Quechua word atini means “I can do it.” In the Andean mystical system, intention drives energy. Personal power involves concentrating you attention and driving your intention to “push the kawsay,” the living energy. You may have the intention to do something and then can easily do it. Or you may, like most of us, have lots of good intentions and then fail to follow through on them. Lack of follow-through not only may be a failure of will, it also may be a weakness in your energy. Two possibilities are that you may not have the energetic capacity—the personal power—to do what you intend or you may not have the integrity—energetic coherence—to follow through on your intention.

How many times has someone asked you to do something and you waffled? “Well, maybe,” you say. You lack clarity. You are ambiguous and non-committal. Because you cannot instantly assess your will, intent, and energy to make a commitment, you employ delaying tactics. “I’ll get back to you.” “Let me check my schedule.” “I can’t answer right now, I need some time to think about it.”

Atiy is not about being unthinking. It is not asking you to commit without analysis or forethought. What it is doing is asking you to be clear about your energetic state. When you have honed the energy of atiy, you will not have to waffle or delay. You will know, right now, with certainty, whether you are interested in doing something or not, and whether you have the capacity to do something or not. When someone asks you, “Will you help at the school fundraiser this Saturday?” you will be able to say decisively, “Yes, I will.” or “No, I cannot.” If your answer is “Yes,” then you will not have any doubts on Friday night, with your inner voice admonishing you: “Why did I ever agree to this? I don’t want to do this! What a fool I was to say yes.” If you are acting from atiy, you will happily show up and be a tremendous positive asset at the fundraiser because your intent was clear from the moment you made the commitment. In this way, the yana chunpi can be a measure of your personal power in the moment, at the current time. You will know, through atiy, whether you are in coherence and integrity in your intentions and actions, and in your thoughts, words and deeds.

The yana chunpi also is associated with timing. Although the belt at the belly and qosqo, the puka chunpi, is the belt most associated with kinetic energy (taking action), the yana chunpi is the belt that helps you act at the most propitious time. These two centers work together to help you foster a sense of what “right action” is and then to take it. You cannot accomplish anything if you do not have the personal energetic and physical power to do so, but knowing when to act is almost as important as knowing what action to take and having the energy to do it.

The energy at the yana chunpi, if sufficiently cleansed and “tuned,” helps you gain the advantage by integrating action and timing into a mystical dance some might call “luck.” When your actions and timing are perfectly aligned, you increase your chances for success. You will be at the right place at the right time or say the right thing to the right person at the right time.

You can judge your level of personal power by evaluating your “scorecard” of accomplishment. Do you do what you want to do? Or do you only daydream about doing something and never actually carry out your intentions? Do you finish what you start? Do you have a good reserve of energy after undertaking a project or making a change in your life? Results speak for themselves, and they can be a good overt measure of your personal power. But your yana chunpi is the energetic calibrator of your overall energetic capacity for power. If you don’t have a coherent energy body, you won’t have the personal power to carry out your intentions. To increase your coherence, cleanse hucha from all your belts, especially the puka chunpi and yana chunpi.

Each chunpi has a ñawi, a mystical eye through which you energetically perceive the world. Six are facing forward. Only one is facing back—the siki ñawi of this lower belt.

When Andeans situate themselves in time, they say that the past is in front of them because it is known, whereas the future is behind them because it is unknown. In the mystical system, however, we have an eye to the future, so it is not entirely unknown. By cleansing the yana chunpi and siki ñawi, you improve your capacity for seeing into the future. The future is not fixed, but shifts according to your present choices, actions, and intentions. However, you can see what is most probable through your siki ñawi, and if you don’t like what you see, you have mystical tools to improve yourself and, thus, your future. When you can accurately sense the flow of time coming to you from the future and capitalize on this mystical seeing to influence your actions in positive ways, then you tremendously improve not only the success rate of your actions, but your overall state of well-being.