Intro to Chakras 101 and How We Can Heal Them
As chakra work now appears with regularity in this practice, I want to say a few words of introduction for anyone who might not be familiar with them.
While observations of similar systems seem to have existed in many societies and traditions over the centuries, the one that you and I are likely most familiar with traces its origins back to ancient Hinduism. The name itself (pronounced with a hard “ch”) comes from Sanskrit and translates as “wheel” or “disc.” And while we’re purported to have hundreds of chakras in and around our bodies, my focus here is on the seven “major chakras” that run from the base of our spine to the top of our head and vice versa.
A chakra’s role seems to be like that of a prism: to split raw, source energy into component energy that we can more readily access, that is, they seem to serve as energetic interfaces for our physical bodies and psyches. And as prisms split light into a rainbow of color, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the corresponding colors associated with the major chakras. Each also seems to serve not only a particular physiological system, but also specific aspects of our spirit, emotion, and cognition, and additionally, each has an associated element (earth, water, fire, air, sound, light, and consciousness), gland, and central theme. As one might suspect, when a chakra is balanced and open, the realms that it governs benefit, and when its function is diminished, we’ll likely notice less-than-optimal functioning in those regions.
Chakras seem prone to becoming overactive, underactive, or blocked, and “balanced and open” seems to be their ideal state — both individually and in consort. My observation in this practice is that they appear capable of holding emotional trauma for us just as our bodies seem to, and while there are many 3D practices that one can employ to balance and open one’s chakras, this work (as always) appears to allow us to directly address underlying issues at their root.
If you think that sounds pretty nifty, I’d have to agree! Chakra work often strikes me as flipping a master circuit rather than going from room to room to flip each switch individually, and when a chakra appears in this work, I think we can trust that everything that it governs will benefit as will likely one’s whole chakra system. Please note that the “chakra alignments” that I occasionally see appear to be a balancing and internal reconnection of one's whole system, and also, that when two or more chakras appear within a single session, I generally always notice not only healing work within each, but also a reestablishment of communication between them.
Please scroll down for little write-ups on individual chakras, and, as always, please never hesitate with comments or feedback.
🙏
“I believe the chakra system is the very structure by which the yoke of yoga is made. It describes a way to yoke mind with body, spirit with matter, and mortal with immortal in one comprehensive system.”
—Anodea Judith
Picture credit: Shin Sooa, pixabay.com
As chakra work now appears with regularity in this practice, I want to say a few words of introduction for anyone who might not be familiar with them.
While observations of similar systems seem to have existed in many societies and traditions over the centuries, the one that you and I are likely most familiar with traces its origins back to ancient Hinduism. The name itself (pronounced with a hard “ch”) comes from Sanskrit and translates as “wheel” or “disc.” And while we’re purported to have hundreds of chakras in and around our bodies, my focus here is on the seven “major chakras” that run from the base of our spine to the top of our head and vice versa.
A chakra’s role seems to be like that of a prism: to split raw, source energy into component energy that we can more readily access, that is, they seem to serve as energetic interfaces for our physical bodies and psyches. And as prisms split light into a rainbow of color, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the corresponding colors associated with the major chakras. Each also seems to serve not only a particular physiological system, but also specific aspects of our spirit, emotion, and cognition, and additionally, each has an associated element (earth, water, fire, air, sound, light, and consciousness), gland, and central theme. As one might suspect, when a chakra is balanced and open, the realms that it governs benefit, and when its function is diminished, we’ll likely notice less-than-optimal functioning in those regions.
Chakras seem prone to becoming overactive, underactive, or blocked, and “balanced and open” seems to be their ideal state — both individually and in consort. My observation in this practice is that they appear capable of holding emotional trauma for us just as our bodies seem to, and while there are many 3D practices that one can employ to balance and open one’s chakras, this work (as always) appears to allow us to directly address underlying issues at their root.
If you think that sounds pretty nifty, I’d have to agree! Chakra work often strikes me as flipping a master circuit rather than going from room to room to flip each switch individually, and when a chakra appears in this work, I think we can trust that everything that it governs will benefit as will likely one’s whole chakra system. Please note that the “chakra alignments” that I occasionally see appear to be a balancing and internal reconnection of one's whole system, and also, that when two or more chakras appear within a single session, I generally always notice not only healing work within each, but also a reestablishment of communication between them.
Please scroll down for little write-ups on individual chakras, and, as always, please never hesitate with comments or feedback.
🙏
“I believe the chakra system is the very structure by which the yoke of yoga is made. It describes a way to yoke mind with body, spirit with matter, and mortal with immortal in one comprehensive system.”
—Anodea Judith
Picture credit: Shin Sooa, pixabay.com