This is part two of a short review on body energy, chakras and what lies behind energy therapies, energetic healing and cancer. For Part 1 click here.
Your Energy Power Stations (Vital For Health and Healing)
What is a Chakra?
The Root Chakra
The Sacral Chakra
The Solar Plexus Chakra
The Heart Chakra
The Throat Chakra
The Third Eye Chakra
The Crown Chakra
You could leaf through a library of medical textbooks in the UK without finding a single reference to cbakras. But alternative therapies and eastern approaches to wellbeing view chakras -the system of seven wheels or vortices identified in Hindu tradition- as a subtle but vital part of our energy system. They are metaphysical, not physical organs so they can’t ordinarily be detected by x-ray or the naked eye. But chakras are linked to the sevenfold layer of energy or "aura" that surrounds all living creatures, and many psychically attuned people can see this aura in the form of colour that changes with health and mood. As Chris Woollams explained in Part 1, last month, evidence includes the work of Russian photographer Kirlian who, in the 193Os, found a way of capturing auras on film. US scientists (including Barbara Ann Brennan, a former NASA physicist) also now take this as a serious field of research and study.
View them as an interface between mind, body and spirit
So chakras are certainly worth checking out if you want to deepen self-understanding and enhance your own health: view them as an interface between mind, body and spirit, or as a mirror that reflects your body’s condition and healing needs. Thinking about chakras will certainly help you make connections between stress, emotional suffering and ill health. Anyone seeking an holistic path through cancer is also sure to bump up against chakra work it underpins the restorative power of yoga, reflexology, reiki, massage, meditation, visualisation, aromatherapy, crystal healing and colour therapy among other treatments. Each therapy has its own particular way of working with chakras. In reiki, for in stance, a hands-on healing master works as a human channel, imparting universal energy into your chakras. A cranial osteopath uses the chakras to rebalance energy along the body and restore its flow where blockages occur. Appropriate yoga exercises help to unblock chakras and maximise the flow between them and internal organs, so strengthening the immune system.
What is a Chakra?
The word ’chakra’ comes from the Sanskrit meaning ’wheel’ or ’disc.’ It is traditionally depicted as a lotus flower, and you can visualise the seven as an ordered sequence ot power stations running up the mid-body from the Root Chakra (base of spine between anus and genitals) to the Crown Chakra at the top of your head. Each of the chakras is like a solid ball of energy vibrating or spinning upwards at a particular frequency. Each has its own associated colour rising like the rainbow spectrum from red to violet, and its own musical note, ascending from the heaviest vibrations at the bottom and the lightest on top. Each one has close associations with a particular part of the body and area of consciousness. Any stress you experience - or any childhood trauma - will be felt in the chakra associated with the relevant part of your consciousness and in the physical parts of your body linked to that chakra. ’Where you feel the stress depends therefore on why you feel the stress" says Dr Martin Brofman, a Swiss-based healer who himself recovered from cancer, ’When someone is hurt in a relationship, they feel it in their heart, When someone is nervous, their legs tremble and their bladder becomes weak,"
The Root Chakra
(colour: red; element: earth; food: proteins; crystals: agate, ruby, garnet, rose quartz)
Linked to the areas of consciousness concerned with security, survival and trust, which for most ot us in everyday life means money, home and job. It’s therefore the gravity chakra, grounding us to earth and material existence. Tension in this chakra means you view the world through a filter of fear and insecurity while very high stress may actually teel like a threat to survival. You could be overweight, constipated, feel mentally lethargic and unable to reach goals. Associated physical dysfunctions involve your bones, your legs and elimination system. A balanced root chakra manifests as grounded and healthy with plenty of physical energy, the will to stand up for oneself and a sense of self-mastery.
The Sacral Chakra
(colour: orange; element: water; food: liquids; crystals: carnelian, amber, golden topaz)
The chakra of sweetness - of pleasure, sexuality, nurture, movement and change. Located in the lower abdomen between navel and genitals, its involved with taste and appetite, with emotional range and depth. Tensions in this chakra manifest as inner conflict, sexual problems, instability, sense of isolation. The sacral chakra governs your sex and urinary organs, kidneys and the circulation. If your sacral chakra spins too fast you could be manipulative, a Walter Mitty type, sexually addictive or emotionally unbalanced. A sluggish sacral chakra is indicated by someone who feels unaccountably guilty, who is self-critical, over sensitive, impotent or lacking desire. Given a balanced sacral chakra, you will be trusting, expressive, creative and attuned to your own feelings.
Solar Plexus Chackra
(colour: yellow; element: fire; food: starches; crystals: topaz, sunstone, yellow citrine)
Lies between the navel and the breastbone base. This is the chakra of self-determination, self-discovery and uniqueness. It celebrates the power to be completely oneself, but at the same Ume connected with all humanity. This chakra is linked to the muscles, to fatigue, stomach ulcers, allergies and diabetes. Those whose solar plexus chakra spins too fast can be angry, controlling, judgmental arrogant and workaholic. A blocked solar plexus chakra is indicated by insecurity, fear of solitude, the need for reassurance and the good opinion of others. A balanced solar plexus chakra engenders respect for self and others, personal power, spontaneity and the courage to take risks.
Heart Chakra
(colour: green, also pink; element: air; food: vegetables; crystals: rose quartz, emerald, moonstone)
Central to the sevenfold system. Lying mid-chest this particularly challenging chakra is concerned with unconditional love, with forgiveness, compassion and self-acceptance. It’s the chakra of our closest relationships - lovers and family, but significantly for icon readers it is also the chakra bound up with cancer as well as other immune problems. Those whose heart cbakra spins too fast can be possessive, withholding in love, overly dramatic. Characteristics of a blocked heart chakra include fear of rejection, feeling unworthy of love or loving too much. Blessed with a balanced heart chakra you will he nurturing. Love without condition and seek spiritual connections in lovemaking. Meditations for rebalancing the heart chakra contain important messages for cancer patients: believe that the universe will always provide for you; recognise that the more love you allow yourself to receive, the more love will be around for others.
Throat Chakra
(colour: blue; element: ether; food: fruit; crystals: turquoise, apis lazuli, aquamarine, sapphire)
The first of the higher chakras, associated with communication through sound. Located centrally at the base of the neck, it has to do with artistic expression, with active listening, heeding intuition and attunement to messages behind what is said. The ether with which this chakra corresponds marks the crossover point between the physical and spiritual dimensions. In the physical sense this cbakra is associated with the shoulders, arms, hands, with the ears, nose, teeth, mouth and neck. Associated disorders include hearing problems and tinnitus, thyroid problems, neck ache, asthma and sore throats. An over-active throat chakra implies talking too much, pomposity and self-righteousness. A blocked chakra inclines you to be inconsistent, to lack self-expression and appear unreliable. When your throat chakra finds equilibrium, you will be contented, a good communicator who can meditate with ease and enjoys artistic inspiration.
Brow or Third Eye Chakra
(colour indigo; element: light; crystals: amethyst azurite, apis and sapphire)
Lies between the eyebrows and is the tool of intuition, perception, and inner vision. It is all about the imaginative, right brain activity that rational, logical thinkers neglect. To use the third eye chakra well, you need to make space beyond the babel of everyday life. Governing eyes and the base of the skull, this chakra is linked with headaches, visual and neurological problems.
When it spins too fast, you may become too logical and authoritarian. When blocked, you are undisciplined, an underachiever with a possible predisposition to schizophrenic breakdown. When balanced, this chakra endows you with charisma and intuition, a vision beyond material things and the gift of second sight.
The Crown Chakra
(colours violet, moving into gold or white; element: thought or cosmic energy; food: fasting; crystals: diamond, white jade, clear quartz, amethyst)
May be the seventh, but is never seen as the destination chakra. It signifies rebirth rather than arrival. Synonymous with the highest level of consciousness - enlightenment, self-realisation, divine ecstasy, the crown chakra is the site that leads you to live a more fulfilled joyous and healthful life. Governing the skull, brain and skin, it is linked to such physical problems as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, MS and chronic exhaustion. An overactive crown chakra may be linked with manic depression, frustration and sexual confusion. The characteristics of a blocked chakra include indecisiveness, a sense of not belonging, fatigue. A balanced crown chakra brings you great gifts -a magnetic personality, the capacity to perform what other may see as "miracles", transcendence and the sense of being at peace with who you are.
Further Reading
"The Book of Chakra Healing" by Liz Simpson (Gala, 10.99) with appreciation for her help.
"Way of Chakras" by Caroline Shola Arewa (Thorsons, 7.99)
"Hands of Light - a guide to Healing through the Human Energy Field" by Barbara Ann Brennan
Websites:
http://www.healer.ch/bmsarticle (chakra in formation)
http://wwwhealer.ch/chakrahealing (healing meditations)