ENERGY PART 3 - Chakras and Self Healing

Please note that much of what I write is yet to be scientifically proven. The knowledge of Chakras originates from the Vedic Philosophy, which was not a religion, although elements of it have since been incorporated into some spiritual beliefs. It is based on the philosophical questions that most humans ask about life which science has no answers for.

Why do I write about unproven things? Because it comes from personal experience and intuition as well as a passion to take the mystery out of what might seem mysterious to many.

In Part 1, we looked at what energy is and how to sense subtle energy. In Part 2, we touched on chakras as energetic and emotional exchange centres. This time we will look more closely at the connection between chakras and emotions.

I suspect that anyone reading this may be very familiar with the seven main chakras in the body, for those who are not, they are often illustrated very simply in a diagram like this:

Every part of our physical body responds and reacts constantly to all that is around us, our physical and emotional needs. Such as warmth, cold, hunger, thirst, danger, injury etc.

Our chakras also respond, but more accurately, they respond to the energy of our emotions, (remember in part 2 we looked at where we feel emotions) such as:

• Emotions sensed from those around us.

• Emotions connected with friends, family, pets etc.

• Worries to do with our work.

• Concerns about finances, health, future plans etc.

• Worry about world events.

• Past emotions that we may think we have forgotten and emotions that occur while thinking about our potential future.

• Emotions regarding our state of well being or illness.

• But, let’s not forget that we experience very pleasurable emotions too, but rather than causing problems, they generally open up our energy system and make us feel better.

Very few of us can claim to be in one hundred percent perfect physical health, at the very least we might have an aching muscle, a bruise, indigestion, headache and so on, so we feel slightly out of sorts, but more often than not, we soldier on ignoring minor physical symptoms.

In the same way, most of us are going around with chakra energy centres that are out of sync or depleted in some way. Most of us cope with the general emotional ups and downs of life that come and go, although we may notice when our emotions are impacted negatively in some way that it affects our general sense of well-being. We all have days when we feel washed out and wonder why, but we recover when our mood brightens in the next day or two and we carry on with our life demands regardless of our downbeat emotions at times. When we are happy, we seem to have boundless energy, enthusiasm and motivation. Again, we tend to brush off our temporary emotional concerns.

However, long-term emotional issues may take their toll, not only on how we feel energetically, but also physically. We might even acknowledge this by describing ourselves as feeling completely unbalanced, out of sorts, or no energy, wondering how to put one foot in front of the other at times, completely lacking ‘get up and go’, needing to eat more, or the opposite, not eating. Our sleep pattern may be disturbed. We may be more ‘moody’ than normal.  Rarely do we stop to think where these feelings are coming from.

(There are even theories that illnesses such as chronic fatigue, M.E. or Fibromyalgia, which are so hard to physically diagnose by the medical profession, may possibly be linked to long term energy imbalances, possibly triggered by other illness, stress, trauma or emotional disturbances. Again, this is not scientifically proven.)

How do Chakras become unbalanced?

If emotions are not processed appropriately, they can potentially trigger physical problems, some of this is already well understood by Western Medicine. For example, digestive diseases such as I.B.S. are linked to anxiety, stress is understood to be a factor in heart disease and blood pressure problems. Think of other problems like headaches, chest pain, muscle tension, stomach upsets, eating disorders, sleep problems, so many of our niggly health issues are stress related.

Common ways in which we ‘lock’ the energy of strong emotion into our body is when we take a sharp intake of breath and maybe hold it for a few seconds. When we are in a state of shock, we literally hold our breath and take in the energy of that shocking emotion. The other way is the constant mind chatter and self-affirmation, going over and over in our minds, reaffirming everything that has happened or might happen. When we do this, we are training the neural pathways in our brain to accept this way of thinking as normal and it becomes our ‘default’ mind set.

Of course, we cannot deny other factors are at play as well and a combination of reasons can trigger serious illness, such as our environment, diet, hereditary and congenital problems from birth and so on. But having balanced emotions seems to really improve our health and increase our immunity to disease as well as giving us a better coping mechanism to live with, or improve chronic or incurable conditions. So, understanding how our human energy works in relation to our emotions, our environment and situations around us, is a real bonus when it comes to resolving, understanding or improving some of our health problems.

Helping someone to understand how their emotions affect their well-being, giving them ideas about how to address their emotions and being a mentor to help them on their self-healing journey is what a good healer does, whatever therapy they may practice. Acupuncture, shiatsu, massage, Reiki, energy or spiritual healing, yoga, breathwork, meditation, E.F.T., Crystals, Sound etc are all great energy healing processes. Cold water swimming is another therapy that many people swear by to help shift pain and emotional trauma. Of course, psychotherapy, Neurolinguistic Programming, clinical hypnotherapy and other talking therapies also help to shift our emotions too, and many of those therapists also understand a good deal about the human energy system as well.

Chakra Balancing

Anyone who offers complementary energy healing naturally does chakra balancing work, but they may not name it as such. Some healers specifically advertise that they offer this service.  It can sometimes be a misleading term. While chakra balancing helps, it is important to be aware that if the problems causing chakra imbalances are not addressed, then the benefit will be temporary. As soon as our negative thought patterns return, so does our energetic pain and suffering.

There are methods to address our thinking patterns and healers may offer various methods in which to clear and balance the chakras, but our own work is required to maintain the effect. In fact, don’t be fooled into thinking that you necessarily need someone to do this for you, we can potentially all do it for ourselves, but the help and advice of a good therapist to get you started and be a mentor for you along the journey may be helpful.

DIY Methods for Chakra Balancing (and general good health)

1.      Breathwork

2.      Meditation/Relaxation

3.      Yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong

4.      Regular Exercise (walking, dancing, anything that makes us move)

5.      Visualisation Techniques

6.      Journaling

7.      Finding time for personal interests/hobbies/reading/music etc

8.      Getting enough sleep

9.      Eating healthily

10.   Reducing or giving up smoking/alcohol/unnecessary drugs

11.   Finding joy

12.   Living in each moment

You will notice that the above list suggests the same tips that keep you physically healthy too – physical and emotional health cannot be separated, they go hand in hand.

All this is easier said than done you might say. Yes of course it is, we are all work in progress, and you can guarantee that any therapist or writer of subject matter like this has been there and got the T-shirt when it comes to working on ourselves! Nothing comes easy without some initial effort. Start gently, there is no point going in all guns blazing and trying everything, we need to do what we enjoy first and keep adding to it, above all, not give up when we slip back sometimes. Seek out a healer to be there as a mentor.

There is so much more to share – next time we will look at the potential symptoms when specific chakras are struggling a bit and of course, a closer look at some self-healing methods.