The Chakras: A part of YOU!

Can you believe there are parts of you that you do not even know about? Our bodies continue to reveal themselves as a system far more mysterious and powerful than our present body of knowledge can capture. Just as science continues to grow in discovering the universe, so do we have before us, in our very selves, the subject of constant discovery. The topic of the chakras seems to be one of those popular areas lately in our society.

In my work I run into the full gamet of awareness of chakras. I meet people who have no clue what the word even means (which is AOK) all the way to people who orient there health care choices by the many seminars and books teaching them about the chakra system. There is also the fact that the body of knowledge is ancient, even though we talk about it as a ‘new’ thing. This short article is devoted to a simply (yet hopefully) inspiring look at the chakras. I would like to begin with a personal story involving a healing I did for myself involving energy work through my chakras. Healing myself A couple years ago my periods became very irregular. I also had a fair amount of pain on a consistent basis. I knew there was something wrong but did not have the medical insurance to have it all checked out. A year and a half later, when I was on salary as a minister at a church, I had an exam done through an OB/GYN. The ultrasound showed polyps in my uterus. The doctor said it was one polyp. Amazing how something so small could cause such discomfort. He suggested surgery so that is what I did. After the surgery he told me I actually had quite a few polyps and unhealthy tissue in my cervix and my uterus.

After the surgery my body felt back to normal. Six months later all the symptoms returned! This time they said it was cysts. I decided to consider other options for healing. To me, this was a signal that I needed to deal with the reasons why I was developing cysts otherwise they would just keep returning. From other minor health issues that have surfaced here and there, I knew I tended to carry emotions and memories in my lower abdomen. I had already done a lot of inner work up to this point, so looking again was not a surprise to me. Even when we grow and heal on many levels, there may be other parts of the onion that need to be peeled as we grow through life.

One memory I noted was the emotions revolving around a memory from when I was very little, only four years old. I had taken the opportunity to grieve this memory over time, so my problem was not unresolved tensions, so I decided to focus upon the cellular memory by doing Reiki for myself (see my article on Reiki for more information about this form of energy healing). I placed my hands about five inches away from physical body above my uterus. When my hands stopped at this spot, anger rose from deep within. As long as I held my hands there the anger continued, but if I moved my hands away from this spot the anger subsided. I felt like it was best to leave my hands there for as long as I was able. After a few moments I began to heave and sob, beginning to release what I was holding in my body. This session with myself lasted about 30 minutes then I needed to go…. Over the period of a month I continued to work with myself in this way. At one point I could see the four year old me so angry that I/she was stamping her feet. I even saw a shaman there stamping with me, probably to reassure me it was okay to be so angry. I felt myself yelling so many different sentiments. At times I felt scared at being abandoned, and at other times I felt angry at having to encounter this pain at my young age….

Towards the end of this month I began to move the energy from that part of my body, up to my heart and chest. I did this without even touching myself. I simply held my hands about five inches away and slowly moved them up my spine until I reached the place above my heart. From there, the energy moved out of my body system. It was an amazing feeling. After this, I knew I was cyst free but wanted to have the ultrasound show the ‘provable’ data. Lo and behold, the ultrasound came back completely healthy! I I remain to this day free of any health issues in this part of my body.

This story is a very good example showing our bodies as complex systems of personal energy (history and beliefs manifesting) and universal energy (chakras drawing upon the universal energy field). I was basically able to draw upon the universal energy to open the doors of time and the channels of positive energy. Upon doing this, through my chakras, the history and beliefs causing the disease in my body could be transformed and freed. What a great reason to get to know your own chakra system! The realm of infinite possibility Before we take a look at the chakras specifically, it is important to lay a very simple groundwork for the discussion.

The chakra system acts upon a few basic scientific assumptions. This article is not out to define all of them, only the ones helpful to our final destination of basic understanding of your own chakra system. One way to look at our body system is as an energy system. It can be helpful to consider the idea of quanta, or a quantum mechanical body as one viable way to look at this reality. Quanta are invisible vibrations waiting to take form. Think about the power of an inspiring idea that results in a tangible project, that is how you might think analogously about quanta. The basic fabric of nature lies here. A quantum is considered to be a basic unit of matter and energy up to 100,000,000 smaller than the smallest atom! Wow, when we get this small our idea of matter and energy being separate falls apart and we are obliged to see everything as intermeshed. Before we have the human body we commonly think of, that is, something material with impulses of energy merged within it, we are a quantum fluctuation. This has amazing implications inviting us to new ways of living and thinking. Once we get to matter, things are pretty sluggish compared to the place where we are still vibrating on higher frequencies. The subltest levels of nature, then, are the places of greatest potential energy.

At this level YOU are creating your body! You are free at this point to be anything and become anything. The shape you take is the shape you create. It is all a matter of how powerful you let yourself become. If you choose to think thoughts that destroy, then your shape will not be so free, if you think thoughts that are more in line with universal truth, then your shape will be fluid and healthy.

If this is the case, then what lies before us is the realm of infinite possibility. For if we can, within ourselves, tap into the power that proceeds all known created things, and if we can, from there influence the outcome of such subtle vibrations….then it is entirely possible for us to create health for ourselves and others. Why, then, does it seem so very hard to actually DO it?! One block towards being happy and whole 1. We doubt. We read something like this article, or even something bolstered with more empirical data and we say, ‘Wow! That is really cool and it makes total sense.’ But head knowledge does not imply belief. Belief always, always, means our very thoughts and feelings are in accord with the head knowledge. We can totally believe in a need for exercise in order to be happy and yet have no real living belief in it. True belief translates into action. As long as we divide our heads and our hearts, we lack authenticity and thus our actions do not follow upon our words. THIS IS OK. We all have areas within us of disbelief. The journey of enlightenment is the process of rooting ourselves in truth, getting ourselves into order, freeing our hearts for love and the like...

If you were to study cases of multiple personality disorders, you would find compelling evidence supporting the notion of our quantum level of being. The personalities of one being carry completely independent medical backrounds. This means that one of the person’s personalities might be diabetic, while another one has no issue with blood sugar at all. When tested in each personality, the medical records show two seemingly independent people though the reality exists in ONE person. If a body can make such a radical change within minutes, just through the changing belief of ‘who the person is,’ just think of the possibilities open to you as you strengthen your own doubt.

The Chakras

Before I deal with the doubt we bring to our idea of healing ourselves, let’s take a look at the chakra system. This system seems to operate on the notion that at some particular point of ourselves we tap into the realm of infinite possibility. As we go smaller and smaller into the subtle vibrations that create our physical being, we approach a point that preceeds thought and matter as we understand it. At that very point we can literally become instantaneously whatever we believe. Wow! What the power of belief can do for us.

The chakras are a little like the transit-way for belief becoming recognizable energy. They are vortices of energy that move like fans. These fans pull in universal energy, that is, the energy that makes up all things before anything is individualized as we might describe it. There is an easy way to recognize that universal energy. Think of a time you felt great harmony with everything around you. Maybe it was a moment of celebration with loved ones, maybe it was a moment in nature, or an encounter with a baby. That experience of harmony transcended your own sense of limit and took you to a place where it was pleasant to feel at one in a wordless way. Our chakras continuously bring in this positive life-force, which is the source and access to all our transformation.

This energy lies at our very core as well, for we could not exist without it. It is not something foreign to us even if it is greater than our own sense of identity. These points of heightened energy transfer, called chakras (there are others as well), can be found at seven places of our spine beginning with the base of the spine, the coccyx. At these points can be seen the swirling fan-like movement of energy extending in a widening direction outward, picture what a bugle looks like with the small end touching the spine and the larger end pointing outward. This energy is the center for certain aspects of our being human in this world and all our beliefs surrounding these aspects or qualities. I will go into greater detail in a few moments. When we have a lack of flow in any of these chakras the result is dis-ease, distortions in how we see things, feelings being repressed and generally unhappiness. Let’s take a very brief look at each chakra specifically. There has been extensive exploration of the chakras, please see the work of Doreen Virtue, Barbara Brennan and Diane Stein for greater detail. This article is intended to expose you to them. You can also attend my retreat on ’Your Chakras: Source of Energy and Transformation’ for a great immersion into knowing this part of your self. When the chakras are healthy there is a strong, open, clockwise movement of energy.

The Seven Chakras
Much of this section, though not all, is taken from Barbara Brennan’s book,
Hands of Light, copywright 1987

The root chakra. This chakra extends from the base of your spine downward. It literally ‘roots’ you in this life. The color frequency is deep red. All your beliefs about security here, will to live, survival, and quantity of physical energy can be found here. If you have an issue stemming from early childhood regarding abandonment, or issues over poverty, to name a few, the energy here might be somewhat blocked.

The sacral chakra. This second chakra (like 3-6) is located about four inches below the navel. It has two centers, fan-like extensions, one going straight out the front and one straight out the back. The color here is orange. The front extensions are generally feeling centers while the back are will centers. The front, or pubic center, contains our beliefs revolving around love for the opposite sex, giving and receiving please on all levels. The back, or sacral center, is our will in sex.

The solar plexus. The third chakra is located about four inches above the navel, just below the xyphoid process. Sometimes this area is referred to as our gut, or we may say, ‘I have a pit in my stomach.’ The color is bright yellow. The front, or solar plexus contains our belief of who we are in relation to the world, it has our sense of connection, expansion and pleasure in this wisdom. The back, or diaphragmatic center, has to do with our will towards our own health.

Healing our doubt

It can be very helpful to understand these energy centers since they are a part of who we are, and hold a lot of sway in the self we are creating. They can reveal to us our hidden parts (which is a majority of ourselves) and then teach us how to release, clarify and heal those areas of trauma or belief so as to bring great liberation and happiness.

If you remember back to my personal story, you will see that when I put my hands over my second chakra an event of my early life relating to someone close to me was being held there. It was not the event itself that was being held there, but some of my beliefs and emotions were lacking clarity and freedom. They were blocked. As I allowed my thoughts to come to the surface– without judgment– they could slowly be released. I learned that I had a lot of anger in me because I was being left alone to handle something too painful for me. I was also angry that I had to deal with this at a time in my life when I wanted to play and have fun. I was angry as well, that my mom did not have my zeal and health for life.

What is a good witness here for using our chakras in healing is that I took it a step further. After grieving, I actually moved the energy up and out of my heart. For me it was the natural thing, that as I honored and loved myself, I opened my heart to all the feelings I needed to release. This was done by bringing it all to my heart. What I did is not a recipe for everyone necessarily, it just shows the energy centers in their independence and subsequently their helpfulness in working together. It proves there was something actually happening in different places in my body too. We are a mystery unto ourselves, a mystery unfolding.

When we feel open, we are actually open energetically and when we feel closed, that too, is a truth. It is an opportunity to use our chakras to see why we are open and why we are closed, as well as where this is happening. You may read this, believe it, but go forward from here no more inclined to get to know this part of yourself than any other time. That is okay, but if you want to experience how powerful you can be, begin to experiment. It is hard to stay open all the time because our beliefs close us off from pure consciousness, it is a frequency too hard to deal with on many levels. Yet, the more we choose to open ourselves, the more we can be healthy and happy. The first way to begin to heal your doubt is to ask yourself, “Why do I doubt?” And take the answer you find to be your place to start. You CAN heal yourself. You CAN create the reality you most desire. You CAN be free and at peace. You CAN increase your energy for the day. You CAN increase your ability to be focused and centered in your work so you walk away satisfied with the day you have lived. Begin here. Begin to let yourself heal your ‘safety net’ of doubt. It only keeps you from the fullness of life.
Copywright Kimberly Braun, LLC 2007. All rights reserved.