What's a Chakra?
Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning wheel, or vortex, and it refers to each of the seven energy centers of which our consciousness, our energy system, is composed.
These chakras, or energy centers, function as pumps or valves, regulating the flow of energy through our energy system. The functioning of the chakras reflects decisions we make concerning how we choose to respond to conditions in our life. We open and close these valves when we decide what to think, and what to feel, and through which perceptual filter we choose to experience the world around us.
The chakras are not physical. They are aspects of consciousness in the same way that the auras are aspects of consciousness. The chakras are more dense than the auras, but not as dense as the physical body. They interact with the physical body through two major vehicles, the endocrine system and the nervous system. Each of the seven chakras is associated with one of the seven endocrine glands, and also with a group of nerves called a plexus. Thus, each chakra can be associated with particular parts of the body and particular functions within the body controlled by that plexus or that endocrine gland associated with that chakra.
All of your senses, all of your perceptions, all of your possible states of awareness, everything it is possible for you to experience, can be divided into seven categories. Each category can be associated with a particular chakra. Thus, the chakras represent not only particular parts of your physical body, but also particular parts of your consciousness.
When you feel tension in your consciousness, you feel it in the chakra associated with that part of your consciousness experiencing the stress, and in the parts of the physical body associated with that chakra. Where you feel the stress depends upon why you feel the stress. The tension in the chakra is detected by the nerves of the plexus associated with that chakra, and transmitted to the parts of the body controlled by that plexus. When the tension continues over a period of time, or to a particular level of intensity, the person creates a symptom on the physical level.
The symptom speaks a language that reflects the idea that we each create our reality, and the metaphoric significance of the symptom becomes apparent when the symptom is described from that point of view. Thus, rather than saying, "I can't see," the person would describe it as keeping themselves from seeing something. "I can't walk," means the person has been keeping themselves from walking away from a situation in which they are unhappy. And so on.
The symptom served to communicate to the person through their body what they had been doing to themselves in their consciousness. When the person changes something about their way of being, getting the message communicated by the symptom, the symptom has no further reason for being, and it can be released, according to whatever the person allows themselves to believe is possible.
We believe everything is possible.
We believe that anything can be healed. It's just a question of how to do it.
Understanding the chakras allows you to understand the relationship between your consciousness and your body, and to thus see your body as a map of your consciousness. It gives you a better understanding of yourself and those around you.
What else is there?
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Your Body Is The Mirror Of Your Life
Everything begins with your consciousness. Everything that happens in your life, and everything that happens in your body, begins with something happening in your consciousness.
Your consciousness is who you
are,
your experience of Being.
your experience of Being.
You decide
what ideas to accept and which to reject. You decide what to
think, and you decide what to feel. When these decisions leave
you with residual stress, you experience the stress as if in your
physical body. We know that
stress creates symptoms. The interesting question is, "Which
stress creates which symptoms?" When we are able to quantify
this process, we are then able to see the body as a map of the
person's consciousness, relating particular symptoms to
particular stresses and particular ways of being, in the same way
that Type "A" Behavior has been able to be associated
with heart disease.
Everything Starts In Your Consciousness
To understand this map, we must first orient ourselves to the idea that the causes of symptoms are within. While it's true that germs cause disease and accidents cause injuries, it is also true that this happens in accord with what is happening in the consciousness of the person involved.
Germs are everywhere. Why are
some people affected and not others? Something different is
happening in their consciousness.
Why do some
patients in hospitals respond better to treatment than others?
They have different attitudes. Something different is happening
in their consciousness When
someone is injured in an "accident," why is it that a
very specific part of the body is affected, and that it is the
same part that has had habitual problems? Is that an
"accident," or is there a pattern and an order to the
way things happen in our bodies?
You Are A Being of Energy
Your consciousness, your experience of Being, who you really are, is energy. We can call it "Life Energy" for now. This energy does not just live in your brain; it fills your entire body. Your consciousness is connected to every cell in your body.
Through your consciousness, you can communicate with every organ and every tissue, and a number of therapies are based on this communication with the organs which have been affected by some kind of symptom or disorder.This energy which is your consciousness, and which reflects your state of consciousness, can be measured through the process known as Kirlian photography. When you take a Kirlian photograph of your hand, it shows a certain pattern of energy. If you take a second photograph while imagining that you are sending love and energy to someone you know, there will be a different pattern of energy shown on the Kirlian photograph. Thus, we can see that a change in your consciousness creates a change in the energy field that is being photographed, which we call the aura.This energy field shown in the Kirlian photographs has been quantified, so that when there are "holes" in particular parts of the energy field, these are said to correspond to particular weaknesses in specific parts of the physical body. The interesting thing about this is that the weakness shows up in the energy field before there is ever any evidence of it on the physical level.Thus, we have an interesting direction of manifestation shown through what we have described.
1. A change of consciousness
creates a change in the energy field.
2. A change in the energy field
happens before a change in the physical body.
The direction of
manifestation is from the consciousness, through the energy
field, to the physical body.
Consciousness--1-->Energy
Field--2-->Physical Body
We Each Create Our Reality
When someone
makes a decision that leaves them with stress, creating a
blockage in the energy field with a sufficient degree of
intensity, this creates a symptom on the physical level. The
symptom speaks a certain language, which reflects the idea that
we each create our own reality. When the symptom is described
from that point of view, the metaphoric significance of the
symptom becomes clear. Thus, instead of saying, "I can't
see," the person would have to say, "I have been
keeping myself from seeing something." If they cannot walk,
they would have to say, "I have been keeping myself from
walking away from something." And so on. We must understand that there are no
accidents and no coincidences. Things do happen according to a
pattern and order.
The Human Directional System
We can say that we have an
inner guidance system, a connection to our Higher Self, or our
Inner Being, or whatever name we choose to give this Higher
Intelligence. This inner guidance system functions through what
we call our intuition, or our instinct. It speaks a very simple
language. Either it feels good, or it doesn't. All the rest is
just politics.
We are told we should move with
what feels good, and do not do what doesn't feel good to us. We
are told to trust this inner voice. When we don't follow this
inner voice we feel tension. We feel not-good.
Then, the voice must get
louder. The next level of communication is through the emotions.
As we move more and more in the direction that feels not-good, we
experience more and more emotions that feel not-good, and at some
point we can say, "I should have listened to myself when I
thought to move in the other direction." That meant that we
heard the inner voice. Otherwise, we could not have said, "I
should have listened." If we make the decision we know is
the right one for us, and therefore change direction, there is a
release of tension, we feel better, and we know we are again on
the right track.
If we continue to move in the
direction that feels not-good, the communication reaches the
physical level. We create a symptom, and the symptom speaks a
language which reflects the idea that we each create our own
reality. When we describe the symptom from that point of view, we
can understand the message.
If we change our way of being,
we have received the message, and the symptom has no further
reason for being. It is able to be released, according to
whatever we allow ourselves to believe is possible.
If we created the symptom with
a decision, we are also able to release it with a decision.
As an hypothesis, we can
imagine that someone makes a decision that it is not a good idea
to express what they want. From that moment, whenever there is
something they want, they keep themselves from expressing it, and
therefore from having what they want. That feels not-good. The
tension grows. They feel more and more not-good as they keep
themselves from expressing what they want and not having it.
Eventually, something happens
to create a symptom on the physical level, and their right arm is
affected. It could have happened through falling from a ladder,
or in an automobile accident, or by pinching a nerve in the neck,
or by "sleeping in a draft."
Something had to happen on the
physical level to create the symptom, in order to give the person
the message on the physical level about what they had been doing
to themselves. We do to ourselves literally what we have been
doing to ourselves figuratively.
The effect is
that the person cannot move their arm. They are keeping
themselves from reaching for something, and since it is the right
arm, on the "will" side of the body, they are keeping
themselves from reaching for or going for what they want. They
have been giving themselves reasons to not believe that they
could have what they want. When
they begin to do something different in their consciousness, they
notice that something different begins to happen with their arm,
and the symptom is able to be released.
Chakras And The Map
To understand the map of the
consciousness that the body represents, we can turn to some
ancient Hindu traditions which have been studying consciousness
for thousands of years, and which use the language of the
chakras.
Chakra is a Sanskrit word, and
it means "wheel," or "vortex," because that's
what it looks like when we look at it. Each chakra is like a
solid ball of energy interpenetrating the physical body, in the
same way that a magnetic field can interpenetrate the physical
body.
The chakras are not physical.
They are aspects of consciousness in the same way that the auras
are aspects of consciousness The chakras are more dense than the
auras, but not as dense as the physical body, but they interact
with the physical body through two major vehicles, the endocrine
system and the nervous system. Each of the seven chakras is
associated with one of the seven endocrine glands, and also with
a particular group of nerves called a plexus. Thus, each chakra
can be associated with particular parts of the body and
particular functions within the body controlled by that plexus or
that endocrine gland associated with that chakra.
Your consciousness, your
experience of being, represents everything it is possible for you
to experience. All of your senses, all of your perceptions, all
of your possible states of awareness, can be divided into seven
categories, and each of these categories can be associated with a
particular chakra. Thus, the chakras represent not only
particular parts of your physical body, but also particular parts
of your consciousness. When you feel tension in your
consciousness, you feel it in the chakra associated with the part
of your consciousness experiencing the stress, and in the parts
of the physical body associated with that chakra. Where you feel
the stress depends therefore on why you feel the stress. 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.
When there is
tension in a particular part of your consciousness, and therefore
in the chakra associated with that part of your consciousness,
the tension is detected by the nerves of the plexus associated
with that chakra, and communicated to the parts of the body
controlled by that plexus. When the tension continues over a
period of time, or reaches a particular degree of intensity, the
person creates a symptom on the physical level. Again, the
symptom served to communicate to the person through their body
what they had been doing to themselves in their consciousness.
When the person changes something about their way of being, they
are able to release the stress that had been creating the
symptom, and they are then able to return to their natural state
of balance and health.
Reading
The Map
When we are reading the body as
a map of the consciousness within, we work with the idea that the
tensions in the body represent tensions in the person's
consciousness concerning what was happening in the person's life
at the time that the symptom developed. The person was feeling
stress about something that was happening in their life at that
time.
We are going to examine the map
of consciousness that the chakras provide, in order to understand
the language of the symptoms that are associated with each
chakra. In order to complete this map, however, we also need to
look at ourselves as each a polarity of yin and yang, feminine
and masculine characteristics.
For most people, their right
side is their yang side, their will side, their acting or active
side, and the left side is their yin side, their female side,
their feeling or adaptive side. For people who were born
left-handed, this polarity is reversed. Thus, for a right-handed
person, their right leg can be described as their will leg, or
their male leg, or the foundation of their will, but for a
left-handed person, their left leg would be their male leg or
will leg, and so on. Thus, we can talk about the will arm, or the
will eye, or the will nostril, etc., and which side it is on will
depend upon whether the person is right-handed or left-handed at
birth.
Each of the chakras is energy
vibrating at a certain frequency, in a logical and orderly
sequence of seven vibrations. As we move up the scale, the
elements become more and more subtle, moving through the five
physical elements of earth, water, fire, air, and ether, to the
spiritual elements of inner sound and inner light. The heaviest
element is on the bottom, the lightest on the top. It is a
logical and orderly sequence.
The colors of the spectrum also
represent a series of seven vibrations in a logical and orderly
sequence, as do the notes of the musical scale. Thus, we can put
the heaviest vibrations or the longest wavelength on the bottom
and the lightest on the top, and a particular color can be used
to represent a chakra in its clear state, as can a particular
musical note. Music played in a certain key vibrates a particular
chakra, and we feel a particular way when we hear that music. Our
relationship with a certain color says something about our
relationship with the part of our consciousness that the color
represents.
The Root Chakra is associated with the parts of our
consciousness concerned with security, survival, or trust. For
most people, this concerns the parts of their consciousness
concerned with money, home, and job. When this chakra is in its
clear state, the person is able to feel secure, be present in the
here and now, and be grounded. When there is tension in this
chakra, it is experienced as insecurity or fear. When there is
more tension, it is experienced as a threat to survival.
Parts of the body controlled by
the sacral plexus and this chakra include the skeleton system,
the legs, and the elimination system. Symptoms in these parts of
the body represent, therefore, tensions at the level of the Root
Chakra, and we therefore know that the person is seeing the world
through a perceptual filter of insecurity or fear. The adrenal
glands are also associated with this chakra.
If one leg is affected, we can
see whether it is the male leg or the female leg, and thus
whether it has something to do with trust in a male or trust in a
female. We can also see it as having something to do with trust
in the will, or the aspects of trust in the foundations the
emotional being, related to what was happening in the person's
life at the time the symptom developed.
The physical sense of smell,
and therefore the organ of the sense of smell, the nose, is
associated with the Root Chakra. Symptoms at the level of the
nose or affecting the sense of smell reflect tensions at the
level of the Root Chakra.
Each chakra is associated with
an element. The Root Chakra is associated with the element of
earth, and reflects something about the person's association with
the earth, or how they feel about being on the earth, which we
call Mother Earth. This chakra is also associated with our
relationship with our mother. When someone experiences a sense of
separation from their mother, or not feeling loved by their
mother, they cut off their roots and experience symptoms of
tensions at the level of the Root Chakra until they can again
open to accept their mother's love.
When a child comes into the
world in the traditional family structure, the mother provides
the nourishment and the father provides the direction. Thus, in
the child's relationship with its mother, it makes certain
decisions about the way things are. The relationship with the
mother thus becomes a model for the person's relationship with
everything that represents security - money, home, and job.
The Root Chakra is associated
with the color red.
The Abdominal Chakra is associated with the parts of our
consciousness concerned with food and sex - the communication
from the body to the person within it, about what the body wants
or needs, and what it finds pleasurable. It also is related to
what is happening in their consciousness about having children.
When this chakra is in its clear state, the person is in touch
with this communication, and listening to and responding
appropriately to what the body wants and needs.
Parts of the body controlled by
the lumbar plexus include the reproductive system and the
abdomen, and the lumbar region of the back.
The sense of taste is
associated with this chakra, as is the element of water. When
someone does not have a clear relationship with water (swimming,
for example, or being on a boat), this reflects their attitudes
about the parts of their consciousness that this chakra
represents.
Tensions on the will side or
the emotional side of this chakra indicate tensions in the
person's consciousness as conflicts between either the will or
the emotions with what the person's body is asking for.
This chakra is associated with
the sense of taste, and with appetite. It is also involved with
the person's willingness to feel their emotions.
The second chakra is associated
with the color orange.
The Solar Plexus Chakra is associated with the parts of our
consciousness having to do with perceptions of power, control, or
freedom. In its clear state, it represents ease of being, and
comfort with what is real for one's self - being comfortable with
who you are.
Parts of the body associated
with this chakra include the organs closest to the solar plexus -
stomach, gall bladder, spleen, liver, etc. - as well as the skin
as a system, the muscular system as a system, and the face in
general.
The physical sense associated
with this chakra is the sense of sight. Anyone with impaired
eyesight experiences tension at the level of their solar plexus
chakra about the issues of power, control, or freedom.
Nearsighted people also experience tensions at the level of the
Root Chakra, and experience the world through a perceptual filter
of fear or insecurity. Those who are farsighted experience
tension also at the level of the throat chakra, and see the world
through a perceptual filter of anger or guilt. Astigmatics see
through the emotional perceptual filter of confusion.
The endocrine gland associated
with the Solar Plexus Chakra is the pancreas. We can say that
diabetics are keeping sweetness from themselves. When someone
gets too close with sweetness, they feel threatened in their
power to be who they are, and an emotion comes up to create a
safe distance again. The emotion is anger. Diabetes is associated
with suppressed anger.
The element associated with
this chakra is fire, and the person's relationship with the sun
says something about their relationship with the parts of their
consciousness associated with the Solar Plexus Chakra.
The color of the Solar Plexus
Chakra is yellow.
The Heart Chakra is associated with the parts of the
consciousness concerned with relationships and our perceptions of
love. The relationships we speak of here are with those people
closest to our heart - partners, parents, siblings, children.
The parts of the body
associated with this chakra include the heart and lungs, and the
blood circulatory system as a system. This chakra is also
associated with the thymus gland, which controls the immune
system. When this is affected, as with AIDS, the person's
lifestyle separates them from someone they love.
The physical sense associated
with this chakra is the sense of touch, in its aspect of relating
to the person inside the body. For example, a massage given to
someone with no sensitivity to what the person is feeling inside
would be an example of the sensation we associate with the
Abdominal Chakra, but when the masseur seems to have a sense of
what the person inside the body is experiencing, then it includes
the aspect of relating we associate with the Heart Chakra. When
someone experiences extreme sensitivity about being touched, we
would ask what was happening at the level of the Heart Chakra.
This chakra is associated with
the element of air. When someone has difficulty with air, with
breathing (asthma, emphysema, tuberculosis, etc.), we say that
their relationship with air reflects their relationship with love
- difficulty letting it in, or letting it out, for example
The color associated with the
Heart Chakra is emerald
green.
The Throat Chakra is associated with the parts of the
consciousness concerned with expressing and receiving. Expressing
can be in the form of communicating what one wants and what one
feels, or it can be artistic expression, as an artist painting, a
dancer dancing, a musician playing music, using a form for
expressing and bringing to the outside what was within.
Expression is related to receiving, as, "Ask, and ye shall
receive."
The throat chakra is associated
with abundance, and with the state of consciousness called,
"grace," where it seems that what you want for you is
also what God wants for you. Accepting what the abundant universe
offers you requires a sense of unconditionally receiving.
This chakra is also associated
with listening to one's intuition, and flowing in a particular
way where it seems that the Universe supports you in all that you
do. It is the first level of consciousness from which one
perceives another level of intelligence functioning, and one's
interaction with this other level of intelligence.
Parts of the body associated
with this chakra include the throat, shoulders, and arms and
hands. and the thyroid gland.
The sense of hearing is
associated with this chakra, and the element of ether, the most
subtle physical element, corresponding to what we find in deep
space. The ether is the crossover between the physical and the
spiritual dimensions. Someone looking at the world through this
chakra watches the manifestation of their goals. The Will Arm
represents manifesting what you want, and the Feeling Arm
represents manifesting what makes you happy. Hopefully, the two
point to the same thing.
Sky Blue is the color associated with this
chakra.
The Brow Chakra is associated with the parts of the
consciousness concerned with the spiritual view, and the home of
the Spirit, the Being within. This level of consciousness is
associated with what western traditions call the unconscious or
subconscious, the part of our consciousness that directs our
actions and our life. From this level we are aware of the
motivations behind our actions. We can watch our outer theater
from an inner point of view.
This chakra is associated with
the carotid plexus, and the nerves on each side of the face, and
the pituitary gland. Headaches in the temples or center of the
forehead are associated with tensions at this level. This chakra
controls the entire endocrine system as a system, and the process
of growth.
The Brow chakra, also known as
the Third Eye, is associated with extra sensory perception (ESP),
the set of all inner senses that correspond to the outer senses,
which together comprise spirit-to-spirit communication. The
element associated with this chakra is a vibration known as the
Inner Sound, the sound that one hears in their ears that does not
depend upon something in the physical world. Some consider it a
pathological condition. In some of the eastern traditions the
ability to hear this is considered a necessary prerequisite to
further spiritual growth.
The color associated with this
chakra is Indigo, midnight blue, the color of lapis
lazuli, or the color of the night sky during a full moon.
The Crown Chakra is associated with the parts of the
consciousness concerned with unity or separation, and just as the
Root Chakra showed our connection with Mother Earth, this chakra
shows our connection with Our Father, Which Art in Heaven. At
first, it is associated with our connection with our biological
father. This becomes the model for our relationship with
authority, and this becomes the model for our relationship with
God. When there is a sense of separation from our biological
father, the person closes this chakra, and the effect on the
consciousness is a sense of isolation and aloneness, being in a
shell, and difficult to make contact with those outside the
shell.
The person feels as if they are
hiding from God, or hiding from themselves, not seeing what is
true for them in the deepest part of their consciousness, the
part we call the soul.
This chakra is also associated
with a sense of direction.
The parts of the body
controlled by this chakra are the pineal gland, the brain, and
the entire nervous system as a system.
The color
associated with the Crown Chakra is Violet, the color
of amethyst.
Using The Map
When there is tension in a
particular part of the body, this represents a tension in a
particular part of the consciousness, about a particular part of
the person's life. Being aware of these associations helps one to
see the importance of resolving the tense issues in their life.
If it were only a question of
doing what is necessary for the person to be happy, that would be
reason enough to motivate the person to want to change something
that doesn't work for them, but here, we see that it is also a
matter of health. The issues that are unresolved in a person's
life are, in fact, hazardous to their health.
When we see the correspondences
between the consciousness and the body, we see the degree to
which we each create our reality. In fact, those words begin to
take on a new meaning. We see how everything begins in our
consciousness and we are able to look around us at other aspects
of our lives in the same way.
When we see how the body
carries out the messages and deepest wishes of the Being within
the body, we can realize that the process can go in more than one
direction. If our consciousness is directing how we develop
symptoms, it can also direct how we release these same symptoms.
If our consciousness can make our body ill, our consciousness can
make our body well.
The logical conclusion of this
process is that anything can be healed.
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Root Chakra
Also known as: Security Center, Muladhara
Body/Mind Associations:
Location: The perineum, the point between the anus
and the sex organs
Color : Red
Parts of the body: Lymph system, skeleton system
(teeth and bones), the prostate gland in men, the sacral
plexus, the bladder and elimination system, and the lower
extremities (legs - feet, ankles , etc.). Also the nose,
since it is the organ of the sense of smell, and associated
with survival.
Endocrine gland: Adrenal glands
Sense: Smell
Consciousness: Security, survival, trust, the
relationship with money, home, job. Ability to be grounded,
to be present in the here and now. Ability to allow one's
self to be nourished, in the sense of allowing one's Inner
Being to be satisfied. This chakra also reflects a person's
connection with their mother, and with Mother Earth. How the
person feels about being on the earth. Connection with the
physical body.
Symptoms or tensions in the parts of the body controlled
by this chakra indicate tensions in the parts of the person's
consciousness related to this chakra. Tension here is
experienced as insecurity as a general perceptual filter.
More tension is experienced as fear. More than that is
experienced as terror, or a threat to survival.
Element: Earth
Orange Chakra
Also known as: Sensation Center, Spleen Chakra, Hara, Svadhisthana
Body Mind Associations:
Location: The center of the abdomen
Color: Orange
Parts of the body: Reproductive system, sexual organs,
lumbar plexus
Endocrine gland: Gonads
Sense: Sense of taste, appetite
Consciousness: This chakra is associated with the parts
of the consciousness concerned with food and sex. It is about the
body's communication to the Being inside, about what the body
wants and needs, and what it finds pleasurable. The person's
ability to have children is also associated with this chakra. If
there is not a clear relationship with the element of water,
associated with this chakra, the person's relationship with water
is a reflection of their relationship with the parts of their
consciousness associated with this chakra, i.e. food, sex, or having children.
This chakra is also associated with the emotional body, and
the person's willingness to feel their emotions.
Element: Water
This form of yoga is often misinterpreted as a form of sex and is much in demand. Unfortunately sex is only a small part of this yoga of rituals which is really about sacred experiences.
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