Chakra Awareness article

Chakra Awareness

Excerpt from The Definitive Spa and Body Therapists Handbook

Copyright - J Tara Herron 2008

 Your electro-magnetic field is influenced by subtle energies in the form of vortexes of dynamic energy called chakras. We have many chakras strategically functioning at critical points throughout the physical body, located where there is a concentration of energy that creates an interface forming a certain shape or configuration. For example, the palm of the hand is a chakra, the sole of the foot is a chakra,  your knee is a chakra.  However, in the west we have adopted the eastern philosophy of the seven chakra system that directly connects to the vertebrae along the spinal column.

This is the view that we will take, as the associated knowledge about these seven key chakras opens up a wealth of insight into the connection between the body, mind and soul, and therefore helps your work as a body therapist.

 The word ‘chakra’ means a wheel or sphere, and each one of the seven are depicted differently within varying schools of thought, yet understood to function within dedicated principles. 

Traditionally each chakra is drawn as a symbolic flower with a specific number of petals, but we will keep a simple representation of them here in the form of a circle.  In your mind you can imagine that these chakras, are like huge three dimensional spheres of rotating energy, a mass of tiny particles or vapor, (or a constellation of stars) moving outside, inside and through your body in their own orbit.  They therefore can be sensed to the front of you, in the back and within the framework of your body.  Part of it,  yet somehow beyond it.  Not dense matter that can be weighed or measured, but aggregates of dynamic energy, the precursor and destination of physical matter. They can be felt as heat or cold, as dense or light sensation; seen as colour, shadow or light, yet they are not controlled by these same external elements.  If you have ever had a Kirlian Photograph which captures this field of energy on film, you will have a sense of this attempt to describe them.

The chakras function as resource centres, banks or stations, whereby you can gain access and control of the workings and operations of the subtle energy system.  Like all stations they can be very busy, congested or malfunctioning to the point of a standstill due to lack of organisation and awareness of what is needed to help that station operate at an optimum level of efficiency, or wellness.  When one station is out of sink it usually impacts on the whole flow of energy throughout the network.  These centres are influenced by the impact of internal and external emotional, psychological and spiritual experience. If they become blocked, inflamed or weakened the delicate balance is disturbed and various symptoms can arise.    

Some very sensitive and attuned people can feel or see chakras and work with these forces exclusively.  However, the purpose of the information in this book is to help you cultivate an awareness of the chakras through your own meditations and develop a wise relationship with the knowledge so that you can embrace these energies as you work with your clients. Techniques of Energy Balancing and Crystal Healing are simple therapeutic ways to regenerate and restore balance within the chakras, as well as Meditation.  

Chakras and Pranic Healing

Each of the seven chakras has a specific location in relation to your physical body as well as a colour and characteristic attributes. These seven correspond with your seven endocrine glands that are a vital part of your psychological and emotional well being.  On a more subtle level the chakras are associated with the yogic physiology of nadis, which are the subtle energy channels that flow throughout the body carrying prana, that was discussed in the chapter Your Breath. 

These key seven chakras are woven into the network of the three main nadis situated within and around the spine and act as pranic door ways, allowing for an integration of pranic healing.  Pranic healing happens when circulation of the vital energy in the body and mind are harmonised and balanced.  Yoga is, in fact, a form of pranic healing as can be other forms of body-mind movement that invoke an emotional and spiritual response or awareness.

The three key nadis are Ida on the left side of the spine, which is intertwined with Pingali on the right side. They represent respectively the flow of female and male energies including essential heat and cold from the first to the sixth chakras.  The central nadi, Shushumna, flows through the very centre of the spinal column from the first to the crown chakra.  Therefore, the breathing techniques as laid out in the chapter Your Breath are also powerfully effective in balancing the flow of prana through these channels to the chakras.