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The Rainbow Within

I’ve studied energy work for many years, now. I use it as I help people in the adoption process , I use it with my kids when they get a boo-boo, and I try to find, as Carolyn Myss and Louise Hay suggest, the symbolic meaning when I hear of someone experiencing illness or dis-ease.

So I am periodically going to present another way of looking at wellness, at ego, at energy, at vibrations, at the intersection of physics and metaphysics, and consciousness. For starters, I open today a series on the chakras.

Energy centers

“Chakra” is an ancient sanskrit word meaning “wheel.” There are seven primary chakras, or energy vortices, that correspond with seven colors of the rainbow, seven notes of the scale, seven sacraments , and even portions of the Kabbalah. Carolyn Myss set out in her research to find Truth, hypothesizing that one finds Truth (capital T) in all traditions because Truth emerges out of the essence of our human-ness, our Source that is embedded in each of us.

Now, some may roll their eyes when they hear “chakra” and assume I eat only granola and wear only birkenstocks and never shave my legs. But remember — I love mojitos! I have gym shoes on at the moment and I epilated my legs yesterday. I’m mainstream. My husband jokes that my sisters and I are the only known New Age Libertarians (I can not now support either major party — a topic for another post). And I aim to present chakras in a non-foo-foo manner that is embraceable by other “normal” people. So keep reading.

Each chakra, or energy center, influences various organs and parts of the body. The chakras lie along the body’s vertical axis, from the base of the spine to just on top of the head. The seven major chakras are:

1st: Root chakra
2nd: Sacral chakra
3rd: Solar plexus chakra
4th: Heart chakra
5th: Throat chakra
6th: Third-eye chakra
7th: Crown chakra

Dis-ease in the body first appears in the energetic body (which surrounds the physical body), and can be treated there before the body shows symptoms. Physical and emotional healing can be aided by promoting the flow of energy, focusing on the seven chakras. Energy blockages create areas of imbalance, with either too much or too little flow resulting, like boulders in a stream.

What blocks energy? Fear. I’ll be writing much more about this in future posts in this series. Next I’ll have a post that focuses on the Root Chakra.

For now, here’s a Chakra Evaluation Test I found while researching this post. It’s a simplified way for you to begin thinking about where your blockages might be, which thought patterns you hold that may be standing in your way.

(BTW, as I write, I have 4 open, 2 under-active and 1 over-active chakras — how about you?)

The paintings for this series were created by Lisa Brown-Olsen.

13 Responses

  1. very interesting. i had 5 open and root and crown underactive. very predictably me. i need some one on one time with you about this. enjoy san fran. mb

  2. Today is the perfect day to read this post because I am teaching a class on developing intuition. During our session, we will be learning about grounding and centering techniques — which, of course, center around the chakra system. I loved the evaluation and will send the link to my students. I had 5 open and 2 (heart and throat) over-active chakras. Very interesting. Thank you!

  3. OH — and two underactive — Root and navel (right on, if you ask me) — the others are open.I keep telling myself I need to reintroduce yoga and meditation/chanting back into my life…

  4. Lori, This is one of those everyday miracles that happens…because this is exactly what I needed to read today.Someday I’m coming to visit you — you are, as G would say ‘one of my peeps’…XOPam

  5. Mine are the same as yours, 4 open, 2 under-active, one over-active. The third eye was over-active, and root and crown under-active.

  6. It is so interesting that you kicked this off again because I had hit the part in Eat, Pray, Love where she discussed chakras last night and I was thinking about this series. I’m so glad you’re running it again.Summer reruns is brilliant.

  7. Mrs Spock — you’re doing great for having a newborn!Pam — I’m counting on it.Sheri — you knew I was going to post this, right?MB — you’re on. Let’s get sitters and have sangria.Furrow — so glad you didn’t know I was a Republican back then. Would have stunted our growth.Amber — can you plot that on a graph?SS — Wish I could join you and MB.

  8. Thanks for re-posting this, I am anxiously awaiting the next installment. I have 4 open and 3 under-active (root, navel, and heart). I have studied the chakras some but I look forward to reading your unique perspective on what this all means.

  9. What? We can do re-runs? Sweet. That solves my blogging problems. (actually, I have one or tow in draft mode. I’ll get them published eventually. Maybe.)You know, it was with these posts, or some like them at around the same time, that our cyber-friendship began. awwww…..

  10. I feel fucked up. I have two over-active and five under-active chakras.

    Even if a person did not have any insight into his/her chakras, could the person measure different at different points of time.

  11. Even though it’s been incorporated into English somewhat, I’m counting “chakra” as a non-English word for Bingo today!

    I took the test and it said I have 3 open and 4 under-active. I’m thinking I maybe shouldn’t have taken the test so late at night when I was feeling tired. 🙂

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