Wanderlust Ten Things You Need to Know About Chakras

This journal article contains an excerpt from the book "A Balanced Life" by Kimberly Parsons, published by Quadrille.
You can buy a copy here.

The Sanskrit word chakra literally means "holy wheel" or "disc". The life energy (also known as chi or prana) that moves within you is constantly spinning and spinning. This clockwise rotating energy has seven main wheels (chakras) in your body that start at the base of your spine and move to the top of your head. These swirling energy wheels correspond to dense areas of nerve activity (nerve ganglia) and major organs in the body – a network of 72,000 channels (called nadi in Sanskrit, which translates as "tubes" or "whistles") that lead an energetic life and force throughout the body. These energy channels form a network of nerves and meet in seven large confluences, the so-called chakras.

The lower three chakras (root, sacral and solar plexus) all relate to the physical body, while the heart chakra sits in the middle with limbs in both the physical and spiritual bodies. The top three chakras (throat, third eye and crown) all relate to psychological and spiritual aspects of us.

More than four thousand years ago, the ancient yogis of India described a second, more subtle nervous system that coexisted with our physical nervous system. The seven chakras represent this energetic anatomy and are part of the subtle body that includes our physical, energetic, emotional, mental and spiritual states of being. They are associated with certain emotions, qualities, ways of thinking and feeling, behaviors, the ego, and various states of consciousness, including the most spiritual. This means that each chakra corresponds to aspects of our human experience, such as: B. our capacity for love, compassion and forgiveness, our willpower, our ambition and personal identity, our perception of ourselves and the world around us, our intuition and our self-expression through language and creativity. and so much more.

Chakras do not function independently of each other or from the physical mind or body, but rather as cogs in the larger human experience – mind, body and spirit. They work together as a single system and should be viewed as a family unit of seven members who all work together.

Since chakras exist in the space between mind and matter on the energetic level of human existence, they can easily become clogged or dense due to emotional, mental, energetic and spiritual factors. Optimal activity of the chakras can be affected by diet, stress, electromagnetic interference, internal problems caused by certain circumstances, and also the state of the chakras of our loved ones.

By being included in the outside world, patterns within the chakras tend to perpetuate themselves. hence the idea of ​​karma patterns formed by action, or the laws of cause and effect. Hence, it is common to get trapped in one of these patterns. This is known as being "stuck" in a chakra. We are in a cycle that keeps us at a certain level. This can be a relationship, a job, a habit, but mostly just a mindset. Stuck can be either a function of overemphasis or underdevelopment of a chakra. The goal of our work is to cleanse the chakra of the old, non-useful patterns so that their self-sustaining actions can have a positive influence and our life energy can further expand to higher levels.

Each chakra has the ability to give us an incredible amount of energy and strength when it is aligned and we adjust to it. Remember that chakra energy centers are often thought of as vortices or energy wheels that spin as the stars and planets spin. However, if any of your chakras are spinning too fast (excessively / overemphasized), staying too “open”, blocked, or moving slowly (deficient / underdeveloped), you can become unbalanced and develop lethargy and fainting. Think of the chakras like the wheels and cogs on a car engine. The car is at an optimal speed to save energy and avoid excessive wear and tear. If we go too fast, it will burn the fuel and eventually it will run out of energy to keep it going while putting additional stress on the working parts. If we drive the car slower than the preferred optimal pace, the car will take longer to reach its destination and never reach a temperature that warms the engine or tires enough to function properly. This metaphor shows that chakras like to rotate at their individual optimal speed. So when a chakra "gets stuck" in either the open or closed state, its rotation slows down and it sends a far smaller amount of energetic nourishment to the physical systems that surround it. This chakra then needs to be rebalanced and healed by revealing and removing whatever is blocking it. If the chakra is not unlocked, this energy stagnates and physical symptoms can manifest in the body. Negative emotions and physiological states can develop, causing you to experience the negative aspects of that particular chakra.

In a healthy, balanced person, the seven chakras provide the right balance of energy for every part of your body, mind, and spirit, and provide positive qualities that correspond to a sense of balance, energy, and the whole. Healing, balancing and opening the chakra system marks important phases of life and phases of our emotional maturation, the crystallization of our wisdom and our spiritual progress. Through the chakra system we can transform and become an awakened mind.

Chakras correspond to a certain color, a certain element or symbol as well as many other points of contact such as body parts, endocrine organs, gemstones, seasons and planets. The connection between the chakras and their specific colors is much more than mere symbolism. When we shine pure white light through a crystal or when we look at a rainbow, the white light divides into its primary colors. Each color corresponds to a certain wavelength of light, an energy frequency. With that in mind, we could say that each color appears to have a specific physical wavelength that affects our body and psyche in a unique way. Accordingly, the colors in the chakra system appear in ascending order of their wavelength – starting with the lowest frequency in the first chakra to the highest frequency in the crown.

The seven chakras are a clear overview of all levels of human existence and development – starting with the most earthly levels of instinct, impulse and our basic relationship with life on earth (root chakra) to our most refined layers of higher mental abilities and connection with the infinite source of life (crown chakra). In doing so, they capture our journey of transcendence, on which we overcome the so-called "challenge" or the limitations and inhibitions of each chakra. When we are able to meet the challenge, we will eventually unlock the right of this chakra and enable spiritual states of being that demonstrate fearlessness, unconditional love and a broad and expanded sense of self.

Kimberly Parsons is an Australian born chef, writer and qualified naturopath. Her series of cookbooks titled "The Yoga Kitchen" and "The Yoga Kitchen Plan" uses traditional yoga philosophy and eating principles for long-lasting, vibrant health and happiness. Her latest book "A Balanced Life" combines her naturopathic and yogic philosophy in a beautiful health and lifestyle book to help us all find a lasting balance. Kimberly spends her time cooking at health retreats around the world and lives in the English countryside where she is a mom and enjoys cooking, gardening and writing. Belief in wellness is not a recipe, it is a skill. Kimberly lectures at companies and other wellness events across London.