At first, being the skeptic that I am, I rejected the concepts of chakras. Not knowing anything about it, I assumed it was similar to the elements of organized religion that weren’t quite my jam. But, alas, it was part of my Teacher Training, so I figured I’d just do my good-student thing, learn the material, move on, and never think about it again. Little did I know how wrong I was.
For those who don’t know, chakras are a concept used in yoga philosophy, as well as Hinduism, Tantra, and more, that help us understand and examine our own beings. They are often described as wheels or disks that are constantly in flux as they respond the influences that we experience in our lives. That means if something crazy happens to you, your different chakras will naturally, unconsciously dilate in response—this eventually causes some chakras to be overactive or underactive, and by being able to determine which ones are out of whack, we are able to work back towards equilibrium and clarity.
There are usually thought to be 7 chakras in your body (we will go through each of them in detail in the coming weeks), and each chakra corresponds to not just a physical section of your body, but also corresponds to certain areas of thought & emotion.
For me, what resonates is thinking of the chakras as a visual representation of something the average person cannot measure on their own—their inner workings. It is a tool of self-examination that I find really useful, considering that I don’t have the equipment, expertise or temperament to constantly be running medical tests on myself whenever I want some answers.
By cultivating a basic understanding of the chakras, how they function, and what to do to help balance them, your self-awareness is multiplied exponentially, and for me, I also love that it offers a shared vocabulary with which we can speak about some subjects that are often very difficult to not even just express, but difficult to understand in the first place.
Stick with me for the next seven weeks as I share with you what I find to be the most useful when talking about the chakras in relation to our modern lives.