I know that not everybody puts any merit in the idea of chakras, or energy centres in the body. That is fine. I find chakras are a useful way of conceptualizing different aspects of human nature, and that is mostly how I use the information about chakras. For example, I sometimes find myself inexplicably drawn to certain colours, scents or foods. I will obsess over them for a while, until I have had my fill, and then move my attention back to my regular preferences in food, smell, and taste. As of late, I have been drawn to first orange, and now red; to spicy, aromatic foods, and to ethnic music and exotic smells. This phenomenon can be explained by Western psychology as a psychological need to fulfil cravings for warmth, nurturing, "spice in my life" or passion. It can be explained by a medical model as a physiological need for an ocular stimulation through colour (that is know even in medicine to affect mood) or a dietary need for certain nutrients that the body craves (maybe in response to the colder weather). In Eastern tradition my obsessions with spicy food, warm colours, and deep, seductive fragrances are explained through the understanding of chakras. I find basic knowledge about chakras useful, even for people that don't believe that there are balls of energy residing in their physical body. Chakra wisdom never fails to provide me with uncannily accurate explanations for my seemingly random draw to certain things, and matches up very well with what Western science tells me about my "cravings". And so with that in mind, I invite you to suspend your disbelief so that I can tell you why I believe that many women may be missing their lower halves...
I Call It Chakras, You Call Whatever You Want...
It all started two summers ago, when my friend Rachel gave me a book on chakras to read. Many of the things stated sounded familiar, and upon further inspection I found that the models coincided closely with theories found in Western psychological models. Colour therapy, olfactory (smell) therapy, and nutrition research had proven (through science) what Eastern traditions have known for many years, and have passed on through the tradition of Yoga. Basic chakra wisdom states that we have seven energy centres running vertically through the body, and each centre has its own colour(s), sounds, smells, tastes, as well as some physical and emotional components that relate to it.
Top Heavy Women, and Bottom Heavy Men...
The top three chakras are mainly mental/spiritual chakras whereas the bottom three are visceral/or emotive chakras. The middle one,the heart chakra, is the one that integrates the two hemispheres: our physical and mental experiences. Personally, my fascination lies in the realms of the bottom half of the spectrum. I feel that as a woman, I have mastered the realms of the upper chakras. Communication is extremely important in female relationships, and is cultivated from a young age. Spirituality, community, and nurturant tolerance are all the realms of the upper chakras, and I feel my education in these have left me somewhat "top heavy". Also, being a person that likes to live in my head, I contemplate and intellectualize, which adds to the dilemma. When I get together with girlfriends we sit down and we talk (throat chakra). We analyze situations and people, we form concepts (3rd eye chakra), and we deepen our understanding of the world (crown chakra). Men, conversely spend their bromancing time doing activities together that are governed by the bottom three chakras like playing sports, or going for food and drinks. When they sit down for a chat, their communication is often centred around bravado or self esteem boosting conversation (solar plexus chakra), sex (sacral chakra), or action and material security (root chakra). I would say then men's environment centres around the bottom three chakras.
I Can't Feel My Lower Half!
After reading about the chakras, and how certain blockages or under-activity translate into physical and mental conditions, I realized that most of the problems that I have in my life are considered "lower chakra problems".
Here is a list of the common "ailments" associated with the lower chakras:
- Self-esteem problems
- Jealousy
- Clingy-ness
- Dealing constructively with strong emotions
- The right to take up physical space
- Problems (or obsession) with securing material possessions
- Body satisfaction
- Embodiment (living in your body, and not your mind)
- Creative flow
- Free sexual expression
- Job satisfaction
- Energy
Any woman reading this is probably saying: "Check. Check. CHECK!" Most of these issues are predominantly female issues. Even if you personally don't struggle with some of these, you will know a woman who does. Some of the problems arise from society, like our problem with taking up space; whether it be through physical presence, intellect, or strong opinion. Our self esteem and body satisfaction is constantly battered by media, even if it was high to start with. Our sexual expression is systematically either oppressed or exploited, neither of which is a bedmate of freedom. Our natural creative flow is ridiculed as being frivolous, and so we put it on the back burner so that we can "make it in a man's world" by being shrewd businesswomen. We suppress our emotions for fear of being told that we have PMS, or that we are just being silly girls. We are essentially, in one way or another, largely cut off from our lower half.
I Am Starting To Feel My Toes...
Since I have come to this realization, I have started to take a decidedly diagnostic approach to my "ailments". When I feel one of the symptoms I have listed above, I go to a website on chakras and try to find out which chakra relates to this feeling. It is almost always one of the lower three. For instance, a few summers ago (when I first got the chakra book from my girlfriend) I was obsessed with the colour yellow, with yellow gold jewelry, and with lemon flavoured and scented goods. When I got the book I went straight to the "yellow chapter" on the Solar Plexus Chakra, and found so many things that coincided with the state of my life at the time. I had just ended a three year relationship in which I had completely lost myself. I had no self-esteem left, no capacity to handle my emotions constructively, and no personal power. As I worked with the techniques and meditations in the book, I built up all of my resources in dealing with the issues of that chakra and it worked beautifully.
I am fully aware that it could have been a placebo effect. In fact, I think the reason it was so effective was because it gave me "something to do" in a time where I felt helpless. Just the action of doing something constructive about my situation definitely led to building a better self esteem and personal power, especially after I had fallen into the trap of expecting my relationship to fulfill all my needs. But since that time I have found that, without fail, it is better to attack my emotional and physical ailments with some sort of chakra diagnosis, then it is to do nothing but wish it away. Although the notions of chakras might seem too esoteric for some, it is just a launching pad for action to change your life.
Attack Your Demons, Don't Try To Think Them Away...
For me, the use of chakra wisdom has been a way to concretely diagnose and deal with the abstract realms of emotions. When I feel anger without any provocation, jealousy where I usually wouldn't, or emotional and physical exhaustion for no apparent reason, I find that being able to refer to a chakra chart helps me to know where to take action. Usually I am surprised to find that many things in my life coincide at one time with the chakra in question. Right now in my life I looked up the Root chakra because I have been physically exhausted and sick. As I read the characteristics of that chakra I realise that I am having cravings for spicy food, I am drawn to all things red, and I am having random outbursts of anger. They all happen to relate to the root chakra. My body already knows what it needs to overcome this blockage. Or maybe it is just coincidence? If it works, I don't really care either way.
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