What is Chakra
A chakra is the human bodys energy axis that receives, interacts with and conveys life force between an individual and his/her environment. Its direct English translation means a spinning wheel. Furthermore, ancient Hindu writings reveal that of the bodys 88,000 chakra points, there are seven which are considered of primary importance.
Located along the spine, the seven key chakras are the root, navel, solar plexus, heart, throat, brow, and crown. These energy axes (chakra) in our body continuously receive and give out energies from their interaction with our environment such as other people, plants, trees, animals and other elements. They are credited with having a direct effect on our physical, emotional and spiritual character.
One interesting aspect of the explanation and characterization of chakras is the uncanny similarity reached by both the Hindus and Chinese that they are an integral part of mans conscious and subconscious experience. Add to this the fact that both civilizations use the same theory for promoting a healthy and successful life of an individual.
The chakra unceasing interaction with our body and the environment even during our sleep gives them a direct influence over our physical structure and appearance including our bodily processes, health and our emotions. A glitch of any one of the major chakras is an indicator that something is wrong with our physical/emotional health which may directly or indirectly be noticeable.
Since each of the major chakras corresponds to a particular endocrine gland in our body, any variance in their normal function or behavior directly affects our health as well.
Maintaining Chakra Balance Using the above as our starting point, we can then safely conclude that most of our major illnesses and ailments are chakra related. Although there may not be enough physical manifestations of the illness or imbalance (yet) there may be emotions and concerns from way back our childhood that affect us today physically, spiritually or emotionally.
Since not all of our illnesses may be physical, they can also be on the emotional level brought on by repressed incidents that brought us undue pain or disappointment during our lifetime to eating the wrong types of foods and being obese for example. Lack of self confidence and self esteem can also be considered an illness in the broadest term. Certainly, there is only one way to combat these illnesses and that is to remove their physical or emotional triggers from our system.
Advantages of Chakra Healing What most people are not aware of is that we have the resources to control and manipulate our energy points to our advantage. By knowing how to influence and manipulate the functions of our major chakras we can then control how they function so that we can achieve the benefits of balance and harmony, not only within us but with our surroundings as well.
There are a number of ways through which we can directly influence the functions of our bodys major chakras. From simple techniques such as aromatherapy, breathing exercises, physical fitness, or with the use of crystals and gemstones we can achieve balance and harmony.
Other methodologies of chakra healing are meditation (keeping the mind focused on an object of thought or awareness for a certain period of time), guided visualization (done with the aid of audio tapes or CDs to promote natural healing and relaxation techniques to reduce stress, promote relaxation and harness the power of the mind).
Despite the fact that we can see or touch our energy points, aside from the above there are other ways that we can keep them healthy in order for them to better support our body.
The food we eat affects our health and our system. They also have an affect on the balance and harmony of our major chakras because there are foods that can help maintain the balance and functions of the bodys seven major chakras.
Our root chakra thrives on root-type vegetables and protein-rich foods. Sweet fruits, nuts directly affect our navel chakra while our solar plexus chakra is enhanced by a healthy diet of breads, dairy product and cereals.
Green, leafy vegetables, plenty of liquid, fruit juices and green tea are beneficial for our heart and throat chakras.
On the other hand, our third eye chakra is get nourishment when we eat blueberries and grapes and drink wine or grape juice. It is equally important to nourish this chakra as it makes feelings and senses sharper.
Our crown chakra, the center of our spiritual and emotional center needs detoxification through fasting and/or ritual inhalation of incense and herbs.
By influencing our chakras, we are also directly influencing our health in general. This leads to a more responsive existence complete in tune with our surroundings and all other elements of both the physical and metaphysical world we live in.
Anne-Marie Laureaut is a writer for the popular chakra-balance.com site. To understand how chakra meditation can drastically improve your life and to get 29 Free chakra healing Audios visit here.