Vacationing in New Hampshire has gifted me a ton of down time to get reading. I feel like I never have time to sit down and focus, but I’ve plowed through a book per day since leaving home.
Yesterday I read about chakras. When I picked up the book, I had little to no understanding of what they were.
I have appreciation for holistic medicine and healing practices within reason, but I’m always searching for the scientific proof. Hearing that chakras dealt with energy, I assumed it was an intangible spiritual source. Once I cracked the book and started reading about chakras on a molecular level as based in quantum physics, I definitely had my interest peaked. I had a hard time putting the book down, and read it cover to cover while my kids swam in the hotel pool.
So, a quick overview: there are seven chakras that deal with energy in the body. Much like layers of tissue interconnect to make your physical body, layers of energy connect and flow too. Energy comes from the electrical impulses generated by the neurons in atoms. When energy in any given chakra is blocked from being part of the interconnected flow, physical and emotional repercussions occur.
I am in absolutely no way an expert on this- I picked up my first book yesterday and continued researching on the internet.
Of the seven, the solar plexus chakra really struck a chord with me. This chakra is located in your abdomen about two finger widths above your belly button. This chakra corresponds with self confidence and self worth. When this chakra is out of harmony, we feel driven to keep up appearances and strive for prestige to hide that we do not respect ourselves. Sometimes, even hate ourselves.
Physically this often manifests in stomach issues, eating disordered and fatigue. Emotionally it causes issues with self esteem, trust, responsibility for making decisions and sensitivity to criticism.
The chakra is often blocked by repressed anger and issues with control and power.
Reading through this chapter, every line caused aching in my stomach and chest. I struggled for so long with the inability to explain how I was feeling, feeling alone, dealing with the physical pain- everything. Everything hit me hard. I never knew others felt this way, let alone wrote books about it or practiced healing it on a global scale. It was the ease of being accepted, but also the heartbreak that these awful feeling effect more than just me.
One of my favorite things in the world is learning new words and phrases. In this case, I feel like I’ve gained a huge communication tool that will help me express and identify my feelings. As we know, acknowledging a problem is step one in fixing the issue.
I’m not capable of healing myself. I need the support of my family and friends, guidance from my therapist, supervision from my medical doctors, and tons of research on all of the options available to me.
Not very long ago, I had a friend who took his own life. I think about it everyday, and constantly wonder what could have been done differently. What if he had these words and phrases to communicate his feelings? What if he had support, the right kind of help, knowledge, hope? I’ve been in really dark, really low places. I’ve had the thought that people would be better off without me. I’m not putting up with those thoughts anymore. I’ve seen the hurt suicide causes as a ripple effect, and I would do anything to prevent my children from feeling that kind of hurt.
My family keeps me driven to succeed, to be healthy. I want the best for them, and I’m really starting to believe that their best life includes having me in it. I want to have a healthy body, to play and be active with them. I want to have a healthy mind where I can process issues in an effective and productive way in order to provide for them. I want to be spiritually healthy, where I can spread positivity and bring my children joy in mindful moments.
These desires are what really drove my interest in researching chakras. Since all energy is connected, each healthy goal depends on the success of the others. Health is work, health is actively making better decisions, health is being educated.
I’m spending some time working on my solar plexus chakra. I’ve researched, and feel that a good starting place to unblock this chakra would be meditating, using self love affirmations, focusing on healthy eating instead of binge/restriction cycling, and being more active in decision making. (I often let my husband take the wheel in family decisions, but it’s time to be involved and empowered.)
This is just a start, there’s so much more to improve on. Success is about small steps every day. I challenge you to learn one new thing today, whether its researching an interest online or picking up a book. If you’re at a loss, look up the 7 chakras- see which ones speak to you.
With healthy hearts,
Kate and the kids.
Kate and the Kids 