Balance your energy: An introduction to Chakras
Connecting to the Higher Being, the Creator, God may be as easy to some as praying and meditating on him.
But by understanding mind-body composition, many people have been able to connect their higher selves with the Higher Being in a different, more consistent way.
Balance is what our ancient African ancestors taught us through their spiritual teachings of Maat. Principally, Maat teaches that in all things, there must be balance, as is the natural occurrence of life. But as human beings, corrupted by artificiality, balance does not seem to be a normal trait in many people’s lives. So meditation, praying and other sorts of spiritual restoration methods are practiced.
As our ancestors were natural geniuses, they also understood that there are points of balance within the human body and soul in which energy flows. This sort of balance of energy as taught today is known by its Sanskrit name Chakras (which means spinning wheels, or wheels of light).
Chakras are focal points in the physical body that transmit and receive certain types of energy. According to “Chakras: A Monograph” by C. W. Leadbeater, energy focal points are real beams of light that can be seen with the eye.
“The chakras or force-centers are points of connection at which energy flows from one vehicle or body of a man to another,” Leadbeater writes. “Anyone who possesses a slight degree of clairvoyance may easily see them in the etheric double, where they show themselves as saucer-like depressions or vortices in its surface. When quite undeveloped, they appear as small circles about two inches in diameter, glowing dully in the ordinary man; but when awakened and vivified, they are seen as blazing, coruscating whirlpools, much increased in size, and resembling miniatures suns.”
Basically, the “wheels” of the concept are literal wheels, part of our aura.
Patricia Mercier writes in “Chakras: Balance Your Body’s Energy for Health and Harmony” that nourishing the seven major chakras may lead to better health and life.
“You are not just a physical body—remarkable though that is. It is possible to sit very still and start to sense your chakras or energy centers in your body. When you focus intently on a part of your energy body, that area is stimulated. Some studies have shown that if you think about a particular part of your physical body too, blood flow to it increases and healing occurs more rapidly there,” Mercier states.
The seven points are as follows: Root, sacral, navel (solar plexus), heart, throat, third eye (or first eye), and crown.
Each point is assigned a color and body part: The root is red and consists of the base of the spine, hips, legs, and sexual organs; sacral is orange and represents sexual organs (women), kidneys, bladder and large intestine; the naval is yellow and encompasses the stomach, liver, gall bladder, pancreas, and small intestine; the heart is green, and represents heart, lungs, circulatory system, shoulders, and upper back; throat is blue and is assigned the throat, neck, teeth, ears, and thyroid gland; the third eye is indigo and represents eyes, face, brain, lymphatic, and endocrine system; while the crown is violet and located behind the top of the skull.
The root is where one discovers a sense of security, trust, and health. The sacral chakra is about feeling and sexuality. It is also about creativity, inspiration, influences open-mindedness and love.
When in balance, this chakra opens individuals up to being intimate, passionate, and lively.
Navel is the source of assertiveness, accomplishment, and personal power. The heart chakra influences forgiveness, compassion, empathy, and trust, When in balance, it allows individuals to be more at peace and enables them to help others. Throat influences communication, judgment, self-belief, truthfulness, and artistic expression. The third eye is a mysterious chakra. Here is where psychic powers or the ability to see things that are yet to come occurs. Here is also where intuition and imagination is influenced. Finally, the crown is the central point for spiritual influence and guidance. It is the human connection to the Higher Being.
While this is not directly the type of teaching most Baptist background Black church going people hear about, it is one of those concepts that transcends religion and touches on a universal theme of balance and natural harmony. The chakras teach that when we are in balance, we are more powerful and more connected. When we are not in balance, physical illnesses are more prominent, emotional instability is frequent, and our connectivity with God and self are strained. As our ancestors continue to teach us through their legacy of lessons, balance opens us to endless spiritual possibilities.
Good health typically incorporates mind, body, and spirit. At times, it can be a balancing act trying to maintain all areas of health, but in the end it turns out to be worth the work, patience, and prayer.
One technique many holistic doctors, spiritualists, and mediators recommend is fasting, which has the potential to address all components of health at the same time.
African Americans are a colorful people, who claim some of the most phenomenal talents, elaborate philosophies, and eccentric belief systems. One thing about Black religion and spirituality is that we know how to have us some church.
From the dancing and singing to the worshiping and preaching, when we get down, we get down. It would almost be appropriate to say that in church, temple, mass, mosque and whatever other service you can think of, we always seem to welcome in the spirit of the Higher Being, the ancestors, or respective spirits.
The Ambo people in Zambia call the Creator Cuta; the Bacongo people in Angola call him Nzambi; the Digo people in Kenya call God Mulungu; the Kpelle people in Liberia call the Almighty Yala; and the Ndebele people in Zimbabwe call the All Knowing Unkulukulu. These are but a few names our brothers and sisters in the Motherland call the being whom most of us call God. Living worlds apart, yet connected through ancestry and even spirituality, African Americans have long been consciously disconnected to whom we used to call God.
Religion and politics are like the bread and butter of social thought. The two share some very similar characteristics and have even been the foundation of wars. But since this is the religion and spirituality section, let us focus only on religion.
So what is this entity, this organism, this institution that has evoked so much division, yet unwavering devotion among people across the world?
Religion, simply put, is a set of values and beliefs a group of people agrees upon and practice.
Many Black churches have stained glass windows of a White Jesus, A White Apostle Paul, or any other Biblical characters posted high that congregates look up to as they sit in the edifices. Whatever the case may be, there is a tendency to “overlook” the Black presence in Christian literature.
