Clearing the Energy Body
The Energy Body is part of all Energy Medicine healing traditions. Our Life Force or Chi (Life Force has many names in different cultures and traditions) flows through the Energy Body on channels called meridians or nadis. Again, each tradition has their own name for these energy carrying channels of your body and for the Energy Body itself.
Energy needs to flow freely through these channels. If your energy is blocked from free flow, stagnation occurs. This is much like the flow of water, if water flow is blocked, stagnation occurs. *Stagnant energy contributes to ill health.
These channels of energy have energy centers, chakras, on them. Your life force energy circles around on these channels and is then redistributed. Think of this like your breaker box in your home. The electrical wires in your home, like your meridians, carry energy. The breaker box has center points, chakras, that distribute the energy into these home wires.
*If energy, the electricity, in your home was stagnant there would be problems using electrical outlets and appliances in the rooms whose electrical supplies were not coming through. This is what happens to your body; when the energy is stagnant and not flowing freely, the organs supplied with energy on that meridian will receive low levels of life force energy.
The Energy Body is part of all Energy Medicine healing traditions. Our Life Force or Chi (Life Force has many names in different cultures and traditions) flows through the Energy Body on channels called meridians or nadis. Again, each tradition has their own name for these energy carrying channels of your body and for the Energy Body itself.
Energy needs to flow freely through these channels. If your energy is blocked from free flow, stagnation occurs. This is much like the flow of water, if water flow is blocked, stagnation occurs. *Stagnant energy contributes to ill health.
These channels of energy have energy centers, chakras, on them. Your life force energy circles around on these channels and is then redistributed. Think of this like your breaker box in your home. The electrical wires in your home, like your meridians, carry energy. The breaker box has center points, chakras, that distribute the energy into these home wires.
*If energy, the electricity, in your home was stagnant there would be problems using electrical outlets and appliances in the rooms whose electrical supplies were not coming through. This is what happens to your body; when the energy is stagnant and not flowing freely, the organs supplied with energy on that meridian will receive low levels of life force energy.
Another visual to explain this flow are traffic circles. Think of the flow of cars (energy) moving into the traffic circles and the car (energy) is then distributed elsewhere as it exits the traffic circle.
Your body has several main Chakras and many more smaller ones throughout your energy field. Depending on the Yoga, Shamanic, or Energy Medicine system you were trained in there could be 3 to 8 or more main Chakras recognized and 122 or more smaller ones throughout your energy field. These are all whirling “traffic circles” of energy that distribute your life force energy about your body, organs, tissues, and cells.
Through breath work and visually meditating on the flow of energy, you can redirect energy in your body. You can use the below Chakra Clearing technique to clear energy blockages and shift your stagnant energy.
i created this meditation years ago. I have since, in my shamanic training, learned other similar chakra clearing techniques. Use this as a guide. Create what works for you and makes sense to you.
The above image shows 7 Chakras. Starting at the bottom, in red, is the root Chakra, orange is sacral, yellow is solar plexus, green is heart, blue is throat, purple is 3rd eye, and the top chakra is often shown as crystal / white and is the crown Chakra.
The 8th Chakra is in the mid brain and is the pineal Chakra. It is found by drawing a straight line back from the Third Eye and down from the Crown Chakras. Where this line intersects is the 8th Chakra. This chakra would be considered #7 and the Crown Chakra would be #8 in an eight chakra system.
There is also a series of chakras above the head that are recognized as part of the Chakra system.
We will focus on the 7/8 Chakras within the length of the physical body.
Lifestyle Medicine habits help to keep your Life Force Energy flowing freely: Yoga, Acupuncture, Massage, Acupressure, Reflexology, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Reiki, and many more are all forms of Energy Medicine.
After a series of Yoga poses and breath work, I like to do a seated meditation where I actively work my Chakras to move energy and clear blockages. I do this visualization before I do Shamanic work and sometimes when I am lying in bed to relax for sleep.
Chakra Clearing Visualization How To
To increase your energy level, start at your root chakra and work up to the crown chakra.
To calm energy (anxiety or sleep needs) start at the crown chakra and work down to the root chakra.
Once you have decided if you want to increase or decrease your energy level, use this technique to clear energy blockages.
I am going to describe the technique from the Root Chakra up, like I would do after an AM Yoga pose and breath work session.
To decrease energy for sleep, do the same way but start at the Crown and work your way down to the Root Chakra.
Over the years, I have used various visuals to open my chakras. Play with ideas and find what works for you.
Prep work for opening the chakras, I visualize opening them in one of three ways:
like a sliding barn door
like a double barn door and both doors open outward and lie flat against the barn walls
swirling the chakra counter clockwise (energy in the chakras naturally flows clockwise)
Some people sense the Root Chakra’s door as being located at the lowest point on the pubic bone. Some people sense the Root Chakra door as being located on the peri-anal floor (pelvic floor). Go with what feels correct for you and your body / energy body.
Take at least 5 slow, deep belly breaths. Feel your diaphragm drop down. Feel your chest expand so that all of your ribs from collar bone down to your waist open, allowing the lungs to fill deeply. Feel the ribs settle back to allow the breath to leave the body.
On your last exhale, visualize the Root Chakra opening. On the next inhale, pull healing **white light energy into the chakra and swirl it clockwise. Exhale and close the chakra.
Take a slow deep cleansing breath. Inhale deeply and exhale visualizing the Sacral Chakra opening on the exhale. Inhale drawing white light energy into the Sacral Chakra and swirling the energy clockwise. Exhale and close the chakra.
Take a slow deep cleansing breath. Inhale deeply and exhale visualizing the Solar Plexus Chakra opening on the exhale. Inhale drawing white light energy into the Solar Plexus Chakra and swirling the energy clockwise. Exhale and close the chakra.
Take a slow deep cleansing breath. Inhale deeply and exhale visualizing the Heart Chakra opening on the exhale. Inhale drawing white light energy into the Heart Chakra and swirling the energy clockwise. Exhale and close the chakra.
Take a slow deep cleansing breath. Inhale deeply and exhale visualizing the Throat Chakra opening on the exhale. Inhale drawing white light energy into the Throat Chakra and swirling the energy clockwise. Exhale and close the chakra.
Take a slow deep cleansing breath. Inhale deeply and exhale visualizing the Third Eye Chakra opening on the exhale. Inhale drawing white light energy into the Third Eye Chakra and swirling the energy clockwise. Exhale but keep the chakra open. We use the Third Eye Chakra to get back to the Pineal Gland Chakra.
Take a slow deep cleansing breath. Inhale drawing white light energy into the Third Eye Chakra pulling the energy back into the brain to the Pineal Gland (mid brain area) and swirling the energy clockwise. Exhale and close the chakra.
Take a slow deep cleansing breath. Inhale deeply and exhale visualizing the Crown Chakra opening on the exhale. Inhale drawing white light energy into the Crown Chakra and swirling the energy clockwise. Exhale and close the chakra.
Take 5 slow, deep cleansing breaths expanding the chest fully and dropping the diaphragm. As you do these breaths, visualize white light swirling like a spiral up your center chakra channel and back down. Up with inhale, down with exhale.
Relax and just feel your body’s energy flow before moving on with your day.
**White light is a healing light energy. You can also pick a color of your choice for specific work on your energy.
Pink energy for unconditional love
Purple energy for healing
Green energy for abundance
Blue energy for calming
Yellow, orange. or red energy to light your fire
Etc. The color you use can be specific to you and have your own personal meaning.
Post Note: If you are freaking out because I sometimes spell chakra with a capital C and sometimes not, breathe. I will explain.
If I speak of the Root Chakra, I see this as a proper name and capitalize. I vacillate back and forth on just the word chakra being a proper name / noun.
This is akin to me capitalizing Dandelion or Stinging Nettle… it is their name. This goes back to my work in Plant Spirit Medicine and honoring plants as sacred.
My Yoga Mat IS My Magic Carpet
OR... Why I Love Yoga, Take 3!
4 1/2 years ago I wrote an article titled Why I Love Yoga and Other Thoughts on Whole Food, Whole Health Healing that has been published on several Yoga, Mindfulness, Health, & Healing websites. It was my attempt to lure you into a personal practice that will transform the manner in which you exist in this world and support you making the best health and healing choices with each and every choice you need to make!
Did I lure you? Are you immersing into yoga to change your inner landscape so your outer world blossoms?
OR... Why I Love Yoga, Take 3!
5 years ago I wrote an article titled Why I Love Yoga and Other Thoughts on Whole Food, Whole Health Healing that has been published on several Yoga, Mindfulness, Health, & Healing websites (In a professional holistic Nursing journal as well). This writing was/is my attempt to lure you into a personal practice that will transform the manner in which you exist in this world and support you making the best health and healing choices with each and every choice you need to make.
Did I lure you? Are you immersing into yoga to change your inner landscape so your outer world blossoms?
Yoga plants seeds. Seeds that are possibilities for life long change.
Yoga lifts you up (body, mind, and spirit) so you can soar and sway with the breezes of life, being calmly flexible. Yoga also roots you down and grounds you into your life so you can be stable and steady no matter what comes your way.
Yoga has taught me, reminded me, that my human body is a sacred vessel for spirit. My body is the home of the divine essence that is me.
I am a soul in a human existence not a human walking around with a soul (Wayne Dyer, one of many, kindly reminded us of this). Once we embrace our divine essence and purpose, in our human form, it becomes easier to make those healing lifestyle changes and stick to them.
Your lifestyle choices can and will build your soul a home that is a castle that can weather life with grace. Your lifestyle choices can also cobble together a shack that feels unwell, daily, and falls apart easily.
When we come home to this, truly embody the fact that we are divine beings within a human body, it makes the task of choosing healthy lifestyle habits the path of least resistance.
Our inner conversation goes from impulsively eating, without conscious thought, those two pieces of cake sitting there just because they ARE sitting there to being about making choices that are best for body-mind-spirit.
Building Castles not Shacks.
A regular Yoga practice creates new neural pathways of thinking in body, mind, heart, and spirit. These pathways create inner calm, peace, and presence in the hear & now. I have always called this Inner Conscious Connection. Mindfulness is the word we all here now.
Stepping off of my Yoga Mat Magic Carpet, navigating the world in a magical way, transforms the whole world into my Yoga Mat Magic Carpet.
Sending Love from My Castle to Yours. Namaste.
Join Shelby Connelly & I at Five Elements Living Retreat Center for a 3 hour Yoga - Acupuncture Mini-Retreat: April 8th (evening retreat) or April 11th (morning retreat), 2018
Beginner's Yoga : Letting Go Of Awkward Yoga-Acupuncture-Self Care Evening Or Morning Retreat
More articles to inspire you to jump on a Magic Carpet of your own:
Green is the Heart Chakra... Love Your Yoga!
Grounding Yourself for Emotional Healing
1. Remind yourself that you are in complete control of you.
2. Start your day with an AM grounding experience. I do a blended visualization / meditation that takes 5-7 minutes and grounds me for the day. I sit on the stone steps in my back yard with my feet in contact with the ground. (Urban dwellers, sit and visualize your feet in the grass, connected to Mother Earth!) I close my eyes and visualize white light coming from the ground, up through my Chakras and Nadis, then turns around at the crown Chakra and goes back into the earth taking all negative (dark light) energy back into the earth to be absorbed. I visualize white light coming from above, through my crown Chakra, and circling back up at my root Chakra taking negative energy back into the atmosphere. I do both of these twice.
1. Remind yourself that you are in complete control of you.
2. Start your day with an AM grounding experience. I do a blended visualization / meditation that takes 5-7 minutes and grounds me for the day. I sit on the stone steps in my back yard with my feet in contact with the ground. (Urban dwellers, sit and visualize your feet in the grass, connected to Mother Earth!) I close my eyes and visualize white light coming from the ground, up through my Chakras and Nadis, then turns around at the crown Chakra and goes back into the earth taking all negative (dark light) energy back into the earth to be absorbed. I visualize white light coming from above, through my crown Chakra, and circling back up at my root Chakra taking negative energy back into the atmosphere. I do both of these twice. Next I visualize white light coming from the earth again, up through my root Chakra. When It turns the corner at my crown, this time it goes back into the earth and creates a root system from my tailbone down into the earth. Now visualize white light from the crown Chakra, turns at the root Chakra and turns again at the crown Chakra to go back into the earth. Again, visualize the roots coming from your tailbone deep into the earth to ground you for the day’s challenges. Finally, I swirl white light energy around my body, from feet to head, like a twister moving up my body. This is to protect me from negative energy and other’s stress.
3. Create peace in your life with a regular yoga practice. The benefits of Yoga are profound. You will intuitively move towards healthier choices in your life. Your mind will become calm. Your body will respond physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually to the beauty of yoga. Your body will be in the flow of life. This is true mind -body -spirit healing.
4. Nourish your body with 100% whole foods. To get started on whole food eating, pick up a copy of my book, Hands On Health: Take Your Vibrant, Whole Health Back Into Your Healing Hands. Read the Free info on my website: Principles of Whole Food Eating, Whole Health Lifestyle Choices, & more Free Health Info
5. Get to bed and be asleep before 10 PM. When your body is asleep before 10 PM, the level of stress hormones in your body drops. When you stay up late, burning the midnight oil, your body pays through higher levels of cortisol hormones. This is stress. Sleep, sweet dream sleep, before 10 PM and your body’s glandular system works for you in a balanced manner, making happy feel-good hormones!
6. Get outside every day, preferably moving your body. Yes, I mean exercise. Call it movement magic that heals the divine you! Something as simple as a brisk paced walk in the fresh air and natural light can do much to reduce stress, create feel good hormones, help you sleep better at night, and ease the challenges of daily life so you can think clearly and make healing choices around food and your health habits. Get outside in sun/wind/rain/snow/fog, walk barefoot, sit on ground, hug a tree, rest your spine against an old growth tree… just breathe in the world around you. Your body, mind, and soul will thank you for this grounding, earthy experience.
Positive, holistically-minded, lifestyle choices make for healthier, happier living. For a full list of lifestyle choices I recommend to my holistic health coaching clients, click here. More Free Health & Self Healing Info, click here.
7. Create a grounding habit you can return to, in a moment's notice, for immediate calming energy. Here is how...
- Find a body motion (hands in Namaste or prayer position or a Yoga Mudra that calls to you),
- a "saying" or mantra* (Amen, Namaste, Blessed Be, Mitakuye Oyasin, Om mani padme hum), and
- a visualization of a space in nature that is sacred to you.
When you close your eyes and do all three you will bring yourself to a place of inner calm. Proceed forth from a space of thoughtful action as opposed to emotional reacting. The ideas in parenthesis are just that, ideas. Create a 5 second ritual that is your special way of coming into your calm. Use it daily. Use it in any moment that you need to stop and think rationally before you proceed forward in your next step or choice. This is a quick grounding experience.
Be Well; Very, Very Well, Paula ; )
Extra posts on creating calm, grounding, and healing eating/health habits:
To find more related posts do a search on my blog for: yoga, weight loss, &/or mindfulness.
*Saying or Mantra meanings, they are all Blessings
- Amen: So be it, the well wishing of your prayers & meditation being sealed for integration and to come to fruition in the world
- Namaste: Sanskrit, the Divine in me honors the Divine in you
- Blessed Be: Wish good and positive things upon self & others
- Mitakuye Oyasin: Lakota, we are all related, interconnectedness of everything, we are all brothers & sisters (all beings on Earth, not just humans)
- Om mani padme hum: Buddhist, No literal English translations, jewel in the lotus, invokes compassion
5 Easy Ways To Shift The Energy Of Your Life's Path
Easy is a relative word and is subject to much subjectivity.
1. Practice being mindful in every moment.
Excerpted from an article I wrote in 2012 for the Potsdam Food Coop's newsletter, {in my day, you know the uphill both ways to school - barefoot AND in the snow, mindfulness was simply called yoga, ; ) }
I have always urged and supported others to practice some form of mind, body, spirit "exercise" to bring a centered awareness into their life as this daily habit makes the process of healthy lifestyle change flow with ease & grace (seriously my friends, I am not pulling your yoga leg here!):
Easy is a relative word and is subject to much subjectivity.
1. Practice being mindful in every moment.
Excerpted from an article I wrote in 2012 for the Potsdam Food Coop's newsletter, {in my day, you know the uphill both ways to school - barefoot AND in the snow, mindfulness was simply called yoga, ; ) }
I have always urged and supported others to practice some form of mind, body, spirit "exercise" to bring a centered awareness into their life as this daily habit makes the process of healthy lifestyle change flow with ease & grace (seriously my friends, I am not pulling your yoga leg here):
When we stop the constant chatter inside our heads and still our minds through mindfulness activities (yoga and other body awareness exercises), we tend to make choices that are in alignment with what is best for our health without feeling deprived. This is because we have learned to live in the present moment and are aligned in body, mind, and spirit. That is the awareness that Yoga brings to our being.
A cluttered "chattery" mind and a body that is not aligned in mind, body, and spirit tends to make decisions based upon impulse and cravings without regard to what is best for long term health.
2. Practice daily mindlessness! Zone out. Stop the chatter. Pay attention to breath only.
When we are so bent on living a life of being mindful in every moment we forget to just let go and be... be mindless for a bit. Literally people, NOTHING, going on in our heads!
Check out this Daily OM post by Madisyn Taylor. It was fitting to this thought of mindlessness.
3. Sign up for someone's daily email or social media posts that are positive and inspirational.
Read them. Reflect on them. Allow the words to weave their magic into your body, mind, and spirit. Live the words for your own peace and for the peace of all who walk your path with you.
Hey... I wrote a book on daily reflections and inspirations. This book will gift you a year's worth of body, mind, & spirit magic. Go ahead... cast a spell for yourself.
4. Revel, truly revel, in who you are and your life's purpose on this planet.
Let your true self shine, shine, shine.
"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."
Check out this youtube link for a bit of musical inspiration.
5. Offer kindness and compassion every where you go to everyone, every being, & everything. Seriously.
The natural - spiritual law of 3 fold:
"For all that we say and we do "for good or for ill, shall be returned to us threefold."
What goes around comes around baby! Make your karma & dharma shine, shine, shine! See the above song link for another deep dose of musical inspiration.
May Your Life Be Full Of Wild & Fun Adventures
&
Free From Ordeals.
: )
Calming Digestive Tract Woes With Your Mind
Meditation - Visualization for Healing Your Gut Health
All Disease begins in the gut. Hippocrates
Health begins in the gut. The reverse is also true: disease begins in the gut. Taking steps to reduce the angst in your life reduces the angst in your gut. Over the long haul of life... this is a gut healing gift to yourself!
- Grab a blanket or two, maybe a yoga mat, and some pillows or props to make yourself comfy.
- Lie down on your back supporting your head and knees to keep your lower back happy.
Meditation - Visualization for Healing Your Gut Health
All Disease begins in the gut. Hippocrates
Health begins in the gut. The reverse is also true: disease begins in the gut. Taking steps to reduce the angst in your life reduces the angst in your gut. Over the long haul of life... this is a gut healing gift to yourself!
- Grab a blanket or two, maybe a yoga mat, and some pillows or props to make yourself comfy.
- Lie down on your back supporting your head and knees to keep your lower back happy.
- Take at least 5 slow deep breaths. Simply focus on your breath moving into and out of your body. Relax. Let go. Be at peace.
- Take 5 more slow deep breaths sending the breath directly to your digestive tract. Feel your breath enter and exit the digestive tract. Feel your breath's energy swirl within the digestive tract.
- Relax and just breath normally letting your mind stay calmly without thoughts.
- Slowly bring your body, mind, and spirit back to the room. When you feel like returning to life... get up and get going keeping this peace and relaxation with you.
When we are stressed, tension happens. This tension in the gut slows and impairs digestive function. Over time this gut tension, angst, contributes to ill health symptoms in your digestive tract.
When we calm the mind and bring healing energy (breath) to the gut, we relax the angst that builds up in the gut and the body as a whole. Relaxation, meditation, visualization, breath work... all ways to bring healing energy to your gut (to your whole body, mind, & spirit!).
Going Deeper with Gut Healing Visualization
Practice the above simple visualization for several days. When you are comfortable with the above technique... try this:
- Gently observe and learn the above chakra chart. Simply remember where each chakra is located (top of head, between eye brows, throat, heart center, belly button, just below belly button, under pubic bone).
- Lie down on your comfy blanket or mat, supporting your knees and head.
- Take at least 5 slow deep breaths, quiet your mind, relax.
- Breath deeply now and each time take your full breath (inhale & exhale) to your chakras, one chakra/one breath at a time. Start at the crown chakra (top of head).
- Take a deep breath directing the flow of breath (in and out) to each chakra down your body.
- Relax.
- Finish with a few more slow, gentle breaths.
- Slowly bring your body, mind, and spirit back to the room. When you feel like returning to life... get up and get going keeping this peace and relaxation with you.
To create a bit longer calming the gut angst session:
- take 2 breaths directed at each chakra.
- swirl the breath, life force energy, at each chakra.
Another Deep Relaxing Gut Healing Technique
Are you a reiki person? If so after finishing the above relaxing visualization try this:
- Visualize yourself on a massage/reiki table.
- Do a mini reiki session on yourself through visualizing yourself on the table and standing next to the table doing the reiki. Hold your visualized hands over each chakra (reiki hand positions) for one or two long, deep breaths.
- If you have the time... flip yourself over on that table and do the back side hand positions as well, finishing the visualized reiki treatment in the traditional reiki practice sequence.
Try this visualization (or either of the above relaxing visualizations) when lying in bed and unable to sleep. Conscious breathing and relaxing visualizations are a fine way to calm down your body, mind, and spirit for better sleep and better moving through your daily life.
Healing the gut is a great first step in healing so many health challenges. For natural Gut Healing Guidance & support, check out my online course:
Healing Your Gut For Lifetime Vitality
10 Body Healing Benefits of Yoga
1. Blood pressure: a regular yoga practice reduces blood pressure.
2. Mindful body and breath work cultivates peace that lingers and weaves its way through your day.
1. Blood pressure: a regular yoga practice reduces blood pressure.
2. Mindful body and breath work cultivates peace that lingers and weaves its way through your day.
3. Aligning your breath with your body's movement aligns body, mind, and spirit. See peace info above.
4. Got gut health issues? Try some yoga poses that are guaranteed to bring digestive tract relief.
Pose images from an online article at Yoga Journal, I urge you to check out this Yoga Journal gut healthy, better digestion article, click here. While you are at it, just check out the whole Yoga Journal!
5. Body Weight Balance that is healthy for you & your body: When your spirit can move through the world with grace, because your physical body is a comfortable place to be (physically, emotionally, AND spiritually) your life and life force energy just flows better.
6. Asthma Relief: Yoga breath & body work creates healthier lungs, better lung capacity, less asthma symptoms, and lowered stress.
7. Stronger Bones, stronger muscles, stronger body-mind-spirit. You gain better flexibility & balance in body-mind-spirit as well. Bonus!
8. Yoga is healing to all body systems. Yes, I said healing! Your cellular metabolism will balance out, because your mitochondria will be happy, making you feel light and energetic.
9. Yoga is your daily happy drug lifting mild depression and making neurotransmitters flow. Yoga literally lifts the corner of clouds so you can always see the sun. As my youngest son said, 6 years ago, "when you lift the corner of the clouds, the sun is always shining!"
10. Yoga helps you relax and sleep better as it engages your para-sympathetic nervous system, the rest & digest system, taking you out of the constant stressed out, fight or flight mode (your sympathetic nervous system on over drive). This reduces inflammation in your whole body.
I could come up with another 90 healing benefits of Yoga in about 10 minutes time. I love to chat about Yoga, if you are interested.
I love to share Yoga... http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/yoga/
Namaste
Translated roughly, it means
"The Spirit within me salutes the Spirit in you"
knowing that we are all made from the same One Divine Consciousness.