Another Take on Chakras

Interesting thread. I agree...each to their own, whatever works for you whether it be chakras, spirituality, Christianity...all paths lead us to recognize that there is indeed a higher power at work in our lives.

I was interested in the comments about the endocrine system and the chakra system, using one to effect the other. That is intriguing to me, actually as a healer, anything that can help any healing process in the body is of interest to me. My daughter, who is 17 now, has meditated with me since before she could walk. As an infant she would perch in my lap, and then when she was older if she saw me meditating she would walk over and sit across from me and meditate. Often I would finish and get up and go about other things and she would stay there, eyes closed, just being. It was always strange to see someone so young sitting quietly for so long.
At any rate, when she was around six she was diagnosed with a heart condition and one of its side effects was that at times her heart would race. It would beat hard and fast, it scared me and at first it scared her too.
Then one day we were sitting together meditating and she told me to place my fingers on her pulse, so I did. She said, "Ok, now I'll raise my heartbeat." And sure enough I felt her pulse rate increase. Then she said, "Now I'll slow it down." and then she did. She told me she was confident she wouldn't have any problems with her heart again and that she was healing it. I couldn't help but believe her. As I said, she is 17 now and we haven't had to take her into the hospital since she was 11.
I suppose I present this as an example of a persons state of being effecting areas of the body without the use of the chakra system. Just that it is possible, not that anyone suggested it wasn't. I bring it up as a point of curiosity and possible contemplation. It certainly is interesting to me ;)

[ianalexanderr]

The charka system isn't the only system of course. However what was done, used indirectly the heart chakra and other systems plugged into heart function.

I guess. I don't know if the heart chakra was "indirectly" used or not. It is my daughter that did it, she is the one who makes it happen, I won't speak for her as to how she does it but since she has learned a lot about meridians and energy my guess would be that she thinks more in terms of energy and its flow.
I mean if one wanted to insist that chakras are involved it could be said that they were all indirectly used, in one way or another. At any rate, I do know that my daughter doesn't have much of an understanding of chakras and didn't use them directly. And yes, the whole point of the OP was that there are other systems I was hoping to discuss those as well, other systems, like meridians and such, but I guess they can all be written off as indirect use of chakras, LoL.
Of course the idea of connection is one I absolutely love. Connection between people, between people and energy and the universe itself, I'm all about that so if there must be a chakra system then it stands to reason it would kick in "indirectly" as other systems were tapped into. Sort of an integrated "all systems go" thing, whether we consciously tap a system or not, it is there for us once we get the energy flowing....
It's all very fascinating to think about.

Originally Posted by Nettles

I was in a chat room recently and we were discussing chakras, a subject I have tried to get into for decades but just never felt connected to. I was taught how to meditate starting at the age of 5 and 6 yet I have never in my life meditated and really felt connected to the chakra system, at least not in the ways others had described it.

As an adult continuing on a path of spiritual growth I ended up surrounded by other spiritually minded people who thought I was some kind of defective because I never felt in touch with my chakras. While they were all doing chakra meditations and feeling chakra energy I was falling into a pretty regular pattern for me, I was thinking, “What the heck is wrong with me? What am I doing wrong?” All the while believing that being in touch with ones chakras was tantamount with being a spiritually aware person. I knew I was in touch with my journey, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I had been blessed in my life to be on the path I am on and I knew I was doing the best I could with the tools that I had, so why was my toolkit devoid of chakra connection? Why was it that, despite my desire to connect with my chakras, I always felt like my meditations and my connection to them was something merely self-manifested because I felt like I needed it but was ultimately never a true connection to them?

Well, in that chat room a person mentioned the idea of it being perfectly fine to not be in touch with chakras, in fact, to totally and intentionally shut them down, turn them off and let them go. He introduced to me the concept of a “Unified Energy System” and of chakra removal. Of course, being me, I had to read more so I found a few articles. Now trends come and go and I will not be surprised if chakra removal and Unified Energy systems come to be all the rage and people start selling “Chakra Removal” kits and “Universal Energy Packs.” Still, I take what resonates and shape it to where it fits into my own practice, no kit necessary, not credit card needed, this is all DIY, and that has worked for too long for me to doubt it now. The bottom line is that, from what I read (at least some of it-some was a little over the top for me) I like that unified energy system.

About three days before this little epiphany, I was meditating and as per usual, felt energy in what I have always just called my core. The area of the body that would most obviously be associated with a name like “core.” The term is used in yoga, Pilates and even weight lifting. At any rate, the center, for me it was situated higher, less associated with the loins, more with the heart.

I have instinctively meditated with a core focus for decades without much thought to chakras since every time I made a concerted effort to “align” my chakras or do whatever meditation to aid them met wi........

I would like to respond to your post but only in private. If you agree I will PM you.

Thanks for asking, yes Bartholomew, you can PM me, that is fine.

[wolfgaze]

In the past I had not focused on this subject matter.... But I later came to have internal experiences which confirmed to me that there was substance/validity behind the conceptualization (of chakras or 'energy centers')...

Originally Posted by wolfgaze

In the past I had not focused on this subject matter.... But I later came to have internal experiences which confirmed to me that there was substance/validity behind the conceptualization (of chakras or 'energy centers')...

There are chakras in the palms of the hands too. This is where the tradition of healing hands comes from.

Ever notice Christians all holding their hands up during a service, palms forward? They innately know about these and employ them to radiate their prayers.

Nothing new about any of this.

Practice and you will be able to use your palm chakras to feel the chakras in someone else's body. It's easy. After all the chakras are in the ethereal plane which does have some material components.

[engellstein]

I didn't even know I had chakras until I had an awakening experience. It was a few weeks after that that I felt "tornados" in my body. I had to look it up because I knew something had to be wrong, and the word "chakra" kept coming up. I know they were active before that and they're very active now. I have no idea why I didn't feel them, but I don't think many people know much about any of this. All I know is it's a real thing, I didn't make it up in my head.

[dakota jim]

I am much in agreement with IanAlexander. To me that all makes sense, that's how I think of them- you can't remove them but it's possible that when they are more aligned that the energy flow between them would be more optimal and one would be more shielded against outside influences that cause imbalandces.