The Oates Journal (ISSN: 1098-1446) is a publication of the Wayne E. Oates Institute addressing issues related to spirituality, ethics, and healing from the perspective of pastoral care and counseling.

First in a Series of Eight Articles Exploring Christian Life and the

Chakra Energy System used in Mind/Body therapeutic modalities (Bioenergetics)

Energy composes all life. Swirling molecules arrange themselves in patterns that create everything from rocks and trees to human beings. Within the molecules are atoms, within the atoms are electrons, protons and neutrons, within these are subatomic particles, quarks and further in there may be more. What we know for sure is that the composition of these bits of energy creates the template for everything we see and feel in the universe. We begin with the movement of molecules into structures, and proceed to different patterns and types of structures: the loam of earth, the tail of the dog, the antler of the deer, the mind of a person, the distant roll of thunder in the sky, and behind it all, the fundamental organizing principle of the universe who we call God.

Many different theories exist designed to explain how life works, how people work and how God works. In many, if not all, cultures, the notion of the wheel emerges as descriptive of the way the universe unfolds. The Native people in the North, Central and Southern American continents called their circular diagram for organizing energy, the Medicine Wheel. In the 20 Count Medicine Wheel, the first ten numbers reflect tangible, material realities, then the next nine, excepting the 15^th point on the wheel, represent metaphysical realities. The 15^th and 20^th points on the wheel denote the places where constructed, shared reality and philosophical, metaphysical reality converge. For the Celtic world, the cross is surrounded by a circle to enunciate the infinite qualities of both spiritual and perceived reality. Nature is viewed as part of the handiwork of the eternal, unbroken, circular nature of the Divine. Animistic religions as found in some parts of Africa understand the wheel to represent the heart of life. The drum head is symbolic of the heart of humankind. The drumbeat replicates the energetic beating of the life force, and has been used from time immemorial in ceremonies marking transitions and transformations, calling for healing and for prayer.

The Chakra system developed from an ancient system of East Indian medicine and over the centuries made its way throughout the Eastern hemisphere to be used in India, China, and Japan. Chakra means “wheel” in the ancient sacred language of Sanskrit, and describes the circular energy patterns within and around the physical body. In the spiritual underpinnings of this system, each chakra is believed to communicate cosmic energy from within a person and to dialogue with the external world’s energetic properties in animals, plants, the sun and moon. The fundamental symbol for chakra energy is the lotus, with blossoms representing the centers of energy each distinct but connected to each other.

Unlike modern Western medicine, the chakra system is both a tool for physical diagnosis and healing and a spiritual pattern. The originators of this system believed completely in the seamless nature of body, mind and spirit. The Chakra system embodies a way of thinking about, feeling and using energy that blends awareness and faith in the three cornerstones of human experience: body, mind and spirit. Over the centuries, practitioners have expanded and developed theory and practice within the basic sevenfold framework of the original wheel. However, there are thousands of chakra sites in the body and in the tradition of those who use this way of identifying energy, each chakra is paired with particular colors, symbols, sounds, elements , vibration frequencies. These are used in healing and creating good circulation of energy. The seven basic components will be described in this essay, particularly how they relate to some types of Christian experience.

As yet, Christian thinkers have overlooked the remarkable ways this system compliments and confirms the nature of God as revealed in Jesus. Probably for political purposes, the West and East have often promoted competitive ways of understanding themselves and their place on the earth. Even in the world of religion, Christianity divided first between East (Orthodoxy) and West (Roman), and it is not hard to take a historical snapshot of the ways East and West have held adversarial or competitive positions in economics, politics, and culture. We live now, however, in a time where the globe is shrinking and the cultural divide between regions and hemispheres on the planet is, perhaps, collapsing. For those interested in deepening their understanding of the nature of life, of God’s activity with us and the remarkable miracles that occur everyday in all parts of nature, including human nature, this is a watershed moment of cascading possibilities. For those unshackled by the religion of arbitrary differences cultivated by Western and Eastern power interests, we are able to see with new eyes our shared reality and the reality of the universe. The Chakra System and the Christian experience are an example of where a deepening understanding of both leads us to new frontiers in healing and spiritual growth.

The Chakra System

The Chakra Energy System at its heart consists of a series of seven wheels of energy, each wheel labeled according to its location in and near the body and the emotional, psychological and physical qualities associated with it. Energy in this methodology means the physical, sensory, emotional and psychological expressions that constitute human life. Energy involves everything from how blood flows through the veins and capillaries, to thoughts of joy or aggression, to feelings of hot or cold. Energy also includes cognitive abilities to conceptualize, as through those concepts, action occurs, moving a life through choices and the consequence of choices. Energy also has a kind of memory in the Chakra system. By that, I mean that experiences of life – good or bad, ecstatic or traumatic – are remembered in the chakra field, held by the body and force field around the body. Systems such as acupuncture, therapeutic massage or other forms of breathing or body work, seek to unleash any negative energy so that it is not stored up causing undo stress or pain. Likewise, forms of movement such as yoga, sacred dance or drumming increase the positive flow of energy within and around the body, in the mind and within the emotional world.

The Root Chakra is aligned along the pelvis, and deals with issues of survival, basic trust and the ability to stay healthy. When we speak of someone being “grounded” we are referring to the energy of the root chakra. Energy of the root chakra includes feelings of having a place in life, the sense of being competent or able to care for self, and the belief that questions of immediate self care can be managed.

The Sacral Chakra is located between the navel and the pelvis and contains the energy of intimacy, familial relationships and belonging to a tribe, group or community. Close to the Root Chakra, the Sacral Chakra builds on the question of survival with the question of personal love and affection. Questions of relationship belong to the Sacral energy, and the power of gestation and birth live

The Solar Plexus is the third Chakra, situated in the center of the body, the belly. Solar Plexus energy organizes around will and determination, self actualization, feelings of obligation and duty and a sense of purpose. Guilt and conscience are associated with the energy of the Solar Plexus. Many people carry extra weight in this region of the body, and the congestion of physical mass indicates a holding on having to do with some of these experiences: free will, duty, self actualization and purpose.

The Heart Chakra describes the energy in the chest or heart center. Energy held in this region is about compassion and acceptance of others and of life in large terms as well as close and personal terms. The Heart Chakra is about love of humanity, care for larger systems, understanding the demands of love in personal and societal ways. Broken heartedness is considered here as a way of enlarging, as shared suffering deepens the sense of connection with others. Issues of heart disease, heart attacks, heart pain all manifest in the energy around the Heart Chakra.

The Throat Chakra is the fifth major chakra. As one might imagine, the throat chakra deals with energies around self expression and being true and clear to and about oneself. Throat chakra issues include problems in authenticity, suppression and oppression of one’s thoughts, ideas and feelings, as well as issues around clearly communicating needs and desires. The Throat Chakra is the seat of the power of “I Am” and often people who have issues in areas of self esteem and self confidence develop problems relating to thyroid, the larynx and esophagus.

The Third Eye is the sixth major chakra area. Located between the two eyes along the brow, the Third Eye connotes energy around intuition and knowing through interpreting sensation, thoughts and feelings. The Third Eye is a powerful chakra energy as it harnesses the mental faculties as well as the sensory powers of the body to form impressions, thoughts and ideas. Third Eye energy deals with experiencing and understanding hidden meanings and suggestions, knowing from putting together an assortment of factors, not just empirical evidence and have a sense of understanding regarding the emotional world. Headache, vision trouble, and psychological issues such as depression are often associated with the Third Chakra.

Finally, the seventh chakra is the Crown Chakra where the relationship with the spiritual life reigns supreme. In this chakra, prayer and connection with God and the spiritual forces of life are defined. Located on the top of the head, the Crown chakra holds energy that relates one to the Divine Spirit of Life. Obviously the physical properties of the brain and issues relating to neurology fall into the Crown chakra energy field.

The notion of chakra energy and health is that of flowing, open energy. A healthy system would be one in which all of the energy of the body is available for information input and output. Body workers, such as massage therapists or Reiki masters, often work with different parts of the body as a way of trying to open up and unplug the natural physical and psychological flow of energy.

Working with this paradigm invites us to see the energy field that we are and which surrounds us as physically, spiritually and psychologically connected. To this end, the Christian experience, at least in its original nature, attempts also to connect people to their bodies. In the Christian faith tradition, the body is the vehicle of the holy, so much so that God himself appears in human form in Jesus. The crucifixion and resurrection of the body is a way of talking about the physical world as imbued with spiritual, eternal energy.

Indeed, throughout the Bible, but particularly in the New Testament we see the body described as connected to extraordinary energetic power, especially to those who have faith. The woman who touches Jesus’ cloak and is healed of a seventeen year flow of blood is but an example. Jesus turns to ask, “who touched me,” when he “feels the power go out of him.” Stories abound of people who are recalled to life after having died, such as Peter’s mother, Lazarus or Lydia. The notion that energy can be changed, altered and affected by our belief systems is very strong in the Christian tradition.

Of course, the use of the Chakra system does not make a testimony of miracles, but rather the point is that both the ancient system of chakra and the New Testament strive to tell us that the relationship between the body, the mind and the spirit is in fact seamless. We have spent many centuries in the modern Western world insisting that this is not so, especially after the rise of Des Carte and his notions of the primacy of reason. But today, in medicine and in the spiritual world, a reconnecting to the age old understanding of unity in body, mind and spirit is opening new vistas in understanding our personal experience as well as the way in which all energy is connected in the universe.

The Gospel of God’s Good Energy is the proclamation that as we claim our lives fully in the three dimensions of energetic experience –body, mind, and spirit – so we harness the power of force that propelled Jesus and his healing ministry and which finally lifted him to resurrected life. It is that energy, that power that is ours to live and discover, hopefully to bend ourselves in that for goodness and healing in our own lives and in the world around us.

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