How I Use Chakras for Healing Pain

I use the Chakras to understand myself at a deeper level and to coach my clients to better understand why their pain won’t go away.

Our body is energy. We breathe, eat, and sleep to gain energy. Our body then uses that energy through metabolism and circulation. The nervous system sends messages back and forth between the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves using energy. This energy needs to flow freely within the body. Chakras, as defined by the ancient sages, are swirling areas of energy within the body. Located centrally within the body, there are 7 primary centers starting at the base of the spine, up to the top of the head.

The chakras may seem a little ‘whoo whoo’ and disconnected from science but they align very well with our anatomic and physiologic energy centers.  They are located where clusters of nerves (plexuses) organize to transmit information between body and brain and with vital organs that use much of the energy to sustain life (gut, heart, lungs and brain).

Chakras represent the 2^nd layer of the koshas (another yoga framework for healing) positioned between the body and the mind. This layer is sometimes called the subtle body. Maybe that is because is takes trained awareness to sense our physiology; i.e. breathing, heart rate; and some aspects of our physiology cannot be felt at all (oxygen exchange, digestion). 

Because our physiology is influenced as much by our mind as our body interacting with the world, the chakras to me are a place where body and mind merge and interact. For example, when we choose to exercise, our breathing and heart rate both increase. Our breathing and heart rate also increases when we are sitting still watching a scary movie. The effect of both body and mind on our changing energy states is important. When I apply my understanding of the chakras in relation to a person’s pain, I can see a relationship between where bodily pain is experienced and a specific emotional and/or spiritual life challenge.

Chakras are intuitively organized developmentally from bottom to top, much like Mazlow’s hierarchy of need. As the needs of the lower level chakras are met, energy of the higher chakras can be felt and experienced leading to enlightenment. However, this is not a linear process, new situations bring to light life lessons to be learned and emotional challenges to be noticed and endured to evolve as a person.

Pain, for many is the signal to pay careful attention through all the kosha layers to what the body is experiencing, both on the surface and physiologically; to what the mind is thinking or believing; to what emotions are felt or resisted; and to what your spirit desires. Pain is a way into a deeper conversation with your entire human experience to examine the discontent.

The way to create more balance and flow of energy through your chakras is with a practice of  AWARENESS. I cannot emphasize this enough as THE first step to healing from chronic, recurrent or persistent pain. Create a routine practice of listening to your body, energy, mind, intuition and spirit.

Give it a try! Here’s a meditation to guide you through each of the chakras.