How Does Chaakra Work?

Bessel van der Kolk (2014) in his groundbreaking book, “The Body Keeps the Score,” explores how trauma memories are stored nonverbally in the physical body and brain. He recommends yoga as one pathway to release that somatic memory and re-establish equilibrium. Many of the benefits of art therapy are also associated with yoga. They are both experience-based, guided by intention, promote self-awareness, encourage a state of flow, activate the limbic brain, reduce stress, encourage observation rather than judgement, are adaptive, and encourage change and healing (Gibbons, 2015). Yoga stretches can be incorporated into art therapy sessions to address the large muscle movements associated with the ETC kinesthetic component and to reduce tension. Yoga can also induce a state of body-based present-moment awareness and sensory calm.

Of the many techniques people use to reduce stress, yoga is among one of the more popular. Although some may believe that effects of yoga are merely physical, there is research that suggests that yoga has direct impacts on one’s mental state. According to Forbes, in addition to the benefits on the heart and blood flow, yoga helps release dopamine and gaba and serotonin (Walton, 2012). All of these are known to create feeling of happiness in a person (K. W. Brown, personal communication, Sept. 7). For this lab, I decided I would try yoga for myself to test the results.

A growing body of evidence suggests meditation-based interventions have the potential to reduce symptoms and improve well-being (Marchand, 2013 for review; Mitchell et al., 2014). The Stanford University study entitled Breathing-Based Meditation Decreased Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in U.S. Military Veterans: A Randomized Controlled Longitudinal Study explores the effects of Sudarshan Kriya yoga, a meditation-based therapy, on U.S. military veterans with PTSD symptoms having served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One of the most prominent elements I connected with was being very motivated. I have always been very driven to finish whatever I had set my mind too. Which has also greatly influenced my choices in studies and academic success. My motivation is very connected with my optimism. I would not have made it through the obstacles I have without being optimistic. Especially losing my dad to cancer, being optimistic helped me to move forward with my life like he would have wanted me to. Another reason I felt so connected to the heart chakra was because my personality is very much connected with the emotion of empathy. From a very small age I have always felt that I had the ability to put myself into others shoes. Empathy is also one connection I made that I believe will help me greatly in being a mother. As well as being very nurturing, I believe that will help me greatly in my journey through motherhood, helping my children to be balanced and well rounded. It was a fine line in some areas of the heart chakra where I thought I was under active. At times of intense stress I find that I can become cold and distant, as well as emotionally unavailable. Mostly because I do not like others to see my weakness. I run through only brief periods of these emotions but for the most part I find that I balance my love equally amongst every person in my

Muralidoraiswamy, P. “Yoga on Our Minds: A Systematic Review of Yoga for Neuropsychiatric Disorder.” Shirleytelle Frontiers in Psychiatry, Jan. 2013. This article focuses on the physiological aspect of a yoga class. It essentially explains what happens in a person’s brain after going through a hatha yoga class. This study also talks about yoga as a long-term mental health solution, since typically yoga is a life-style. Overall, the study provides a scientific look at more personal experiences.

Chakra boosters, Holistic Healing, and Reiki infinite healer do a great job of adding visuals within the piece. This helps to indicate which chakra they are talking about and distinguish them from the other chakras. They discuss each individual chakra and show a diagram of the human body, showing where each chakra is located and the ascending order they are in. However, each site takes a different focus on the chakras. Chakra boosters list the element, quality, sense, etc. associated with each chakra. Holistic Healing lists the negative and positive and negative aspects associated with the chakra, while Reiki Infinite healer focuses on psychological and physical symptoms that connect with each chakra. Each site gives different suggestions of

Another Theravada Buddhist teaching used to understand sunyata, is anaatman, or the no self. To begin, anaatman explains that one does not recognize that everything is casually connected; rather, people cling to words such as “I” and “self,” believing they have a fixed personality. This is not the case as we do not have a fixed independent self rather, we exist in a constantly changing and advancing process. The mandala demonstrates anaatman because of the fact that it a tool used to transform behavior through psychic realization. As stated previously, the mandala is a design to connect the universe with human being’s consciousness and matter, representing a way to reach enlightenment. Because of this, the mandala should be viewed as a tool that can communicate, and even deliver enlightenment. While viewing the mandala, it works to bring you to experience a sacred world by striving to bring the human to the “manda” or its center or essence and works as a “la”

After each Chakra lecture, the presenters will lead the participants through corresponding guided movement using Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, and Creative movement. Guided meditation will be provided for exploration during creative and symbolic movement with the intention of moving towards a balance in energy flow and optimal wellness. These offer an opportunity to learn self-assessment and intervention methods within the realms of physical and emotional wellness using body-based

On a typical day, Jeff says he sees about 30 patients and they change around every 15 minutes. Everything in life is about balance. If you have a passion for something you must learn how to balance everything you’re doing and be sure you are doing it well. We were given a small history lesson about Western and Eastern medicine. In the chiropractic world, Western medicine (what we use in the U.S.) believes when something is in pain the reason for the pain is the general area of where the pain originates. Conversely, in Eastern medicine (used everywhere else in the world) believes that pain is caused in harmony with the body. For example, in Eastern medicine, if someone is having pain in their knee, a chiropractor approaches the treatment as if the pain were originating from the neck on down to the knee and even below the knee to the person’s feet. The second large topic of Jeff Varner’s speech was acupunture. Acupuncture is a system of medicine that involves pricking the skin or tissues with needles, used to alleviate pain and to treat various physical, mental, and emotional conditions. Currently, an acupuncture is used to treat depression and stress. There are over 400 acupuncture sites located throughout the

My personal evaluation of its magnificent power places God/Universe/Source as the ultimate source of this energy, however, one's personal beliefs or lack thereof do not hinder nor enhance the results of a Reiki treatment.

When a chakra is 'open' and energy flows freely through it, it is functioning normally - this will be reflected in the corresponding physical, emotional and mental health.

Buddhism, on the other hand, understands the psychological nature of humans very deeply and develops effective treatment methods. As revealed in the Flower Ornament Sutra [Avatamsaka Sutra], "Our perception Three Kingdoms arise from the mind, so do Twelve Links of Dependent Origination; birth and death come from the mind, which are extinguished when the mind is put to rest”. If we view Buddhism in this lens, itself in conglomeration with psychology has much to reveal about both practices (Williams-Oerberg, Elizabeth, 2012).

Karma Yoga is the third of four paths to the divine. Karma Yoga is usually the chosen by people who have an active life that consider Karma Yoga, the divine view. According to Huston Smith in his book, “The World’s Religion”, this path is “the path to God through work (Smith 37).” His writings also describe how each part of the body supports another part of the body, for example, “the brain envisions movements… Moreover, the spinal nervous system executes them (Smith).” From these writings, I understand, just as the parts of the body are dependent on each other, so we are dependent on our bodies to interact correctly. Instead of becoming stagnant, we must work to keep the body fresh and alive to attain closeness with God. Karma Yoga’s goal is to rise above the limitations we have set ourselves. How does one achieve the goal of Karma Yoga is best described by Philip Novak in his book, “The World’s Wisdom”, “doing without seeking recognition, not becoming lethargic because of worry, and working without concern for the outcome ( Novak 31).” Novak also writes, “Working for oneself will restrict the path to God, free-will can be a blessing and detrimental to the goal of Karma Yoga, and complete faith will allow the follower to act without

My yoga journey started more than ten years ago with an intense and dedicated interest in learning yoga postures from Ashtanga, Hatha, Jivamukti, etc. In the beginning I practised most days of the week and imagined that I would never tire, in spite of long trips to the studio in the early hours of the morning. A pleasant reward was that my blood pressure dropped back to normal and I could stop taking medicines. So, from the start, I knew that yoga could provide health benefits as well as an enormous feeling of wellbeing. No matter how tired and fed-up one felt at the beginning of a session, the mental lift afterwards was deeply satisfying. Meditation, Savasana, or corpse posture, wound up every session so it also became clear that postures or asanas were only part of the remedy. Meditation and yoga practise from the very beginning fired my interest in searching for an inner consciousness. This is an easily misunderstood word and means many different things to many different people. Some will associate it with awareness, or mindfulness

When one source of energy is blocked then we can develop a physical illness or a mental illness. Chakras are associated with colors. The crown chakra is located at the top