If you are familiar with chakras, then you can tell from my logo that I love chakras. The rainbow-colored spheres within my logo are representative of the chakra system within the body.
If you are unfamiliar, here’s a quick lesson: There are seven energy centers called chakras (literally “wheels”) that store energy/life force/prana. They are along the spinal column and correlate to major nerve ganglia branching forth from the spinal column. Each has a different relationship to a gland in the body’s endocrine system. Each stimulates different organs and systems in the body. Hatha Yoga activates these energy centers releasing the energy that flows through the spine. Yoga helps these energy centers/nerve bundles to function correctly clearing blocks that may be there. Each chakra also is associated with a mental/emotional focus. In each newsletter I’ll highlight how you can work with a particular chakra to correspond with the season.
I love synchronicity, don’t you? As I started to write this newsletter on ancestral healing, my “wall” on Facebook contained this message: “You are not responsible for your ancestors not completing their mission on earth. You have your own mission(s). Call on Archangel Mariel to help remove this link/pattern in your soul star chakra.” This post linked to another one which talked about ancestral healing. I’ve learned to go where the messages in my life lead me. Chakras are a passion of mine (as you can probably tell from my newsletters), so this post really caught my attention since it hit upon a subject I had just started writing about. The Universe is in constant conversation with you. Believe it!
While I knew there were more than the “usual” seven chakras/energy centers in the body, I never really drilled down on the names and their purpose. The “soul star chakra” is a transpersonal chakra located above the crown chakra and is associated with spiritual connection between individuals, and as mentioned in the Facebook post that brought this chakra to my attention front and center, it speaks to the completion of your ancestor’s mission on earth.
Researching transpersonal chakras took me to subpersonal chakras which are five chakras located below the feet. Two subpersonal chakras caught my attention in regards to ancestral healing and the hip issues I was having five years ago (mentioned in the opening section) when I visited my ancestral homeland for the first time: The incarnator chakra and the earth star chakra.
The incarnator chakra—about 40 cm below the feet—contains the energy connecting us to our ancestry, our tribe/clan.
“The earth star chakra anchors the body to Mother Earth and the physical realm. It holds the grounding cord and is the source of Life energy. It holds the current incarnation’s ancestry and race history, the issues of its generation, past life and family issues, karmic issues and family diseases. All family history, unprocessed issues, secrets and cycles are past along through the earth star. The issues in your life could be caused from past life experience or trauma suffered from an ancestor!” (The original site I quoted for the various subpersonal chakras here is no longer active so I found another similar one.)
One of my favorite chakra experts, Cyndi Dale, confirms the concept of additional energy centers/chakras located outside the body. She believes you can create more change working with energy centers located outside the body because you are tuned to more powerful energies than what is contained within the physical body. There’s a reason Mayan’s refer to chakras as “power centers”! Positioned above and below the physical body, they connect you to the spiritual realm and earth energy.
She refers to a 10th chakra located about a foot and a half under the ground which corresponds to the incarnator chakra mentioned early. The incarnator chakra “opens to your genetic patterns, to your legacy in terms of family history, to the history of the earth in general, and links you into the environment and nature.”
As I’ve mentioned in previous Chakrascopes, each chakra vibrates to a different light/color spectrum. The bottom half of the body vibrates at denser, lower vibrations/colors and the upper half of the body vibrates at higher frequencies/colors. The 10th chakra/incarnator “underneath the feet is working with a lot of infrared energy, which is very powerful for energizing and healing the physical body. For instance, if someone is dealing with a genetic abnormality, I work with the 10th chakra. That energy center actually helps to program our DNA, and we can work with it to help with hereditary issues.” ~ Cyndi Dale.
Ancestral healing deals with the “DNA” of our ancestors memories—we inherit these memories and we embody there hereditary issues. Working with and finding ways to strengthen the incarnator/10th chakra is essential ancestral healing. As Cyndi explains further, there is more than one road:
“There are two chakras that are found above the head. The 8th chakra is an inch or so over the crown. It opens to the outer worlds and the Akashic records (a recording of everything you’ve ever done, thought, or said). But also up here you access parallel present realities and potential futures. This is the place of the shaman and the mystic. It’s up here that you can open your perceptions to different universes, time periods, dimensions. 8th chakra practices are incredibly effective for gathering information, working with spirits, and bringing in healing properties and healing energies from the shamanic realms.
Positioned above it is the 9th chakra, which is a beautiful energy center. It contains the seat of our soul. So whereas the 10th, which is underneath the ground, has our physical genetics, on the opposite side is the energy center that contains our “soul genetics”—encoded information about your higher purpose and spiritual destiny. (The approximate location and description of the 9th chakra corresponds with the soul star chakra mentioned earlier.) We can perceive this information as numerical symbols, geometric patterns, or our own unique archetypal codes. If we’re not getting any benefit working on the physical plane, that may mean it’s time to go up and work with the soul patterns through the 9th chakra.”
The relationship between the incarnator (10th) and the soul star (9th) chakras speaks to your ancestor’s history manifesting in your physical body and how clearing the patterns in one may enable you to strengthen the other. They’re like book-end partners that “have each other’s back” so to speak. Clearing a block in either may enable you to manifest your life’s purpose, your destiny.
As I’ve highlighted in many newsletters, the “well-known” seven chakras relate to the endocrine centers of the body. They are along the spinal column and correlate to major nerve ganglia branching forth from the spinal column. Each has a different relationship to a gland in the body’s endocrine system. The chakras outside the body also relate to the body via the endocrine system. The incarnator (or tenth chakra as Cyndi Dale calls it) works with the bones, bone marrow, and any disease related to the bones. Remember it also contains the energy connecting us to our ancestory, our tribe/clan. As I addressed in the opening section, more than one person suspected the hips issues I experienced on my first trip to my ancestral homeland had to do with ancestral healing needed.
“People sometimes say that’s (bone issues) not an endocrine gland, but there’s research that’s now proving that the bones and bone marrow produce hormones. The 9th chakra above the head interfaces with the diaphragm. This is why so many yoga and spiritual practices emphasize breath work: the breath brings oxygen to the body and is a vessel for spirit.” Cyndi Dale.
I’ve always said my “go-to” chakra when I’m feeling out of sorts is the root chakra—the grounding chakra. I need to work on grounding regularly to feel whole again. Well it makes sense that the incarnator chakra being below the root chakra which is weaker for me also needed some tweaking.
I love the idea of the incarnator chakra and the soul star chakra being book-ends, or different possible avenues to work through your personal issues. So if you’re stronger or weaker in either the physical (lower) or spiritual (higher) chakras, you can use your stronger power centers to help balance the weaker ones—Yin and Yang—as above so below. When I meditate and use breathwork, everything feels better. My weaker root chakra benefits from a stronger spiritual chakra meditation practice.
How about you? What is your “chakra personality”? Which bookend is stronger for you personally? Maybe you’re stronger in the lower chakras—so do something physical to spur your creative solutions. Maybe you’re stronger in the upper chakras, so try breathwork, meditation, and other mind/body activities like yoga, meditation, tai chi, and pilates, among others. Work with your strengths to balance your body. Do more yoga.
Breathwork and Visualization:
Ho’oponopono means to “make right” and is the Hawaiian word for forgiveness. A big part of Ho’oponopono is that “peace begins with me”. Since my cousin’s daughter found us on Facebook in 2009, we have been in touch constantly. Her family’s connection with us and her visit here last year started the healing process of our extended families. Our visit back to Poland this year continued to “make right” the broken family relations. This Ho’oponopono practice believes when a person becomes ill, the illness was caused by anger or lack of forgiveness in the family. They believe that healing could only come with complete forgiveness of the whole family.
I can’t really say why my hip did what it did five years ago (see opening section), but perhaps it was an indicator or messenger of the need for healing in my ancestral line. My Polish family has given me a sense of security, of roots, of history and heritage. “Family tree” has a whole new meaning to me now. If my “coming home” to Poland to reconnect with family aided my ancestors further down the line (and up the line for that matter), I consider myself truly blessed.
Using the Ho’oponopono ritual for your ancestral healing: Sitting in easy-seated pose (highlighted in this month’s yoga pose section), begin to take deep belly breaths. Exhale whatever you’re done with, letting it go energetically. Visualize with great detail the good you’d like to see in your life and inhale that into the cells of your body. Let each inhalation nourish you physically as you breathe in fresh, pure oxygen. Silently repeat the mantra phrases associated with Ho’oponopono to yourself: “I Love you, I’m sorry, Please forgive me, and Thank you.” Breathe in your intention. Breathe out forgiveness.
“The apology is an acknowledgement that we are sorry for whatever it is that we (or our ancestors before us) have done to cause the adverse circumstance to take place…We ask for forgiveness with the absolute certainty that it has already been granted…Your “thank you” is the acknowledgement that your petition has been heard and acted upon–that is all.”
Affirmations:
- “I Love you, I’m sorry, Please forgive me, and Thank you.” (Ho’oponopono ritual for ancestral healing)
- I am at one with all life. *
- I live in the awareness that we are one people, one planet. *
- I open myself to experience the depths of my being. *
- I am one with the forces of life. *
- I am at peace knowing that I am protected and guided at all times. *
- I connect with the highest, clearest vibrations of love in the universe. *
- My path is made gentle and easy as I lift my spirit to the highest levels of awareness. *
- I release my limited view of myself and attune to the oneness of all life. *
- There is no separation between my love and the love in the universe; we are one. *
- I connect with the energy of my ancestors and am strengthened by their spirit. Their roots are intertwined with mine. Together we are a single energetic force healing each other past, present, and future.
- I am aware of my life’s lessons; I can overcome my patterns**
Source:
- *Chakras and Their Archetypes, Uniting Energy Awareness and Spiritual Growth, by Ambika Wauters.
- **Power Mudras. Yoga Hand Postures for Women, by Sabrina Mesko
Diet and the incarnator/10th Chakra:
The incarnator (or tenth chakra, as Cyndi Dale calls it)works with the bones, bone marrow, and any disease related to the bones. So a diet rich in calcium and Vitamin D are good incarnator chakra foods.
Diet and the soul star /9th Chakra:
“The 9th chakra above the head interfaces with the diaphragm. This is why so many yoga and spiritual practices emphasize breath work: the breath brings oxygen to the body and is a vessel for spirit.” Cyndi Dale.
“The right mix of nutrients in your diet can help you breathe easier. No single food will supply all the nutrients you need. A healthy diet has lots of variety.
Good sources of protein help maintain strong respiratory muscles. The best sources of protein are milk, eggs, cheese, meat, fish, poultry, nuts, and dried beans or peas.”
Timing of Meals:
Eating several small meals a day instead of two or three large ones can help you eat well and not feel uncomfortable. Here’s why: Your organs aren’t packed tightly inside your body. A muscular membrane, the diaphragm, is in the space between the lungs and the stomach. The diaphragm moves down and up as you breathe in and out. A full stomach presses up into the space below the diaphragm. This keeps the diaphragm from moving as far down as it should when you breathe in and your lungs don’t fill completely.
Try dividing your day’s food into 4 to 6 small meals. You can eat a small breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then get the rest of your nutritional needs for the day by eating two or three between-meal snacks.”
Source: http://www.lung.org/lung-disease/copd/living-with-copd/nutrition.html
Diet and the earth star chakra:
The earth star chakra grounds us to Mother Nature. Grounding foods, such as those for the root chakra, include:
Root vegetables: carrots, potatoes, parsnips, radishes, beets, onions, garlic, etc.
Protein-rich foods: eggs, meats, beans, tofu, soy products, peanut butter
Spices: horseradish, hot paprika, chives, cayenne, pepper
Aromatherapy and the incarnator/10th Chakra:
Lemongrass essential oil is rejuvenating to the bones—among others.
Aromatherapy and the soul star /9th Chakra:
Eucalyptus oil as well as peppermint, myrtle, and copaiba oils that support respiratory health.
Aromatherapy and the earth star Chakra:
Root chakra oils apply here: Sandalwood, Patchouli, Grounding,Cedarwood, Ylang Ylang, among others..
Young Living Essential Oils™ for the Root Chakra :
Root Chakra (Gonads) / “I KNOW” /
Element: EARTH
Security, survival, trust, relationships with money, home, and job. Essential oils to open and balance this chakra are Sandalwood, Patchouli, Grounding, Cedarwood, Ylang Ylang. Rub one drop on base of spine and then rub hands together and inhale 3x.
~ Bottoms of Feet ~ Since the incarnator chakra is below the ground, I’m adding the Young Living Oil recommendation for oils on the bottom of the feet:
Always ground yourself before any type of meditation or spiritual reflection/meditation. Essential oils that assist with this are Grounding and Valor. Take one drop per foot; rub on bottom of foot and on big toes. Inhale!
If aromatherapy interests you, I use Young Living Essential Oils™ which are therapeutic, food-grade oils. Please inquire if you are interested in purchasing a favorite scent and I can add your request to my personal monthly order. Essential oils raise the vibrational frequency of the body. When the vibrational frequency of the body drops, we become more receptive to ill health: http://justalist.blogspot.com/2008/03/vibrational-frequency-list.html. Therapeutic-grade essential oils are great to have in your arsenal of health promoting natural products.
Gem therapy and the Crown and Root Chakra:
Since the incarnator & soul star chakras are closest to the crown chakra, and earth star chakra is closest to the root chakra, I’m highlighting gems associated with the well-known chakras below.
Gemstones amplify the energy when placed in contact with your chakras. For those of you unsure on this subject, consider that it’s scientifically proven that everything is energy. Nothing is really solid. Why wouldn’t the energy of a stone work effectively with the energy in our bodies just as some research speculates that the energy of computers, cell phones, and microwaves may affect our bodies? At the very least, I find that holding a favorite stone is like a talisman for me, or a “worry stone”. As my favorite author, Wayne Dyer, likes to say, “If it’s a placebo effect, I’ll take two”.
Recently, I found this great write-up on the subject of crystal therapy at Ashley Leavy’s Love & Light Crystal Therapies website:
Since both crystals and the human body have an inherent energetic blueprint, it is thought that the energies of the body can be balanced and healed by introducing the energetic vibration of a crystal into the body’s energy field. Their perfect forms are a metaphor for the balance and perfection that humans search for in their own lives. Using crystals in this way can actually help to repair energetic imbalances within the ethereal body. Through entrainment, the human body will begin to mimic the perfectly stable, balanced energy of the crystal. For this reason, crystal healing can be performed on anything that possesses an energy field, be it a person, a plant, an animal, or the environment. The stable energetic vibrations from the crystals can be used to re-align and direct the flow of energy within the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies, returning them to a state of health and wholeness. Listen to her amazing video on Crystals and the Human Energy Field here.
*Crystal Healing is not meant to replace conventional medicine, but rather to complement and enhance it. The information within this site is purely metaphysical in nature and is by no means medical. Crystal Healing should only be used with the understanding that it is not an independent therapy, but one that is a part of a holistic healing approach.
Some Root Chakra gems are:
Hematite—offers stress resistance; works as a protective shield (much like the knots!). Smoky Quartz—brings present focus, dissolves emotional blocks. Black Tourmaline—protects, calms and expels fear, best set in silver. Garnet—counters illusions; acts against depression, beats insecurity.
Some Crown Chakra gems are:
Activates the Crown Chakra: Celestite & Blue Sapphire. Calms the Crown Chakra: Charoite, Sugilite, Luvulite. Balances the Crown Chakra: Clear Quartz, Amethyst. Source: The Chakra Bible by Patricia Mercier.
If gem therapy interests you, you can find a great selection at www.crystallinelight.com. I’ve known Jennifer, the owner, for many years and love her products (and her)!
Yoga poses for the Root Chakra:
All yoga poses essentially activate the chakras. Yoga without the connection of breath awareness is simply a stretching practice. So a consistent yoga practice stimulates all the chakras, as does the many breathwork practices outlined in the current and past newsletters.
Using a block between the thighs a couple of inches above the knees in various poses such as chair, or even throughout a sun salutation (hopping into plank and mountain vs. stepping is required) helps to activate the root chakra.
Some yoga poses to stimulate the Muladhara chakra and “draw up earth energy” include: Downward facing dog, Chair pose (especially with the block mentioned in the previous paragraph), Cobbler’s pose (or as I like to refer to it: Butterfly pose), Mountain pose (add a mountain scene meditation—I like to remind my students that in life we often climb the infamous “mountain”—work, work, work, sweat, sweat, sweat—and you finally reach the top. Most of us don’t take the time to enjoy the view up here. We only see the next mountain looming, challenging, calling your name. Take time to enjoy this moment, this mountain you just climbed, and remember you are on top of the world. (Derived from my wonderful “I Hope You Dance” journal by Mark D. Sanders & Tia Sillers.)
Also, while in mountain pose, the act of pushing the “imaginary floor boards away with your feet” or “try to tear your yoga mat apart with your feet” activates the root chakra. Similarly adding foot lock in this pose stimulates the root chakra: (Lift the toes, spread them wide, plop them down. Feel the outer edges of your feet cup the mat.)
Tree pose (add a root visualization with roots coming out the soles of your feet to increase the root chakra energy, and Child’s pose (add a relaxing forehead roll from left to right: Rolling over the third-eye activates the pineal gland, releasing melatonin, and promotes a relaxed nervous system. Rolling over the forehead points activates the reflexology points for worrying.)
Yoga poses for the Crown Chakra:
As mentioned in the highlighted pose, yoga postures and breathwork are intended as preparation for meditation. They stimulate both the third-eye and crown chakras.
Yoga without the connection of breath awareness is simply a stretching practice. So a consistent yoga practice stimulates all the chakras, as does the many breathwork practices outlined in the current and past newsletters.
Although not necessarily yoga, “dancing connects us with the higher realms of the divine.” And “Meditation can help you connect with your inner self.” The Book of Chakras, Ambika Walters. Hare pose, Half Shoulderstand as well as Headstand—if they are in your practice, are also stimulating to the crown chakra. Dolphin Pose, is also considered a headstand prep and stimulates both the crown and third eye chakras.
Yoga Nidra is also an excellent way to induce a meditative state and calm your crown chakra.
The highlighted pose, easy seated pose, connects you to both the root chakra through the base of the spine, and the crown chakra when used as a meditation pose.
