Laid Off? Heal Your Chakras

One of my iterations is as an energy healer, so I have a unique perspective on seeing the effect of the economy on our chakras. A friend's husband was laid off a year ago from his newspaper job, and she told me recently that he is becoming more and more depressed and she is worried about him. I didn't think of his depression in terms of chakras until I myself was laid off, but over the next few days I realized that my third chakra, the solar plexus and seat of my personal power in the world, felt sucker punched. It completely deflated. I first became aware that we hold old energy in our bodies when, after starting yoga, I was astonished to find myself feeling grief for my father every time I entered a certain posture, and this was a decade after he had died. This was a wake-up call for me: I needed to do some emotional work or the energy would be squirreled away and block the free flow of chi. What is a chakra? There are many definitions of chakras, but they all evolve from the Sanskrit meaning of the word: "wheel of light." Most authorities agree that they are subtle energy centers that branch from the nervous system, according to Cyndi Dale, the author of the new book The Subtle Body, the new encyclopedic book about your energetic anatomy called. Chakras hold the chi energy we need to evolve spiritually and to be emotionally healthy, so the clearer they are, the more chi we have available to us for our growth. Spiritual healing is all about clearing out the chakras. Is it possible that my friend's husband is experiencing a chakra energy deflation and doesn't know how to re-energize them, leaving him more and more emotionally out of sync? Is chakra-health related to why some people roll with the punches, and others don't? Three months after being laid off, I can tell you that my third chakra is still weak, as is my second. Get to know the three lower chakras The lower chakras are very interrelated with how we interact with the world:

• The first chakra, at the bottom of the spine, is associated with personal survival.
• The second chakra, located about two inches below the belly button, is connected with the development of our unique personalities and connection to family.
• The third chakra, the solar plexus, is about personal power in the world.

Try these exercises to rebalance your lower chakras If the economic downturn has affected you, why not try these two exercises to shore up the lower three chakras. 1. Imagine color filling the wheel of light of the chakra. Spend a few minutes on each chakra, starting with the first and ending with the third. First Chakra: Red Second Chakra: Orange Third Chakra: Yellow When you see yellow, orange, and red in the world, feast your eyes on the color. Imagine the sun filling your third chakra with yellow. 2. Intone to the lower chakras — meaning, practice vocalizing sounds thought to help activate and unblock energy associated with each of the chakras. Spend a few minutes with each of the chakras. Just repeat the sound over and over again, drawing out each sound as you vocalize it, as you would a mantra. First Chakra: UH (rhymes with "huh") Second Chakra: OOO (rhymes with "you") Third Chakra: OH (rhymes with "go") Repeat these exercises for as long as feels comfortable, and as often as possible. Laid Off? Heal Your Chakras courtesy Gaiam Life. Read more of Annie Bond's posts on Gaiam's 'Stream of Consciousness' blog.