What is Chakra According to the ancient Hindus?
The human body consists of 88,000 chakras, also referred to as continuously spinning or active energy points that act as portals to receive, interact and transmit life forces between an individual and his surroundings. Chakra is Hindu for spinning wheel. Of the bodys 88,000 energy points, seven are regarded to have major importance in the overall function of our being.
These seven major chakras are root/base chakra, sex/navel chakra, stomach/solar plexus chakra, heart chakra, throat chakra, brow/third eye chakra, and the crown chakra. These major chakra points in our body take in and transmit energies to and from the general surroundings including the people and elements around us. As such, they directly influence and affect an individuals corporeal, psychological, intellectual/emotional and spiritual/mystical activities.
Chakras are defined in various ways but there is one common thread among all of the definitions and explanations whether from the Chinese medicine point of view, the Hindus mystical understanding of an individuals internal and external experience or modern psychologys explanation of human our consciousness and thought processes.
The continuous contact of energy points with its host (our body) and the environment regardless of whether we are awake or not, gives them a special power over the our physical appearance and bodily functions, including our health and emotions. A malfunction of one of the seven major energy points results in our feeling ill and weak, both physically and mentally.
The reason for this is because each of the seven major chakras is linked to a corresponding endocrine gland in our body. Any imbalance in the function of a chakra affects our physical and emotional processes and manifests a disturbance in the usual pattern of activity or behavior through the endocrine gland linked to it.
Maintaining the Optimum Functions of our Chakras Using the foundations of the ancient Hindus and Chineses understanding and interpretation of the functions of our bodys energy points, especially the seven major ones, we can safely arrive at the conclusion that not all our illnesses are viral; some are very likely related to the malfunction of one or all of our chakras. Physical symptoms of illness may not be present or minimal at the very least, but our feelings of discontent, stress, excitement are signs that something is wrong with us either on the physical, spiritual or emotional levels.
These factors could be anything ranging from repressed traumatic incidents during early childhood to wrong diet, unhealthy lifestyle and the like. One thing is certain, and that is we have to remove these physical or emotional toxins from our bodies because they affect us greatly.
Benefits of Chakra Healing One important aspect to note is that we have the capability to manipulate our chakras and their functions. By doing so, we are also directly controlling their functions in order to achieve good life.
There are a number of ways through which we can directly influence the functions of our bodys major chakras. From simple techniques such as aromatherapy, breathing exercises, physical fitness, or with the use of crystals and gemstones we can achieve balance and harmony.
One commonly used chakra healing method is through yogic meditation which enhances the ability of a person to relax his mind and body at will. Meditation is one highly proven method that promotes natural healing and relaxation techniques.
Another important factor to consider is that although our chakras can not be seen nor touched, they work on their own to support our body. We have to keep them healthy too.
The food we eat affects our health and our system. They also have an affect on the balance and harmony of our major chakras because there are foods that can help maintain the balance and functions of the bodys seven major chakras.
The first energy point, the root, is nourished by tubers and food rich in protein. The navels energy point on the other hand is benefited by our diet of sweet fruits and nuts while our energy point in our solar plexus chakra gets nourishment form wheat products, dairy and cereals.
Green, leafy vegetables, plenty of liquid, fruit juices and green tea are beneficial for our heart and throat chakras.
Blueberries and grapes are the primary source of nourishment of our energy point for the third eye. It is also helps if we drink wine or grape juice.
The spiritual and emotional center (our crown chakra) of the human body however does not need nutrients but requires detoxification by means of fasting.
With these simple methods of influencing our bodys energy points (chakras), we are at the same time also influencing our physical wellness towards a more responsive way of life completely with our body and our environment. They are very simple ways but very effective at the same time in order for us to achieve a goal of physical and emotional wellness.
The author Anne-Marie Laureaut is one of the team of experts who contribute to the popular chakra-balance.com site. Visit here to understand how chakra meditation can drastically improve your life and how you can get free chakra healing Audios.