Those who perform chakra meditation believe that the human body has vital points of energy. These energy centers are used consciously or unconsciously, and have great influence over our life experiences. “Chakra” is the term used to define these critical points.

Chakras are found in different areas throughout the human body. There are seven chakras in total, each holding influence over the area in which it is found. Every chakra has its own distinctive property.

There is a chakra, located at the base of the spine, known as the Root Chakra. The Root Chakra affects the health, structure and safety of your body. Traditionally called muladhara and also known as the coccyx, this chakra is associated with how one’s body links to the material world. It is also symbolized by a red-colored circle surrounded by four golden petals.

The Naval Chakra or svadisthana, a fundamental point located in the lower abdomen, is associated with the feelings of love, passion, sexuality as well as pleasure. People experiencing positive feelings would send feedback to this chakra, which is associated with the orange color.

The Solar Plexus Chakra is found just above the navel and below the chest. A vital point influencing one’s force and willpower, this chakra is the point at which self-control, authority and discipline. Yellow is the colour of this powerful chakra.

The Heart Chakra, or anahata, is found in the middle of the chest area. Love and understanding are the focus of this chakra, as well as the feelings that result from these sensations. The Heart Chakra is related to the colour green.

A critical point located in the throat area is called the vishuddha, or Throat Chakra. This chakra is linked to communication and associated with a sky blue colour.

The Brow Chakra or the anja is a vital point located on the forehead, just above the eyes. This chakra is associated with our sensitivity outside the physical sphere and is known to the Buddhists as the region of the “Third Eye.” This clairvoyance-related focus point is associated with the color indigo as well.

The Crown Chakra, or sahasrara, is found at the central point on top of the head. Naturally, this important chakra is concerned with the spirit and the mind. One’s consciousness and items related to the High Self are dictated by the violet-coloured Crown Chakra.

If you are interested in practicing Chakra meditation, you’ll find that it has the ability to stimulate your vital energy points and lead to beneficial side effects. Be careful though, as too much mental energy is not always wise for people who do participate in much physical activity. Ask for expert guidance when learning chakra meditation or you may risk developing personality problems due to a chakra imbalance.

By: Wyatt Pottoe

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Harvey_Kurland

Reiki can be a powerful tool for personal growth and healing. The energy of Reiki originates from the ultimate spiritual source. As such, it creates only the best results. Reiki is used to heal the spirit, mind, and body. It is also used to guide one’s life.

Use it to develop your talents. Improve yourself and everything else around you. These are just some of the practical applications of Reiki the moment you choose to be attuned to it.

Learning Reiki’s self-healing program requires practice. You also have to master several techniques. Know that each technique you learn may move you towards your goal or away from it. You have to use the right Reiki strategy all the time to attain self-healing. It is also possible to create a personal Reiki healing system that would benefit you entirely. Better results are expected if you work this way.

Use Reiki for self-treatments by allotting 30 minutes of your time to give treatments for yourself. You can use hand positions or the scanning technique. Focus on the areas that need healing most. You will be guided to those spots accordingly when the session starts. Feel the vibration as the energy goes up from your body. Contemplate your life’s activities while in this process of self-treatment. This way, the healing will have a fuller effect on you. This technique is mostly used to develop healthy attitudes. The procedure would also leave you with many creative ways and ideas on how you can possibly deal with your problems.

It is also possible to heal yourself in the company of others. Try to form a personal healing alliance with other Reiki self-healers to compound the effect of the treatment sessions. By healing yourself and others at the same time, the practice becomes more effective. Find somebody to be your healing partner. Add other healers to the group and convene regularly. Heal each other. In time, all of you would experience complete healing. And that’s primarily due to the support and energy sharing that transpires during each session.

As a group, discuss your needs and the particular areas that have to be healed. Meet every week or at least use distant Reiki to each other. Take every meeting seriously and just focus on its real purpose. Not only that this procedure is quite powerful. It also gives you a deeper meaning Reiki and its healing levels.

Use Reiki to enhance your prayers and affirmations. Repeat your prayer or affirmation to give thanks, especially if the goal that you’ve been hoping for has already been achieved or if healing had already happened. Pray or affirm with conviction everyday. This would help you greatly in your life’s endeavors.

To make sure that self-treatment occurs, go against the issue that you are trying to heal. Then use Reiki as required. The fear of doing something is an example of an issue. To go against it, overcome your fear. And do that by performing the very thing that you fear the most. This way, you can heal purposely and effectively through the energies of Reiki.

By: Samantha Hall

Reiki was first created in the 20th century by Mikao Usui, who was a Tendai Buddhist. He spent a large amount of time meditating and fasting, and it was during these activities that he discovered Reiki. He wrote that he had learned of the practice through a mystical experience. The knowledge that he gained would allow him to harness and apply the powers that are attributed to Reiki. By using initiations, he would be able to help people gain access to energy. When patients participate in these initiations, they may become a more powerful channel for the energy, and this can help them receive better treatments.

Some of the ideas for Reiki are quite similar to the concept of “qi.” Usui also studies subjects such as Yoga, Ayurveda, and classic Chinese medicines. Mikao Usui would go on to train a number of students, who went on to become his disciples. One of his most prominent disciples was Chujiro Hayashi, who went on to teach and spread the Reiki techniques. The variation that he taught was much more simple than the techniques that had been promoted by Mikao Usui. It was Hayashi who first developed a collection of specific hand positions. This was a sharp contrast to Usui, who preferred more mystical methods for treatment.

Hayashi trained Hawayo Takata, and she would go on to introduce the practice in the United States. While she claimed to be a Grandmaster, the term is not used in Japan. As the practice of Reiki spread throughout the world, the practice became split into two categories, and these are independent school and traditional school. The traditional schools were devoted to teaching Reiki in the same manner that it was taught by the founder Mikao Usui. In contrast, the independent schools teach Reiki in a way that differs greatly from that which was used by Usui.

Ironically, Reiki is rare in Japan, the country from which it originated. It is much more popular in the West, and has become popular in a number of hospitals. One notable example of Reiki being used by the healthcare industry is the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.

In recent years, a number of changes have occurred with Reiki schools. Many of them are now moving towards independent forms that can allow the treatment to be more widely available to a larger segment of the population. Some have even begun merging Reiki with a number of New Age practices or beliefs such as channeling and Wicca. A number of symbols and new procedures have been added.

The vast majority of changes that have been made in Reiki are a result of the harm that adherents believe Hawayo Takata brought to the practice. While her methods were strict, the methods that are used for Reiki today are much more loose. One element that some schools have added to the practice of Reiki is called Seichim energy, and will alter the experience and practice of channeling. The independent Reiki movement has made it popular with a larger segment of the population.

To learn more about the History of Reiki and the story of Mikao Usui, Reiki Master Stephen Leigh has written a fascinating book entitled ‘Discover-Reiki’. Not only is the history of Reiki explored and discussed but the book is a step-by-step guide to learn Reiki from home in just 7 days!

Reiki symbols are passed from Reiki Master to Reiki Master and are most commonly used for healing and protection. Of Japanese origin, the secrecy of the Reiki symbols is actually a Western tradition. It is not uncommon in Japan to see Reiki symbols displayed very openly, even in public places.

There are several schools of thought when it comes to Reiki. One is that you must be trained in the correct way to use a Reiki symbol before you will be able to activate the benefits.

There is only one way that the symbol will work according to these schools of thought, and you must draw or use the symbol correctly each time in order to activate it.

Other ways of thinking state that you can draw the symbol, trace it with your hand, or even just say the name of the symbol out loud or in your head once you are trained.

One area in which the various ways of thinking agree, though, is that you must have a Reiki Attunement before you can use the symbols.

This gets your body used to the Reiki energy and prepares you to use the Life Force Energy. Depending on the symbols that the Reiki Master uses on you, the effect may be permanent or temporary.

The question that most have, though, is, that if Reiki is something that can only be taught and enabled by a Master, then how did it get started?

With study and dedication, it may just be possible for you to learn to attune yourself without the help of a Reiki Master.

However, if you choose to, you may be able to pay for an attunement anyway. In fact there are even places to learn to do your own Reiki attunement online so that you have no need of classes.

Some of the most common Reiki symbols are the following:

a) Cho Ku Ray – Power

This symbol increases the Reiki power that you are using, brining energy from the rest of the world around you to focus it exactly where you want it.

b) Sei Hei Ki – Mental or Emotional

This symbol indicates the divine within us, making humanity and God into one. It is used to create an emotional release after a build up in the recipient of the energy, and can be used to focus to heal and calm the mind.

c) Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen – Distance

This symbol indicates that the God in the sender greets the God in the recipient. It is used to promote peace and enlightenment, and is used to send Reiki healing energy across a distance to perform distance healing.

There are twelve basic hand positions for self-treatment with Reiki. The first is with both hands over your face and eyes, with your nose and mouth exposed. Your palms should be cupping your eyes, no pressure needed. The second is with both hands on your head just behind or above your ears. Your fingertips should meet at the crown of your head.

The third is with both hands resting behind your head. One should rest just above the nape of your neck, and the other should be just above it. The fourth is with your chin resting in the palms of your hands. Your fingers should stretch along your jaw line.

The fifth is with one hand around your throat gently, with your thumb to one side and your fingers to the other. Your other hand should rest on your chest just below your collarbone. The sixth is with your hands resting on your upper rib cage. For women, this means that your hands are placed just below the breasts.

The seventh is with your fingertips touching above your solar plexus, your hands to each side. The eighth is with one hand along each side of your pelvic bone. Your fingers should be touching.

The ninth is with your hands on the backs of your shoulders or on your shoulder blades. You should be reaching up and over your shoulders to get in this position. The tenth is with your hands meeting at the fingertips in the center of your back.

The eleventh is with your fingertips meeting at your low back. The twelfth is with your hands resting in the sacral region, meeting about at your tailbone.

When you lay your hands on one of these healing energy points, you are meant to draw energy though the channels of your body rather than trying to push your energy out through your hands or otherwise draw from some parts of your body to the others. Instead, look to draw the energy through the channels in your body from the world around you.

 

Article Source: http://www.articleassets.com

Coaching is about helping the client achieve his or her goals and objectives – and as such is future paced. What’s happened in the past is of no importance, right?

Wrong! Now, I’m aware that there are thousands of coaches out there who have already started frothing at the mouth. That’s their prerogative. I’m just speaking from personal experience – built up from working with hundreds of clients for nearly a decade.

As I’ve said many times before, most clients aren’t aware of the boundaries between coaching, counselling and consultancy. They simply know that they either need – or want – help. In what form that help arises is of little importance or interest to the client, providing of course they can see that they’re getting to where they want to be. For some it’s about achieving a particular goal while for others it’s about letting go of something in order to be free to reach their full potential.

It’s been said that roughly half the population is motivated by the carrot, while the other half require liberal use of the stick. And in the same way, while some people are indeed future-oriented, there are a good many whose focus in life is on where they’ve come from, rather than on where they’re going.

Imagine for a moment, a “timeline” of your client’s life. For the sake of ease, we’ll assume that the past is on the left and the future on the right, with the present moment being in the middle.

When it comes to dealing with issues from the past, a counselling approach has to be more effective. Helping the client find out why they do what they do and then offering them the opportunity (through their own choices) to change their behaviour is the only way to help them stop sabotaging their best efforts. It’s like getting the benefits of an “emotional detox” if you like.

And of course, when it comes to setting and achieving goals, coaching provides focus, encouragement and support.

But the real point of power is in the present, as anyone who’s read Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” already knows. We take action in the “present” and it’s the actions we take TODAY that dictate our success or failure in the future.

People choose to work with a coach because they know that when they’ve tried to achieve a particular goal in the past, they’ve failed. They’ve come to recognise that with the support of a coach, they’re more likely to succeed.

What’s been sabotaging their previous attempts? Often, it’s the ingrained thoughts and beliefs that they’ve picked up as children – usually subconsciously.

Until these are dealt with, the client remains at a disadvantage. It’s similar to a patient with a broken leg. Common sense tells us that the bone must be reset before any physiotherapy programme begins!

And while we may not be dealing with broken bones, as coaches we’re in the business of beliefs, attitudes and choices – and it’s up to us to ensure that our clients have a secure emotional structure in place before we begin helping them move towards their goals. Just because emotions aren’t visible doesn’t mean that their impact isn’t just as intense.

Of course, if we’re going to widen the umbrella of coaching to include an element of counselling, then the appropriate training must be in place! I am absolutely NOT advocating that untrained, unqualified and uninsured coaches are let lose on an unsuspecting public. And I’m also not suggesting that clients who want to achieve greatness should find themselves bogged down in years of therapy for past issues.

But what I do feel strongly about is that when clients’ past emotional issues are preventing them from succeeding in their future aims and objectives, then there must be a case for helping them deal – swiftly and effectively – with their emotional baggage.

Suggesting that they go and seek help elsewhere is an abdication of duty. (Of course, it pays to be discerning and if you’re out of your depth, you must refer your client on – but this should be an exception and not the rule. And let’s face it, most people who find themselves in a life threatening predicament don’t opt for coaching in the first place, so in reality it’s less of an issue than you might expect!)

Finally, it’s not about making our clients reliant on us but instead we must ensure that when we’re offering coaching, we do so with a fully stocked toolkit!

 

Article Source: http://www.articleassets.com

People suffering anxiety often focus on fearful thoughts of losing control or going crazy. Thoughts can trigger anxiety but it is the body’s response to the threat conveyed by our thoughts or our senses that accounts for anxiety. In other words, anxiety is the felt sensation of our body reacting in some distressing way. Some of those reactions include: increased heart rate, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, choking sensation, tightness in chest or elsewhere in body, nausea, dizziness, numbness, chills or hot flushes. Fortunately, it is through breath therapy that we have a means to calm our body and relieve the pain.

Breath therapy is a kind of mindful breathing whereby in different ways one focuses on breathing and simply notices it. This kind of breathing connects to chi, the body’s powerful healing energy. It is connection with chi that gets lost during anxious episodes. Mindful breathing reasserts chi connection. And as this happens it can evoke a warm tingling or a subtle vibration as it eases pain, accelerates healing, calms respiration, clears the mind, soothes the spirit, invigorates circulation, improves digestion, and contributes to restful sleep.

Yogis have known this for centuries as have informal meditators, reiki practitioners, acupuncturists, body workers, osteopathic physicians, and other holistic health care providers. But you do not have to be a yogi practicing for years to learn these powerful breath techniques. Here are three examples:

Mindful Breathing–gently place tongue at above back of front teeth and rest it there with mouth gently closed. This is called the “yoga position.” It closes the energy circuit in the body protecting against dissipation of healthy energy. Focus on your breath cycles–breathing in, breathing out. Notice points at which one phase changes into another. Do not force this, just notice for ten cycles.

Letting Self Be Breathed–Lying on back, close eyes, arms at rest along side of body. Image the following: with inhale–the Universe is blowing breath into you, with exhale–the Universe is withdrawing breath from you. Allow yourself to be a passive recipient of this interaction. Hold your perception for ten cycles. As the Universe breathes into you try to notice your breath penetrating ever part of you down to your toes.

Bellows Breath(stimulating breath)–eyes closed, sit comfortably, back straight, tongue in yoga position. Rapidly breath through nose. Action of chest should be rapid and mechanical, like a bellows. Breath should be audible both during inhale and exhale and as rapid as three cycles per second. If comfortable, engage for fifteen seconds, increasing by five seconds until you are up to a minute. After each cycle breathe normally. This is real exercise and you might feel some muscle fatigue in chest, at the base of your neck above the collar bone and in the diaphragm. You will also begin to feel a subtle but definite movement through your body when you return to normal breathing. Use this breathing method when tired.

With breath therapy the more you engage with your breath the more aware you become of its subtle changes and the more easily you will be able to use your breath to calm anxiety. As always, however, when contemplating working with the body, check with your physician to verify no health conditions exist that would contra-indicate breath therapy.

 

Article Source: http://www.articleassets.com

 

Ms Desert is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Baltimore, MD with a holistic private practice and specializes in the treatment of depression, anxiety, trauma, and associated addictions. For more information please visit her web site at www.singular-pathways.com