Is chakra work worth it?
A personal story that made me a believer
My beloved reflexologist joined us for my annual retreat last year for the first time. She helped me calm my restless legs while I was pregnant and combines energy work to releases stuck places in the body through the feet.
This treatment is more than the add-on reflexology at the end of a pedicure.
It’s deep healing work and surprising uncomfortable. Just like the arches of the feet connect to your pelvic floor through fascia, the bottoms of your feet are a map to your body. My husband has had work done and she knew he had past shoulder injury from his foot!
The women were curious and a bit nervous as they entered only to emerge lighter. Each recived insights about areas to tend to in their lives. A theme was a need for chakra work.
What are the chakras?
A chakra is an energy center - picture spinning wheel of light - along the length of your spine from your the crown of your head to the base of your pelvis. They are not physical or something that can be seen however, when they can be felt on an energetic level and govern major aspects of your life.
First - Root Chakra: Red. Survival, security, and foundation.
Second - Sacral Chakra: Orange. Desires, sexuality and creativity.
Third - Solar Plexus: Yellow. Personal power, sense of purpose, and confidence.
Fourth - Heart Chakra: Green. Unconditional love, devoation, and compassion.
Fifth - Throat Chakra: Blue. Acceptance, self-expressoin, and voice.
Sixth - Thrid Eye Chakra: Indigo. Truth, intution, and vision.
Seventh - Crown Chakra: Purplish white. Connection with spirit, self-knowledge, and universal consciousness
There are spaces, places, and experiences in our life that block the flow of energy in particular chakras and there are practices to unblock these energy centers that manifest as greater physical, mental, and emotinal well-being. Over the few months I’ll be sharing tools to explore each chakra. Make sure that you’re subscribed to get the updates.
Check out these stories about working with the chakras.
One of my private clients who came to the retreat is going through stressful time at work and with interpersonal relationships. We’re using the chakra model as a foundation of our work. She noticed she was questioning putting time into her chakra practices when she “should” be head down figuring out the problems at the office. As we talked it out, she also felt and saw the difference in how she was reacting to situations at the office. Caring for these energy centers was making her more creative in problem solving and her off work hours were feeling more enjoyable.
I had a trippy experience working with my chakras while trying to get pregnant.
Our last frozen embryo didn’t take and we were clear another round of egg retrieval would be too much on my body and our hearts. Our chances of getting pregnant we’re less than 10% with our history of unexplained infertility and with me losing a fallopian tube in an ectopic pregnancy.
Good thing I was a born optimist who likes to defy the odds. I found the Fertile Heart program that included wisdom traditions, visualizations, dream work, herbs, nutrition, body truth practices, and guidance on how to care for ourselves as if we were a new baby and creating lives we’ve always desired.
There was one practice that I was resisting - the body truth practice.
The practices and habits we resist usually are the most needed so I gave it a go. From standing, I took a few deep breaths and asked my body and move in whatever way it needed from the inside out. This felt strange for me since it’s not something we’re taught to do in our culture so the first couple practices my mind still was leading. over time I was able to let the body lead knowing, physically and energetically, she was infinitely wise in her ability to help me heal.
After a few body truth practices, I had the most powerful experience that I know sounds bizarre.
I had been working with my third chakra, my solar plexus. It had always felt like I had a knot or I was being punched in the stomach when I was making decisions that were outside of the box but right for me.
As I stood it was almost like someone punched me in the stomach. My shoulders hunched forward as my belly drew back and a heavy surge of energy swirled from left to right, then up and out. It was weird. So weird that I tried to recreate the experience the next day, thinking maybe I made myself move that way.
Nope. My body was moving junk out and creating space.
The next month, we were pregnant!
There are many ways to work with each chakra which we’ll be exploring over the next seven moon cycles in my Return to Your Core membership. The next new moon is April 27 and we’ll starting with the root chakra.
Come learn about the root chakra through yoga practices, reflection, and simple practices. We’ve love to have you join us - even for one cycle. You can try a class for free to make sure it’s a good fit. Just email me, jackie@jackiedominas.com, and I’ll send you a Zoom link to join live or watch the replay.
Stay tuned over the few months where I’ll be sharing tools to explore each chakra right here in Substack. Make sure that you’re subscribed to get the updates.