The Science of Energy Flow

All of life is energy.  The mystics even defined God as light, as energy and as the flow of light and energy.  The first letter of John in the New Testament proclaimed that “God is light.”  “In each atom,” said Shabestari, “lies the blazing light of a thousand suns.”  And in the Tao Te Ching, the Chinese sage Lao Tzu teaches, “Something mysteriously formed, born before heaven and earth…Ever present and in motion…I do not know its name.  Call it Tao.  For lack of a better word, I call it great.  Being great, it flows.  It flows far away.  Having gone far, it returns.”  For Lao Tzu, the definition of the Universal Spirit was flow, movement.  Life coursing through our veins, our minds, our heart is energy, is movement, is God.  Lao Tzu also tells us that there is a natural order to the universe and to our own lives, and when we work against that natural order we create inharmony and unhappiness.

The choice is ours.  At every moment the crystal clear stream of life descends to us from our Source in its natural rhythm.  This energy is distributed first to our heart center and then to our other chakras.  It is the life-force that beats our heart, give us the impetus to grow and evolve, and energizes the organs and systems of our body.

But we always have free will.  We can express this energy in a positive way or we can upset the natural flow by acting out of sync with our spiritual nature.  We can, for instance, use energy of our heart center to be naturally kind, loving and charitable, or we can use it to be selfish and stingy.  We can express the power of our throat center through communication that is caring or critical.

These choices have consequences.  When we use energy to think, feel or act in ways that are positive, we attract to ourselves more of that positive energy, as if we were priming the pump.  When we mold that energy in ways that are not true to our inner nature, we create mental and emotional toxins that block energy flow.  Just as physical toxins and substances like cholesterol plaque can build up in our arteries and veins, choking off the vital supply of blood, so mental and emotional toxins that collect energetically in and around our chakra inhibit the free flow of energy within us.

Because each chakra externalizes the energy it receives through a different gland and area of the body, these blockages affect our health, causing us to become fatigued, depressed or even ill.   Or maybe we just can’t seem to get where we want to go in life.  Overstimulating a chakra (by placing continual stress on it), under-stimulating it (by ignoring it and letting it become weak), or depleting its natural vitality (by unwisely expending its energy) can all create blockages in our body’s energetic system.

Since our energy centers are interconnected what happens in one chakra affects our entire energy system.  If any one center is blocked, it can throw the rest of the system off kilter.  Not only that, but the condition of our chakras impact those we interact with.  That’s because the energy of our chakras colors helps create the electromagnetic force-field, or aura, that surrounds each of us.  This energy field interpenetrates and influences the energy field of those around us–for better or for worse.  You know how it feels to around someone who is kind, cheerful and loving in comparison to someone who is depressed or grouchy.  Either way, it can be contagious.

It’s not just the quality of the vibration we send out through our chakras but the quantity that can make a difference in our vitality and resilience. How much energy can we actually hold on to?  Those who perpetually get angry have a lot of energy coursing through them, but they can’t hold on to it and they don’t have a lot of mastery.

It’s a simple equation:   the more energy we can actually hold on to and master, the more personal power we will have at our disposal.  And the more power we have, the more energy we can use to create positive change in our lives and in the lives of those around us.  In fact, those who hold an extraordinary energy in their chakras are able to change their corner of the world and much more than their corner of the world.

Another way to think about the chakras is that each one offers us another way to express our personal spirituality.  When you engage the fires of your heart chakra to help someone in need, you have an entirely different experience than when you tap into your creative genius through your crown chakra to teach someone.  But they are both ways to get in touch with your spiritual essence and share it.

The direct experience of our spiritual essence is the common thread that unites the mystics of the world’s religions.   No matter what direction they approach it from, the mystics all seek a direct connection with the divine, whether they call it Christ or Buddha, Tao or Brahman, Allah or Ein Sof or the Great Spirit.

The science of the body’s energy centers gives us a practical way of understanding how we tap into the power of the divine–how, as the mystics say, we can become an instrument God can use to reach out into the world.  That is the real meaning of empowerment–the power to use the pure energy flowing through us to do good on earth.

At each chakra, we have the opportunity to master another dimension of energy and thereby gain another level of awareness, insight and personal power.  These rites of passage are stages of personal growth that engage our soul and shape the course of our life.  For at each level of awareness, there is a dividing of the real from the unreal, the light from the darkness.

In some traditions, this is known as initiation–the testing of the soul to see how much light she can garner to offset her self-created darkness.  These rites of passage are archetypal. Every one of use will face them–no matter who we are, no matter what path we have chosen. Each energy center is an archetypal matrix, and therefore each one correlates to different attributes, including a different color, part of the body, positive quality, spiritual tradition, musical instrument, and so forth.  There is no magic formula to vitalize your energy centers.  The beauty of life is that each of us is spectacularly unique.   Like alchemists of the spirit, it is up to use to take the tools in hand and experiment within the laboratory of self.  Fortunately for us, personal growth is a creative process and a sacred adventure.

The Seven Energy Centers By Elizabeth Clare Prophet

http://bookstore.summitlighthouse.org/core/orders/product.aspx?catid=7&prodid=207

Bija Mantra Chants for the seven energy centers