- What Every Woman Needs to Know About Her Energy BodyContinue reading →
by Lisa EricksonInterest in the chakras, reiki, and energy healing has exploded in recent years, with many of us turning to these modalities for greater wellness and empowerment. What isn't as widely covered is how women's energy bodies differ from men's. Learn how you can get the most out of working with your feminine energy body - including help for healing from sexual trauma.ÂRochelle was a new massage therapist having trouble managing enough clients per day to pay her bills, as she felt drained after just one or two sessions.Lauren was a health-conscious yoga practitioner who did everything she could to take good care of her mind and body, but suffered such extreme fatigue during her period each month she was effectively sidelined from her life for several days.Beth was a long-time meditator, but after the birth of her first child found that her usual meditation practices provided no relief from the heaviness and anxiety she was frequently experiencing.Shari was a 50-year old woman struggling with perimenopausal symptoms, questioning the direction her life was headed, and fearing she was going backwards.What do all these women have in common? They all were experiencing shifts in their energy bodies but didn't know how to work with them. While an increasing number of yoga classes and energy body workshops help us connect with our primary energy centers, or chakras, most of the time chakra mappings are presented as the same for men and women. But there are differences in how women's energy bodies function that any woman can benefit from knowing.Our energy body serves as the interface between our physical body, our psyche, and our spirit. Chakra mappings in particular developed within both energy medicine and spiritual traditions around the world, and in the 20th century were even viewed by psychologist Carl Jung as a way to map different aspects of our psyche. The chakras offer many doorways into healing and empowerment, and hundreds of different methods for working with them including yoga, breath work, reiki, guided imagery, meditation, mantras, mudras, affirmations, crystals and more.However, most chakra mappings and tools don't account for the differences in how men's and women's chakras function. While at the spiritual level the energy moving through the chakras is ungendered, at the interface level between the chakras and the body, there are differences that mirror the physical differences between men and women. Trans and pan gender individuals will often experience the chakra patterns associated with the gender they most strongly identify with, or aspects of both. While male-female energy body patterns exist on a spectrum, rather than simply being binary, knowing about these differences can really help finetune chakra work.The most important difference is that women's energy bodies tend to be anchored in their second chakra, located in the pelvis, while men's tend to be anchored in their first, or root chakra, associated with the tailbone, legs and feet. These two chakras serve as the foundation for everyone's energy body, and so we all need to work to heal and strengthen both, but the differences in anchoring have real-world implications for women and those who identify as female.The primary difference is that women's energy bodies are more centripetal and tend to pull in and absorb other's energies. While anyone can be empathic, women by default tend to be more this way. This is because the second chakra is receptive and 'yin' in nature, and so having their energy bodies anchored here means women's energy bodies are more receptive in general. It also means women's energy bodies are more adaptable and fluid, which can be a good thing when in a positive environment. But it means women need to pay more attention to energetic boundaries in daily life - something most women resonate with as soon as they learn of it.Take the example of the masseuse Rochelle from above. She couldn't understand why she felt so drained after just a couple of clients, when physically she still felt strong. The issue was energetic, not physical - she was unconsciously taking on energy from her clients. The reason was partly technical, based on this tendency of the feminine energy body, but also based in personal conditioning - like many women, Rochelle had patterns of people-pleasing that caused her to open up her energy body to others in a way she didn't need to give a good massage. After learning to work with her root and navel chakras to create a simple, but effective energetic boundary, Rochelle was able to change this tendency, and work with clients successfully without draining herself.Women's energy bodies also experience cycles and phases in sync with their physical reproductive cycles and phases. While we now know that both men and women experience hormonal cycles and shifts, for women it is much more pronounced, in the form of menstruation, pregnancy, perimenopause and menopause. Each of these life events comes with its own energetic shifts, and learning to work with them can be key. For example, a woman's sacral chakra waxes and wanes with her monthly cycle, at its strongest and most emanating at the peak of ovulation, and at its most sensitive and inward-facing during menstruation. While most women can't organize their lives around their cycle, making even small accommodations can be helpful. For Lauren, the yoga practitioner who experienced extreme fatigue, allowing herself extra rest time and additional focus on her navel chakra during menstruation helped her to reduce the fatigue - and enabled her to tap into the deep contemplative energies available to her during this time.Post-partum is another life phase in which women can benefit from understanding the energetic shifts occurring. Like Beth, mentioned above, even women with good support and self-care routines can find themselves struggling after birth. Not only is a woman dealing with physical fatigue and hormonal shifts, her energy body is adjusting to an additional energy line in the form of the mother-child bond. While a beautiful form of connection, if a woman leaves this line open all of the time, never learning to close it when she can to experience her energy body's singular power and integrity, she will often feel ungrounded or uncentered in addition to fatigued. Because the sacral chakra is a woman's energy body anchor and mother-child lines are centered there, post-partum a woman may also feel as if she can't access the energies or functions of her upper chakras, with all of her energy pooled downward. Tools to help close the mother-child line when needed, while still maintaining a healthy loving parental bond, are key to a woman's post-partum physical and mental well-being.Perimenopause and menopause too are opportunities for energetic and spiritual growth, but are often not recognized as such. We tend to view them as medical events, or as endings. But perimenopause - the years preceding menopause when a women's body and energy body are beginning to transition - are characterized by surges through the chakras linked to personal growth. Each chakra has particular 'lessons' and themes associated with it, and depending on where a women's greatest obstructions to owning her power lies, she may experience discomfort in her body or psyche as these obstructions attempt to clear. If a woman can stabilize her energy body at this time and engage with energy healing and personal growth modalities, she can enter menopause truly feeling like she is coming into her most powerful and fulfilling time.For example, Shari from the intro found herself feeling adrift and unfulfilled in her career, in addition to experiencing insomnia and nightly hot flashes. Once she was able to identify her feelings and stabilize her energy body, she began to feel much better. She also began a chakra meditation practice that helped her to smooth the shifts in her energy body as they were occurring. As this unfolded she found herself contemplating a shift in career that felt positive and empowering, and realized it had been coming for a long time. Her shift into menopause from that point was physically and psychologically smooth.Chakra work should never replace medical and holistic healing advice, but it can play an important role in a woman's healing and growth. Sexual trauma healing is another area where this is especially the case. Because the second chakra is linked to sexual energy and is also the anchor for a woman's energy body, sexual abuse and assault can have a particularly damaging impact to a woman's sense of her own power, and all of her chakra functions. Working gently at this level to clear shame, fear, patterns of hypervigilance and disassociation can be an excellent modality for sexual trauma survivors who are intimidated by the idea of physical body work, or of talk therapy. In other cases, chakra work can be a complementary method to these modalities. For a woman, healing and empowering her second chakra is instrumental to full body, and full psyche, healing.The wonderful thing about chakra work is that anyone can engage in it, and there are multiple access points. Some people relate more to visualization, some to physical triggers like sound, others to affirmations or emotional memory. Everyone can find a connection point with their chakras, and once they do, can work with them anywhere, anytime. For women, understanding these differences in their chakras and energy body functioning in daily life can help unlock the full potential of their self-healing and manifesting abilities.
Lisa Erickson is an energy worker specializing in women's energetics and sexual trauma healing and author of Chakra Empowerment for Women: Self-Guided Techniques for Healing Trauma, Owning Your Power & Finding Overall Wellness from Llewellyn Publishing.
- Double Vision: Marriage in the New AgeContinue reading →
I'm having a hard time sorting out my feelings about marriage, and am wondering what you two think. What is your spiritual view of marriage? Do you think it's an outdated concept or an institution that works for some people and not for others? Of course, it's not something people should enter into lightly, but are there certain people who should avoid marriage all together? To prevent divorce, what do you think both partners should bring (or in some cases not bring) to a marriage to create a lasting partnership? Does Spirit have anything to say about marriage, why it seems to be a dwindling institution, and how it fits into the "New Age?" Thanks very much! - B.
Dreamchaser:
As my regular clients know, I am not married because I personally do not believe in marriage. I have studied this subject myself, however, so I will tell you what I learned.
There are all kinds of belief systems for all kinds of different nationalities or religions. For example, some Native American tribes used to believe that every year, couples should come together and decide if they wanted to stay together for another year or not. If they did not, they would simply gather their belongings and go back to their parents' tent. No big fuss was made about the decision.
As you know, Mormon men used to take multiple wives, as did other groups of people. We have all heard about harems in stories read to us when we were children. So our current beliefs about marriage are just that - our current beliefs. They don't necessarily reflect any divine or unchanging truth.
I personally believe that marriage is a completely outdated system. I think that since women can now work, vote, drive, pay our own bills, etc., we no longer need to marry for protection or to provide for our daily needs and personal care. We can take care of ourselves and do not NEED a husband anymore. Marriage arose the meet the needs of people living in social situations vastly different from the modern world.
If two people do choose to get married, they need two things, or the marriage will fail. They need to be willing to work HARD on the marriage on a daily basis with tools like listening, caring, thoughtfulness, putting the other before themselves, etc.
They also need to openly communicate. So many people do not know how to communicate before they get into a relationship. I always wonder how they think that any relationship will last if they can't communicate their needs, fears, desires, etc. When I talk to clients who are cheating in their relationship, the most common reason they give is, "We just do not communicate anymore" or "He/She does not really talk to me any more."
I do not think that Spirit has an opinion on marriage, since marriage is a human idea. I think Spirit will bring us love, and what we do with it is up to us. Spirit totally believes in LOVE - after all, "God" is love.
The New Age belief system is based on what is best for your personal soul. If you believe in marriage and want to experience it, then by all means, find the best partner for you and go at it. If you do not believe in marriage and would prefer to foster your own spiritual development in this life, then do that.
I wish you a happy relationship either with someone else or with yourself, whichever you choose.
*****
Astrea:
I believe marriage is a Holy Union between two people. People who get married should be prepared to live with one another for the rest of their lives and love each other as unconditionally as possible.
Some people are much better at this than others. I went through a few husbands before I found the right one, but once I did, I finally understood all that marriage can be. I think there are lots of people who will say that they didn't grasp the true value of marriage when they wed for the first, second, or even the third time, yet they continued to long for this union of Spirit and Body.
Besides, I need help around the house! I could take care of my life alone, but why should I when I can have this perfect, gorgeous, kind, gentle, intelligent man by my side? Grumpy has his moments, but for the most part, I FEEL HAPPY being married. I wouldn't feel this happy without someone to share my joy. I know myself: I need outside input just to know I'm not crazy, and I need it daily.
People who can't commit to one person for life should obviously avoid marriage altogether. That is a very simple statement that covers LOTS of ground, but if one marrying thinks even for a moment that he or she can't be faithful, that's the time to say "No." A person who knows himself will tell his partner if he isn't ready for marriage. Further, if a person can't be TOTALLY HONEST with her partner before she marries him, she shouldn't marry him at all.
I'm not saying you have to lose every bit of emotional baggage before getting married. Love can overcome a LOT of issues. In fact, love can overcome everything when it's real and true.
I'm not sure where you got the idea that marriage is a "dwindling institution." While lots of people divorce, the reason is simple: we're in too big a hurry to know what's going to happen in relationships; we want everything supposedly settled for good. I don't think marriage is going to disappear, however, for as long as people love one another, they're going to seek a committed union on paper and from God.
As for what Spirit says, I "hear" that it's unfortunate that everyone can't be legally married here in the U.S. Men and men, women and women - ALL OF US should be able to enjoy the benefits of marriage. Anyone who wants to join together with God to celebrate their union should be able to do so without fear of hatred and discrimination.
Spirit says the same thing about marriage as Spirit says about life, and that is that we're here to love one another, have a nice time, and work through our karma. As long as we meet each other with LOVE, we're on the right track.
Astrea:
Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.
Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!
While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!
I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!
As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.
I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.
You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!
Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.
A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.
You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.