There is another way to center yourself both mentally and physically, namely by working with the energies of the chakras.

The chakras are those esoteric energy centers which, as far as western high-tech medicine is concerned, simply do not exist.  Well, in my humble opinion, it is western high-tech medicine which simply does not exist, or if it does, someday it is going to implode.  Western high-tech medicine is founding upon a horrendous fallacy, namely that the human body is a machine.  If you want to repair the machine, so the current thinking goes, all you have to do is cut it open and rearrange the parts, or (better still) take something out.  And if this doesn't work, no problem--you then must simply persuade the owner of the machine to start swallowing the latest heavily-advertised pharmaceuticals, or make some other kind of necessary technological adjustment.  What could be more simple?  If your car needs repair, all you've got to do is get it fixed, right?

Wrong.  Very much so.  As far as I'm concerned, the human body is not a machine, nor is it a computer.  The human body is an energy field, an energy field which is 99.99% empty space.  You cannot repair an energy field by subjecting it to mechanical technology, no matter how sophisticated.  Every time you try it something will inevitably go wrong, and then there are a bunch of whole new problems.  And then newer ones, and then newer ones, and then on and on we go, down the great American health care highway which leads to nowhere. Those secular humanists who waste their time on impossible fantasies like biomedical engineering simply do not understand the bedrock reality of our physical existence, namely that it's all vibes, man.

All of which means that the energy fields which we call our bodies probably do contain those subtle energy fields called chakras.  The word chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning wheel or disk. Says Anodea Judith in her book Wheels of Life (1999): "At the inner core of each one of us spin seven wheel-like energy centers called chakras. Swirling intersections of vital life forces, each chakra reflects an aspect of consciousness essential to our lives. ...Chakras are centers of activity for the reception, assimilation and transmission of life energies."

We have seven primary chakras:

NAME	COLOR	LOCATION	ENERGY
Sahasrara	Violet	Crown	Divinity, wisdom
Ajna	Indigo	Third Eye	Intuition, insight
Vishuddha	Turquoise	Throat	Communication
Anahata	Green	Heart	Love, compassion
Manipura	Yellow	Solar Plexus	Power, integrity
Svadhisthana	Orange	Spleen	Emotions, sexuality
Muladhara	Red	Root	Security, survival

If you have any psychic sensitivity at all, you have probably been able to sense the whirling energies of your chakras. And if you want to bring a sense of centeredness into your life, you've got to know how to bring all seven of these energies into balance.  There are allegedly many different ways to do this, such as yoga, chanting, meditation, and so on.  I'm no expert on the chakras and never will be, but when I started getting interested in centering, I wondered if there were any kind of chakra-balancing exercises I might start doing which would help to center me.  As usual, I did a lot of research, but I didn't find anything which made sense.

Nevertheless, I did end up developing one simple chakra-balancing exercise which I do twice a day, morning and evening, and which seems to work.  The exercise simply consists in closing your eyes and focusing on each of the seven chakras one by one.  In the morning I focus on opening up each chakra, breathing energy into each one, and filling them with gold and silver light (as well as with the light of their appropriate color).  I start with the crown chakra at the top of the head and then go downwards to the root chakra at the base of the spine.  When I've finished with the root chakra, I visualize all the chakra colors coming together to form a rainbow of light in my heart chakra.  I then try to focus on this light and pray to keep it within my being throughout the rest of the day.

In the evening, just before I go to bed, I again mentally focus on each chakra, but this time I do a releasing.  I again start with the crown chakra and focus on its energies slowing down and growing dim.  I then go downwards through all the other chakras, relaxing and releasing each one's energy into the earth.  I can usually feel the energy and the stress of the day dropping out of me whenever I do this.  When I finally climb into bed, all of my energy has diminished so much that sleep comes almost immediately.

That's all there is to it, and it only takes a few moments each day.  Maybe it helps and maybe it doesn't, but it hasn't hurt me, and let's face it--the more meditative practices you have in your life, the better off you are.

But while working with the chakras is all well and good, we're not finished yet... next

Centering   •   M.C. Richards   •   Tea   •   Stones   •   Exercises   •   Meditations   •   Breath   •   Chakras  •  
Four Elements  •   Daoist Scriptures   •   Cult of Tranquility   •   Etc.