I’m not going to give you collected information on the Chakras, no wiki information from the internet, no aura colours or gemstones – all that ‘academic’ information can be gathered via the internet and in my opinion can be untrustworthy.

What I will give you is my direct experience from 40 years of martial arts training and healing in a way that I hope that you can directly relate to and experience for yourselves. I’ll also map out the alchemy and healing of a human being through the practice of the Martial Arts and how it reflects through the Chakras.

I don’t ‘believe’ anything. I either know it because I’ve experienced it for myself or I don’t. This is how I, and in my experience, other people like yourselves, experience energy in your chakras, how to ‘read’ them in yourself and others and how to effect a level of healing through them…..

Chakras are intense energy areas of the body and we experience a lot of our life through them, when we are troubled they get either more intense or void of energy.

Let me explain how….

THE CHAKRAS

ROOT CHAKRA

The Root Chakra is located at the ‘root’ of the torso around the genitals and anus. This is the Chakra that is tied to the Earth and therefore deals with survival and life and death, we experience the urge for procreation there, (sexual feelings) and if we are in mortal fear we definitely feel it there. The energy drive from this area is very powerful and exciting and is known in Kung Fu as jing. Because it’s the same exciting energy, the sexual urge, the urge for domination, survival instincts and death can become confused and the base instincts can end up controlling our mind and emotions in a deviant fashion. When the energy at the Root Chakra is disciplined and directed by the control of sexual urges (to natural and not necessarily complete abstention as some would believe) and mortal fear (conquering the fear of death) immense power is realised through the body as it is directed upwards toward the other chakras.

SACRAL CHAKRA

The Sacral Chakra is located in the abdomen at the centre of the body in relationship to the gravitational pull of the earth and is where we feel our ’gut instincts’. We know the feeling when our mind tells us one thing and our gut instinct tells us another, we might go with our mind because it’s more ‘logical’ and then regret that we never listened to our instincts. We just ‘know’ when someone is right or wrong, when a situation is right or wrong and what someone is going to do next. We have to learn to get in touch with our instinctive self to always use it alongside our thinking mind and learn to rely on it. This is not only an essential skill for a martial artist in spontaneous combat but for all of us – as life is spontaneous and our instinctive mind comes from the deepest and most natural part of ourselves. The energy here is known as chi.

SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA

Having conquered our fear of death, gained control of our sexual urges and got in touch with our deepest instinctive self, we move on to the solar plexus chakra, this is where we have to deal with anger and fear and the energy is known as geng – ‘warrior energy’. It’s said that when the energy at this point is well controlled we become the ‘warrior and the gardener’ – able to kill for our country and self-protection and then go home and tend to the roses in the garden.

We all feel fear and anger at this point in our body, often called ‘worry pains’; this is where we get ulcers and sore spots due to stress it’s where we naturally put our hands when we feel anxious and treating patients at this point with Reiki or Katsu they will often burst into tears or uncontrollable laughter as the energy is released.

HEART CHAKRA

This brings us to the Heart Chakra and we all know that we feel love, patience, tolerance and compassion here. These qualities can’t really be expressed properly without having gained an element of control over the Root, Sacral and Solar Plexus energies first; this is why although we are always working on all facets of our life at the same time, there is also an ‘alchemical’ process taking place.

THROAT CHAKRA

Developing these qualities means that you are ready to express them to the outside world and this is where the Throat Chakra comes in to play. We hear the expression that we ‘choke on the words’ or experience difficulty in expressing ourselves, this is because of a blockage at the Throat Chakra.

BROW CHAKRA

Having now become a reasonable human being that can control our sexual urges, not fearing death, in touch and able to trust our instinctive self, able to control our anger and fear developing love, patience, tolerance and compassion and being able to express it to the world, the ‘spirit world’ or the higher aspirations of our mind want to talk to us. This is when the Brow Chakra or ‘third eye’ becomes more important and the energy turns to shen or ‘spiritual energy’.

THIRD EYE

The ‘third eye’ gives us inspiration from our higher self and this can be through meditation, dreams, visions or instinctive thought and actions. The saying ‘when the student is ready, the master appears’ is relevant here in that you either find good and inspired people as friends and teachers or you may just walk into a book shop and just instinctively pick up the right book to read that you need at that moment. If a person opens the third eye too soon, (maybe with drugs) they could well be troubled by disturbing dreams, visions and thoughts.

CROWN CHAKRA

Finally, having understood the energies of life and death, being in touch with our instinctive self, controlling our anger and fear, developing compassion patience and tolerance, being free enough to let our ‘higher self’ through to communicate with us, we become a complete human being. This is when the alchemy is complete and is reflected at the Crown Chakra. In pictures of all the old sages from Buddha to Jesus Christ they are depicted with a golden light or ‘halo’ at the Crown Chakra, showing that their alchemy as a human being is complete…

HEALING WORK

The best way of healing through the Chakras is to work with them on a daily basis and to increase the energy flow through the system. In my opinion, the best way to do this is with meditation, Neigong, Qigong and Taiji. If you have a problem that you find difficult you should refer to your Sifu who may treat you with bodywork or hand healing or refer you to a specialist in that area.

Neigong (inner work) is the best way to balance and heal your life through Chakra work. Good posture and breathing brings more oxygen to the brain making the mind more alert, discipline focuses the mind to meditate on life, death, your true self, your anger and fears and helps you to develop kindness, patience, tolerance and compassion toward others, the ability to communicate it to others and be inspired by them and your own insights.

The Qigong takes the Neigong and works the body through its movement processes and the Taiji gives form to the Neigong and Qigong and then tests and validates it in lifestyle situations, giving psychic, emotional, mental and physical self defence.

By training this way and developing your sensitivity, you are able to diagnose problems in your body and life and put them right before they need dramatic medical intervention. By ‘healing’ yourself first and gaining that essential life experience through daily practice, you are also able to help others from your first hand experience rather than from some pseudo academic therapy course.