Nikki Van De Car - Practical Magic: A Beginner’s Guide to Crystals, Horoscopes, Psychics, and Spells

Chakras, crystals, and auras look deep within, and expand your inner eye to explore beyond.

FOR A WHILE THERE, OUR IMPRESSION OF ANYONE WHO WAS interested in chakras was that they were just weird and kind of silly. But nowadays more of us are taking them seriously. There is a long history here, found in many cultures around the globe, and theres actually some real science behind it all.

We all understand and accept that there is energy throughout the universedark energy, kinetic energy, solar energy, magnetic energy, gravity, and so forth. A chakra is an energy center in the body. It is generally envisioned as a wheel or swirl found in specific places along the spine (the word chakra is Sanskrit for wheel), spots where our nerves are bundled and our hormones secreted. They are connected by prana, which can be described as our life force or interpreted as our peripheral nervous system. Its really the same thingthe difference is in how you think about it and whether you believe we have the power to consciously influence it. Qi gong, tai chi, acupressure, acupuncture, EFT, and Reiki all work with prana, though they may call it different things (energy meridians, nadis, qi, etc.).

There are thought to be over a hundred chakras, but we tend to focus on just seven of them. In order for the body, mind, and spirit to be whole, each of these chakras needs to be open and balanced. A physical issue with a chakra can create an emotional or mental issue, and an emotional or mental issue that relates to a chakra can produce a physical response. Your body is not separate from your mind and spirit; all three are intertwined. A chakra can close for several reasons, including day-to-day life experiences, emotional trauma, cultural influences, lack of exercise, or lack of self-care. If you face a trauma, your chakra will respond to that experience by protecting itself. For example, if you lose a loved one, your closed heart chakra could cause you to develop asthma or bronchitis.

A chakra can also be overactive, so that it overpowers the other chakras. An overactive throat chakra can lead to gossip, deceit, or an inability to keep secrets. Weve all experienced some serious oversharing on social mediablame an overactive throat chakra for that one.

Its all about balance. In the same way that each part of our body is a portion of a whole, each chakra responds to another, so that if one is out of balance, the others are all affected. A chakra should have energy flowing into it (so that, for instance, the heart chakra can accept love) and out of it (so that it can give love). A chakra that is balanced has an equal flow, back and forth, like the tides, and that flow resonates at a certain frequency. Each chakra has its own sound frequency as well as its own light frequency (color). We can use these sounds and colors to open or close each chakra as needed. When your chakras are in balance, you feel at ease within your whole self, as you are giving and receiving freely with the world.