Anodea Judith - Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System As a Path to the Self

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Copyright 1996, 2004 by Anodea Judith

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Celstial Arts, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Judith, Anodea, 1952

Eastern body, Western mind : psychology and the chakra system as a path to the self / Anodea Judith Celestial Arts.Rev. ed.

p. cm.

1. ChakrasMiscellanea. I. Title.

BF1442.C53J8 2004
150.198dc22 2004010256

eISBN: 978-0-307-77793-5

v3.1

I ris, the Greek Goddess of the Rainbow, was the first deity I ever encountered. It is to Her that I owe my discovery of the chakras and the Rainbow Bridge. However, in my journey across this bridge I have been supported by a great number of peoplemy clients, students, teachers, friends, and family.

Of particular importance, I thank my immediate family who lived with me while I wrote this book. My son, Alex Wayne, allowed me to tell stories about him in the text and helped draw up the computer graphics. My husband, Richard Ely, gave me love, support, and patient editing. Selene Vega, coauthor of The Sevenfold Journey and coteacher of the Nine Month Chakra Intensive, helped develop this work over the years, as well as giving me wonderful support, editing, and feedback. I would like to thank Lisa Green for her feedback on child development, Jack Ingersoll for his lengthy discussions on Jungian psychology, and Nancy Gnecco for her contributions to the charts. I would also like to thank my agent, Peter Beren, for making this publication possible, and David Hinds of Celestial Arts.

Most of all, Id like to thank those who have dared to engage in the healing process with me as your guide. From you I have learned the most. It has been a privilege to serve you.

S ince this book was originally published in 1996, the chakra system has come of age in the West. Yoga centers are growing exponentially, teaching asanas and meditations that open the chakras. Theories of energy healing are influencing the practice of both medicine and psychotherapy, creating a hunger for new models. Chakras now appear on T-shirts, candles, and jewelry, in sitcom conversations and articles in Time magazine. The idea that mind and body exist on a spiritual continuum has finally entered the mainstream. The good news is that it makes the chakra system accessible to more people as a template for transformation. The shadow side of this exposure is that, at least in the West, any cultural meme that gets seized by the collective consciousness runs the risk of trivialization, thus diluting its power.

At every workshop, lecture, or book signing, people come up to me asking whether I have a simple way to clear their chakras. Few of them understand what a chakra actually is, fewer still have familiarity with the ancient Tantric yoga tradition from which this system originates, and even fewer still are willing to delve into the depths of their own psyches and actually do the work required to make lasting changes in their inner and outer life. While some of the modern techniques of chakra energy work can bring tangible shifts in the way we feel, it is my opinion that these changes are often short-lived if we dont roll up our sleeves and do deeper work on the souls journey of healing and awakening.

It is to this challenge that I address this book. It will teach you an elegant system for understanding your health and imbalances, yet one that is richly complex. You will not find one-size-fits-all formulas that apply equally to all people or all situations. Instead, you will learn universal principles that can be effectively applied with careful consideration and understanding. You will learn, for example, that some of your chakras may be too open, with poor discrimination and filters, while other chakras can get mired in avoidance patterns and remain closed. You will learn how these unconscious defense patterns create excessive and deficient coping strategies that over time throw your system out of balance and alignment, affecting the bodys health and your quality of life. You will learn that these vital energy centers open sequentially during crucial stages of childhood, and can be unwittingly shut down by well-meaning parents whose own centers were compromised. You will learn about your upward and downward currents of energy, and how each has a different purpose in the liberation and manifestation of your life force. And you will learn about the work required to reclaim the true aliveness that is your birthright.