Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/196551
ENERGY WORK our relationships with finances, sexuality, and our perception of being worthy regarding our primal needs. When working with a client with hip flexor problems—or money issues, severe abandonment issues, or intense bodily inflammation or tension—we might automatically consider focusing on this chakra. Every chakra activates at a certain time as well. Chakras are active all of the time, but when they are predominant, they are downloading energy from the environment and deciding how to function. Emotions, beliefs, and personality traits become locked in at this point. By knowing the chakra's developmental time period, we can help clients track their symptoms back to certain ages, recall memories or bodily sensations pertaining to that time, and clear the issues causing challenges. Once you have tracked symptoms to a chakra area, if your client is willing, you can ask questions about how they feel in that general area of the body: what comes up for them, what lies in that bodily area that is causing the stress. You can also ask about stressors that occurred at the related chakric age. If the challenges cover several bodily areas, it can be beneficial to ask the client to pay attention to the individual areas of the body as you work on them, evaluating for memories, feelings, or experiences. Clients, if inclined, might feel more comfortable talking about issues with a friend or therapist—or no one. You must also understand your boundary as a therapist, and not be a counselor. Because energy is everything, however, this doesn't preclude you from operating as a subtle energy practitioner. Simply asking that a higher source of grace soothe your client or corresponding chakra, especially while your hands are close to a certain chakra area, is enough to begin or continue an inner healing process. I always ask higher guidance—or the client's higher self—to provide the client with energy. This assures that your own life energy isn't drained and helps prevent a common caretaker malady— taking on our clients' issues. It's helpful to know that if the drama or trauma lies within one or more chakras, so does the antidote. Let's say we figure out that the chakra in a client's abdomen is causing tension in her sacral muscles. This chakra regulates creativity and feelings, in addition to other matters. Once we've uncovered the causal event or situation, we can also use our creative and emotional faculties to help transform and heal the original wound—thereby letting the client figure out how to best proceed in life. RESOLUTION What happened to my holiday client suffering from chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia? She eventually relayed a story her mother had told her. While her mother was pregnant with her, my client's grandfather died—on Christmas Day. Apparently, my client's mother became depressed for months, to the point of contemplating suicide, and was too sad even to take care of her newborn—my client. I believe this memory and her mother's sorrow had remained stored in my client's body and was retriggered during her mother's death, which was, coincidentally, at the holidays. The time period of my client's original trauma matched the first chakra activation period, the womb to six months, as did her overall body symptoms of inflammation. After surfacing these long-held feelings, my client's symptoms began to improve. Her shiatsu treatments especially became more effective. As Hippocrates said thousands of years ago, "It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has." Using chakra shortcuts is a certain way to better know our clients—and help them better know our work. Cyndi Dale is an internationally renowned author, speaker, and intuitive consultant. Her books include The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy (Sounds True, 2009), The Complete Book of Chakra Healing (Llewellyn Publications, 2009), and Advanced Chakra Healing (Crossing Press, 2005). To learn more about Dale and her products, services, and classes, visit www.cyndidale.com. Note 1. Headington Institute, "Trauma and Critical Incident Care for Humanitarian Workers," accessed September 2013, www.headington-institute.org/Default.aspx?tabid=2073. www.abmp.com. See what benefits await you. 113