Chaka Who? A Beginner's Guide to Understanding Chakras

I'm a child of the 80s (one of Madonna's Material Girls), so when I began hearing from the dead I didn't know a chakra from Chaka Khan.  Turns out the seven chakras, or energy centers, are super important to everyone, especially those of us who muck around with energy from both sides of the veil. Because of this I had to learn a lot... and quickly!? I put together this introduction in the hopes of providing other clueless people with a basic understanding of what chakras are and how they work, so that you can tell when one of them gets wonky and do something about it.

CHAKRAS 101
Chakra (you say CHA-kra, I say SHOCK-rah, same difference) is Sanskrit for wheel, and I think that's the easiest way to picture them... as seven spinning wheels running through the center of your body. Each chakra corresponds to one of the colors in the ROY G BIV rainbow acronym. In addition to the fairly basic English names shown, each chakra has a fancy original Sanskrit name as well. I'm a language person and I still only remember half of the Sanskrit names, but feel free to be an overachiever and memorize both! I devoted two entire chapters to chakras in my book Madame Medium: Unleash Your Inner Psychic with a French Teacher Turned Psychic Medium, but I am far from the expert on chakras and I see no sense in reinventing the wheel (no pun intended) in this short blog so I have included links to a few of the resources that I stumbled upon as I waded through the ocean of information out there on the subject. The first is a great website that is a true beginner's guide to chakras (the link can be found in the resources at the end of this post). Here you will find a more in-depth but not overwhelming explanation of each chakra and how it works.

CHECKING AND BALANCING YOUR CHAKRAS
Once you have read the website overview (or the two chapters included my book) and acquired a basic understanding of the seven chakras, you're ready to start assessing these energy centers and rebalancing them as needed.  Are you someone who is somewhat lethargic and can't function without coffee, or do you pretty much bounce off the walls as soon as your feet hit the floor? Anyone who has met me would probably agree that I have what my husband lovingly refers to as spazzy energy. This is both a blessing and a curse.  It is a blessing in that Spirit work requires a lot of energy and spirits themselves are attracted to it. It is a curse when it attracts the wrong kind of energy. I receive psychic information through several chakras. That's a whole other lesson unto itself, but sometimes I get too wound up and this leaves one or more of my chakras wide open to other rogue energies and things get jacked up for me on the receiving end of the Spirit World. When this happens, my Guides show me my crown chakra as a light house beacon sending a signal a bit too far and wide, so I know that I need to dial it down through grounding or meditation. My Guides also use the same physical clues that I get during a reading to indicate that the client is having a physical issue to let me know there's a problem with one of my own chakras. If my left eyelid twitches uncontrollably and I don't have a reading coming up, I know my third eye chakra is probably "fogged up". A prolonged annoying buzzing in my ears lets me know to clear my throat chakra, and so on.  As an empath, I also often feel whatever others around me are feeling, so I always do a quick "chakra run" or check before each reading that I do to make sure the problem is theirs as opposed to mine. I'm assuming that most people reading this aren't psychic and don't converse with the Guides that I mention so often... which is why I recorded the chakra check or "tuning in" exercise that is also printed in the website mentioned above. I found it helpful to listen to someone else walk me through it, at least until I became familiar enough with the process to do it unassisted. This guided activity takes about 3 minutes and can be found in the resources below.

LONG TERM BENEFITS
When I began teaching I was diagnosed with ADHD, first by my brutally honest students, then by an actual doctor. I used Adderall for years to stay focused, but I no longer need it thanks to my newfound awareness and the tools that I've shared here. I'm not telling you to dump the meds if they are working for you (I'll never forget the first time I took meds for ADHD and realized how "normal"/non-spazzy brains function... it was a truly magical moment!?), but I am living proof that you can achieve the same focus through an awareness of your chakras, meditation, and other centering and grounding activities. Just as you occasionally need to have the wheels on your car balanced and/or aligned, so should you also take the time to balance and align your chakra "wheels". Still a tad confused (or completely lost) when it comes to checking your chakras after this brief intro? No problem! You can at least recognize when you are dog tired for no apparent reason or just feeling kinda mental, right?  When this happens, why not cue up one of the balancing meditations found below (or another of your choosing) and give your chakras a workout? Can't hurt, might help!

GETTING STARTED: RESOURCE LINKS

Website: Chakras 101
Please take the time to read all the way through "How to Energize Your 7th Chakra"before moving on to the guided activities:  https://blog.mindvalley.com/7-chakras/

Guided Chakra Check Recording 

Guided Chakra Check Recording

Note: The first time I suggest just listening and going with the flow. The next time, pay closer attention to each spinning light and see if any of them appears to flash like a blinking traffic light, is spinning noticeably faster or slower than the others, or seems to wobble. This is your cue that something is out of whack. If that is the case, try a youtube video on chakra alignment and balancing. There are a ton out there... I chose the two below to give you a place to start.

10 Minute Chakra Balancing
I like this one because it is relatively quick and I dig the dude's sexy British accent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeGT1VXwfx4

30 Minute Chakra Balancing
I included this one because the chick feels "normal" and her voice isn't annoying. She seems like someone I wouldn't mind hanging out with in a yoga class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onTJ6rLYN3E

For a more thorough explanation of chakras and how to open, close and balance them, read my book:
Madame Medium: Unleash Your Inner Psychic with a French Teacher Turned Psychic Medium

For more Psychic Development Resources, as well as information on services & rates or to schedule a reading, visit my website: bethparkermedium.com

Before becoming a professional psychic medium, Beth taught high school French, Spanish, Italian and ESOL. In addition to conducting mediumship and general psychic readings across the country and abroad, she is also conducts paranormal investigations and offers psychic development mentoring for adults and children. Her book, Madame Medium: Unleash Your Inner Psychic with a French Teacher Turned Psychic Medium , was written to help others uncover and hone their own intuitive abilities. Beth lives just outside of Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband, Scott, their dog, Waffle, and their resident house spirit.

To learn more about Beth, her book, and the other services that she offers, visit bethparkermedium.com