What’s Blocking You?

My dear reader, welcome to the first in a series of short blogs based on my new book, Meditations with Grandma. In the book, I share my life journey, with its many ups and downs, and how I discovered the four keys of acceptance. I also share my meditation regimen and some of the inspiring stories I hear through the ladies’ meditation groups that I run — and it’s meditation that (broadly) leads me to today’s question: What’s blocking you?

Do you ever feel stuck, blocked, trapped, or boxed in? It may be related to something tangible, such as your career, or it could be a more general, indefinable emotional or spiritual sensation. You might even feel disconnected, lost, or somehow off-balance as if your body and mind aren’t in harmony.

This used to happen to me a lot until I discovered just how much aligning and unblocking my chakras helped. But how? And what are chakras anyway? What do they do? How can they help or hinder us?

In brief, the word chakra derives from an ancient word for “wheel” but is also used to mean “energy center” in various Eastern religions and spiritual practices. We all have seven chakras, beginning at the base of our spine with the root (Muladhara) chakra and moving up to the crown (Sahasrara) chakra. They’re part of our astral or subtle body — that aspect of us that is neither fully physical nor spiritual — and so when taken together, they function as a kind of fulcrum that helps keep our physical and spiritual realities balanced. They also help keep our energies connected to those of the universe.

Each chakra deals with a different aspect of our spiritual and/or physical well-being, and each radiates a different color and energy. For example, the solar plexus (Manipura) chakra deals with our senses of self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-worth and radiates the color yellow.

In a sense, because we are pure consciousness, the “default” setting for our chakras should be open, radiating and receiving beautiful energy to and from the universe. However, because of everything from how society is organized to our upbringing to plain old human nature, they can often become blocked.

Many external factors can contribute to these blockages. Negative emotions and energies such as anger, fear, stress, and hatred are as harmful to our astral bodies as they are to our physical and spiritual health. If one chakra is blocked, all of them can become misaligned, compounding our problems and meaning our potential, physical or spiritual, can get stuck — think of how a whole machine can become damaged if one part stops working.

The simplest, most beautiful way to bring harmony back to your chakras is through focused meditation and breathing exercises. In Meditations with Grandma, I go through each chakra and explore the potential blockages for each one and how these can be cleared.

Like looking after anything, tending to your chakras is an ongoing job, but once they are clear and aligned, the connections between your mind, body and spirit and the universe will all be clear and flowing, just as they are meant to be.