Chakra Immunity Boost For You and Your Kids

I haven’t written about chakras recently, and with all the focus on how to stay healthy in the upcoming flu season  (it seems like everywhere I go there are signs telling me to wash my hands and cough into my arm) I thought I would post a bit on little ways to strengthen your immunity, and that of your kids if you like, using chakra focus. As I’ve posted before, I’m not an energy healer and my interest in the chakras is more from an awareness and mind-energy perspective, but of course the mind and body are related, and the chakras are one form of intersection in that relationship. And anyone can learn to tune into this energetic system.

I use these techniques regularly, with both myself and my kids, based on how I am feeling, especially when I feel like I or they might be on the verge of getting sick, or at risk for it. (And when we actually are sick, of course.) The idea behind all of them is to redirect some energy into those parts of your energetic system that relate to your immunity. We’re not talking serious, long-term illness here, we’re talking colds, flu, headaches, etc. And these aren’t meant to replace any dietary or herbal methods you might have for strengthening your immunity, they just add an energetic dimension.

First a note on illness, at least the kinds of illnesses we are talking about here: It’s a natural part of being human. We have viruses and bacteria in us and around us all the time, and there is a constant balancing act (I don’t like ‘battle’) going on internally between our immune system and these various organisms. When the balance tips beyond a certain point, we ‘get sick’, which means, our body starts to have symptoms related to the internal re-balancing that is taking place. We might take any number of steps to aid our system in rebalancing itself – echinacea or other herbs, vitamin C, zinc, chicken soup, antibiotics, whatever. But it is always our own body, our own immune system, that heals us – not the ‘medicines’. Energetic techniques are just a way of aiding our immune system by consciously redirecting some energy into it.

I find the navel and heart chakras are the easiest to work with along these lines, and in order to determine which technique might be the most useful to you or your kids at any given time it’s useful to assess your or their awareness, and look for trends that have sapped your or their energy in some way. The two most common are dispersion and stress:

Dispersion: This is when you are frazzled and/or fuzzy at a mental, emotional and/or physical level. I am a very mental-oriented being, so this typically manifests for me as ‘busy mind’, but for others it may manifest emotionally, typically as increased irritability, or physically, often as clumsiness. The three can all occur at once, of course, in a triple whammy! Basically, it’s a sign that your energy is not consolidated and centered. It is shooting all over the place in a very unfocused way. If you have a very sensitive energy body – as women especially tend to have – this might be triggered by time spent in a group or crowd, or too much contact with hyper-stimulating media (which yes, does include the internet, depending on how you use it!) If this is your main issue, or your kids, sick or no, then some navel chakra focus might help.

Stress: As in tension, tightness, constriction. These are the main energies of stress – a build up of mental, emotional and/or physical energy to the bursting point. When you are worried, when you are fixated on a deadline or a problem and can think of nothing else, your energy is bottled up and constricted, with no way to release. And of course it’s well known that too much stress negatively impacts your immune system. When your energy is constricted in this way, it can’t flow properly internally. For kids, the causes of stress are different – any new situation might trigger it. If stress is your or their main issue, then some heart chakra focus might help.

In a way, dispersed and stressed states of mind are polar opposites, with dispersion occurring when too much energy is flowing outward in an undirected way, and stress resulting in too much energy being constricted internally, causing energetic ‘clogs’. And yet, it is possible to experience both at once, or rather, to be swinging back and forth between the two (take it from me!) So the main point is to just try and identify which is the dominant trend in your awareness. Once you’ve done that, here’s techniques for addressing each (and yes, you can do both):

Navel Center – Consolidating, Centering Your Energy:

– The simplest thing you can do – anywhere, anytime – is to just place your hands over your belly, just under your navel, and breathe deeply into your hands for a minute or so (or whatever you can manage in the moment.) The idea is to do deep, belly breathing, in which your belly – not your chest – is rising and falling. If you can, focus on feeling heat in that area – focusing on the heat from your hands can be helpful in this regard.

– If you have a bit more time, and can actually close your eyes and visualize, then try visualizing a red or fiery red-orange ball of light in this area, just under your hands. Although yellow is traditionally the color associated with this chakra in the systems most Westerners are familiar with, the yantra (sacred geometry image) associated with this chakra is usually red, and red and orange are the colors of the 2 lower chakras, which you are also pulling on here. Plus red or red-orange has a warm/hot and strong association, all of which you are trying to pull on in this technique. As you do this, really imagine that you are pulling yourself back together – pulling in all the dispersed pieces of yourself from the ether, and consolidating them right here, in your belly.

– Doing either of these or some sort of navel focus at some point during exercise can be especially helpful. This center is associated with will and drive, so if you are doing aerobic exercise of some type, even fast walking, the combination of exercise, will power, and navel focus can really speed the centering process. And if you do yoga, spending part of your savasana (corpse pose) time centered on your navel, before completely relaxing and releasing, can be helpful.

Heart Centering – Releasing, Opening Your Energy

– Similar to the main navel center technique, for this one I like simply holding your hands over the center of your chest for a minute, one on top of the other, and focusing your attention underneath. However, the focus here is more on a sense of release. With each exhale, gently open your hands away from your chest (you can just imagine this if you aren’t in a position to actually do it) and imagine you are releasing any negativity or constriction outwards. When you inhale, close your hands back over your heart in a protective fashion, and try to feel some warmth or tickle in the area.

– Again, if you are in a position to close your eyes and visualize, and/or if you want to do this as part of a formal sitting meditation practice, a visualization can help. I like to visualize a ball of white light (although if you are used to the traditional colors of light green or light blue here, that is fine too –  I am not a purist on chakra colors, personally.) Imagine the ball growing stronger and stronger, and pushing out any negativity as it does. Then imagine it relaxing, settling back down to its starting size, and as it does, relax your entire body with it. Continue this release and relax cycle for 2-3 minutes if you can.

– When we are stressed, we also tend to become disconnected emotionally – we are trapped inside our own mind/body. So another way to trigger the heart chakra is to consciously trigger warm, joyful emotions. This can be very tough to do when you are highly stressed, but if you can do it, it is highly effective. Two access states for this are beauty and affection. Simply visualize any place or sight that you find particularly beautiful, or any being for which you can easily feel an uncomplicated affection (I always say, puppies and young kids are generally safe bets!) If you can actually get these emotions flowing, your energy will naturally move down into your heart chakra, and then you can practice one of the release exercises from above.

It’s important not to get overly complicated or worked up over doing any of these properly. They are just general guidelines. In my experience, if you can just learn to assess your own energy or that of your children periodically for signs of dispersion or stress, before they get too pronounced, and address them right away, this can help your and their immune systems – and overall energy levels – tremendously.

Now a note on kids. With kids age 6 and up (although it varies) you can actually teach them these techniques if you wish. My own are younger than that, and with them, I don’t attempt to get them to visualize or anything like that. I just place my hand over their navel or heart chakra (depending, of course, on whether I feel they are dispersed or stressed) when they are on my lap, and breath with them. Sometimes I encourage them to ‘breath into my hand’, which they like. When they are sick, or tired, they especially like this. And of course the parent-child energy bond goes to work here too.

So there you go. I feel like there are a lot more variations I could have put in here, and questions I could have addressed, but I will save those for the comments, if there is interest. Also feel free to contribute any of your own immunity boosting approaches, for you or your kids…