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Table of Contents
About The Book
• Explores each chakra on the physical, psychological, psychic, and spiritual level and explains how the chakras can be understood as an embodied map of the psyche, linked with different stages of development
• Details the author’s system of Chakra Therapy, which integrates healing touch with chakra visualizations
• Offers practical exercises to nourish and support each chakra as well as practices for daily chakra maintenance
In this in-depth guide to working with the chakras, author Glen Park draws on her decades of experience as a Chakra Therapist to explain how the chakras can be understood as an embodied map of the psyche, with each chakra representing a different stage of development from infancy and childhood through adulthood, with the Heart Chakra playing a central role in awakening the spiritual potential of the upper chakras. She examines each chakra individually on the physical, psychological, psychic, and spiritual level, as well as through the lens of the solar (masculine) and lunar (feminine) channels. She shows how the connections between the chakras and developmental stages are paralleled in the findings of Western psychology and neuroscience and how our collective expressions of the chakras influence cultural trends in society.
The author’s system of Chakra Therapy integrates healing touch with guided chakra visualizations, offering practical exercises to nourish and balance each chakra so it can be integrated and in harmony with the entire chakra system. She explores how to work with the Heart Chakra for deep transformation and self-healing, including healing emotional wounds from childhood and enabling the psychic and spiritual levels of the Throat and Eye Chakras to develop, with the potential of opening to the divine realm of the Crown Chakra. Sharing case studies from her Chakra Therapy practice, she shows how we gain a richer understanding of ourselves both mentally and physically by working with the chakras, opening ourselves to the potential for deep soul growth and transformation.
Excerpt
The Heart Chakra is the game changer. Placed at the center of the body and the center of the chakra system, it plays a pivotal role in the unfolding of each life because it is the gateway into the Spiritual Realm and the deeper spiritual levels of all the chakras.
If the Heart Chakra is not flowing well we experience the world mainly from the egocentric and wounded perspectives of the lower chakras, the small self. But when the Heart Chakra is flowing well it offers another perspective on ourselves and on the world, where we can begin the process of healing the wounds and traumas of our past and discover a deeper, truer, more spiritual part of ourselves.
Psychological Level
In the first chakra the motivation is to survive, in the second to explore the world seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, and in the third to develop a sense of identity through one’s values and choices. Put very simply, the three lower chakras represent the development of the separate individual, based on the needs of security, pleasure, and self-identity. In Heart Chakra consciousness these needs drop away and there is the desire to simply be, living in the present moment, with awareness and a sense of connection to all of life.
The Heart Chakra consciousness of loving acceptance needs to be balanced with the discrimination of the Solar Plexus Chakra and the Eye Chakra. It would be difficult for anyone to be operating from pure Heart Chakra consciousness all the time. But daily life requires that we make choices and choices depend on judgments. Heart Chakra consciousness influences the values we have developed in the Solar Plexus Chakra, bringing a loving global perspective to them. Ideally the two chakras need to work together. For example, when a kind and loving parent is cross with a child, they may express anger but underneath that, they still accept the beauty and vulnerability of this young human being whom they love deeply, and this will affect the way they communicate their displeasure.
Adult chakra consciousness is multi-faceted and made up of all the chakras functioning together with some more prominent than others. The Heart Chakra may be prominent in our consciousness at one moment and the next moment one of the lower chakras or one of the upper chakras may be more prominent. We may be experiencing the peaceful happiness of Heart Chakra consciousness one moment and lose it the next, depending on how well we are staying in our witness consciousness. Maintaining a flowing Heart Chakra, balancing it with the needs of living in the modern world, is a lifetime’s work!
Psychic Level
At the psychic level of the Heart Chakra there is an ability to identify and merge with another person. Boundaries between people dissolve. Healing energy is born here and healing is the clearest example of working at a psychic level with the Heart Chakra. This can be through listening and talking, hands-on work, auric work or absent healing. Healing can take many forms. If a caretaker of a sick or disabled person, in addition to all the practical tasks carried out, feels genuine loving compassion towards their charge, they can be transmitting healing energy. Many nurses, teachers, social workers, therapists and others are operating from a compassionate flowing Heart Chakra which can have very powerful healing effects.
Spiritual Level
At the spiritual level of the Heart Chakra we enter more consciously into the Spiritual Realm of life, which brings more depth and awareness to our experience. The Base Chakra is the entry point into Earth Realm of life which initiates the physical and psychological development of a separate self. The Heart Chakra can be seen as a higher expression of the Base Chakra, the gateway into the Spiritual Realm, initiating our development as spiritual beings. The upper chakras are all higher expressions of lower ones and bring the potential to experience the world in a deeper more spiritual way. The Crown Chakra at the spiritual level then becomes the gateway to the Divine Realm where we have the potential to experience extraordinary enlightened states, ultimately becoming one with the universe.
The Heart Chakra can profoundly influence the rest of the chakras. It can throw its compassionate light on the lower chakras and enable healing of old wounds to occur, but as the entry point into the spiritual level of the chakras it opens the door to creative inspiration. When the Heart Chakra is flowing consciously at the spiritual level, an increase in spiritual energy enters the chakra system through the Crown Chakra and this particularly affects the activity of the upper chakras. If the Heart Chakra is not in a reliably flowing state the upper chakras will still be working, possibly very powerfully, but they will be working at the psychological level, not the deeper spiritual level.
Nourishing the Heart Chakra
The exercises in earlier chapters which were designed to nourish the lower chakras have all involved the Heart Chakra, because in them we have been witnessing our multifaceted self. The Heart Chakra is our Inner Healer at the centre of all therapeutic work.
Quick Heart Chakra Reconnection
This is an exercise which you can use whenever you are feeling the need to reconnect with your Heart Chakra consciousness.
Focus your attention in the area of the heart. Notice your breath flowing in and out of your chest area nourishing your Heart Chakra, and stay aware of this for the next five breaths.
Think of a person, an animal, a place, or anything that you appreciate and feel loving towards and send your love energy out to them from your Heart Chakra, for the next five breaths.
Now imagine that loving energy turning around and coming back to you, nourishing your Heart Chakra. As you breathe out send your love energy out and as you breathe in allow that love energy to fill your Heart Chakra and your whole being.
Product Details
- Publisher: Destiny Books (September 22, 2020)
- Length: 312 pages
- ISBN13: 9781644110508
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Raves and Reviews
“Chakra Healing Therapy offers an invaluable model for clear understanding of the relationship of chakras to health, mental well-being, and spiritual transformation. It is the most clear and in-depth exposition of the chakra system I have read and includes beautiful charts and diagrams; solid references related to research, psychology, and transpersonal theories of development; and specific practices for balancing chakras and grounding, many based on the Alexander Technique. Eastern theories of the chakras are integrated with Western developmental stages and correlated with various stages of life. The author shows the relationship of chakras to the endocrine system and neurology, suggests causes and solutions for chakra imbalances, and provides studies demonstrating the impact of body therapy on correcting chakra imbalances. This is an excellent reference for therapists and anyone with an interest in enlivening, balancing, and transforming their subtle energy system.”
– Bonnie Greenwell, Ph.D., psychotherapist and author of When Spirit Leaps, The Kundalini Guide, and T
“Glen Park’s Chakra Healing Therapy is a modern guide to ancient insights--how the entire universe is intelligent and conscious, and how these qualities envelop and manifest in the human body. This book is important for anyone who is interested in spiritual evolution.”
– Larry Dossey, M.D., author of One Mind
“I am sure Chakra Healing Therapy will be of great value to suffering humanity at a time when deep trauma, past and present, is affecting the lives of millions all over the planet.”
– Anne Baring, Ph.D., author of The Dream of the Cosmos
“Chakra Healing Therapy is a tour de force, integrating the Alexander Technique, energy therapy, developmental psychology, and spiritual wisdom into an easyto- understand, practical guide for personal healing and transformation you can develop on your own. Glen Park’s vast research and professional experience culminate in the most comprehensive, readable text I’ve seen for holistic personal growth, from healing fundamental wounds to advanced spiritual actualization.”
– Jenny Wade, Ph.D., developmental psychologist and author of Changes of Mind
“Chakra Healing Therapy is groundbreaking in its unification of the Eastern wisdom of the chakras with Western psychology. It is both visionary in its scope and practical in its application, showing a truly holistic way of understanding psychological health and illness in which the chakras mirror back the development of the individual. This book will be of immense value to professional therapists and anyone seeking to maximize their own health and well-being.”
– Carole Taylor, astrologer and author of Astrology: Using the Wisdom of the Stars in Your Everyday Li
“Glen Park’s passion to understand and illuminate the secrets of the chakras finds an engaging and profoundly useful expression in this wonderful book. Highly recommended for all who care about self-healing, healing others, and helping to heal the world.”
– Michael J. Gelb, author of Body Learning and How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci
“Prana, the chakras, and kundalini originate from and are central to the Tantric and Shakti yogic traditions, but the classic texts can be dense, culture bound, and obscure. Glen Park’s book is the result of decades of practice and is based on her lived experience. She offers a clear, thorough, and accessible book on the chakras and subtle energy system.”
– David Moore, director of the School for F.M. Alexander Studies in Melbourne, Australia, and author o
“There have been many books written on the chakras but none more comprehensive and incisive as Chakra Healing Therapy. Glen Park has achieved a most thorough synthesis of Western psychology and Eastern wisdom, shedding new light on the chakra system.”
– James D’Angelo, Ph.D., composer, workshop leader, and author of Seed Sounds for Tuning the Cha
“In Chakra Healing Therapy, Glen Park lays out a historic and fundamental understanding of the seven energy bodies: how they influence and support our physical, emotional, psychosocial, and spiritual development. Park provides case studies from her healing therapy practice, including personal exercises for healing developmental wounds. An excellent read and exploration for young therapists of any discipline.”
– Gray Wolf, integrative holistic therapist
“Glen Park has written a lucid, informative, and well-illustrated book on the chakras and human development. She brings 30 years of working with the energy of the chakras and the Alexander Technique, and I can honestly say that I learned something new and interesting on every page.”
– Richard Brennan, author and director of training at the Alexander Technique Centre, Ireland
"Chakra Healing Therapy is one of those books that you wish you had come across before you’ve bought several books to get the full picture of the chakras that is gifted in this single read. The Bibliography is robust and clearly demonstrates the level of research and study that went into the creation of this book. I have spent many years in study of esoteric anatomy and this book pulls much of that information together in an understandable and useable way. If you are seeking something more than a cursory read on the Chakras and related systems, this is the book for you."
– Robin Fennelly of PaganPages.org
“This wise and compassionate book is a welcome companion on our path.”
– David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer
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