Susan Senator

Cynthia is a friend has been gently introducing me to the world of meditation and chakras. She started off by just picking up my foot and massaging it one evening — she was at my house picking up Hannah (her daughter). She surrounded my foot with her hands and suddenly it was very warm. Then, as she pressed my foot here and there, I felt different sensations all over! I’d never had a foot massage and a massage for backpain before, and certainly never by someone who teaches yoga and has been living a meditative lifestyle for years. My foot has been troubling me (plantar fascism/fascitis) but I did not want more cortizone and I wanted a different way of looking at it — not like it’s this thing that is sort of separate from me, but with more of a holistic view.

I have often felt uncomfortable around people who believe in the New Age ideas. I think I’m supposed to be skeptical and sarcastic and say how it’s a lot of nonsense. Sometimes I do feel that way. But Hannah’s mom pointed out that I seem open to it and then I seem scared. I wondered about that: scared. Yes. I was.

So I’ve been doing some research into these ideas and I’ve been learning about overactive and underutilized chakra areas. I see how often I dwell in the emotional/fantasy regions and I allow them to be primary, while other areas (self-confidence, security, intellect) may be neglected. What I’m learning is that if you are not in balance, you will have pain somehow, somewhere.

I’ve connected this to my foot, obviously, and I’ve been thinking about the foundation chakra, the root, as related to my foot. I’ve done some meditation around this and I’ve seen and felt some surprising things in my mind’s eye. I have also been letting my mind go just upward, to the blue sky, and taking a deep breath, like a strong breeze, and I find that some painful or obsessive thoughts get blown away. I think of the blue sky as kind of like the throat chakra, which is about communication. I’ve been a bit blocked lately, in terms of my writing.

I’ve been making all sorts of connections this way, and I also have begun thinking about the chakras in terms of Nat, who enjoyed a massage at my nail spa last week. I wonder which areas are in balance for him. I wonder how I can apply this way of seeing/experiencing to Nat and find some more peace. I wonder what other people do.