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By Karen Vasil-Busch, LMT
Body Wise Therapy Massage
Definition: Empowerment. To embody with significance as it relates to personal self, thereby coloring our perception of the world, including our relationship to events in the world.
There are several layers of empowerment, if you look it up on the Internet. I discovered that the term empowerment is used often without definition. In other languages there is no translation for the word, so it is often just spoken in English with the hope that there is some meaning behind it, especially when the word pertains to self-empowerment or empowering others.
The conclusion to be drawn is that empowerment involves the feeling of control over one’s destiny and the ability to make choices, not just yes or no, but ones that affect the external world moving one toward one’s desires. Sticky wicket, the age-old question is: How much power do we have over our own lives?
So the use of empowerment as it relates to the chakras or for use of a tool for the Aquarian Age would be better addressed by starting with the outcome that we wish to take place, and then filling in steps to achieve said outcome. Keeping an open mind, as to outcome the picture of your goal can be a general one, such as creating a routine for fitness or choosing healthful foods for better nutrition. We can call this category “awakenings.”
Awakening and empowering the energy inside your body, using Aquarian tools means that we are looking at new energy systems described below to wake us up.
Much has been written about the chakras and their meanings, so I am going to assume that you are familiar with them. For a quick review, the word chakra derives from the Sanskrit word for wheel, and refers to the energy body that makes up our physical form. There are seven major chakra that make up the physical body located along the spine, beginning at the base and ending at the top or crown of the head.
Each chakra has a specific vibrational field that embodies a sound, form and color. Each major chakra has a correspondence to a major marma point, forming an intricate network of minor chakras throughout the body. Their connection, or network is through the channels referred to as Nadis, which mean “stream” and refers to the action of the energy.
Major chakras are connected through channels (Nadis) that stream throughout the body and the confluences are called marma points. There are 107, some report 108, marma points in the body. These are areas of vital energy in the body, junctures where usually two or more types of tissue meet, such as muscles, veins, ligaments, bones or joints.
Considered to be seats of consciousness, Marma comes from the Sanskrit word, “mri” meaning death because some of the points were used in martial arts training to cause death or serious injury to the body. These are the energy highways of the body, transporting and transmitting energy from within our body connecting us to the cosmos.
Going about our everyday life we are mostly unaware of these energies, which is normal. Frequently during yoga or meditation we may become aware of the energy inside our body, sensing it according to your personal filters. For example: Some people readily sense through feeling the energy inside of their physical body while others take a little more time to notice.
Through use of the tools for the Aquarian age, we offer some suggestions: For the first Chakra that is located at the base of the spine and in our body which is also the seat of Vata, that which is composed of air and space, this Chakra can be awakened by connecting to the energies of the Earth. This can be done purposefully through weight-bearing exercises, walking consciously upon the ground or through the meditative practice of mudras and mantras. Using food as medicine, adding some animal protein to your diet (think condiment) aids this chakra.
Meditation that includes Mudras (hand gestures) feeds the first chakra. Mudras in yoga energetically connect us with the energy that is inside and outside of our body. Literally meaning “seal,” mudras seal in energy currents, which can help heal us. Mudras that dispel anxiety and stress while increasing concentration are particularly helpful.
The color red, associated with the planet Mars, empowers this chakra. Foot massage, especially at night, with castor oil, which is heavy and unctuous, feeds the first chakra. Castor oil is known for its healing properties as both an antifungal and emollient. The first chakra, home to the Vata dosha likes routine.
Daily oil massage called Abhyanga, with an herbal oil that would support your general health and well being is another tool. Take care to get into a routine of rising with the sun, and retiring before 10 p.m., using the hours of the evening for a light meal, socializing, and including a ritual of grounding such as a foot massage before bed that will nourish the first chakra.
Think of the foundation of your home or dwelling; you take care to see that it is secure by shoring it up periodically. We can empower the chakras by exploring their meaning and attaching nourishing activities drawn from the Tool Box of the Aquarian Age. We do this to empower ourselves to address the issues that we face in the outside world.
Karen Vasil-Busch, LMT, Registered Ayurvedic Practitioner and Certified Yin Yoga Teacher can be reached at Body Wise Therapy Massage and Ayurveda, 207-336-2065 or on the web at karenvasilbusch.com.
