When I moved from Sydney to Cape Town in South Africa it took me a while to work out that I was energetically out of kilter. Initially I thought it was just good old-fashioned culture shock. I was used to the feverish buzz of Sydney but Cape Town had a different beat. It wasn’t until a friend told me that Cape Town’s iconic Table Mountain had a strong energetic relationship to the planetary Chakras* that the penny dropped. The city’s vibrational energy was different to where I’d come from – I’d moved to a different part of the earth’s ‘body’ and I realised I had to shift gears to adapt. That experience of the earthly charkas also helped me understand the concept of chakras within the human physical body (which despite my yogic training I had always somehow struggled to comprehend). ‘Chakra’ is derived from a Sanskrit (ancient Indian language) word that translates as ‘wheel’ or ‘disc’. In Yogic philosophy, it is thought that the human body has hundreds of wheel-like vortexes that channel energy culminating in seven major chakras that sit between the base of the spine and the crown of the head. Each chakra is considered to represent a specific organ, hormonal system and vibrational colour as well as emotional and spiritual aspects of ourselves. Like the moving parts in a car engine the chakras are inter-related so when one chakra is out of sync it can create an imbalance in the whole body – usually felt on a mental, emotional or physical level. There are many different techniques recommended for balancing the chakras including specific meditation, visualisation, pranayama (breathing) and yoga practices such as the Tibetan Rites (a.ka. the Five Tibetans). Thought to be more than 2,500 years old, this system of exercises were first publicized in 1939 by Peter Kelder in his book, ‘The Eye of Revelation’. Kelder recounts the stories of a British army colonel who was taught the five exercises by the lamas he lived with in a monastery after retiring from his post in India during the 1930’s. The Tibetan Rites (combined with the appropriate diet and meditation) are credited with improving overall health, strength, flexibility, digestion and mental clarity. For instructions visit http://www.mkprojects.com/fa_TibetanRites.htm or get hold of a copy of ‘The Eye of Revelation’ by Peter Kelder.

* For information about the Earth’s chakras visit http://www.earthchakras.org/

This article first appeared in dumbo feather magazine, 2009