Chakras

I understand that, but if the energy is everywhere and we, everyone is connected or a part of the energy, then why does energy healing only work on those that actually have a belief in it? Surely even those that don't believe in any energy or connection are still a part of it, yet you couldn't heal them through the energy.. they may feel like a wall or blockage within it.
Doesn't that kinda make you think that a big part is mind over matter, and nothing at all to do with the energy?

I had healing prayed over me and people do reiki and things like that when I was growing up and believed whole heartedly in all of it. None of it helped.

Combine that with us now knowing what part of the brain actually does everything connected with chakras, and it makes me skeptical.

It may be possible, but right now, it isn't feasible enough, to my mind, to put any stock in it. Not believing in it doesn't make my meditation any less helpful, either.

This is the book to read if you want a complete study of the Chakras Elizabeth...
http://www.amazon.com/Wheels-Life-Chakra-System-Llewellyns/dp/0875423205/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_pap?ie=UTF8&qid=1391371666&sr=8-1&keywords=wheels+of+life

elizabeth wrote: I argue with myself over this.. Part of me believes the energy we direct helps open and align the chakras, while I struggle with the fact that in order for reiki to work belief or faith is needed in the helper and the helped.
Mind over matter or the energy?

Who do you believe needs the faith or belief. The person receiving Reiki or the Reiki practitioner? .

Both from what I've read.. I understand it to be a relationship as such and both need to believe in what they are doing, accept the changes to the chakras and act upon them...
I may be wrong, this is new to me.

I am so glad this is being discussed here as I have not had anyone to talk to about an experience I had with chakras. I, like Ang The Last Airbender had no idea what chakras really were however that did not stop me from having an experience with them. One day out of the blue, and before I had any interest in meditation, I had a though. I wanted to see what it felt like to feel the sensation of relaxing, to just lay down in bed and feel the sensation of full relaxation. No distractions, no noise, no thought, just pure internal awareness. To my surprise I laid down and without any thought, stopped all thought and observed. What happened was beyond words, tangible, yet to crazy to talk to just anyone about.
As I laid down, it wasn't even a minute later that as I gazed at the ceiling I felt two focal points of heat radiating and pulsing on my heart center, and my third eye. Without thinking how strange it was to even feel this new sensation I put all of my attention into feeling these points of heat and POW! The two points sped up there pulsing and joined together into a single point and I left all awareness of my room. Now this is REALLY hard to explain, but it was as if I was traveling through a, you could say light speed tunnel like in Star Wars. I was just sight traveling through the stars at hurtling speeds but I could still make out stars maybe or planets maybe. This really freaked me out as I was sober and had no idea what was happening so 15 seconds later my sense of unease snapped me back to my bed. However the sensation of intense radiation from those two points remained constant for the next 48 hours, even while at work where I could not focus purely on them.
Now I am completely aware of how crazy and drug trippy this sounds but it was actually a tangible experience that stayed with me and has been repeatable to smaller degrees for me with meditation. Naturally I took to every type of research I could muster about what happened and this is what I have found that has helped make sense of the matter.
Sometimes this happens to people and is considered a "gift". A means to show you what is, but by no means is it all of a sudden a switch to be turned on at your own will. I happened to have no worries, no concerns, no obligations, and I was next to my girlfriend who I love dearly so the conditions were perfect for me at that moment to let the energy flow freely like the pond in the Avatar clip posted. I have also heard the chakras called doors that you can open and enter through which matched my sensation of leaving my physical awareness. You will also find sensory deprivation chambers and proper meditation help you leave the senses of the body to enter consciousness. I also had no knowledge really of chakras and considered them mythology, kinda like magic so I had no bind of thought or egotism to reach a goal which is a common prevention of opening your chakras, I have also run into that as a HUGE barrier myself since meditating and trying to get back to that experience.
Everything posted here about the chakras, what they do, how they work ect are true but can put a bind on your journey getting there. If you listen to Joseph Campbell's lecture series on myth here in the Initiates Program you will find allot of truths about chakras and consciousness, I can tell you from my own experience, he is a man who gets it. He says its in the realm of the mind that we are attached to results and achievements but in the realm of consciousness that there is no results, only what is. He recommends taking an hour a day to find a "holy place" a place where you can leave behind agendas, relationships, who you owe, who owes you, and just be at peace and find yourself. That is such quality advice and a way of saying find who you are and you will find what you resonate with . You see the descriptions of the functions and attributes to chakras are pointers to help you find resonance, and when you align with those aspects of your life you vibrate like a pure harmonic. Like the totality of your own being. You walk to the beat of your own drum and then you will find pure vibration or pure consciousness.
The bits about chakras and health and energy are referring to the "ductless glands", gland that secrete hormones directly into the blood stream, like the pineal glad (third eye) which I now know to be real, and your Thyroid gland (Throat Chakra). As mentioned in other post's these construct your endocrine system and when vital and health allow you to live a more vibrant and radiant life. Do your research on the pineal gland, it seems that we have know about the importance of this glad for a while but its been suppressed and even knowingly weakened by fluoride (like I said please research it yourself and report your own understanding I picked up a book called The Book of Chakras which has done a great job of explaining the functions, history, and gives great meditations to aid your discovery of unlocking you chakras. But the best advice I can give is from both Star Wars and The Matrix (both of which as you may know have a VERY real message),.........let go. Learn to sit in peace, stop the inner chatter, and just see what it feels like to be you. And be healthy, find harmony and respect for your body and energy.
Im sorry this is novel of a post and I thank you for the opportunity to finally share and discuss something that has started me down a path of wonder and understanding and I hope this helps everyone here to some degree. If you have any questions you can message me or we can continue here
Also I am NO expert on the matter, I can only speak form experience and have been seeking a guru to know more, which is why this post excites me so much. If anyone else has any experience to speak from PLEASE lets discuss it, I am still making sense of the whole thing myself.

May the force be with you.
Peace and Love

Interesting short vid on Mooladhara chakra;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrvb17GmaMc

Your body has millions of nerve endings and many large bundles of nerve fibers. Stimulating unused nerve endings through movement(as my chiropractor did) releases buildups of that stuff that causes pain. So there is definitely something to be said for the validity of accupressure, accupuncture, pressure points, and maybe even chakras. I've found that many things from Eastern medicine work but they don't have any scientific studies yet. A recent example is bee-sting therapy, previously thought to be stupid, it is now recognized as a highly effective arthritis treatment.

We had a discussion in another thread about auras and how people use colors to describe them, similar to chakras having colors. I kind of figure it's not really a color but it's like a colour. Maybe it's a radiant magnetic field coming from the heart muscle perceived as red, or maybe it's a heat field coming from a liver perceived as blue, see?

steamboat28 wrote: All I know about chakras, I learned from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Haha! Me too! :laugh: God I love that show.

Here is a different take altogether.

Research this idea a bit.

Chakras, Tree of Life, and The Wilderness Temple in the bible.

I'll give a helpful hint.
The crown Chakra is the same as Kether, which is the same as the Holy of Holies. All three of these are referring to a specific point within yourself.