Attention to the Major Chakras in the Therapeutic Touch Treatment

Attention to the Major Chakras in the Therapeutic Touch Treatment

By Barbara Janelle M.A.

In Therapeutic Touch Inner Workbook (1), Dolores Krieger describes Therapeutic Touch practices used with various major chakras. In the early TT Retreats in Ontario, Dora Kunz often spoke of and demonstrated unruffling and sending feelings of calmness into the solar plexus. Heart Support has been used for years by TT practitioners in Ontario to brighten the Heart Chakra and shift the entire field. (2)

Through my own TT explorations, I find that attention given to some of the major chakras is a very efficient way of supporting the functioning of the energy field and brightening the entire being.

Chakras as Centres of Consciousness

Much has been written on the major chakras and there is considerable disagreement among authors as to number, location, function, etc. (3) However, there is correlation in the belief that the functioning of the major chakras is related to emotion and awareness. For example, the Heart Chakra is associated with love. Feelings of love, compassion, hope, trust, dedication, forgiveness etc. make this chakra function well, while feelings of loneliness, vulnerability, betrayal, jealousy, bitterness, hatred, inability to forgive (4) and physical or psychological abuse (5) are associated with dysfunction of the Heart Chakra.

Chakras as Energy Transformers

The Major Chakras are energy transformers through which energy moves and is affected. Each chakra is related to the physical function (6) of some part of the body and affects the energetic dynamics of that area (for example, the Solar Plexus is related to the adrenal glands, pancreas, liver, stomach, etc.). Chakras function together rather than as single control centres and some pairings are very apparent, i.e. Crown and Root Chakra. Krieger notes that the Heart Chakra is the integrative centre for the entire chakra system. (7)

Treatment Guidelines

Assessment and treatment of some of the major chakras plays a significant role in my TT approach. Treatment involves primarily deepening center, but I may use unruffling and energy modulation too.

I work with several guidelines:

a) Assessment is ongoing.

b) In TT we support a downward flow of energy through the field. An important aspect of this is grounding, and throughout the treatment, I return again and again to downward flow and grounding.

c) The most effective thing that we do in the TT treatment is to center and deepen center. I may use a focus on the “Sacred Truth” of the chakra to deepen center. (4)

d) Unruffling energizes the field, dissipates congestion, and supports the connection/integration throughout the field.

e) Energy modulation is an act of offering energy to the field and/or suggesting that the field return to its normal action of drawing energy from the surrounding universal sea.

f) Work with one chakra affects all of the chakras. The condition of the chakra and my “conversation” with it determines the kind of work that I do.

The Treatment

My treatment starts with conscious centering and the awareness that it is a privilege to work with this receiver and that I am here in service to this being. Through this and a light overall unruffling, I introduce myself to the field. (8) I check and support the grounding through the feet (9), then follow this with an initial full field assessment and unruffling and grounding.

The Root Chakra. Grounding through this chakra is critical to the functioning of the entire field. TT treatment of this chakra will affect all of the chakras, and most noticeably the crown.

With a sitting receiver, I generally work with this chakra at the base of the spine in the back. If there is a major health problem, this chakra will be “gummy” and unruffling and grounding visualizations are often very helpful. In animals, I offer energy to this primary chakra in animals. With humans, I rely on this chakra’s ability to take energy in from the Earth and I do no energy modulation other than unruffling. (10)

Carolyn Myss says that the sacred truth of this chakra is “All is One.” I hold the awareness of our connection with all life and with this planet as I work with this Chakra.

Sacral Chakra. If the receiver is sitting, it is possible to assess the front and back of this chakra and use unruffling to bring a greater balance and uniformity to both. If the person is lying down, I only work with the front of the chakra. If the chakra is too quiet, I will unruffle it to augment the intake of energy. If it is sucking energy intensely, I will offer more and/or remind it that it exists in a sea of energy and can take freely from the surrounds. Unruffling movement from head to feet follows to support the flow through the field and functional integration of the chakras.

If this chakra only partially responds to treatment, I will go to the Solar Plexus or Heart Chakra, knowing that work on a higher center will affect it.

Splenic Chakra. In a healthy field this chakra is light, vibrant and dynamic, strongly taking energy into the field. I work with this center to increase overall energy in the field both through offering energy and reminding it as I do all of the chakras that there is so much available in the sea around us.

Solar Plexus. Assessment, balancing, energizing and connecting procedures similar to those used for the Sacral Chakra are used on this center. Myss says the sacred truth of this center is “Honour Yourself.” I hold the image of the receiver and myself as valuable and powerful spiritual beings.

Heart Chakra. Assessment, balancing, energizing (at the back) and connecting through unruffling procedures are used with this center as well. Support of the Heart Chakra (11) is critical within the TT treatment: the pause to center deeply and to truly acknowledge the magnificence of this being, and to hold the understanding that “Love is Divine Powe.r” (12) The entire field changes dramatically with Heart Support.

Throat Chakra. Assessments, balancing through unruffling, and connecting through full field unruffling are used here too. I do not offer energy to this chakra, choosing instead to remind it to take from the sea around. The reason for this is that any energy coming through our hands is modulated by the heart chakra and will be of that chakra’s vibration. This is lighter than the vibration of the lower chakras and easy for them to accept. It is denser than the vibration of the Throat and other upper chakras and more difficult for them to accept and process.

Third Eye (Ajna) Chakra. In TT, we recognize that the head is a delicate electrical system and we have a general policy of not doing too much work around the head. This delicacy is one of the reasons (the other is that the head chakras are of such a light vibration) why I do very little work around the Third Eye and Crown Chakras. Sometimes it is simply enough to include the head in the overall unruffling. At other times I will use a light, momentary outward unruffling over the forehead, followed by general unruffling.

Crown Chakra. Again when there is significant illness, the Crown Chakra and the Root Chakra will be congested. In assessment and treatment, I do not put my hand directly over the crown chakra as this is too invasive. I use very brief, light, outward drawing unruffling movements to help clear this chakra and enable more energy to be taken in. I do not direct energy into it, nor offer energy from my hands to it. Instead, in the general unruffling that follows, I invite a universal stream of light to enter and move downward through the field, brightening the entire field, and continuing to flow through it– a normal state.

Finishing the Treatment. When the work with the chakras is finished, I assess the entire field again, usually finding that the field and former dysfunctional areas are brighter and more uniform. I do any additional work that seems required and finish with a check on the grounding and integration of the entire field.

Efficiency and Effectiveness

Work with the major chakras shifts the entire field quickly and dramatically toward better function. Here are a just a few examples:

a) When there was little response to unruffling, pain and energy congestion in a gouty foot cleared with a minute of deepening center in Heart Support.

b) Headaches may be slow to respond to unruffling, but will usually dissipate quickly with grounding of the feet and root chakra.

c) Toothaches often diminish with light unruffling of the throat chakra and grounding through the root chakra.

As I examine my work with the major chakras, I recognize that I attend primarily to the Heart Chakra; the Root Chakra and the Splenic Chakra are important too. I find that this can shift the field very effectively and efficiently. Indeed, if I only have a minute or two to work with a field, I will attend to the grounding the Root Chakra, whole field unruffling and Heart Support.

Notes

1. Dolores Krieger, Therapeutic Touch Inner Workbook, Bear & Co. Publishing, Santa Fe, NM: 1996

2. Barbara Janelle, “Heart Support,” In Touch, Vol. 12, no.3, August 2000

3. Barbara Janelle, “The Major Chakras: Understanding within the Therapeutic Touch Framework,” Embodiment of Spirit: Learning through Therapeutic Touch and Interspecies Communication, Self-published, Kitchener-Waterloo, ON: 2003

4. Caroline Myss, Anatomy of the Spirit, Random House, New York: 1996

5. Dolores Krieger, Therapeutic Touch Inner Workbook

6. I draw much of the information about the chakras from the work of Dolores Krieger, Caroline Myss (as noted in other references) and Shafica Karagulla and Dora Kunz, The Chakra and the Human Energy Field. Quest Books, Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton, IL: 1989

7. Dolores Krieger, Therapeutic Touch Inner Workbook

8. Barbara Janelle, “Preparing the Field for Assessment,” In Touch, Vol. 8, no. 3, September 1996

9. Barbara Janelle, “Grounding in the Therapeutic Touch Treatment, In Touch, Vol. XVI, No. 3, Autumn 2004

10. In humans, I may offer energy to the Sacral, Splenic, Solar Plexus, and back of the Heart Chakras, but not to the other major chakras.

11. Barbara Janelle, “Heart Support”

12. Caroline Myss, Anatomy of the Spirit