Energy & Mindfulness

     Except for physicists, advanced yoga practitioners, advanced martial artists & mystics, most of us in the West are remarkably uninformed & disinterested in how energy affects our lives. Yet well-established laws of Western physics have for decades shown us that energy IS the material world: Einstein's energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Isn't our very own body as intimately related to energy as are planets, furniture & grains of sand?

     “The visible world is the invisible organization of energy.” Heinz Pagels, physicist

     For over 3,000 years, Eastern cultures have studied & worked directly with the human body's energy system (Yoga: chakras, pranayama; Traditional Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture & Martial arts: meridians, hara / dan tien, chi).
     "Energy is the interface between consciousness and the physical body.
     The chakra system describes the energetic structure through which we organize our life force. By understanding this internal arrangement, we can understand our defenses and needs, and learn how to restore balance."
       Anodea Judith. “Eastern Body Western Mind. Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self.” Celestial Arts, 2004.

     It's profoundly grounding & reassuring to develop progressively greater understanding of, and experiential connection with the chakras. 
     Zen, Chan & Taoist practices, as well as traditional Eastern martial arts, are based on the cultivation of life force (chi) at the hara or dan tien, which corresponds to the 2nd chakra.
     “Well-being consists of the free flow of vital energy throughout the body and between the body and the universe.”

     Sayama MK. “Samadhi. Self-development in Zen, Swordsmanship, and Psychotherapy.” State University of New York Press, 1986.

Anodea Judith PhD