Your Chakra Coach

Our conversation today has us addressing the first of three pairs of chakras - the Heart and Solar Plexus Chakras. We'll use the Celtic Chakra tradition (rather than the Hindu tradition that you might be most familiar with) to discuss the spiral path, why and how certain chakras are paired, and why it might be time to start your balancing practice somewhere other than your Root Chakra. The first p...

We've reached the Crown Chakra in our first series of 2022! The crown chakra is the least physical of the seven main chakras, so I know it can feel less important. However, I encourage you to spend at least a little time on it since it really does impact all the other energy centers and how we experience the physical world. Today we talk about what the ego is, why we need it, and what it really me...

What does it mean to "open your third eye" and why should we bother? Today we're discussing the importance of a clear and bright third eye chakra and the gift of perspective and clarity that it brings us. In addition to its reputation for mystical properties, the sixth energy center can also help us see truth, our personal path, and give us the strength to follow it even when it might be easier to...

It's been a very challenging week in the world and I've not been able to get the people of Ukraine out of my mind. So today, we're taking a moment for lovingkindness in the world. It's a short meditation - one that you can do any time for any reason. I know it's a small action, but let's pull our collective consciousess together for peace, both in ourselves and in the world.  May all beings e...

Our Throat Chakras are the seat of communication and expression, but sometimes we simply need silence to hear our own truth before we can speak it into the world. This week I share my experience with relatively long stretches of silence - unexpected silence - and how different it is to choose quiet, rather than having it chosen for you. Silence is healing and can help us clarify what we truly want...

We're filling our Heart Chakras this week - with ourselves. Self-love may be the struggle I hear about most, and frequently we look to the Root Chakra, but today we'll explore the the heart's role in giving and receiving love internally. So many of us have a gaping hole where our true selves should be. We'll talk about why that is, how culturally that can be the expectation, and what we can do to...

This week I interview Rubia Smolens, a Qi Gong and Tai Chi instructor with an amazing story! She explains a little about what these ancient practices are, where they took her and where they might take us, as well as how to begin incorporating these healing modalities into our lives. If you practice yoga, you might have heard of the concept of prana - life force. Qi Gong is a breath practice that h...

Have you ever just "had a feeling" about something or someone? Just known something in your gut - more primal than intuition? That's the work of your Solar Plexus Chakra. This third energy center is in a highly unique position to collect information from your physical body *and* your energetic body to to create the gut instinct, a reliable guide about our surroundings. IF the Solar Plexus Chakra i...

It's an exploration of love and the Sacral Chakra this week! So much of the time, we contract our sacral energy and there isn't room to experience all the love and joy that is present in the world and in our relationships. When we're self-sabotaging or even attracting relationships we don't want, it's because our capacity to feel love and joy is diminished in an underactive Sacral Chakra. Today we...

Welcome to the first series of 2022! We're going to get back to some of the foundational information about each chakra either to help you understand it for the first time, or to guide you to think about your energy centers in a new way. We begin with the Root Chakra, the seat of grounding, strength, security, and self-worth. If you've ever struggled with knowing your value - and really, who hasn't...

We're starting the year with a fascinating interview with Indra Rinzler, a Vedic Astrologer, healer, and teacher. He has been studying astrology for 50 years and uses that modality, along with another called the Enneagram of Personality. A lifelong spiritual seeker, Indra's focus is to help us wake up to who we really are, to help people live beyond their conditioned stories, and live more in the...

As the whole world turns the page into a new year, I thought we'd look back at what we did this year in terms of improving our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellness through our chakra work and other modalities. How was your year? Let's look back and find the bright spots and then shine that light on where we can go in the future.  While our chakra system is holistic and each ene...

It's a very special episode of Your Chakra Coach - an interview on how to balance your internal and external energy using Feng Shui! Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese "art of placement," and my guest this week, Laura Kossoff, will teach us a little about the history and application of this discipline. Spoiler - it's about a lot more than just where to put your couch!  Laura Kossoff is a life c...

Let's talk about auras! What are they, what do they represent, why should we bother even looking at them? And how do we look at them anyway? Today we explore the seven most commonly accepted layers of the aura and how they are correlated with the chakra system. We'll talk about what they mean, what they represent beyond our physical bodies, and what an imbalance or "discoloration" might mean for y...

It's the fifth and final niyama - ishvara pranidhana. The translation is "surrender to god," and today we'll explore how we can navigate the seemingly negative connotations of the word "surrender" and the sometimes tricky concept of a western god. In the end, this niyama asks us to trust that we are part of a larger consciousness and that we are always where we need to be for the next step on our...

Happy Episode 100! This feels like such a huge milestone to me and I simply could not have done it without every person who has ever listened to even one episode of the show. I appreciate you so much! In honor of Thanksgiving week (here in the US) and this occasion, we'll spend today working through the chakras one by one and exploring the gratitude we have within each one. I know it can be tough...

Continuing our studies of the niyamas (guidelines for internal work) we really start to dig deep into what it means to reflect on ourselves and our connection to the world and to the universe. The fourth niyama is svadhyaya - self-study - and it's here that the work can start to get really interesting and, at times, really intense. What would it mean to take a deep, honest look at who you are? At...

The third niyama on this inner journey is tapas - heat. The kind of heat that changes us and transforms us into the highest versions of ourselves, even when it is sometimes a little painful. Tapas is part of the Ashtanga Yoga system, an eight-limbed path that leads us toward spiritual growth, and this niyama is all about practices we can include in our lives that burn away the things that aren't w...

It's time for the second niyama - santosha. Santosha is the practice of living contentedly, with a sense of inner peace. It doesn't mean that we can't ever change or grow or improve, only that we have the opportunity to act from a strong, measured center. Santosha allows us to feel secure moving through an insecure world. We'll talk about some of the biggest obstacles to contentment and some pract...

Today we begin our series on the niyamas. If the yamas are ethical guidelines on how to interact with the world, the niyamas are ethical guidelines with a more internal focus. The first is Saucha, which translates to purity, or cleanliness. Of course, we recognize the importance of keeping our physical bodies clean, and we'll also look at how this practice relates to inside our bodies, as well as...

Today we explore the fifth and final yama - aparigraha. The translation is non-possessiveness, or non-clinging, which in the chakra system we might experience as the act of letting go. In the Buddhist traditions, it's often said that clinging or grasping is the cause of unnecessary suffering and it is only when we learn to let go that we can find peace. Aparigraha, in the Ashtanga Yoga tradition,...

This week we explore the fourth yama - brahmacharya. I find it a little trickier to understand than the others, so we'll really break it down into what it means for people living today, in the modern world. The literal translation of this yama is "walk with god," which can be confusing and even off-putting. No worries - we'll figure it out together! Join me as we explore this ethical practice, gui...

It's a little diversion from the chakras, but one I think you'll find very interesting! Today I interview Psychic Medium Drew Cali and learn three ways to connect with our spirit guides. This is outside my realm of expertise, so we start with the basics - what are spirit guides? What is a psychic? What's the difference between a psychic and a medium? Then we explore ways to connect to these beings...

If you're not sure what steps to take on your path of spiritual or personal growth, allow me to introduce you to the third yama from the Ashtanga yogic system - asteya. Asteya translates to non-stealing, but it's so much more than simply not taking things that don't belong to you. We'll talk about how we unknowingly steal our own happiness and opportunities and how a deep practice of asteya can he...

This week we look at the second yama in the Ashtanga Yoga system: satya or truthfulness. We can think of this system and its components as a guidebook or roadmap to our highest selves. We'll explore how truthful behavior is far more than not telling a simple lie, how and why truth - both personal and universal truth - affects your chakras, and of course, some ideas on how to practice satya in our...