“I can’t make my mind a blank…” Is a common complaint and ‘monkey mind’ (the mischievous wandering mind) seems to be the biggest problem for anyone ‘sitting’ without proper direction. Trying to make your mind ‘blank’ is a thought in itself – and therefore self defeating.

The Japanese word ‘Mushin’ or ‘no mind’ means no thinking mind, the only way you can create this spontaneous mental state is to gradually reduce the activity of the thinking mind until it ‘flatlines’ and allows the aware, non thinking, ‘wisdom mind’ to come to the foreground. The best route to achieving this is as follows:

I’m not going to give you collected information on the Chakras, no wiki information from the internet, no aura colours or gemstones – all that ‘academic’ information can be gathered via the internet and in my opinion can be untrustworthy.

What I will give you is my direct experience from 40 years of martial arts training and healing in a way that I hope that you can directly relate to and experience for yourselves. I’ll also map out the alchemy and healing of a human being through the practice of the Martial Arts and how it reflects through the Chakras.

I don’t ‘believe’ anything. I either know it because I’ve experienced it for myself or I don’t. This is how I, and in my experience, other people like yourselves, experience energy in your chakras, how to ‘read’ them in yourself and others and how to effect a level of healing through them…..

The kwoon was unusually quiet.  When I entered Sifu was standing with his hands on Jane’s head, she was seated with her eyes closed.  Everyone else was getting on with the business of training, warming up or in a conversation of hushed whispers.  The aura of the healing that was taking place gave the usually lively character of the room the feeling of a church.

Its strange how Sifu was just standing and Jane sitting, to a casual observer nothing was happening and yet the energy transfer that was taking place was obvious enough to change the atmosphere in the room and affect everyone in it.

Jane was experienced enough to ‘assist’ Sifu in his work and had opened her mind and energy to allow him to do his work.  She had her tongue pressed to the top palette and was pulling the lower abdomen in and up.  She was sitting erect with both feet flat on the floor and one hand in the palm of the other with the tips of the thumbs lightly touching and the arms framed in front of the body.  This allowed the energy to circulate freely in the ‘heavenly’ circuit between the governor and conception vessels feeding energy to other meridians of the body.

With the healer and ‘healee’ working in harmony, their energy melding together and then being directed by Sifu and sometimes guided by Jane they were able to clear blockages caused by both mental and physical tension, and ease the pain of injury and illness.  The body always strives towards good health but sometimes needs to be reminded of how to feel that well.

Sifu stood erect, his tongue to the top palette, his lower abdomen pulled in and upward, his chest sunk and shoulder blades pulled down and apart, it seemed as if his entire body slightly ‘pulsed’ with each elongated breath.

A few minutes before the class started they ceased with Sifu making a few arcane signs over Jane’s head and then a symbol that was like a lightening bolt to ‘earth’ the energy he then clapped his hands and stood for a few moments collecting himself before starting the class.

At the end of the class it was ‘feedback’ time….  And I guess the student’s curiosity had to get the better of them.

“Sifu – was that healing that you were doing with Jane before lesson time?” asked Sarah.

“It certainly was” responded Sifu.

“Was it Reiki?”

“Reiki is the name of a system of healing started by by Dr Usui”, answered Sifu “but as Jane is a tai chi student, we were healing from our own system.”

“Chakras?  What are they all about then?”  Ray was always the sceptic.

John answered “the word ‘chakra’ means ‘spinning wheel’, and it refers to the spinning wheels of energy on the microcosmic orbit.”

“Microcosmic orbit?” Ray jeered, is that out of Star Trek?  “Is it further than the Milky Way?”

“As far as your understanding goes,” said John, “it might as well be…”

“Fill me in dude, fill me in…” Ray wasn’t going to let go, “I need to know about ‘chakras’ and the ‘microcosmic orbit’..” Ray changed his finger ‘quote marks’ to the ‘live long and prosper’ sign from Star Trek with a big grin on his face.

“There’s nothing more I’d like than to ‘fill you in’” said John, “and to shove a Milky Way where the sun don’t shine, but we’re talking about an ancient system of mapping energy around the human body’”

“Ancient maps, microcosmic orbits, chakras, sounds like a great film, I’m all ears man, just like Spocky…”  Ray just can’t help himself; once he gets going no one can stop him…

“There’s no point in trying to explain anything to you,” said John in an exasperated manner.. “you’re just a born sceptical urine extractor!”

“I’m sorry,” said Ray, “I can’t help it, it sounds so ‘Trekkie’ and far fetched, it’s like this whole chi thing, nothing can be scientifically proven, so I really can’t see the point, I only deal in facts – and lets face it, this is all a construct of someone’s imagination.  I can’t believe that you fall for it all…”