Tune-Up Your Chakras With Jin Shin Jyutsu

Chakras are a buzz word these days. But what are they really? There's a simple way to find out.

In Sanskrit, chakra means "wheel." According to Indian metaphysical teachings we have dozens of these spinning centers of vital energy within and around us, each with a specific function. Chakras even glow in different colors, according to the speed at which they spin. The fast-spinning chakras produce cool colors of blue, green and violet. The slower spinners glow warm colors of red, orange and yellow.

There's an easy way to directly experience your chakras: the acupressure-like art of Jin Shin Jyutsu. One of its techniques, the Main Central Vertical Flow works with nine pressure points, seven of which are chakras. This easy self-help routine is considered to be an overall tune-up for the body. It harmonizes and nourishes the spine, which is key to keeping our vital flame of spirit and enthusiasm alive.

Doing the Main Central Vertical Flow involves placing two or three fingers on each of the nine pressure points for two or three minutes each. This stimulates the flow of life force through each of the chakras. You may notice a light, pulsing sensation like a heartbeat as you move your fingers down the center line of the front of the body. This sensation is the energy, or "chi" moving more freely around your body. Sometimes you may feel soreness surrounding the pressure point, which indicates a blocking of chi. Stimulating the point releases the chi, and soreness goes away. Other sensations that you may feel as the chakras begin to open are a gurgling stomach and warmth or chills in different areas of your body.

As you follow the steps below, you don't have to press very hard. The energy flow is subtle, yet powerful! For best results, practice the Main Central Vertical Flow every day. It may take ten to twenty minutes. A good time is right before you go to sleep or first thing in the morning.

Step 1A - With your right hand, place two or three fingers on the top center of your head and leave them there until Step 8. The Crown Chakra is the violet-colored center at the top of the head. In Sedona Power Spot, Vortex and Medicine Wheel Guide, Richard Dannelley describes it as "the cross-over point between the physical and the soul." Stimulating this chakra can help bridge your everyday awareness with consciousness of the higher, or universal self.

Step 1B - Place two or three fingers from your left hand between your eyebrows. This indigo-hued pressure point, according to Dannelley, is associated with the "pineal gland or 'third eye' deep within the brain." also known as the Anja Chakra. According to traditional teachings, opening this chakra revitalizes latent energy deep inside the body and may stimulate ESP.

Step 2- Next, place your left hand on the tip of your nose. There is no chakra related to this pressure point. But according to Jin Shin Jyutsu philosophy, holding the tip of the nose revitalizes the reproductive functions.

Step 3- Now move your left hand to the "V" of your throat. The blue Throat Chakra is a powerful energy center which, according to tradition revitalizes the Thyroid and Para thyroid glands. "This is also the chakra of the human voice," notes Dannelley, adding that "metaphysically", sound is one of the primary energies of the universe."

Step 4 - Now place your left hand on your sternum (breastbone) which is midway between top and bottom of your chest. This green Heart Chakra pressure point is the center of your energy system. When this chakra is open, the Thymus gland is helped and other immune systems are said to be revitalized.

Step 5 - Next, move your left hand to just below the bottom of the sternum. This area lies over a nerve center and yellow-colored chakra called the solar plexus. "Mystics and Yogis around the world regard it as the body's vital center and the seat of the will." writes Dannelley. It 'works' with the adrenal glands and the third eye to draw a healing form of light into your system.

Step 6 - Now place your left hand one inch above your bellybutton. This pressure point isn't associated with any chakra. But according to Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioners, it works closely with the solar plexus and may aid intestinal functions.

Step 7 - Now place your left hand on the top center of your pubic bone. Leave it there for the next step. This orange-colored chakra is known as The Basic Life Force. "It revitalizes the organs of the lower body, such as the spleen and ovaries," according to Dannelley.

Step 8 -Finally, place your right hand at the base of your spine. This is the Root Chakra. Red in color and associated with the sexual organs, " it is your connection with Mother Earth and Her primal Life Force energy," or kundalini, notes Dannelly. Awakening this energy may improve circulation, especially in the legs and feet. Practitioners of Jin Shin Jyutsu claim that holding these pressure points every day can relieve a variety of health problems, including digestive disorders, high or low blood pressure, breast tenderness, fatigue, spinal cord injuries and disk problems, scoliosis, and premenstrual syndrome. As a regular sufferer of PMS for many years, I can vouch that "going with the main central vertical flow " has eliminated 90 % of my symptoms.

The Main Central Vertical Flow can be used to complement conventional medicine or simply to sustain a sense of harmony and well-being. Plato said learning is simply remembering. As you work on each pressure point, remember to smile and breathe slowly and deeply so you will receive all the abundance you need.

The Story of Jin Shin Jyutsu

An ancient oral Japanese tradition, Jin Shin Jyutsu had virtually disappeared when it was rediscovered in the early 1900's by a Japanese philosopher named Jiro Murai.

Master Murai was born into a long line of medicine professionals. As a young man, he contracted a terminal illness. He asked his family to take him to the mountains and leave him alone for seven days. In a feverish state, Murai had a vision of meditating sages using sacred hand movements, or mudras, which he then applied to himself as he slipped in and out of-consciousness. By the seventh day, he was completely healed.

Murai vowed to spend the rest of his life studying the connection between his amazing recovery and these mudras. The Main Central Vertical Flow was among the first sets of mudras, or flows, that Murai established as he redeveloped the Jin Shin Jyutsu system that practitioners use and study today.