new age remedies – KC Freeman – Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Romance Author

Now you may be a bit confused by the title of this week’s blog since I normally blog all about my book, Rekindled Prophecy, and all things related to the Greylyn the Guardian Angel series. But this week I wanted to divert a bit from my writing to discuss another aspect of my life I am currently learning more and more about – my family refer to it as the “woo-woo” side of me.

So please indulge me as we travel down a side road seeming to veer away from my books, which I will gladly talk about anytime and all the time. If you want to read more about Rekindled Prophecy, the series, the characters, the inspiration, and all things related to my writing, I’ll be back on track next week. In the meantime, please feel free to visit my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/KCFreemanAuthor/ for all things Greylyn and guardian angels. I post daily there.

Here’s the first article I wrote on the subject of chakras for the online paranormal magazine, Paranormal Rag (sadly no longer in publication). I planned a whole series on chakras so I may take that up here with my own blog.

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The First Chakra – Root

Series on the Seven Chakras

By KC Freeman

What is a chakra? I keep hearing more and more about chakras all the time. What was once considered “woo-woo” is now making its way into the mainstream and I find it fascinating! So as I educate myself on the subject I wanted to bring you all along with me for the adventure. Hope you hop onto the ride and enjoy this metaphysical field trip into chakras. Since there is so much information out there on this subject, let’s take our time and navigate the chakras one at a time.

So again the question – what is a chakra? Without diving into the complex labyrinth of the history and origins of chakras, let’s just focus on what exactly it is and why it’s important to our overall health.

A chakra, by Wikipedia definition is “a part of the esoteric medieval era theories about physiology and psychic centers that emerged across Indian traditions.” To break it down further, the theory espouses that human life is simultaneously a physical thing and a spiritual thing. While we spend thousands of dollars a year eating right, exercising, taking vitamins and minerals, and drinking plenty of water, we are taking care of our physical body. Sadly, due to the chaos and hustle/bustle of everyday life, most of us have disregarded our “subtle body” – the psychological, emotional, non-physical aspects of our life. We ignore our chakra centers and the neglect heavily impacts our physical bodies regardless of how many times a week we work out.

We need balance between the physical and non-physical aspects of our life.

The chakras help us understand the non-physical and how it relates to our physical bodies. According to theories, there can be many chakras and the number varies depending on the practice. For our purposes, we will stick with the prevalent theory that there are seven primary chakras.

Muladhara – the root chakra is located at the base of the spine in the coccygeal region of our body. We will discuss this chakra in more detail in just a minute.
Svadhishthana – the sacral chakra located in the sexual organs.
Manipura – the solar plexus or navel chakra.
Anahata – the heart chakra.
Vishuddha – the throat chakra.
Ajna – the third-eye chakra located between the eyebrows.
Sahasrara – the crown chakra located in the crown of our head.

Each chakra makes up our energy centers and each has its own purpose. Blocked energy in any or all of the chakras can lead to illness. However, to truly balance our physical and non-physical bodies for better health, one must start balancing from the root – much like a flower must first have a healthy root in order to grow and blossom into its beautiful form to be seen by the world. So let’s go back to our roots.

The first chakra, the root, is symbolized by the color red. It is located at the base of the spine and associated with the perineum in the coccyx area. The root chakra represents the foundation of ourselves and, when healthy, gives us a feeling of being grounded/supported. Mula means root. Dhara means support. The root chakra grounds your energy to the Earth. Examples of issues regarding an imbalanced root chakra are problems related to survival such as financial independence, a belief we will never have enough to survive such as money, food, safety, or shelter.

To be balanced in the root chakra, one must feel connected to your own life experience.

Overactive root chakras manifest in the need for a person to feel secure all the time. They are controlling, aggressive, materialistic, and can come off as being extremely greedy. There is never enough money, never enough food, never enough of anything. This leads to anxiety. The body will experience stress and fear regardless of how well our basic survival needs are covered for fear it will be taken away. Even when there is no real threat to our survival, an overactive root chakra will make our bodies still experience that fear and stress.

Underactive root chakras are just as troubling. Again, insecurity raises its ugly head. Instead of anger or aggression, this causes anxiety and chaos. Those with underactive root chakras may be highly disorganized and inefficient. These people are insecure and detached from the world and may feel unwelcome, so they hide away from the world or are considered to be “day dreamers.”

Some physical ailments brought about by an imbalanced root chakra are lower back pain, hip pain, digestive issues, as well as ovarian cysts in women and prostrate problems in men. Considering the number of over-the-counter medicines for digestive problems and the surge of patients seeking help from gastrointestinal medicine, I’d say that root chakra overbalance is an epidemic.

With both over and under-active root chakras, a person may experience significant weight loss or weight gain, high or low sex drives, over-activeness or laziness. Depression is also common in individuals with root chakra imbalances.

So now that we know the symptoms of root chakra imbalances, how do we fix them?

Without going into specific details here, common therapies for root chakra imbalance include yoga, aromatherapy, guided meditation, and visualization. There are numerous books and articles on the subject, as well as, excellent alternative medicine practitioners to help you along your path.

Here’s some other suggestions:

Dancing, going for a walk, even getting a pedicure will help ground you. You will find that self-care is extremely important to balance all chakras.
Yoga poses such as Warrior One, Bridge, and Mountain are excellent poses to balance the root chakra. For more information of yoga therapies for chakra healing, I suggest you search on Kundalini yoga.
Crystals are a part of the chakra healing system which we can discuss in more detail in a later post, but to balance the root chakra, you can use yellow topaz, bloodstone, or azurite.
Nutrition is not just for the physical body. Add red foods (no, not with red food dye – natural red foods) such as apples, cherries, tomatoes, beets, and even high protein foods such as red meat. Even hot sauce and spicy peppers are beneficial.
Apply essential oils to pulse points or to the soles of your feet to relax and open up the chakra. For the root chakra use ylang ylang, rose, or frankincense.
Meditation – imagine a lotus flower at the base of your spine while practicing measured breathing or listening to relaxing music. The main point here being to be mindful of that area of your body to bring healing energy to it.
Acts of kindness are another way to open up an overactive root chakra.
Activities such as gardening or walks in nature can help calm an overactive root chakra.
Reiki practitioners are an amazing resource for balancing and cleansing chakras.

To be completely healthy in both our physical and non-physical (emotional, spiritual) bodies, we must first have a healthy root chakra as this is the basis of energy flow throughout the body.

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And just in case you’re still interested in my fantasy/paranormal novel, Rekindled Prophecy, but have yet to purchase one…I know it’s a shameless plug…

https://books2read.com/u/bzoaBE

I wrote this article a while back. But thought it’d be a good time to share as we are all cleaning, and super-sanitizing our homes, our cars, our offices, ourselves…

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Spooktober is over but I still like the idea of posting about other, non-book related stuff. Here’s another article I wrote a while back for an online paranormal magazine, Paranormal Rag, about something not so spooky. We’ll call it “woo-woo” if you want.

Someone posted a comment on FaceBook about how to rid someone’s house of negative energy so thought I’d respond with the article since it was relevant and truthfully helpful information when I needed it.

Enjoy!

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Clearing Negative Energy from Your Home

By KC Freeman

So we all hear ghost stories told by the camp fire. Perhaps we watch the plethora of ghost hunting shows on cable television. I know that I do. Maybe we’ve seen, heard, or felt something we can’t explain. Ever just had a bad feeling or seen a shadow where one shouldn’t be? Maybe your house needs a good, old-fashioned spiritual cleansing.

The problem with the aforementioned shows that I have watched is that rarely is anything ever done to get help the family deal with bad spirits, energies, or even worse. Now I know nothing about exorcisms other than what I’ve seen on the fictional television show, “Supernatural” so if that’s what you are needing, I advise you contact a professional. I wouldn’t even know where to look that up in the Yellow Pages, but that is NOT what this article is about.

When I first moved into the home in which I know reside, I just didn’t feel “right”. Nothing wrong with the house. It was perfect for our family’s needs and in the school district we wanted, and it checked off everything on our list. But that didn’t make my stomach any less queasy when we did the inspection, walk-through, and then again on moving day. Something was just…off.

Did I order an exorcism? Well, no. It’s wasn’t that bad. I didn’t find a portal to Hell nor did a ghost throw slime in my face so it wasn’t THAT bad. It was just a negative feeling in the house, an oppressiveness. Not everyone experienced what I did, or they ignored it because it didn’t make sense. But when something doesn’t make sense, I want to make it make sense. So I opened up my laptop and went straight to Google, then to Amazon to order books, and then to Facebook to find blogs that may have a nugget or two of wisdom that would help me.

What I found was by no means revolutionary or hocus-pocus in form or fashion. Actually, it was simply feng shui – a commonly used form of design to help one’s own energy harmonize with their surroundings by balancing invisible forces or energies that bind us all together with the planet and the universe. Feng shui, a Chinese form of geomancy, means wind and water.

We could go into all the specifics of feng shui but then this article would become a book, and I know enough to know that I do not know enough about the practice to write a book on it. Besides, there are so many books written by experts out there, and blogs online, and your sister’s cousin’s next door neighbor probably studied it in interior design class…so we’ll keep things simple here.

SPACE CLEARING is an essential part of modern feng shui and involves clearing the space (in this instance a house) on an energetic level. Physically, you clean away the dust and dirt and rid yourself of clutter to avoid buildup of clutter and dirt on an energy or emotional/spiritual level. I’m sure everyone is in the midst of, or finishing another round of, super-sanitizing everything with the COVID-19 crisis.

This particular brand of cleaning/clearing is recommended when one moves into a home, at least once a year, and particularly after traumatic events, such as divorce. And would probably be a good idea to alleviate the stress energies building up with everyone now stuck at home for the most part while social distancing.

As we had just moved into a home where the previous occupants recently underwent a bitter divorce, our house needed to clean out the negative emotions and energies still residing within its walls.

An example of how well this process works can simply be found when one does an intense spring cleaning of his/her home. It’s exhausting, but quite therapeutic.

In addition to physically cleaning the home, there are other methods to clear negative energy from your home. A common practice is called smudging. This is a symbolic ritual found not only in feng shui, but also in alternative medicine practices. Items you will need are few and easy to come by:

Smudge stick of sage or bundle of other herb such as lavender, sweetgrass, or cedar. Some feng shui practitioners recommend Palo Santo, a holy wood found in South America.
Candle and matches.
Container to hold the lit smudge stick so you don’t burn yourself.
Sand to extinguish the smudge stick when you are finished.
Feather

Light the candle and light the tip of the bundle of sage or other stick of herbs. A prayer or meditation before starting is also recommended. Doesn’t have to be fancy or a particular prayer, just let your heart speak. Slowly and with mindful intent, allow the smoke to waft through the home as you walk around the house in a clockwise manner and go into each room, playing particular attention to the corners. Recently, I was informed that using a feather to help with the wafting part is essential. I’ve done this with and without a feather so I truly believe either way is fine.

Also don’t neglect closets. Keep your mind on loving and positive thoughts as you do this. When you have done this throughout the entire house, go back to where you started and extinguish the lit smudge stick in the sand which should be in a fire-proof container.

That’s it. Quite simple.

A bit of smudging and my house was not only livable, but it was mine without all the emotional and spiritual baggage that had soaked into its walls from previous tenants.

There are plenty other methods (including salt rock lamps, incense, and essential oil or holy water sprays), but I’ve found this one is so simple that even I can do it. And…it works.

If you find your problem is much larger than residual negative energies sticking to your walls, then you will need something more detailed and intense. I recommend contacting your local paranormal investigation group (they are as easy to find as doing an internet search). Whereas I don’t see a lot of television ghost hunters helping people rid themselves of nasty or pesky spirits, I have spoken with several local groups and they do this on a regular basis. If in need of that level of help, call your local “ghost busters.” In the meantime, grab a smudge stick. It can at least leave your home smelling herbal fresh.

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