The Chakra System: why it matters to conscious leadership

In this post-pandemic and mostly working from home era, the lines between work-life and home-life  balance have blurred. Maybe that's a good thing.

We now greet our colleagues with occasional visitors passing in the background (partners, children, pets) and while we may be physically separated, in some ways we've gained greater insight into each others' lives. We are after all, a whole person, not just the role we play at work. 

As we begin to integrate our whole selves in our work, we can expand this integration using the ancient chakra system. This comprehensive system enables us to recognize the interconnectedness between our emotional, physical and mental well-being. When our chakras or "centers of energy" are flowing freely, we find balance in our day-to-day lives; we are healthy, able to cope naturally with the ups and downs of our existence.

When our chakras are out of balance, we have a tendency toward certain negative behaviors; we even have chronic health conditions associated with this area of imbalance. If left unchecked this "dis-ease" of the flow of our energy leads to disease.

​The ROOTSilience Leadership Course is oriented around the chakra system to guide us into connecting conscious leadership with food and yoga as medicine. Within each chakra, we explore associated leadership qualities, where we may over or underuse them, and how to recognize and bring into balance the associated emotions and physical symptoms using yoga, meditation and healing foods. 

For more on the chakras, check out the above intro video from our course.​

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Here are two resources I mention in the video and that are my "GO TO" references for the chakras.

Anodea Judith's book, "Wheels of Life"
​This is the most comprehensive book on the chakra system. I love how Judith weaves in ancient teachings, current science and how we can consider our society as collectively "rising through the chakras". Each chakra has a beautiful meditation, key info and a discussion of the greater applications of the chakra, from our personal health and well-being to what we see showing up in the world. There are also several practices and ways to bring the chakra into balance. 

Christiane Northrup's book, "Women's Wisdom, Women's Bodies"
I'll never forget when my friend Maria gave me this book. That's when I first started to recognize the connection between my own chronic health issues and my emotional well-being. Dr. Northrup is an OBGYN and this book gives a fantastic balance of her own story, scientific and anecdotal evidence on the biochemical reactions that accompany emotional states, plus it has an "encyclopedia-like" look up feature to quickly look up any condition and it's possible emotional / mental imbalance. 

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