EMERGENCE

A debut guide examines the power of chakras.

Bailey asserts early on in this work that “the universe is made up of energy, just as our bodies are.” This energy that humans are composed of can be understood through “life force centers,” commonly known as chakras. The author explains that there are seven chakras and each one is different. In the pages that follow, readers are taken on a tour of all seven along with exercises meant to target each chakra. For instance, the first chakra is concerned with the basics of safety and survival. It can be triggered by placing the thumbs on the top of the hip flexors and pressing down. From here, the manual journeys up through the body. There are motivational quotes (including one from Einstein: “Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world”) and ideas about living. For example, information on the fourth chakra is accompanied by the adage that “in order to love and be loved, we must create a level of vulnerability.” After the seventh life force center, there are instructions on how to “clear and rejuvenate” your chakras. This process involves removing unwanted energy from one’s personal aura (there is a brief explanation of the extent of the aura). The systematic method begins with the first chakra and moves all the way to the seventh. In the end, readers are encouraged to “believe in your highest creative potential, knowing the divine lives in you.” The book moves quickly and, at just over a hundred pages, is a swift read. Readers interested in investigating the idea of energy centers in the body can take it all in, chapter by chapter, chakra by chakra, quite easily. And the guide’s overall positive nature (along with the brightly colored pages) makes the experience a pleasant one. A short discussion on the mental chatter that can create problems during meditation is meant to put the audience at ease. Readers are told: “Don’t beat yourself up when your mind refuses to shut off.” Of course, the fast-paced nature of the work can also limit some of its appeal. If readers want, say, more information on the importance of their fifth chakras or the best way to begin a regular meditation practice, they will need to go elsewhere. Likewise, the volume delves into the occasional tangent that could have been mined further. For instance, the author mentions how a figure named Babaji channeled something to her while she was meditating. Readers for the most part will be confused about how this channeling works or what else Bailey has learned from Babaji, who is the author’s “main guide” and “has amazing spiritual and loving energy.” While a guide like Babaji may not be vital to dissecting one’s own chakras, this is certainly a topic novices will find intriguing. Channeling, especially for those new to these mind-body-energy ideas, is certainly a noteworthy concept. Still, in the end, the book has much to teach, and it instructs readers in a friendly, concise manner.

While it’s abrupt in places, this colorful manual delivers an appealing exploration of personal energy.