Bonsais and the Chakras
Trees are an incredible source of calm. Most of us have felt the immense stress relief of walking through a dense forest. You usually feel lighter and calmer when you exit a lush natural setting than when you enter. There are several reasons why trees might affect us this way. Still, we’re going to focus on trees’ energy and the healing power, more specifically, how you can reap the same benefits of walking through a dense forest from a bonsai or seven in your home.
Humans and Energy
Humans are intensely energy-centric beings. Some go as far as to say we’re not human beings; we are souls and expressions of pure light inhabiting human bodies. While this might be a little bit of a stretch for most people to accept, there’s wisdom in realizing how much we rely on energy to keep our physical bodies in a state of peak health and what kind of impact negative energy has on us.
The easiest way to understand the impact of energy on human beings is to delve further into chakras. Understanding the existence of these seven energy centers in the human body and knowing how to determine if each one is aligned or not is integral to a healthy, happy human experience. One of the things chakras teach us is that we’re more in control of ourselves than most of us realize.
Chakras are the seven energy centers located within the body responsible for keeping us stable, happy, and open to the beautiful experiences that a life aligned to the cosmic energies of the universe has to offer. In Sanskrit, Chakra means wheel and refers to the idea that the seven energy centers spin in unison when they are aligned.
Even though energy centers are intangible in the physical sense in which we comprehend the world around us, energy dramatically affects how we process emotions and situations. This means if your energies are not aligned and you don’t have healthy energy flow through your body, it’s far easier to feel unstable, overwhelmed, anxious, and lost.
Stress and anxiety are not always internal; more often than not, we experience stress and anxiety because of external situations. But having better energy flow and feeling more stable allows us to accept the presence of external stressors as challenges rather than outrightly admitting defeat.
When your energy centers are aligned, you become a force of nature. Even though we experience the same stress and anxiety, we are better equipped to deal with them more healthily.
The Chakras
Root Chakra – Muladhara
Your root chakra, like the roots of a bonsai, is what connects you to the earth. Located at the base of your spine, your root chakra governs your most basic needs. When the root chakra is open and experiencing healthy energy flow, we feel grounded, secure, and able to withstand life’s challenges. This is the primal space where many spiritualists say confidence is seated.
When the root chakra is blocked or not open to the energies that flow through it, we might feel unstable, uncertain, and like we’re not standing on solid ground. In other words, we are then ungrounded. It’s challenging to deal with the sources of stress and anxiety when we don’t feel secure.
Sacral Chakra – Svadhisthana
The sacral chakra is located about 2 inches below your navel in your lower abdomen. This is the energy center governed by emotion, creativity, and sensuality. The sacral chakra has to do with all the facets of our emotional well-being, including our connection to our emotions and the emotions of those around us.
An aligned sacral chakra means increased feelings of joy and fulfillment. When the sacral chakra is unaligned, we often feel creatively stumped, and sometimes we can have doubts about our sensuality. This impacts self-worth and causes additional stress and anxiety.
Solar Plexus – Manipura
Located about two inches below the breastbone, your solar plexus is all about trusting your gut. Much like the sacral chakra, the solar plexus has a lot to do with expressions of self-confidence and trust in yourself and others.
An unaligned solar plexus might present with physical ailments such as a stomach ache or discomfort elsewhere in your diaphragm area. This is often the cause of that sick to the stomach feeling we get when something is so awful it physically makes us feel queasy. You might also be familiar with the knot in your stomach when something doesn’t feel right about a situation. An aligned solar plexus will leave you feeling confident in the decisions you make, stable, and sure of yourself.
Heart Chakra – Anahata
This chakra, quite understandably, is to do with the matters of the heart. The heart chakra governs our ability and willingness to give and receive unconditional love. In some traditions, the heart chakra also has connections with self-worth and psychic intuition, thereby being the energy source of the phrase follow your heart.
The heart chakra is found within your chest, near your heart. Your heart chakra might leave you with difficulties breathing, loneliness, and feeling unloved when it is blocked. We may also feel disconnected from those around us to a debilitating degree.
A balanced heart chakra significantly impacts your relationships and connections to other people and yourself. You’ll likely feel full of love, life, generosity, and empathy for the plight of others. This is an excellent state to be in and is one of the core principles of humanity.
Throat Chakra – Vishuddha
Your throat Chakra represents your connection to your voice. This relates to both your physical voice and your ability and willingness to voice your opinions, thoughts, and concerns to others. This means that your throat chakra is yet another energy center focused on self-worth. If you don’t feel secure in your self-worth as the fantastic, kind-hearted human being that you are, you might not feel that your thoughts have any value.
When your throat chakra is blocked, it could manifest as physical pain in your throat, the kind we usually reach for lozenges to treat. A balanced throat chakra has you feeling secure in your identity and confident that your voice should be heard. Your throat chakra can also either help or hinder your relationships and overall communication.
Third Eye Chakra – Ajna
This is usually everyone’s go-to when delving into chakras and spirituality. When we first hear of the third eye, most of us think it will enable us to see other people’s auras, intentions, and general energies. While this is not altogether wrong, it is definitely the wrong place to start. Your chakras are a rising energy flow.
This means that their general direction is always up. This is the journey from merely human connection to communing with the divine or the divinity within ourselves. When dealing with chakras, you should start at the root and work your way up. After all, a house can only be built on a solid foundation.
A blocked third eye has to do with overthinking and anxiety and can hinder our ability to see the bigger picture in our lives. We might feel stuck or like our lives are simply one day repeating the next. This energy center can also cause insomnia and memory disorders.
When your third eye is functioning at its peak or open, as we say, you’ll likely feel more secure on your chosen career path, relationship, or life path in general. You won’t be so easy to doubt yourself, and you’ll likely see the bigger picture and meaning in your life.
Crown Chakra – Sahasrara
This is our connection to divinity, whether the divinity we pray or the expression of divinity within ourselves. This is also a different source of love and wisdom. Located at the top of the head, the crown chakra governs our belief systems, spirituality, and journey of enlightenment.
A blocked crown chakra will leave you feeling aimless, lost, and likely very lonely. You won’t feel a particularly powerful connection to a higher power, and you’ll feel like life has no meaning. A connection with something greater than our physical material selves is integral to achieving inner peace and enlightenment. A blocked crown chakra could also present as a headache or migraine.
Bonsai and Energy
Bonsai is a fine art. Like any other artistic expression, nurturing a bonsai takes time. Bonsai’s, like anything else you put passion and effort into, also take on energy. This is not meant in the sense that keeping a bonsai is energy-intensive, but rather that, like any other living organism, they are subject to intense energy transference.
So how do we combine aligning our chakras with bonsais?
Visualization
Bonsais nurturing is a quiet practice. This is often something you do in a quiet space, with all your intention and focus on pruning your bonsai just right. Why not work a quiet meditation in with this peaceful process? This can be done with intention and visualization.
Visualize yourself as the bonsai. Use your mind’s eye to visualize pruning away your insecurity, doubt, anxiety, and anything else hindering you on your path to a happy, healthy life. When you water your bonsai, visualize the water as a cleansing potion or elixir and see it flowing into you through your bonsai. See it move through your root, up your spine, into your heart, throat, and mind, and see it move beyond you and connect you with your higher power.
Meditation
Mediation is essential to chakra maintenance. There are various sounds and mantras that are used to open and restore chakra energy flow that can be used while you tend to your bonsai. The sounds are easy to replicate and have a profound resonance with the human soul when done right.
Root Chakra – Lam
Sacral Chakra – Vam
Solar Plexus Chakra – Ram
Heart Chakra – Yam
Throat Chakra – Ham
Third Eye Chakra – Aum
These sounds are simple three-letter words that are repeated in succession. Some believe you should repeat them a certain number of times, but it’s also an excellent guide to repeat them until you feel that they have done their job in your body. You’ll likely feel calmer. The pronunciation of the ‘a’ each time is not as in ram, such as Dodge Ram, but rather rum, as in a pirate’s favorite drink.
Final Word
Bonsai keeping is an art like no other. Watching something grow and being responsible for its journey from cutting to fully-fledged bonsai is thrilling, exciting and most of all, fulfilling. No reason tending to a bonsai cant be used to support your spiritual health. Take it all one step further and grow seven bonsais at the same time, each in a stunning container corresponding to the beautiful colors associated with the seven chakras, and nurture each chakra as you groom each bonsai.
