Remedying a Community Through Ritual With Mara Branscombe
Yoga, meditation, mysticism, and ritual are at the heart of Mara Branscombe’s Ritual as Remedy.
Leaning Into the Back Side of Your Chakras
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Nourishing the back-body chakras is like leaning back into a waterfall of grace.
Living in balance has never come easily for me. I always default to output versus input; being productive versus resting; offering assistance versus asking for help. As I’ve gotten older and struggled with health issues related to prolonged stress, I’ve made more time for self-care, but staying in balance is still a daily challenge. Thankfully, I’ve recently discovered a delightful practice that is helping me shed my habitual patterns and gain access to a boundless source of nourishment: consciously channeling loving life-force energy into my chakras through my back body.
Chakras are the power centers in our bodies first written about in ancient Vedic Hindu texts thousands of years ago. We each have seven of them: the first is the root chakra (located at our tailbone), then comes the sacral chakra, solar plexus chakra, heart chakra, throat chakra, third eye chakra, and the seventh is the crown chakra, located just above the top of our head. When energy flows freely through all of our chakras, we experience greater physical and emotional health and vitality, as well as a more conscious connection to the Divine.
Tending the Power Source
“In Western societies, most of us live from the front side of our chakras, engaging with the world through the front of our head, throat, heart, belly, and pelvis,” explains Wendy De Rosa, founder of the School of Intuitive Studies and author of the new book Becoming an Empowered Empath: How to Clear Energy, Set Boundaries & Embody Your Intuition. “It is through the front body that we interact with others, form attachments, and organize our thoughts—activities associated with the ego that are very influenced by our particular life circumstances and conditioning.
Over time, giving and receiving primarily through the front body can be very depleting. In contrast, the back side of our chakras is where we source universal power and nourishment from the Divine.”
In other words, the back body is about input versus output.
When we’re nourished from the back body, the front sides of the chakras can stop working so hard and come back into the body. With better balance, we have more ease, energy, and healthier boundaries.
The 7 Chakras, Front & Back
“The root chakra is about survival, safety, and trust, but when you lean into the back side, it’s about receiving and abundance—the ability to feel safe and grounded here in the physical world,” says De Rosa. “For the sacral chakra, the front is about sexuality, creativity, and emotions, while the back side is about trusting the flow of life. The front of the solar plexus chakra is about identity and taking action in the world, and the back is about confidence—the ability to feel that we are backed by Source and grace so we can manifest our true calling in the world.”
Traveling up the body, the front of the heart chakra is about kindness and compassion, and the back is about self-love and hearing our heart’s true calling. The throat chakra’s front side is about expression, while the back side is about deeply intuitive listening. The front of our third eye chakra is about thoughts, imagination, and wisdom, while the back side is where clairvoyance comes in. The crown chakra—which sits right above our head—doesn’t have a front and back side. This chakra is about faith, divinity, and infinite potential.
A Waterfall of Grace
De Rosa teaches us to nourish and balance all of our chakras by visualizing a waterfall of grace—a cascading river of light and life force energy—flowing down through the entire back side of our bodies.
“Lean back and surrender to the waterfall. Feel how cleansing and purifying it is. Encourage your front body to relax as you consciously breath in this divine support, peace, and comfort—a boundless source of love that fully penetrates you, balances you, and helps you trust in the natural flow of life.”
Please enjoy Wendy De Rosa’s Waterfall of Grace chakra balancing guided visualization here and in the video below.
About the Author
Myra Goodman is an award-winning author and founder of Quest for Eternal Sunshine, a platform offering free resources to support people in their quest for wisdom, healing, and self-discovery. Her most recent book, Quest for...
Spiritual Practices
