I have a few questions about energy raising and chakra stimulation.

[Jarrod]

I've been doing energy raising and chakra stimulation as described by Robert Bruce for a few weeks now and I have some questions I'd like to ask more experienced people.  Currently I can't actually feel much of what's going on when I do these exercises.  I can feel a slight sensation like a more prolonged shiver (rabbit running down your spine) but nothing definite or precise or localized.  I've never been very energetically sensitive.  I can make rather week psiballs and feel them pretty well with my hands but that's the only way I can feel energy really well.  Does energy raising and chakra stimulation still work if you can't feel what's going on?  I mean, is it just the focus that's required, or do you need to feel it too?  Can I expect my sensitivity to energy to increase as I keep doing these exercises?  And is a person's level of sensitivity to spiritual energy directly connected to their level of chakra development?

I'd also like to clarify my understanding of the actual chakras themselves.  So, there are 7 major chakras in the upper body and many more little ones running all the way down to your feet.  The natural path of energy through your body is up through your feet and out your head.  And you can develop them with energy work or dealing with your emotional issues or even through physical practices like yoga.  The major chakras and their correlations go thus:

Name         Physical location      Emotion it deals with     Emotional blockage                                                            Element
Base          - base of spine         - survival                   - fear                                                                              - Earth
Sacral        - groin area             - pleasure                   - guilt (concerning own perception of self)                             - Water
Solar Plexis  - stomach              - will                          - shame (concerning how others see you)                              - Fire
Heart         - heart...duh           - love                         - grief                                                                              - Air
Throat        - throat                 - truth                        - lies/deception (of self and others, relative to own perception) - ?
Third Eye    - center of forehead - insight                      - illusion (relative to absolute truths)                                    - ?
Crown        - top of head           - ?                         - ?                                                                             - ?

Is all that pretty much right?  Sorry to ask so many questions

[Stookie]

I would start with simple energy work and being able to feel it before moving onto chakras. When starting energy work, it's best to start with your feet, and do like Bruce suggests with the wrapping and brushing and sponging, making sure to cover every part of the skin/surface, muscles, tissue, tendons, bones. If you're properly engaging your awareness, you should start to feel it. It may be tingly at first, and even move up to feeling fluid. Then you want to use the same techniques to draw that feeling up into your ankles. Don't move further until you feel it move it's way up. If you're not feeling much, move back down to your feet and start from there again. The better you get at feeling it, the more you'll be able to move it upwards and also recognize blockages, as the energy tends to get "stuck" and not move through those places.

When you can move it through your legs and hands and arms and back and head and chest and organs & muscles & tissue without much blockage, start doing full-body circuits.

But in my case, yes, it's important to feel it, and feeling it is directly associated with awareness.

Anyone, feel free to include anything I may have left out.

[Jarrod]

Thanks Stookie.  It does feel a little silly doing it without feeling much of anything.  I haven't actually read any of Bruce's books, just an online article he wrote, so I'm not sure what you mean by wrapping and brushing and sponging.  Is that using the tactile awareness, like the awareness of a body part that thinking about touching it with your hand automatically causes?  So I just need to be aware of my feet like that, outside and inside, until I start to feel something?  And should my feet be on the ground when I do that or does it really matter where they are?

[Stookie]

I don't think it matters where your feet are, but it's mostly recommended to not keep your arms or legs crossed. Either sitting in a chair or lying down is fine. Here's his directions on tactile sensations (wrapping, brushing, etc.):

http://www.astraldynamics.com/home/new-energy-ways/using-new-full-tutorial/76-part-5-energy-body-stimulation.html

and here's the full tutorial:

http://www.astraldynamics.com/home/new-energy-ways/using-new-full-tutorial.html

Don't skip any steps. 

[personalreality]

i'm of the other camp, that all you need is to focus your attention there.

the sensations come in time.  your sensitivity will increase with practice as well.  i know RB says you can do it anytime, but i found that the sensations were stronger if i did it in a light trance/meditation.

[Stookie]

That's what tactile imagery is for - it's like a trick to force your awareness to that particular area. It's all about awareness and localizing it where you choose to. I'm one of those people that do it while standing in lines sometimes. Even if energy work isn't really "energy", it's still an amazing practice with awareness and becoming more aware of every part of your body, in and out. By routinely moving awareness through every part of your body helps you become more aware of all kinds of subtle things that you normally wouldn't. I suppose most metaphysical practices do, but in this case it's deliberate and to the point.

And the tactile awareness is just at the beginning for learning the accompanied sensations. As you become familiar with the sensations, all you have to do is think about them to bring them back without all the other work.

But yes, relaxed in a light trance is probably the best.

[Jarrod]

Stookie, you mentioned moving the feeling around in my hands and arms also.  So can I draw it into my body through my hands or since the path of energy is supposed to be from the feet up should I always start at the feet and move to other places in my body from there?

[Jarrod]

I read those articles and did the first big toe exercise, and then remembered that for the past month or so, for some reason, when I wake up in the morning both my big toes are slightly numb.  Think that has to do with something energetic or maybe just some other random physical cause?

[Stookie]

Stookie, you mentioned moving the feeling around in my hands and arms also.  So can I draw it into my body through my hands or since the path of energy is supposed to be from the feet up should I always start at the feet and move to other places in my body from there?

I would just follow Bruce's instructions exactly as he has them on his site. You start with you feet and draw it up from there, and you can do your hands and arms the same way. When you move onto the full body circuit, the energy you bring up from your feet you have meet with the energy coming through your arms at your shoulders. But you should get comfortable with the sensations and general movement before you start that. Bruce has more detailed description on his site.

[Jarrod]

Wow.  I did it the way Bruce explains a few times on my feet and I can feel my awareness moving around in my toes now    I like actually feeling it.  It makes it seem much more real.

[Stookie]

Awesome! Keep it up and start working towards a full-body circuit and get rid of any blockages and be on your way to working on chakras. Take your time and be sure to enjoy the process.

[CFTraveler]

Just to add a couple of things  about the metaphysical elements and the energy centers-
The heart center is the axis of the energy body, the center which is supposed to combine the lower and higher chakras, so even though the 'main' element is supposed to be air, it is supposed to have all the elements in it, since the heart usually doesn't work 'all by itself'.  When you feel love there can also be things like sexual interaction (water) and if you are jealous there is both mental (third eye) and power-solar plexus (fire) involvement.  The heart center is about expressing higher energy (Love with a capital L) with lower energy- expressed love in the earth, since love is usually expressed, not just felt.
The throat combines air and vibration to cause voice, so it would be mostly air, and any other element depending on what you are talking about (your emotions as you talk, etc.)  For example, if you're angry there would be some fire in the mix, etc.
As to the third eye and crown elements, the element would be akasha or quintessence- which is not necessarily physical, although it exists in all the elements.  These are the chakras that pertain to thinking and god-consciousness, so the element is abstract.

That's it, I think.
 

[personalreality]

that was a really good job at explaining the heart center cft.

i always make that sound so complicated that i get confused.

[Jarrod]

I still don't really understand the elements.  I mean, what's the reasoning behind them? All things physical are supposed to be composed of the four elements right, but why four, and why those four?  Is that just the old classical understand and they're mostly thought of as symbolic categories now?

[Xanth]

I still don't really understand the elements.  I mean, what's the reasoning behind them? All things physical are supposed to be composed of the four elements right, but why four, and why those four?  Is that just the old classical understand and they're mostly thought of as symbolic categories now?

Whoa... now you've gone back to the dark ages. 

Obviously things aren't "created" using the "four elements".  That's old world, medieval education as far as I'm concerned.

We know that what we see as the objects infront of us are comprised of atoms.  Even the four elements.
Then those atoms are broken down into smaller constituents, then those are broken down even further.