That is, until I connected with Erica Matluck, N.D., N.P. of Seven Senses, who seeks to help people heal from ailments past and present, conscious and unconscious, using the chakras as guides. There are a lot of things that are special about Matluck’s approach, but what I find the most valuable is her emphasis on acknowledging how different phases of life leave many of us wounded, but by acknowledging those wounds we can start to use them as attributes. She uses chakras as a framework to think about our past and how much of it we are carrying with us, for better or for worse. Earlier this year, I joined Matluck for a seven-day total immersion in the chakras (psst—she has another one coming up in Italy!) and walked away better equipped to deal with a block that I (and the vast majority of people, I’d imagine) sometimes deal with: chronic stress. Stress relates to the first three chakras in particular since these are the ones where our shadows, or the darker sides of ourselves that we tend to repress, are thought to reside. Here are a few chakra-centric ideas and exercises that have helped me reframe stressful moments as opportunities to learn a little more about myself and my tendencies. “The mostly unconscious tension we’re dealing with in that time of our lives is attachment, which is necessary for survival, and authenticity, which is expressing what’s true for you,” she explains. She gives the example of a toddler crying for apple juice and being given milk. They instinctively wanted one thing but were given another. Then, they internalized the message that they needed to quiet some of their desires in order to fit in and be safe. It happens to everyone, and this isn’t to say that parents should be giving their kids apple juice all the time, but it can ingrain this idea that in order to be safe, to be rooted, you need to give up a little part of yourself. Moving into adulthood, that can lead to frustration, a lack of authenticity, and a fair amount of stress about how you’re being perceived in the world. “For so many people, fears limit them from living that great, authentic life. It’s a big one that drives stress because in adulthood we find ourselves in relationships we don’t want to be in but are scared to leave or are in a job we don’t love but are scared to leave. It tends to be these unconscious fears that keep us in jobs or situations we don’t want. That’s the work of the root,” Matluck explains. Exercises for the root chakra: Here are some exercises that Matluck recommends for getting to the root (no pun intended) of this chakra and overcoming some of the fear you’ve been holding on to since early childhood: When negative emotions about ourselves or others come up, it’s human nature to want to silence them or run away. But the work of the sacral is sitting with feelings of shame, stress, or sadness without fumbling to distract yourself. It’s also about differentiating the emotions that belong to you from the ones that belong to others. This can be a challenge, especially for highly sensitive people who pick up on everyone’s energy all the time—but it’s worth it. “When you can differentiate between your feelings and the feelings of others, that level of awareness will change your life,” says Matluck. “You won’t need to change what other people are doing. It’s a change that comes from within.” Exercises for the sacral chakra: It’s no surprise that mindfulness techniques like meditation can help you with this emotion-driven sacral chakra. Here are some to try out: Forging a healthier relationship with this chakra means accepting all sides of yourself, even those that you’ve deemed troublesome in the past. “The theme of self-acceptance comes up. It’s really a re-evaluation of who you are,” says Matluck. “Instead of thinking of these parts of ourselves as limitations, can we make them our gifts?” An exercise for the solar plexus chakra: There’s something really beautiful in accepting your flaws, instead of working through them or pushing them away as we’re often told. One way to do it is by spending a few minutes writing a “fix-it list” for yourself filled with qualities you don’t like. Then, reframe each one as a positive. So a perceived flaw like “I have trouble saying no to other people” becomes “I care about others so much and always try my best to make them happy.” From that perspective, it’s really nothing to stress about at all. Emma received her B.A. in Environmental Science & Policy with a specialty in environmental communications from Duke University. In addition to penning over 1,000 mbg articles on topics from the water crisis in California to the rise of urban beekeeping, her work has appeared on Grist, Bloomberg News, Bustle, and Forbes. She’s spoken about the intersection of self-care and sustainability on podcasts and live events alongside environmental thought leaders like Marci Zaroff, Gay Browne, and Summer Rayne Oakes.
