Through the course of my 3+ year journey, I’ve dabbled in multiple complementary healing techniques in search of those that would serve me best: a green diet, various anti-inflammatory supplements, Chinese medicine, acupuncture, therapy, visualizations, and reiki.

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It’s the last of these that introduced me to the concept of chakras, literally translated as “wheels of energy,” and which represent various aspects of our consciousness according to ancient Hindu philosophy.

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The seven chakras start at the base of the spine and ascend through the crown of the head – I’ve come to think of them as progressing from physical security of the root chakra all the way through spiritual connection of the crown chakra just above your head. When energy is freely flowing through them all the way it is supposed to, you feel “aligned” – I’ve described the feeling as a bit like Tetris blocks falling into place, where things seem like they are coming together easily, and I find myself moving past any sources of stress or frustration with minimal angst.

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My therapist would sometimes reference chakras in our session, but most of what I’ve come to know has been a function of a handful of meditations, the links to which I will add below. I would listen to them as I drifted off to sleep; over time it started to feel like I would suddenly come to just in time to hear words that were meant for me – and eventually, if nothing else, I started to gain a deeper awareness of the various aspects of my consciousness, which made it easier and easier to figure out how to deal with life.

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I’m still a bit of a spiritual skeptic – but when I talk about the difference between being healthy and healed, understanding this philosophy became an important part of my journey beyond cancer – so if you’re interested (or even if you are just looking for something to help you fall asleep), I would encourage everyone to explore.

 

This is the 10-minute guided meditation with which I started – and eventually the 30 minute version from the same person became my most-often-used track to drift to sleep.

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Links to both are below (and feel free to explore her channel for many other meditations):

10 Minute Chakra Meditation (Daily Recharge) - YouTube

Chakra Meditation - Before Sleep ❤️️ Chakra Cleansing Healing ❤️️ Chakra Balancing - YouTube

 

Eventually, I happened upon this one, which has a much longer lead-in – you might prefer it if you mostly want something that will lull you into sleep.

Chakra Meditation for Balancing and Clearing, Healing Guided Sleep Meditation - YouTube

 

If you are interested in other guided meditations I used during my journey, I will be adding links to them shortly!