I have been re viewing my biological systems to decide which one needs what attention this year. I encourage you to do likewise. In Nigeria, we hardly take care of our bodies until they begin to ache, sometimes when it has become too late to help them. Last month, I told a septugenarian he was running his car to the mechanic’s probably every month and had only just thought of himself when he received from his doctor a shattering diagnosis. Do not imagine this is about the prostate gland or the colon. Ailments of these organs , like erectile dysfunction (ED), do not make much news these days. I am touching on something far more serious that I do not as yet have permission to discuss for the benefit of other aging men.
The chakras
So, what are the chakras that I ask their health be included in our 2026 Resolutions? They should be better understood from the outset if I state that there are TWO SCHOOLS OF HEALTH in the practice of Medicine and that chakra medicine is not well known in Nigeria. The basic schools are THE MECHANIST and VITALIST. The mechanists believe that man is his body, and nothing else. For them, the body comprises various tissues, organs and systems of all sorts , works synergically like a machine, and is controlled by the brain. To the MECHANISTS, everything is over when the system fails for whatever reason, and the body falls apart in what we call death. This is the foundation of Orthodox or Western medicine which doctors practice in our hospitals. The trend has been changing gradually though, with acknowledgements of MIND OVER MATTER in some cases.
Vitalists
This school of medicine holds the opposite view, separating the physical earth or dust body from MAN, who is said to be an immaterial, yet tangible consistency in a material cloak or garment which the body is said to be for it.
They say the body we are familiar with and literally worship even in the practice of Medicine is lifeless in the womb until the animating immaterial consistency, MAN, enters into it, glows through it and warms it up. According to this conception, the physical earth body falls back in death whenever it’s animating, immaterial core drops it or ceases to animate it, that is to give it existence.
According to an expert opinion: “The Mechanist and Vitalist Schools of medicine represent two distinct approaches to understanding health and disease
The mechanists View the body as a machine, focusing on physical and chemical processes in health and disease, often using reductionist approaches.
– Typically, they rely on conventional medical interventions like pharmaceuticals and surgery
“ On the other hand, vitalists see the body as a dynamic, holistic system with a vital energy or force.
They emphasize the interconnectedness of body, mind, and spirit in health and disease and focus on promoting balance, harmony, and self-healing within the individual. Often, they incorporate alternative or complementary therapies like acupuncture, herbalism, or homeopathy.
These two perspectives have shaped medical practices and philosophies, influencing how practitioners approach patient care”.
Nigerians and Asians
While Western European nations propagate the MECHANIST SCHOOL, the Asians and other parts of Eastern Europe look after their health under the VITALIST conception as well.
Being Africans, we cannot ignore the VITALIST view-point. Even our doctors trained in the Euro American MECHANIST SCHOOL cannot deny their roots, when the chips are down for them. The custodians of Nigerian Traditional Medicine (NTM) have a glimpse of the CHAKRAS, but are too moored in superstition and over-rely on the conception that DEMONS and PHANTOMS cause disease and death. I do not deny existence of DEMONS and PHANTOMS and the roles they play and will continue to play in disease and death. The question that has not been well asked and answered, in my view, is…WHERE DO THEY COME FROM? The disciples of VITALIST MEDICINE and CHAKRA MEDICINE point out to MAN that immaterial consistency inhabiting the earth body as the origin of demons, phantoms and the furies. CHAKRA MEDICINE explains, for example, why inferiority complex may cause paralysis in the legs and feet. It explains, also as another example, how the pain of loss of control over a situation may cause prostate gland and erectile dysfunction (ED) questions in men, uterine fibroids and gynaecological problems in women, and fertility questions in both genders. I gave hints of this chakra challenges in the first part of this column. Other problems such as those which worry the liver, intestine or cause diabetes or breast cancer in men and women are also explained, thereby de emphasizing superstition.
The seven chakras
A chakra is an energy vortex, something like a whirlpool or tornado, energy or power center. Asian medical wisdom describes such seven points or centers as points on the astral body ( or shall we say the soul of man ) through which the perishable physical body and the inhabitant within which animate it interface with each other, the inner man passing energy to the inert outer body, thereby giving it warmth and the possibility of existence.
These chakras or vortices are located 1) at the base of the spine, sacral region 2) pubis, region between the navel and the sacral region, 3) solar plexus region ( where the soul or the astral body is attached to the physical body by the SILVER cord, equivalent of the UMBILICAL CORD which connects a foetus in the womb to its mother), 4) The chest or heart region, 5) The throat, 6) The forehead or the third eye, and 7) The hallo of the head.
Tissues and organs in these parts of the body are said to receive etheric energy from the chakras or vortexes which govern them. In that regard, we may imagine a chakra as the Sun which governs our solar system. If the sun weakens or shuts down, all planets in our solar system will weaken or shut down.That is why chakras may also be likened to the neighbourhood ELECTRICITY TRANSFORMERS which connect our homes to the municipal electricity supply. When something goes wrong with the transformer and electricity supply to our home is cut off, no electrical appliance works. The things we keep in the freezer or refrigerator may lose integrity, spoil, be invaded by germs to disintegrate them in accordance with The Laws of Nature, become rotten and decay! That is what happens to our bodies when CHAKRAS or ENERGY VORTEXES shut down, sag or lose content and form. CHAKRA or ENERGY MEDICINE says chakras do so when our ATTITUDES or MIND SET is against natural phenomena and, thus, shuts down the chakra and prevents energy supply from them to the body. Thus, we can ask: What goes on in the mind of a man or of a woman that may impair or SHUT DOWN the SECOND CHAKRA and cause uterine fibroids or infertility questions or PROSTATE GLAND CHALLENGES?
School of life
We may not successfully answer the last question or any other related to other chakras without appreciating THE SCHOOL OF LIFE that earthly existence is said to be. I gave hints of this school of life in the first part of this column. I said we were to develop capabilities as lessons of life or wisdom every seven years from birth, and that each of the seven years represents a chakra class. If we do not learn the lessons in a particular class, we “ carry over the course” into the next or other classes. Thus, we may not be well grounded on earth and suffer, thereby, from inferiority complex from the cradle to the grave. We may also not understand the meaning of power and the concept of power relations which we are to learn from the age of 8 years to 14 years, and this may cause all kinds of emotional disturbances which may affect the uterus and prostrate gland, for example. We did not create ourselves or our world, says chakra teachings. Also, there is a purpose for everything, including man’s existence on earth. This purpose is for development or evolution from a semi-conscious spiritual germ or seed grain to a fully self conscious HUMAN BEING. As in earthly school with a curricular, the spiritual earth school has divided its own into SEVEN CHAKRA PHASES, each of which covers a period of SEVEN YEARS, NUMERAL SEVEN, being the most powerful number in numerology throughout the universe. Thus, there are lessons we are meant to learn and master every seven years of our lives. We move on to the next class, the next seven years in our calendar rating with a CARRY OVER “course” or “courses” if we did not make the mark in some lower classes. That is why, it is said, we may be 50 years old and not grown up, each of our failings causing CHAKRA animation difficulties which leave the respective organs WILTING or DYING, having been left energy- deficient. Had these organs any life of theirs, or was the body created to be independent of its animating core and the CHAKRAS , we would feel no pangs of aging for nutritional supplements alone would be able enough to weather any storms of energy cracks.
The first chakra
Also called ROOT CHAKRA or MULADHARA, it is located at the base of the spine between the anus and the genital. Its spinning wave of energy is RED, and that is why RED colour (dress, under brief or light) positively affect it. This energy center is corrected with the influences of SAFETY, SECURITY and GROUNDING. In a state of balance, it makes us feel confident, stable and, what’s more, well connected with our bodies and the earth. Remember we are not our bodies and that we may be partially or calamitously disconnected from them. We are meant to be well connected to both body and the earth, full of confidence, in the first seven years of our existence on earth. Watch babies. Early in their lives, they trust only their mothers, then, perhaps father’s and siblings before strangers.
First chakra education suggests that many of us lost groundedness in early life, and that this is why such persons are fearful, unstable, always feeling inferior in adult life, unable to look another person straight in the eye and put their feet down when they should. First chakra therapists say the problem begins when we do not fondly touch babies, cuddle them, massage them, make them to have skin-to-skin contact contact with us. Watch a baby who is sucking the mother’s breast. They fondly touch their mothers and smile at them.
It would sound strange to many persons that letting children walk barefoot during play outdoor contributes to groundedness. It is a part of CONNECTION with nature. What about playing with sand, mud, clay, rain water or chasing lizards and goats, chickens and birds. Gardening is also part of this connection. Does this suggest to us why “village” children outsmart “city” and “get inside” or “ butter” children later in life? As children, my generation dug cricket holes and hunted crabs by the river side. We dug up cocoyam, knew how to plant and could tell maize, mango or papaya was ripe on the vine. Did we not climb trees as well? My children rejected their beautiful cot. They lay on my belly to sleep. If they tried to sleep and I tried to ease them onto the bed beside me, they woke and cried. And guess what? They enjoyed me strapping them to my back. Many parents have no understanding of what information the developmental phases of a child are providing them, so they can help him or her. This is understandable because such information is rooted in the knowledge of re-incarnation which religion has robbed many of them of. There is none of us on earth at this time who is here for the first time. The bodies we have always come and are still in is derived from the highest developed animal. Thus, as babies, we must first live out cycles of animal existence cramped into a few months before we take on characterisation of HOMO ERECTUS, the earth-man, who in the animal bodies, causes it to stand erect. Some children who delay in sitting, crawling or walking may be suggesting a ROOT CHAKRA or foundational energy imbalance. Delays in physical milestones such as these could be expressing feelings of insecurity, fear or instability. From multi talented Barrister Olusola Sowemimo, organic farmer and wife of Mr Seyi Sowemimo (SAN), I learned in the 1990s when she was bringing up a class of children in spiritual education and groundedness in Nature that some children may need extra support to correct their first chakra imbalances. So, when a child delays in crawling at the right age, or declines to crawl on fours but on hands (or paws) and toes, knees suspended, the way a bear crawls, the parents should have quality play time with him or her crawling on all fours. A child with a prolonged birthing process was probably afraid to leave the safe world of the womb for the insecure world outside. We often assume erroneously that babies in the womb have no idea what is going on around their parents, especially their mothers. What a misconception! Thus, it is possible “delaying” babies are seeking “safe” landing”.
As I said earlier, children brought up in the villages tend to be more confident than city children. I was privileged to help to raise one of them as a foster daughter in the concrete jungle that Lagos is. She was 15, and was no match for older girls and boys around when matters had to be sorted out with guts and muscles. What surprised me one day was her response to an adult man who tried to jump the queue ahead of her. When he got in front of her, she squeezed herself past him. He said he would “slap” her. She replied that she, too, would slap him in return. Jeeringly, he asked her how she would do this, and she said she would climb the payment counter and do it. The man kept quiet and let go. This girl was not prococious. She was just courageous, well grounded and abhorred injustice. One other event I would also ever remember took place on the road beside my bedroom. I was writing an article on my bedroom desk and she was helping me with some books. I did not realise she was observing an event in the street through a window, and had sneaked out to partake in it. Her girlfriend was with a boy. Another girlfriend of hers came up and dealt the first one a slap across the face. The boy hit the intruding girl on the face, and she was crying. My foster daughter walked me right across to the boy and slammed her palm right across the face. The message was clear: Why would he hit one for another when he was central to both and roughening their emotions? We may say they were all acting above their ages in events they were physically immature for as teenagers. I took away the lesson of groundedness , that is CONNECTION with one’s body and the earth, and the TIMIDITY… a sign of fear, anxiety and lack of confidence, inferiority complex, or DISCONNECTION.
Many problems
In the lower back, hips, legs, SCIATIC nerves and feet we take for granted may be due to FIRST CHAKRA challenges. The examples include, but are not limited to “ fatigue or feeling ungrounded or difficulty standing feeling stable, anxiety or restlessness created the legs in risk of falls or fractures, circulatory issues in legs or feet, arthritis or joint pains in lower body and, in young persons, frequent falls or clawkiness may suggest “IMBALANCE”.
First (root) chakra nurture
The first chakra is the “SOCKET” in the Overself from which a “PLUG” in the body takes energy to nourish physical structures in the lower parts of the body. This chakra energy is said to physically manifest in RED COLOUR vibration, respond to RED clothes, under briefs, lighting and solarised water. To solarise water with RED ETHERS from the sun’s Rays, water is kept in a clear glass bottle for sunshine to fall upon.The bottle is covered with RED SUN FILTERS . The red sun filter blocks all but red ethers of the sun from entering the water. The ethers blocked are orange, yellow, Green, blue, indigo and violet. Only RED penetrates the water to make it medicinal water for unblocking first chakra blockage and strengthening the chakra.
Nowadays, QUANTUM ENERGY minerals from precious stones are also used in shoring up chakra energy pathway. That is why today in Nigeria we hear of such quantum energy companies as sairu, chymall, shine way and double plus, among others. Talking about colour red, which is the favourite colour of Nigeria’s Ibo population, is it surprising that, behaviourally, they are a well grounded people, effervescent, self confident, fearless and overcoming?
