By Jilly Shipway
Publication Date: December 8, 2022
208 Pages
I’m of the opinion that once you’ve read one or two books on chakras you’ve read them all and at some point you need to put what you know into practice. However, the spin on creativity with this book intrigued me so I decided to give it a go. I’m happy to report that I was mistaken; I had not read every book I needed to read on chakras and this just might be the only book you need.
The author does, indeed, focus on working with the chakras to enhance creativity, but the term “creative” is used fairly broadly here. She’s not just talking to painters and poets, but to anyone who wants to add or enhance any form of creativity and/or remove limiting blockages from their life.
The chakra specifics don’t start until about midway through the book. First, she walks the reader through the benefits of yoga and different forms of reading and writing meditations. She delves into her own history and how writing meditations have not only enhanced her creativity, but also serve as an outlet for trauma. (On a side note, I use writing meditation as a form of working out issues, but I’m not sure if I’d try to work out true trauma without the help of a professional). Regardless of my differing viewpoint, I did appreciate how in depth she shared and how she has used her own techniques beneficially.
Then we get into the actual chakras and yoga. For each chakra, she provides the physical location; element; color; yantra; seed mantra; affirmations; main creative concerns; how a balanced, excessive, or deficient chakra may act; life issues affected by that chakra; and healing practices. After that, she discusses how opening each chakra can help with creativity and provides a series of yoga poses, walking meditations, and writing meditations. I took time to work through the series of yoga flows for the root and sacral chakra and while I’m not a huge fan of following a yoga routine from a book, even a novice like myself had no trouble with the poses.
This might possibly be the only chakra book you’ll need. I’d have given it a full five stars if my copy contained the pictures (to help with the yoga poses) that will be in the final published product. As it is, I’ve bookmarked the rest of the chakra yoga practices to come back to once I’ve spent some time on the root and sacral chakra.
4.5/5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐+
Thank you to NetGalley and Llewllyn for providing the ARC ebook. I’ve left my review honestly and voluntarily.
Until next time, thank you for visiting.
Ann Dudzinski 