Intro to Chakra Course, use code MAGIC for a discount: https://library.mollydonlan.com/chakras-intro

0:01Welcome to Demystify Magic with Molly and Madison.I'm Molly, a former skeptic turned full time energy healer and teacher.And I'm Madison, a born and raised witch running my family's crystal shop.And we're here to explore all things woo through the lens of both science and spirituality, so that you can find the moments of magic in your everyday life and create an intentional spiritual.0:19Practice.So if that's what you're into, find a cozy spot, take a deep breath, and let's demystify some magic.Howdy Doody Day.Howdy Doody Day.Is it a Howdy Doody day, Madison?I mean, it is now if it wasn't before.0:35It is now we are starting our long-awaited series.We are talking all about the chakras, the energy centers.We're going to go through an introduction today.So kind of like the way that we approach the chakras, kind of the history of the chakras, what they are, how they impact us.0:53You know, what do you need to know?And then we're going to dive into seven episodes, one for each of the major energy centers on the spine.So you will have some rituals, some ways to tell whether your chakra is imbalance or out of balance, how that might show up in your life, and ways that you can find balance.1:13Once again, I'm very excited about it.Yeah, and if you're not excited, I have bad news.It's going to be a long two months.We've never committed to a project for this long, so hope you like it.Hope you like it.1:32I will also say too, I'll put like a very shameless plug in here, but I do have a whole course called the Intro Chakras.So if as you're listening to the series, you're looking for guidance around any of these practices.And I made it like 4 1/2 years ago with my good friend Chris, who's also a a teacher and a guide and just overall great person.1:53And it has guided tutorials like from meditations to physical practices, yoga postures, like if you want to deep dive geek out science and you are more of like a visual learner.Highly recommend.And if you use the code magic, you get a cute little discount.2:12So the link to that will be in the show notes of all these episodes.I won't harp on it too much because we all know you're here for the the Banter of 2024, but it is available to you if you want the Banter of 2020 in your ears.So wild to think about. 2020 is when you made that, I know.2:30The banter of 2020.I always like to say that course sowed the seed for where I am now because I remember OK just to lay lay the land for you.Sorry, I'm like derailing this already, but what else it was so.We're derailed within 3 minutes.It was such a pivotal moment in my life and in my business because I very distinctly remember it happening.2:50My friend Chris and I took over ownership of the yoga studio that we were teaching at Pre Kovid.And we were trying really hard to keep it alive.And the Intro to Chakra series was like this idea that we had to basically like send our members a weekly practice that they could do.3:08And so our philosophy has always been like less is more.You know, 2 minutes a day is more of effective than 60 minutes once a month.But the irony is Chris and I were spending hours putting this together every week.Hours like, like filming for like 5-6 hours a week with our friend Drew and like recording meditations and like constantly sourcing articles and like doing so much and then sending people two hours worth of content like every week.3:36And we're like, why is no one doing this?Like, and the irony was the content was like, here's how to take this information and build it into your daily life rather than needing to spend 2 hours practicing every week.And that was really where I was like, Oh, if I teach the way in alignment with the way that I actually practice, people will resonate with it more.3:59So I start making short form video.And that's how that's how my business as it is now got started.So if you want to see the, the seeds that eventually grew into the oak tree that is demissed by magic and all the things that we do, that that course has a very special part in my, in my life.4:16And I could, I could talk all about just behind the scenes of making it.There are there are skits.I I will say that there are skits, you know.In it, it's the only like content of yours I think that I haven't consumed and skits just sold me Yeah, I might be using Code Magic this afternoon.4:33It's.Literally my favorite part.It's just the the best part.OK, all right, one last sidetrack and then and then we're gonna go.It's my greatest act of manifestation.When we were recording the heart chakra skit, I do this like bit where I basically like pretend to be a TikTok celebrity.4:51And when I recorded it, I had like 1100 followers and I was just like, I'm famous on TikTok, blah, blah, blah.And you've got to put your heart into it.I don't remember what the whole skit was.A week later, my TikTok blew up and I had half a million followers literally a week after I recorded that.5:12So if you want to see, if you want to be like I knew her when, watch that.All right.Anyway, Madison, what was your magic moment?Oh, I forgot, we haven't even done that part.Yet I'm, I'm sorry, I just, I, I get really excited about that course.I don't talk about it much.So I get to geek out here and now.5:28My magic moment this week is that I do indeed now have air conditioning.Can confirm she looks less tomatoey today.Thank you.Still a little red, but that's just my natural complexion.It was a long, long 19 days in the heat.5:48Oh, and for those listening who live in the South, you know it's been a hot summer already.I lost AC in May.I got AC back in.Mid June.Rough.Extremely rough.In Central Florida so I know I do not take it for granted and I did learn that air conditioning is not a protected right in my state.6:10So I will be contacting my local legislation because I like everyone in my life, was like oh just don't pay rent.Like just don't pay rent.I was like that's just not how this works.Like I can't, there's no promise of AC even though I live in what some call Satan's asshole.6:30That's what I call it.Some looking right at her.So my magic moment is sitting here in front of you, not looking like a veggie tale.What was your magic moment?My magic moment is I have a new favorite book series.6:49I have AI have a new favorite book series.I I know it's my favorite book series because I looked at my Goodreads account and I read all four books in 13 days.The last one I read in a almost a single day.It was like a 48 hour Sprint.I literally the last like 2 hours of the the book I was pacing my living room and like sobbing and gasping and like leaning against the wall because I could not handle the emotional reaction that my body was having to the text.7:19I know when you're like deep in a book series, when the way that we communicate completely and totally changes.I'm like, oh, I haven't heard from Molly in six hours.And then I get 12 messages all at once of like everything that you've done over the day.And also what you're doing right now, which is reading.7:36It's always messages about how you can't do anything because you all you can think about is reading.That's how I feel right now about Bridgerton.I finally started with Bridgerton.I know I'm approximately 18 years late to that phenomenon but I've been seeing clips on TikTok of the newest season and I'm like OK fine I'll start it.7:56And I can confirm, I know everyone's been waiting on my review of Bridgerton.On baited breath, waiting.It is just as good as everyone says it is.And I truly like, I had a thought last night, 'cause I was trying to go to sleep and I was just thinking about like what was going to happen in the next episode.8:11And I was like, oh, this is the feeling that that Molly's having right now.Like we're having such completely different experiences, but also same same.Yeah, so the series is called Kingdom of Lies.The first book is called A Court This Cruel and Lovely, and it's by Stash Stashia Stark.8:31I don't know, something like that.It's incredible.It's like if you liked Akatar, it's like Akatar on like caffeine.It's so good.It's OK.Here's the premise.Without giving anything away.There's a Kingdom shocking where the humans all have to give up their power at birth to the gods because the gods saved them from the fairies.8:57And like, some were.And so when they turn 25, they get their power back.But for some reason, some humans can't give their power up.And so if they are found to have power, they are considered corrupt and they are killed.And so it is, you know, there is like political drama, there's war, there are fairies, there's smut.9:20It's just there's a badass female main character who is not a damsel in distress.It's just really good.I will tell you, the first eight chapters are kind of a nympho dump, but you need it because otherwise the rest, like the concept of the world doesn't make sense until you get past that info dump.9:38And then you will fall in love with the characters and then you will just never look back.So I've recommended it to everyone on my Instagram and everyone who's reading it is in my DMS being like, you were not wrong, this is really good.And the only person who doesn't like it is Madison.So yeah, sorry.9:54I'm gonna go back to it, maybe when I'm like, in better reading spirits.I like I tried to get her out of her funk, that whole.Reason that Molly is giving you the disclaimer about those first eight chapters is that I gave up on the 8th chapter.I was like, I can't do this.I'm not.I'm not interested in this right now and.10:11I literally messaged you and I was like chapter 8.I have fallen in love with these characters.I will now be hyper focused on this for the next 13 days.And I said no thank you.It's on Kindle Unlimited, so if you have that, it's.Yeah, low stakes if you have.Yeah, very low stakes KU.10:28So anyways, that has been my hyper focus.I feel like, you know how people talk about fiction can take you out of the real world into like a whole new world.I feel like I finally experienced that.Yeah.Like I was able to just like, melt into the pages.10:45Like my ADHD had nothing on me.It was amazing.I was impressed because you read the first Hunger Games book and then read this series and then read the second Hunger Games book.I was like, if that can get you away from The Hunger Games.Well, to be fair, I had to wait for my library loan for Catching Fire.11:02That's.True, I forgot about that.Yeah, yeah, yeah, I am currently reading that.So anyway, why don't we dive right in?Let's dive right in after 20 minutes of chatter.I just always think about that one review we got where someone was like you talked about nothing for 14 minutes and then our whole.11:20And.Everyone on Instagram was like, that's my favorite part and you've created this monster.All of you listening who like this.You've made your bed, now you must lie in it and listen to us talk about nothing for 14 minutes.Yeah, yeah.And maybe you'll get a book wreck out of it.11:37I don't know.If you listen, if you listen or read the book, slide into my DMS.I I need someone to talk about it with and I need to know if you love it as much as I do and.It's unfortunately, I'm sorry, not going to be me.Rough rough rough rough rough rough.11:52Anyways, where do you want to start?You want to start with what what chakras are or the history.All right, let's start with what the chakras are.You'll also hear Molly and I pronounce the word differently.My understanding is that there's no right or wrong way, but you could tell me that I've been pronouncing it wrong.12:08Molly's looking at me with AI don't know face so.Well, I will say here's, here's what I know.So we're going to talk about this when we talk about the history, But a lot of my early introduction to the chakras were through like my, my yoga teachers.12:24And they all said chakras.And then I studied with a yoga teacher who actually is Hindu and kind of like grew up in, in the culture that yoga and all of this comes from.And she let us know that it's pronounced chakras.And so, I mean, there's lots of, you know, there's chakras, there's chakras, there's chakras, there's, you know, there's so many different ways.12:46I have an accent, as we've talked about, so I'm sure I'm not even pronouncing it correctly.But yeah, there's there's.Well I love that you've just let me be loud and wrong our whole friendship.I'm sorry, I love you.Never once a correction.Sorry, I, I don't like correcting people because as we're gonna talk about, we might as well just get fucking into this.13:07But as we talk about Madison and I had this long conversation before we started recording about like cultural appropriation.And we knew we wanted to like address that in this episode.Cause we've talked about it on the pod before.It's something we care deeply about.And it's something that you care about.If you listen to this, likely many of you, some of you, maybe not, I don't know, skip past this, but I think as as someone who you know is white American, grew up in in, in privilege of many, many kinds.13:38I feel really weird when I am asked to be the authority on like whether or not something is cultural appropriation.And I feel like pronunciation falls into that, at least the way that like it was described to me by this, this teacher that I worked with.It was specifically like a cultural appropriation class like workshop on like how to not appropriate yoga and the chakras were in it.13:59And she talked a lot about, you know, how pronunciation and like understanding the language behind the words you're actually saying is one way that you can honor the culture rather than appropriate it.And so it's important to me because I had that context to try to pronounce them as correctly as possible.14:16But I also don't feel like I'm the right person to be like you're saying it wrong because like, that is not my.I don't speak the language fluently enough to be able to say that, you know what I mean?Well, I'll be changing my pronunciation and you have permission to correct me in private.14:35Sorry, sorry, I will say too, like this is a great example of like you can constantly be learning.Like when I made the intro to chakras course I was talking about I I had pronounced it through the entire course chakras.And I even like a year after I put the course out, made a an update video.14:54That's like the first video you see in the course where I say like, hey, I just like learned I've been pronouncing this wrong for the last five years.And so you're gonna hear me pronounce it wrong.Here's the correct pronunciation.And I think that's like at the heart, people always ask like they have concerns about cultural appropriation and they want to do right by the original culture.15:15And I think that is the example of that I try to set is that, you know, as a, as a practitioner who is white American, privileged in many ways, who did not grow up in the, the culture that these practices come from, who tries my best to learn from the original sources.15:34I'm not gonna be perfect and you're never gonna be perfect.And the goal of your practice is not to be perfect.The goal is to do no harm.But sometimes we will unintentionally, you know, do wrong.And so it's a matter of what do you do about it?When when someone tells you, do you continue to dig your heels in the sand and say like, oh, I've been pronouncing this wrong my entire life, I'm going to keep doing it because all of these things and blah, blah, blah.16:01Or are you going to go, you know what, now that I know I'm going to, I'm going to correct myself and it's going to be difficult and it's going to be weird for a little while and it might be awkward, but here's why I'm doing it and I'm going to be open about it.And I think that's the approach that I take to practices like this where, you know, we were talking about a kind of wanting to address like the cultural appropriation and things like that.16:26And even though the truckers are not a closed practice, they're open for for anyone to work with.There's some nuance to it that we are not gonna be the experts in.Yeah, I think Long story short, the best way to move through that is to be open to being wrong.16:44Yeah.And we are open to being wrong.And I hope you are open to being wrong.And we implore you to give it a GOOG.Do give it a GOOG.Yeah, do some of your own noodling on it.Yeah, I, I remember when I first started kind of like, 'cause my, my number one concern when I first started working with the chakras with cultural appropriation.17:03And there's so much like dialogue about it online.Most of it's unhelpful, to be honest.We were just talking about how like the first couple articles that come up on Google are like angry white people.And I'm like, I just don't, I have a hard time like taking cultural appropriation lessons from like angry white people who like are not learning from the people of the culture that it comes from.17:26And there's not a lot of readily available resources that are not that are more closer to the source.Yeah.And I think a lot of that often comes from the fact that we know algorithms prioritize white voices.17:42Yeah.And angry white people are often the loudest people in the room, and so they're the ones getting the attention.And so I think that's also where a lot of this discomfort for us comes from in talking about cultural appropriation, is that we don't want to be another angry white person taking taking space from someone who is actually an expert in their own culture.18:05Yeah.So what I will say about specifically about the chakras and like the research that I've done over the years with regards to appropriation is that the the history of the chakras is that I guess we're diving right into the history.18:20But we never explained what they were.Well, we'll come back, OK?We're already on the roll, OK?The concept of chakras arose in the early traditions of Hinduism and from the very start, the beliefs differ between different religious texts, between the Indian religions, the Buddhist texts, they consistently mentioned 5 chakras, while Hindu sources reference six or seven.18:46There's also sources that mention like even more than that.So the first, the first original kind of like mention of the chakras is in a text called the Vedas.And my understanding is that there's no perfect translation of that text.And so a lot of the origins of this, you know, energetic map of the body has been changed and altered to fit our modern day life.19:13And it's definitely like the way that we talk about chakras is is a much more westernized version, right?Like the original text of the chakras, they didn't have physical or emotional correspondence, they didn't have color associations, They didn't even have specific locations in the body.And so that's very much kind of come out of the last, you know, I don't know how many years, 100 years, and definitely have been like warped.19:36And now that we know more about like the physical body and the connection with the physical and the emotional body, like the chakras have kind of fit into that a little bit more.So we can call it like more westernized chakras than like the original text, but we don't actually know like what the original text says.19:55And even that is sort of like, you know, differs based on based on the culture you come from.I will say that.Every single culture on our planet has an energetic map of the body just called something different.You know, like we have the chakras, but then you know, in, in Japan it's it's Qi or Ki.20:15In China, it's traditional Chinese medicine, right?The meridians.There's lots of different energetic maps.So we're all talking about the same thing, just with different words.And so it comes down to like, if the word chakra is uncomfortable for you, you can just use the word energy center.20:33Like sometimes I will sub that out because that's really what we're talking about.And that's a really great segue to talk a little bit more about like what chakras actually are 'cause they are energy centers in the body that align down the length of your spine.I'm giving a physical presentation as if you can see me.20:49But I just so you know, I started at the top of my head and I went down to my spine.Just imagine me sweeping my hand.And.They, there's seven of them in this kind of westernized idea of what chakras are.And so that's what we're going to talk about because that's kind of what we have the information and the knowledge on and what we've worked with in our personal practices.21:12And so those seven energy centers align with certain emotional properties, parts of the body, and even like physical ailments or like physical sensations, I guess is a better word for that.Like it's common that if your solar plexus chakra is out of balance that you'll have some tummy issues, things like that.21:35And so each of those energy centers have a color association, an emotional association, and a physical association.Yeah, yeah.And I think it's, it's a very cool way.I, I always teach this in my Reiki one class about like I see the chakras.21:52As for me, it was the bridge between the Wu and the science because I couldn't deny some of the connections that I was seeing.And I will say too, there are more than just 7 chakras.We have like minor chakras on your hands and your feet and there's like, I don't know, like 100 and something of them.22:08But we're gonna talk about the seven major because those are the ones that you're most likely to hear about.And the way that I describe kind of how the chakras work is through a model that I call the triangle of healing.And if you have listened to our not just Woo woo, the Science of How Reiki Works episode, which was our third episode and most popular episode.22:29So if you haven't listened to that, queue it up.I do go into this a little bit, but just as a recap, imagine a a triangle and at one of the points is your physical health and another point is your emotional health.And then the Third Point is your energetic health or your chakras.22:46All of these points are affected by and affecting each other.So very an example I love to give is the root chakra.OK, it's at the base of your spine.It corresponds to the base of your spine, down the legs to the feet, your connection to the earth.23:04And energetically, it's connected to the sense of safety, security and belonging.And so when we are out of alignment with this energy center, we can experience fear.Now, when your brain experiences fear, when you have the emotional reaction of fear, one of the things that your brain does is it sends less oxygen to your low back, which affects your sciatic nerve.23:30So it can create pain at the base of your spine all the way down your legs because the the sciatic nerve wanders down the legs towards the feet.The sciatic nerve is exactly where like we can conceptualize the root chakra to be.23:45So you can see how if the root is out of balance, I experience fear emotional, and then that affects the physical body through the sciatic nerve physical and then that affects the root chakra energetic.So you can see how this triangle kind of comes together.24:01And then you mentioned like the solar plexus.Solar plexus is at the sternum.So like kind of the top of the abdomen, right where your, your diaphragm is essentially.And it's your power center.So it's your confidence, your willpower.24:19It's this very fiery energy.And so if we think about, OK, when I don't feel confident, when I don't feel in my power, what do I experience?I might experience anxiety, right?Where do I experience anxiety?In the abdomen, yes, but also in the diaphragm because when your brain is feeling anxious, you don't take big full breaths into your diaphragm.24:43You breathe up into the chest and then that activates your sympathetic nervous system, which tells your brain you're being chased by a tiger, which creates that anxiety response in the physical body.So we can see how all of these kind of like parts connect together, physical, energetic and emotional.25:00And through the course of the series we're gonna, I'm gonna if you like, if you like that geeking out connection, don't worry.I'm gonna give you one for each of the chakras so that you can really conceptualize and see like, oh, I'm having tummy issues or I'm having anxiety or I'm having foot pain.25:15I wonder what that could be connected to.It's my favorite part of the Reiki training cause everyone's always like, holy shit.So yeah.So essentially you can look at the chakras as sort of like AI.Think of it as like being a detective, right?25:31If you have an emotional symptom or a physical symptom that you're not sure why it keeps coming up, we can look at the chakras and see the connection between the two and see what is needed to find balance again and hopefully bring some relief to those symptoms.25:47Yeah.I think that is the big reason why we like really wanted to talk about the chakras is because it does feel like a like a synergy point of like this is where there is so much overlap in so many spiritual practices and like cultural practices.26:07And so like, it's kind of like the way I, this is a weird.I don't know why this is coming out this way.So, but it's the same way that I feel about like aliens and mythical creatures of like every culture that has never interacted with one another.If you go back far enough, they all have seen a dragon.26:23And so I'm like, naturally Dragons must be real in some way.Like we are.We are all the same thing.Like truly, even the way I feel about religion, where I'm like, we all got to a place where there's something greater than us.Yeah.That cannot be for nothing.That is very much how I feel about the energy centers, is that we all kind of got to this very similar place.26:45And it really does bridge the gap between skepticism and dipping your toe in to like, oh, I see.I see where this is rooted in a real understanding of how humanity works.Mm hmm.Yeah.27:01And for me, I find the chakra system to be a really empowering way to take healing into my own hands.Right.I've talked about my chronic hip pain that I experienced when I was working with survivors of sexual violence for 9 years.I had very, very severe hip pain and it was right around my sciatic nerve.27:19And So what I started to realize through learning about the chakras, working with the chakras, is that I didn't see the world as a safe place, right?I was living in a constant state of fear because I had heard 10s of thousands of stories of the worst possible thing a human can do to another human.27:38And I just thought that was that was the reality of life.It, it didn't faze my logical brain because I was so surrounded by it.I was like, Oh yeah, like that's going to happen to me one day.I'm just going to prepare for it, you know, like, which is not like a normal thing, quote UN quote normal thing for your brain to be thinking about.27:57And so because I couldn't logically see this, this fear, it was just a part of my life.It, it became a part of my body.And so when I started working on reprogramming that fear, finding balance again, finding that sense of safety, security, and belonging, that's when that hip pain cleared.28:15That's when that sciatic pain cleared.Because I had tried everything from physical therapy to, you know, seeing different doctors, orthopedic supports, like I had tried everything physically and I was even in therapy trying everything emotionally.28:32And it really was that that energy piece that I had that I wouldn't have seen if I didn't understand this, this map of the body that clicked everything into place for me and helped me heal that.So hopefully you you find the series as empowering as as we have.28:49Yeah.So a lot of times we hear people talk about like blocked chakras, unblocked chakras blown open.We're gonna talk about throughout the series each of the chakras and kind of like the signs and symptoms to look out for.You and I have different like language for how we talk about it.29:07I tend to just use balanced or out of balance because like I think blocked is can be like a scary word for people.I do like the word blown open, but I find it's like helpful in very specific circumstances, which I will tease you with but not share right now.29:28So do you have a reason why you like those terms?I use those terms purely because as like a visual person, that's how it appears to me.And so like when I use the term blown open, we'll talk more about like what that means.I think as we, like, get more into the series, but it's kind of like how I see it too, is like a a lack or an excess of energy in that area.29:52And for me, like specifically, my mom and I use it a lot when we talk about our third eye or our throat.So when my mom feels like she's getting a lot of information psychically, she says my third eye is blown open.Yeah.And for me, I can like, it feels that way because I can see it.30:12I can see like an act in my mind.It looks like an actual eye that is like bulging wide, whereas like I experience a lot of blockage in my lower chakras, specifically in like my solar plexus, and I can feel that because it's like such a tight feeling.30:31Yeah, yeah, it feels.Closest to like my experience of the energy.And so I totally get how that can feel like it has like a negative connotation to say blocked or like a like a stressful of like, oh, something's wrong.Yeah.30:47And so if that doesn't feel good to you, feel like, you know, use whatever language works for you.The way that I visualize it is if you imagine like a teeter totter and like a balanced open functioning, well chakra is that teeter totter with both sides on the same level, right?31:06And then sometimes you can have too much energy going through a chakra and that will bring it out of balance or too little energy.And the thing about your chakras is they're never all gonna be fully aligned 100% all at once, forever.Yeah.Like I like the teeter totter because it's constantly in motion and that's how I see the chakras is like we're constantly trying to find a state of balance in the human experience that we're having right now.31:31And so I feel like, at least for me, blocked and blown open feel like static states, whereas like the teeter totter of balance versus imbalance is such a fluid experience.That's so interesting to me.A teeter totter stresses me out a little bit because it feels like it.31:50Maybe this is, I don't know how to describe the feeling that I'm having, the sensation that I'm feeling thinking about a teeter totter.Maybe I have teeter totter stress that I don't know about, but that is an interesting perspective.Yeah.So we might use those words interchangeably.32:07Yeah, feel free to find your own language if you don't like if you 2 have potential deep seated teeter.Totter trauma.Teeter totter trauma.That I'm gonna have to do some noodling on.I think it's just the idea that like to me, I guess a teeter totter moves kind of quickly.32:27No, it's a slow moving teeter totter.World's slowest teeter totter.Yeah, it's like a preschool teeter totter.It's not.You're not launching your friends.Off a catapult.Maybe this is my TTT.Maybe I was launched off a teeter totter.I'll have to call my mom.Yeah, I mean, maybe I don't know, but yeah.32:44So anyways, we are we're going to dive into that series starting next week.We're going to start with the root and we're going to work our way up to the crown.So if you are excited, let us know and.If you have any questions or anything that you want to make sure that we cover shoot us Adm, we would love to know what you guys are interested in hearing about the chakras.33:07Yeah, until next time, bye.Thanks for listening to Demystify Magic with Molly and Madison.If you want to learn more about us, you can find all our links in the show notes.We'd love to know what you think of today's episode, so drop us a review or give us a shout out on social media.And don't forget to let us know your magical moment of the week.33:25OK?Love you.Bye.