Chakras Beyond Beginners: Awakening to the Power Within

Chakras Beyond Beginners is the sequel to David Pond's first book on the topic, Chakras for Beginners. Beyond Beginners assumes you know what a chakra is and that you are interested in keeping your chakras balanced. The healthy function of the charkra is discussed as well as the emotional problems and health problems associated with it. Affirmations, meditations, mental exercises and physical activities are prescribed for blocks and imbalances. The strength of this book is in the assessment of emotional problems associated with each chakra.

The guidance to work around chakra blockages is helpful advice. For instance, in dealing with the heart chakra which is pulled by both the lower and upper chakras, the question asked is: Will you make your choices from the fear born of your lower chakras or from the faith in the power of love from your heart chakra? In discussing the third chakra, Pond observes: It takes longer to heal the wounds of life because the undigested psychological effects linger long after the wounding experience. At its core, this book is a self help book centered around the energy of the chakras.

The book is organized by chakra starting with Muladhara, the root chakra and continuing up the spine to Sahasrara, the seventh chakra. The multitude of smaller chakras in the body must be considered more advanced as they don't figure in this book. Each chapter starts with a list of associations such as location of the chakra, element, symbol, color, principles, key benefit, key obstacles, spiritual quality and type of intelligence. The qualities of the chakra are then discussed in more detail so you get to know its character. The chapters end with additional activities, associations and recommendations for journal writing.

The underlying world view is New Age with mentions of energetic imprints, excessive attachment, karma, and Kundalini energy with some hints of Christian thought. Exercises in cultivating your observer and using breath and attention is based on meditation practice. Manifesting the power of attention will sit well with supporters of the Law of Attraction. On a lighter side of this notion, the book notes that what you pay attention to grows so focusing on the positive will weed out the negative.

Pond's philosophy of taking responsibility for your actions and attracting negative events into your life through imbalance may be considered extreme by some readers. Summed up, if you are balanced, you will be safe and attract goodness into your life but if you are unbalanced, you will attract disharmony and worse. He states a person can avoid disaster by being in touch with one's higher self and being grounded in the body. For example, a balanced person would be led by spiritual forces away from a falling tree branch. This is described as faith that living aligned with your chakras will provide for your first chakra's security needs.

Chakras Beyond Beginners is just a step beyond the basic introductory information and will be of most interest to those who are looking to expand their new found knowledge. The emotional intelligence at the heart of this book is the main reason I would recommend it with the caveat that not everyone is going to share in the author's New Age world view.

Recommended.

~review by Larissa Carlson

Author: David Pond
Llewellyn Publications, 2016
pp. 213, $19.50