Does Chakra Clearing Work?

Ever since my introduction to chakras in teacher training, I’ve wanted to gain a deeper understanding of this esoteric, energy system. The opportunity came when a friend recommended Lara Riggio, a chakra clearer, who could help me with emotional pain manifesting in my body from a recent breakup.

Riggio, with her shoulder-length brown hair, looks very much like your friendly neighbor next door. She’s the first to admit her work can seem a little “out there,” but her big smile and tranquil E. 61st St. office helped to ease the fear of the unknown.

After spending a few minutes asking about what issues brought me to see her, she began by explaining that well-functioning chakras generally move clockwise and/or in a figure-eight pattern. Out-of-balance chakras can be frozen, can rotate counterclockwise, or move homo-laterally (not in a figure eight). Clearing my chakras and rebalancing them so that the energy flows in the right direction, would help with symptoms I was experiencing like intense anger, exhaustion, an inability to make decisions, and just feeling stuck.

Riggio, who learned her techniques by training in the Eden Energy Medicine, swears by

Young Living Oils to help clear chakras. The oils are used in conjunction with an intention sentence targeting a belief or feeling one wants to let go of/change a negative emotion that is limiting one from changing, and the corresponding positive emotion (i.e. reframing greed into giving) as well as a mantra to use.

In my session, one of my negative emotions was confinement. The corresponding positive emotion was freedom. My intention: I can be kind and gentle with myself. And the mantra was: I allow myself to see myself and my power. The oil to bring it all together was called Envision. After reading the intention sentence and rubbing the oil on my hands while thinking first the negative and then positive emotion, I then repeated the mantra while clearing each chakra from root to crown. I hoped it would work. Riggio has used these same techniques helping soldiers suffering from PTSD after returning from Afghanistan.

Next Riggio wanted to learn my goals and desires to create an individualized plan using a technique called muscle testing. This is a way to detect the presence or the absence of stress or inner conflict in the subconscious using the client’s body as a map. She did the testing on me and found my chakras would freeze up around the ideas of trust, feeling freedom, and being kind to myself. The information would come out because my body would respond with weakened muscle strength when trying to resisting pressure against my arm when these ideas were brought up indicating my chakras were frozen.

When I was ready to leave Riggio's office, I took four different intentions, emotions, mantras, and oils as daily homework for the following week. I was to use each oil (White Angelica, Ginger, Joy, and Envision) to help me clear each intention in all seven chakras. Riggio explained that symptoms like yawning and stomach-gurgling were indications that energy was being moved in the chakra. If nothing happened, most likely the chakra was clear already.

I diligently completed my first week, but wasn’t sure it was making a difference. For the next couple days I got busy and ignored my homework. On the third day, I was mentally berating myself for every poor/unhealthy decision I had made over the past couple days and for not taking care of myself. Frankly, I was being downright mean to myself.

Realizing what I was doing, I was shocked. One of the reasons my clients love me is for being the least judgmental person they've ever met. Why was I being so mean and judgmental to myself? Is this really what goes on in my subconscious?

I spent the entire day in contemplative silence, like I was looking at my life from someone else's perspective. I suddenly saw things I’d never been able to admit to.

That night I did my homework. The next morning I woke up feeling like a dark cloud had been lifted. I experienced less pain, had more energy then I've had in years, and felt positive and genuinely grateful. I was like superwoman.

If I had anxiety over a meeting, overwhelmed by a busy schedule, or stress about going home for the holidays, these techniques helped clear my chakras. They felt like my secret weapons and meant I didn't have to be prisoner to the daily emotional roller coaster of my mind.

This was something I had never gotten from physical therapy, massage, personal trainers, or any other modalities I've ever tried.

—Allison Richard

To find out more about Riggio, click here.

To find out more about Richard, a self-care coach and yoga and meditation instructor, visit her website or follow her on Instagram.

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