by Monika Meulman

Today’s hip parents know the ins and outs of bringing up baby and child, almost seamlessly right?

Well, okay maybe not be we sure have tons of references, guides, sites, and friends to ask don’t we? From the best organic food, to the best time to read to your child, we can figure out how to support our children and help them grow.

Or do we?

As the spirituality movement grows, yoga infiltrates daycares, there is another parenting paradigm to consider: the energetic development of your baby. According to the Indian system using Chakras (Chakra is a Sanskrit word for spinning wheel), our bodies develop energy centers from birth to adulthood.

The Chakra system is very detailed but the basic tenets are that we grow, we learn behaviours and explore the world not just physically but also energetically. Each stage of development is directly related to our spiritual and energetic growth. The Chakras are specific zones of energy in the body. They are also associated with specific colors, beliefs, and behaviors.  Understanding the chakras can help in understanding your baby’s development.

There are 7 main Chakras: 

Chakra 1 – color red – right to be – develops from birth to 6 months

Chakra 2 – color orange – right to feel – develops from 6 months to 2 years

Chakra 3 – color yellow – right to act – develops from 2 to 4 years

Chakra 4 – color green – right to give/receive love – develops from 4-7 years

Chakra 5 – color blue – right to speak– develops from 7-12 years

Chakra 6 – color indigo – right to see – develops from 12-teenager

Chakra 7 – color purple – right to understand – develops from teenage yrs to death

Using the basic guide of the chakra energy centers, we can see that they coincide directly with the basic needs of babies and children. A four-month-old needs to feed round the clock and mostly eats, sleeps, and poops. A young baby is clearly ‘asserting’ his need ‘to be’ by crying whenever he is hungry, tired, or uncomfortable.  A baby that isn’t fed regularly learns pretty quickly that it’s not a safe world out there.

Likewise, the Terrible Twos, as we call them, are directly related to the second chakra development – the right to feel. An 18-month-oldwho just learned to walk and run wants to touch everything. She wants to explore the world before her, and at last, she can get around by herself. What an accomplishment.

As parents, we dutifully block off most of the world and repeatedly say “don’t touch!” or “no, no, no, stop”. We wonder why our two-year-old simply doesn’t understand! Why the crying? Why the sad face? Uhm, well mom, a toddler needs to experience the world first hand and unfortunately, our complicated, technical and often dangerous world, makes this difficult for young one.

Using the Chakra system to understand our child, we see that our two-year-old is learning the ‘right to feel’ everything. If she is not allowed to touch most things, she is learning that it is not ok to get in touch the world. As she gets a little older, say two and a half, she is also developing her ‘right to act’ (third chakra) which means she will bolt out the door, the minute you put shoes on her and not look back, or not even bother with shoes.  Arms up in the air, we are frantically calling them back to home base!

First Chakra development is all about surviving in this world. The second one is all about touching everything for the first time. The third Chakra is being a part of our amazing world and doing something, anything. The fourth Chakra teaches your child the beauty of love, and by the time they are tweens they are flexing their fifth Chakra that tells you exactly how they feel, in words, not so pretty ones sometimes.

Our children are not defiant. They are not misbehaving. They are actually just developing their sense of being in this world. Using the Chakra system as a guide, it becomes much easier to see, where your child is going to go next. The sixth Chakra helps your children see the world as it truly is. It is a time of exploration and putting the pieces all together. A teenager struggles not only because of the hormones, or the sheer immensity of homework, or the newness of relationships, but also because he can see the world as a whole for the first time.

That’s a lot to take in.

But if we look at the Chakra system and understand it, it can help in understanding your child.

 

Monika Meulman is a certified aromatherapist and healer and has worked in complementary health for over 15 years.   At Healing Muse, she does aromatherapy massage, foot treatments, body readings, intuitive healing treatments and reiki sessions.  Monika is also the president of The Canadian Federation of Aromatherapists (cfacanada.com) and Founder of the Lakeshore Environmental Gardening Society. Follow her on Twitter.