6th chakra: the sensory chakra

6^th chakra: the sensory chakra

The traditional set of chakras for humans does not include this chakra.

This energy field is significant for all of us: people and dogs. It is unrecognized in the human chakra organization that we have learned. We’ve been taught that there are seven major chakras. And that is correct for humans. This represents the way our bodies developed. Other life forms, other species developed differently and have a different range.

Heightened senses for survival

Many years ago, when the branches on the tree of life were still sprouting we needed to be much more attentive and responsive to all sorts of sensory experiences. Our survival depended on being aware of our surroundings.

Hear me.

We needed to hear better. A snap of a twig, a rustle of leaves, determined if we should hide, run, attack, eat, starve; in other words, survive. Our hearing extended to being able to capture the breeze across a grassy plain a as it channeled around a potential prey or predator.

See me.

We needed to see better. We did see better; and we saw more. The eyes are the only sensory organ that has a direct path to the brain. It has its own brain! We are only now understanding the role and capacity of the vestibular brain. Back in the day, we relied on our capacity to see more than the solid images we see today. We recognized the energy patterns, seen as light. These are called auras. Seeing and interpreting auric information was as common then as our recognizing the features of our families, our friends, the sidewalks by our homes and the trees on the sides of our streets.

The auric field.

The auric field has many colors, intensities, patterns, and modulations within their frequencies. Auras provide vaulable information about the health, emotional well being, and intentions. Auras are energetic displays.

Each individual animal has its own unique set of auric patterns. Plants have auras. A swamp will have a different aura from a forest, or a desert, or a river, or a plain, or a valley, or a mountain. Places have auras. The energy of a scene of a recent traffic accident will shift at the moment of impact and hold the energy of the trauma until it disperses.

Feel me.

Normally, we think of touch in terms of what we can feel with our hands. Back in the day, we were aware of our surroundings as they brushed up against us. Do you remember picking raspberries or blackberries? Or, walking through brambles and spending the following hours picking the spiky burrs off our socks, one by one. Or leaning against a wall that’s hot, or cold. Sensing the sponginess of a semidry riverbed as our feet sink into their tracks. Rubbing up against an animal that is dead, still, and cold, or warm, moving, and alive.

Does this taste funny to you?

We needed to be more aware of what we tasted. It was not enough to recognize that bitter was poisonous and sweet was safe to eat. Our palettes were much more refined; perhaps not to taste but to its properties. We were aware of taste sensations that would let us know when what we were planning to eat was rotten, spoiled, too ripe, or too green and would make us sick. We could interpret our world by the tastes of water, of juices and vegetable and animal milks. We needed to be able to chew things like willow bark, and remember the taste of the medicinal plant that would resolve headaches. We needed to know the differences between the honey from a clover field and honey from an apple orchard. They were remedies for different maladies.

Smell me.

We needed to interpret odors better. We have a gland in out palates called the Jacobson’s (vomeronasal) organ, that we used to be able to interpret many different pheromones. Today our ability to smell and interpret aromas is very much diminished from what we could discern long ago. Sharks, dolphins, and whales can smell under water. As a child I learned a simple way to keep a fish from smelling. (You cut off its nose.)

Dogs.

Dogs can still access their ancient sensory abilities. They don’t have thumbs to operate smart phones so they still need to pay close attention to what is going on around them. Dogs are much more aware of their surroundings than we are. Roger A. Caras in his 1993 book “A Dog Is Listening: The Way Some of Our Closest Friends View Us,” suggests that dogs may have as many as 20 separate senses. Twenty! Dogs have the capacity to be in a heighted state of readiness. Their senses are well connected to their intuitive minds; they don’t have to figure things out. Dogs just know.

You may have heard about the fellow who saw a dark swirl, (Crayola crayon color: Fuzzy Wuzzy) resembling a soft serve ice cream cone on the sidewalk. He thinks to himself, “It looks like dog doo.” He pokes his finger in it and says, “It feels like dog doo.” He smells his finger, “It smells like dog doo.” He licks his finger and remarks, “It tastes like dog doo. “Hmm,” he concludes, “it must be dog doo. Good thing I didn’t step in it.” We humans have become so cerebral that we have to think too much about everything and end up second guessing ourselves.

We honor our dogs sensory abilities by acknowledging the center point of their sensory vortex The source mechanics for the senses are all in the back of the roof of the mouth. From the front through the mouth and nose dogs draw the air, the food, and aromas. From above, the vestibular, seeing apparatus. From the back, the tongue and salivary glands. From the sides, the teeth and insides of the muzzle. From outside, information processed through the skin and nerves attached to guard hairs. From below, bubbling up through the lower 5 chakras is the request to add to the “body of knowledge.”

The tongue is to a dog, what the hand is for people. Dogs feel with their tongues and observe taste, size, shape, texture, and heft. It feels and assesses objects. The tongue functions to draw up water and pull food back to the throat for swallowing. Saliva lubricates the tongue so the dog can taste what he is eating. Their salivary glands also provide the saliva, to begin the breakdown/digestion of food. The modern dog has one sixth of the taste buds we humans have, and the arrangement of the buds has a different pattern on the tongue. Dogs taste buds are on the tips of their tongues. They do experience the flavor categories of bitter, sweet, sour and salty. Their taste of chicken though, is not the same as ours.

An essential part of tasting is of course, smelling. Dogs ability to smell is legendary and inconceivably powerful. I read one article that suggested that if a tiny vile of butyric acid (that was their example, not mine) were opened in Philadelphia’s Center City, all the dogs in Greater Philadelphia would be aware of it! That suggests that every time someone in your neighborhood –inside their room, inside their house — applies a deodorant, or an essential oil, or uses a scented dryer sheet, your dog smells it, and includes it in their moment to moment assessment of their safety, and your safety.

Behaviors suggesting 6^th chakra sensory imbalance

One example of sensory imbalances would be excessive drooling. Another, lack of saliva production. Another is inconsistent appetite. Your dog may be eating pica, foreign objects like rocks, paper, or feces. Your dog could present with dental and gum problems. It could be poor vision. Your dog may be obsessively chasing and attempting to bite imaginary flying spots. Your dog may have ear imbalances; disturbances in proprioception. Your dog may have waxy, itchy ears that restrict air flow and hearing. What if your dog stumbles down stairs, walks into walls, misses the Frisbee in mid flight, or shoves the top of his head against a wall or into your knees? These are all examples of 6^th chakra imbalances.

As you can tell from the extensive lists of behaviors, the 6^th chakra needs to be included and addressed in every PetMassage. The 6^th Chakra is a unique energetic entity. You can assist all of the dog’s needs back to balance and harmony by including your special focus on the dogs sensory network.

During your initial assessment, observe the dog for any of the above behaviors. When you take the dog’s history and talk to their owner, listen for descriptions that might be related to these sensory behaviors.

For perfect harmony, all of the senses must work together, complementing and supporting one another. The 6^th Sensory Chakra responds well to a pendulum search. We can tell when some aspect of the cumulative sensory apparatus is out of balance. For the pendulum to give us an indicative reading, one or more of them could be hyposensitive or hypersensitive, less effective or over reactive.

One of the protocols to balance the 6^th chakra

To balance the 6^th chakra with the support system of its lower five chakras, begin with gently massaging the gums at the bases of the teeth. “Gently” is the key term, here. This is energy work. The energetic flows of the body are most responsive to gentle, tender, and methodically deliberate stimulation. Work the bases of the ears, and squeeze the ear tips between the pads of your thumbs and middle fingertips. Smooth the bony orbits around the eyes with the sides of your thumbs. Press and release across the flews, the muzzle, the crevices on the sides of the nostrils and the philtrum divot below the nose.

Skin roll the sides of the face, behind the jaw, all around the neck, and shoulders. Facial nerves run down the neck and into the forelegs. Rock the head from side to side. Stretching and opening the fascia, the blood, lymph, neural, and meridian pathways will generate energetic flow that will coordinate with the lower chakras.