Chakra Wisdom: Healing Negative Thoughts, Feelings, and Beliefs with Meditation, Yoga, and the Traya Process by Trish O’Sullivan

288 Pages
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd, Llewellyn Publications
Release Date: December 8, 2018

Nonfiction (Adult), Religion, Spirituality, Self-Help, Energy

The book is divided into two parts and twelve chapters. At the end is a list of exercises.

Part 1: The Mind and The Traya Process
Chapter 1: A New Perspective on the Mind
Chapter 2: The Subtle Body – Mindfully Connecting with the Chakras
Chapter 3: The Basic Traya Technique and Ways to Use It
Chapter 4: Support for Your Traya Practice: Meditation and Yoga
Chapter 5: The Stages of Change through the Traya Process

Part 2: Understanding ad Working with Each of the Chakras using Traya
Chapter 6: The Root Chakra (Muladhara) and the Imagination Chakra (Atiloka)
Chapter 7: The Pelvic Chakra (Svadhisthana) and the Fearless Chakra (Ahhaya)
Chapter 8: The Solar Plexus Chakra (Manipura) and the Release Chakra (Mukta)
Chapter 9: The Heart Chakra (Anahata) and the Self-Esteem Chakra (Vajrahridaya)
Chapter 10: The Throat Chakra (Vishuddha) and the True Speech (Satyayadya) and Asking (Satyahridaya) Chakras
Chapter 11: The Third Eye Chakra (Ajna) and the Insight Chakra (Satyamanas)
Chapter 12: The Crown Chakra (Sahasrar)

She discusses Traya and how it is supported with meditation and yoga. It integrates the body, mind, and spirit. Part one deals with the subtle body and part two delves into each of the main chakras. I like her comparison of a computer needs (hardware software, and power) to the mind (hardware – brain, software – chakras, and power – subtle body). The book can be read in order or for a specific chakra. She does recommend reading chapter three before jumping into part two. While she states there is no one universal chakra system, she covers more information in this book than many other authors. If you are new to chakras this may not be your first choice. I believe it would be better suited for intermediate and advanced energy workers.

Very informative book. Full of a lot of useful information. This book will also be very useful for future reference

I absolutely adored this book. The writing was impeccable; both incredibly informative and down-to-earth, making the book easy to read and totally relatable. It was literally everything that I was needing in this moment; I'm fairly certain I highlighted and bookmarked every other page. I am so thankful to the author for putting this book out there. A new favorite on my bookshelf, a definite recommend, and one that I will reach for again and again.

A selection from Iphelia.com’s Editor’s Bookshelf review: Chakra theory (and practice!) interests and inspires me, so of course I was eager to expand my aspirant chakra wisdom by tucking into a book that, at face value, is all about chakras, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, meditation, and even yoga.

What I found during my first 1:1 with Chakra Wisdom, however, was not what I expected.

Firstly, it’s an ambitious project in which O’Sullivan, a licensed psychotherapist, reveals her novel Traya process—a practice during which she works with clients to clear negative energy, traumatic memories, and hurtful conclusions from the chakras using a very specific formula.

Secondly, she claims the discovery of secondary and tertiary chakras that aren’t part of other chakra systems.

My response to all this? Quite a bit of skepticism, especially given O’Sullivan’s assertion that “we don’t need to know anything about a chakra in order to work with it. In fact, we may get in our own way if we have too many preconceived ideas.”

This just didn’t compute for me. I was attracted to the book because I’m interested in chakras, and I assume that will be the case for many other readers, too. Her warning read like a tautology according to which all roads lead to Traya being “right.” Either it works for you, or something you learned about the chakras prior to reading the book is getting in the way of your healing.

This resistance was especially strong for me when it came to O’Sullivan’s early claims about the lower chakras’ associations with scenes from nature (according to which the wellbeing of a chakra is reflected by experiencing very specific scenes from nature when working with it). Having practiced chakra meditation for nearly two years, certain imagery, not all nature related, definitely comes to mind for me when engaging different chakras.

According to the information presented in the beginning of the book, this is indicative of some sort of problem—either in the chakras or with my chakra education thus far. That said, in the later chapters that make chakra-by-chakra suggestions for Traya practice, the “Scene from Nature” step is always marked as optional.

O’Sullivan’s treatment of the solar plexus chakra is harsh to the point of being demonizing. The traditions I’ve encountered prior to reading Chakra Wisdom prioritize the healthfulness of all seven chakras, working from the ground up, and have never treated the solar plexus as problematic in itself.

O’Sullivan, however, treats the solar plexus as a sort of block-to-bliss that represents the id of Western society, with its insistence on “me first,” the intellect, willpower, drive, and fabricated binaries. I left the book wanting for fairer treatment of the solar plexus, or at very least a disclaimer these issues are more sociocultural than the “fault” of the chakra itself.

Also, from a copy perspective, the edition I read (an advanced reader copy) included a number of grammatical errors and stylistic inconsistencies that I hope will be addressed in the print and digital editions. Only a few muddled O’Sullivan’s meaning, but the clearer and more consistent, the better!

So, what did I like about Chakra Wisdom and who is it best suited for?

O’Sullivan’s passion for the subject and care for people’s well-being is clear. The many anecdotes from her practice, in which she shares the heavy, deep, and real voices of her clients verbatim, are so rich, and to my mind it’s this material that really energizes the book. Reading people’s realizations during Traya sessions brought up plenty of material for me to work with and will put any introspective reader on the road to deeper thinking, even if they choose not to go the Traya road alone.

Ultimately, I came to appreciate the ideas O’Sullivan shared about the secondary chakras (which include imagination, fearless, release, true speech, and asking chakras, to name a few) and the attribute paradoxes she associates with the chakras (for example, in the throat chakra, “I talk a lot because I don’t feel heard and then am not heard because I talk a lot.”).

Anyone who’s interested in the chakras will benefit tremendously from this book—if they can hang on and get past the affronts to the ego that they might experience in the first few chapters. Therapists and clients interested in incorporating more chakra work into their sessions will also find a valuable resource and thoughtful inspiration in Chakra Wisdom’s pages.

Chakra Wisdom by Trish O'Sullivan is full of ways to rid oneself of negative road blocks and receive positive energy as the blocks are removed. Freeing up the chakras is not a simple process and O'Sullivan offers a variety of ways in combination to do just that.

Meditation, yoga, chakra clearing and the combination are part of a new modality, Traya. Traya is the way to make the strongest connection with the spirit. It is this practice that allows for the fulfillment of personal and spiritual goals.

O'Sullivan explains Traya in a way that a layperson such as myself can understand and begin to practice. I enjoyed the writing style and presentation.

Thanks to netgalley for the advanced copy. This review is completely my own.

This was different from what I expected, so that threw me a bit. I went in expecting an informative look at the chakra system and how it works. This is more self help and how to use your knowledge of the chakras to improve your quality of life. If that's something you're interested in, then this book will be a great read. I appreciated how accessible the writing was, because some books of this type are not easy to understand and read. Thank you to Llewellyn Worldwide for the ARC.

I enjoyed reading this book and furthering my knowledge into the field of Chakra. Great for beginners and understanding each chakra.

An intriguing mixture of body-centered and imaginal techniques to access and work with one's energy system. Trish O'Sullivan's book should be an excellent starting place for someone looking to get going off the ground in an energy practice. My one caveat is that a lot of the specific information about the chakras seems to be repeated/received New Age tradition - each chakra has a specific seed syllable mantra, for example, when in actuality those mantras are associated with the elements one could work at any chakra. This is a book that should be paired with other sources, which is also not to say that it shouldn't be worked as is until one develops a level of familiarity and comfort. Treat this book as a door and not the whole house and it will lead you to wonderful places.

I look forward to buying a physical copy of this book upon its release.