We all carry trauma, which can be in the form of a large event, or several small events. For me, it was hearing, "You're not like the other kids" from my mother my entire childhood. Her intention was not to make me feel alone and isolated, but that was how it felt. Rather, her intention was for me to look within to find myself, but I would not know that for another thirty years. My journey into healing this trauma began in college, when a professor of mine asked my class, "What would make you happy?" That question prompted me to dive more deeply into healing my trauma. Right after college, I was introduced to the chakras and energy work through reiki; I became a certified Reiki Master in 1996. However, it wasn't until my yoga studies later in life that I realized chakras are a powerful way to do shadow work—healing our trauma and our shadows, those parts of ourselves that we keep hidden.

There is energy all around us. What we focus on becomes the energy we see more of. The energy flowing through our bodies can become overwhelmed with too much outside influence, and because of this, our natural flow of energy can get lost. In order to truly manifest a healthy and happy life, we first have to restore our own personal energy system. When our energy stops flowing, things start to get sick and die, emotionally and physically. As an example, when I was young I would use the healing energy in my hands to take away fevers from my mother when she had them. Even though this worked short-term, my mother never addressed the stoppage of her energy flow. A year after becoming lupus-free, she became a diabetic. She had not addressed her energy flow or her shadow self.

We know who we are the moment we are born. I don't think we actually forget this in the way we have been made to believe. I think we forget our primal nature because we have been born into a time that wants to tell you who you are and how to behave and how to think, when we should be showing the world who we are, what our talents are, and how uniquely we think. We should be introducing ourselves to the world and the world introducing itself to us. Instead, we are taught from the time we are born to forget what we think we know of our primal instincts. We are given a formula of thoughts, beliefs and behaviors regardless if it belongs with our energy system. For example, take the typical American food pyramid: we are taught we need to have certain amounts of certain types of food everyday at certain times of the day. There are a million belief systems out there on nutrition, and most of us believe what we are sold the hardest. While on my healing journey, I started to really listen to my body and I started to intuitively pick up on what I could and could not eat according to my body—not commercials. I realized I felt the worst after eating red meat. Shortly after this realization, my daughter was tested for food allergies and it turns out she doesn't have the enzyme to process red meat. (I'm sure that is something we have in common.) This is but one of many examples of how clearly you can begin to live your life once you start to listen to, heal, and restore your natural energies.

Our energy system is much more than just the seven major chakras, but we need a place to start. In my book Chakras & Shadow Work, I provide many tools so you can clean out the deepest parts of your energy and incorporate what is called the shadow self. That is the you that is hiding, the you that you may have been taught to be ashamed of, but the truth is that there is no good or bad to any parts of who you are. There is only energy.

Working with energy is everything. It is candle magic. It is kitchen magic. It is every magic you can think of and each of the tools used enhance this energy. The goal here is to get your own energy as clean and as vibrant as possible to allow the flow of source energy to magically enhance your life.

I abracadabra'ed my life in just one year. I did it by working tirelessly at my own stories, my own traumas, my own nurtured beliefs, and today I sit in the place of which I've always dreamt, the place I thought was only in my fantasies. The place I cried about and longed for. This place is the life I always knew was meant for me but that was taken away with every voice I listened to that wasn't my own. The more I buried myself in the shadows, the more and more unrealistic this life became—or so I thought. Chakras & Shadow Work will teach you how to find your voice. The voice that speaks inwardly. The voice that tells us everything we need to know but we have taught ourselves to distrust. It's still there hiding in the shadows. It's in your body.

The chords of energy are all around us and within us. You've like heard that we are all made of the same thing many times: stardust or molecules. The difference is how close and dense those molecules are to each other. When I see the energy of an individual, I see it almost as if it were a glass of water; sometimes that water is black with debris and other times it is brown. Rarely do I see clear water. I also see the water that flows from them and toward them. I can see the canals and rivers that reach out from each individual. Eventually those channels became more defined for me to see, and I'm able to see the origin of the energy flow for each individual.

I realized that these chords were not only flowing from the life force energy as a whole, but could be broken down into smaller easier to manage energy sources known as the chakras. When dealing with trauma in the body (the word "trauma" in this context is referring to any "dirt in the water") the more dense our energy becomes, the heavier we feel, the sicker we feel, the more stuck we feel because quite literally our energy can no longer flow. There is debris and blocks. The work then is to clean out energy and find our true selves. So how do we do this?

Chakras & Shadow Work is a book filled with many techniques and tools to get you going. There are both in-depth techniques and quick daily techniques for you to utilize that will quickly change your energy flow and perspective on life. One of my favorite techniques that you can use daily and in any order is to simply talk to each chakra individually. I started this specific technique when I realized I was once again in a relationship that was more harmful than joyful. So, I started to put my hands on my heart every night while falling asleep. I would talk to my heart energy, expressing how much love I had for myself and how I wanted to heal that self love. I told my heart that I was ready to protect it and that I would find a way to love myself first. While I had a very specific focus for starting this practice, it had the greatest side effects I would have never predicted. Everything I choose from that moment on and ever since has been with self love first and serving my own happiness before others. With one simple technique I broke my own pattern of codependency.

The ultimate goal here is to listen to your body and not your mind. You can bypass your mind by letting your hands talk to your chakras. Start on any of the major seven that you feel drawn to first. Simply start by giving that chakra positive feedback. It's more than just affirmations on the mirror. By placing your hands on each chakra one by one you are making a connection and creating a binding promise.

With your hands on the root chakra, tell the energy, "I am safe and grounded, standing on a solid foundation that is ever-growing." For the sacral chakra: "I trust my own feelings and look for inspiration everyday." Solar Plexus: "I can do anything I dream of; the world is full of limitless possibilities for me." Heart chakra: "The love I have for myself is unconditional and can never be taken away from me." Throat chakra: "I speak from my own truth and openly listen to others." Third eye: "I am connected to everything. I see what I am looking for." Crown chakra: The cosmic web is part of me and I have access to all knowledge."

Other things you can do to start your shadow work can be:
1. Root Energy: Meet new people that you think you have absolutely nothing in common with. Try a new community or meet-up group. Go to an event that is out of your normal hobbies. These will expand your experiences and enrich who you think you are.

2. Sacral Energy: Be creative. Don't follow the recipe. Start writing without an outline. Rearrange the furniture. Allow yourself to try a new style. Look for inspiration. In other words, stop and smell the roses. Embrace every feeling you experience.

3. Solar Plexus Energy: Move in a new way. If you sit, start walking. If you lift weights, go to yoga. If you jog, start dancing. Move your body in ways your muscle memory can't take over. Learn a new sport or way to build something. You'll be amazed at how your body will thank you and become much stronger simply because you are creating new pathways for energy flow.

4. Heart Energy: Tell your heart you're in love with it. Allow yourself to be passionate and romantic with yourself. Discover your love language for receiving and giving love and do those without hesitation or expecting a return other than the one you are creating for yourself.

5. Throat Energy: Talk out loud! Talk to yourself out loud in the grocery store in your house when you're working. Allow your thoughts to unapologetically spill out through your voice. I promise you will start to laugh at yourself in the best way. It might even feel so good you never stop. Also yourself to listen to the outside world. Listen to people talking around you. Listen to the sounds of the cars or birds. The dog barking in the distance. Try to see how far you can stretch your listening.

6. Third Eye Energy: Take a new street to work or to the grocery store, or whatever your routine is, change it. Look for something new to see everyday in the same places you always are. Take more time observing the physical things in your world. This will cause a zoom-out effect. You will start to notice new people in the old places. You will start to see new patterns and colors.

7. Crown Energy: Read new books of different genres. They don't have to be self-help books, but just something you may not normally read. Pick up psychology books, metaphysical books, fantasy books, magazines, anything really.

Working with my own energy centers and embracing the hidden parts of myself I have come to realize I'm not like others; however, that no longer means I can't connect with them. We can stand uniquely in who we are with unconditional self love and self trust. We can be independent, free from attachments, yet still have a connection to all things. Life is not black and white. It is a beautiful spectrum of color of which we are all part.