“I’ve been practicing vibrational and somatic healing for 30 years and teaching for almost 25 years. Beginning with massage therapy, then Reiki, Craniosacral, and zero balancing modalities, and then developing vibrational holistic models, I’ve come to understand that there is a LOT more to vibrational healing than the chakra model, folks! In fact, the “chakra balancing” model that is commonly taught today bears little resemblance to its Hindu Yogic and Vedic roots. While chakra balancing can be a temporary support that decreases symptom intensity, it does not address the underlying patterns of energy that generate the imbalances in the first place.

These underlying energy patterns can be dictated by inherent energy orientation (such as birth astrological balance), coping patterns created by using energy habitually to deal with trauma, energy habits one learned through family and societal conditioning, physical body use habits, and karmic patterns. Unless these underlying energy patterns are addressed and healed, the chakra imbalances and surface symptoms can become chronic.

Crystals and stones can be great tools for locating and shifting these underlying patterns, but only when they are used in developing consciousness. They can help to lessen symptoms of imbalances when used in a “laying on of stones” scenario, but they cannot address your deeper issues unless they are engaged in consciousness expansion exercises (meditation) and correct energy application. In other words, the stones won’t take away what you have created. They will help you to understand and shift the underlying patterns only when you work with them consciously– not as “magic pills”.

Understanding the deeper patterns underlying imbalances in the energy system and not just coping with the symptoms, is necessary for true healing. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve worked with who say, “But, I thought I had dealt with that! Why is it coming up again?” The reason usually is that the symptoms of the imbalance were made more comfortable through cognitive conditioning and energy practices that kept the symptoms at a low or undistinguishable grade. That does not remove the underlying pattern, however. When the underlying pattern gets triggered, it comes back up– no matter how much thinking you’ve done about it, or how much you try to balance the associated chakra.

This is why receptive meditation work with crystals is so important. When we only work with stones in a directive way (do this for me), we do not have an opportunity to perceive what the stone’s energy is revealing to us about our energy systems. Instead, we impose a template and insist that the stones fix what we think is going on. This takes consciousness out of the picture and consciousness is the only thing that can perceive and shift these underlying energy patterns.

These underlying energy patterns are almost always associated with emotion. This does not mean that emotions create the pattern, but rather, the pattern tends to create a specific emotional response. The problem with the way in which we are taught to approach stones is that you are encouraged to work only with the stones that make you feel good. When a stone makes you feel less than good, there is a tendency to project those emotions onto the stone, rather than owning the emotion as a marker for an underlying energy pattern that the stone is revealing. Stones don’t carry “negative” energy. Stones vibrate with energy. Period. Sometimes that energy will be of a frequency that hits your energy patterns and causes so-called “negative” emotions to arise. This is the gift of the stones. They can help us to see what we don’t want to see — but only if you’re paying attention!

When we sit in consciousness with a stone and allow and notice the thoughts and emotions that arise, there is an opportunity to truly shift the underlying pattern. Through a combination of focused consciousness (not intention) and high amplitude (not necessarily high frequency) the pattern can be often be finally vibrated clear and truly released– not just buried or made asymptomatic. While I would love to share the process in ten easy steps you can do in your bathtub, the process requires a bit of training. That’s why it takes six months to go through my basic course in working with crystals, and a lot more than that until you are ready to facilitate others in the process.

The color-chakra-stone correlation model and chakra balancing model doesn’t work very well for true healing because it is simply not the way that our energy systems and stones work best. While it can help with symptom control, it does not work well for pinpointing and clearing the deeper patterns. I know this because I used to use it and teach it. If you want to really get benefit from your crystals, don’t worry about what chakra they’re related to. Instead, focus on meeting the stone’s vibration with your consciousness and see what it has to teach you about yourself and your own energy patterns” ~ Samaya K Aster