Episode 205
Lisa Erickson:7 Energy Centers That Control Your Physical Health and How to Access Them
Lisa Erickson:
7 Energy Centers That Control Your Physical Health and How to Access Them
Lisa Erickson shares how chakras serve as organs in our energy anatomy, bridging body, psyche and spirit for holistic healing. She explains how trauma and chronic illness create disconnection from the body, and how energy work provides an accessible pathway back to feeling safe through practical daily practices like root chakra grounding.
First Aired on: Aug 18, 2025
Episode 205
Lisa Erickson:7 Energy Centers That Control Your Physical Health and How to Access Them
Lisa Erickson:
7 Energy Centers That Control Your Physical Health and How to Access Them
Lisa Erickson shares how chakras serve as organs in our energy anatomy, bridging body, psyche and spirit for holistic healing. She explains how trauma and chronic illness create disconnection from the body, and how energy work provides an accessible pathway back to feeling safe through practical daily practices like root chakra grounding.
First Aired on: Aug 18, 2025
Table of Contents:
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
In this episode:
Introduction
Lisa Erickson is an energy worker specializing in women's energetics, sexual trauma healing, and meditation. She's the author of Chakra Empowerment for Women and The Art and Science of Meditation. In this episode, she joins me to talk about how we can all engage with our energy body and use chakra practices to start retraining our response patterns to allow for healing.
Episode Highlights
Lisa's Health Journey That Led to Energy Medicine
Lisa describes two pivotal health moments that changed her career path from tech to energy healing.
- At 22, experiencing undiagnosed stomach issues and headaches in NYC led to a doctor recommending meditation
- Post-childbirth hospitalization with C. diff and gallbladder issues forced her to dive deeper into energy medicine
- These experiences showed her the profound impact of stress management and energy medicine on healing
- After five years of study, she transitioned fully into energy healing work 18 years ago
Chakras as Your Energy Anatomy
Lisa explains chakras as the major energy centers that bridge our physical body, psyche, and spirit.
- Think of chakras as the organs in your energy anatomy
- They serve as a middle layer between your physical body and your spirit
- You can use them for physical healing, psychological work, or spiritual awakening
- At a daily life level, working with chakras is simply another form of mindfulness
Why Energy Work Helps When You're Disconnected From Your Body
Lisa addresses how trauma and chronic illness create disconnection patterns and why energy work can be the pathway back in.
- Trauma and chronic disease often lead to dissociation from the body as a coping mechanism
- When you're in physical discomfort, disconnecting becomes a survival strategy
- Energy work can be easier than physical approaches like yoga for some people
- It provides a gentle bridge back into body awareness and connection
Starting With Safety: The Root Chakra Foundation
Lisa explains why the root chakra at the tailbone is the essential starting point for all healing work.
- Located at the tailbone, it represents your foundation and feeling of safety in the body
- Connected to the immune system and adrenal glands
- You can't physically heal while in a sympathetic stress state
- Practices include visualizing light, energy from the earth, or recalling safe childhood memories
- Building this foundation is essential before any other healing work
Complete Chakra System and Physical Connections
Lisa walks through all seven chakras and their corresponding body systems and glands.
- Root (tailbone): immune system, adrenals, safety and grounding
- Sacral (pelvic bowl): reproductive system, creativity, fluidity, adaptability
- Solar plexus (naval): digestive system, pancreas, personal power, boundaries, executive function
- Heart: heart and lungs, love, self-worth, receiving
- Throat: vocal cords, thyroid, authentic expression, communication
- Third eye: pituitary, intuition, knowing beyond mental busyness
- Crown: pineal, spiritual connection, knowing your values
Making Energy Work Accessible Through Daily Habits
Lisa emphasizes practical approaches that don't add overwhelming practices to busy lives.
- Link energy practices to existing daily habits like brushing teeth or showering
- Different people resonate with different approaches: visualization, memory, or affirmations
- Start with brief daily connections, then build to 10-20 minute sessions twice weekly
- No guilt policy because overwhelm is counterproductive to healing
- You are the expert on what works for your body
Rewriting Trauma Patterns Like Physical Therapy
Lisa explains how energy work gradually retrains survival patterns stored in the body and psyche.
- Healing is more like physical therapy than surgery - it requires consistent retraining
- Patterns of hypervigilance, people-pleasing, or dissociation can be rewritten over time
- Work focuses on current triggers rather than reliving past memories
- Expect layers of healing and occasional backslides as part of the process
- New life situations may require returning to work on previously healed areas
Notable Quotes from this Episode
It's like our physical body, our energy body or our subtle body, it's like our physical body. It's ours, it's our birthright. It's like a technology sitting there for us to learn to use.
Lisa Erickson
That first chakra at the tailbone, the base of the body sometimes also associated with the feet is your foundation. And so that's where I would always start... What we're trying to cultivate by working with it is a feeling of safety in the body. And that is the foundation of the house for any healing work.
Lisa Erickson
Finding that individualized path and really exploring it with curiosity and experimentation. You know, that empowerment, that you're the own expert on what's gonna work for you.
Lisa Erickson
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Episode Transcript
Lisa Erickson: So you can connect with the chakras and use them as a complimentary treatment to physical healing. To psychological personal work or spiritual awakening. And it's kind of the center of working holistically .
Julie Michelson: Welcome back to The Inspired Living with Autoimmunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie Howton, and today we're joined by Lisa Erickson, an energy worker specializing in women's energetics, sexual trauma, healing meditation, and contemplative chakra practices. She is the author of Chakra Empowerment for Women and the Art and Science of Meditation.
Lisa AIDS individuals through major life transitions, chronic illness and trauma healing with a particular focus on women's issues. Lisa is certified in mindfulness meditation instruction and trauma sensitivity, and has trained in a variety of Kundalini and energy healing modalities. In today's conversation, Lisa shares about how we can all engage with our energy body, and she walks us through how to begin using chakra practices to start retraining our response patterns to allow for genuine healing.
Julie Michelson: Lisa, welcome to the podcast.
Lisa Erickson: Thank you Julie, for inviting me. I'm very happy to be here.
Julie Michelson: I'm really excited for you to, to share and I already am like, there's so many directions I wanna go. Um, I, but I wanna, I wanna learn a little bit, I want listeners to kind of understand a bit of your journey and how you, I call it the wellness space because I, I believe the work you are doing.
It is in the wellness space. Um, and rightfully so, but how, how did you get to the work that you're currently doing?
Lisa Erickson: You know, I really have two big moments in my life, and I think that's often what we find, right? We have these big turning points in someone's life, and in my case, they were both health, uh, issues that arose.
The first was right out of college. I was actually working in tech in New York City, so not at all related to my current field. You know, 22 years old and having stomach and headaches that no one could diagnose. Right. And so this is 40 years ago, you know, and very unusually for the time a doctor, after I've gone through all these other diagnostic processes, it's like, well, maybe you should look at meditation, which was brand really not that common at the time.
Yeah. And I happened to end up in a meditation class that was. Chakra based or energy center based, which is only one form of meditation. It's where I ended up though, and it really had a dramatic impact on me. So that started, I continued my corporate career for a decade, but I had this practice that was developing and studies, but then after the birth of my first daughter, I had a major health issue and was hospitalized.
Digestive, uh, c diff, all sorts of things. I won't go into all the details. Gallbladder, c diff, oh my goodness. Yeah, and I'd already been studying energy medicine, but I had to dive in in another way. And again, I found that what I found, both from a stress management perspective and actual energy medicine teachings.
Had a profound impact on my healing journey, and that really turned everything. And five years later I had transitioned my career to what I've now, now been doing for 18 years. So,
Julie Michelson: yeah. Which is amazing and obviously continued to grow and, and add all, all kinds of different, you know, modalities in, into your work.
Mm-hmm. Um, let's, I, I always love to like, you know how just really start. Simple, simple. Um, you mentioned doing chakra meditation, so let's, I would love to, to talk listeners through a little bit of just basics of, you know, what are chakras and does somebody have to be deep in energy work to benefit from understanding how they can move their own energy?
Lisa Erickson: Well answer that last question first because No, you do not. And that is so my mission in the world that like this is like our physical body, our energy body or our subtle body, it's like our physical body. It's ours, it's our birthright. It's like a technology sitting there for us to learn to use, and you can engage with it at a lot of different levels, right?
You don't have to be a pro athlete, you know? Right. So, um, I think really the way I like to describe the chakras is that they are the organs in our energy anatomy, and they're the major energy centers in our energy anatomy. And what is our energy body or energy anatomy? It's like this middle layer between our physical body, our psyche, and our spirit.
So you can connect with the chakras and use them as a complimentary treatment to physical healing. To psychological personal work or spiritual awakening. And it, it really, it, it spans that whole gambit. It's really holistic that it's kind of the center of working holistically and the kind of. Certain daily life level of Chaco work is really like mindfulness.
You know, you're tuning in but to energy and you're perhaps focusing on a certain part of your body associated with an energy center, and it's just kind of another level of mindfulness.
Julie Michelson: Which I love. I I know you saw the big smile, um, you know, in so many different ways, which is great. 'cause we all hear things differently.
Um, mindfulness comes up. I'm not even talking as a practice. I, I think so many people with autoimmunity at, at a, at a point, it's at, it's a survival skill in the beginning, but at a point they just disconnect from what's going on. In their bodies and with, so whether it's mindful eating or, you know, it's listening to tuning into our bodies.
And I am definitely not opposed, I'm not discouraging a mindfulness practice either. Um, but even just that, like tapping in, um, I think in today's world in general. Um, and the, you know, busy gets the gold medal mentality and then add onto it if there's chronic illness or struggles, um, that, that we just, people tuned, are tuned out.
And, and so that's one of the things that I think, um, is so powerful about your message is because there is so much we actually can. Support on our own. Mm-hmm. If we actually learn, like you said, all the, all these resources that we already have within us. So I, I am, I, I love that idea of, and, and glad that I don't need to be a master to exactly benefit.
Right.
Lisa Erickson: Well, and our minds are so overstimulated these days. Yeah. So many of us are very, very busy here, and that means we are disconnected often from what's going on in our body, but in the meantime, our body reacts to what's going on. Right, right. Yeah. We stress impacts us in many ways. And so, uh. Just even learning to drop into the body.
And then energy is just another layer of that. And for some people, especially if someone has developed a coping mechanism, and this is common with trauma and with chronic disease, when someone is in a lot of physical discomfort, there can be patterns of disassociating from the body as a coping mechanism.
And what I found is that sometimes connecting energetically is the pathway back into the body. For some people it's actually easier than. Say, taking up yoga, which everyone tells you to do, right, right. Or, or whatever. And I love yoga, but you know, for some people the energy, not everybody does even going right to the physical.
Exactly. Right. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Right. Yeah. I, I love that you, you said that, and so here we go. All right. It's time, it's time to just really dig right in. Um, because you, you mentioned, you know, just like with trauma, uh, but the, so often with autoimmunity. Uh, there is trauma, right? It's the, the trauma tends to be either one of the triggers or precursor or, or like you said, or the, the physical challenges.
I mean, those create their own kind of trauma. So there Well,
Lisa Erickson: and the medical processes. Medical trauma, right? Gosh,
Julie Michelson: yes. Yes. It's all in your head. Yeah. Um, so I, I like, to me, you can't, you can't. Separated out. And, um, I love, you know, I'm a coach. I love stacking, I love doing one thing that's gonna have many different impacts or, um, you know, putting things together that don't add time to a practice.
And, and so we're talking, you can't, you can't heal the body. Without also working on the trauma and vice versa. Like there we're, we're, like you said, holistic humans. Um, and so I love that you, you brought it up very diplomatically. And I'll take the hard line and say, you know, we all have trauma, however you wanna define it, however, you know, um.
And I was just having this conversation with a client this week, this many years out from my physical challenges. I still get triggered when I feel certain things in my body. You know, the first place my nervous system goes is panic of where, you know, it puts me back where I was, you know, thank God. I, I can just say, you know, I ca I, I notice it, I catch it, and.
That's not my, my presence and, and I ha I have tools and practices, um mm-hmm. So I feel like, you know, chicken egg, we can't separate them out anyway. Um, but I love this idea of, let's talk a little bit about how like, energy work as the way in, um. 'cause it's, it's to me the same whether you're it's physical pain or challenges or, um, trauma one is aware of or not.
Lisa Erickson: Mm-hmm. Exactly. 'cause sometimes you might not be aware. Yeah. Yeah. And then there's a growing field of like, do we carry ancestral trauma? Right. And what do we carry forward from our family? And yeah. So sometimes you don't know the cause. Yeah. You know, the starting point, it's interesting to me 'cause the chakras, you know, are this.
There's different mappings, but in general, the main chakras in all the systems move up the center of the body from lower top or kind of paralleling your spine from tailbone to crown. And that first chakra at the tailbone, the base of the body sometimes also associated with the feet is your foundation.
And so that's where I would always start and per both dealing with illness and trauma. What it represents. I mean, it represents a lot of things, but this chakra represents, or what we're trying to cultivate by working with it is a feeling of safety in the body. Yes. It feels, and that is the foundation of the house for any right.
Healing work. I
Julie Michelson: love that. I love the the how you always put things so relatable. It's like, good, good. We've done that
Lisa Erickson: over the years actually, but
Julie Michelson: we can't, you can't physically heal. In, in a sympathetic state, right? You need to be in, you need to have safety, you need to be in a parasympathetic state, physiologically forget all of the other in, in order to heal.
And, and so that makes perfect sense because nobody wants, you know, nobody would knowingly build a house on a bad foundation. So, so why do all that work? Um, so that's, that's amazing.
Lisa Erickson: Yeah. And that's really where I start with people. And it can, depending on, um, someone's relationship to their body and their level of focus, sometimes focusing low on the body like that is very, very challenging.
So if, so, I might, I might start at the heart instead and move down. But in general, if possible, like, we're always gonna start with. Focus around the tailbone and different visualizations around light there, energy there, uh, visualizations of energy coming up from the earth and kind of holding you. I work a lot visually.
If people are not visually, then we work with a feeling, even a memory. Yeah. Is there somewhere in your childhood that was safe, you know? Mm-hmm. Was there a corner of your room? Was there your grandmother's house? What was it? Can we try to bring in that feeling of just I'm 100% safe and secure in this moment and practice it so that it becomes more present in your body.
That is a practice that can aid someone just immeasurably doing that regularly.
Julie Michelson: I can feel just how, yeah. Um, and I, I love that you have, you know, different approaches as we are all wired different and we're in different places in our journey. Yeah. Um, and, and so. As as, and I've been working, you know, luckily working on myself for a long time.
Yeah. Um, and, and for me, like the visualizing is so much easier than the, the memories, than the going back and, and, um, and so it, it is, there is always a way. Forward and through. Um, and, and that's why I believe the, the work that you're doing is so important because most of us don't just wake up and say, okay.
Now I'm gonna start, you know, doing energy work on myself and, and they need a, a, a guide, a mentor, a teacher, a leader to take them through. Um, and I, I think, uh, I can, I, I really encourage listeners, like, if this is all, if this conversation is new to you, just even start with that exercise and you will be amazed, you know?
Yeah. It's.
Lisa Erickson: It's a, these access methods. Yeah. Visual memory or affirmations are kind of the three that I find are the most accessible. But people vary. Some people love affirmations, you know, just focusing on red light at their tailbone and saying, I'm safe, I'm secure. Other people are like, oh no, that just totally hokey to me.
I like the visualization. I like not having words and you know. Mm-hmm. So it really is individual and I, and I think that's so important for people to know. 'cause otherwise. They go, oh, this isn't for me. Right. The first thing doesn't work. You know, oh, this isn't for me.
Julie Michelson: It's like medi meditation. I'm a bad meditator.
I don't, you know.
Lisa Erickson: Right. Was my mind was busy. No. I'm like, okay. Yeah. That's everybody's minds.
Julie Michelson: That's how the mind is. Or, or like, you know. Like I, I always say as people say, well, what's the best kind of meditation or the best kind of breathing, I'm like the one that resonates with you, that you'll do. Like there is exactly no, you know, magic recipe other than something that you'll actually do.
Um, and, and that feels right for you. So I, I love that you're, you know, just will give people that we need to give ourselves grace and, and most of us. Especially for listeners that are in the, the heat of it and haven't. You know, really gained a lot of ground in their healing journey yet, you know, grace is your best friend and, and so, um, and that also is a practice.
Lisa Erickson: Yeah. Most of us work so hard on ourselves, and so it is like, oh, okay, that didn't work. Being able to frame it as, that's not the right approach for me. Right. Be curious about what else might work, not, oh, nothing's gonna help me. And I do think, especially with, with chronic illness, that's at some point. The message that many people Yeah.
Absorb. There is nothing that will help me. You know?
Julie Michelson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I tried this, I tried that, and, and I am, I the whole, you know, basis for the podcast is because there isn't one path. Yeah. Um, and I do remember nine, 10 years into my decline with my rheumatoid arthritis. Thinking I was doing everything because my perspective was so limited at the time that, you know, I, I took every medication I took and failed every medication they tried
Lisa Erickson: and I
Julie Michelson: thought I was doing everything.
And so this is why we have these conversations because the, everything is infinite as far as the, the different approaches that we can take and, and modalities that we can combine. And what, what my practice is today. My practice is totally different than it was even five years ago.
Lisa Erickson: Mm-hmm.
Julie Michelson: My life is different than it was five years ago, you know, and, and so, um, I, you know, anyway, that, that's the's the.
Infinite possibility.
Lisa Erickson: Yeah. Finding that individualized path and really ex exploring it with curiosity and experimentation. You know, that empowerment, that you're the own expert Yes. On what's gonna work for you. You go to other experts, subject matter experts, right, to try things out, but in the end you're the one.
Yeah. And even true of medication, right? You give it a try and some work, some don't, you know, and all of that.
Julie Michelson: Yeah, and I love that, you know, um, I wanna highlight that you're the expert. Doesn't mean that you know what's gonna work, right? It just means that when you check in, you know what's resonating, and, and you, you can tap into that innate intelligence to, to lead you in the right direction, um, or turn from something that's not working or serving you.
Lisa Erickson: As well, and so often that's been work I've needed to do with people that are going through the medical journey, whether it's immune or cancer is another thing. I have a lot of people, this kind of work is complimentary treatment, the medical journey itself, and empowering the throat chakra to be able to speak and say, look, I had all these side effects.
Is that. Normal. Is it worth it? Is there anything we can do? Or, or, you know, you said this wasn't gonna hurt, but it actually did for me. So what does that mean? And you know, like that kind of thing because people will be so shy about, or fearful of speaking up. Yes. And in that way. Yeah. And
Julie Michelson: that is one of the, the, um, I'm not smiling, uh uh, it's, you know, those of you, those of us with, with thyroid issues are leaning in what?
Learn to use my voice. Exactly. Because that's
Lisa Erickson: so, yes. Yes.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Um, and, and so. And it, you know, you don't have to read a guidebook to, to be like, oh, I have this, that means that, like, just, you know, and, and the, the beautiful thing is where you can all be evolving and growing and practicing. Um, and so I love the.
I actually, I gave you my opinion and I should, I wanna ask your opinion because this is, you are the expert in this field. Um, I jumped to an assumption that something that works on trauma and works on physical healing, that that meant that you don't have to like, go into, you know, identify your trauma, know what it is, go in with the intention.
If somebody said, you know, I wanna work with you, do we have to do, um. Scary trauma work in that sense, like. Yeah, just because that's my opinion doesn't mean that's accurate. So, well, no.
Lisa Erickson: And in fact my, 'cause who I work with or the way that I work, it's a specific point in someone's trauma journey. I think there is a place, perhaps often, 'cause I often work with sexual trauma survivors and it's not uncommon with that kind of trauma for it to have been repressed or buried someone not to have spoken about it for 10, 20, 30 years.
Right? Mm-hmm. And that there is a phase of that journey. Where it is about talking and, and recovering some of that memory and speaking, right? Yes. And I will do that, but that's not my expertise. That more falls in the, the line of a talk therapist or more emotional counseling. But then there comes a point when you're dealing with the patterns that experience the imprints, how it impacted you.
Yeah. The survival mechanisms that you developed, the emotional patterns you developed. To protect yourself, essentially. Right. Which could be disconnecting in certain ways. You know, fight, flight. Yeah. We have all these, fawn is then develops into a people pleasing pattern. Fight develops into, I can't imagine, anger and walls as self.
Right. Uhhuh flight develops into disassociating, disconnecting from any kind of conflict, and so whatever the pattern is, that's where I'm usually meeting someone. How is that pattern stored in your psyche and your energy body? What can we do to rewrite it? That little root chakra thing I was just talking about that is about trying to create and build a new feeling of safety and security in the body as a new default as opposed to hyper vigilance.
Right? But it takes time to overwrite patterns of hypervigilance. But that so, so I. I'm not usually working so much with the memories. I have certain practices where we might do that, but I'm working more with no. What happens when you're, you know, need to have a difficult conversation with your boss, right?
Mm-hmm. Or someone says something that triggers you. What happens? We're working with that moment in your body. And how can we help you shift it and gradually rewriting to new patterns. I always say to people, it's more like physical therapy. I love it than surgery. Yeah. It's more like physical therapy. You have to remap how your body moves.
Mm-hmm. As opposed to like getting a tumor out in surgery. Right, right. It's more we're rewriting your psyche and your energy body patterns. Yeah. And they are rewriteable. And they are rer. That's the good news. Yes. Sometimes it feels like slow work often. Yes. Steps forward. One step back. It's like any
Julie Michelson: heal part of the healing journey.
Right. It's never a straight line and it, it's, you know, usually has some surprises in there. Um, and definitely some backslides for sure, but it is, but we learn more and more, you know, like that to me is often where the gold is, is like, okay. Why, you know, why a step back here? Yeah. Um, and then that just
Lisa Erickson: helps.
Yeah. What happened to make that happen? Oh, that's new information. Yeah. Oh, that's interesting that, that triggered you, you know, uh, it's new information. Yeah. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Uh, amazing. Um, I, I just, I have like 8,000 like, oh, this is, um, so you, you gave us. A, a, a practice and you, how often, you know, if somebody's like, just totally starting out, they're leaning in, they're like, wow, this is fascinating.
Later we're gonna tell them how to get in touch with you. But as a practice, um, you know, are there rules? Is it, you know, has to be daily, should be X, Y, z.
Lisa Erickson: Yeah, I really like for, you know, we have these levels, like obviously is better, but you know, I work with so many women and so I definitely have a no guilt policy because Yeah, the challenge for most women is overwhelm, right?
Yeah. Yeah. And always feeling torn, um, between self care, family care work, et cetera. So yeah, so I think the easiest place to start is to link it to a daily habit. So I'll be like, can you do this in the shower each day? Yeah. Can you do this as you brush your teeth every day, and we'll talk through what that might look like, what you might be doing.
Ideally, then it would be layering in a few days a week of actually doing it as a formal sitting meditation for 10 to 20 minutes. That's a big step for some people. Very attainable for others. So we start with kind of the linking it to a daily habit piece. And then we might move into, can we move into a, this is self-care time, 10 or 20 minutes, twice a week.
Depends where we're starting from. Yeah. Someone may have an existing meditation practice and then we're just taking some of that time and saying, okay, let's make part of that energy based. So yeah, it's always about meeting someone where they're at.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. And I, I love that, that. Uh, just our approaches are so aligned, you know, I, you can see with, with certain people, and I could feel it physically when you were talking about like for the, for the people that.
This is all new, right? And they, they haven't been in touch with what's going on in their body and, and, um, you know, to just even say, you know, okay, twice a week, 10 to 20 minutes, like stress response right away. Like, you know, so I love that you have the, the, you know, stack it, the attach it to something you're already doing.
Doesn't need to be a big thing. I always say you can't use the tool if you haven't created the practice. Because I, I have people that'll tell me that with, you know, if we're talking about like a breathing exercise. Oh yeah. Well, I do it when I get stressed and I'm like, how you, you haven't even ever exercised it yet.
Yeah.
Lisa Erickson: Having built that muscle up. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That whole physical therapy, the idea is, you know, you have to ReWalk rework the way you walk. 'cause your hips are out alignment and that caused your back injury. Right. But you have to do the exercises in physical therapy and so then that means when you're out walking down the street, you'll start walking differently.
Right? Yeah. So, or you can't just start walking differently. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Right. You're not gonna just say, okay, tomorrow. Yeah, I'm gonna start talking differently. This pattern I've had for 30 years is gone. I love it. It's amazing. So what, what are you finding? Um. And, and, well, let's, can we, can you run us through, not run, can you walk us evenly through, um, the chakras and, and just, um, whatever comes up for you is important for people to just can, you know, to give them an idea.
Yeah.
Lisa Erickson: Yeah. And I think I will mention the glands. 'cause you mentioned the thyroid. Each chara is linked to certain psychological states and energies, but also to physical parts of the body. Yes. So I'll, I'll kind of just touch on each, because that can gives you clues as to where you may start. Right. I love that.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So we talked about the root chakra, and I use the tailbone, very base of the spine is where we focus on for this. And it's linked to kind of a, from a psychological perspective, feeling safe in the body. Feeling relaxed, secure, calm in the body. That feeling and grounded like fully present. When we talk about the, you know, those basic mindfulness of exercises of say like name three sounds that you hear or three sight to do, that you have to be present here in the moment.
That's grounding and that's linked to the root chakra. Physically it is linked to. The immune system. Mm-hmm. And the gland it's linked to is the adrenals. Mm-hmm. So this one is a foundational one for physical health. Yes. Like we talked about already. Foundation of the house. Um, and stop me at any point.
Otherwise, I'll just walk through them all, but, okay. Yeah, if you wanna spend more time on one, uh, the sacral, I work with it, and there are different mappings around this in the pelvic bowl. So it's really, uh, between the hip bones, you might say, for women it's really the cerv uterus space. Uh, and this is linked to fluidity.
The water element. Each of these trackers also linked to an element. The root is earth, the water element, it's linked to adaptability, fluidity, often creativity, right? Because it's, that means energy, sexuality, and sensuality. Uh, always also linked to all of those, and it's linked to a reproductive gland. So for men, the prostate, for women, the ovaries, and the reproductive system.
Um, and of course hormones are, you know, all the endocrines, all the glands, so interlinked, right? We can't really talk about any of these separate from each other, right? Just like you can't talk about the chakras separate from each other, right? But. The next, I work at the Naval. Some people consider the third chakra.
They like to focus higher up in the solar plexus. I prefer to focus at the bottom of that area. It rules the whole stomach area no matter what, like from ribcage to naval. I like to focus at the bottom. A lot of eastern traditions, this is like a center of power sometimes called the horror. It has to do with that.
Our sense of personal power will determination, executive function boundaries. So a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Boundaries. Yeah. Big topic for me. Big topic. Yeah. And executive function too, like it's also linked to the mental body. So although we think of like, oh, busyness mind, that must be linked to this tracker. No, no, no.
It's actually linked down here and it's so interesting. It's linked to the digestive system, the whole digestive system. Right. Often called our second brain, right, right. Or is it the first I, I think, yeah. Well, yeah, it often feels like the first having issues there and it's linked to the pancreas gland.
Um, then of course the heart center of the system linked to all the things you might think, you know, love, compassion, balance, relationships, but self-compassion as well, self-worth. Um, and it's linked heart and lungs is the physical link, but it's linked also, you know, the gland is the heart. Because the heart is not only an organ, it also produces endocrine.
So it's the gland associated with the heart chakra. And obviously this one is really central, linked to the breath, right? A big part of so many, uh, mindfulness and somatic modalities. Um, then we have the throat. And I like to focus up at the vocal chord. Some like lower down here linked to speech for one thing, right?
But really it's about our ability to express ourselves. And also here it's the whole communication loop, and it's really about authenticity because what is speech? But like how do I get my inside out? Right? I understand the outside in. So it's about authenticity. So for example, if someone has big people pleasing tendencies in order to stay safe, feel safe.
Mm-hmm. They speak in terms of what everyone wants to hear. Mm-hmm. We may be working here a lot, you know, with that idea of, oh, what is authentic speech? What do you actually feel and how do get that out? What do you actually need? Right. So that huge pattern often linked to boundaries as well within naval.
Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Again, there's nothing in isolation, right. Like Exactly.
Lisa Erickson: Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, people pleasing. Usually it's a mechanism to try to feel safe or try to feel self worth. Right. Right. And
Julie Michelson: typical boundaries are are, you know, not real clear either or, or,
Lisa Erickson: yeah. There's no boundaries because really you're like all sensing what does what everybody want from me.
So your whole energy body is tuned into what is everybody else feeling as opposed to protecting your own space and feelings, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And then the third eye. So this is about knowing and wisdom and intuition, but kind of beyond words. So I said the whole mental busyness thing, that's actually still, that's actually linked to centering your naval chakra.
This is more about tapping into this other level of knowing. This other level of knowing what's right for you, your wisdom beyond the busyness, and it's linked to the pituitary gland. Some say pineal, the crown and third eye are pineal and pituitary. The throat, of course, is thyroid. I didn't mention that, but yeah, the pituitary and pineal.
I work with the third eye as pituitary, and the crown is pineal. Some switch that. Okay. But bottom line is these are our two kind of regulatory glands in terms of sleep and dopamine and all that's. Stuff. Yeah. Um, and then the crown is linked to faith and it is linked to spiritual interests, but really it's linked to our sense of values, which some of us get from a spiritual or religious tradition.
And some of us might find in a more secular way, but it's linked to having a sense of knowing your own values and aligning your life with those values, um, is really what the crown is about. So that's kind of the whole, whole picture from Body to Spirit, right? Is kind of Yeah. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Oh, I love it. I ju I just love the way you just make it so accessible, right, and, and welcoming for, with the language you use, with the way you explain, you know, the, I love the, I haven't heard it put that way, you know, knowing your own values, um, because that's.
Everybody.
Lisa Erickson: Mm-hmm. Exactly.
Julie Michelson: Can if they, if they ever, um, choose to, to dive into that work. So, and it, it is interesting. I know you said like, tap in, like, you know, if you're ever feeling something and, and maybe that's your, your starting place, um, with the cosal, that like the foundation is always the foundation.
Um, it's. I would imagine many, many listeners, if not. All of them are going to hear, you know, like e every, I need every single one. Well, and or if, if there's somebody who's been doing a lot of work on themselves for a long time, and this isn't totally new to them, you know, I, I, I love the, the connections of, you know, there's nobody that at some point in their autoimmune journey hasn't had.
Uh, adrenal challenges. I get guarantee you that happened before you were ever even diagnosed, right? Like, so it, it, it's again, it just like. We're holistic whole humans. You know, you can't just be like, well, I've been working on this chakra for five years, so I'm good. Like, right. You know, that, that inter beautiful symphony of just like each organ system impacts the other.
Um, it, it's, uh, an amazing. It is, it's
Lisa Erickson: an amazing framework. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and, and it's, um, you spiral back to different things. There's layers to the work. You might do a lot of work at one point or naval work for boundaries, but then you're in a new situation in your life that challenges it in a new way.
Yeah. That's triggering you in ways that you weren't in the past, and you need to circle back. To working more explicitly there. So that's, that's why it does provide a great framework.
Julie Michelson: So amazing. So you gave us, um, I'm just, this is literally me being curious. Um, you gave, you gave us an idea of an exercise, um, similar exercise.
If it's, you know, say somebody said, uh, you know, was thinking, okay, actually, you know what? I, I do think I need to start with throat and, and I'm gonna incorporate the, the foundation too. I mean, do you always,
how, how do you have people approach?
Lisa Erickson: Yeah. Heart and root. I'm very comfortable with someone just starting to work with those on their own. Heart would be the other one that I would often start with, if not root and simply what I'm often focusing on with heart is receiving. So very simple visualization of just light.
Pouring in from every direction and trying to just imagine you're receiving an infinite amount of it into the heart. And then we might do affirmations around self-worth or balance or depending on what someone is weak. Yeah, so this root and heart, I'm like, you can just work with on your own. If someone is like, oh, I resonate the most when needing to do throat chakra work, I'm usually, I'm going to pair that with either heart or root.
Okay. Just in isolation, maybe navel, if it's kind of boundary, just in isolation. The other chakras usually. I'm gonna wanna pair with something else if it's the first one we're working on.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I knew I had to ask the question, so there we go. That's why.
Lisa Erickson: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Good,
Lisa Erickson: good.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. It is amazing.
And, and you know, it's interesting 'cause you, you mentioned, you know, working with people that going through cancer treatment or, and to me that still falls under the same umbrella. Mm-hmm. Um, it's just a different kind of autoimmune. Mm-hmm. You know, um, and, and so I know that, that you're, again, you know, you, you work with all of it.
Um, and it sounds like you see the same thing the, of the, you, you mentioned layers. I always say I have to find a, a more. Just a, a more beautiful way. I always am calling us onions. Right, because it is true. Yeah. No, I actually, I do love the idea of onions. Yes. There isn't anything else like it really. It's just, you know, I, I, um, you know, friendly with a doc who, who does a lot of, of work around trauma with people and, and she uses spiral staircase and I'm like, it's really beautiful, but I still keep coming back to onion.
Lisa Erickson: Yeah, I like onion because it's, it's around, you know, the spiral. Yeah. This feels more like the center, like you're getting Yeah. Like deeper center. Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. And, and so for anybody listening that's like, oh yeah, I've done that work. I'm done. Like Uhuh. Yeah. Um, you know, that, that's the other thing. And, and just like I mentioned my practice.
Isn't what it, what it was five years ago or 10 years ago. It, it, it's changing with what I need and, and, um, you know, some people, you know, I wake up in the morning and it's like, what, you know, what do I need today? But as a p like there is a practice. It's not like, oh, I need to run to work. I'm going to do whatever that is.
Um, but that's the beauty is like we, we can reach. Healing that feels really good. And then, like you said, the, the new trigger, the new situation or the different kind of response, but maybe it's still not the response, you know, that you would hope would be your default. Um, gives us, creates new opportunity for growth.
Lisa Erickson: It's like you're learning to surf bigger waves. You've learned to surf this sense of waves. Then a situation or someone comes along in your life that throws a much bigger wave at you and you're like, oh, I thought I knew how to surf. That caught high, but you do a little more work. That one threw me. You know?
And that's how life is.
Julie Michelson: It absolutely is. It is just full of opportunity. And again, thank goodness, because I firmly believe that when we're done growing, we're done. Yeah, you know, with this lifetime. And so, um, you know, sometimes it doesn't feel great in the moment, but it, but it really is a genuine, beautiful opportunity for us to, to learn, to continue to grow.
Um, yeah. And, and I think the, I just had this conversation with somebody this week too, a, a client, um, you know. The, the beautiful thing is when you're growing, you can't be contracting. So, you know, um, and I do think so much of the work you, you do, you're, you're working with, you know, very similar, um, population that, that I am.
And, and the, the closed off protected contracted, um, and oh my gosh, when you just start to open up so I can see, I, I. Um, you know, sometimes it, it's easier, I shouldn't say easier. Um, working with the heart space first feels important sometimes. Um, I know.
Lisa Erickson: Yeah. And, and for what I find sometimes the people with sexual trauma, 'cause I do work with a lot of sexual trauma survivors in particular.
Lower body focus just is difficult for them. Yeah. So it depends if someone's starting. So the heart is always a great place to start.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. And I love that you clarified, you know, it's about receiving.
Lisa Erickson: Yeah.
Julie Michelson: Um, because that's, that's the, the part that especially, you know, at least the women I tend to work with.
Yep. Almost have to relearn or, you know, even just, you know, very
Lisa Erickson: hard time with Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, okay, we're just like opening up these like rec receptor channels that have been kind of blocked off. You know, just imagine opening up. Yeah. You, you can so much more. Yeah. Yeah. Lot.
Julie Michelson: Ah, so amazing. So share.
First of all, um, you know, where is the best place for listeners to learn more about you? And then I'm gonna ask a few more questions about how you work with people, but. Sure. Yeah. Where's the best place to find you? For the, for people that are, because I, I fall into this category. I listen on the go and I'm not a great, like, check the show notes person,
Lisa Erickson: so Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. My website is enlightened energetics.com, enlightened energetics, and then I'm on both Facebook and. Instagram as chakra empowerment, which is the name of my book, chakra Empowerment for Women, which you'll find linked to in all of those places. So enlightened energetics or chakra empowerment.
If you Google that, you're gonna end up one of those places
Julie Michelson: and don't, and if you're not already, like, you know, you don't have to be steeped in woo woo. Yeah. Um, but you, you really like, I just, I love how you deliver. Um, and share your knowledge with people. So it's like there is no, it's too soon to start for people to, you know, um, don't be afraid of, yeah.
Yeah,
Lisa Erickson: you don't have to go believing. Oh yeah, I definitely believe in, I was like, no, just out. Try out some of these things and see what you feel. That's it.
Julie Michelson: Yeah. Amazing. Ugh. So good. So we're at the point of the conversation where people are leaning in 'cause they know. I'm gonna ask you the hardest question, which is, what is one step that listeners can take starting today?
To improve their, I'm not how, I'm just gonna say blank. Fill in the blank.
Lisa Erickson: I am gonna go back to what we talked about with the root chakra, and I'm gonna say once a day while you're brushing your teeth, focus on the feeling of your feet on the ground and bring your mind all the way down to your tailbone.
And that's it. Just see if you can do that the entire time you're brushing your teeth and see what you begin to notice. Is it hard for you to bring your awareness down? Do you feel connected to your feet and your tailbone? That's it. Start
Julie Michelson: there. Ah. I love it. See, it wasn't hard. I was like, oh, she'll know.
'cause she'll just go with,
she will know. Well, I, I'm so grateful for the, the work that you're putting out in the world and, and really there is, I, it's not even an overlap. I mean, it, it, it's, all of us need healing and continue to need to work on healing. Um, and the more healed we are, the, the. Bigger, better contribution we can make.
And, and so I love that you just are, are so relatable, um, and, and really, really appreciate the wisdom that you're sharing and appreciate you giving your time for us so that, that listeners could learn with you and from you as well.
Lisa Erickson: Thank you, Julie. It's been a pleasure and I more and more as I move forward in life as well, like I just so honor everyone that is doing work to help people.
We look at the numbers, the research, the number of people that are suffering in different ways, and there are all different modalities. As you said, different combinations of things work for different people. So I just so honor you doing this work as well. And then in addition to that. Sharing these other modalities through your podcast.
So thank you very much.
Julie Michelson: Well, thank you For everyone listening. Remember, you can actually get those show notes and transcripts by visiting Inspired Living Show. I hope you had a great time and enjoyed this episode as much as I did, and I'll see you next week and do the practice.
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Connect with Lisa Erickson
Lisa Erickson
Lisa Erickson is an energy worker specializing in women's energetics, sexual trauma healing, meditation and contemplative chakra practices. She is the author of Chakra Empowerment for Women and The Art and Science of Meditation both published by Llewellyn Worldwide. She aids individuals through major life transits, chronic illness, and trauma healing, with a particular focus on women’s issues. Lisa is certified in mindfulness meditation instruction and trauma sensitivity, and has trained in a variety of kundalini and energy healing modalities including with internationally acclaimed healer and author Cyndi Dale. She is certified in the somatic technique Feeding Your Demons through the International Buddhist organization Tara Mandala, and is a meditation teacher wtihin this organization. She is a member of the Energy Medicine Practitioners Association, and The Breathe Network, a non-profit dedicated to supporting holistic healing for sexual trauma survivors.
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