Positive Health Online

Speaking as an avid researcher of 22 chakras I was happy and honoured to review this book by Glen Park.

I thoroughly enjoyed looking through this book and found it to be a fairly comprehensive guide to the chakra energy system, a beautifully presented soft cover book fairly large being nearly 300 pages in length. I thought it to be well researched and formatted, defining basic chakras and using little quotation, sounds, affirmations, meditations, exercises and addressing the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies.  She also includes some case studies are connections between chakras ie Solar Plexus and Third eye /brow.

There is a long list of resources and plentiful references with links to other researchers listed as an appendix at the end of the book. 

Serving as an introduction for those who are new to the concept of chakras, and equally valuable to anyone interested in learning more about our expanding chakra system. I feel it to be valuable as a reference manual for those who have been working with them for a while i.e. Reiki, Rahanni practitioners etc.

In each chapter she looks at a different area of the body. Each chakra that she covers has additional info connecting mind/body and psyche and spirit.

There is some limited information on some of the lesser known chakras too ie Alta Major, although the location of this is not shown on the lovely colour plates and diagrams in the middle section of the book it is referenced in a smaller line diagram later. It is fairly rare to see others speak to the “alta major chakra “(also known as one of the main ascension chakras, “well of dreams” and “jade gate”.  I have been studying this for nearly 30yrs now and writing for other publications on its details. 

Whilst I don’t fully resonate with some of the smaller details and some of her perceptions, which chakra to include the adrenals … (Glen says ‘sacral’ I would suggest ‘base’), the majority of information is great.  I  love that she incorporates exercises, quotes and mantras for most areas with some very sweet touches , like references to characters attached to visual quotes for instance Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.  

Glen recognises and refers to the importance of the ancient channels of the sacred Shushumni, Ida and Pingali ( Shiva/Shakti) energy coursing up the spinal column which connects many of the main chakras to the body via the nervous system and endocrine system which act as the matrix that connects the emotions to the physical.  

To summarize, I found the book to be well laid out, each chapter addressing a different chakra and serving well as a reference manual with some nice diagrams and colour plates, mainly collected in the centre of the book. As a teacher and lecturer myself, I have taught  hundreds of classes in colleges and private courses and also given hundreds of talks to private groups on the topic of chakras for over 2 decades and would be happy to recommend to my students and those who are new to the subject alike. 

Generally I found this a lovely easy-to-navigate book and am happy to have it as an addition on my personal reference bookshelf and to recommend to others.

About the Author

Glen Park is a healer, teacher, writer, workshop leader and trainer in the Alexander Technique and Chakra Healing Therapy. She has been practising these two healing modalities for over thirty years Before that she gained an honours degree in philosophy and worked in the professional theatre as an actor and playwright for ten years.

All these life choices, in different ways, were an expression of her enduring interest in the relationship between mind and body, and the enigma of consciousness. Her wide-ranging experience has contributed to the reach and the depth of her work, both practically and in her writing.

Further Information

Available from Inner Traditions Publishers, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com