The Densest of the 3 Planes includes the Physical Body
We all have 3 bodies, though most of us think of ourselves as having one body, that houses not just our organs and systems, but also the sum and substance of all of our experiences. At one level, this is completely true. In other words, you may key photos from your experiences in your life in the cloud, or on a hard drive. But those are merely images. The experiences captured on the photos theoretically occurred while you were in your body! (We already know from our work in the Astral plane or body that disembodiment is a thing that we have to manage and help our clients overcome.)
In reality, when you have an experience, whether happy, unpleasant or absolutely neutral, such as a benign trip to a department store to buy items for your kitchen or bathroom, all of your bodies make the trip with you, and each of them hold an aspect of the experience. When held properly, your conscious recall knows when the experience occurred, and in a general sense, the reason for the experience (I went to the Target on the other side of town to pick up kitchen items. While it’s normally out of my way, I had an eye doctor’s appointment, so I consolidated my errands.) Your emotional awareness holds the feelings and perceptions of the experience (I was so happy to finally get the items I needed to round out my kitchen since I love to cook.). Your physical body holds the concrete awareness of the event (it was a cold, rainy day, I was shivering as I walked inside or the sun was shining and there were gorgeous warm breezes, I was wearing shorts and flipflops and felt great outside, a bit chilly inside the store!).
Without the container of your physical body, experience would be hard to generate! Your body needs to show up and play its role for you to have any experience at all.
John Friedlander, one of my early teachers, teaches psychic awareness as a form of healing. I learned a lot from him, and no longer pursue any studies with him as my interests and path have diverged substantially since the early 90’s. One of John’s fascinating pieces of work has been his exploration of the Seven Planes of Consciousness. When a guy sits around meditating all day, this is the kind of stuff that can be uncovered. John articulates sub-planes within each one of the seven planes. In fact, each plane has seven subplanes.
As energy practitioners, you can begin to leverage this awareness. John did not discover the Seven Planes. The Rosicrucians speak of the 7 planes, as do the Theosophists and many other spiritual and esoteric teachings have interpretations of the planes. John’s work is in the articulation of the subplanes, and this is where practitioners can become very granular in their treatment strategies and process for supporting healing and evolution.
In the Etheric/Physical plane, there are 3 subplanes, the lowest of the 7 subplanes that are purely physical. Your body, its organs, systems, glands, functions, autonomic, sympathetic and parasympathetic activities make up the lowest of the 7 subplanes, subplanes 5, 6 and 7.
Beyond the physical subplanes emerge the Etheric, the nonphysical, energetic subplanes. Their construct includes Meridians (4th subplane), Nadis (3rd subplane), Group Meridians (2nd subplane – like ley lines of the Earth), and Group Nadis (1st subplane).
One of the interesting distinctions that Friedlander uncovered, which had always been a question in my mind, is the difference between chi and meridian-based modalities and prana and chakra-based modalities. Good practitioners, be very clear on this. If someone uses Chi to feed chakras and the aura, they are mixing apples and oranges. Chi is a slightly lower vibration (4th subplane), than prana (3rd subplane), and the energies are used expressly within the systems of the body they are designed to support.
When you work with chakras and the aura, you work with Prana
Listen carefully to the practitioners you meet along the way. Many of them will use the words ‘chi’ and ‘prana’ interchangeably. It’s a common misconception that they’re one and the same, simply stemming from two different Eastern traditions.
There’s no need to correct people on this topic, that’s not why I’m suggesting you listen carefully. What I am suggesting is that the important distinction between the two energies ties directly to the subplanes of the Etheric.
Meridians, Chi and Emotions
Image Source: “Meridian Charts (detail), Office, Wu Hsing Tao School, Traditional Five Element Acupuncture & Psychology, Seattle, Washington, USA”
by Wonderlane is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (EHI modification: Image cropped to show one poster of Meridians instead of all 3 posters.)
The Meridians are replenished and fed Chi (Ch’i, Qi), life force. When physical ailments or illnesses exist, there is either a Chi deficiency or excess Chi flowing. You’re not about to get a lecture about Meridians, Chi/Life Force, trust me! The important distinction to note in the Meridian system is that emotions are specifically articulated and prescribed to certain organs. For example, anger is associated with the liver, fear with the kidneys, love and joy with the heart. The body and the emotions are one.
This is not wrong, or inaccurate, it’s simply different than how we look at the body and emotions with the chakra system and prana. In fact, the subplanes of the Etheric body, create and acknowledge the distinction between the two systems. The Meridians resonate with, access and utilize Chi, vibrating at the 4th subplane, the first non-physical subplane of the Etheric plane. Chi’s slightly lower vibration creates the pairing of emotions and organs. There is one body and all experience is housed within it, including emotional awareness.
Chakras, Prana and Bodies – a higher vibration
Prana is a slightly higher vibration than Chi, vibrating at the 3rd subplane of the Etheric. Because of the slight increase in vibration, the spiritual aspects and the articulation of different planes/bodies – Etheric/Physical, Astral,/Emotional, and Mental/Causal become apparent.
With the chakra system and multiple bodies, emotions are not tied specifically to organs. They vibrate in their own separate plane (except for when they’re repressed, we’ll get to that later). Thus, someone can have a problem with their liver and a pattern of anger or rage, and the two issues aren’t necessarily intertwined in the same way as they are in Meridian based systems.
You’ve spent quite a bit of time understanding the Astral body, the emotional plane of awareness, and how to resolve and address emotions, patterns, behaviors and limiting beliefs. You’ve learned about energetic constructs such as Programming, Emotional Energy, Cords and Contracts and how to clear them to help your clients shift, evolve, heal and grow.
As you now layer in the Etheric body, you’ll be able to assess how emotions and the body come together in your clients experience and help them to heal physically, emotionally and spiritually. It’s really exciting to have additional keys to evolution and spiritual growth. As you work with these energies and planes more comprehensively, you’ll see the incredible resources you can bring to your clients’ healing journey, and the granularity with which you can address emotional and physical issues, while bringing the spiritual aspects of healing front and center in your clients’ awareness.
Nadis, Aura, Chakras
The Etheric chakras and aura generate from the nadis. There is not a one-to-one correlation between the Etheric plane (which all of us share and access as part of our collective conscious and unconscious awareness of the human body), and each one of our individual bodies, which nadis, chakras and an aura.
Your body is uniquely yours, the energy that fuels your body is Prana. The characteristics and qualities of the organs, systems, glands; the processes of the body are universally shared and experienced because of their articulation in the Etheric plane and subplanes. In other words, the stomach is universally agreed upon as a resource for digesting food. It’s not used as a heart in one body and for digestion in another. The Etheric plane helps hold all of this in place through the activation and presence of the nadis.
It’s also important to keep the awareness that the 7th subplane of the Etheric DOES NOT correlate to the 7th Etheric chakra. This is true in the Astral plane body as well. The subplanes in the plane are not tied directly to an individual chakra at all.
I’ll see you in Office Hours, right? This is a big one to take in and contextualize. It’s important you get it framed up correctly in your thinking and understanding of the energy systems of the individual and the planes of awareness that inform our sense of self.
Next steps:
Proceed to the next plane, one you’ve already spent time on in detail, the Astral/Emotional plane and subplanes.