How Can Chakras Help Our Children?

In this conversation, we dive into the chakra system and its essential function in human potential and development. Author Ellen Tadd has partnered with Creative Lives to bring her discoveries about the chakras to educators, counsellors, parents, and schools as "A Framework for Wise Education." This practical approach explains the precise function of each chakra, its associated attributes, and how together, the chakras deal with every aspect of our nature. We also discuss some of the challenges that occur when one or more chakras become dominant or diminished in function -- and make specific links between the energy system and pressing concerns for youth (depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, disruptive behaviours, etc). The chakra system can help us better understand human strengths, and weaknesses, and even help us navigate the complexities of supporting the physical health of children in this increasingly toxic world.

Our human energy system is designed to help each of us reach our potential for learning, contribution, and fulfilment! When we understand how to help it function well, it is as though we are tuning ourselves up, so we can bring our full music to the symphony of life.

Key Points:
1. Chakra System Overview
2. Benefits for Children
3. Getting Parents and Teachers Involved
4. Implementation in Schools
5. Global Reach
6. Teacher Training Program
7. Practical Applications
8. Feedback and Results

Creative Lives Founding Director Maureen Burford is a veteran teacher and accomplished musician, with 38 years of experience working with students from the early years through college.
In 2012, she formed a partnership with author Ellen Tadd to bring Tadd’s discoveries about the chakra system and its role in human development to the field of education. Together, they named Tadd’s approach “a Framework for Wise Education.”
Since then, she has shared this ground-breaking, whole-child approach with thousands of children and teens, locally and nationally, in classroom and out-of-school settings. Maureen leads training programs program for adults in this methodology nationally.
In 2019, Maureen received The Lynn von Trapp Award for excellence in leading preventative programming for youth in Vermont. She holds an M.Ed. in Creative Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a B.A. in music from Cornell University.

LINKS TO OTHER SPEAKER RELATED INFORMATION
http://www.creativelives.org

Transcript
www.bodymindki.com/podcast

Author: The Holistic Health Show
Guest Speaker: Maureen Burford
Category: Health and Wellness
Publish date: 2024-07-09
Duration: [00:20:13]

Transcript

[00:00:14] Amy: Hello and welcome back. Thanks so much for joining us again today on the show. We have Maureen Burford She's the director of creative lives and the topic. Well, we're going to talk about the chakra system today specifically working with children how can parents and teachers? Use the chakra system to assist in the development of their children Maureen, I'm very excited about this, you know, and my listeners know that I do chakra work.

[00:00:41] Amy: However, my work tends to be geared towards adults. So this is very interesting. It means a lot to me to be talking about the chakra system today. And what I'd love is for you to jump right in and give us a little background. Tell us why it is you've chakra system and how it works. How can we all get involved?

[00:01:01] Maureen Burford: Sure. It was a curvy path. I was thinking about the well being of kids and teachers and parents over a decade ago. And what could I do to help our kids both learn and really thrive at a time of challenge? And it's only gotten more challenging since then. And so I approached my longtime meditation and philosophy teacher who had introduced me to To her in depth discoveries about the chakra system.

[00:01:28] Maureen Burford: I didn't expect [00:01:30] her to say this though. She said, you know, Maureen, if you really want to help, I think we need, we need a whole child approach that addresses all aspects of kids development. And the chakra system is designed to do just that. It's, it's a fabulous framework for approaching teaching and parenting.

[00:01:47] Maureen Burford: And I took a beat. I had to think about that. And then I thought, you know what, she's right. And in the More than 10 years now that we've been applying this with thousands of kids and with the adults who work with them. I have to say that the results have been quite remarkable. And quickly, the premise of this approach is that we all have a chakra system and I can talk a little bit more about what that is.

[00:02:13] Maureen Burford: But we all have this energy system and it's. When it's functioning well, that really yields optimal learning and development for everyone, wherever they are in the learning curve, from the very early years all the way through our lives. So it's been a very practical way to think about teaching and parenting.

[00:02:34] Amy: , the benefits I think that we would have had growing up having been exposed and having been taught about the chakra system would be remarkable. , what I'm curious is how do we get the parents and the teachers involved in the first place?

[00:02:51] Amy: And then how are we introducing this to our children?

[00:02:55] Maureen Burford: Right. The first question about how we get them involved is one, of course, [00:03:00] that's on my mind all the time because I want, we now have a program that is national. We can train people from across our country and ostensibly from anywhere online. So how would we wake people up from the or get their attention in the middle of the day?

[00:03:16] Maureen Burford: All the stresses and challenges that are happening in schools and for parents who are busy and working often and also raising their Children. And I think one of the, one of the kingpins in sharing this approach is really to talk about how connected the chakra system is to when people are doing well in their lives and how also connected it is to when they're struggling.

[00:03:41] Maureen Burford: There is a direct connection between the function of the centers and wonderful attributes like enthusiasm to learn and confidence in oneself and compassion. And on the flip side. The chakra functions linked directly to depression, anxiety, low self esteem a tendency to be dominating or bullying or a lack of rigor and, and not wanting to work very hard.

[00:04:08] Maureen Burford: All of those aspects and challenges also linked to the function of the system. So, my teacher, Ellen Tadd, Was keenly interested as well in the chakras and she had this extra gift of clairvoyance She could actually see them. So she became really curious Well, how can this system help explain the complexities of human development and [00:04:30] behavior?

[00:04:30] Maureen Burford: How can it help me raise my own kids? How can it help me with my clients? And she got some very, very clear answers over a long time, I think more than a decade, of looking deeply at the chakras and then distilling their function. So what we can say to teachers and parents is Ellen's done a lot of hard work for us, and she's helped us figure out the tools, the strategies, the attitudes, the environments.

[00:04:57] Maureen Burford: The actions that help this system function well, so anyone can learn it and apply it.

[00:05:02] Amy: And so is the, you're in the States we should clarify that for our 

[00:05:05] Amy: listeners. 

[00:05:05] Amy: Is this in schools? Is this a program that has been up, taken up by some schools and some teachers

[00:05:12] Maureen Burford: definitely been taken up by teachers in various schools across the country from the early years through high school. And we started at a school. We started with a laboratory after school program at an elementary school nearby, and spent a good eight years field testing this approach there, and then in.

[00:05:32] Maureen Burford: in the upper valley area where I live in Vermont, New Hampshire. I've worked with high school students in school and out of school settings. So it's really been in any setting that you could imagine children are being supported or taught.

[00:05:45] Amy: That's amazing. I'm curious as to if there's work being done like that here in Australia, and I will look out for it. So take a look in the description of the notes, I'll, I'll make my research comments there if I find anything. So anyone who's [00:06:00] here can, can have a look at that. But you also mentioned that, you do work online.

[00:06:05] Amy: So it's something that anyone worldwide could get involved with, with Creative Lives. Is that correct? Yes.

[00:06:10] Maureen Burford: That's correct. And the reason that I really. I'm so passionate about Ellen's approach is that I feel like it is just so very practical. So yes, wherever you are, you could take a training with us online. We have two nine week classes. The first one's more about learning about ourselves and the chakras, so that then we have a direct experience.

[00:06:29] Maureen Burford: And the second one about really applying that in our settings. And I think that my hope is over time that we'll be training facilitators to teach this approach anywhere in the globe. So we welcome people from Australia and Canada and Europe and South America. 

[00:06:50] Amy: yeah, absolutely. And it's something, and I, you know, anyone who listens to the show regularly would know that I, I really promote this holistic approach in the medical field and in the education system that wouldn't it just be wonderful if these things were taught in school or these models were used in school and I, I do want to note that we have a chakra series on the Holistic Health Show, and it just gives a really quick, easy to understand intro of what the chakra system is, so For anyone who's listening to this and maybe feels a little bit confused or unsure about what the chakra system is, have a listen to that and educate yourself with just some [00:07:30] minor details.

[00:07:30] Amy: . They're short snippets. So have a listen to that and then come back here and take a look at what Maureen does and think about how it might apply to your children or your students. Maureen, If a teacher wants to get involved, what is the program like for them?

[00:07:48] Maureen Burford: If you're a teacher wanting to learn more about how the chakra system could possibly help you in the classroom, then a first step might be to come to a free talk that we give every month on the third Monday, East Coast, two. America time at 7 p. m. for half an hour with follow up time to talk to me afterwards, but to enroll in a training, it's a nine week class.

[00:08:12] Maureen Burford: We begin with an overview of the system. We read Ellen's book, which I also recommend to get your feet wet with Ellen's take and discoveries about the chakras. And it's called the wisdom of the shop. I'm sorry. It's called a framework for wise education. She has a prior book, The Wisdom of the Chakras, but her newest one is really aimed at teachers and parents, a framework for wise education, chakras and child development.

[00:08:36] Maureen Burford: And in the training, we go through this book and we practice exercises in class that helps strengthen the crown chakra, which is the center of inspiration. Connection. You know, we could do a little walk down of Ellen's take on the chakras, if that's helpful, and we study one chakra each week. We practice it.

[00:08:54] Maureen Burford: We notice what happens. And inevitably, students are learners in our adult [00:09:00] training class will say, I feel like I feel like I'm learning a lot. about myself in a whole new way. That's helping me gain courage with my colleagues or understand why this child is behaving this way or understand how to help this group kind of get on board.

[00:09:16] Maureen Burford: So really practical stuff,

[00:09:18] Amy: And so is this about helping teachers help their students or parents help their children keep their chakras aligned, balanced?

[00:09:31] Maureen Burford: right? So for, so a concrete example could be really helpful. The third eye chakra is in the middle of the forehead and it's the center that's associated with focus. And concentration, when children place their focus deliberately there, when they, I might call it the wise view with the child, I might say, you know, aim for your wise, you tap the middle of your forehead, feel where that is, and then hold your focus there.

[00:09:58] Maureen Burford: And it's like a window opening up and gently push your focus through that window. When a child who's been upset and feeling full and maybe gotten caught in a reaction gets reengaged and gets that center opened up. They sound like a sage. So a little girl in a classroom setting was feeling really upset that she had been teased by her friends when she made a mistake in school and she hadn't gotten over it

[00:10:24] Maureen Burford: so we asked her to be our scientist and practice this technique from the framework. We call it [00:10:30] the tat technique. She put her focus in her solar plexus chakra, which is the center of feelings. And there was a lot of agitation and upset that her friends, how could they have done that? Why would they have done that?

[00:10:41] Maureen Burford: How can I forgive them? I don't know if I want to be their friend anymore. And then just like an elevator, we had her lift her focus up out of her solar plexus, up through her chest, up through her neck and park it right in the middle of her forehead. Imagine that window. Imagine she was pushing her focus through the window and with her eyes closed.

[00:10:59] Maureen Burford: To see what she saw, what was different, what did she perceive from there? A comparison of perception, really, between the solar plexus focus and third eye focus. When she opened her eyes, there were about 30 kids watching her do this experiment, in K through 5th grade, I want to say. She was instantly lit up, and she said, That was amazing because when I got to my wise view, I saw that the reason my friends were teasing me, And if I'm comfortable making mistakes because that's how I learn, that might help them feel more comfortable when they make a mistake too. And now that I understand, I don't feel hurt anymore. I feel fine. So this objectivity, And ability to understand other people's behavior without taking it as personally.

[00:11:52] Maureen Burford: I asked the kids in the room, would anybody else like to go next? And every hand shot up. Because it was a radical [00:12:00] shift. So, one of the biggest errors that we make is In American, probably in many countries in the world is to mistakenly place our focus in our center of feelings and try to navigate our life from feeling, which isn't really it's a limited view.

[00:12:17] Maureen Burford: It's a view from our own feelings. It, it necessarily makes us a little bit more self focused, but when we shift our focus to the third eye, and we deliberately place it there and hold it there. Our feelings align with our clarity, our feelings change, and we gain an understanding of the consequences. Of what we say, what we do. This is the state we want to help kids be in. To be their best self, to do their best learning, to communicate with dignity and respect for each other. It flows. Those attributes flow. From the wisdom that's innate to us when we access it. And the access point is truly the third eye chakra.

[00:13:02] Amy: It's really a remarkable change in awareness, isn't it? When you see these children going through that change, and I suppose, you know, the parents and teachers who are going through the training are also then gaining that same understanding of self, the awareness, 

[00:13:19] Maureen Burford: What kind of

[00:13:19] Amy: and What kind of feedback is it you're getting from the parents?

[00:13:22] Maureen Burford: , from those enrolled in the course one, one woman wrote at the end of the training, after thinking about [00:13:30] in learning about these seven chakras and their function in development and the seven framework categories, which are based on the chakras.

[00:13:38] Maureen Burford: My question is, why would we use any other approach? I, I think her feeling and the feeling of the students in our courses is it's not less work, but understanding the chakra system and using these framework categories of development based on the chakras, it really simplifies in some ways, our understanding of children and ourselves. Such that we can address our own weaknesses. We're a little bit weakness phobic in the United States. We don't really, really embrace looking hard at mistakes to learn from them, which causes a lot of problems in self esteem. So this is a system where it's. It can help us empower us to really look and grow and then bring that growth to kids.

[00:14:23] Maureen Burford: That's a long answer to your short question.

[00:14:26] Amy: That's okay. I like long answers. And I'm thinking as well, you know, this can feel like It can feel like another task on the to do list or You know in an already busy life, parents teachers they're very busy and I guess what I want to also point out is It's very challenging managing kids and your own big emotions and insecurities and it can almost feel impossible at times because we don't know how to do it ourselves in many cases.[00:15:00] 

[00:15:00] Amy: And so taking the time and really learning another, or gaining another tool to be able to do this and do it effectively, I think would relieve a lot of that stress and maybe, you know, Make the to do list feel a little easier, even though you may initially feel like you've got one more thing on your list that you have to do.

[00:15:21] Maureen Burford: agreed. I really think that's right. That's spot on. And for example, just briefly, a mom came to us last summer. Just distraught. She'd had to take her second grader out of school due to crippling anxiety. She just couldn't go. And so she'd been homeschooling her, which is a big amount of her mom's time now spent every day working with her child.

[00:15:43] Maureen Burford: And not that she resented it, but it was a lot of, you know, Unexpected work. And she was very anxious that her child would end up on medication. Was there anything she could do to perhaps prevent that trajectory? She took the training, applied it immediately with herself and with her little girl, and wrote me last fall to say, Dear Maureen, My daughter is back in school with no issues.

[00:16:09] Maureen Burford: She goes happily every day and uses framework strategies when her fears arrive. I can't thank you enough. And I thought, Oh, if I'd known this when I was raising my own kids, when they were really young, or if I'd known it myself, when I was a little girl, I do think it's preventative as well as You know, a problem solving tool.

[00:16:29] Maureen Burford: It [00:16:30] can prevent anxiety from getting worse and it can correct it. It can help an anxious or discouraged child become re inspired. And that certainly is a lift. As a parent.

[00:16:42] Amy: I can imagine that as a huge relief for the child and the parent moving forward in the rest of their lives. And then being able to pass that along, you know, that little girl can probably help her friends and,, the mom can help her friends and their children. And it's just this domino effect, isn't it, once we start putting this out there.

[00:17:00] Maureen Burford: Yeah, it's kind of like I'm a musician. So I like thinking about tuning up an instrument. You know, you first you teach a kid how to, if you're playing the violin, do some basic things, but ultimately what you want to help them do is know how to tune up their own violin and keep it in good shape and tighten the bow just right.

[00:17:17] Maureen Burford: And They learn the notes of the scale and they can start to play all kinds of music, including their own. And I think of the chakra system as this way that we can tune ourselves up to make our own best music, help our kids learn how to do that. Give them agency as you're saying in. Appropriate ways in age, appropriate ways as they grow so that they do know when I get really upset, I don't have to stay there. I can find my way back to my wise view and get some perspective. And I'm kind of stressing that relationship between the third eye and the solar plexus. But each one of the chakras has incredible lessons for us, beautiful attributes waiting to be [00:18:00] expressed in the world. We want that for kids. So yeah, it's, it's my favorite.

[00:18:04] Maureen Burford: I think it's a missing piece in our collective work to help kids. A missing piece, not the missing piece, but a really important one.

[00:18:12] Amy: And with children now, more than ever, experiencing stress and anxiety, you know, whether that be going to school or any sort of social anxiety, certainly at the moment. And just really, again, with the big emotions that they have a lot of them and they, they have not learned where to put them or how to deal with them, when to accept them.

[00:18:34] Amy: I think this is a very, very welcome program for many. So I encourage everyone who's listening today to attend one of those free talks. Again, those are the third. It's Monday of every month and we'll post that information in the description of the video or in the podcast episode, wherever you're listening.

[00:18:55] Amy: Where else can people either reach out to you or discover more?

[00:18:58] Maureen Burford: They can write to me at info at creative lives. org and I will get right back to you. If you have a question about this approach, you can on our website, creative lives. org. There's a lot to explore there, including a beautiful video. of a fourth grader using this TAD technique that I was talking about earlier, and a wonderful new interview with Ellen Tad herself.

[00:19:23] Maureen Burford: It's about 50 minutes long, but it's wonderful to hear Ellen share her gentle wisdom and [00:19:30] experience of discovering about the chakra system and its really practical function in teaching and parenting.

[00:19:36] Amy: Thank you, Maureen. And again, we'll make sure we have all that information shared. So it's just one click away for everybody who's listening. Maureen, it's been a pleasure to have you on the show, sharing what you do with us all today. Thank you very much for your time.

[00:19:49] Maureen Burford: It's been a joy, Amy. So great to be with you. Thank you. 

[00:19:52]