This is the next in a series about how to utilize my Writing Through the Body Method™ which uses the chakra system as a practical tool for uncovering a character’s desires, wounds, and motivations. By exploring these psychological foundations, writers are able to portray their characters’ behaviors, reactions, and responses on the page with greater depth and emotional truth.
For example, the Solar Plexus (third) Chakra rules Personal Power and Agency. The Sacral Chakra relates to how your protagonist takes action to accomplish intentions, goals, and dreams. The Solar Plexus Chakra says I ACT.
By considering how your characters’ take action will give you clues about how to move your story’s trajectory along, or where self-imposed obstacles might show up.
Below is a brief explanation of the Solar Plexus Chakra, its traits and characteristics, and some ways you might integrate its attributes into your character development.
Third Chakra – Solar Plexus Chakra Location Directly below the sternum, above the stomach
This does not directly apply to your character but is used for visualization purposes when doing certain exercises within the Writing Through the Body™ method, offered here as an FYI.
Primary strengths Courage to take risks, ability to deal with crisis, strong self-esteem and strength of character
This is about how your character responds to situations that require action, whether self-imposed or an expectation from an outside source.
Primary fears Indecisiveness and helplessness, blind rage and destructive anger, lack of focus or purpose in life
This is where you’re able to start seeing your character move, take action, respond to crisis—or not—as well as how their innate internal drive is expressed when they don’t take action.
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Writing exercise
Take some time to sit quietly, and think about the aspects of the Solar Plexus Chakra as they relate to all your characters.
Write a sketch of a character that may not be materializing as fully as you would like, and answer the questions below as fully and exhaustively as possible.
Tip: Every time you arrive at a new place of understanding or identify a particular behavior or response in your character, ask “why?” Continuing to ask “why?” is how we get to the deep psychology of our characters.
Example: Your protagonist has the desire to move across the country, but something is preventing them from doing this. Is it an exterior obstacle, and if so, how do they respond/react to this obstacle. Or is it a self-imposed obstacle—a fear, a connection to a person or people that’s keeping them in place, or some other kind of internal struggle?
Questions to begin your exercise:
• Establish your character’s intention, goal, or dream. Why do they want it?
• Have they already taken steps to realize this intention, goal, or dream? If so, what are they? What’s left to make it happen?
• How will they overcome the obstacle(s) in their way?
I recently wrote about how, if you take into account the ideas that come from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theories on achieving flow along with Candace Pert’s findings about how human emotions originate in the exact locations of the seven main chakras and that “our bodies are our subconscious minds,” you can utilize the chakras to banish writer’s block, achieve flow, and tell your untold stories.
This is achieved through the Writing Through the Body™ method, which uses the chakra system as a practical tool for uncovering a character’s desires, wounds, and motivations. By exploring these psychological foundations, writers are able to portray their characters’ behaviors, reactions, and responses on the page with greater depth and emotional truth.
For example, the Sacral (second) Chakra rules Partnerships and Creativity. The Sacral Chakra relates to how your protagonist connects with and responds/reacts to others in one-on-one relationships, as well as their impulse to create. The Sacral Chakra says I FEEL.
By considering how your characters’ connect, react, and respond to others, one on one, you can begin to uncover important that will begin to inform your story’s trajectory.
Below is a brief explanation of the Sacral Chakra, its traits and characteristics, and some ways you might integrate its attributes into your character development.
Second Chakra – Sacral Chakra Location Just below the navel
This does not directly apply to your character but is used for visualization purposes when doing certain exercises within the Writing Through the Body™ method, offered here as an FYI.
Primary strengths Self-value without the need for exterior validation, healthy psychological boundaries, confident creative expression
This is about who your character is drawn to in one-on-one relationships, how they behave in those relationships, and respond to the words and behaviors of them.It is also about how your character self-expresses, creatively.
Primary fears Not being important “enough” to another (jealously, anger), happiness and pleasure (self-sabotage, pessimism, creative blocks), loss of body through death or illness
This is, in some ways, an extension of the Root Chakra, in relation to feeling secure in the world, and can surface when allowing oneself to be vulnerable with another. This vulnerability can also create fear/blocks in creative self-expression.
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Writing exercise
Take some time to sit quietly, and think about the aspects of the Sacral Chakra as they relate to all your characters.
Write a sketch of a character that may not be materializing as fully as you would like, and answer the questions below as fully and exhaustively as possible.
Tip: Every time you arrive at a new place of understanding or identify a particular behavior or response in your character, ask “why?” Continuing to ask “why?” is how we get to the deep psychology of our characters.
Example: Your protagonist is a painter and is experiencing a creative block. You have just remembered (for them, through your writing) a seemingly harmless comment someone from their past made about one of their paintings, and it draws up some kind of pain in your protagonist. Why?
Questions to begin your exercise:
• Hold one of your character’s one-on-one relationships in mind. What is the overarching tone of that relationship? What makes it so in their shared history (no matter how short) and their individual histories).
• Does creativity—in any form—figure into this relationship, or cause strife in it?
• How adaptable or rigid are these characters, and what are their personal boundaries like? Are they equal in this, is one better than the other, or are then unaware and enmeshed?
I recently wrote about how, if you take into account the ideas that come from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theories on achieving flow along with Candace Pert’s findings about how human emotions originate in the exact locations of the seven main chakras and that “our bodies are our subconscious minds,” you can utilize the chakras to banish writer’s block, achieve flow, and tell your untold stories.
This is achieved through the Writing Through the Body™ method, which uses the chakra system as a practical tool for uncovering a character’s desires, wounds, and motivations. By exploring these psychological foundations, writers are able to portray their characters’ behaviors, reactions, and responses on the page with greater depth and emotional truth.
For example, the Root (first) Chakra rules Tribal Power and Tribal Consciousness, which is about identity in relationship to Tribe, or family of origin. Deep down, the Root Chakra relates to how an individual (character) sees themself and the degree of their feelings of security in the world. The Root Chakra says I AM.
In your writing, by considering characters’ places within their families of origin—even if the family members are not part of the present story—you can begin to uncover important information about your characters’ current behaviors and motivations, which will inform the story you tell about them.
Below is a brief explanation of the Root Chakra, its traits and characteristics, and some ways you might integrate its attributes into your character development.
First Chakra – Root Chakra Location Deep in the pelvis, just in front of the tip of the tailbone
This does not directly apply to your character but is used for visualization purposes when doing certain exercises within the Writing Through the Body™ method, offered here as an FYI.
Primary strengths Tribal/family identity, bonding, support, and loyalty that create a feeling of security and connection to the world
This is about who your character is connected to or disconnected from, and how this impacts their sense of identity and security in the world.
Primary fears Physical survival, abandonment, loss of order
Does your character have any of these fears to any degree in relation to anyone or anything—or in general?
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Writing exercise
Take some time to sit quietly, and think about the aspects of the Root Chakra as they relate to all your characters.
Write a sketch of a character that may not be materializing as fully as you would like, and answer the questions below as fully and exhaustively as possible.
Tip: Every time you arrive at a new place of understanding, ask “why?” Continuing to ask “why?” is how we get to the deep psychology of our characters.
Example: You discover that your character had a falling out with her favorite aunt years ago and they have never resolved the conflict. Why?
Questions to begin your exercise:
• Who are they most bonded to in their family of origin and why?
• Is there any estrangement in their family of origin? If so, how has that impacted them?
• What is their relationship to money and their general ability to survive in the world?
We often hear and talk about achieving flow in our writing, but what does that really mean, and how do we achieve it on a regular basis?
When we’re able to achieve flow, as coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, our obstacles (read: writer’s block—or what I consider writer’s fear) disintegrate, and the words come effortlessly.
Csikszentmihalyi believes that when we’re in flow, when we experience complete absorption in a task, we realize happiness.
If you’re here, chances are that you equate your writing practice with happiness in your life. You know that if you weren’t writing, your life would be lacking something important and essential. And if you aren’t writing and you yearn for it, you know that your life would be so much more fulfilled if you were able to.
But what if this state of flow isn’t just psychological? What if it’s also physiological?
Pair Csikszentmihalyi’s insight about flow with pharmacologist Candace Pert’s groundbreaking research on emotions. While studying where emotions originate in the body, Pert discovered something remarkable: the same areas rich in emotional neurochemistry—where neuropeptides and neurotransmitters are generated—correspond closely to the locations long associated with the body’s seven main chakras.
“I realized in 1987 that areas along the axis, from the top of the forehead to the base of the spine, these classical chakra areas corresponded to what I called ‘nodal points.’ Places where lots of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides were released.”
PERT INTERVIEW W/ ADAM “AGNIDEVA” HELFER
Pert went on to posit that because these neurotransmitters and neuropeptides are created in the body and that they create our emotions, “Our bodies are our subconscious mind.” [emphasis mine]
Learning about Pert’s discovery in 2013 was my epiphany. If emotions originate in the body, then perhaps the key to writing emotionally alive characters lives there, too.
Not only was it fascinating to me, it was also liberating. Pert’s revelation led to my revelation—after years of fiddling with a method I was working on to help writers create deeply human characters from an informed, psychological understanding AND simultaneously creating a Divination Deck based on the seven chakras, it all merged in my mind, and I had my Eureka! moment. My Writing Through the Body™ method was born.
I knew then that, as writers, we have no excuse to play the writer’s block card anymore… that we can—and do—have ready access to our characters’ emotions, and therefore, their deep psychologies, by way of our own rich, fertile subconsciousness. This is done in tandem with an understanding of the chakra system for practical application in our writing lives, especially as it relates to character development.
We can climb into our characters’ skins through this practical application and experience the synchronicity of accessing our own subconscious—our creative impulse—to achieve flow and, in the process, render them as full and round with complex human desires, motivations, and behaviors. We are able to tell their stories with a kind of depth that resonates for our readers long after they’ve put down our work.
Below is the conceptual map behind my Writing Through the Body™ method.
Now let’s look at the engine that powers it: the chakra system.
When we learn what the chakras are, how they function, and how to apply their traits and characteristics to our characters, we achieve a greater understanding of them, which leads to fewer questions and blocks, and ultimately, greater flow of creative energy within ourselves.
Chakras
Chakras are traditionally understood as energy centers within the body, originating in Hindu and yogic traditions. They represent seven key points along the spine—from the tip of the tailbone to the top of the head—that correspond to different aspects of human experience, development, and consciousness.
The function of chakras
The word chakra comes from Sanskrit and means “wheel” or “disk.” In traditional imagery, the chakras are depicted as lotus-like symbols, each with its own color, aligned along the spine.
These “energy centers” are spinning hubs, of sorts, holding spiritual weight that connect to bodily functions, elements, and divinatory beings.
I see them as bridges between our material, mortal existence and unseen energies that surround us, move within us, and extend far beyond us.
Chakras are typically associated with practices grounded within the body, like Tantra and yoga. It is believed that understanding the chakras allows us to access and release diffused spiritual energy. In my mind, that same energy is creative energy. When it begins to move freely, it creates a deeper flow of prana, or life force, within us.
Healthy chakras
While many traditions offer practices for opening and balancing the chakras—such as yoga, meditation, and breathwork—I believe writing can be one of the most powerful.
Rather than seeing the chakras as spinning disks (even though I understand the translation), in my mind’s eye they appear as pulsating orbs of energy that expand and contract, almost like breathing.
When we begin to view the chakras as a practical application tool, as mentioned above, they become more than spiritual concepts. They become a map of human development, emotion, and motivation. Each chakra holds a different emotional territory: survival, desire, power, love, expression, intuition, and meaning.
These are the same forces that animate our characters. Their fears, wounds, longings, and transformations live somewhere along this energetic spine. When we use this map to create them, something unexpected happens: we inevitably encounter those same emotional landscapes within ourselves.
The catch is this, though: We must access our subconscious to get there.We must. So that we can enter that liminal space between consciousness and imagination and slip into our characters’ minds, hearts, and souls.
I believe this is where writers get blocked. I believe far too many writers with profound stories to tell stay quiet because they’re afraid to fully open the door to their subconscious. They sense—even if unconsciously—that they will be forced to feel and reckon with their own unresolved emotions to a deep degree.
But it’s the only way. The only way. To write unforgettable characters and stories.
So… if you’re a brave soul (I’m sure you are), and if you have stories to tell (I know you do), stay tuned for more. Each week I’ll explore one chakra and show you how its emotional themes can unlock deeper character development, providing you with richer fodder. And the side benefits: You’ll be able to banish writer’s block, achieve flow, and tell your untold stories.
Creating characters readers will be invested in and resonate with is no easy task. We have to make them step up off the page so readers can take them in with all the senses, experience them as real people. Readers want to know what she looks like, smells like, sounds like, feels like, and in some cases, even what she tastes like. Take her from flat to living and breathing by spending enough time with her. Treat her like someone you care about because before you’re finished with her, you will care about her. Very much.
To get started, keep a character journal. Devote a page or more to each character.
Create a name, gender, and age.
Describe what she looks like. Give her a hair color, a body shape. Dress her.
Fill her apartment, bedroom, and car with things. But do this selectively. What she wears and what she owns tells us who she is.
Make her talk. Is her voice high or deep? Loud or soft? The way she speaks tells us how much power she thinks she has in the world.
What does her apartment smell like? Her car? What about her hair?
And if you kissed her? Her skin? Her mouth? What would you taste? (In a past post I wrote that we have to fall in love with our characters. Sometimes we also have to make love to them.)
Move her. Show us how she walks. Laughs. Picks up a wine glass or a cigarette. How she handles a pencil.
After you have her physicality clear in your mind (and this may come in pieces), get to know her and understand what motivates her to want the things she wants and to make the choices she makes.
Why does she go to the same coffee shop every day?
What does she do while she’s there and why?
What does she want, more than anything and why?
What, or who, might interfere with her getting her desire?
What’s at stake if she doesn’t get what she wants? How will this affect her life, and what new decision will she make when met with an obstacle?
As writers, to tell our characters’ stories, we have to become one with them. We have to let them under our skin as much as we have to climb under theirs. The more time we spend on knowing them from the inside out, the more we can understand what moves them.
And the more we move our characters, the more we move your readers.
