A Guide to the Five Power Centers in THE POWER SOURCE (Plus a FREE PDF Download with Guided Visualizations!)

In my latest book,The Power Source: The Hidden Key to Ignite Your Core, Empower Your Body, Release Stress, and Realign Your Life I introduce readers to what I call “the Five Power Centers“.  These are five interconnected parts of your body (see diagram above) that I have found tend to be the 5 areas where we hold blockages, stress and tension.  They are also the areas that once they are unblocked and cleared of stress and tension - can be the keys to unlocking your true potential.   So how can we connect to and clear stress and tension from our Power Centers and find that optimal health and wellbeing we’re all striving for?  Please keep reading to find out because I want to give you a little more information on each Power Center and then provide you with a very simple tool to help you release pain, tension and stress from each of these areas. 

How I Developed the Concept of the Five Power Centers

As I worked with literally thousands of people throughout my career, I noticed patterns began to emerge, particularly related to how and where people tended to physically hold stress and tension in their bodies. I realized everyone ‘stored’ their stress in one (or more) of the five areas that I call the Power Centers (the pelvic floor, the deep core, the upper core, the heart and shoulders, and the head).   I also discovered that - if we could release that stress and tension - these areas could also become a source of real strength and power. Emotional, spiritual, and even financial issues often came into alignment once the Power Centers were unlocked and unleashed and the physical issues are addressed.  After years of hands-on work with my clients, I have come to understand that wellness is about so much more than just the physical and that there is a powerful connection between our mind, body, and spirit. And the Power Centers are a key part of this connection.    

What are the Power Centers?

The Five Power Centers each have a physical function connected to our metabolism and hormones, but they're also connected to specific emotions and elements of our life. I truly believe that if we can work to understand which parts of our bodies we tend to hold stress, tension, and blocked emotions or energy and then work to ditch that in a healthy way (I call it stress hygiene) then we can truly transform your health by reconnecting to the power that flows from that area.  

The Five Power Centers

Below you'll find descriptions of each Power Center and the benefits of releasing stress and reconnecting to each one. As you read and learn about each Power Center, I recommend practicing a visualization and mantra practice, which I've created for you and have linked below. These visualizations are probably different than any you've done before because they are very anatomically-focused. The goal here is to come into your body, not to leave it as some meditation practices encourage. The purpose is to work on grounding into and attuning with yourself in each session.    

The Pelvic Floor Power Center

The pelvic floor is a key power source since it lies at the base of the mind-body connection that make such a huge difference in both our physical and emotional health. In Eastern traditions, the pelvic floor is known as the root chakra—it’s where we hold our fears; specifically fears around primary instincts, such as our health, our family’s safety, and our financial security. It’s where we process emotion and house our fight-or-flight reactions. You know that feeling when you get cut off by someone while driving, get bad news, or are about to go into a high-stress situation? This can cause you to clench your pelvic floor.  It’s also where our live force, orchi is thought to emanate from.   Some of the benefits of awakening and engaging the pelvic floor include increased flexibility, a boosted metabolism, a flatter tummy, a deeper enjoyment of intimacy, improved digestion and immunity, and glowing skin.  But beyond that, having a healthy pelvic floor can help you deal with some of these other fears and live in a more balanced and harmonious state.

 

The Deep Core Power Center

The Deep Core Power Center includes the core muscles as well as the organs (including the female reproductive system), the digestive system, nerves, as well as emotional energy. One area that's particularly important is the psoas, which is connected to your hip flexors and connects our torso to our legs. The psoas is one place in particular that we can work on awakening and connecting to in order to release trapped emotions, tension, and fears.  Finally, connecting to and healing the Deep Core Power Center is essential to fully harnessing our intuition and creative energy since our adrenal glands are located here. And the key to unlocking our intuition and creative energy is by existing in a "rest-and-digest" state more than we live in "fight or flight."

 

The Upper Core Power Center

The Upper Core Power Center encompasses the upper abdomen, and also the diaphragm and lungs. When this Power Center is imbalanced you will often find that someone experiences lower levels of energy, slower metabolism and digestion, and difficulty sleeping. Working on this Power Center, in particular, to enhance the breath and function of the diaphragm and the lungs can be truly transformational.  The breath and weight loss in particular have a key connection since there is a direct correlation between exhalation and fat loss. It's amazing to many people what using the breath as a tool for weight loss can do since fat is converted to carbon dioxide and water, which means everything comes back out via the lungs. This means in order to effectively lose weight and fat, you have to learn how to breathe deeply and expansively, which I explain in my book more in-depth. 

 

The Heart and Shoulders Power Center

The Heart and Shoulders Power Center is directly connected to our heart, how we experience and give love, as well as powerful patterns connected to how we handle stress and negative emotions. In particular, feelings of anxiety and depression are connected to this Power Center, and working on the root causes of those feelings (as well as movement medicine techniques to open up the shoulders and heart) can do wonders when it comes to relieving this type of pain and emotional stress. Another important facet to this center is the lymphatic system, which is the body's natural "garbage disposal" and helps the system rid itself of toxins.

 

The Head Power Center

We know that head and neck issues are connected to our posture and stress. When we become stressed, often we complain of a tense neck or tight jaw. What's worse is that our modern lives cause us to spend a lot of time hunched over or looking down, which over time comprises the muscles in our neck. And since the neck supports the weight of our heads, from an alignment perspective this is really an issue. This power center also encompasses three of the chakras: the throat chakra, the third eye chakra, and the crown chakra. Among other things these chakras are connected to our voice and creativity (throat chakra), wisdom and decision making (third eye), consciousness and intuition (crown chakra).