Introduction

In the second part of our interview with Piya Haresh, we look at how energy affects us in different ways, as well as how Chakra by Piya jewellery can influence our energy. 

Q. What about all the stress in my life? I find that there are periods of my life where stress, anxiety, nervousness, and unease change my energy completely. How can I help change my energy when it is affected by stress?

A. Many people carry stress in the world as a norm, especially in busy cities. They do not realise that they are carrying it because they have been carrying it for so long, it has become very natural to them and they feel that it is not even stressful anymore. We will get in to the reasons behind your stress further on in this conversation.  

Deep breathing is a very quick and good way to help alleviate stress. In connecting to our breath, we help centre it, bring it back into balance, and that really alleviates the stress of the moment. It is not a long-term solution – that will come from the meditations (once they become available) and as you wear the jewellery – but practicing this deep breathing can help in the moment. 

But whatever one does – be it the breathing, the meditation, and wearing the jewellery – it is important to remember the attitude with which we do something. It is not about just doing whatever we are doing but doing it in a way that allows us to enjoy doing it. That is the point – to enjoy life. When you relax and begin to let the stress go, you realise just how effective and productive you can actually be. When we are connected, aligned, and in balance – when all the chakra energies are in balance – we can see just how much more there is to life, how much there is to enjoy and experience. You will find yourself in a space that is much more expansive and much less limiting. 

Q. What about when I feel like I have ‘low’ energy, or if I am feeling particularly ‘energetic’? Is this the same type of energy we are talking about right now?

A. Yes, that is an expression of energy. It is entirely possible to deplete one’s energy when it leaks away. For example, a lot of people do not know how to set boundaries. When that occurs, you allow your energy to leak out in many different ways: physically, emotionally, through a sense of obligation, through belief systems. When that happens, you feel tired and drained in the course of your day. 

In contrast, certain other people may be able to do a lot in their day and remain energised at the end of the day. This is because they do not have these things sort of ‘leakages’ in their energy. They are more accepting of who they are. It is therefore directly related to where you are with regards to yourself. And that is where the spiritual aspect comes in to the picture. 

Q. This all sounds pretty cool. But what do you mean by the spiritual aspect exactly?
A. Let’s say you are having a bad day emotionally. It can pull your own energy down and let it leak through a particular channel. That can then lead to different mental criticisms and judgments, and all these things deplete our energy. When I talk about creating boundaries, I mean that it is also important to create boundaries with yourself, where you accept as you are and learn to forgive yourself and move on. This comes through a process of understanding. It involves remembering that you are human, that you can make mistakes, and that you can learn from it. Until you learn from the situation it will keep nagging at you, and you will find yourself in the same situation repeatedly, which will just bog you down. If you have the strength of will and courage to step up and say ‘yes, I am going to do things differently with regards to this situation’, you can learn from it and actually move ahead. You can then conserve your energy and not just spend it on unnecessary criticism and needless self-judgment. 

When you make excuses for your limitations, or defend them, or choose to be critical and stand in judgment – these are all things we do not set boundaries for and deplete our energy. When we stand in acceptance of ourselves, and say we will make mistakes and that is okay because we are learning and growing. When we constantly choose the spiritual rather than the physical, emotional, and mental – and therefore look to the spiritual for our solutions – that supports your energy and creates a positive boundary for yourself.  

Q. How is the spiritual different from the religious? And what does this have to do with energy? 

A. Here we are talking about being about each person’s spiritual energy rather than their physical matter. When you connect to the matter alone, you see yourself as limited and small, with certain conditionings and mindsets. When you see yourself as a spiritual being, you can connect to the higher and subtler vibration and frequency of who you are. Connecting to just the material self is doing so at a lower level, but it is still about you. It is nothing to do with a particular institution or religious system. 

Being spiritual is therefore simply being consciously aware of what we are sometimes aware of unconsciously: that there is more to me than meets the eye. 

Different traditions are aware of energy and how far it expands. They understand energy systems. For example, Chinese culture has qi, which corresponds to the body’s meridian systems. Indian culture has the chakras. But even from a scientific perspective, the nervous system within our body fires impulses to our brain. There is more to the body than just a nervous system or a brain, clearly. There is a lot more going on in there. We are all innately aware that there is something more than just physical gross matter. 

If you dig deeper you soon realise that everything is supported more by the subtle and energetic aspect of things, rather than the material aspect of things, which is far more physical. 

For example, we have the chakras, each of which have their own physical symbols, smells, symbols, and so on. These are means of representing a higher energetic frequency and providing a way to connect to it. It’s like a door that swings both ways. You can connect from the subtle to the physical and from the physical to the subtle. Because they are both intrinsically connected.

Q.  How does the chakra jewellery affect my energy?

A. Everything holds an energy. The jewellery we make represents the chakras – its colour, its vibrational frequency, its sound frequency, and all the other aspects that go in to making the pieces – which allow that particular piece to be able to represent those specific energies. When your individual energy interacts with the energy of the specific jewellery piece, it helps to allow your energies to connect with it. 

Let me give you another example. When you hold the hand of someone you love, it’s not the physical act of handholding that makes you feel supported. When you hold the hand there is a feeling of being supported by that person. It’s a sense of being, not a sense of doing. When energies interact, that’s how they can support each other. We wanted to create something that would be easy for this interaction to happen. And every time you see it, it also brings your awareness to the fact that you are an energetic being, and not merely a physical one. 

The jewellery has been designed and created with the specific intent of resonating with the energy of that chakra itself – not one’s chakra. If you buy a root chakra piece of jewellery, that piece is resonating with the energy of the root chakra. With that piece, it supports the resonance of your own root chakra energy. And whether your individual root chakra energy is out of balance or not, once it is connected with the energy of the root chakra – which is always in balance – it helps bring balance to your own root chakra.  

Q. How do I know that the jewellery is working in the way it’s supposed to?

A. The best way to test a change in energy is experientially. Maybe there’s a laboratory somewhere that could do it, I’m sure, but my answer would be that one should test energy experientially. 

For instance, how do you know what anything feels like to you? You try it. Whether you try a piece of chocolate or go to the zoo, how do you know how you will respond to any experience or what it does to you until you are open to it and you are both willing and aware of it? 

Having said that, the chakras are a system that have been around for many years and in many traditions. And it has stood the test of time. What we have tried to do is to bring all of that in to an easy, portable, and connected way so that it helps balance and support your energy as you move forward. 

I would say, then, that the best way to test it would be through your own experiences. Try it. People’s experiences and the feedback they have given us has been very positive. 

Q. Is there a ‘right’ way to wear the jewellery? Am I supposed to do something specific when wearing it? 

A. Once you have worn it I recommend wearing it for three days, as this allows the energy of the piece to imprint on you (and vice versa). That is my suggestion. Think of imprinting like connecting to the Matrix! After making this connection, you could feel into when to wear it. For example, you might need the Mantra one today, and the Yantra tomorrow, so feel in to it. Our experience is that once people wear the Chakra by Piya pieces, they enjoy wearing them long-term. 

Q. What if I order a piece for a specific chakra that is already in balance? Will this cause fluctuation or any other energetic side-effects? 

A. Not at all, because it is part of your energy. For example, you already have a root chakra, so in wearing a root chakra piece you are not putting on something that is opposing you in any way. It cannot hurt you in any way, it can only support you.

Having said that, we are people that constantly change or shift. Today my root chakra may be in balance but tomorrow it may not be, or next week it may be but the month after that it may not be. So feel into your intuition for which Chakra by Piya piece feels good for you today.

Dhiraj Nainani is a writer currently pursuing his PhD. His present Chakra Focus is the Mantra Throat Chakra. For him, the journey has been all about letting go of fears and having lots of fun. In doing so, he is learning to speak his truth in all its authenticity.