Alternative medicine or ancient wisdom? Chakra healing grows in popularity in the West.
(RNS) — After her father’s death five years ago, Nirmala Chetty, a New Jersey medical doctor who now goes by Dr. Sahila professionally, was diagnosed with bipolar depression and thyroid issues, among other ailments. She found herself hopping from hospital to hospital looking for relief, to no avail. All the while, Sahila was searching deep into her Hindu and Indian roots for a cure. Today, the former internist said, she is “pill-free, disease-free and stress-free,” and credits the scientific powers of chakra healing. “It’s very sad that, you know, such a beautiful and crucial concept is lost today because people don’t have faith in it,” said Sahila, who runs her own clinic called Wellness with Sahila. “People don’t want to spend time trying to understand, and people don’t want to believe it.” Chakra healing has been ridiculed by critics as a false science, and even its defenders admit it has been co-opted by self-described healers who demand hundreds of dollars for treatments. Popular notions of chakras — energy centers in the body, according to practitioners …