The Chakra System

A chakra, the theory of which was developed in India and a few other Eastern cultures, is a nexus of metaphysical and biophysical energy found in a straight line in or just outside of the human body.

In the chakra system, each nexus is located right above the last. Power must flow through the body from bottom to top. When one or more chakras are blocked, the individual becomes physically ill or unable to function in some other way.

The names and association of each chakra in the system is as follows:

• Muladhara, in the exterior genitals near the anus (red) and often called the root chakra, is sometimes said to relate to the adrenal medulla, which controls the fight-or-flight response. It is also right over the muscle controlling male ejaculation. The muladhara is related to security, survival, and one’s basic potential. A lotus with four petals is its symbol and it is related to the element earth.

• Svadhisthana, in the groin (orange), corresponds with the testicles and ovaries, and is related to emotion, sexuality, and raw creativity. Symbolized by six-petaled lotus and related to the element water.

• Manipura, in the gut or solar plexus (yellow) is related to the pancreas and the adrenal cortex. It’s related to energy, assimilation, and digestion physically, emotionally, and mentally. Its symbol is a ten-petaled lotus, and it and related to the element fire.

• Anahata, the heart chakra (green), is related to the thymus, part of the immune system that produces T cells to fight disease; it is adversely affected when the body or mind is under stress. This chakra, predictably, is related to love, but also to equilibrium and one’s well-being and self-love. Symbolized by twelve-petaled lotus and related to the element air.

• Vishuddha, in the throat (blue), is the most often cited as blocked; it is the throat chakra, and related to self-expression. It’s related to the thyroid, responsible for growth and maturation; problems in both vishuddha and the thyroid are much more often found in women. Symbolized by sixteen-petal lotus and related to the element life.

• Ajna, in the eyes (indigo), the “third eye” linked to the pineal gland, is the chakra of time, awareness, and light (and sometimes ESP). The pineal gland regulates sleep and wakening, and may also produce a psychedelic chemical. A lotus with two petals is its symbol, and it and related to the element time.

• Sahasrara, at the top of the head or just above it.(purple, or sometimes white, and may also assume color of dominant chakra), the chakra of consciousness that controls the other chakras; it is associated with the pituityary gland, which has much the same controlling function. It is symbolized by a thousand-petal lotus and related to the element space.

Chakras are loci of life energy, also called prana, shakti, or chi (“ki”). Power flows between them through nadis, or pathways. These loci function to draw universal life force energy from the ground up through the feet, and are essential to anyone’s spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health.

Though scientists sometimes scoff at chakras, there is a clear connection between their location and the location of endocrine glands, which function in ways we don’t completely understand yet.

They are often a critical component of sacred sexuality, or neotantrism. That’s because they were described in tantric texts, where they were described as Brahman’s emanations of consciousness. The energy released in this creation is called the Kundalini, and lies coiled at the base of the spine, sleeping in most people; it is often compared to the genetic code in the sperm or egg. Tantrism or kundalini yoga wakens this energy so that it rises through each chakra, ultimately unifying with God at the Sahasrara chakra.

As in the levels of consciousness, there are seven chakras, and each corresponds with a different level of consciousness. (Interestingly, other traditions – Sufism, kabbalah, even some Amerind teachings – seem to discuss a form of chakras, though it is not as developed as the tantric version.)