Chakras, What Are They?

Chakra means circle or wheel. In the traditional Indian medical science, the term chakra is used for certain places in the human's etheric double. Within this tradition, this etheric double is seen as important for a human's life force. Depending on the different traditions and cultures, all sorts of interpretations are given to the concept "chakra". These traditions and cultures don't always agree on the amount of existing chakras. However, they do all believe that chakras symbolise certain places and flows in body and spirit.

A modern definition of the term chakra

A chakra is a centre of activity which receives, attunes and gives off life force energy. The word chakra refers to a spinning field of activity which flows through the most important ganglions of the spine. Six of these wheels form a row of energy fields, from the tail bone to the middle of the forehead. There is also a seventh chakra which is located above the body. The six most important chakras correspond to the base conditions of higher consciousness.

Different views

Depending on the cultural context, the concept of the chakras is treated in different manners.

• There are certain eastern philosophies in which chakras are viewed as gradations of consciousness and expressions of the soul.
• There are certain eastern traditions in which the chakras are viewed as the central places of life force and this way they form big or small junctions where the energy channels come together. The life force flows into the being from the highest chakra, which is also seen as the gate to the divine, or the cosmic consciousness.
• In certain mystical movements the chakras are a model for the internal and external experience concerning a person's physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects.

The seven chakras

Certain movements say there are eight chakras, while others are of the opinion that there are only five. There are even movements which claim there are fourteen. There is probably an element of truth in each of these allegations, yet most traditions believe in the seven chakras.

First chakra

Muladhara means "root" and is the root or base chakra. This chakra is located at the end of the spine. It stands for the connection between the body, the earth and how you move in the world, the feeling at home and being present in situations. When this chakra is open, you feel safe, stable and grounded. You're present in the here and now. When the chakra lacks in activity, you're fearful, nervous, have a shortage of discipline, and you're too skinny and hurried. When the chakra is too active, you're materialistic, greedy, corpulent and slow. The body parts related to the root chakra are the lower back, large intestine, bones, hips, buttocks and legs.

Second chakra

Swadhisthana means "sweetness" and is the sacral chakra. This chakra is located near the sacred bone and stands for emotion and sexuality. When this chakra is open, you can let your emotions flow freely and express yourself without becoming too emotional. You're open to intimacy, you're passionate, vivacious and you know what you want. When this chakra lacks in activity, you're frigid, distant, formal, closed and you can't enjoy yourself. When it's too active, you're oversensitive, addicted to sex, you react too emotionally and you behave compulsively. This chakra is related to the sexual gland, genitals, sacred bone, pelvis area, kidneys, bladder, blood circulation, uterus and water balance.

Third chakra

Manipura means "dazzling jewel" or "filled with gems" and is the navel chakra. The place where this chakra is located is the solar plexus, which is near the navel. The navel chakra is the most important place for storing energy and for your will power, control and behaviour in a group. If this chakra is open, you will have self-appreciation, you will be able to react spontaneously and you have yourself under control. When the chakra is too inactive, you're passive, indecisive, shy and you lack in confidence. When it is too active, you're dominant, aggressive and overly active. The body parts associated with this chakra are the pancreas, stomach, gallbladder, liver, spleen, small intestine and the abdomen. This chakra also regulates the digestion.

Fourth chakra

Anahata means "unharmed" or "undamaged". This is the heart chakra. It connects the lower three chakras of the instincts with the upper three of the higher, human consciousness. It is located near the heart and stands for love, friendliness and affection. If this chakra is open, you're compassionate, friendly and capable of entering into harmonious relationships, you have a stable blood circulation, a strong heart, a healthy heart rhythm and a deep, relaxed respiration. If the chakra is too inactive, you're shy, lonely, bitter, critical and you possess little compassion. If it is too active, you're dependent, possessive and jealous. This chakra is assumed to regulate the workings of the heart, the lungs and the respiration, and it is connected to the arms and hands.

Fifth chakra

Vishuddha, also called Vishuddhi, represents the throat chakra and is located in the throat area. It stands for speaking, being able to put into words what you're feeling and expressing yourself, literally or artistically. Lying can close off this chakra. This chakra connects the heart centre with the third eye chakra and is the mediator between feeling and thinking. If it lacks activity, you have a fear of speaking. When it is too active, you talk too much and cannot listen. This chakra is connected to the throat, the ears and the mouth.

Sixth chakra

Ajna is the head chakra or the third eye chakra and it is located on the forehead, between the eyes. It represents insight, visualisation, attentiveness and consciousness. If it's open, you have a good intuition, you can fantasise and you have imagination. An important symbol for this chakra is Shakti Hakini, an androgynous deity which represents both the male and the female aspect. This chakra also takes care of the connection to the spiritual world and opens the doors to intuitive knowledge. When it lacks in activity, you have no vision, a bad memory and you're straightforward. If it's too active, you live in a fantasy world too much and can get headaches, nightmares and hallucinations. The sixth chakra belongs to the eyes and the endorcrine glands.

Seventh chakra

Sahasrara is the crown chakra, which is connected to spirituality and enlightenment. The seventh chakra is about striving for a higher consciousness. This chakra's place is the crown, or actually: above the crown. It represents wisdom and unity with the world. If this chakra is open, you're unprejudiced and aware of yourself and the world around you. It gives you a feeling of deep peace and harmony. An inactive crown chakra causes difficulties in learning, means you are not open to spirituality and makes you apathetic. An overactive crown chakra makes you think too intellectually, confused and spiritually addicted. This chakra is connected to the nervous system and the cerebral cortex. This seventh chakra's energy can lead to reaching the "big soul", the Mahatma.

How many chakras are there?

The Tantrism, derived from Tantra and also called Tantric yoga, is a ritual practice from the Vedic tradition and it is aimed at reaching spiritual enlargement and enlightenment. The Vedas are the writings which form the basis for the Indian philosophy. This movement claims that there are eight chakras instead of seven. The Bindu, which means "drop", would then be the seventh chakra. It refers to the aspect of the subtle body's anatomy and is said to be located in the energetic continuum between the sixth and, in this case, the eighth chakra. However, this is taken little notice of in the traditional chakralogies. Movements which believe there are no less than fourteen chakras also exist; the other seven chakras reach far into the universe. There are also various Tibetan Buddhist movements which only know five chakras.

The different movements

In Hinduism chakras are part of ideas which are related to the esoteric anatomy. Esotericism means knowledge which can only be accessed by insiders.

In the Tibetan Buddhism there are different chakra systems. The six most important chakras are each connected to experience qualities of the six consciousness levels.

The traditional Chinese treatments assume, just as the chakra model, that there is a model of the human body as a whole of energy systems, which is based on qi. Qi is the base philosohpy behind acupuncture, among others.

The chakras play different roles in the various yoga movements. In ‘Hatha yoga pradipika’ the chakras are not the main theme, but in ‘Prana yoga’ chakras do play a part. Yet, nowadays many yoga schools emphasise the importance of chakras and regard them as one of the main parts of the Hatha yoga. This movement is sometimes called chakra yoga.

In Tantric texts such as the 'Sat-Cakra-Nirpurna', chakras are described as emanation of consciousness of brahman. Brahman is a concept in the Hindu religion and he is the god of the creation. The energy that was released during creation is curled up and asleep at the bottom of the spine. The Tantric yoga has as its goal to release this energy and let it flow through the other chakras, until they have reached a unity with god in the crown chakra.

A large interest in chakras came along with the New Age movement. This movements assumes that the largest chakras are responsible for the activation of the various bodily functions and the various forms of perception through the senses.

Sources: www.todio.nl