THE SEVEN CHAKRA SYSTEM

Chakra is a sanskrit word meaning wheel. A wheel spins on its own axis; it can turn slowly or rapidly. Like the colored disks which children spin on a length of thread, a chakra spins in relation to the degree of energy in the system. The wheel itself is a powerful symbol representing the many cyclic patterns of life. It is rather curious to find this ancient and foreign term now fully integrated into the modern western vocabulary. What appears to some as 'new age', is in fact a universally recognized phenomenon of 'all ages'. We can study any esoteric tradition from any culture of the world, and we will probably find reference to the chakras.

Chakras are also called lotuses or padmas. This beautiful symbol tells us a great deal about the nature of the chakras as a living force. The lotus, which is not unlike a water lily, grows widely throughout Asia. The exquisite flower blooms upon the water, but its roots are deeply buried in the mud far below the surface. It has come to represent the human condition. It is rooted in the mud and darkness of the depths but ultimately it flowers under the light of the sun. Just like a lotus, the chakra can be closed, in bud, opening, or blossoming, active, or dormant.

The chakras evolve naturally over a long period of time as part of the development of the whole person. Some spiritual systems seek to educate the whole being, knowing that the chakras will change accordingly. It is also possible to quicken the pace of opening and to accelerate this evolutionary process. Other spiritual systems seek to awaken the chakras, knowing that this will accordingly effect the whole being.

Where are the chakras, these wheels, or lotuses? They are to be found within each of us. Just as everyone has a physical body, we also have a subtle body. The chakras serve as a bridging mechanism between physical matter and subtle matter.

The Chakras And The Physical Body

Each chakra corresponds to certain physical systems and the related organs. There is a direct relationship between the condition of the chakra and the corresponding physical organs. A chakra can be over-vitalized, under-vitalised, or in a state of balance. It can be open or blocked. Dysfunction, for example, of the reproductive system will usually manifest with obvious physical symptoms such as disrupted menstruation. The physical symptoms will be mirrored by dysfunction within the related energy network and the chakra itself. Creating change to restore the related energy system to a state of balance will create change at the physical level.

The chakras function as transmuters of energy from one level to another, distributing pranic energy to the physical body. This is done in part through the glands, which regulate different systems within the body.

  Traditionally, each of the chakras is also related to a major gland. The base chakra is related to the adrenals.The sacral chakras is related to the ovaries in women and the testes in men; the solar plexus chakra relates to the pancreas; the heart chakra is related to the thymus and the throat chakra is related to the thyroid and the parathyroid glands. The brow chakra is most often assigned to the pituitary gland, sometimes to the pineal, and the crown chakra is most often assigned to the pineal gland, although sometimes to the pituitary.

The endocrine glands play a vital role in the everyday health and well-being of the body. The hormones released directly into the bloodstream by the glands govern all aspects of growth, development, and daily physical activity. Dysfunction by any of the endocrine glands will have serious physical consequences. Physical malfunction is itself the result of a breakdown that becomes lodged within the energy network of nadis and chakras.

The number of chakras sometimes varies from on tradition to another. This is not a cause for disagreement but rather a question of accounting. There are two subsidiary centres allied to the heart and the throat chakras. Some authorities do not include the centre at the top of the head as a chakra, treating it instead as a unique centre of consciousness. The number of chakras given can therefore vary from six to nine. The number most often given is seven; the six chakras of awakening and the crown chakra at the top of the head.

Shakta doctrine postulates seven chakras. These are called the Muladhara or "Root Support" at the base of the spine with four "petals", the Swadhishthana or "Own Abode" at the root of the genitals with six, the Manipura or "Fullness of Jewels" at the level of the navel with ten "petals", the Anahata or "Unstruck Melody" at the heart-centre with twelve, the Vishuddha or "Complete Purity" at the throat with sixteen, and finally the Ajna or "Guru's Command" at the brow with two "petals". The Crown centre, the Sahasrara-Padma or "Thousand Petalled-Lotus", located at the very top of the head, is technically speaking not a chakra at all, but the summation of all the chakras.

The Seven Chakras strung along the Central or "Sushumna" channel.

The chakras are strung along the central or Sushumna channel (usually located at the spine). In the lowest chakra, the Muladhara, at the base of the spine, there lies the kundalini-shakti, the latent consciousness-energy, the microcosm of the cosmic creative shakti. When this is aroused, it can be made to ascend the sushumna, either ac-tivating or dissolving (depending on the yogic tradition) each chakra in turn, until it reaches the highest or crown chakra, the Sahasrara, where dwells the Godhead or Supreme Shiva (Paramashiva). As the Kundalini-Shakti unites with Paramashiva, the original transcendent equilibrium is restored, and the yogi returns to the state of oneness with the Absolute.

The chakras are described as stations or centres of pure consciousness (chaitanya) and consciousness-power. They are focal points of meditation; iconographic structures within the occult or "subtle body".

Apart from the Sahasrara, each chakra is described by means of a whole lot of symbolic associations or correspondences. Building upon the initial later Upanishads speculation, each chakra, as well as having a specific position in the physical body, element, mantra, and deity, also has a particular number of "petals", each associated with one of the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, a corresponding colour, shape, animal, plane of existence, sense-organ, mantric sound, and so on. A table giving some of the main associations.

The word yoga means union and "Chakra Yoga" is the process of understanding and using the integrated seven chakra model as a practical and effective holistic health mind map. Then we experience comprehensive and harmonious union with every area of life - from the material through to the spiritual. The chakra system serves us as a symbolic representation of the seven main arenas of human life. The seven main areas of each person's union with Life.

Holistic human activity is an attempt to fulfill and satisfy the expressions of the seven chakras so that we experience successful and balanced interaction with every area of human life.

Each "chakra" (center of life activity) performs various life functions which, when combined successfully, produce the workings of a healthy and holistic human being. 

UNDERSTANDING OUR MIND

By understanding and using the holistic seven chakra system we gain more control of our mind and our life. We can learn to choose the types of connections/relationships that we make with other people and things. We can choose when to connect, when not to, and at what intensity. We can choose holistic health in all areas of our life. We can quickly understand that all of life's activities are an expression of the seven chakras.

We can learn how to live a balanced, enjoyable, useful and conscious life.

CHAKRA YOGA AND HOLISTIC HEALTH

The seven major chakras have their homes at different sections along the human spine. The more of these life centers we can get working, the larger, more expansive, and more satisfying - more whole - our experience of life will be. This is the core secret of total health and a satisfying life.

Normally each chakra can work in parallel with the others and yet independently.

To help understand this, imagine three builders.

1. One has the job of carrying bricks.

2. One makes the cement.

3. One lays the bricks and cement.

All three work totally independently and interdependently (in series and in parallel). Houses get built quickly when they all work together and continuously communicate to see how they are getting on. This is the nature of harmony. Houses get built slowly when only one builder works, when they start doing each other's jobs or the communication breaks down. Then surpluses build up and go to waste, the cement dries up without being used, or nothing arrives making the others idle. This is the nature of disease and disharmony.

CHAKRAS AND ASTROLOGY

The functions and experiences work together at different levels in different people depending upon our natural characteristics, our preferences, and our evolution. This is also observed in the behavioral and characteristic similarities that many people have with their astrological sign. Astrology is an ancient art that goes right back to the Vedic Culture of India - where we also find the yogic paths, the seven chakras, the gunas, the doshas, Ayurvedic healthcare, and other great examples of enlightened living and culture.

CHAKRA HEALTH AND HEALING

We may also need to heal our life. The process of looking at our experiences of and attitudes to each of the seven centers and replacing negative attitudes with more positive one. We will need to understand and heal past traumatic and negative experiences; for example - the family, romantic partners, teachers, and other important relationships.

Healing the seven centers is a process of challenging and sorting out our inherited and conditioned attitudes to the aspects of life that each center represents.