The concept of chakras has been around for centuries, with its roots tracing back to ancient India between 1500 and 500 BC. The oldest text, the Vedas, is believed to be the first source of evidence of chakras. Other ancient texts such as the Shri Jabala Darshana Upanishad, the Upanishad Cudamini, the Yoga-Shikka Upanishad and the Shandilya Upanishad also contain references to chakras. The chakra system is an integral part of yoga and many New Age practices.
It is believed that these energy vortices are essential for our physical and mental development and health. Karla Helbert, a licensed counselor, yoga therapist and author of The Chakras in Grief and Trauma, explains that these energy centers are not visible to the human eye but are constantly rotating in an effort to maintain balance in the body. The three lower chakras are associated with our “earthly existence”, such as our instinct for survival, reproduction and self-confidence. The heart chakra is linked to empathy and acceptance of others, while the three upper chakras are related to less physical attributes like self-expression, intuition and “our connection to the divine”.
In modern times, the chakra system has been linked to the endocrine system. For instance, the root chakra is correlated with the testicles or ovaries, the throat chakra with the thyroid gland and the heart chakra with the thymus. Research has also been conducted on other healing energy systems such as Reiki, a Japanese technique that uses gentle physical touch to reduce anxiety, depression and pain as well as improve well-being. Scientists have yet to uncover how exactly these energy systems work but Jain expects this to change soon.
He believes that understanding how caffeine affects people is a code worth cracking. The seed mantra of Water is installed in svādhiṣṭhāna (at least in the seven-chakra system). In the 10th century, Guru Gorakhnath provided information about awakening and meditating on the chakras in his book Gorak¬shash¬ata¬kam. People with blockages in their root chakra (Muladhara) may have a lot of heavy and dense energy.
Each chakra was also symbolically mapped to specific human physiological capacity, seed syllables (bija), sounds, subtle elements (tanmatra), deities, colors and other motifs. When people talk about how chakras affect our moods, health, organs and emotional “vibration”, they are actually referring to our internal balance of hormones. We will also explore how each chakra was given its own color and whether this rainbow of colors is based on fact or fiction. All these sources have led to the popular seven-chakra system that is widely accepted by theological and esoteric communities around the world. Hunt used electrodes at several points along the chakra system to measure energy changes in the body.
Practitioners place their hands on each chakra point one by one to charge them up. However, a simpler version of this seven-chakra system can be found in a post-biblical text from the 13th century called Śāradā-tilaka which acknowledges that there are multiple chakra systems such as 12 or 16. Yoga adepts can use specific asanas from tantric hatha yoga to load or balance each chakra within the tantric tradition. The chakras do not literally describe what is in the subtle body but rather provide instructions on how to work with it. Chakra meditation involves focusing your attention on a specific center of your body while meditating.
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