What is a Chakra?
The Sanskrit word “Chakra” means wheel or disk. In yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda, they use this term because it simulates wheels that spread energy throughout your whole body. Chakra centers are said to have “spinning energy centers.”
There are seven main chakras which are located along the spine and start at the base of the spine through to the crown of the head. The chakras extend out from the spine in the front and back of the body.
Chakras are sometimes referred to and can be visualized as a swirling wheel of energy where matter and consciousness meet. Each chakra has a specific number of qualities. Each quality corresponds to the refinement of energy. The first chakra is said to be associated with self-identity and the crown of your head is associated with the spirit level. There are five other levels in between the first chakra and the seventh chakra.
These energetic centers are represented by a spectrum of colors such as you would find in a prism. They are said to be your highest level of integration split. When you study your chakras you are learning how to master the essence of each one and unite them into a unified field of brilliance. This brings you to the highest level of re-uniting all of your disjoined parts into a radiant light of full self-awareness.
There are three energy shafts where the chakras meet. These energy shafts run up each side of the spine and is referred to as the Shushumna. There are also two lesser channels of energy which run parallel to the spinal cord and are known as Pingala (right side) and Ida (left side).
There is an invisible energy in your body called Prana. Prana is keeps us vibrant, healthy, and alive. Chakras collect prana, transform it and pass it on to us in the form of energy. Your material body can’t exist without the chakras because they serve as gateways for the flow of life/energy into our physical bodies.
Every chakra correlates to certain parts of your body and organs. The chakra provides the energy that organ needs to function. Also, each chakra correlates to a specific human behavior and development.
Each person’s chakras differ in their size and activity. Chakras are also unique to each individual. Depending on the levels of awareness the person has, and their ability to integrate the characteristics of each chakra into their life, it will determine their energy.
The lower third of chakras vibrate at a lower frequency so they are denser and are associated with fundamental emotions and needs. The upper third of the chakras are associated with the mental and spiritual.
If your chakras are responsive, allowing for the openness and flow of energy, your state of health and balance can be determined. When you are aware of your own energy system, you are empowered to maintain balance and harmony at the mental, physical and spiritual levels.
The chakras energy can be balanced out by meditation and yoga allowing purification of the lower energies and guiding them upwards. In order to balance out your life force, you need to use grounding which creates internal space. By living consciously, and monitoring how you acquire and spend energy, it is the way to achieve your life force mentally, physically and spiritually.
All of the denser lower energies need to be in harmony with upper centers which is where the lighter energies reside. In other words, to incorporate a heartfelt spiritual focus, which encompasses all areas of your being, your survival and base tendencies need to be raised.
This means that each of the lower-level chakras corresponds to an upper-level chakra. Picture it like this: the heart is the center of your being and all chakras integrate into the heart. (i.e. the 7th chakra with the 1st chakra, the 6th chakra with the 2nd chakra and the 5th chakra with the 3rd chakra)
Your energetic balance is created by each center which is an integral function. By studying and putting into practice everything you learn about the energetic and physical aspects of the chakras, you can create emotional stability, health and spiritual bliss.
The Importance of the Main Chakras in the Body
Chakras correspond to massive, swirling nerve centers in the body and come complete with wheels of energy. Each of the chakras (seven in total) contains:
⦁ Nerves
⦁ Major organs
⦁ Emotional state of being
⦁ Spiritual state of being
⦁ Psychological states of being
Not only does each of the seven main chakras contain bundles of nerves and major organs, they are also responsible for our psychological, emotional, and spiritual states of being.
It is essential that the chakras stay open and do not become blocked. They are constantly swirling and moving so they need to stay fluid and aligned. Have you ever been witness to your sewer pipes being clogged and the water backs up into the house (usually in a bathtub or shower)? That means there is blockage somewhere in the pipes.
The same is true for your body. The chakras can get backed up and you end up feeling clogged which does not let the energy flow. A drainpipe is physical where chakras are energy centers.
Chakras interact with the physical even though they are not physical. Chakras are also not emotional or mental but interact with these two aspects. A chakra is an energy center or center of consciousness and interacts with your life force energy inside and out.
If you want to attain an ascending level of consciousness, you need all of the chakras working together in harmony. Any disharmony taking place in any of the chakras will cause blockage to higher levels of thought and healing.
To discover if you have blockage in any of the chakras, take a look at your thoughts and see if any of them are manifesting any physical or mental ailments or dysfunction. As the old saying goes, “you are what you think.”
This is an extremely true statement in that both harmony and disharmony in the chakras manifest into your mental, emotional and spiritual life. Chakras reflect your emotions, feelings and thoughts and can be open or closed or spinning fast or slow.
Each chakra is identified by and vibrates to a different frequency. Anything and everything such as sounds, attitudes, essence oils, foods and colors vibrate to their corresponding chakra.
If your chakra frequencies need balancing, the best way to achieve this is through meditation. If you focus on a particular sound (or mantra) you can affect the chakra that vibrates at that same frequency.
Different movements in yoga poses can help to open the chakras and clear blocked energies. Focusing on breathing while participating in yoga and can also bring the chakras into balance. Visualizing corresponding colors and chakras can also strengthen whichever chakra you are dealing with.
If you feel your chakras are out of balance, your life force vibrates below its appropriate frequency for a particular chakra. Chakras can slow or close down if you have blocks in your thoughts or attitude depending on what the particular chakra represents.
When this happens, you can have spiritual difficulties, mental dysfunctions, physical illness or emotional disruptions. This all points to a chakra being out of balance and affects that area of your life that you think is not functioning well.
Any time in life that you experience trauma, a crisis or you feel as if you need to change your lifestyle, your attitude or dispel a fear, a chakra may become out of balance even though they have all been in balance for a while. Keeping your chakras in balance means you are healthy in all aspects of your life including mind, body and spirit.
Try to keep all of your chakras open and just be aware when you feel something is out of balance. By repairing an imbalance in one area you can bring the others back into balance.