Chakras

From the base of the human spine to the top of the head, you can find seven chakras. They appear like energy wheels that run through the body.  Chakras form a well-organized system that keeps the life force directed, economical, and fluid. When something happens to impede the flow of life energy, the chakras slow down activity, and energy becomes sluggish and even stagnant. If this situation is temporary, the energy resumes its natural flow. If the situation continues for some time, the chakras need stimulation to become active again. Our health and well-being depend on active chakras.

The first of these energy centers is called the Root Chakra. It rests in the perineum at the base of the spine and draws energy from the magnetic field at the earth’s core. This energy moves up through the feet and legs, energizing blood and tissues in the body. It stimulates aggressive drives linked to survival, and anchors our spirit on the material plane, establishing our worldly existence.

On a physical level, this chakra controls the adrenal cortex (on the upper end of each kidney), which is the storehouse for inherited ancestral energy. The root chakra holds both our genetic inheritance for vitality as well as our innate predispositions to disease. Within this domain are stored the qualities that helped our ancestors survive, such as courage, stamina, and resilience.

The root chakra also governs the birthing process. The ability to nurture life depends partly upon a woman's acceptance of her physical nature and her instincts for survival. If there are emotional issues about control or fear, the birthing process may be an ordeal. A good connection with the root chakra helps a woman to have a normal birth.

In its unconscious state, the root chakra carries the attitudes and prejudices formed by family, church, and culture. as these barriers are erase through developed awareness comma more energy is available to live the life you choose.

The next chakra is the Sacral Chakra, located in the pelvis, near the sacrum. This energy center promotes our ability to enjoy life in physical ways. It governs our vital well-being, our sense of deserving of a good life, and our capacity to develop a sense of abundance.

The sacral chakra controls our physical ability to move forward in life. It is governed by the water element, and affects emotions, which, if unexpressed, can cause fluid retention in the body.

This chakra is deeply influenced by our ideas about pleasure and our sense of our own sexuality. Being in touch with our sexual drives and discerning in our sexual behavior allows us to grow emotionally. Wholesome attitudes about sexuality offer us the promise of fulfillment, joy, and a deep and abiding connection with another.

The sacral chakra's function is contingent upon the degree we care for and value our own being. If we feel we are deserving of the good things around us, this chakra opens to receive pleasure and abundance. If we doubt our right to pleasure, this chakra becomes depleted. It also controls the appetite, and its lesson revolves around knowing what is enough. 

The Sanskrit word for this chakra is Swvatistana, which translates as “my own sweet abode”. It refers to our ability to cherish our physical presence and to find pleasure, health, and joy.

The third energy center is the Solar Plexus Chakra. It sits over the stomach and the nerve ganglia under the diaphragm. It filters energy into our vital organs so that they can breakdown nutrients for digestion. This happens on the physical level with food an on the mental level with ideas. 

This center is directly related to self-value, a primary quality in our relationships with others and the world around us. If we fail to honor ourselves and know that we are worth simply because we exist, our sense of personal identity is weak. Consequently, this chakra deals with self-esteem, confidence, and freedom of choice. It reflects how we see ourselves and exercise our innate power.

The solar plexus chakra is ruled by the element of fire. This is the energy of passion, which affects how we approach the world. It controls our basic instincts in our relationship to events and people.

Living within the trap of self-limitation, this chakra reduces its energy for expressing power. Demeaning ideas prevent us from gaining an education, establishing financial stability, and achieving independence. We all have a right to a strong and healthy sense of ourselves and to live our own lives.

The Heart Chakra is the center of the human energy system. It functions both physically and emotionally to keep the lifeforce alive. Just as the heart organ carries the life blood through the body, so the heart chakra moves love through our lives.

The heart chakra operates on the physical as well as the emotional and energetic plains. Physically the heart comprises the myocardium, the aorta, the pulmonary artery, and the four chambers. Energetically, it comprises the heart protector, which shielded from emotional pain, and the spirit heart, which is pure and thought to be the seat of divinity within us.

The heart thrives on brotherhood, joy, peace, and understanding. A happy heart is the tonic of life. Gradually we mature and need to take less. Instead, we give love unconditionally. This new form of love is inclusive and universal. It rests on our ability to avoid hurting others, and our compassion for those who suffer.

The Throat Chakra covers the area of the external and internal throat and neck as well as the mouth, teeth, and jaw. It is often blocked with suppressed feelings, revealing unspoken emotions and unexpressed ideas. When the throat chakra is blocked, it prevents energy from rising to the upper centers. Clearing this center requires a deep commitment to the truth, as well as living from integrity. When it is healed, strength flourishes and directs the life force toward creativity and self-expression.

The qualities expressed by the throat chakra our creativity, willpower, the truth, communication, and personal integrity. This center governs the thyroid and controls our ability to communicate our thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly. When the throat chakra is functioning optimally, people will take stands for what they believe in. They are seldom dependent on others to give them permission to express their feelings.

This chakra develops later in life when a person has maturity to know what really matters. Clearing out family suppression and unexpressed emotions takes many years of inner work. this chakra holds memory and energy of all that went unexpressed period it is deeply affected by substance abuse, gossip, lying, and lack of personal integrity. 

The Brow Chakra sits between the eyebrows and is known as the Third Eye. This center is our innate intelligence and thrives on the distilled wisdom of our losses, pain, and separations. When it is open and functioning well, we can discern our highest good as well as profound awareness an intuition. The center seeks meaning, truth, and freedom. 

The brow chakra controls the flow of hormones from the pituitary gland and responds to wholesome attitudes about self and others. As we mature, we cultivate knowing and intuition and use these to understand situations we might not have been able to cope with when we were younger. Wisdom, discernment, knowledge, and intuition are all qualities of this chakra period it is closely linked with the higher mind and enlightenment.

The Crown Chakra is the most elevated chakra in the system. It provides the means to deepen our indelible connection with the source of our being. Whether we wish to make this connection conscious is up to us. The link is there; we must only acknowledge it to experience it. There is nothing to be done to make this connection other than recognize it.

The crown chakra controls the pineal gland, which sits at the top of the midbrain below the cerebral hemisphere. It influences our deeper inner cycles, such as sleep, happiness, and tranquility. Its qualities are bliss, beauty, and spirituality. The crown chakra offers each person the energy of cosmic consciousness and helps us feel that we are one with all life. It controls our sense of happiness and joy and allows us to feel that we are loved, guided, and protected at all times by the love of God.

-Excerpts courtesy of "The Book of Chakras" Ambika Wauters Quarto 2002

- Photos courtesy Colorpsychology.org