Systems From Other Cultures
Aside from Hindu literature, there are many other metaphysical systems featuring seven levels of man, nature, or physical planes. The Theosophists, for example, talk about seven cosmic rays of creation, with seven evolutionary races. The Christians talk about seven days of creation, as well as seven sacraments, seven seals, seven angels, seven virtues, seven deadly sins, and in Revelation 1:16 perhaps even seven chakras where it is said, "And He had in His right hand seven stars." Carolyn Myss has also correlated the chakras to the seven Christian Sacraments."
The Kabbalistic Tree of Life, also a system of studying behavior and consciousness, has seven horizontal levels distributed among its three vertical pillars and ten Sephiroth. Similarly, the Tree of Life describes a path from Earth to Heaven as does the Chakra System. While the Kabbalah is not an exact match to the Chakra System, it does have significant parallels in that it, too, describes an evolutionary journey from matter to supreme consciousness.12 Using the Chakra System in conjunction with the Kabbalah helps map the Sephiroth onto the body and brings together two ancient traditions, which obviously have common roots. (See Figure 1.4, page 15.)
Seven-ness is also found outside of myth and religion. There are seven colors to the rainbow, seven notes in the Western major scale, seven days in the week, and it is believed that major life cycles run in periods of seven years each-childhood to age seven, adolescence at fourteen, adulthood at twenty-one, first Saturn return at twenty-eight. Arthur Young in The Reflexive Universe has described evolution in seven levels, 13 and the periodic table of elements can even be viewed as falling into a pattern of seven, by atomic weight.
Many cultures talk about energy centers or levels of consciousness similar to chakras, although there may not always be seven centers in their system. The Chinese have a system of six levels in the hexagrams of the I Ching, based on the two cosmic forces, yin and yang. There are also six pairs of organ meridians that correspond to five elements (fire, earth, metal, water, and wood). The Hopi Indians speak of energy centers in the body, as do the Tibetans.
There is little doubt that there is a basic key to understanding within the correlation of all this myth and data. Somewhere there lies a cosmic map for adventurers in consciousness. Hints have been dropped through the ages around the globe. Is it not time we pieced together these clues and began to navigate ourselves out of our present difficulties?
Fortunately, more and more research is being done now that supports the existence of chakras,14 and their counterpart, the Kundalini energy. I hope that I can present enough of it within these pages to make this plain. I would prefer, however, to make this system believable to you primarily through your own personal experience and only secondarily through scientific evidence. The scientific aspects provide little practical value in actually using the system other than intellectual reassurance, since the chakras are ultimately an interior subjective experience. Knowing about the chakras is only part of the journey. The real challenge is to experience them.15
FIGURE 1.4
Kabbalistic Tree of Life, with its ten Sephiroth (circles), twenty-two paths (lines connecting circles), three vertical pillars, and seven levels (horizontal bars).
So, in order to understand the merits of this most ancient and now modernized system, I urge the reader to suspend disbelief within whatever parameters they find comfortable, jump aboard the mystic bandwagon of personal experience, and judge their truths from within. After all, this is little more than what we do in reading a good adventure novel or love story. Consider this book a little of each-an adventure novel traveling through the realms of your own consciousness, and a love story between your inner self and the universe that surrounds you.
HOW THE CHAKRAS WORK
Now that we have examined the history of the Chakra System, let's take a deeper look at the chakras themselves, and examine how they might work their powerful influence on mind and body.
As mentioned before, the word chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning "wheel" or "disk" and denotes a point of intersection where mind and body meet. Chakras are also called lotuses, symbolizing the unfolding of flower petals, which metaphorically describe the opening of a chakra. The beautiful lotus flowers are sacred in India. Growing from mud, they symbolize a path of development from a primitive being to a fully blossoming consciousness, mirroring the base chakra rooted in Earth, which evolves into the "thousand-petaled lotus" at the crown of the head. Like lotuses, chakras have "petals," which vary in number from chakra to chakra. Beginning at the bottom with the first chakra, the petals number four, six, ten, twelve, sixteen, two, and 1,000 petals. (See Figure 1.5, page 18.) Like flowers, chakras can be open or closed, dying or budding, depending on the state of consciousness within.
The chakras are gateways between various dimensions-centers where activity of one dimension, such as emotion and thought, connects and plays on another dimension, such as our physical bodies. This interaction, in turn, plays on our our interactions with others and thus influences another dimension-our activities in the outside world.
Take, for example, the emotional experience of fear, related to the first chakra. Fear affects our body in certain ways. We feel butterflies in our stomach, our breath is short, and our voice and hands may shake. These physical characteristics betray our lack of confidence in dealing with the world, and may lead others to treat us in a negative way, perpetuating our fear. This fear may have its roots in an unresolved childhood experience, yet still rules our behavior. To work with the chakras is to heal ourselves of old constricting patterns lodged in the body or the mind, or habitual behavior.
The sum total of the chakras forms a vertical column in our bodies called sushumna. This column is a central integrating channel for connecting the chakras and their various dimensions. (See Figure 1.6, page 19.) It can be thought of as a "super highway" on which these energies travel, just as our asphalt highways are channels through which physical items travel from the manufacturer to the consumer. We could say that the sushumna brings psychic energy from the "manufacturer" as pure consciousness (Divine Mind, God, Goddess, The Force, Nature, etc.) to the consumer, which is the mental and physical individual here on the Earth plane. One could view the chakras as being major cities located along the highway, each responsible for producing their own kind of goods. Rather than cities, however, I view them as sacred chambers in the temple of the body, where the vital force of consciousness can pool together on different levels.
Traveling beside, around, and through the sushumna, there are also many back roads, such as the Chinese acupuncture meridians, and the thousands of other nadis, subtle energy conduits, which Hindus have found within the subtle body. (See Figure 1.7, page 21.) Nadis can be thought of as alternate channels, such as the telephone network, gas lines, or stream beds, where we have special channels for moving certain kinds of energy, all passing through the same vortex.
FIGURE 1.5
Seven lotuses representing the seven chakras.
FIGURE 1.6
Sushumna, Ida, and Pingala.
(Author's Note: Some texts show Ida and Pingala crossing between the chakras, while others show them crossing at the chakras. Others describe the currents ending-or beginning-at the left and right nostril.)
If you would like to experience what a chakra feels like, the following is a simple exercise for opening the hand chakras and experiencing their energy:
Extend both arms out in front of you, parallel to the floor with elbows straight.
Turn one hand up and one hand down. Now quickly open and close your hands a dozen times or so.
Reverse your palms and repeat. This opens the hand chakras.
To feel their energy, open your hands and slowly bring your palms together, starting about two feet apart.
When your hands are about four inches apart you should be able to feel a subtle ball of energy, like a magnetic field, floating between your palms. If you tune in closely, you may even be able to feel it spinning.
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After a few moments the sensation will subside, but it can be repeated by opening and closing the palms again, as above.
On a physical level, chakras correspond to nerve ganglia, where there is a high degree of nervous activity, and also to glands in the endocrine system (see Figure 1.8, page 22). While chakras are interdependent with the nervous and endocrine systems, they are not synonymous with any portion of the physical body, but exist within the subtle body.
Yet their effect upon the physical body is strong, as witnessed by anyone undergoing a Kundalini experience. I believe that the chakras generate the shape and behavior of the physical body, much as the mind influences our emotions. An excessive third chakra would exhibit a big, tight belly; a constricted fifth chakra results in tight shoulders or a sore throat; a poor connection through the first chakra may show up in skinny legs or bad knees. The alignment of one's spinal vertebrae also correlates to the openness of the chakras. For example, if our chest is collapsed, due to spinal curvature or somatic/emotional holding, the heart chakra may be impeded. The shape of our physical body may even be determined by our development from former lives, to be picked up and continued again in this life.
FIGURE 1.7
Ancient Hindu drawing of the nadis and chakras. (Courtesy of University of the Trees Press)
FIGURE 1.8
Common associations between the chakras and the glands of the endocrine system.
(Some systems reverse chakras six and seven, making pineal a seventh chakra gland and the pituitary related to the sixth.)
In metaphysical terminology, a chakra is a vortex. (See Figure 1.9.) Chakras spin in a wheel-like manner, attracting or repelling activity on their particular plane by patterns analogous to a whirlpool. Anything the chakra encounters on its particular vibrational level gets drawn into the chakra, processed, and passed out again.
Instead of fluid, chakras are made of symbolic patterns of our own mental and physical programming. This programming governs the way we behave. Like programming in a computer, it channels the way energy flows through the system and gives us different kinds of information. Each chakra-which literally means "disk"-can be thought of as programming on a floppy disk that runs certain elements of our lives, from our survival programs, to our sexual programs, to the way we think and feel.
FIGURE 1.9
Metaphysical illustration of a vortex. (Courtesy of Theosophical Publishing House)
Chakras send energy out from the core of the body, and they assimilate energy from outside that enters the core. In this way, once again, I define a chakra as an organizational center for the reception, assimilation, and transmission of life energy. What we generate determines much of what we receive, and in this way it behooves us to work on our chakras and clean up outdated, dysfunctional, or negative programming that may be getting in our way.
The content of the chakras is formed largely by repeated patterns from our actions in day-to-day life, as we are always the center point of these actions. Repeated movements and habits create fields in the world around us. Programming from our parents and culture, our physical body shape, situations we are born into, and information from previous lives are also important factors. These patterns can often be seen by clairvoyants when viewing the chakras. Their interpretations give us valuable insight into our behavior. Like an astrological chart, they show us tendencies of the personality, but are not by any means unchangeable. Knowing our tendencies tells us what to watch out for and what to enhance.
Through involvement with the outside world, patterns within the chakras tend to perpetuate themselves; hence the idea of karma-patterns formed through action, or the laws of cause and effect. Thus it is common to become trapped in any one of these patterns. This is called being "stuck" in a chakra. We are caught in a cycle that keeps us at a particular level. This could be a relationship, a job, a habit, but most often, simply a way of thinking. Being stuck can be a function of either overemphasis or underdevelopment of a chakra. The object of our work is to clean the chakras of old, nonbeneficial patterns so that their self-perpetuating actions have a positive influence, and our life energy can continue to expand to higher planes.
Chakras are associated with seven basic levels of consciousness. As we experience the opening of a chakra, we also experience a deeper understanding of the state of consciousness associated with that level. These states can be summarized with the following keywords, though it must be remembered that these words are a gross oversimplification of the complexity of each level. (See Table of Correspondences, pages 42 and 43.) The chapters that follow will explain each chakra more fully. Their associated elements are given because the elements are of such crucial significance to understanding the quality of the chakra.
Chakra One: Located at the base of the spine, is associated with survival. Its element is earth.
Chakra Two: Located in the lower abdomen is associated with emotions and sexuality. Its element is water.
Chakra Three: Located in the solar plexus, is associated with personal power, will, and self-esteem. Its element is fire.
Chakra Four: Located over the sternum, is associated with love. Its element is air.
Chakra Five: Located in the throat, is associated with communication and creativity. Its element is sound.16
Chakra Six: Located in the center of the forehead, is associated with clairvoyance, intuition and imagination. Its element is light.
Chakra Seven: Located at the top of the head, is associated with knowledge, understanding and transcendent consciousness. Its element is thought.
Chakras can be open or closed, excessive or deficient," or any of the various stages in between. These states may be basic aspects of someone's personality throughout most of their life, or something that changes from moment to moment in response to a situation. An ailing chakra may be unable to change its state easily, being stuck in either an open or a closed state. The chakra then needs healing by uncovering and removing whatever is blocking it. If a chakra is blocked in a closed state, then it is unable to generate or receive energy on that particular plane, such as love energy or communication. If a chakra is blocked in an open or excessive state, that means it tends to channel all energies through that particular plane, such as using all situations to further one's power or meet sexual needs, when other forms of behavior might be more appropriate. A closed chakra is a chronic avoidance of certain energies, while an excessively open chakra is a chronic fixation.
The quality and quantity of energy that one encounters on a particular plane has to do with how open or closed their respective chakra is, or how able they are to control this opening and closing at appropriate times. This governs the amount of activity and complexity we can effectively handle at any given level.
For example, someone with a tightly closed third chakra (personal power) would be terrified of confrontation, while another who is more open, may thrive on it. Someone with an open second chakra (sexuality) may juggle many sexual partners, while someone who is closed may avoid even feeling sexual. Someone whose throat chakra is excessive may talk too much and not really listen, while another may be scarcely able to get their words out.
There are specific exercises that are designed to facilitate the opening, discharging, or strengthening of each center, but one must first be able to understand the system as a whole. Once the system is understood, individual levels can be approached in various ways. One can:
• Focus attention on that area of the body, taking careful note of how it feels and behaves.
• Understand the philosophical working of that chakra and apply it.
• Examine the interactions in one's day-to-day life that occur on the level corresponding to that chakra.
In this work, any of the correlations to a particular level can be used to access the chakra and change the energy within.
For example, you can understand what condition your second chakra (sexuality) is in by first tuning in to that area of the body (abdomen, genitals). Is it fluid
, alive, painful, tense, relaxed? The physical state gives us many clues about the internal processes. The next step is to examine the meaning and function of that particular chakra. What meaning do you ascribe to emotions and sexuality? What values do they hold for you? What kind of programming did you receive about those issues? Then you might examine the quality and quantity of emotional and sexual interaction in your life. Is it what you want it to be? Is it balanced between give and take? Is it an effortless flow of energy or a subject of fear and anxiety?
You can then work on improving the health of the second chakra by doing any of the following:
• Doing physical exercises that pertain to relaxing, opening, or stimulating the sacral area of the body.
• Working with its associated images, colors, sounds, deities, or elements, such as its constant movement and flow of water or its cleansing properties by: drinking lots of water, visiting a river, going swimming-all as a means to connect with its associated water element.
• Working through your feelings and values about sexuality and emotions, and bringing those new insights into your behavior with others.
Any or all of these processes may affect changes in your emotional or sexual nature.
The body and mind are inseparably interrelated. Each governs and affects the other, and each is accessible through the other. The seven major chakras are also inseparably interrelated. A block in the functioning of one chakra may affect the activity of the one above or below it. For example, you may have trouble with your personal power (third chakra) because of a block in communication (fifth chakra) or vice versa. Or perhaps the real problem may lie in your heart (fourth chakra) and only manifests in these other areas because it is buried so deeply. In examining the theoretical System as a whole (which will henceforth be capitalized) and applying it to your personal chakra system (lowercase) as it occurs uniquely within you, you learn to sort out these subtleties and patterns and make self-improvements according to your goals. This process will be explained in greater detail as we explore each chakra in depth.
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