Understanding the Chakra System: Start from the beginning and learn all about this ancient system.
This knowledge may be as helpful for you and your vitality as it will be for your clients!
The word “chakra” means "wheel" or "disk" in Sanskrit. They are the 7 main energy centers in our body that provide information to your nervous system. In fact, you've probably felt them as "butterflies in your stomach" or your throat chakra contract and effect your voice when you talk about something vulnerable.
Though the history of chakras spans centuries, the idea of balancing our seven main energy centers has gained popularity recently, where work-life balance and taking time to focus on the self are often rarities. In this blog, you’ll find a breakdown of each chakra, its corresponding colors, yoga poses, sounds, and emotions, and ways to tap into the key functions.
Because chakra history is vast and there are varying beliefs about their complex nature (from origins to legitimacy), we’re presenting this information as a very broad overview.
Ancient Beginnings
The name chakra comes from the Sanskrit word for wheel, in reference to the chariot wheels of rulers called cakravartins, (the original “cakra” was pronounced with a “ch,” but we usually see it written now as “chakra”).
Energy from each these parallel points, called chi, ki, or prana, is thought to flow in a spiral fashion so long as each chakra is open. Other ancient eastern traditions, including pranayama, qi gong, acupuncture, and tai chi also focus on this flow called pranic energy.
Early mentions of chakras deem them the facilitators to a stable, more connected life (both to ourselves and to others). By focusing on these centers and paying attention to their specific roles, it’s believed we can reach our highest potential. There are seven main chakras, each located at various points along the spine. Some scriptural texts reference more, but we’ll be addressing the core seven in NSR Process.
As a junction of energy, thoughts, feelings, and the physical body, chakras have been called “focused energetic life-forces.” It’s thought if any of the chakras are blocked, individuals can develop physical, emotional and mental illnesses.
Though chakras are rarely mentioned in Western medicine, Vedic texts from India have written about them beginning from at least 1500 BCE and Vedic physicians continue to treat imbalances in their patients. Now worldwide folks have experienced their physiological merit and some Western research is now coming forward.
While the chakras are invisible, each is located at a major network of arteries, veins, and nerves along the spine.
Through working with neurochemists, researchers have found a connection between the seven core chakras and specific endocrine glands with nearly identical functions and descriptions, such as the thyroid and the throat chakra.
It’s pretty remarkable that humans had a confident sense of these points thousands of years ago, before knowledge about the central nervous system was fairly common.
The Caduceus and the Chakras
Although our modern symbol for our Medical System is the caduceus. You'll see it at hospitals, physicians offices and pharmacies. The caduceus has roots in ancient Greece, ancient India and Asian countries. These ancient physicians understood this symbol to be tied to the chakra system. If you look closely, you'll see it's a staff with 2 snakes crossing the staff.
Every time the ida (yin or feminine energy) and pingala (yang or masculine energy), represented by the snakes in the caduceus, cross one another, the crossing forms what is referred to as a "chakra". The staff is your spine and the snakes cross at the energy center where there is nerve ganglion in your body, known as a chakra. Historically, these chakras are represented on the front of the body, and correlate with what we know in acupuncture as vital acupoints.
More than 2000 years ago
Chakras first referenced in ancient texts called the Vedas (oldest written tradition in India).
200 BC
Chakras described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
(a compilation of yoga teachings and philosophies).
600 AD
Chakras described in the Yoga Upanishads (a collection of texts).
10th century
Padaka-Pancaka written with descriptions of the chakras and their functions, Gorakshashatakam written with instructions for meditating on the chakras.
1577
Sat-Cakra-Nirupana written with descriptions of the chakras and their functions.
1919
Chakras introduced to the Western world by Englishman Arthur Avalon in the book “The Serpent Power,” a translation of Padaka-Pancaka and Sat-Cakra-Nirupana.
1960s
Interest in Eastern spirituality and healing gained steam in the Western world, bringing with it a new, accepting attitude toward the chakra system.
Today
Modern physicians open up to holistic modalities by
creating CAM, Complementary Alternative Medicine.
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