If the concept of chakras is unfamiliar to you, this little read explains how they represent who we are. The chakras are a part of what is known as the “subtle body” (‘subtle’ refers to something that is not visible but can be felt). Your aura, nādī or meridians, and chakras are all part of your subtle body. 

The aura is a field of electromagnetic energy that surrounds and pervades the physical body. There are seven layers to it. Each layer surrounds the body like a fluid and electrically dynamic eggshell, according to Donna Eden, author, presenter, and teacher of energy medicine, and all seven layers nest within each other like Russian Dolls. 

The aura has two purposes. A transmitter and a receiver are. It filters and shields us from bad energy like a space helmet, and it links us to nourishing energies in our environment like an antenna. It also relays information from our chakras to the environment, and vice versa.

The meridians (in Chinese medicine) or nādī (in Ayurveda) are energy channels, like veins, that convey our vital energy (Chi or Prana). Through the meridians, the chakras convey information to the body, and the body sends information to the chakras.

Introduction to the Chakras

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” Nikola Tesla. When it comes to comprehending the energetics of the body and chakras, Tesler’s remarks are crucial. 

The word “chakra” in Hinduism refers to a disk, wheel, or vortex. Chakras are energy spirals that collect, sort, and store all of the data about our body, emotions, thoughts, and life experiences; they store and process physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual information. These memories are kept and have an impact on our sense of self and how we react to current events.

Chakras serve as our personal encyclopaedia. They contain impressions from all of our experiences and represent what we have gone through and continue to go through. They are the subtle body’s nervous system and the link between our physical and subtle bodies.

There are seven layers to each chakra. The inherited elements of the chakra, the deepest levels, are what we bring with us. The middle layers are developed during childhood, while the surface layers are formed as a result of recent events. Recent experiences move to the middle level after they have been processed.

These are our lessons, and they become ingrained in our understanding of reality, our understanding of what works in the world? Who am I, exactly? What am I supposed to be doing here? Who and what can I rely on, and so on.

There are seven primary chakras along the spine and up to twenty-one subsidiary chakras in the body (hands, feet, knees, spleen, thymus and more). The five physical elements of earth, water, fire, air, and ether are related with the first five chakras, whereas the latter two are transpersonal. They transport us to a higher plane. They are more than our scars and stories. 

Each chakra is associated with a certain colour, however some clairvoyants believe that each chakra contains different colours in its many layers, which vary from person to person. Colour, on the other hand, is a vibration, and each colour vibrates differently and is related with a chakra that resonates with that vibration. 

Bija Mantra is a sound related to each chakra. The Bija Mantras are one-syllable sounds that, through their vibrations, are designed to awaken the chakras along the body’s centerline. Each bija mantra has its own vibration and frequency, and they activate their corresponding chakras in the same way that colours do.

Chakras spin to bring fresh energy into the body and to transfer stagnant energy out of it. They collect, sort, and store all of the data about your body, emotions, thoughts, and life experiences.

3 Major functions of chakras

Physiological: Each chakra is responsible for supporting and regulating the proper functioning of our physical body and organs. Depending on their proximity to the chakra, each chakra influences different organs and glands. Each chakra provides a constant source of energy for the organs, muscles, bones, and other tissues in its periphery. It brings in new energy, clears out old or stagnant energy, and has a significant impact on the health of the parts of the body it supports.

Psychological: Each chakra has a distinct behavioural, emotional, and psychological purpose. Each one is linked to a psychological concept. Our beliefs, behaviours, and perspectives on life are all held in our energy field. Chakra imbalance can have an impact on our mood, mental patterns, and outlook on life.

Spiritual: Each chakra serves a spiritual function and resonates with particular forces in nature. The root chakra, for example, is responsible for our safety, and it resonates with the collective theme of safety and trust. Each psychological function of the chakra has a counterpart in the universe, that Jung calls archetypes. Each individual’s experience blends with another’s when they have the same frequency, and those experiences combined produce a collective theme that is fed by each experience and shapes the human perspective.

The seven major Chakras and their position on the body

Chakras can be found all the way up the spine, from the base to the crown of the skull. Each chakra is associated with a specific theme. Each chakra symbolises a different stage of human development. We can identify the chakras from the base of the spine to the top of the head as follows:

1) Muladhara Chakra or Root Chakra

This chakra’s developmental stage is the first year of life. It’s all about how secure we feel in the world and how we might learn to become more embodied. The root chakra blocks when we have not felt safe and taken care of in our childhood. We can then feel ungrounded, with a sense of fear and distrust.

•  Location: Between the anus and the genital organs
•  Colour: Red
•  Bija Mantra: LAM
•  Element: Earth,

2) Svadhisthana Chakra or Sacral Chakra

The developmental stage of this chakra is at 6 months of age. It is about how we feel, create and move. This chakra blocks when our feelings have been denied. We can then become overly emotional and indulgent or flat emotionally. We just won’t know how to regulate our emotions.

•  Location: At the level of sacrum
•  Colour: Orange
•  Bija Mantra: VAM
•  Element: Water

3) Manipura Chakra or Solar Plexus Chakra

This chakra is at its developmental period between the ages of 18 months and four years. During our adolescent years, this chakra strengthens. It’s all about who we are and how we present ourselves to the rest of the world. This chakra gets blocked when our feelings have been denied. We can then feel afraid to claim our power and become victims of our circumstances.

• Location: Between the naval and the sternum
• Colour: Yellow
• Bija Mantra: RAM
• Element: Fire

4) Anahata Chakra or Heart Chakra

This chakra’s developmental stage is between 3 and 7 years old. It’s all about love and bonding. When we’ve been rejected or abandoned, or when we’ve thought our parents’ love was conditional, this chakra becomes blocked. We then begin to dress up in identities (masks) that we believe will attract love. Often, the identity we create is at conflict with our true selves.

• Location: The centre of the chest, colour green
• Colour: Green
• Bija Mantra: YAM
• Element: Air

5) Vishuddhi Chakra or Throat Chakra

This chakra’s developmental stage is between 7 and 10 years old. It is about communication, integration and creative expression. This chakra blocks, when we have not been allowed to express ourselves or when we have not been heard. We can then either become excessively loud or shrink and hide our truth.

•  Location: Throat
•  Colour: Turquoise
•  Bija Mantra: HAM
•  Element: Ether

6) Ajna Chakra or Third Eye Chakra

This chakra builds upon the developmental path that begins with the root chakra, where we experience the conflict between attachment and authenticity. It’s all about intuition and self-awareness. It’s about awakening and seeing beneath the surface of things. We lose our intuition and imagination when this chakra is obstructed. We are inundated with psychic information and are unable to distinguish between fact and fantasy, or we have highly inflexible viewpoints.

•  Location: Middle of the head
•  Colour dark blue
•  Bija Mantra: OM

7) Sahasrara Chakra or Crown Chakra

Sahasrara is the refuge of our essential nature, our essence, our pure consciousness. It symbolises the balance of man’s duality, the ego with your Higher Self. This unity leads to a state of ecstasy, a state of pure bliss. When this chakra is blocked, we can become too much in our head, we can have attention deficits and learning difficulties.We can become too rigid in our beliefs, and we feel separated from the source.

• Location: Top of the head
• Colour violet.
• Bija Mantra: OM

Even Though each chakra has a particular function, and governs particular aspects of ourselves, they all work together to heal and maintain our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. In the coming blogs, we’ll take a closer look at each chakra, learning more about its function, how it affects us, and how to balance it.

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