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"Chakra" is the Sanskrit word for wheel.
In the nervous system, there are nerve "junctions" where nerves meet and cross over at certain points in the body. They are found in the endocrine system at the base of the spine, near the reproductive organs, near the solar plexus in the abdomen just under the navel - near the heart, the throat, between the eyebrows in the space known as the third eye and the crown of the head.
The chakra s are metaphysical vortices of energies and they are positioned near each of the major nerve ganglions just mentioned. They control the flow of subtle energy which can actually be measured with encephalograms and cardiograms and bio feedback.
When the chakra s are in balance, they each influence a particular part of the body and help it to function perfectly. On the other hand, if there is a slight imbalance caused by a "blockage", this can result in a whole range of mental, emotional and physical illness which makes itself manifest.
Although chakra s are individual subtle centres, they inter-relate. It has taken the West a long time, too long perhaps, to show any interest in the Chakras and acknowledge their existence and their profound influence on the human psyche, as well as on the physical level. Not only do they affect a person's health, but one's state of consciousness. It has been quite a mistake to brush aside the role that chakra s have on out lives, especially the influence they have on our awareness. For a long time Western medicine has refused to acknowledge their very existence. Luckily, though, quite a few G.Ps and practitioners even in Harley Street (most notably Dr Malcom Caruthers the celebrated heart specialist and expert in autogenic training) are now beginning to recognize the value of being able to enhance and balance the chakra s through meditation, acupuncture and herbal intake.
Indian Yogis have known about the chakra system for thousands of years. They have been telling the world often enough that disease first manifests itself at the chakra level long before it does so in mind and body and that it is important to keep these chakra s in balance.
One of the surest ways to achieve balance in the chakra s is through the practice of meditation. Acupuncture helps to unblock the subtle energy channels, but meditation prevents such blockages from occurring in the first place - as well as maintaining them in balance.
It is necessary to know how each chakra can affect a certain bodily organ function, and its extremely important influence on the emotions. Indeed many books have been written about them, though they are not all that easy to understand, due to the fact that they are not visible and cannot be measured because they operate on the subtle level. Just as the energy in a magnet cannot be seen or measured - but is active and capable of being felt and can influence the magnetic field and attract or repel metal objects or other magnets, so do chakra s produce and activate energies within the subtle nervous system.
Also, just as the mind cannot be seen because it too is a subtle energy, yet we know it is there. It can also show up its electrical activity by registering different patterns on a T.V screen, or register different wave patterns on paper by means of an encephalogram.
Science acknowledges that the brain and nervous system exist because it can be proved empirically, whereas it refutes the existence of the energy which passes through them and activates them. And what of life itself? Can life be proved empirically - we know it cannot.
However - whether their existence is accepted in the West or not, chakra s continue to constitute a very important and essential part of the human organism and psychological make up of every individual on the planet.
Each chakra is closely associated with a specific bodily organ or endocrine gland.
In the Indian system of Ayurvedic medicine and psychology, each chakra is depicted symbolically as a lotus flower - vibrating and resonating at different frequencies which correspond to the colours of the rainbow. Although there are many chakra s in the human body - there are seven main chakra s, which are embedded in the spinal cord. There are three channels passing through the spinal cord from the base of the spine to the top of the head. The main central channel is referred to as the Sushumna, the one on the right is Pingala, and the one on the left is Ida. The female energy known as Kundalini lies dormant in the coccyx until such time as she is awakened by mantric sound vibration, when she rises through the Sushumna to reach the brain. The seven main chakra s act as gates Kundalini must pass through. If they are closed, she pierces through them to get to her goal. Each time this happens, the individual is elevated to a higher level of consciousness.
It has also been pointed out that the twelve planetary zodiac clusters correspond to the seven major and five minor chakra s in the way the points of reference in a slide would correspond to the points of reference in the projected image on a screen, bearing out the occult premise so often quoted in esoteric literature: "As above - so below". In which case it is not surprising that the planets influence each human life through its link with the chakra s. More and more, doctors and health practitioners in the West are beginning to accept this system of holistic health and healing and its implication on the human psyche and personality as a whole. They are virtually obliged to accept the holistic system of balancing the chakra s, because now the results can actually be recorded with the use of scientific instruments - measuring their electromagnetic energy and the aura that surrounds the body.
Hitherto they were undetected because they vibrate at a rate that cannot be detected by the human eye or brain. Much additional proof has been provided by anecdotal evidence of people's experience and by results of actual improvement in health when chakra s have been focused on, and meditation techniques have set them vibrating.
In modern parlance, it would probably help the layman to understand the role of the chakra s better if we refer to them as "maps of consciousness". They are used for establishing equilibrium between the many layers that make up the self that is to say the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. In so doing the individual is helped to live and act as an integrated whole. This is what is meant by "personal integration".
It would help to visualize each chakra as an inter-connected valve that can channel the electrical current of the Life Force inhabiting the body.
Malfunctioning can occur when the energy that flows through them is either excessive or weak. By balancing the chakra s, one is able to transform all aspects of one's life for the better.
The Life Energy flowing through our nervous system is transmitted from chakra to chakra. This force is referred to as the Kundalini - but it can best move forward and upward along the Sushumna or middle channel located in the spinal cord, if it is helped on by the practise of meditation and a loving attitude to all things living.