What is Chakra?

Muladhara

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:23:36 +0800

Muladhara or the base or root chakra is related to instinct, security, survival and also to basic human potentiality. This centre is located in the region between the genitals and the anus. Although no endocrine organ is placed here, it is said to relate to the inner adrenal glands, the adrenal medulla, responsible for the fight and flight response when survival is under threat. In this region is located a muscle that controls ejaculation in the sexual act. A parallel is drawn between the sperm cell and the ovum, where the genetic code lies coiled, and the kundalini. Symbolised by a lotus with four petals.

Color: Red

Parts of the body: Lymph system, skeleton system (teeth and bones), the prostate gland in men, the sacral plexus, the bladder and elimination system, and the lower extremities (legs - feet, ankles , etc.). Also the nose, since it is the organ of the sense of smell, and associated with survival.

Endocrine gland: Adrenal glands

Sense: Smell

Consciousness: Security, survival, trust, the relationship with money, home, job. Ability to be grounded, to be present in the here and now. Ability to allow one's self to be nourished, in the sense of allowing one's Inner Being to be satisfied. This chakra also reflects a person's connection with their mother, and with Mother Earth. How the person feels about being on the earth. Connection with the physical body.

Symptoms or tensions in the parts of the body controlled by this chakra indicate tensions in the parts of the person's consciousness related to this chakra. Tension here is experienced as insecurity as a general perceptual filter. More tension is experienced as fear. More than that is experienced as terror, or a threat to survival.

Element: Earth

Swadhisthana

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:16:15 +0800

Swadhisthana or the sacral chakra is located in the groin, and is related to base emotion, sexuality and creativity. This chakra is said to correspond to the testicles or the ovaries, that produce the various sex hormones involved in the reproductive cycle, which can cause dramatic mood swings. sacral chakra by a lotus with six petals.

Color: Orange

Parts of the body: Reproductive system, sexual organs, lumbar plexus

Endocrine gland: Gonads

Sense: Sense of taste, appetite

Consciousness: This chakra is associated with the parts of the consciousness concerned with food and sex. It is about the body's communication to the Being inside, about what the body wants and needs, and what it finds pleasurable. The person's ability to have children is also associated with this chakra. If there is not a clear relationship with the element of water, associated with this chakra, the person's relationship with water is a reflection of their relationship with the parts of their consciousness associated with this chakra, i.e. food, sex, or having children.

This chakra is also associated with the emotional body, and the person's willingness to feel their emotions.

Element: Water

Manahata

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 22:07:52 +0800

Manipura or the solar plexus chakra is related to the transition from base to higher emotion, energy, assimilation and digestion, and is said to correspond to the roles played by the pancreas and the outer adrenal glands, the adrenal cortex. These play a valuable role in digestion, the conversion of food matter into energy for the body. Symbolized by a lotus with ten petals.

Color: yellow
Parts of the Body: The parts of the body associated with this chakra include the muscular system, the skin as a system, the solar plexus, the large intestine, stomach, liver, and other organs and glands in the region of the solar plexus. Also the eyes, as the organs of sight, and the face, representing figuratively the face one shows the world.

Endocrine Gland: The pancreas

Sense: Eyesight

Consciousness: Parts of the consciousness associated with this chakra include perceptions concerned with power, control, freedom, the ease with which one is able to be themselves - ease of being. Mental activity and the mental body is also associated with this chakra. The solar plexus chakra is also associated with the level of being we call the personality, or ego.

The relationship a person has with fire, or the sun, can be seen to have its parallels in the person’s relationship with the parts of their consciousness that this chakra represents. Someone sensitive about the sun, then, can be seen to have particular sensitivities about power, or control, or freedom.

Element: Fire, the sun.

Anahata

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 00:31:43 +0800

Anahata or the heart chakra is related to higher emotion, compassion, love, equilibrium, and well-being. It is related to the thymus, located in the chest. This organ is part of the immune system, as well as being part of the endocrine system. It produces T cells responsible for fighting off disease, and is adversely affected by stress. Symbolized by a lotus with twelve petals.
Color- Green
Parts of the body: This Chakra is associated with the heart and the blood circulatory system, and the cardiac plexus, as well as the lungs and the entire chest area.
Endocrine Gland: Thymus Gland, controlling the immune system.
Sense: Sense of touch, in its aspect of relating to the person inside the body, and distinct from the sensation of the Orange Chakra, which is more about the sensation one feels from their own body. Hugging, therefore, is a Heart Chakra activity. When one hugs, one is aware of what the person inside the other body feels, and they are aware of what you feel inside your body, and there is a sense of relating to the person inside the body. Sensitivity about being touched indicates heart chakra sensitivity.
Consciousness: Perceptions of love, relationships (relating) with people close to your heart, e.g. partner, siblings, parents, children. Difficulty with breathing, or with the lungs, the organs of air, indicates tension in the Heart Chakra. A person's relationship with air reflects their relationship with love.

Element: Air

Vishuddha

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 00:20:45 +0800

Vishuddha or the throat chakra is said to be related to communication and growth, growth being a form of expression. This chakra is paralleled to the thyroid, a gland that is also in the throat, and which produces thyroid hormone, responsible for growth and maturation. Symbolised by a lotus with sixteen petals.
Color : blue

Parts of the body: This chakra controls the throat and the neck, and the arms and the hands. It is associated with the brachial or cervical plexus

Sense: Sense of Hearing

Endocrine Gland: Thyroid Gland

Consciousness: The aspects of expressing and receiving. Expressing can be in the form of communicating what one wants and what one feels, or it can be an artistic expression, as an artist painting, a dancer dancing, a musician playing music, using a form for expressing and bringing to the outside what was within. Expressing is related to receiving, as in "Ask, and ye shall receive."
This chakra is associated with listening to one's intuition, which guides one in an optimal flow, in which one sees one's goals manifest, and it seems that the Universe provides all their needs with no effort on their part at all. It's a state of Grace. Abundance, therefore, is associated with this chakra, as is the aspect of unconditional receiving necessary to accept the abundance of the Universe.

This is the first level of consciousness in which one perceives directly another level of Intelligence, and experiences one's interaction with this other Intelligence.
Metaphysically, this chakra is related to creativity, creating, manifesting in the physical world the fulfillment of one's goals.

Element: Ether, as the crossover between the physical world and the world of Spirit. On the physical level, it corresponds to deep space as the most subtle physical element. From the point of view of the Spiritual, it represents the matrix on which physical reality manifests.
Metaphorically, it represents a person's relationship with their space, the movie that is playing around them.

Ajna

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 23:56:49 +0800

The connection created by the charkas
When you feel tension in your consciousness, you feel it in the chakra associated with that part of your consciousness experiencing the stress, and in the parts of the physical body associated with that chakra. Where you feel the stress depends upon why you feel the stress. The tension in the chakra is detected by the nerves of the plexus associated with that chakra, and transmitted to the parts of the body controlled by that plexus. When the tension continues over a period of time, or to a particular level of intensity, the person creates a symptom on the physical

Parts of the body: This Chakra is associated with the forehead and temples, with the carotid plexus.

Color: Purple
Endocrine Gland: Pituitary Gland

Sense: Extra Sensory Perception, all of the inner senses corresponding to the outer senses, which together are considered spirit-to-spirit communication. These include, for example, clairvoyance (inner sense of vision), clairaudience (inner sense of hearing), clairsentience (inner sense of touch), etc.

Consciousness: This Chakra is associated with the deep inner level of Being we call the Spirit, and with what we consider spirituality and the spiritual perspective, the point of view from that deeper part of our being that western traditions consider the subconscious or unconscious. It is the place where our true motivations are found, and is the level of consciousness that directs our actions and, in fact, our lives.
It is also from this point of view that one sees events in the physical world as the manifestation of co-creation among the Beings involved in those events.
Element: Inner Sound, the sound one hears inside that does not depend upon events outside. Often considered a pathological condition by traditional medicine, it is also seen by eastern traditions as a necessary prerequisite to further spiritual growth.

Sahasrara

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 23:42:23 +0800

Sahasrara or the crown chakra is said to be the chakra of consciousness, the master chakra that controls all the others. Its role would be very similar to that of the pituitary gland, which secretes hormones to control the rest of the endocrine system, and also connects to the central nervous system via the hypothalamus.
The thalamus is thought to have a key role in the physical basis of consciousness. Symbolized by a lotus with a thousand petals.
Color Magenta. It is located above the head outside the body.
Parts of the body: This Chakra is associated with the top of the head, the brain, and the entire nervous system

Endocrine Gland: Pineal Gland

Color: Red

Sense: Sense of spirituality, empathy, unity, experiencing another person's experience as if you were inside them and being them.

Consciousness: The Crown Chakra represents that part of our consciousness concerned with perceptions of unity or separation. Just as the Root Chakra showed our connection with Mother Earth, this chakra shows our relationship with Our Father in Heaven. It represents our connection with our biological father, which becomes the model for our relationship with authority, and ultimately, with God. It's the level of the soul.
When one experiences a sense of separation from their father, they close the crown chakra, and experience a sense of isolation and aloneness, as if they are in a shell, and having difficulty with feeling contact with those around them. Thought processes tend to justify and maintain the sense of aloneness.
The view from this chakra includes seeing one's Self as the single consciousness creating all, and paradoxically, thus connected to all, like a dreamer dreaming a dream and realizing that all that is perceived is just an extension of their own consciousness.
Element: Inner Light, which is what one experiences when they are in the deepest part of their being, as a point of consciousness glowing with intelligence.
Also called White Light. Metaphysically, this is considered the most subtle element of which the entire physical universe is created.