chakras

This is a basic primer on the chakra system and the basic meanings associated with them. Reiki practitioners work with chakras by scanning them, balancing them, clearing them, stimulating them and modulating their flow. Some of us literally see them when we work, others of us perceive them as movement or wind, still others get imaginative impressions of what they appear like. No matter how they appear to the practitioner, there is basic information to understand about them.

Chakra is sanskrit for wheel. There are seven major chakras in the human body. They serve as conduits for the ocean of universal energy that we exist in. I like to picture them like valves that run in both directions – in and out. Their purpose is to manage the flow of universal energy in and out of your system.

These are not physical structures, but they do have physical correspondences. The endocrine system is the physical correspondence of the chakras.

Straight on, they look sort of like wheels, hence their name, but if you saw them from the side, they would appear more like funnels. They are all connected together energetically by the central channel, which appears like a white line down the center of our bodies. Besides having a physical correspondence, they also have a relationship to with our emotional and psychological selves. According to ancient traditions, they develop from the root to the crown over the life span, in 7 year increments. So, when you are around 49, they are all formed.

When I was first introduced to chakras many years ago, I did not believe they existed. I thought is simply the remnant of an ancient but medically unsophisticated culture’s attempt to understand anatomy. Yet, over the decades, I have shifted in my thinking, mostly due to extended time learning energy work, body work and yoga. The chakras are conceptual, but I believe there is wisdom in this ancient theory of human energy. Now, when I meditate and practice Reiki on myself, I see their associated colors. Often in session with clients, I see the colors of the chakra quite unexpectedly like the rainbows cast by prisms. Inevitably, when we start to understand the relationship between the chakra and issues, physical or emotional that a person faces, the work we do to balance, clear or stimulate the chakras becomes meaningful and important.