In its simplest form a chakra is described as a spinning vortex of energy. The Sanskrit word for chakras means “wheel of light”.
There are seven major chakras in the physical body and several minor chakras throughout the body. However, we shall deal with the major chakras only in this workshop.
The seven points of energy inter-relate with the emotional, physical and spiritual side of each of us. The energy enters the chakras as a yin energy and is converted to a yang energy and circulated around the body. This life force within the body is known as “prana”” or “chi.” The constantly spinning wheels of energy (or chakras) have the ability to affect us emotionally, physically and spiritually. They are affected by our mental frame of mind. Therefore, you can see how our attitudes and our chakras are interactive. The energy within the centres of energy (chakras) may be fast or slow, pulsating or radiant, expanded or contracted.
What do the chakras look like?
In Eastern religions, each chakra is commonly represented as a flowering lotus flower with a varied numbers of petals. The Crown is often referred to as the Thousand Petalled Lotus. This is a good picture to imagine when you opening and closing the chakras – which we will deal with later.
Where are the chakras?
If we take a simple diagram looking straight on at the human body we can see the chakras are vertically aligned in the centre of the body close to the spine. As you can see in the diagram below.
If the chakras are unbalanced – that is blocked or sluggish energy – our physical and mental health can be affected. Additionally, our spiritual development also depends of how the energy is flowing through our chakras. Therefore, as you can see it is important for our wellbeing to keep the energy free-flowing through the chakras as stagnant energy can lead to illness and disease in the physical body. Later we will go into some exercises to help keep the energy flowing freely.