Maybe you have heard the word chakra before and never really been clear about it what chakras really are?! How do they appear in our body?! And most importantly how do they play out in our everyday life?!

Lets start in the beginning, the word chakra from the sanskrit word cakra which means „wheel“. From a yogic and holistic perspective the human being doesn’t exist only as flesh, bones and blood but in the first place as an energetic being – a soul. Chakras are part of our energy body, our subtle body, which we can’t usually be seen with our eyes, only when we are very psychic.

‚You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body‘ – C.S. Lewis

Chakras are our main energy centers in our subtle body running along our spine, from our tailbone towards the top of the crown, shining in all various colors of the rainbow. There are 9 fundamental forces in our human experience, but 7 major ones which I will focus on in this article. Ancient yogis discovered the chakras in deep meditative states, sensing the different colors and qualities of the energy centers, as bundle of nerves around the spine. Often chakras are shown as wheels, or a vortex of swirling energy or as flower like symbol ( yantra symbol ) with a certain amount of petals.

Indeed every chakra / energy center has its own number of  ‚flower petals‘ – and is demonstrated in a yantra symbol  – these petals are related to the different Nadis meeting at this very particular chakra. Nadis are energetic pathways through which prana ( life-force – also known as chi in chinese medicine ) flows.

Prana is our essence, it is the life giving force, we find prana in sunlight, food ( which is grown though light), nature are the essence of prana. Prana is which keeps us all alive and vibrates through our cells. Through yogic practices like Pranayama techniques ( Breath control ), meditation, asana practice we can multiply the amount of prana we taking in through our cells and lungs. The most potent fields of panic environment we find near the ocean, in nature, a forrest and in very high vibrant food. So we can take prana in from the outside and at the same time we are also constantly running on a pranic level during our lifes.

Each of our Chakras has a specific location in the physical body, has it’s own  color, element, mantra, connected organs, a sense of perception, and specific qualities and characteristics, there are even specific flowers, stones and yoga poses to strengthen or balance a particular energy center in our body.

Through some chakras the prana flow is more fluently and through some chakras the prana flow might be depleted or even too strong depending on our constitution, our experiences and how we treat ourselves in life.

From a yogic perspective everybody already comes in with a specific map of chakra – constitution, this is called yantra  – yoga.But this would be a different conversation. As we move into the knowledge of the different chakras It is interesting to discover which chakras are already strong inside of us, balanced and which are depleted  or over active/ too strong. From a holistic view we want to live in a balanced state, our energy body as well as our physical body. It’s essential that our seven main chakras stay open, aligned, and fluid. If there is a blockage, energy ( prana ) can not flow.
Yogi Bhajan says, when the energetic body is healed the physical body will follow.

The chakras system is very detailed system here I will give you a short overview of the different chakras, their qualities and location in the body.

1. Chakra: Muladhara / Root Chakra 

Color: Red
Yantra Symbol: Yellow Square in 4 – sided red mandala
Element: Earth
Force: Gravity, primal force in material creation
Physical Location: end of the spine, pelvic floor, tailbone and beyond the physical body Characteristics when Chakra is balanced: being rooted, trust in life, being supported and held by life, feeling secure, and taken care of, primary instinct, survival, power to survive, sustainability, security, stability, grounded, rooted, satisfaction of primal needs
Sense Perception / Jnanendriya: Smelling Physical Body / Karmendriya: The feet, moving towards or away from something, closest contact with the earth, legs
Organs: Testes, kidneys, spine Mantra: I AM Bija / Sound Mantra: LUNG 2. Chakra: Swadhistana / Home of the Self ( the small one ) Chakra
Color: Orange
Yantra Symbol: Cresecent moon in 6 – sided mandala
Element: Water
Force: Adhesion, Covalence, bonds between atoms and
molecules
Physical Location: sacrum
Characteristics when Chakra is balanced: going with the flow, letting go, creativity, emotions, sexuality, acceptance, open minded, sensitive, nurturing, social, sharing energy in various forms of relationships, vitality, fertile, sensuality, movability, flexibility
Sense Perception / Jnanendriya: Tasting
Physical Body / Karmendriya: Hands, being creative with our hands, music,painting
Organs: sex organs, bladder, fluids in the body, prostate, ovaries, kidneys,
Mantra: I FEEL
Bija / Sound Mantra: VUNG

3. Chakra: Manipura / Solarplexus Chakra – City of Jewels

Color: Yellow
Yantra Symbol: Red, downward looking triangle yellow 10 –
sided mandala
Element: Fire / Sun Center
Force: Combustion / Burning / Verbrennung , the force of
change and transformation, liberation of energy, energy we feel
as heat, energy we see as light, campfire, sun, digestive fire
( agni ), changes food into energy
Physical Location: two fingers above the navel
Characteristics when Chakra is balanced: self – determination, willpower, self – expressive into the world, artistic confident, generous, protective, lively, active, ambition, motivated, initiators of plans loves change, spontaneity, power & action
Sense Perception / Jnanendriya: Seeing, there is a neurological connection between the eyes and the optic nerve and the solar plexus
Physical Body / Karmendriya: the anus, the end of the digestive tract and the control point of letting go
Organs: Intestines, pancreas, liver, bladder, stomach, upper spine

4. Chakra: Anahata / Heart Chakra – Center of un-struck sound 

Color: green, light rose/pink
Yantra Symbol: Two interlaced triangles, circled by 12 – sided
mandala
Element: Air
Force: Expansion/ Repulsion ( zusammenziehend ) , all
expansion outward moving force in the universe, force that makes
us breathe keeps the heart beating,
Physical Location: Heart center / Chest
Characteristics when Chakra is balanced: Heart opening, loving,
compassion, love giving, seeing each being as divine, non – judgmental,
purity, love, acceptance, tolerance, forgiving, joyful
Sense Perception / Jnanendriya: Feeling
Physical Body / Karmendriya: Heart, need to feel, orgasm,blissful
Organs: heart, lungs, skin
Mantra: I LOVE
Bija / Sound Mantra: YUNG

5.Chakra: Vishuddha / Center of Purity ( under the matter, sound and vibration is the purest form of reality) – Throat Chakra 

Color: Blue
Yantra Symbol: pink oval, in blue 16 – sided mandala
Element: Ether – electromagnetic vibration
Force: Electro Magnetism, Vibration at a wide range of frequency,
vibrant force, infinite space through light waves, vibrates through
our brain cells, stimulating thoughts, free – flowing vibrant power
Physical Location: in the throat
Characteristics when Chakra is balanced: Life adjustable,
Communication, Inspiration, able to express our truth, fearless,
personal individual ability of expression, Exchange of knowledge,
exchange with the surrounding
Sense Perception / Jnanendriya: Hearing
Physical Body / Karmendriya: throat, voice, speaking or singing
Organs: Bronchial tubes, vocal cords, respiratory system, all areas of the mouth, including tongue and esophagus
Mantra: I SPEAK
Bija / Sound Mantra: HUNG

6.Chakra: Ajna / 3rd eye / Command Center 

Color: violet, indigo
Yantra Symbol: Circle with two side petals
Element: Mind – elemental force of mind knows as magnetism
Force: Magnetism, magnetic patterns which hold every particle or wave in its place or in its path, genetic blueprint from which our personal manifestation originates
Physical Location: between the eyebrows
Characteristics when Chakra is balanced: Intuition, access to inner wisdom, imagination, conception, understanding of relating inners processes, visionary, spiritual awareness
Sense Perception / Jnanendriya: extrasensory perception, psychic abilities
Organs: nose, eyes, ears, face, brain
Mantra: I SEE
Bija / Sound Mantra: UNG ( ng sound )

7.Chakra: Sahas-rara / Crown Chakra 

Color: White, gold
Yantra Symbol: Thousand petaled lotus
Element: Awareness
Force: Consciousness, Awareness, spiritual essence
Physical Location: Crown/ Top of the head
Characteristics when Chakra is balanced: opening to the divine,
spirituality, universal love, higher knowing, cosmic, consciousness,
enlightenment, reflective, meditative, pure awareness Sense Perception / Jnanendriya: All
Organs: scull, cerebrum, Spinal cord and brain system
Mantra: I KNOW
Bija / Sound Mantra: AUM / OM

When you have read now through the different Chakras you might notice that some chakras feels quiete balanced inside of you and another one might feel more depleted or difficult to relate to. This can give us a hint for our present state in life, what we should work on or what is important in order to feel more balanced.

To make it a bit more relatable for you here 2 examples how you could read for yourself the chakra knowledge:

For example when you are going through a phase of change and transition in your life, you might have lost or change your job, moving to another city, ending a relationship. You most likely have feelings of insecureity and ungrounded, cause literally the „earth is shaking „ for you. That means your 1 st chakra, the chakra of security and stability is being challenged and maybe out of balance. So for you its important now to care for yourself  and give yourself extra love and security and spending time with loving friends in order to give yourself some security back.And also it would be a time of trusting life that everything happens for a reason and everything will be alright even it might not occur to you like this at the moment.

Another example, if you have a very silent voice and its hard for you to speak up you might even have problems with your voice, lots of tension in the neck or your thyroid. This could be signs for a depleted 5 th chakra – throat chakra.

The chakra of expressing our truth and speaking up being heard. Singing and expression lessons like theater play would be great to do for you.

Makes sense?! So when you would like to dig deeper into the chakra system it is a facinating system which can help us a lot to understand ourselves and others better and our struggles and constitution as human beings.

I hope this article was helpful and inspiring for you.

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Lots of Love