Chakra System Explained – The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Your Chakras

Chakra knowledge is as old as humankind – perhaps even older. Ancient traditions have been careful to pass “chakraology” from generation to generation. Now with yoga, meditation, and spirituality in general becoming more and more mainstream, so is talking about your energetic anatomy and chakras. Even modern science is slowly catching up to this ancient knowledge. In recent years, there has been a growing number of studies and experiments confirming the existence of the chakra system.

If you’ve been looking for a comprehensive guide to understanding the chakra system – look no further. This series of articles explains everything you need to know about your chakras as well as how to practically translate this knowledge into your everyday life.

The power centers that run the “you inside of you”

The word chakra has its origin in Sanskrit and translates to wheel of light. Per definition, a chakra is an energy center in your subtle and physical body shaped like a circle or vortex. It directs life energy for the purpose of physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. Every one of these energy centers is made up of dynamic energies. Basically, all chakras are constantly moving and interacting with each other as well as the energies around and inside of you.

The chakra system consists of seven chakras ascending along the spine from the coccyx area to the top of the head. There is also an eighth chakra better known as the aura that expands all around your body. Traditionally, each chakra is affiliated with an aspect of consciousness (or theme), a color, an element, a frequency, and a symbol. Furthermore, each chakra is also connected to various interactions with the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of being human.

In general, the chakra system is a model through which to make sense of the subtle energies around you and their effects. Understanding the chakras can help you understand the way you process energy. Subtle, intangible energies like love or prayer can enter your consciousness through the chakra system. Once inside the body, the energies are transformed into chemical and electrical impulses. The chakras then direct these cellular impulses to interact with different nerve plexuses and endocrine glands. Through this process, once intangible energies ultimately regulate your body in a very tangible way.

However, your chakras affect much more than just your physical body. Chakras serve as focal points for your awareness and attention during meditation, yoga, and energy healings. They color your perceptions, feelings, and choices. They affect the flow and types of thoughts you have, as well as your capacity to act on and manifest those thoughts. The chakras influence the relationship between the conscious and the subconscious in all your behavior. Essentially, the chakra system ties together all aspects of being human – physical, mental, and spiritual.

Chakras and life – Maintaining a delicate balance

There is an optimum vibration for each chakra relative to the others. When all chakras vibrate at their optimum frequency, you don’t act from one chakra predominantly but from all your chakras in a balanced way. When your chakra system is balanced in this way, it integrates all your senses and forms a coherent network. This highly responsive network allows you to effectively relate to the energies around you.

When a chakra becomes imbalanced, however, it vibrates faster or slower than its optimum frequency. Consequently, the chakra’s overall influence becomes either too strong or too weak. This disturbs the delicate balance of the system and affects your physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing.

Chakras become imbalanced through sudden impacts like shock, trauma, disease, or loss but also over time when you don’t sufficiently address your emotions and life experiences. Luckily, this imbalance doesn’t need to be permanent. There are many ways in which you can support each chakra to come back into balance. However, for sustainable change to occur, you also have to look at and process the emotions at the root of your imbalance. By learning about the chakras and how to bring them back into alignment, you can heal physical ailments, dissolve negative emotions and live a more fulfilling life.

Come back to the blog each month for a deep dive into one of the chakras and its characteristics. You’re going to learn all about your basic energetic make-up, how to discern when a chakra is imbalanced, and discover tools to restore balance in each chakra. Make sure to subscribe to my monthly newsletter to never miss another article and to receive an exclusive bonus meditation on top!

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