7 Chakras — The Seven Energy Centres of Yoga

The meaning of the word chakra

Cakra (चक्र) means a wheel or a circle. The scriptures also call these centres padma, a lotus, because each one is pictured as a flower with a fixed number of petals. A chakra is not an organ that can be found by dissection. It is a meeting point in the prāṇamaya kośa, the sheath of vital energy, where nāḍīs converge and where awareness can be gathered in meditation.

The Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā speaks of seventy-two thousand nāḍīs carrying prāṇa through the body. Three of them are chief: iḍā on the left, piṅgalā on the right and suṣumnā in the centre of the spinal column. The chakras sit along suṣumnā, and iḍā and piṅgalā wind around it, meeting at the centres.

In the śāstra the chakras are stations on the path of awakening, not moods or colours to be adjusted. Their place in sādhanā is to let prāṇa, and with it awareness, rise from the base of the spine to the crown.

Where the teaching of the chakras comes from

The most detailed classical account is the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa, the Description of the Six Centres, written by Pūrṇānanda in the sixteenth century. For every lotus it gives the place in the body, the number of petals, the element, the seed syllable, the presiding deity and the experience of the yogi who meditates there.

Older texts of haṭha yoga name the same centres. The Gorakṣa Śataka asks how a yogi can succeed who does not know the six chakras in his own body. The Śiva Saṃhitā and the Yoga Upaniṣads, such as the Yoga Cūḍāmaṇi and the Yoga Kuṇḍalī, describe the lotuses along suṣumnā and the rising of kuṇḍalinī through them. The Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā teaches the means — āsana, prāṇāyāma, bandha and mudrā — that guide prāṇa into suṣumnā.

Why do some books count six chakras and others seven? The classical texts count six, from Mūlādhāra to Ājñā, and treat the thousand-petalled Sahasrāra at the crown as the goal that lies beyond them. Counting the crown lotus together with the six gives the seven chakras known around the world today.

Kuṇḍalinī and the Rising of Prāṇa through the 7 Chakras

Kuṇḍalinī, the coiled one, is the power of consciousness resting at Mūlādhāra. The texts of haṭha yoga describe how, when the nāḍīs are pure and prāṇa enters suṣumnā, she awakens and rises through each lotus in turn, and each lotus is said to turn upward as she passes.

The Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā also speaks of three knots, the granthis of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Rudra, which prāṇa must pierce on its way upward. They stand for the pull of the body, of the emotions and of the subtle mind, which hold awareness in its usual places.

This is why the tradition puts purification first. The Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā says that prāṇa cannot enter suṣumnā while the nāḍīs are full of impurity. Cleansing, prāṇāyāma and steady meditation prepare the ground, and the rest follows in its own time.

How to Balance the 7 Chakras Safely

In the Swara Yoga tradition the chakras are not opened one by one with techniques of their own. The breath is purified first, and the centres find their balance as prāṇa begins to flow evenly. The practices below are taught in that order.

• Ṣaṭkarma: the six cleansing actions, such as neti and kapālabhāti, remove what blocks the flow of prāṇa.
• Āsana: a steady seat and a supple spine let the body sit still for prāṇāyāma and meditation.
• Nāḍī śodhana: alternate-nostril breathing balances iḍā and piṅgalā, the first step towards suṣumnā.
• Bandha: mūla, uḍḍiyāna and jālandhara bandha hold prāṇa at the root, the navel and the throat.
• Bhrāmarī: the humming breath stills the mind and is felt at the heart, throat and forehead.
• Trāṭaka and dhāraṇā: steady gazing and concentration gather the scattered mind at the eyebrow centre.
• Mantra: the bīja syllables and the praṇava, repeated with attention, are an ancient way of meditating on each centre.
• Yama and niyama: truthfulness, non-harming, contentment and self-study keep the gains of practice steady.

Practise gently and regularly. Strong breathing and long retentions should be learnt from a qualified teacher, and anyone with high blood pressure, heart disease, pregnancy or a history of mental illness should seek advice first. Chakra practice is a spiritual discipline and is not a substitute for medical care.

The Chakras in Swara Yoga

The Śiva Svarodaya, the root text of Swara Yoga, teaches that the breath does not flow equally through both nostrils. It moves between iḍā and piṅgalā through the day and night, and when it flows through suṣumnā the mind turns naturally inward. That inward flow is the doorway to the chakras.

For this reason the Swara Yoga Peeth teaches observation of the breath before chakra meditation. A student first learns to know which nostril is flowing, to purify the nāḍīs and to sit in stillness. Work with the centres then rests on a breath that is already balanced, instead of on imagination alone.

Common Misunderstandings about the Chakras

• The rainbow colours, from red at the root to violet at the crown, are a modern scheme. The Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa gives other colours; it describes the navel lotus as the colour of a rain cloud and the eyebrow lotus as white like the moon.
• Linking each chakra with a gland or a nerve plexus is a modern comparison that can help study, but the scriptures describe the chakras in the subtle body, not as physical structures.
• The texts speak of purifying the nāḍīs and piercing the granthis rather than of blocked chakras. What needs attention is the flow of prāṇa and the state of the mind.
• Awakening is not an experience to be chased. The scriptures place it at the end of a long sādhanā of discipline, purification and devotion.