1 - Chakras Overview

Chakras are specialized energy centres throughout our bodies where a unique form
of subtle environmental (life) energy is absorbed and distributed to our cells, organs
and body tissues.
Richard Gerber, Vibrational Medicine for the 21st Century
There are seven main chakras on the human body (the number in animals varies
depending on their physiology) although in addition there are many hundreds and
possibly thousands of smaller energy centres. For the purposes of this work we will be
looking in detail at the main seven.
Chakra by definition comes from the Sanskrit word wheel which gives an indication
as to how their energetic characteristics manifests at the surface level and slightly
away from the body. Specifically they resemble that of a spinning wheel or vortex.
It is important to note however that a chakra encompasses much more than the surface
level energy vortex. This is because each chakra has component parts on the interior
of the body. Indeed each chakra comprises of, and is representative of the functioning
of; a nerve plexus, internal organs, gland and area of spine.
On the exterior surface level they can be detected in several, subtle, sensory ways; to
people with sharpened visual acuity they can be seen as vortices of colour and light.
The energetic resonance or vibration of a chakra can also be felt, sensed or
consciously interpreted by those with similarity sharpened sensual awareness. As we
will later discuss, their state can also be related to the condition of some of the
aforementioned physiological components, i.e. the spine, glands, organs, nerve and
tissue.
Our chakras are also strongly affected by more subtle factors such as our personality
structure, emotions and state of spiritual development. However its key to note that
the condition of our chakras is not solely the end result of internal component factors
such as those listed. Rather theres a two way interaction occurring as the functioning
of your chakras is also affected by external factors and this also plays a role in
influencing the condition of their internal components.
Therefore it can be said that a chakra is influenced by the quality of activity within the
body, as well as being able to influence the quality of activity on the interior of the
body depending, as we will examine, on what your chakras interact with externally.
Figures 1 and 2 (overleaf) show each chakras location, and importantly as we have
touched upon, the spread of colour away from each chakra and throughout an
associated area of the body also demonstrates they have an area of influence within
the body rather than just being confined to the size and shape to the chakra vortex on
the surface. Figure 3 gives a more detailed image of the nerve ganglia associated to
each chakra. Also please note that there will be internal organs and glands also
associated to, and in the pathway of, each chakra