Chakra is a Sanskrit word which translates as “wheel”. Chakras are energetic power centers that both take in and distribute energy throughout the body. There are seven major chakras that correspond to the nerve plexus and endocrine glands in our physical body.
Chakras or nerve plexus in your body are perpetually affected by the way you interact with life’s situations, people and places on a physical, mental and emotional level. Thus, your chakras collect and absorb energy. The chakras are the medium through which you feed your body with health and balance; or deplete your vitality, health and well-being, depending upon how you live your life.
The innate intelligence of the life force or prana flows through your chakra system unimpeded when you are deeply relaxed in meditation or in deep sleep. Our self-conscious, ego-mind dominates our subconscious, biological prana during the waking state. Our prana, instead of healing, gets expended by conflict and stress created by our ego mind. One of the major blocks to the free-flowing movement of energy is our mind.
Your ego, is constantly creating and re-entertaining your pre-programmed perceptions of the past. This impedes the flow of energy throughout the chakras, and deprives the body of the self-healing, self-balancing power of prana.
Most of our health issues are created at the mental and emotional level. This registers energetically in our body in the form of psychosomatic blocks. Our chakra system is aligned with the nerve centers and endocrine glands in the physical body, an energetic replica on a very subtle level. Chakras cannot be located in the physical body as they exist as psychic centers. Nevertheless, they have a powerful impact on the body’s physical well being.
Each chakra, like each nerve plexus nourishes and sustains the healthy functioning of the different internal organs it connects to. The location of the major chakras and their corresponding neuroplexus are listed below:
- Basic (Muladhara) Base of the spine, sacral-coccxygeal plexus
- Sex (Swadhisthana) Behind the pubic bone lumbar plexus
- Navel Center (Manipura) At your navel center solar plexus
- Heart (Anahata) At the level of the heart cardiac plexus
- Throat (Vishuddha) Pit of the throat cervical plexus
- Third Eye (Anja) Between the eyebrows
- Crown (Sahasrara) At the crown of the head
Our pre-programmed, unresolved, traumatic experiences create inner conflict and stress. These are registered as psychosomatic blockages in your chakra system. All the physical, mental and emotional health problems are caused by this blocked energy in the chakra system.
Cleansing, balancing and removing energetic blockages from your chakras is fundamental to maintaining optimal health. This also helps eliminate that feeling of being “stuck” in your repetitive “stories” of the past that create stress, disharmony and illness.
Chakra energy vibrates at a very subtle level. This is why the energy of the chakras is not readily felt. All the disturbances and conflict we experience on a physical , mental and emotional level convert our biological subconscious prana into our unconscious body of karma. This is the fundamental cause of all human suffering.
The Power of Instinct in First Three Chakras
All of the chakras are animated by the primal intelligence of prana, which naturally restores and maintains balance, health and harmony of the body. The first three chakras are driven by the subconscious, instinctive wisdom of the animal body. We call it biological prana. Human beings are born with a self-conscious, individual sense of “I am”. This “I am” within human beings represents the soul. But when “I am” is identified with our mind-made sense of self-image it begins to function as the ego-mind. The ego-mind takes the subconscious prana shakti and separates it from its source of “I AM” , the soul, the supreme prana within.
We as humans are born with the freedom to choose for or against what is present. This ability to choose empowers us with a higher freedom to rise above our instinctive animal nature and go against instinctive behaviors or live in harmony with them. We also have the divine potential to go beyond and transcend it. This freedom to choose can be a gift or a curse. Animals have no freedom to ignore their instinctive behavior. As a result, they have no possibility to transcend it.
In humans, energy follows attention. If our attention is caught up in the survival of the self-image, our energy (prana) remains a victim of the survival level of the first three chakras. Unless we free up our attention that is caught in the energy of survival, sensuality and power, we cannot reverse it from flowing downward and outward, to inward and upward towards the higher centers of consciousness.
The practice of “I AM”, Amrit Integrative Methods™, is designed to effectively release the trapped energies of the unconscious self-image and reverse the flow inward and upward toward the higher integrative Self, the “I AM” within. Whenever, “I AM” is identified with the mind-made false self-image, “I am” is in conflict with my Self. This means, we have an animal body, a human mind, and divine potential. The purpose of being born human, is to be free from our self-caused suffering, (survival, sensuality and power) that comes from being a victim of the first three chakras and explore our divine potential through raising of our consciousness.
Muladhara, at the base of the spine, operates directly through the instinctive wisdom of the body. It is the fundamental source of energy for the sustenance, survival, health and well being of the body. But when this instinctive, innate intelligence of the body is abused, the energy of these chakras begins to flow downward and outward. It causes an imbalance in the chakra system and creates fear that can take many different forms, creating more internal conflict and stress. As a result, our real sustenance of health and well-being of the body is compromised when our prana is abusively used in the first three chakras.
The sex center ensures survival of our species. Both the urge to merge and the urge for survival of the species are inborn instinctive forces. When this center is out of balance we may be emotionally over sensitive or emotionally dependent. Repression of sensuality or addiction to sensuality can cause both emotional and physical problems. In animals, sex and procreation are regulated by biological rhythms. They have no freedom to ignore, explore or violate the laws of nature and or to go against their instincts. Only human beings have the facility to go against their survival instinct to over indulge in food, sex or work that uses the same prana as fuel that is also necessary for feeding the heart and higher centers of consciousness.
Located at the navel is Manipura, the Power Center, which provides the energy to develop the skills and capacities to control our environment. When it functions well we are happy with our life and we remain grounded and confident in our personal space. It determines how we judge ourselves and others. When Manipura is out of balance you experience lack of self esteem or, on the other side, a need to be overly competitive.
When caught in the second and third centers of sensation or power, humans violate the instinctive apparatus that protects our physical health and well being, which is the foundation for our spiritual journey. Whenever our ego-mind goes against our subconscious instincts or suppresses them, we create psychosomatic blocks that prevents us from going to the heart and higher integrative centers of consciousness.
Humans are born with the freedom to choose for or against what is present. When they choose against what is present they remain the victim of their unconscious, self-image. This means we create an internal conflict where the subconscious prana shakti gets separated from its ultimate divine source of Shiva consciousness.
Moving Energy Up Rather than Down and Out
When the energy in the first three chakras is focused on obtaining things in the external world specifically to protect our self- image; our energy moves downward. A lack of balance in the first three chakras (too much or too little energy) creates fear. Likewise, depression, despair and loneliness are the result of attention and energy being dissipated externally. This occurs when you try to control or manage all your external affairs in service of the self image.
To compensate, humans create and indulge in addictions such as: sex, alcohol, drugs, food, relationships, work and negative emotions. Addictions are powerful because they provide a false sense of balance and a temporary relief from stress. A temporary shift is created from conflict-creating duality into complementary polarity and this gives us a false sense of balance. When this temporary relief wears off we feel the need for even more, which is the addiction.
Chakra healing happens when you learn meditative, choiceless awareness and disengage from your dualistic conflict-creating behaviors and habit patterns. When the ego-mind is withdrawn from dominating your body’s wisdom; your chakras restore their integrative and seld balancing wisdom. Withdrawing from outgoing, self destructive energy flows (down and out) restores the balance between the inner and outer world; where tension and relaxation, sympathetic and parasympathetic, Ida and Pingala nadis, function to restore and regenerate their self-healing, homeostatic processes.
Each chakra center can operate either in natural balancing polarity, acquired personal dualistic conflicts, or the transcendent unity of the spirit. The moment you let go of the egotistical ‘I’ which operates out of conflict and duality, all your chakras free up and align. Energy that was flowing down and out will reverse and prana will move their energy inward and upward towards the heart and higher integrative dimension of healing and transformation. The result is that not only will you feel better quickly; but your whole body will begin to heal because your internal energy is working for, not against, the natural rhythms of life.
Balancing and Cleansing the Chakras
The teachings and traditions of yoga offer several specific techniques that can restore the balancing power of the chakras, the prana body and the unifying power of spirit. These include:
- Breath Work
- Exercise and Asana
- Pratyhara (withdraw your outgoing reactive thoughts, actions and emotions)
- Visualization (the yantras)
- Mantra and Chanting
- Meditation
Your Breath Can Balance Your Chakras
For thousands of years yogis have studied, experimented and learned how to use breath as a medium to balance chakras and steady the mental fluctuations of the mind. Our focus will be the effect of breath on restoring the polarity of the chakras. Breathwork is a powerful medium to withdraw from the self destructive, conflict creating habit patterns that consume our life force.It allows you to reverse the downward flow of the chakras energy to upward feeding the higher centers.
The breath that moves through the right side of your nose represents the Sun and is warming. This side connects with the left side of your brain. The breath that moves through the left side of your nose represents the Moon and is cooling. This side connects with the right side of your brain. The energy channel that parallels the spine is called the Sushumna. Starting at the base of your spine and spiraling up around this central channel are two side channels. These channels, called the Ida Nadi and Pingala Nadi, intersect and cross at every chakra all the way up to the Ajna chakra, your Third Eye.
Alternate nostril breathing is one way to bring balance into your breath and harmony to your chakras, mind, body and spirit. It connects and energizes the two hemispheres of your brain. It calms your mind. It allows energy to move freely through your body, which empowers your body to use it’s natural healing abilities. Below is a simple breath exercise to balance the chakras.
A Breath Exercise for Chakra Balancing
Sit in a comfortable position. Close your eyes and become aware of your breath. Total awareness on the breath. Bring your awareness to area at the top of your head, the crown chakra. Visualize there a golden light, the color of morning sunlight moving down into your body through your crown chakra. Flowing into and down the back of the spine. Each breath in carrys life, vitality, energy and love. As the light reaches the base of the spine allow it to pool there and then as you exhale bring the flow of light up the front of your body, out through your arms, into your throat and again out the top of your head. Exhaling all negativity, emotions you no longer need. When done slowly and consciously, you can begin to feel the energy moving in your body. This exercise can be done for just a few minutes, or it can be used to guide you into a deeper state of relaxation and meditation.
It is through direct experience that you learn and evolve. The Amrit Yoga Institute offers a variety of weekend and weeklong workshops devoted to yoga, yoga nidra, ayurveda, panchakarma and other healing modalities that help you achieve your highest potential.
By Gurudev Shri Amritji and Bill Eager
About the Authors
For more than 50 years, Gurudev Shri Amritji has been a pioneer in re-establishing the spiritual depth of yoga. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world now teach and practice yoga as a result of Yogi Desai’s teachings.
Bill Eager is the author of eleven books including the book Thrive Inside: Transformative Secrets of Spiritual Masters, Gurus, Shamans. He is an Integrative Amrit Method yoga teacher and delivers workshops on yoga and yoga nidra around the world.
