Welcome to the Chakra System

What’s a Chakra?

Although difficult to briefly describe, most often, a chakra is described as a spinning vortex of activity created by the presence of consciousness within the subtle or energetic body. The subtle body is the hidden field of energy that carries your urges, emotions and habits as well as the imprints of all that has happened to you. A chakra is like a portal between mind and body, or a chamber within, that organizes various elements of your life force as it travels through you. They take energy in from the outside, process it internally and express it back out again.

Why is it helpful to learn about Chakra?

Self Awareness. Learning about the chakras gives you access to your programmed responses so you can minimize their negative effects and maximize the positive. Ever tried something new and had butterflies in your belly? Tried to speak up and had a lump in your throat? Felt your heart jump for joy or fall into fear? These feelings can all be viewed through the lens of the chakra system to learn more about how we receive, assimilate and express information and various life experiences.

How are Chakra organized?

Again, it’s a complex philosophical system so analogies help to capture the concept. You can think of the chakras as software programs installed into our hardware that influence the flow of life force. We each have several programs installed: a survival program with our morals and preferences; a relationship program that tells us how to relate the others; a language program to express ourselves as well as an immense body of data acquired over years. And we all have ‘bugs’ in our programs, for example, lack of imagination, trouble concentrating, struggle with finances, chronic health problems or emotional turmoil. We can make changes in our thinking by examining our programming. Each chakra helps us to peer at a specific piece of our multi-dimensional existence. In a nutshell, here’s a list of aspects of our life each chakra invites us to explore:

• Root chakra, the basic right to be here and the right to have, self-preservation
• Sacral chakra, the right to feel, self-gratification
• Solar plexus chakra, the right to act, self-definition
• Heart chakra, the right to love and to be loved, self-acceptance
• Throat chakra, the right to speak and to be heard, self-expression
• Eyebrow chakra, the right to be seen, self-reflection
• Crown chakra, the right to know, self-knowledge

Chakra One Exploration

The purpose of this energy center is self preservation, it represents physical identity, the ability to identify with our body and it’s needs. It’s associated with the survival instinct. When all is balanced here, we feel safe and secure. We have the ability to be still. We’re grounded and physically healthy. This is where we build the supporting structure for life’s journey. The demon here is fear, which is naturally felt when we feel threatened. Here are some questions to deepen your connection to this aspect of our existence:

• How well to you relate to your body? Do you like your body? Do you pay attention to your body?
• How often do you feel fear? What do your fears keep you from doing? How much of your life force goes into protecting you from these fears?
• Do you feel you need to ‘earn’ your right to exist through deeds or justification? Do you hold back in situations, not fully participating?
• Is it difficult for you to receive? To have success, prosperity, friends, time to yourself, pleasure, adventure?

If you find that you’re weak, resistant or avoidant to the first chakra principles of earth, grounding, being in your body or dealing with home finances and basic worldly matters, you could be deficient in this chakra. If you’re overly preoccupied with your body, work, material comfort, eating, security or other issues related to the first chakra, then you may be on the excessive side.