Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index A chakra is an energy centre in the human body as taught in Indian yoga and some related cultures. Chakras are also believed in by some New Age adherents. Chakra means 'wheel' in sanskrit. Table of contents 1 Chakrology 2 General Information 3 The Tantric Chakras 4 Hesychastic centres of prayer 5 See also 6 External link Chakrology Chakrology (from the Sanskrit Chakra=wheel and the Greek Logos->logy) is a modern word (neologism), some times used by Alternative Medicine practitioners or esoteric philosophers, for the study of chakras. There are many different chakrologies, some of them based on ancient Indian Tantric esoteric traditions, New Age interpretations, Western occult analyzations etc. The early chakrologies include the Tantric Shakta theory of chakras, some late Upanishads (such as the Brahma Upanishad and the Yogatattva Upanishad) and Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana) theories. See Early chakrologies from Kheper.net There are some references for ancient Greek and Christian chakrologies too. An example is the Hesychastic centres of prayer. As the Croatian esoteric philosopher and physicist Arvan Harvat states, it is very difficult to develop a unified coherent chakra science that would integrate all the elements of present chakrologies. See The difficulty of a unified chakra science by Arvan Harvat from Kheper.net General Information A chakra is a locus of life energy. There are seven chakras in the body - each is an interface for the flow of life energy. A chakra vitalises a physical body and is associated with interactions of a physical, mental nature. Current technology is not capable of measuring life energy or chakras. The seven main chakras are described as being present in an ascending column from the base of the spine to the top of the head. Each chakra is associated with a certain color, multiple specific functions, an aspect of consciousness, a classical element and other correspondences. chakra color primary functions associated element Root chakra red instinct, sexual energy earth Navel chakra (Hara) orange emotion water Solar plexus chakra yellow intellect fire Heart/lung chakra emerald green or pink devotion, love, compassion air Throat chakra cyan speech, self-expression ether Third eye indigo intuition, ESP time Crown chakra (just above the head) silvery-white connection to the One Great Power space The author Peter Kjaerulff in his book The Ringbearers Diary describes the chakras in great detail, including why they look as they do and what their exact function is. The Tantric Chakras Tantra (Shakta or Shaktism) describes seven primary inner chakras: Muladhara Swadhisthana Manipura Anahata Vishuddha Ajna Sahasrara Hesychastic centres of prayer It is alleged by modern mystics that in Hesychasm, the centres of prayer were points of concentration or meditation on the body, used during the hesychastic prayer. Compare with the Tantric chakras and similar doctrines in Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana). This terminology is not used in Orthodox Christianity and it is not part of Hesychasm as practiced within the Orthodox Churches. Four centres were specified (source: Kheper.net article): Cerebrofrontal centre: Positioned between the eyebrows (compare with Ajna). Buccolaryngeal centre. Pectoral centre: Positioned in the upper and median region of the chest. Cardiac centre: Positioned near the upper part of the heart (compare with Anahata). It is interesting here to refer to Tibetan Buddhism where the centres' sequence is very similar with the hesychast one. The sequence begins with the eyebrows and goes down to the heart, which symbolizes the highest consciousness. See also Qi Qigong Aura Kirlian photography New Age Esotericism Occultism Kundalini External link Introduction to Chakras from Kheper.net The Hesychastic centres of prayer This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.