If you have any interest in Yoga or other forms of meditation, you’ve probably heard about something called Chakras and you may be asking yourself “What are the 7 Chakras and where do they come from?”
Well, most people believe that the 7 Chakras come from the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. While it is true that they were first written about in the Upanishads, an ancient Vedic text from India that was written in Sanskrit between 1500 and 500 B.C., knowledge of the Chakras is believed to be even more ancient than the Vedic texts. In fact, the ancient Ethiopians and Egyptians knew about Chakras long before they were passed down to the Yogi’s and Buddhists of Southeast Asia.
The ancient Ethiopians believed that knowledge of the Chakras was passed down from Mt. Meru in Tanzania. From there, they and the ancient Egyptians were the first to benefit from the healing and spiritual knowledge of the 7 Chakras. Later, this knowledge was brought to India as man traveled east, where it flourished and was recorded in the ancient Sanskrit texts known as the Upanishads.
What are the 7 Chakras?
The Chakras are made up of 7 points of light along the spine that correspond with the astral body. They are affected by a person’s emotional, physical, mental and spiritual well being and can in turn affect these aspects of the physical and spiritual body, as well. When a person feels sick, emotionally unbalanced or void of spirituality it could be because one or more of these 7 Chakras are blocked.
The word Chakra comes from the Sanskrit word “cakra” which means wheel. These points are thought of as wheels of light. Each Chakra branches out into smaller points throughout the body called Nadis. If you have ever seen a picture of the nervous system, you will notice that the Chakra system is laid out in a similar fashion.
What are the 7 Chakras made up of?
The 7 Chakras are made up of these Nadis which are known to carry the life force energy of Prana throughout the body. Although their pathways throughout the body are similar to those of the nervous system, Nadis are not nerves. They are actually a channel for the flow of consciousness from the Crown Chakra, which is actually believed to be located just outside the physical body and above the head, to the Root Chakra in the pelvis.
What are the 7 Chakras called?
The seven Chakras each correspond with different parts of the body and deal with physical, mental and spiritual aspects of a person’s well being. The 7 Chakras are as follows:
1st: Root or Base Chakra
2nd: Sacral Chakra
3rd: Solar Plexus Chakra
4th: Heart Chakra
5th: Throat Chakra
6th: Brow or Third Eye Chakra
7th: Crown Chakra
While there are also secondary Chakras on the hands and feet, it is these 7 major Chakras that most people are referring to when they speak about the Chakras of the astral body. Now that you know what the Chakras are and how they originated, you are ready to learn exactly how the 7 Chakras work.