Getting to know yourself - be it your body, emotions, or your spiritual growth - is a life-long journey. But, if you're searching for a shortcut to bypass this long journey, the ancient knowledge of the 7 chakras could turn out to be your compass for life. This knowledge, dating thousands of years back, is based on Indian vedic texts; percolating down through centuries by simply word of mouth! Despite the passage of time and advancement in modern medicine, the 7 chakras are more relevant than ever today. In this article, we explore the chakra system of healing and its uncanny resemblance with modern-day bio-chemistry and other accepted forms of healing.

BREAKING DOWN THE CHAKRAS

Chakras literally mean spinning wheels in Sanskrit. There are 114 chakras in the body, each interlinked by nadis, best explained as a pipe or a channel or a tube or a nerve. Out of these 114 chakras, there are 7 important chakras known to be vortexes or points of energy. These are responsible for certain physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of every person; namely the root chakra, the sacral chakra, the solar plexus chakra, the heart chakra, the third eye chakra, and the crown chakra.

Now, if you were to take an X-ray or a CT-scan of your body, you may never spot these chakras as they are not present in flesh and blood. Consider them to be a mind map of the flow of energy or 'prana' throughout the body. Interestingly, the laws of physics consider wheels or rotational objects having internal energy and kinetic energy present in them. 

So, assuming chakras or discs of wheels have energy, how is it that we can’t feel them spinning inside us, is a valid question to ask. 

As science has shown us, energy by itself can never be captured through the naked eye. However, manifests through a secondary physical object. For instance, you may not be able to see the gravitational force by itself. But the gravitational force pulling an apple is something that is hard to miss! Similarly, we may not actually see a root chakra or a sacral chakra physically, but when these chakras go out of whack, it gets manifested as feelings of insecurity on an emotional level and as lower back and gynecological problems on a physical level.

PHYSIOLOGICAL RELEVANCE OF CHAKRAS

While it may be tough to find the exact terminology of chakras within biological sciences, one cannot ignore the striking resemblance with a few biological and biochemistry concepts. 

The 7 chakras are key energy centres running along the spinal column of the body. It could be more than coincidence then that the central nervous system too consists of the spine and the brain. The nervous system, of course, is not just a physical entity but is responsible for our emotions too. Late award-winning neuroscientist Pert Candice , who coined the word ‘mind-body’, discovered ‘opiate receptors’ in 1978. She found that these receptors act as a major nodal point or clusters of huge numbers of neurotransmitters receptors. Pert found out that these clusters of receptors were the main communication channels between the body and mind and form an important part of emotions. It is mind boggling to note that the location of these opiate receptors corroborate with the location of chakras. In fact in an interview with Life Positive Candance, the ‘Mother of PsychoNeuroImmunology’ as she is often referred to, corroborated this, “the peptides and receptors – the physical correlates of emotions – are clustered at the chakra points.”

Another uncanny validation of chakras is it's congruence to the endocrine system, considered to be the master command centre of the body, be it specific emotions or bodily functions.

The crown chakra corresponds with with the pineal gland, the third eye chakra with the pituitary gland, the throat chakra with the thyroid gland, the heart chakra with the thymus gland, solar plexus chakra with the pancreas, sacral chakra with the reproductive organs, and the root chakra with adrenal gland.      

What's interesting to note is that not only do their locations corroborate, but also their functions. For instance, the adrenal gland is a gland which secretes hormones essential for immunity, metabolism and responses to stressful situations. In short, it is an essential gland necessary for one's survival. This is precisely what the root chakra symbolises as well - survival and security!    

HOW TO ACTIVATE 7 CHAKRAS

If chakras can be used interchangeably with the endocrine system or the nervous system, then chakras too get blocked or fail to operate at their optimum, just like any other organ or gland in the body. The adverse effects are then felt on particular organs and eventually the body and mind as a whole. There are several ways to unblock the 7 chakras which also have enough evidence of efficacy in modern day healing and medicine. 

Yoga Asanas

Meditation

Sound Therapy

Massage Therapy 

Aromatherapy

Color Therapy

It’s a wonder that the chakra system evolved at a time when there were no scientific instruments and gauges to capture quantitative results. This article merely scratches the surface and tries to shed light on this branch of knowledge often considered esoteric. Modern day discoveries are now increasingly joining the dots of these long-lost eastern philosophies and their increasing relevance today as a comprehensive system of healing, including the 7 chakras.  

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William Moebs, Samuel J. Ling, and Jeff Sanny. University Physics Vol 1. 10.4 Moment of Inertia and Rotational Kinetic Energy.

Alison J Kay (2016), Healing and the Chakra System. International Journal of Complementary & Alternative Medicine Vol 4 Issue 5: 00136. 

Zoldan Rachel Jacoby. Your 7 chakras Explained - Plus How To Tell If They Are Blocked. Wellandgood.com. 25 December, 2015. Web

Shel Azriel Re’ & Taljaard Tanja. How to Tune Your Endocrine System. Upliftconnect.com. 12 April, 2017. Web.