The Chakras
The word chakra literally means ‘wheel’ or ‘circle’, but in the yogic context a better translation is ‘vortex’ or ‘whirpool’. The chakras are vortices of pranic energy at specific areas in the body which control the circulation of prana permeating the entire human structure. Each chakra is a switch which turns on or opens up patterns of behavior, thought or emotional reactions which may have been unconscious in our everyday life.
-Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha
Muladhara
Meaning: Root
Symbol: Four-petaled crimson lotus containing a yellow cube (the symbol for earth element), and Ma Kundalini wrapped around a lingam.
Mantra: LAM
Physical Location: The cervix in female bodies and within the perineum in male bodies.
Connection to Healing and Well-being: Ability to feel rooted, embodied, safe, and worthy of life
Swadhisthana
Meaning: One’s own abode
Symbol: Six-petaled orange-red lotus containing an upturned crescent moon (the symbol for water element)
Mantra: VAM
Physical Location: Coccyx
Connection to Healing and Well-being: Ability to be nourished, flow with life’s challenges, allow our feelings to flow through us, to feel at home in life
Manipura
Meaning: City of jewels
Symbol: Ten-petaled yellow lotus containing a fiery red inverted triangle (symbol for the element of fire).
Mantra: RAM
Physical Location: Behind the navel
Connection to Healing and Well-being: Empowerment, clarity, action
anahata
Meaning: Source of unbroken sound
Symbol: Twelve-petaled blue-green lotus containing a star, made up of an upright (Shiva) and an inverted triangle (Shakti)
Mantra: YAM
Physical Location: Behind the heart center
Connection to Healing and Well-being: Capacity to give and receive universal, unconditional love, and bring our creative flow to life.
vishuddhi
Meaning: Purifying center
Symbol: Sixteen-petaled violet lotus, with a clear circle at the center (symbol of the element of ether)
Mantra: HAM
Physical Location: Behind the throat
Connection to Healing and Well-being: This center is the bridge between duality and non-dual everything-ness. Through its awakening, we are able to alchemize the so-called negative experiences in our lives into the nectar that fuels our spiritual growth.
ajna
Meaning: Command center
Symbol: Two-petaled silver lotus representing the solar and lunar channels, converging in the central channel at Ajna chakra.
Mantra: OM/AUM
Physical Location: Pineal gland in the midbrain, behind the eyebrow center
Connection to Healing and Well-being: Capacity for higher-order thinking, memory, concentration, clairvoyance or spiritual sight
sahasrara
Meaning: Thousand-petaled
Symbol: Thousand-petaled rainbow lotus containing a lingam of light, symbol of pure consciousness
Mantra: -
Physical Location: Crown of the head
Connection to Healing and Well-being: Bliss, transcendence, awakening
