h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: An introduction to Chakras - A739550
Author: Lighthousegirl UK - U175854

Well I thought it was about time I had a proper go at writing something! This is based on something I wrote for a friend

I look forward to reading all your comments and suggestions - they are appreciated

Light

Excellent stuff.

The Sacral chakra is known by the Chinese as the Dantien, and by the Japanese as the Hara. There's a lot of similarity between systems, and that might be worth mentioning.

One typo...you spell it as "Charka" at one point

and good luck

Geoff

I'll come back to you on this one, Lighthousegirl!

However, a couple of quick comments. It's probably worth mentioning the the heart chakra is the one that balances the upper and lower chakras. The lower three are all to do with the self, survival, etc. The upper three are to do with how the individual relates the the world. The heart mediates between the upper and lower chakras as well as performing its own functions.

Is it worth mentioning the direction of spin and the fact that they have also been described as vortices?

I'm not so sure about the relationship to T'ai Chi. In the Chinese system, the main energy centre is the Dan Tien (the Japanese know this as the Hara) and the system also revolves round meridians.

No doubt you will get lots of interest in this one. Me, I'm .

The relationship to Tai Chi doesn't really exist. Tai Chi is Chinese, and doesn't use Chakras, although the important body points are very similar.

Similar, but not the same.

A fascinating entry on a subject that can be very difficult to write about. Well done for having a go.

I just feel that your introductory remarks need tightening up to make them more focussed.

For example:

>Chakras are an integral part of traditional Eastern beliefs and thinking. For many, especially those from other beliefs

'Traditional Eastern' is a bit vague. There are probably thousands of traditional Eastern beliefs. Please, which belief systems, and from which countries or origins? Expressions such as 'Eastern thinking', 'Eastern teachings' etc could do with being a bit more specific. That would help.

>Eastern esoteric teaching

Is it really esoteric? I thought chakras are pretty well known about and part of the belief systems they come from. If it is indeed esoteric, some more info on that would be good.

>subtle energy systems that weave within each individual and connects them to the physical and spiritual universe. These energies can be channelled for healing and growth.

Connects the individual to the spiritual universe - yes, I can see that, but the physical universe? Or do you mean that they connect the physical to the spiritual? Or are there separate physical and spiritual universes? I think some clarification of this would help.

>Chakras, which act a bit like energy gateways.

Do you mean they act like energy gateways, or only a bit like that, and if so which bit? Or do you mean they actually are energy gateways? And I don't understand 'energy gateways' - could you say what you mean by that?

>a map of consciousness, which allows us to understand the purpose of our lives

Here again, is it about understanding, or some other mode of consciousness? And what do you mean by 'the purpose of our lives' - is this the purpose of human life, or an individual purpose that each individual needs to 'understand' so as to carry out?

>to reach our true potential.

In what sense do you mean that?

>Understanding and awakening your charkas can heighten and intensify an individual's spiritual awareness, as part of a journey towards fulfilment. Eastern teaching stress however that this true expression of spirituality cannot happen unless it is part of a holistic approach to life, healthy mind, body, emotion and spirit.

This paragraph is good, and clear (typos apart!), and shows the sort of focus that I would like to see elsewhere.

>release blockages around issues

What does this mean?

>understand more about your sense of purpose

Do you mean your sense of purpose, or your purpose?

>develop the courage to make changes in your life

This suggests that something called courage is what is needed to make changes - is that all there is to making changes in your life? And do you 'make' changes in your life, or is change something that can come about naturally through the subtle tools you mention?

>nurture your self confidence and discover a subtle set of tools to help heal yourself and so live a more vital life.

I like the way you put that across.

Obviously this is a profound topic about subtleties, but I just think that it would be good to point your readers a little more clearly in the general direction of the areas you are talking about. I don't mean try to answer questions, or get people to 'understand', but help people to formulate for themselves the sort of questions that an understanding of the chakras can explore.

To the limited extent that this subject can be dealt with in words, I think it needs a bit more precision in places. To the extent that you are dealing with what goes beyond words, signposts to guide us to the right track would be useful.

The entry gets much better when you move on to the Seven Major Chakras.

As others have said, I think you've done a wonderful job with a subject that can be difficult to describe.

Personally, as a practitioner of yoga, I know that the chakra system is an integral part of the practice. Indeed, the term "yoga" means "balance." I guess what I'm trying to say, is that once you've described chakras (what they are and what they can do for you), it might be nice to point readers toward ways of manipulating the energies of the chakras in order to obtain the benefits you have described.

Namaste,
Reika

Thank you everyone for your input - I have found it most helpful and made some changes.

The changes I have struggled with are the typos - I am dyslexic and cant always see them - you may need to point me a little more diectly in the right direction

Let me know what you think?


Thans

Light

That is better now, thank you. The main typo problem is with the word 'chakra' itself - you can sometimes get the k and the r the wrong way round, but I wouldn't worry about it, it's easy for a subeditor to sort out for you. If you hadn't said so, I would never have known you are dyslexic, or any more dyslexic than most of us!

I believe (I could be wrong) that westerners came to know about chakras first through yoga.

It would be nice for the Sanskrit names to be included. I'll post them if you don't know them, however I need to check the spellings.

You might be interested to hear what the OED has to say about chakras, Lighthousegirl.

1. A circular weapon used by Sikhs.

2. A discus or mystic circle placed in the hands of pictured Hindu gods, etc.

3. Yoga. One of the centres of mystic or etherial power in the human body.

4. The emblem on the flag of the Indian Union.

Here they are:

Mooladhara/Muladhara
Svadisthana
Manipura
Anahata
Vishuddha
Ajna
Sahasara

Thanks

Zarquon - is that in the same order as I have them?


Light

Yes, from the base upwards.

Hello! This is a very interesting Entry. I've been curious to learn more about chakras for some time.

I'm definitely interested in which particular Eastern belief system(s) developed Chakra theory.

Other questions: Is there some connection between the Chakra system and the Meridian system? Is there any western-style research going on to understand the functioning of Chakras?

Only one mistake I noticed, at the beginning of the 'Seven Major Chakras' section, you say: "Starting at the top of the central energy column the seven major chakras are:", but then when you list them, you start at the bottom, not the top.

Otherwise, it's great, and just leaves me wanting to learn more! Do you know of any particularly good web resources, or books, to point people towards?

You've written "charkas" in about five places!

Hi there LHG,

Great entry on a subject that was completely new for me. I had heard the word and knew it was some kind of 'life energy' thing, but really no more than that. Well, now I know a bit more. Ta!

That said, I *do* have a few queries, but don't take them too seriously; keep some salt to hand!

Ok, I have read the thread and I must agree that your intro would benefit from some more specific info on what you mean by 'eastern'. From the etymology and the yoga connection, plus the comments that it has no link to T'ai Chi, I rather assume we are talking about a phenomenon with origins on the Indian sub-continent. Then there are the heavy hints in the dictionary definitions! So why not say so?

Also in the intro you first mention these 'subtle energies'. Is this a technical term, or are the energies just endowed with the quality of subtlety in some way? I don't understand what kind of energies we are talking about. For instance, presumably it is not 'energy' in the sense associated with the laws of physics. What more can you tell me about these 'energies'? Psychic energy? Spiritual energy?

Are you aware of this (apparently) abandoned piece about your subject? A447400

There is also a piece here about healing with crystals - A649334

If it is all about yoga, you may like to link to something on h2g2 - A452288 But I should warn you that it is not exactly explanatory!

A search revealed various unedited entries on yoga - mostly quite brief - and the one I linked to above - not remotely brief! Anyone here care to plug that gap...

As a reader, I feel you might rethink your layout in some places. I like the way sections can be broken up with those nice headers and I feel the structure here was not the most helpful.

I think at least one subheader in the opening section; ie between Header "What are Chakras" and Header "The 7 main Chakras".

At the end of that '7 main' section I think a subheader before the <>. The reason being it deals with an important practical aspect which needs signposting. When you say 'aforementioned' later on, I did a double-take! Could just be me...

I guess I would think it worth having <> as either a header or subheader. I know you have used subheaders for the name of each one, but once again I like things signposted.

Well, I don't wish to push work your way, but a bullet list would make your lists of Chakra characteristics a bit easier to follow and compare.

Finally, some kind of header to signpost your conclusion and separate it off from the Chakra list.

Oh yeah, and watch those Charkas - they get everywhere if you don't keep an eye on them!

Whoah! Hope you don't think I'm being mean. I really meant it when I said I thought it was great entry! Honest! Just think it would benefit from some tweaking. I don't think of these comments as 'things-to-do', just my thoughts.

Good luck with it

seeya
spiff

Hi Lighthousegirl/Otto,

Here's a whole bunch of links, some more useful than others.

http://healing.about.com/library/blterms_chakras.htm

http://www.geocities.com/mountainechoes/yoga10Chakra.htm

http://www.thelemicgoldendawn.org/tgd/chakras.htm

http://www.classicyoga.org/chakras/index-chakras.html

http://www.sivananda.org/misc/anim/shockwave/chakras.htm


The last one takes ages to load, but looks like it could be very interesting (my computer is very old, and I couldn't wait that long).

See what you think!

Hi Lighthousegirl!

I've looked a bit more at your entry and I'm wondering whether it needs more details on what it means if the chakras (there are still quite a lot of 'charkas' BTW) are out of balance. They can be over or underactive.

For instance, the first chakra, which brings vitality or life force into the body and controls the consciousness of survival and well-being, if underactive can result in: apathy; weakness, depression, passiveness, self-destructiveness.

If overactive, it can result in: paranoia; aggression; mania; nervousness; fear.

Might it also be useful to describe how to balance the chakras?

If you need help on this, just ask.

I have to admit that I wouldn't have had the faintest idea what a chakra was before reading this - so thank you, Lighthousegirl! You've enlightened at least one person with this very interesting Entry!

I agree with Zarquon's Singing Fish about the need to explain how one balances an ailing chakra. Say, for instance, I'm suffering from creative block. That's a throat chakra problem. So which set of throat chakra fragrances do I go for - the stimulating fragrances or the quietening ones? And as the throat chakra colours are blue, silver and turquoise, should I switch my h2g2 preferences to alabaster, or spend more time gazing at those lovely colours in Classic Goo?

Hi Ormondroyd,

Creativity can involve the second chakra as well as the fifth and sixth chakras.

One of the ways of balancing chakras involves visualisation.

For the second chakra, close your eyes and place your attention on the mid-section between your navel and your tailbone. Visualise a fiery orange satellite of energy spinning round and round, perfectly balanced. As it rotates, see it warming your soul and filling you with self-appreciation and pleasure. Let the energy flow thoufh you and into every cell in your body, warining an dlighting all the dark, tense, cold places.

Affirm; I am balanced. My body is holy and happy. I enjoy the sensations of pleasure and comfort that flow though it. I am warmed by the Universe.

For the fifth chakra, which controls the psychic consciousness of hearing, including telepathy and the guiding wisdom of your soul, centre your imagination at the base of your throat and visualise a vibrant blue orb spinning, perfectly balanced. Imagine it pulling in the energy to allow you to think and speak clearly, resonating only the highest, most honest and loving ideas. See Diving energy soothing your throat, guiding both interior and spoken words for your hightest good.

Affirm: I am aware at all times of the loving Guidance directing my thoughts and my speech, leading me to all that I ever need.

For the sixth, which governs imagination, bright ideas and visualisation, which is located in the area of your forehead between your eyes, imagine a beautiful indigo blue orb of about seven inches diameter spinning smoothly. As it sping, imagine it filling your mind with beautiful and healing images. Imagine playing in a meadow like a free-spirited child. Now imagine that your soul is looking on yo iwht loving energy and deep affection. be gentla and allow the image to emerge and then fade onto an indigo blue mental screen.

Affirm: I am receptive to vision, direction, inspiration and insight from by higher Self at all times.