Confused - where exactly are the Chakras?
 

Hi all,

I am seriously confused.

Where exactly are the Chakras? In some places they say its on the spine (for the first 5). Others say its only in the front, or only on the spine. In the book "Hands of Light" it says that for most of our main 7 chakras come in pairs, one in the front, one in the back. (Root and Crown chakras are seen as a pair).

And that book also illustrates that we got a central pole going from the root chakra (which is at the perineum), straight up the center of the body, to our crown chakra. Yet I've seen the kundalini illustrated as going up the spine, rather than this central pole

I actually have so many more questions about Chakras but... to avoid confusing myself any further... I'd just plainly like to know where exactly they are.

Thanks again

The chakras fill the entire area they're assigned to; a person working with energy may feel sensations primarily in the front or in the back, but it all depends on their focus. Some of the most effective energy work involves making sure energy is felt not just in front or in back, but through that whole section of the physical body where the chakra is located. If you were to strongly activate your chakras, you would find that it fills that whole area of your body -- from front to back.

Kundalini is said to be a kind of dormant energy located in the tail bone, and normally moves up the spine when it is activated. This doesn't necessarily mean that all energy is supposed to move exclusively through the spine, only that kundalini usually does this.

Basically energy points in the body that kinda tells how balanced the person is.. all chakras have meanings and there are minor ones.. The major ones are the 7 you named.

Barbara Brennans Book Hands of Light is a pretty good one and she accurate on the stuff she gives on chakras.

The Major chakras which there are 7 are based on the spine and are where some of the glands come into the body. Each chakra is where the meridan lines of energy cross so many times, the major more times then the minor.

We have 7 major and 21 minor.

Chakra is a way of making sense of the spectrum in relatoin to our bodies, the portions of the whole that decide your personality, outlook, philosophy and how your body function in every sense.

There is an infinite ammount of gradiations of each color, but some tones and their associated points seem to be able to grow further outwards than others and/or decide more things.

Looking at the spectrum, its easy to see how the numer of chakras one decide to mention can vary.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23613811/001.jpg
Mapped it myself over the past two years.

I would like to second Serenity's praise to Barbara Bennan. Her book is wonderful.

Keep in mind that the chakras aren't part of the physical body, but rather are part of the energy body. They are not bound by physical boundaries and do not match up exactly with any physical markers - the chakras are like energetic internal organs that have their own locations and subsystems connected to them.

The spine/front division of the five inner chakras doesn't make 12 chakras. Rather, consider them to be two sides to one chakra, or directional expressions if you rather.

The 'pole' running through the body doesn't exist as drawn. The central column is actually made up of two intertwined channels, one directed upwards and the other downwards. How they twist and where exactly they are forward/backwards is different for each individual but from my experience it is generally in the center of the body as Barbara Brennan describes.

Also keep in mind that the exact location of the chakras (forward/backwards, left/right, up/down) can all vary depending on the individual. In rare instances individuals have 'floating chakras' which can move around quite rapidly (making it hard to do a healing), or can even have two chakras swapped (only seen in once) or side by side (never seen it but heard about it).

The best way to find the chakras in your own body is through meditation. After you learn how to Ground and Center practice cycling energy through your body. Once you get competent at that, observe the cycling more passively. Once you get competent at that, exploring and observing you chakras should be relatively simple. A novice with a teacher should be able to get to that point within 2-3 months, without a teacher but with books within 6 months tops.

They have seed sounds - Lam Vam Ram Yam Ham Om

Yes to all.

However, we don't have spiritual paths as such. Instead, we each have ideal ways of life as represented by the soul seat and the rest of the hara line.
Although these are not counted as chakras, they are typically more blocked than chakras, and in the case of the tan tien especially, can cause bad feelings.

I often clear-activate the chakras above & below the 7 ...
( 10 or 11 as I see fit)
Based more on intuition than charts....
Before doing ChiGong meditation ...