The chakra system provides a
base for fine-tuning our yoga practice to suit our unique personality,
spirit
and circumstances. Traditionally, Indians saw the body as containing
seven main chakras, arranged vertically from the base of the spine
to the top of the head. Chakra is the Sanskrit word for wheel, and
these "wheels" were thought of as spinning circles of energy.Each
chakra is associated with particular functions within the body and
with specific life issues and the way we handle them, both inside
ourselves and in our interactions with the world. As centers of force,
chakras can be thought of as sites where we receive, absorb, and distribute
life energies. Through external situations and internal habits, such
as long-held physical tension and limiting self-concepts, a chakra
can become either deficient or excessive; and therefore imbalanced.
These imbalances may develop temporarily with situational challenges,
or they may be chronic. A chronic imbalance can come from childhood
experiences, past pain or stress, and internalized cultural values.
For instance, a child whose family moves every year to a different
state may not learn what it's like to feel rooted in a location, and
she can grow up with a deficient first chakra.
A deficient chakra neither receives appropriate energy nor easily
manifests that chakra's energy in the world. There's a sense of being
physically and emotionally closed down in the area of a deficient
chakra. Think of the slumped shoulders of someone who is depressed
and lonely, their heart chakra receding into their chest. The deficient
chakra needs to open.
When a chakra is excessive, it is too overloaded to operate in
a healthy way and becomes a dominating force in a person's life and
make you out of balance. Someone with an excessive fifth (throat)
chakra, for example, might talk too much and be unable to listen well.
If the chakra were deficient, she might experience restraint and difficulty
when communicating.
