Post 4: Chakras — Gateways of the Soul
Wildly Simple in Nature, the more complex are at the bottom
If fascia is the body’s web, chakras are its doors. A door is both a threshold and a passage: it can hold what is within, but it can also open into something beyond. The chakras work in the same way. They are not physical organs, yet they align with real centers where body, mind, and spirit meet. Whether you see them as symbolic, energetic, or physiological, each chakra is a gateway where experiences settle, where wounds can restrict flow, and where healing creates new possibility.
Seen this way, the language of “blocks” and “openings” feels natural. A stuck door doesn’t mean the house is broken—it simply means something is holding it closed. With presence and care, the door can open again. And when it does, what’s revealed is not only release from pain, but access to deep human capacities: safety, creativity, power, love, truth, vision, and transcendence. No matter what you believe, the more we explore in the modern West—through psychology, neuroscience, and somatic medicine—the more we find ourselves echoing what ancient wisdom has said all along: the body holds the gates, and through them, the soul learns to live more fully.
Ancient wisdom: wheels, doors, and ladders
The idea of energy centers has deep roots. In India, texts like the Yoga Upanishads (c. 600–1000 CE) and the Shat-Chakra-Nirupana (16th c.) describe chakras (cakra in Sanskrit, meaning “wheel”) aligned with the spine. These texts detail their locations, sounds (bija mantras), symbolic lotuses, and functions. The chakras were seen as both reservoirs of karma and gateways of liberation.
In Tibetan Buddhism, subtle body teachings describe tsa (channels) and chakras (wheels). Practices like tummo (inner fire) aim to dissolve blockages, opening consciousness into clarity.
In Chinese medicine, the focus is on meridians rather than wheels, but central points like the lower dantian (hara, below the navel) serve a similar role: a reservoir of life force (qi). Emotions were linked to organs, fear in the kidneys, grief in the lungs, anger in the liver, mirroring chakra functions.
In Sufi mysticism, the lataif are subtle organs of perception within the chest, brow, and crown. Each carries both a wound and a gift, echoing the themes of the heart, throat, and crown chakras.
In Kabbalah, the sefirot map a vertical Tree of Life. Tiferet (beauty/heart), Yesod (foundation/root), and Keter (crown/source) align with the themes of the heart, root, and crown chakras.
In Egyptian medicine, the metu were channels carrying blood and life force, recorded in papyri like the Ebers Papyrus(c. 1550 BCE). Blockages in the metu were believed to cause illness and imbalance, and priests worked to restore flow through ritual, herbs, and touch.
Among Indigenous traditions, the body is often seen as a circle or hoop. Native healers describe illness as a knot in the body’s energy fabric, which must be untied through song, touch, or ceremony.
Every culture spoke of pathways, doors, wheels, or ladders—points where human life connects with spirit, where blockage creates suffering, and where opening brings healing.
Modern science: subtle centers with measurable effects
Western science doesn’t confirm chakras as spinning wheels of light, but research points to fascinating overlaps:
Endocrine system: Each classical chakra corresponds to a major gland (root → adrenals, sacral → reproductive, solar plexus → pancreas, heart → thymus, throat → thyroid, third eye → pituitary, crown → pineal). These glands regulate survival, emotion, metabolism, and consciousness.
Neuroscience: Antonio Damasio (The Feeling of What Happens) showed how “somatic markers” of selfhood arise from body states concentrated at chakra sites. Candace Pert (Molecules of Emotion) discovered neuropeptides and receptors distributed throughout the body, especially near chakra centers.
Trauma research: Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score) and Peter Levine (Waking the Tiger) documented how trauma manifests in specific body regions that align with chakras—collapse in the pelvis, constriction in the throat, grief in the chest.
Polyvagal theory: Stephen Porges mapped how the vagus nerve shapes states of safety and connection, especially in the throat, chest, and gut—mirroring chakra functions.
Heart research: HeartMath Institute found the heart generates the body’s most powerful electromagnetic field, tied to emotion and resilience—resonating with heart chakra teachings.
Brain imaging: Andrew Newberg (Why God Won’t Go Away) showed how meditation changes brain activity, producing states of unity often described in crown chakra terms.
Fascia studies: Thomas Myers (Anatomy Trains) and Robert Schleip showed how fascia hubs coincide with chakra regions, suggesting a physical matrix for subtle experience.
The evidence suggests that chakras are not metaphors—they are doorways where physiology, psychology, and spirit converge.
The Gateways of the Soul
A chakra (from the Sanskrit cakra, meaning “wheel”) is described in India’s yogic texts as a subtle center of energy where the channels of life force (nadis) converge. These centers are not physical organs, but they align with real regions in the body where physiology, emotion, and spirit meet. When open, they are doorways of flow and vitality. When blocked, they hold memory, tension, or trauma until it is ready to move.
Other cultures recognized the same reality in different ways. Tibetan Buddhism teaches of tsa (channels) and chakras (wheels) opened in practices like tummo. Chinese medicine names the dantian and meridians, linking emotions to the organs. Sufi mysticism speaks of the lataif, subtle organs of perception in the chest, brow, and crown. Kabbalah maps the sefirot of the Tree of Life, where Yesod (foundation), Tiferet (heart/beauty), and Keter (crown) mirror root, heart, and crown functions. Ancient Egypt spoke of the metu channels, recorded in the Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BCE), where blockages caused illness and healing restored flow. Indigenous traditions often describe the body as a circle or hoop of energy, with knots in the fabric released through song, touch, or ceremony.
Every lineage points to the same truth: the body is woven with thresholds of spirit. At Path of All, we call them gateways. A gateway is both a passage and a threshold. It can close to protect, but it can also open into something greater. To speak of chakras as gateways honors both their protective role and their power to reveal the soul’s deeper gifts.
The Weaving of the Gateways
Chakras are not isolated dots along the spine. They are woven centers of exchange with front and back aspects: the front projecting into how we live in the world, the back tied to our inner life and alignment. The throat, for example, speaks truth outward through its front aspect, while its back opens to inspiration. The heart projects love and empathy forward, while its back carries spiritual will and purpose.
The whole system follows the principle: as above, so below; as within, so without. Energy descends from the higher centers to nourish the body and rises from the lower centers to awaken consciousness. The crown illuminates the root, while the root grounds the crown. They are mirrors, threads, and spirals, woven into one fabric of soul. To heal one is always to touch them all.
The Classical Seven
The most widely known map is the seven chakras of Indian yoga, described in the Yoga Upanishads and the Shat-Chakra-Nirupana. Each has a Sanskrit name, body location, and role in the unfolding of the soul:
Mūlādhāra → Root Chakra → Base of spine / adrenals, colon, legs, bones → Foundation Gateway
Safety, survival, belonging, stability.Svādhiṣṭhāna → Sacral Chakra → Pelvic bowl / reproductive organs, bladder, kidneys → Creation Gateway
Creativity, sexuality, flow, desire.Maṇipūra → Solar Plexus Chakra → Upper abdomen / pancreas, liver, digestion → Power Gateway
Identity, personal will, fire of selfhood.Anāhata → Heart Chakra → Center of chest / thymus, heart, lungs → Union Gateway
Love, compassion, connection.Viśuddha → Throat Chakra → Throat / thyroid, vocal cords, breath → Expression Gateway
Truth, resonance, speaking the soul.Ājñā → Third Eye Chakra → Between eyebrows / pituitary, hypothalamus, eyes → Vision Gateway
Clarity, intuition, perception.Sahasrāra → Crown Chakra → Top of head / pineal, cerebral cortex → Source Gateway
Divine unity, transcendence, spiritual connection.
Beyond the Seven
While these seven are the classical core, other traditions and modern lineages recognize additional gateways:
Hara / Lower Dantian (Life Gateway): Daoist and Zen traditions describe this point below the navel as the body’s center of gravity and reservoir of qi.
High Heart / Thymic Center (Compassion Gateway): Modern subtle-body teachings locate a gateway above the chest linked to forgiveness, compassion, and soul purpose.
Alta Major / Cerebellar Center (Dream Gateway): In Theosophy, tantra, and esoteric Christianity, the base of the skull is seen as a bridge between body and spirit.
Earth Star Chakra (Grounding Gateway): A modern esoteric expansion, located below the feet, anchoring the soul to Earth and ancestral memory.
Soul Star Chakra (Infinity Gateway): A luminous point above the crown, connecting to higher self, karmic records, and cosmic consciousness.
Together with the seven, these make the twelve gateways. Yet some systems map 14, 22, or more, extending the ladder of energy into the cosmos and deep into the Earth. At Path of All, we recognize them all as ways of describing the same mystery.
Pathways Beyond the Twelve
Energy also moves through secondary pathways in the hands and feet. In yoga these are upachakras (minor chakras), in qigong they are the Laogong (palms) and Yongquan (soles). They are not counted among the twelve, but they are vital conduits where the soul touches the world — through giving, healing, receiving, and grounding.
One Fabric of Soul
Whether you work with seven, twelve, or twenty-two, the deeper truth is the same: the chakras are not abstractions but living gateways. They mirror above and below, front and back, inner and outer. They are woven into one field of energy that carries memory and possibility.
At Path of All, we honor them all — the seven of yoga, the twelve of esoteric expansion, the subtle organs of Sufi, Tibetan, Daoist, Egyptian, and Indigenous traditions. The point is not to reduce them to one final chart, but to welcome them as many doors into the same mystery: the soul awakening through the body.
Many Paths to Work with the Chakras
There are many ways to open these gateways, and each tradition has its own language for how the doors can be approached. None is exclusive, and often they complement one another:
Yoga and Breathwork: Classical asana, pranayama, and meditation practices that balance the chakras through posture, movement, and breath.
Chanting and Sound: Mantras, bija syllables, singing bowls, or sacred song to resonate with and unlock specific centers.
For example, of the seven classical chakras has its own bīja mantra:
Root (Mūlādhāra) → LAM
Sacral (Svādhiṣṭhāna) → VAM
Solar Plexus (Maṇipūra) → RAM
Heart (Anāhata) → YAM
Throat (Viśuddha) → HAM
Third Eye (Ājñā) → OM / AUM
Crown (Sahasrāra) → Silence (sometimes OM)
The practice is simple: sit, breathe, place awareness at the center, and chant the sound on a long exhale, letting the vibration ripple through the body. Repeating each three to nine times, you rise from root to crown, feeling the gateways open like doors touched by resonance.
Qigong and Acupuncture: Daoist movement and Chinese medicine techniques that harmonize energy flow along channels and hubs.
Prayer and Contemplation: Christian, Sufi, Buddhist, and other spiritual practices that open the heart, throat, and crown centers through devotion.
Dance and Creativity: Expressive movement, art, or writing that frees energy from the sacral and solar plexus gateways.
Time in Nature: Walking barefoot on the earth, immersing in rivers or forests, reawakening the root, sacral, and heart centers through natural contact.
Somatic and Therapeutic Work: Trauma-informed therapies, somatic experiencing, and bodywork that help unwind old imprints at the level of fascia and energy.
Working with a Practitioner: Entering a guided space where a healer or facilitator connects to your energy field, listens to your higher self, and helps reveal what is ready to open.
For me, the path I have been guided to provide for people is Ceremony. In ceremony I don’t impose a fixed chart. I connect to your field and listen to the guidance that comes from your higher self and the supports around you. Sometimes the work is at the root, sometimes at the heart, sometimes beyond the crown. The map is ancient, but the guidance is always alive.
Why I Work in Ceremony
Sacred Ceremony is the way I have learned to be the most service. It is not about fixed techniques, but connection. Your soul leads; I follow. Ceremony creates the container where this guidance can move, where knots release, and where your gifts reawaken.
It is not the only way, and it is never required. It is simply the one I offer. For many, they value their time and don’t want to wait a month, year, or many years. Many who have walked it have shared their testimonials, which you can read on the home page of PathofAll.org.
Closing Invitation
Chakras are not abstractions. They are living gateways where the body and soul meet. They hold memory, but they also open into possibility. What has been blocked can open. What has been heavy can lighten. What has been dim can shine again.
Whether through yoga, breath, prayer, sound, or Ceremony, the gateways of your soul are waiting. Step by step, you can open them, heal them, and remember. Walking not into someone else’s path, but into your own.
TW
Further Reading: Key References
Title: The Yoga Upanishads
Author: Translated by K. Narayanasvami Aiyar
What you’ll learn: Early Indian texts that first mention chakras, nadis, and kundalini in relation to yogic practice.
Why read it: One of the earliest sources that grounds chakra teachings in spiritual discipline rather than later symbolism.
Title: Shat-Chakra-Nirupana (Description of the Six Chakras)
Author: Purnananda Swami (16th c.), translated by John Woodroffe / Arthur Avalon in The Serpent Power
What you’ll learn: The foundational Sanskrit text detailing the locations, lotuses, and sounds of the chakras.
Why read it: The primary textual source for the classical seven-chakra system.
Title: The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep
Author: Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
What you’ll learn: Tibetan subtle body teachings on channels (tsa) and chakras used in dream yoga and tummo practice.
Why read it: A respected account of how chakras are understood and worked with in Tibetan Buddhism.
Title: The Yoga Tradition
Author: Georg Feuerstein
What you’ll learn: A comprehensive overview of yoga’s history and philosophy, including subtle body systems and chakras.
Why read it: Essential for seeing how chakras fit within the broader yogic tradition.
Title: Chakras: Energy Centers of Transformation
Author: Harish Johari
What you’ll learn: Traditional Indian teachings on chakras, mantra, yantra, and meditation practices.
Why read it: Presents the chakras through a classical Indian lens, with practices rooted in lineage.
Title: Wheels of Life
Author: Anodea Judith
What you’ll learn: A practical and symbolic introduction to the chakras, blending Eastern teachings with Western psychology.
Why read it: The modern classic on chakras for Western readers; accessible and widely respected.
Title: Eastern Body, Western Mind
Author: Anodea Judith
What you’ll learn: Connects chakra theory to developmental psychology and trauma healing.
Why read it: Bridges ancient wisdom with modern therapeutic frameworks.
Title: Psychology of Kundalini Yoga
Author: Carl Jung (edited by Sonu Shamdasani)
What you’ll learn: Jung’s lectures on chakras as archetypes of human development.
Why read it: A key Western psychological perspective on how chakras reflect inner growth.
Title: The Feeling of What Happens
Author: Antonio Damasio
What you’ll learn: How emotions and body states shape consciousness and the sense of self.
Why read it: Demonstrates how bodily centers of feeling align with chakra functions.
Title: Molecules of Emotion
Author: Candace B. Pert
What you’ll learn: How neuropeptides form a body-wide network of emotional communication.
Why read it: Shows the biochemical foundation for chakras as embodied emotion centers.
Title: Why God Won’t Go Away
Author: Andrew Newberg, Eugene d’Aquili, Vince Rause
What you’ll learn: Brain imaging studies of meditation and prayer, showing how spiritual states are reflected in neural activity.
Why read it: Offers a scientific perspective on crown chakra experiences of unity and transcendence.
Title: The HeartMath Solution
Author: Doc Childre and Howard Martin
What you’ll learn: Research on the heart’s electromagnetic field and its role in emotion, intuition, and resilience.
Why read it: Supports ancient heart chakra teachings with modern data.
Various Traditions teach different pathways
