When I tell people that I’ve written a book called “Chakra Foods for Optimum Health,” most of them immediately ask – what are “chakras” anyway? They sound mysterious…
Well, in fact, even though “chakras” aren’t a household word in most American homes, the concept has been around for thousands of years, threaded through ancient Vedic (East Indian) sacred texts. The idea of these “invisible” energy centers is slowly starting to become more visible – there are now a number of modern means that have been introduced for balancing the chakras: music, aromatherapy, herbs, books, art, incense, gems. The one that I have written about in “Chakra Foods for Optimum Health” is how foods and the practice and art of eating can impact our chakras, or simply put, our vibration or frequency (a concept made familiar by quantum physics).
“Chakra” is an ancient Sanskrit word meaning “wheel” or “disk” and it refers to the energy centers in the human body. You may be familiar with acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine. The practice of acupuncture is based on the flow of energy in the body along circuits known as “meridians”. Similarly, in the Vedic (East Indian) tradition, there are hundreds of energy points (”chakras”) in the body with clusters that run along the spine and up into the head. These concentrated energy points distribute energy to specific body tissues. Even though there are many, seven chakras are typically the focus: below the pubic bone (root chakra), below the navel (sacral chakra), below the diaphragm (solar plexus chakra), at the level of the heart (heart chakra), throat (throat chakra), forehead (third eye chakra), and top of head (crown chakra).
If we choose to look beyond the actual physical, literal meaning of chakras and look at them more symbolically, we will see that they compose diverse facets of the human being:
(1) Root chakra (muladhara) – connects to survival, safety, tribe, fear
(2) Sacral chakra (svadhistana) – connects to creativity, sexuality, emotions, pleasure
(3) Solar plexus chakra (manipura) – connects to personal power, intellect, transformation, self-esteem
(4) Heart chakra (anahata) – connects to planetary love, emotional wisdom, giving, receiving
(5) Throat chakra (vishuddha) – connects to communication, authenticity, truth, voice
(6) Third eye chakra (ajna) – connects to intuition, imagination, dreams, wisdom
(7) Crown chakra (sahasrara) – connects to all of life, divinity, purity, clarification
