Chakra & Yantra

The chakra system maps seven principal centres from the base of the spine to the crown, each with associated qualities, colours and sounds. Yantras are the geometric diagrams used as focuses for contemplation. Both are central to tantric practice and to a great deal of Indian art.

What they are

A symbolic map of inner experience, developed over centuries and used for meditation, visualisation and self-understanding. The chakras do not correspond to anatomical structures - they are not glands, nerve plexuses or organs, despite frequent claims to the contrary - and treating them as anatomy misreads what the tradition is actually doing.

As a framework for attending to different qualities of experience - grounding, feeling, will, love, expression, insight, transcendence - it is coherent, rich, and has been useful to a great many people.

A map of inner experience is not a map of the body. It is still a map, and people navigate by it.

Yantra as a focus

A symmetrical figure held in the gaze steadies attention, in much the same way a mandala or a candle flame does. The geometry is meaningful within the tradition and it is also, plainly, effective at holding the eye - which is what a meditative focus is for.

Where to be careful

Chakra "balancing" sold as a treatment for physical illness has no evidence behind it. Practise it as contemplation. Do not substitute it for medicine, and be wary of practitioners who diagnose disease in these terms.