the energetic body and the 5 chakra system

Yoga, especially classical tantric yoga teaches that there are many layers of our Self, that we are more than the physical body. 

The structure of the energetic or subtle body is described as having three main channels. 

​From these three main channels, there are further channels that spread through the entire body and are said to be how the life force energy flows through us.

The main channels are the central channel, ‘Sushumna’, the right dominant channel, ‘Pingala’ and the left dominant channel ‘Ida’. These channels are often described in ancient literature as the three lights, or the triple radiance. 
 
The sushumna means graceful and is associated with fire and the rising breath.  Pingala means reddish and is associated with the sun and exhale, while Ida means refreshing and is associated with the moon and the inhale.  These two channels undulate across the body, crossing the central channel.  The exhale breath is seen as a way of shedding light on the external world, carrying our attention out into the objects of our experience, just like the sun illuminates our wold during the day.  The inhale breath is associated with the inhale, and like the moon reflects the light of the sun, so the inhale breath brings the awareness inwards. This is thought to be cooling, like the moon can bring cool relief after a hot day.
 
The central channel is visualised as a glowing golden column of light, and often as a slender stem, like a flower stem.  It extends up from the pelvic floor to the crown of the head and is visualised through the very centre of the body, in front of the spinal column (it is not the spinal column itself).
 
Moving energy up the central channel is a way of us understanding ourselves better.  Many of the traditional yoga practices were meditation and breathing and purification practices to facilitate this movement of energy into the central channel by rising a specific form of prana, often called kundalini.
 
There a number of techniques I have been practicing with my teachers Christopher Hareesh Wallis and Chris Tompkins, which focus on bring the energies of the sun and the moon into a perfect equilibrium into the heart space, one of the chakras, or wheels along the central ​channel.  In the classical system of yoga in the trika system, there were many chakra systems.  A 5-chakra system representing the elements, or the building blocks of our world were used for this practice.
 
The base chakra at the pelvic floor is where the earth element is installed.  This contained the qualities of solidity.  The second chakra is at a space about three finger widths below the navel.  Here the chakra was often visualised as a bulb, ready to sprout.  The element installed here is water.

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Fire is installed in the heart chakra, and this chakra was often visualised as a lotus with a spark of flame.  The fourth chakra is at the soft palate, and receives  the element of wind, and the crown of the head is the location for the final chakra, and the element of space. 

This system enabled specific practices, for example visualising a wheel of fire in the heart to help us shine a light on all our objects of experience. 
 

​In the coming workshop, Fire in the Heart, I will share some of these little known practices.  My experience is when I bring an awareness of the element of fire into the heart space my sense of compassion for others (external) and also my sense of compassion for myself (internal) increases.  I find I am able to access my inner wisdom more freely, and to make informed choices about my behaviour and actions.
 
In the modern way of visualising chakras, the element of wind is often thought to be located in the heart space.  What we know understand through recent translations of old texts, is that the chakra system we have was never meant to be dogmatic, and that a range of systems and practices exist which we are only starting to comprehend. 
 
It is my hope that in this workshop you will also start to explore the benefits of visualising fire here in the heart space for yourself.  It will be held on the winter solstice, a day where the worlds energy is focused on the inhale, cooling element of a long night.  We will bring balance to our system by the focus on the exhale, the warmth and the fire in the heart.  I hope you can join me.