An anatomist studies the maps of our human energy

Putting Chakras
An anatomist studies the maps
of our human energy systems
W
hile 30 years ago a chakra
couldn’t get the time of
day in my neighborhood,
nowadays they’re a
veritable growth industry. Hardly a day goes
by without a catalog in the mail touting a
CD, crystal set, or technique to open, rev up,
tune, tone, or soothe my harried chakras. For
the longest time I’d gotten by without even
realizing that I had chakras, and now I have
to maintain them? Heck, I’m still trying to
master flossing.
Their currently vibrant commodification
aside, chakras are something worth thinking
about. As an ethicist by training and an
anatomist by avocation, I ground that inquiry
in the context of the whole person and the
whole body.
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Spirituality & Health / September~October 2009 / SpiritualityHealth.com
in Their Place
By Gil Hedley
Illustrations by Elena Ray
SpiritualityHealth.com / September~October 2009 / Spirituality & Health
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T
he notion of a “chakra system” — a series
of spinning vortices of light representing
an esoteric or energetic level of human
anatomy — can be found in classical medical,
religious, and native traditions worldwide.
Chakra systems are schematized with a great
variety of descriptive characteristics, variously
enumerating from six or seven, to 108, and
more. According to Jeffrey Kripal, Ph.D.,
chairman of the Department of Religion at Rice
University and renowned historian of religion,
the word “cakra” (“C” pronounced as “ch,” as in
Charles) is of Sanskrit origin and means simply
“wheel.” Kripal credits two important sources
for the appropriation and proliferation of the
word “chakra” in Western thought. One is the
popularity of Theosophy beginning in the late
nineteenth century.
The modern Theosophical movement was built in large
measure upon the esoteric writings of New York’s Helena
P. Blavatsky (Secret Doctrine, 1888) and the “radical” politics
of London’s Annie Besant (women’s suffrage, birth control,
workers’ rights, Indian home-rule). Both of these women ended
up in India, where they explored ideas and practices through
the branch of the Theosophical Society led by C. W. Leadbeater
— Leadbeater published The Chakras in 1927. The interpretation
of the chakra system carried forward by Theosophy swirls at the
base of the “New Age” conceptions.
Likewise, says Kripal, there was the widely influential
monograph of Sir John Woodroffe, The Serpent Power, first
published in 1919 and absorbed by luminaries, including Carl
Jung. In it, Woodroffe writes how the coiled energy of the
conventionally religious might shudder over the dangers of
occult mystery schools and unrestrained New Age fluffery. But
as Rosalyn remarked in a telephone conversation, “This is 2009,
after all!” The human body indisputably comprises heaps of
swirling, light-absorbing and light-emitting atoms. While folks
may quibble over how best to describe human energy systems, it
is beyond reasonable doubt that such a thing does exist.
Anatomy of a Chakra?
For my part, I have never seen a chakra. I have, however, had my
hands deep into the dissection of over 150 human bodies over the
past 15 years. The array of shapes and the wisdom of organization
and relationships inherent in the human form is truly a marvel to
behold. I know that matter is composed of energy, and that living
matter is relentlessly “on the move.” Cadavers are “still photos” of
that living matter. The forms and their internal relationships point
to greater truths about the body.
Take the tiny pineal gland. About the size of a pine nut, this
soft mass of cells is rooted to the thalami by tiny “legs.” Richly
vascular, 40 percent magnetite in substance, and surrounded
by several pounds of electrochemically lit nerve and glial cells,
the pineal is centrally positioned over a veritable fountain of
cerebrospinal fluid. The whole package of cranial contents
— with that little biomagnetic pineal “body” — exists within
multiple layered bags of piezoelectric fascia, the meningeal
membranes. Those membranes adhere to the inner walls of
the cranium, which is itself a great apatite-crystalline egg. I
couldn’t make this stuff up! Just at a physical level, we have a
spectacular arrangement of tissues with significant conductive
and emanative properties, like some sort of extremely high-tech
antenna. And despite my lack of clairvoyant abilities, it requires
no great leap to imagine this whole system as a “crown chakra,”
absorbing and emitting various signature frequencies of light.
Beyond the inspiration of gross anatomy, there are also
abundant sources for furthering our understanding of the
“Chakras are like God’s breath, swirling energy from light into matter. The chakras vibrate
from higher to lower frequencies, as they move down the chakra systems through the body.”
Tantric goddess (devi) Kundalini lies in wait at the base of the
spine, or root chakra, like a sleeping serpent.
More currently, we have the work of Rosalyn L. Bruyere, a
noted clairvoyant healer who has been a key subject as well as
lead investigator into the human energy field for over 30 years.
In her 1989 book, Wheels of Light, Bruyere carefully documents
the accounts of chakra systems found in numerous ancient
traditions. Taken within the larger context of a human energy
field — commonly referred to in the literature as the “aura”
— chakras are described most generally as a particular aspect of
the human body’s subtle energy field.
This bit of introductory information is probably enough to
get your average, scientific type rolling her eyes, and the more
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scientific basis for the human energy field, among them the
Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID).
SQUIDs are fantastically sensitive, capable of detecting
extremely low frequency magnetic fields and fluxes. Since
the 1960s, they have been used to differentiate subtle
magnetic emanations throughout the human body. Other
detection devices are the MRI, which sometimes actually
include SQUIDs; the electromyograph (EMG), which
measures electrical potentials in skeletal muscle tissue; the
electroencephalograph (EEG); and the electrocardiograph
(EKG). None of these would have much to image or chart, were
it not for the invisible magnetic and electrical emanations and
conductivity of the human form.
Spirituality & Health / September~October 2009 / SpiritualityHealth.com
Taking on the Skeptics
The fact that the human body is pulsing with subtle energies
and detectable electromagnetic phenomena, however, fails
to stand, in itself, as specific evidence of chakras. And, the
considerable differences in the chakra literature, from author
to author and from tradition to tradition, might seem to be
evidence of chakras’ nonexistence. But hold on. The lack
of agreement by experts on complex phenomena is hardly
unusual. Experts on the economy hold forth tenaciously to
exactly opposite positions; experts in physics proffer drastically
divergent models of the very structure of the universe; and I can
personally attest that experts in the field of anatomy identify
dramatically different perspectives and emphases of the physical
human form in a manner utterly confusing to most people. It is
therefore unfair to demand of experts in a field as complex as
human energy systems that they all agree on every point. The
structure of the human energy
field, if it has anything to do with
the physical body at all, will be
correspondingly intricate. Even
a great variety of interpretations
and conceptualizations for
simplifying such a complex and
living reality will not exhaust
the potential ways one could
approach the subject. We
can, however, try on different
approaches for size to see how
they fit.
The Observer
Problem
I have found that what you
actually see in the physical human
form is completely dependent
upon what you’re looking for. If
you see the body as a machine,
you will look for — and you’ll find
— discrete and separable parts:
you will create them with your
idea and with your scalpel, and
there they will be: a liver here, an
eyeball there. If you see the body
as an “onion tree” (the organic model with which I primarily
work), you will look for, and find, and demonstrate for anyone to
behold, layers and continuities: a great fleece of superficial fascia
here, a heart tree with its intact branches gloriously extending
from trunk to periphery there. Both approaches discern in the
physical body aspects of what is there, and then abstract what
they find from the greater reality as a matter of emphasis. But
the reality of the body is neither the collection of its parts nor a
series of textural layers; it is, rather, a nearly infinitely complex
whole.
Reflecting on the chakras then, we might consider them as
points of emphasis, abstracted and mindfully specified out of the
whole that is the living and moving energies of the human field.
Just as endocrinologists, gastroenterologists, and orthopedists
will have very different relationships with and levels of interest
in the pancreas, for example, we can fully expect different
perceptions, interpretations, and schematizations of the chakras
from those who perceive and work with them directly. And, as
an anatomist may spend a lifetime looking at certain aspects
of the body without much concern in others, those who work
with the subtle energies of the human body may or may not have
much to do with chakras.
Clairvoyant Views
There’s a young clairvoyant and a healer named Adam of
increasingly epic stature in western Canada. Neither in his healing
work, nor in his four books, nor in
his instructional DVD, nor in his
packed-to-the-walls workshops on
the subject of self-healing through
visualization and intention, does
he place any particular emphasis
on chakras. Adam told me that he
imagined that schematizations
of chakra systems “were created
and simplified for teaching
and instructional purposes.
Where there is more metabolic
activity in the body, such as the
heart, I see an increase of light
intensity, so there may be some
correlation between chakras and
metabolic activity. I do not work
with them as discrete points
of activity. My guideline is how
the person’s energy is flowing.
I can ‘see’ when a person does
effective visualizations through
intention — [his] energy moves,
changing patterns and flow. That
is when I know that the person is
influencing [his] own health.”
Ron Lavin is also a clairvoyant
teacher and healer, and like Adam,
Lavin has “seen” the human
energy field his whole life. He acted on his gifts, helping others
develop their own skills in service of others and founding 14
healing schools here and abroad. He offers a particularly poetic
and spiritual perspective, flowing from his vision of the world
and the body as expressions of divine source.
He wrote to me: “Chakras are like God’s breath, swirling
energy from light into matter. The chakras vibrate from
higher to lower frequencies, as they move down the chakra
systems through the body.” He further says, “In rare moments
of unity consciousness, I have seen, felt, and exchanged
smiles and nods with the elemental energetics of various
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On Placing the Chakras
Reviewing material for this article, I noted
more disagreement with regard to the lower
chakras than the upper ones. While some
Tibetans identify six rather than seven major
chakras, most systems circulating on the shelves
of my office count seven. Both Rosalyn Bruyere
and Barbara Brennan indicate main chakras
beyond the seven and at levels not normally
associated with the physical body. Authors seem
to converge with respect to the crown, third eye,
throat, and heart chakras as numbers 7, 6, 5, and
4, respectively. Identifications are more diverse
for the third chakra. It carries associations with
the spleen, solar plexus, adrenals, or pancreas.
Similarly, the second chakra is variously
identified with the solar plexus, “Peyer’s
patches” (intestinal lymphatic tissue), or the
gonads. Finally, the first, root, or base chakra,
depending on the system, will be associated
with the nerve plexus at the tip of the coccyx,
or the gonads, or even the adrenal glands.
The minor chakras are even more diversely
categorized, depending on the level of
esotericism, and some will link a
minor chakra to every joint in
the body.
Some Sources for
This Article
• Rosalyn L. Bruyere, author of
Wheels of Light: Chakras, Auras,
and the Healing Energy of the
Body (Simon & Schuster);
rosalynlbruyere.org.
• Adam, dreamhealer.com.
• Ron Lavin, ahealingtouch.com.
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chakras’ essences. Looking like lotus flowers tossing their lazy
heads in the wind, while riding on the buoyant rolling waters,
it’s no wonder the ancients acknowledged them as variations
of various floral images. As an aspect of light, they work to
refresh the soul’s creation.”
In this account, the chakra system is a luminous reality:
Lavin likens chakras to “the flowing waters of great ancient
as Bruyere tells it, was so skillfully empathetic an actress, that by
imitating Bruyere’s disposition and manner in preparation for
her part, the actress herself actually began to see auras as well!
Over several years prior, Bruyere participated in research
sponsored by the Rolf Institute of Structural Integration,
conducted by Dr. Valerie Hunt of the UCLA Kinesiology
Department. Up until this study, particular frequency
“In our culture, seeing is believing . . . whatever it is those of us who see the energy
field see is probably not the whole picture, but it’s certainly part of the picture.”
river systems, with their eddying whirlpools, endlessly moving
back and forth from bank to bank, shifting their courses, while
displacing and removing natural and foreign debris.”
When Lavin “puts the chakras in their place,” it is in a
decidedly spiritual place, an aspect of the soul’s metabolism in
motion. In his own words, “Pure spiritual revitalizing essence
moves into and through our bodies from Source, as requested
from our glandular systems, always at the beck and call of our
vital organs. Spiritual essence may also enter and refresh the
body from a healer, by employing light, will, and intention.”
This type of healing happens “always and only in harmony with
a healee’s willingness to accept [his or her] own growth and
change. This is how healing becomes integrated into our lives.”
So while chakra systems form a more integral part of the
healing work and spiritual orientation of Ron Lavin than they
do for Adam, these adepts do share some common ground. The
health of the whole person involves consciously directing and
yielding to flows of energy. Further, the movements of subtle
energy are something for which we enjoy ultimate responsibility,
and with that responsibility we are empowered.
Mapping the Chakras
When I asked Rosalyn Bruyere how she was able to accumulate
so much detailed information about the chakras in her book
Wheels of Light, she remarked that it “helps” to be able to see the
aura! “In our culture, seeing is believing . . . whatever it is those
of us who see the energy field see is probably not the whole
picture, but it’s certainly part of the picture.” She also noted
that the cartoonish drawings of rainbows in so many depictions
of the aura and the chakras fail to represent in a meaningful
way the living, complex reality that people like herself, Adam,
and Ron Lavin see as a matter of course. In Bruyere’s frame
of reference, this is “right brain” activity, so the more you
read about it and think about it, the more you theorize and
schematize, the further you get from the experience.
On the subject of auras, Rosalyn shared a fun tidbit regarding
her role as a consultant for the 1980 classic film Resurrection.
In it, Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn plays a woman who
develops healing abilities as the sequelae of an accident. Burstyn,
emanations detected by the EMG instrumentation of the day
were considered to be mere electronic noise and “artifacts”
on the oscilloscope. Hunt and Bruyere were able to parse the
jumble of seemingly chaotic frequencies. They correlated them
with the auric emanations of the human subjects in the study
— specifically, a Rolfer and her client, who were monitored by
the electronic instrumentation in one room, and Bruyere in
another. In other words, Hunt began to “see” on the frequency
tape what Bruyere could “see” from her clairvoyant vantage.
Hunt and Bruyere were able to identify characteristic frequency
ranges associated with the designated locations of various
chakras. (Hunt’s 1977 Project Report is available through the
Rolf Institute in Boulder, Colorado.)
Bruyere is still involved in research at the Kennedy Krieger
Institute, the protocols of which are overseen by the research
board of Johns Hopkins University.
I am sure that if I were to continue surveying more historical
context, additional gifted individuals, and further scientific
data, the conversation would grow richer still. Though a
seemingly elusive subject — or the lofty purview of psychics
and inscrutable scientific instrumentation — our access to our
chakra system is actually quite immediate. Chakras cannot be
dissected out of their continuity with the total energy field, as
they are not lumps of separable matter, nor light bulbs that can
be flipped on or off. Yet the movements within each of us, the
flows of energy inherent to embodied human life, the emotions
we feel swirling, and our connection to one another and the
living matrix in which we are all embedded — all of these can be
understood in terms of ranges of frequencies and vibrations. We
each express ourselves more or less unconsciously, negotiating
with ourselves and others with habitual patterns. But we alter
our emission and absorption spectra throughout our bodies as
we do so. It is possible to heighten our awareness, leaving behind
our conditioned thinking and beliefs, by opening ourselves to
new choices and experiences. Without ever seeing a chakra, our
lives can unfold like a thousand-petaled lotus.
Gil Hedley, Ph.D., is the author of Reconceiving My Body, the founder of Somanautics Workshops, Inc., and the producer of The Integral Anatomy Series on
DVD, which documents his whole body, layer-by-layer approach to the human
form. You can connect with him at www.gilhedley.com.
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