Chakras

In eastern philosophy there is a concept of chakras. The most common version I have seen is from yoga with 7 chakras(चक्र, Sanskrit: round/circle/disc/wheel) or padmas(Sanskrit: lotuses), but apparently a similar concept exists in Bön with 6 realms of experience, and in some Chinese philosophy with 3 kettles, or dantien(丹田).

A chakra is an energy center along the spine (or above). In addition to the chakra, there are also some energy channels nadis(yoga), meridians(qi-gong). The chakras of the yogi tradition are the following places on the body

• Mūlādhāra – root / spine base
• Svādhiṣṭhāna – sacrum
• Maṇipūraka – solar plexus / navel
• Anāhata – heart
• Viśuddha – throat
• Ājñā – the third eye
• Sahasrāra – crown

I was a bit confused about the actual number, as the work that describes the chakras is called, Ṣat-cakra-nurūpana, “Description of the six chakras” (which I have not read yet), – but that is probably because the seventh is special.

The Sanskrit word “chakra”, comes from Proto-indo-European “*kʷékʷlos”, which also descended into “*hwehwlą” in Germanic, which is quite similar to “wheel”, or Old Norse “hvél”(singular, plural: “hjól”) which is just “hjul” in Danish. All of which mean wheel.

When entering sanskrit transliteration on linux, set up with an english-mac-keyboard-layout, overbar can be composed with meta+shift+”,” followed by the letter, fōō, and underdot can be composed with meta+shift+”h”, ḅạṛ. The other accents are just meta+”n”, meta+”e”, and meta+shift+”x”. Had to copy/paste “ʷ”.

Disclaimer: I am no expert on this topic, and write as a way of learning. it is also outside of my somewhat tradition western scientific view of the world, but interesting nonetheless.