Basically what the title says. Feel free to offer your opinions and interpretations of chakras, as well as hot topics like more recent chakra-based practices, and if more than the traditional 7 exist and how those may function.
Tracing the origin of the Chakra system has been attempted by several scholars with varying degrees of success. Let us first understand that it is “one” traditional view that there are seven (technically six) Chakras. And this is just one of the many traditions. I will mainly speak of Tantra here (and not Daoism) as Chakra is a technical term used in Hatha Yoga and Tantra.
In Tantric parallax, there are three concepts: Mandalas, Chakras, and Yantras - all representing sacred geometry, used as tools of ritual and meditation, and the three are intricately connected. The first is external, the second is internalized, and the third is a mixture of the two. The intent of all three of them is to symbolize the Cosmos within the individual to garner specific energies with the aid of mantra (sound-intent) and tantra (ritualistic meditative activity). Every Chakra is basically of the principle that the center represents the core principle represented by a particular chakra, and is unfolds itself outwards, representing creative multiplication and projection of this central idea in numerous ways. A Chakra has been represented not only as a wheel but more often as a lotus as the blooming of the lotus is symbolic of projection of the central idea/energy of a chakra to its full potential.
The center of a chakra is always occupied by a deity or an archetype, a male and female couple, often represented by a mantra or the sonic representation of the energetic aspect of the concept represented by this deity. The surrounding spokes (in the case of a wheel representation) or petals (when represented as a lotus) are axially deities or archetypes - the two sets together representing a specific aspect of the manifested world - in Yoga and Tantra, the manifested world exists as speech (mantra) and light (mandala/chakra/yantra). These chakras are also aids for meditation as they are organized to represent philosophical concepts that the practitioner should contemplate upon, as these form the philosophical underpinnings of the system that utilizes these chakras.
The object of meditation of these chakras is to access the power of creation or rather reverse the process of duality to re-integrate everything into one non-dual conscious.
The number of Chakras is variously defined by different systems of Yoga and Tantra, and they are based on how these schools describe the process of creation, of descent from Pure I AM consciousness to a dualistic consciousness - and there is no right or wrong way here. The number, colors, the geometry of these chakras vary as different systems use different toolboxes to represent these centers. The system of Hatha Yoga, for example, uses twenty-eight chakras. My school of Tantra uses 108 chakras, and we painstakingly work on energizing and awakening each of these centers of consciousness over a period of eleven years. The system that was popularized by Arthur Avalon, and picked-up by Theosophists like Blavatsky was the six chakra system, combined with a non-chakra (crown), came to be more known in the West as the new age movements picked up from theosophy, creating the impression that this was the only system.
Also, the six chakra system espouses an element based metaphysics. There is an older five chakra system that views creation not as separation of elements, but as the manifestation of five aspects of sacred speech. There is a 36 chakra system which views the evolution of One consciousness to Many through the diversification of 36 categories (tattvas) and so on.
So, essentially, Chakra systems are tools specific to systems of energetic cultivation and are part of a larger, holistic system. How you view and utilize them depends on what one intends to do with them. Neither are these hard physical organs (though they influence physical organs) nor are these some locks of some kind placed by alien races to stop the human race from evolving.
To understand chakras, one should first understand their historical evolution, the context in which they were utilized, to avoid misappropriation of technical concepts. The term chakra has a definite and unambiguous connotation in Systems that defined and used them and these should not be appropriated to refer to concepts/ideas which have nothing to do with them - perhaps call these “ideas” something else. There is always an element of cultural context with spiritual ideas, and often, when trying to rid spiritual concepts completely of the context in which they evolved makes the concepts impotent and useless, unless done very skillfully.
Also, a lot of perceived blockages that impede the flow of Kundalini aka Creative Energy are due to “knots” and not the chakras themselves - and resolving these knots requires effort and looking within.
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Can chakras be activated/unblocked in any order, or can it only go upwards in the specific ordering of Root-Crown? Also, are you able to sense or feel a chakra being activated/unblocked, or do you just have to trust that it is after doing the things required for it?
What do you mean by unblock? How does one know they are blocked?
Also, what does one mean by activate? Are they inactive by default? 
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Huh, I guess you do have a point. Another thing is that I have heard chakras need to be “aligned” in order to optimally function. Is it possible for your chakras to become “crooked”? And if so, how could such a thing happen? Additionally, can you physically sense your chakras or the energy thereof?
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- Essentially, Cakras, like anything else, may functional less optimally, and tools like Sapien’s audios, meditation, breathing etc., are to optimize these centers. So yes, this can be viewed as correcting their alignment. Can this be called “crooked” chakras, I don’t know!
- Chakras can be sensed physically in the sense of a Kshetra. Every chakra has a specific kshetra – a contact point through which it can be accessed – and according to some folks, this may is related to a specific endocrine gland. This Kshetra can be a physical (an organ or physical body location) or internal (a specific space within the body representing the energy of the chakra consciousness).
As Chakras represent the evolution of consciousness from one to many, and hence the creation metaphysics espoused by chakra-based systems, one can work with higher centers directly, if and only if - the level of consciousness permits it. For example, generally, Root Chakra based practices are used to awaken the Kundalini, but more advanced Yogis may rely only on the Ajna (Third-eye) center which is directly related to the root (chakras are symmetric that way) to awaken the energies of the root. In our school of Tantra, Kundalini is awakened in the Solar Plexus chakra and not the root chakra for certain reasons.
Also, Chakras were never practice on their own, but a part of larger systems, one of the tools in the toolkit. Similar to Meridians and Dantien concepts used in other energy systems. It is just that chakras seem to have become more popular in the West through the theosophists (not nadis for some reason).
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Are the Nadis and Meridians part of the same network of channels? AKA do they exist on the same “plane” energetically? Some people equate the Meridians to the Nadis as they are both channels of life force (chi and prana respectively) and furthermore equate chi to prana. But then there are those who say Kundalini raising and microcosmic are not the same thing despite chi/prana going through the spine in both processes, and other people say that the Dan Tiens are unrelated to chakras…I’m very confused 
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There may be some similarities between chakras, dantiens, meridians, nadis etc. But is there any practical use in trying to establish similarity or difference in these systems?
Each of these is a part of different, complete systems of energy development and these systems use them in different ways. Pick any one of these two systems and if practiced well, results come.
Again, these components really are of no practical significance in isolation, but the devil is in the detail - how exactly does a system/toolkit use these components? Certain fire-based Daoist schools may use Dantiens similar to chakras while other water-based schools may have a completely different approach to them. Tibetan Tantric systems use both Daoist and Tantra concepts with a degree of syncretism (Chandali Yoga is their version of Kundalini Yoga).
There is really no one or best way of doing things (there are bad ways of doing them though) - they all have their merits. And many times, availability/access is a key consideration these days - which system can one learn easily with as little of dilution as possible.
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The only thing i’m worried about though is that like, say I listen to this:
Would it accomplish the same goal as this?
Are they both equally important? Or is one more/less necessary than the other and i’m taking up too much space on my playlist?
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I am not sure what the second one exactly does - the first one is a pretty well-established practice from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and can be safely used to improve physical health (assuming the energetics in the video are effective).
I think you should be ok using both of them - I don’t know what exactly the second one does, but the energy certainly does not feel malicious.
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Are there any traditional practices for cleansing your nadis? Or does such a thing not exist?
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Every school of Yoga begins with a purificatory practice. In Tantric schools, it is different, but the most popular way is Nadi Shodhana Pranayama breathing.
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Thanks!
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Vijnanabhairava is an ancient treatise, which takes a different approach to Chakras and Nadis - deploying less of physical methods, but more of meditative/consciousness-based practices to use them. That is another way to approach them - through breath, emotion, location awareness, sexual energy etc.
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Seems I have a few chakra blockages, would you suggest the Sapien Medicine course audios or chakra ones? I ran the former for a bit, but to no avail
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Yoga helps too.
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Very interesting information and thank you for clearing up the ‘fear’ based beliefs with chakras here in the western hemisphere.
I recently bought the solar plexus and heart chakra and today felt different.
People from my past are coming back.
I feel like my inner guidance may be slowly leading me to obtain all the chakra audios eventually.
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Heart and Solar Plexus Chakra Clearing with Growth and Stimulation
i was walking with my dog this morning and what is usually a 15-20min walk turned out to be an hour! i listened to this on loop while letting my dog walk me lol.
the walk started out with misty rain, and like a movie, the more thoughts i cleared out, the sunnier it became.
at one point i stared at the sun and the thread on how the sun sees planets reminded me that the sun only sees us as light. beautiful perspective!
my awareness gradually expanded and it felt like my vision went from seeing through a peephole to my full vision and i was hearing sounds farther from me.
i woke up this morning feeling like i didn’t have enough time to fully relax before the next ‘objective’. i came back home from the walk feeling like there’s enough time to breathe and relax and go at my own pace.
the walk reminded me that when i go at my own pace, it’s also the pace of the universe.
edit:
Feburary 6, 2021
i slept with only sacral and base and heart and solar plexus chakra audios looping.
i started having romantic visuals that made me genuinely smile. no forced smiles! hearing a crush call me by my name was very sweet.
i was dreaming that i was playing games with my friends. i progressively felt higher and higher. it makes me wonder if i really need marijuana if i get the same effects with the audio and no drowsiness or paranoia.
i got so high at one point in my dream that i woke up. usually it’s the other way around lol.
i woke up to my crush texting me and our conversation felt so natural.
i felt very confident and just told him exactly what my heart felt like telling him. the way he texted gave me a feeling that he was excited to talk to me. a reason why i feel this was is because he texts differently in our group chats.
with conceptual realizations audio, i’m starting to understand the timing between me and my romantic interest. there’s definitely reasons to why we aren’t connecting at the times i really want to connect.
i grew up always putting my crush on a pedestal and being like:
with all these awesome morphic fields i feel like i am more confident to tell my crush how i really feel about our relationship even if i’m scared of how he will take it.
when it comes to everyone else in my life, it’s so easy to reach out to them. when it comes to romance, there’s so many thoughts and beliefs that block me and i have to go through them to connect with him.
i feel like no amount of reading and watching romance will ever match up to actually talking to the guys i like and spending quality time with them.
again, these chakra audios are so amazingly affordable. they were the ones i always wanted to get, but for some reason never did until now.
i’m going to buy the final two as i was reminded of memories in high school that related a lot to my right brain and ‘alien’ visuals and feelings.
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@Maoshan_Wanderer I saw you’re explanation of the Sri chakra, and it got me curious about your perception of the other “extra Chakras”. If you were able to, could you offer your insights on some other Chakras for me, and whether you personally believe in them or not?
- Earth Star
- Soul Star
- Higher Heart
- Sacred Heart (Hrit)
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There are 72,000 nadis and 108 chakras - so I am pretty sure there’s enough room to accomodate all/any chakras haha. I don’t see any issues with these chakras. PI, for some of his claims that I disagree with, does borrow Hrit Chakra (hrit = heart) from Ramana Maharshi’s teachings and Maharshi describes this chakra based on his practical experience.
Chakras are a construct, often a useful way, to interact with the energy body. There is a lot of flexibility in approaching them, as long as we are not going totally outlandish
We need to abandon all constructs at some point, the key though is to do that only at the right time, and not throw the baby out with the bath water.
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