The Chakras: More than decorations on Yoga Studio Walls
I've been doing subtle energy body work for close to a decade now, and chakras were one of the first frameworks I actually trusted enough to build a practice around. Not because the colorful charts are pretty, though they are, but because the system maps onto something real: the body holds different kinds of charge in different places, and learning to feel that directly changes how you move through the rest of your life.
The seven centers, briefly
Worth saying up front: the seven-chakra map is the version most people in the West know, but it's not the only one, and it's not even the oldest. Depending on which tradition and which text you're reading, you'll find systems describing five, six, nine, twelve, or in some of the older Hindu sources, well over a hundred subtle energy points throughout the body. The seven-center model most modern Western Tantra traditions work with primarily comes from a specific 16th-century Sanskrit text that reached English readers in the early 20th century, and it's the version that's proven most useful as a working framework, not because it's the complete map. I hold the same understanding: energy in the body is bigger and more layered than seven neat points on a chart, and the seven-chakra system is a genuinely useful lens, not the whole picture.
- Root (Muladhara), at the base of the spine, your sense of grounding and safety.
- Sacral (Svadhisthana), just below the navel, your emotional life, your creativity, your sexuality.
- Solar plexus (Manipura), upper abdomen, your personal power and self-trust.
- Heart (Anahata), center of the chest, your capacity for love and real connection.
- Throat (Vishuddha), your voice, your ability to say the true thing out loud.
- Third eye (Ajna), center of the forehead, intuition and insight.
- Crown (Sahasrara), the very top of the head, your connection to something larger than yourself.
Seven centers, one continuous system. When one is blocked, it rarely stays isolated, the effects ripple through the others.
Where this connects to Tantra
This is where the chakra system stops being abstract for me and becomes the actual ground I work from. Tantra treats the sacral and root chakras as central to the practice, not peripheral to it, because sexual energy and creative energy run through the exact same channel. A blocked root chakra often shows up as chronic anxiety, disconnection from your own body, a felt sense that the ground under you isn't stable. A blocked sacral chakra shows up as numbness, shame around desire, creativity that feels stuck no matter how hard you push at it.
This is precisely the territory the Eros pillar of my work lives in. Tantric practice, breathwork, embodiment work, isn't separate from chakra alignment, it's often the most direct way into it. You can read about the root chakra for years. Sitting with your own breath and actually feeling where you're braced against the ground tends to teach you more in twenty minutes than the reading did.
Ways to actually work with this
Meditation, done with intention, focusing attention on a specific center and staying with whatever arises there, rather than rushing through all seven at once.
Yoga, particularly poses built around hip opening and grounding, which tend to speak directly to the root and sacral centers.
Tantric and embodiment practices, breathwork and body-based work that moves energy rather than just thinking about it moving.
Energy work like Reiki, working with a practitioner to help clear what's stuck when you can't quite get there alone.
Scent, used with real intention, lavender for the crown, rose for the heart, small tools that can genuinely support a deeper practice.
One honest boundary here: chakra work is not a substitute for medical or mental health treatment. If you're navigating something serious, please have a licensed professional as part of your care, alongside this work, not instead of it. What this practice offers is a way back into your own body, one center at a time, and for a lot of the men I work with, that's the piece that was missing the whole time.
References
Judith, A. (2004). Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self. Celestial Arts.
Kelesidis, A. (2019). Chakra Balancing: A Guide to Healing and Awakening Your Energy Body. Althea Press.
Mohanan, K., & Sundaramurthy, J. (2018). A comparative study of the effect of yoga and Reiki in reducing stress among college students. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 7, 47.
Sengupta, P. (2012). Health Impacts of Yoga and Pranayama: A State-of-the-Art Review. International Journal of Preventive Medicine, 3(7), 444-458.
Tomlinson, L. (2019). The Complete Guide to Chakras: Vintage Edition. Althea Press.
