Kundalini and the chakras, plainly

Kundalini means “the coiled one”. In the tantric and haṭha yoga texts it is pictured as an energy lying asleep at the base of the spine, coiled three and a half times. As practice deepens, the texts say, it wakes and rises through a central channel to the crown of the head, and the rising is the inner side of awakening.

Where the map comes from

The seven-chakra picture most people know today was set down in a Sanskrit text of 1577, the Ṣaṭ-cakra-nirūpaṇa, “the description of the six centres”, by Pūrṇānanda. It describes six centres along the spine and a seventh, the thousand-petalled lotus, above the head. It reached English readers in 1919, in Sir John Woodroffe’s translation, The Serpent Power. Older texts describe different numbers of centres. The seven is a convention, not a measurement.

The subtle body in these texts has three main channels, nāḍīs: iḍā on the left, cool, linked with the moon; piṅgalā on the right, warm, linked with the sun; and suṣumnā in the centre, the path the energy rises through. Breathing practices that balance the two nostrils, like alternate-nostril breathing, are described as balancing iḍā and piṅgalā.

The seven, briefly

From the base: Mūlādhāra, the root, grounding; Svādhiṣṭhāna, below the navel, feeling and flow; Maṇipūra, the navel, will and effort; Anāhata, the heart, kindness; Viśuddha, the throat, truthful speech; Ājñā, between the eyebrows, insight; Sahasrāra, the crown, awareness itself. Each has an element, a seed sound and a number of petals in the tradition. The chakra section on the home page shows them one by one.

What research can and cannot say

Anatomy has no chakras. No scan finds a wheel at the heart or a channel along the spine. That is not a reason to dismiss the map: it describes how attention and sensation feel from the inside, and people across many traditions report similar things. The practices that go with it, slow breathing, steady posture, attention placed in the body, have measurable effects on the nervous system. Hold the map lightly and the practices seriously.

Practise slowly

The texts themselves warn against forcing the process, and teachers still do. Some people who push intense breathing and long retentions report agitation, sleeplessness or strong sensations they cannot settle. So:

• Build on the basics first: posture, slow breathing, short sits.
• Never strain or hold the breath to discomfort.
• If you have a history of panic, psychosis or seizures, or are pregnant, practise gently and talk to a teacher and a doctor before anything intense.
• Learn from a teacher in person when you want to go further. That is what the classes are for.