What is chakra balancing?
Chakra balancing is an energy practice built on the belief that the body has a series of energy centers, the chakras, and that these can become blocked, underactive or overactive. Practitioners aim to sense the state of each chakra and, through touch, hands held above the body, breath, intention or ritual, to help energy move through them more freely.
Those are the practice's own terms. The existence of chakras as physical or energetic structures has not been established by scientific evidence, and chakra balancing is not a treatment for any physical or mental health condition. What follows explains where the idea comes from and how it is used today.
Where does the idea of chakras come from?
Cakra is Sanskrit for wheel. The concept belongs to what scholars call subtle-body practices, which Geoffrey Samuel and Jay Johnston, in their academic study Religion and the Subtle Body in Asia and the West, describe as assuming a level of human existence between conventional ideas of body and mind. In India, chakras are part of Tantric traditions, Hindu and Buddhist, that flourished in the medieval period and are still practiced.
In those traditions, chakras are focal points for meditation, visualized as wheels or lotuses where subtle channels meet. The Sanskrit scholar and teacher Christopher Wallis emphasizes that the classical texts are prescriptive: they tell a practitioner what to visualize in order to reach a spiritual goal, rather than describing anatomy that exists for everyone.
There was never one chakra system
Different Tantric lineages taught different maps. Kurt Leland, in his history of the Western chakra system, notes that Indian systems ranged from as few as four chakras to as many as forty-nine. Wallis lists five-, six-, seven-, nine-, ten-, twelve- and twenty-one-chakra systems, depending on the text and lineage. The six-plus-one arrangement familiar today is only one of these, drawn largely from a 16th-century text later translated into English.
How did the Western chakra system develop?
The version of the chakras found in most yoga studios and energy work today is largely a 20th-century Western synthesis. According to Leland, Sir John Woodroffe, writing as Arthur Avalon, published The Serpent Power in 1919, the first scholarly English treatment of one Indian chakra system. In 1927 the Theosophist Charles W. Leadbeater published The Chakras, which blended Indian material with other esoteric ideas.
Leland traces how two familiar features were added in the West: the rainbow color sequence and the list of psychological qualities, such as grounding, sexuality, power and compassion, assigned to each chakra. He dates their first combination in print to 1977. Later, energy healers such as Barbara Brennan tied the chakras to layers of the human aura.
None of this makes modern chakra work illegitimate as a spiritual practice. It does mean that the popular system is a recent adaptation, not an unchanged ancient teaching, and that it differs in important ways from its Indian sources. Describing it accurately is a form of respect for both.
What happens in a chakra balancing session?
Practice varies a great deal. In many Western sessions the recipient lies clothed on a table while the practitioner moves their hands along the body's midline, from the base of the spine to the crown of the head, working with each chakra in turn. Some practitioners use touch, some keep their hands above the body, and some combine the work with breath or guided attention.
Practitioners typically describe sensing where energy feels heavy or stuck and working to clear or open it. As with other energy practices, what the recipient notices, such as warmth, relaxation or nothing in particular, is a subjective experience rather than evidence that a chakra has changed.
What is the Four Winds approach to the chakras?
Laura Bass was mentored in chakra balancing in the lineage of the Four Winds. The organization is The Four Winds Society, founded by Alberto Villoldo, whom the organization describes as a psychologist and medical anthropologist. It teaches what it calls shamanic energy medicine, presented as drawing on the traditions of the Andes.
In the Four Winds teaching, the body is surrounded by a Luminous Energy Field, and the chakras are points through which imprints from past experiences are believed to affect a person. Its signature session, the Illumination Process, is described by Four Winds as clearing heavy energy from one chakra and one issue at a time. These are the organization's own claims about how its work operates, and they have not been tested or established by scientific research.
Laura's training
Laura's complementary trainings, listed on her About page, include mentorship in chakra balancing and training in Incan Peruvian energy work. She keeps this work separate from her psychotherapy practice. Whether she currently offers chakra balancing, and how a session with her would run, is a question to ask Laura. The page on Andean energy work covers the Andean-inspired side of the Four Winds teaching.
Common questions
How many chakras are there?
It depends on the tradition. Most modern Western sources teach seven, running from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. Historical Indian texts describe many different systems, from four chakras to several dozen, and no single number is the original. The seven-chakra model is one system that became dominant through 20th-century Western writing.
Are chakra colors traditional?
The rainbow sequence, red at the base through violet at the crown, is a Western addition. Historian Kurt Leland traces it to 20th-century esoteric writers and dates its pairing with psychological qualities in print to 1977. Classical Indian texts describe chakras as lotuses with specific petals, syllables and deities rather than a rainbow sequence.
Is there scientific evidence for chakras?
No. Chakras have not been identified as anatomical or physical structures, and there is no scientific evidence for the energy fields that chakra balancing and similar practices describe. NCCIH makes this point about the energy field in Reiki. Some people value chakra work as a spiritual or contemplative practice; that is different from it being a validated health treatment.
Can chakra balancing help with anxiety or depression?
Chakra balancing is not a treatment for anxiety, depression or any other condition, and it should not replace psychological or medical care. If you are struggling with your mood, anxiety or a health concern, please talk to a mental health professional or your doctor. At Laura Bass Counseling, psychotherapy is a separate service from complementary work.