"Prana" is energy, which pools to form currents (nadi) and vortices (cakra). Sometimes these currents are understood as "conduits" analogous to blood vessels, while the cakras are confused with nerve plexuses."
"Some Western medical authorities even went so far as to suggest that the cakra system is merely a poorly conceived anatomical model.
It is true that there are certain correspondences between the structures of the subtle body and the anatomical organs and endocrine system of the physical body, but these are parallel or analogous rather than identical.
Most significantly, while the nerve plexuses are located outside the spinal column, the cakras are described as being inside the central channel, which is situated inside what on the physical level would be the spinal column.
Obviously, the cakras cannot be found by dissecting the body but by entering a meditative state and experiencing the energy field from within or by adjusting one's external perception to a higher frequency (namely, that of clairvoyance).
To clairvoyant vision, the subtle body appears as a radiant, shimmering energy field that is in constant internal motion and is criss-crossed by luminous filaments, or tendrils. Unlike the physical body, which appears solid and stable, it is neither compact nor rigid. Although it contains regions of relative stability, the subtle body is highly responsive to the mind and reflects a person's changing mental states quite faithfully.
The most stable structures of the subtle body are known as "wheels" (cakras) or "lotuses" (padma) because of their circular form and whirling motion and also because of the way in which the prana currents terminate at or issue from them.
These major configurations of our "subtle anatomy" are especially responsive to mental manipulation and therefore are often made the focal points of meditation and visualization.
Many Tantric teachers speak of seven principal psychoenergetic centers, but some schools list five, and others name nine, ten, eleven, or very many more. Some writers have interpreted this divergence as a sign that the cakras are purely imaginary. This is contradicted by most Tantric texts themselves, quite apart from the fact that Eastern and Western clairvoyants have independently provided similar descriptions of these subtle "organs". Furthermore, the Japanese master and researcher Hiroshi Motoyama has been able to objectively demonstrate the existence of cakras by means of an apparatus measuring the body's bioenergetic currents.
In contrast to this, some Tantric works treat the cakras as creations of intense yogic visualization; one such work is the Ananda-Lahari, ascribed to Shankara. However it is possible to reconcile both interpretations insofar as concentration on the cakras energizes them, making them more luminous and hence also more visible to clairvoyant sight. In the ordinary person, as most Tantric authorities would agree, the cakras are functioning at a minimal level and therefore have been compared to drooping, closed lotus flowers. From a yogic point of view, they can be said barely to exist. Through inner work, however, they automatically become more active, opening like lotuses in full bloom and extending upward toward the Light (which is really omnipresent)."
(quoted from the chapter on 'The Subtle Body and Its Environment' in the book 'TANTRA - The Path of Ecstasy' by Georg Feuerstein)
"Some Western medical authorities even went so far as to suggest that the cakra system is merely a poorly conceived anatomical model.
It is true that there are certain correspondences between the structures of the subtle body and the anatomical organs and endocrine system of the physical body, but these are parallel or analogous rather than identical.
Most significantly, while the nerve plexuses are located outside the spinal column, the cakras are described as being inside the central channel, which is situated inside what on the physical level would be the spinal column.
Obviously, the cakras cannot be found by dissecting the body but by entering a meditative state and experiencing the energy field from within or by adjusting one's external perception to a higher frequency (namely, that of clairvoyance).
To clairvoyant vision, the subtle body appears as a radiant, shimmering energy field that is in constant internal motion and is criss-crossed by luminous filaments, or tendrils. Unlike the physical body, which appears solid and stable, it is neither compact nor rigid. Although it contains regions of relative stability, the subtle body is highly responsive to the mind and reflects a person's changing mental states quite faithfully.
The most stable structures of the subtle body are known as "wheels" (cakras) or "lotuses" (padma) because of their circular form and whirling motion and also because of the way in which the prana currents terminate at or issue from them.
These major configurations of our "subtle anatomy" are especially responsive to mental manipulation and therefore are often made the focal points of meditation and visualization.
Many Tantric teachers speak of seven principal psychoenergetic centers, but some schools list five, and others name nine, ten, eleven, or very many more. Some writers have interpreted this divergence as a sign that the cakras are purely imaginary. This is contradicted by most Tantric texts themselves, quite apart from the fact that Eastern and Western clairvoyants have independently provided similar descriptions of these subtle "organs". Furthermore, the Japanese master and researcher Hiroshi Motoyama has been able to objectively demonstrate the existence of cakras by means of an apparatus measuring the body's bioenergetic currents.
In contrast to this, some Tantric works treat the cakras as creations of intense yogic visualization; one such work is the Ananda-Lahari, ascribed to Shankara. However it is possible to reconcile both interpretations insofar as concentration on the cakras energizes them, making them more luminous and hence also more visible to clairvoyant sight. In the ordinary person, as most Tantric authorities would agree, the cakras are functioning at a minimal level and therefore have been compared to drooping, closed lotus flowers. From a yogic point of view, they can be said barely to exist. Through inner work, however, they automatically become more active, opening like lotuses in full bloom and extending upward toward the Light (which is really omnipresent)."(quoted from the chapter on 'The Subtle Body and Its Environment' in the book 'TANTRA - The Path of Ecstasy' by Georg Feuerstein)
