Today globally a lot is spoken about Chakras and their impact on evolution of the self .

The Chakras as we know them are not just a yogic concept, they occur in various forms across civilisations and religions in various scriptures.

Why are the Chakras so significant ?

There is a physical significance of the chakras which manifests into our general health and well being. Each of the chakras corresponds to a vital organ, plexus ( that is a vital junction of nerve fibres) or to a major part of the endocrine system. Thus awareness and focus on the Chakras helps regulate and maintain well , various body functions.

But more importantly, the chakras help us to evolve our minds and thinking process as we ascend from one chakra to the next, thus refining ourselves as human beings and getting us to lead a better and higher quality of life.

Right at the base , we have the Mooladhara chakra which is concerned with our basic thought process , focussed on basic needs of food, water, shelter without much aspirations to a higher level of thought process.

Then is the Swadishthana chakra located at the base of the spine, right at the tail bone. At a thought process level, individuals operating through this chakra tend to be more focussed on basal needs.

Both the Mooladhara chakra and the Swadishthan chakra are concerned with basic needs and thought processes . Working through these 2 chakras, individuals display lethargy and a largely negative thought process.

Then we come to the Manipura chakra placed on the spine just behind the navel.  Incidentally this is the point which also houses the solar plexus – a bundle of nerves, that are responsible for several functions across the body. Thus, the Manipura chakra is associated with dynamism of thought and action.

Then we come to the Anahata chakra. A Chakra associated with the heart, both physically and behaviourally. This chakra is situated on the spine just behind the chest bone or sternum. It influences the functioning of the heart and respiratory system on a physical level. Good area to focus on for heart patients and high blood pressure . At a psychic level, this chakra deals with the ability to feel and demonstrate compassion, love, affection towards others. This is the stage at which the higher centers of the brain open up to going beyond the self , towards a feeling and attitude of team work.

You can see, how with each chakra we are designed to evolve ourselves further.

Then we come to the Vishuddhi Chakra . Situated at the spine , right behind the base of the throat , this chakra has a large impact on the entire endocrine system. Focus on this chakra, improves ability to communicate and influence others and the environment.

Then we come to the Agnya Chakra which we focus on at the eyebrow center as this is its basic sphere of influence. This is a Chakra that largely influences the pineal gland. The pineal gland normally wears off around puberty. However, when kept active through various yoga practices is known to help awaken dormant centers of the brain helping one to access latent potential. Thus the Agnya chakra is the center of higher awareness. Focus on this center builds expansion of awareness, clarity of thought and decision making and grows the intuitive abilities of an individual.

Surely focussing on each chakra can help us evolve into better humans and lead a more spiritually rewarding existence.

In case this theory of the Chakras sounds too ambiguous to any of us, it is reinforced by the fact that it exists across various cultures in some form or the other. Not only that, it is also strongly supported by management theory. Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs too talks about an ascending structure of needs .

The pyramid starts at the base with man’s basic needs for food , shelter , water and security which are represented in Chakra language by the Mooladhara, Swadishthana and the Manipura chakras. Then Maslow’s theory talks about Social needs represented by the Anahata and Vishuddhi Chakras and finally the need for self esteem and self actualisation represented by the Agnya Chakra. Thus we can see that the science of Chakras is not far from contemporary management theories.

The science of Chakras can be hugely leveraged to map human behavior, improve employee efficiency, creativity and productivity through understanding of individual level of needs and behavior. Various techniques in yoga help an individual to evolve himself/ herself into a much more productive and creative resource.