Chakras and the Human Energy System

By Lina Mookerjee, BWY Course Tutor and Psychotherapist

Energy – life force – consciousness – vitality – spirituality – creativity

Over the last thirty years, these words have moved from the margins into everyday conversation, appearing in workplaces, healthcare settings and even mainstream media. Their growing presence points to a widening curiosity in what lies beyond the purely physical, and an openness to the metaphysical.

Knowing and understanding one’s own life, energy, and experiences is vital for self-regulation, health and wellbeing. Yet in a world of constant mental noise, subtle awareness is easily drowned out, leaving less space to notice what is really happening inside. Two elements can help redress this: a receptive environment and supportive ideas that help make sense of inner experience.​

Winter offers a natural container for deeper reflection. The darker days and a slower rhythm invite rest, quiet, and turning inward, creating conditions where calm, sensitivity, and fresh insights can emerge more easily. Aligning with this seasonal energy can make it simpler to pause, listen and notice what the body, heart and mind are quietly asking for.​

Frameworks like the chakra system can give language and structure to what is felt but hard to name, helping us recognise patterns and respond with greater clarity and compassion. In this article, you are invited to explore how the chakras might speak to your own experience and become a practical, living guide in daily life.

Chakras recognise that being human involves processing life-energy within a complex, multidimensional existence. Our life-energy is life, and the experiences, relationships and choices that make up a lived life. To understand this involves making sense of the past, noticing how it shapes the present as well as how it extends into the future. In this kind of inquiry, our beliefs, values and guiding principles become visible, revealing the foundations on which a life is built.

The rise of the internet (as a powerful communication medium and highway) means that human beings are more exposed to information than ever before. Data processing methods are evolving in various ways to cope with and manage demand.

As a trained electrical engineer, psychotherapist, and yoga practitioner, I am fascinated by how we, as humans, are evolving in response to and in reaction to our rapidly changing external and internal environments. In this age of constant information and easy access to data, we have more opportunities to expand our awareness of ourselves, other people, our relationships, how we cope with change, how we find inner and outer stability, and what it means to be truly healthy in body, mind and spirit. From both personal and professional experience, the chakra system can be a powerful tool for making sense of life’s experiences and supporting our ongoing growth – an ancient map that helps us stay grounded in the reality of contemporary life.

Here are four invitations to explore the Chakras and the Human Energy System. Each one offers a different way to reflect on your own life and experience:

1. You are more than you think you are

The chakra system suggests that being human means we are always capable of growth and creativity, driven by an inner urge to become who we truly are. This natural drive can be blocked by negative beliefs about ourselves, often shaped by our families, schooling and the wider society, which can hold back our development.

Chakras can be understood as metaphors for seven different levels of consciousness, covering the full range of a person’s potential. In this view, the human energy system (through channels such as the nadis) and the nervous system work together as a kind of network that gives us access to these different states of awareness.

2. To develop self-awareness

This is about understanding who you are through your thoughts and emotions, and how these shape your personality and behaviour. Developing and increasing self-awareness is a key part of creating a fulfilling life because it helps you see more clearly what you need, want, believe and dream of, as well as what no longer serves you. Over time, you can notice that ideas, roles or habits that once fitted you may now be out of date. By becoming clearer with yourself, you are better able to make informed choices that align with your present self.  This is fifth chakra consciousness.

3. To develop inner strength, stamina and courage

Any kind of self-development work requires willingness and courage; there must be a genuine desire to look within. Manipura, the third chakra, is closely linked with this inner fire – the strength and stamina needed to stay with a lifelong process of growth and evolution. Many hatha yoga practices focus on the solar plexus region, and it is no accident: this centre is associated with personal power, confidence and the capacity to act.

4. To embody spiritual awareness in everyday life

The Chakra system assumes that our physical and spiritual dimensions coexist and are vital and of equal importance. Engaging sixth- and seventh-chakra consciousness by asking questions such as ‘What does spirituality mean to me?’ and ‘How can it be useful in my life?’ can be a turning point from simply following external teachings to developing an informed, lived sense of knowing. This can gradually transform the whole fabric of the ‘life-lived’ and yet-to-be-lived.

If you wish to continue your inquiry through further reading or through direct, embodied practice, the 30-hour Praxis/BWY Chakra module (March to September 2026) is open to all learners who want to develop their personal practice and to those seeking CPD.