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Judi's avatar

Is there any scientific evidence for Chakras?

Asked by Judi (40025points) September 6th, 2011

I have recently begun doing yoga and I am trying to sort through the valid positive physical effects and the more “woo woo” aspects. Have there ever been any scientific research done on Chakras? Have they proven their existence? I’m a little vague.
I am keeping this question in the “general” section, because I don’t want this to turn into a list of magic things that have happened when people opened their chakras. I also don’t want it to turn into an atheist fest, calling all people who believe in something they can’t see as crazy. I don’t know a lot about Chakras. I just want to know if it is a totally spiritual thing, or if they can be backed up scientifically.

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9 Answers

cockswain's avatar

Not that I’ve heard of. I used to believe in them when I was younger because, well, my hippie friends told me they were real and adults had written books about them. These days I don’t believe in them because I’ve seen no evidence they exist.

Cruiser's avatar

I looked and couldn’t find much of anything. I think it would be like asking if there is scientific proof for a “feeling”. Chi is another energy that is bantered about. I believe both are real because I can actually feel them with my hands. Can I prove this? Nope.

Either way I think you will find you can have a better yoga experience if you do understand the theory behind the Chakras and how they can relate to your own energy flow in your body as a big part of Yoga is to interact and improve the flow of your energy which of course on a physical level is your circulation and nervous system and this is accomplished through the proper execution and alignment of the different Asanas you do. There is a lot to this Yoga stuff and the more you know the better your practice will become.

rOs's avatar

I could only find a couple examples of it being tested scientifically, but if my opinion was based on what I could find on the internet, I’d probably conclude that there is no such thing.

That said- I’ve found plenty of subjective evidence to prove otherwise. As @Cruiser said, I can ‘feel’ chi with my hands, and I can sense ‘good’ or ‘bad’ ‘vibes’ in people and situations. I hold my own experiences to be self-evident. I don’t think I could provide enough evidence to change anyone’s mind online, but I do know that yoga is one of the best ways to find out for yourself!

WillWorkForChocolate's avatar

I honestly don’t know if there’s any scientific evidence, but I do know that I’ve “felt” a difference when I’ve had my chakras adjusted. I’m with @Cruiser on this.

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shalom's avatar

Cruiser, yes you can prove Chi. It is really difficult to explain to Western people because your environment, your world view is shaped differently and that perception causes you to perceive things differently. I am western-educated and was an extreme skeptic. But I guess what helped is my extreme curiosity to prove things wrong which then turns otherwise and I end up a strong believer.

Also, if you lived here I can bring you places where u will literaly be blown away when a chi field is created during qigong or at least bring u to genuine, compassionate masters who will guide you to sense and channel chi.

because i live in such a world where informed, educated people practice qigong with a critical yet open mindset I am convinced. You do start out with a scientific mind – provided your own judgment will not cloud your own scientific probe.

There is a lot more day-to-day experiences here to explore, question and test to gain your own validation.

Let me know if you would like to visit my city and I will bring u to all the right places and all the right people to answer these questions on Energy. However, attitude is really important.

If u want to know for the sake of pooh-pooh ing it it’s pointless. If u want to know because you have a genuine compassion to help others heal, help others not be tricked, help yourself heal and transcend then OK.

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rOs's avatar

I can attest to that-

My girlfriend, who is going into medicine, is a skeptic (which is good because she keeps me grounded). To humor me, she picked up a book on energy medicine from a western perspective. She found a well written book called Anatomy of the Spirit. It was very accessible- while giving credence to the Asian interpretations, the author also cites supporting western literature. It not only corroborates what @shalom said, but it also convinced us to reconsider our firmly held beliefs about how our bodies work.

(relationships greatly benefit from this ‘energy awareness’ – nudge, wink wink)

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