As subtle energy centres, the Chakras have effects on your being across a range of levels. On the physical plane, the Chakras influence your endocrine system and your health, especially through the Root Chakra. The stomach Chakra is particularly connected with the etheric plane, which is concerned with the distribution of energy. This Chakra helps to coordinate the movement of energy in the body through the Nadis.
The Astral and the Spiritual
On the astral plane the Chakras work on emotions and help maintain the integrity of the astral body through the Throat Chakra. Through the mental plane the Chakras work with the physical energies and senses, an area also covered by the Third Eye Chakra. On the spiritual plane the Chakras act as the receptacle for the divine spark within each of your - the Crown Chakra.
The Five Planes of Existence
The five planes represent everything in existence.
- Physical plane - the solid material plane you exist on, where your body gathers information through your five senses.
- Etheric plane - the interconnected energy flows from living things, overlaying and occupying the same space as the physical plane.
- Astral plane - the realm of dreams and astral beings, usually accessed consciously by astral projection or in lucid dreams.
- Mental plane - the realm of pure thought, intuition and inspiration. Also known as the astral realms as it has different landscapes to that of the three lower planes.
- Spiritual Plane - the realms of spiritual beings, where entities such as angels and the souls of the departed reside.
The Chakras and Reality
All of the Chakras in the body are linked to the different planes of existence, but some are more significant than others.
Root Chakra
The Root Chakra governs your basic instincts, like survival, and the need to mate - the essence of physical continuity. This is why the Root Chakra is the one most connected to the physical plane.
The Root Chakra also links directly to the minor Chakras in your feet, connecting you to the physical solidity of the ground beneath you. Everyone lives in the physical plane where reality is define solely by sensory experience.
Stomach Chakra
If you've ever had a 'gut feeling' about something then you know that the Stomach Chakra is open to the subtle energies that surround you all the time. These energies are locate in the etheric plane.
Your Stomach Chakra also governs digestion in the body, which provides you with energy, something which again associates it with the activities of the etheric plane, where energy is being released all of the time.
Throat Chakra
You would be forgiven for expecting the astral plane to be linked to the Third Eye Chakra. In a way it is, but the dominant link is to the Throat Chakra, which is your centre of dreaming.
The astral plane overlays the physical plane, making objects look less tangible and sometimes shiny and brightly-coloured as you perceive the emotional charge attached to objects and people.
Third Eye Chakra
The Third Eye Chakra is the centre of your psychic sense, where you get flashes of intuition. It is linked to the energies of the mental plane, which are abstract, as it is the lane of pure creative thought.
Many spiritual illustrations from India depict Yogis and deities with their Third Eye open, to show that they have advanced to the point of being able to access the energies of this plane consciously.
Crown Chakra
The Crown Chakra is where the soul resides in the human body - it is the spark of the divine essence of life. As such it is connected to the strand of existence known as the spiritual plane.
The Spiritual Realm
When people channel other beings such as angels or departed souls, they do so by opening their Crown Chakra and making the link on the spiritual plane to enable such communication.
Meditating on the Crown Chakra as a thousand-petalled white lotus and visualising it opening its petals to be filled with brilliant white light from the heavens may help you experience this sort of contact, but it can take a lot of practice and does not occur easily.