The Truth About Chakras and Christianity: Separating the Baby From the Bathwater

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What is the truth about chakras and Christianity? Why is there so much controversy around chakras and the Bible? Recently, while preparing to teach my next online Christian Yoga Study for Getting Still, I ran into a little predicament. When trying to study energy and the chakras from a Biblical perspective, I found very little research on the topic. Instead stumbled into a whole lot of controversy. It’s ok. I am not new to this kind of controversy. As a Christian practitioner and teacher of yoga, I have been here before.

Where did chakras originate? Most of the teachings on yoga, energy, and the chakras all have their historical origins in the East and have been explained primarily through an Eastern worldview. Because of this, many Christians have written these concepts off as occult or new age (or what I like to refer to as “woo woo”). Let’s explore the truth about chakras and Christianity.

Beth Hovis writes in It’s not new, It’s true: Chakra and Christianity,

“One thing that many Christians have against chakras is the teaching of opening up and balancing our beings beginning at the root because the Hindu religion is part of the teaching…For our safety, God tells us not to worship Him the way that the other nations worship their gods. And I am not telling you to ignore His warnings.”

The Truth About Chakras and Christianity

You might ask what are the dangers of chakras? Christians must be discerning when dealing with concepts that were birthed through another culture and worldview. However, Christians should not be too quick to dismiss the wisdom found in these teachings and take care not to “throw the baby out with the bathwater”.

The fact that energy in the subtle body has primarily been studied in the East and been taught from an Eastern worldview does not disqualify this energy from being real. Likewise, it does not prevent observations of energy in the body from being true. When approaching energy theories as a Christian, we would do well to practice discernment. In other words, we have to learn to separate the baby (wisdom) from the bathwater (worldview)!

This kind of discernment is found throughout the history of the Church. In her book Splankna: The Redemption of Energy Healing for the Kingdom of God, Sarah J. Theissen writes, “We would be hard-pressed to find anything that can trace its roots to purely biblical foundations. The entire field of medicine is rooted in the worship of Greek gods… Christians do not villainize the practice of modern medicine because of these philosophical origins”.

If we are to take a redemptive approach in this world, we must work at discerning, sifting, and separating concepts and observations about the world from the worldview through which they were discovered. So let us begin by diving into a couple of basic questions about energy and the chakra system.

What is energy?

In order to understand the chakras, we must first take a moment to learn about the subtle body. Tias Little in his book, Yoga and the Subtle Body describes the subtle body as “that which is fine, delicate, and infinitesimally small such as an atomic particle”. The subtle body, as its name suggests, is the aspect of our being which cannot be seen by the naked eye. Composed of various layers called koshas, the subtle body is thought to hold our life force or vital energy. This energy flows in a complex loop resembling rivers and streams weaving through, around, and beyond the physical body. Where these streams and rivers of energy collide, a chakra is found.

What are chakras?

So what is chakra? The word chakra is a Sanskrit word most often translated as “spinning wheel”. We find chakras explained not as actual physical structures in the body but to swirls of energy created by energetic intersections within the subtle body.

Many traditions have taught about these energy centers thus making for many different chakra systems. The system most popular in the West is the seven chakra system which became popular in the 16th century (The Real Story on the Chakras by Chris Wallace)

In this modernized chakra system, each chakra has been associated with a major endocrine gland as well as a major nerve plexus. The energy found in each chakra is thought to affect the systems that the glands and the nerves control. If the energy in a chakra becomes unbalanced, it can manifest as disease. This is why it becomes important to know how to unblock chakras, how to align chakras, and how to keep energy balanced.

In more recent teachings, such as Anodea Judith’s books Wheels of Life and Eastern Body, Western Mind each chakra is not only associated with certain bodily glands and functions, but they are also associated with certain elements, colors, minerals, specific herbs and foods, as well as various emotional, psychological, and spiritual states of being.

The Truth About Chakras and Christianity: a new model for health?

So what do the chakras have to offer us? When exploring the concept of energy held in our subtle bodies, we find an ancient model of medicine that has been utilized effectively in the East for thousands of years. By becoming educated about the chakra systems we may just discover a potentially powerful means for balancing the nervous and endocrine systems and a new tool for establishing vitality in the body and mind. If we are serious about our well-being, it makes sense to glean wisdom from a model of health and wellness that has been utilized in the East for ages!

As Christians, we believe that all healing comes from God. So what is the relationship between the 7 chakras and God… How do chakras and the bible relate? Or what about Holy Spirit and chakras? The energy model of medicine is meant to reach beyond merely the physical aspect of our being. Originally, the chakras were utilized as focal points for meditation with the intention of stimulating divine energies in different points in the subtle body. This system of health offers potential for healing on the physical, mental, AND spiritual levels.

The dangers of chakras… the need for discernment

There are valid reasons that there is controversy around chakras and Christianity! If you were to google these subjects, you would find numerous teachings from various world-views ranging from Hindu to New Age. While evidence is growing which points to the physical benefits of energy work in the body, the question of spiritual safety still lingers for many Christians.

Father Thomas Ryan points out an important consideration regarding chakras and the Bible in his writings. He reminds us that all of God’s Creation can be used for good or for evil according to man’s will. He says,

“Whether this (energy awakening) is for good or evil is another question all together… awakening may or may not bring about a deeper union with God, for union with God is effected through love and surrender and not simply through increased consciousness or awareness. The awakening experience can help one to bring greater energies into the service of love, but free will continues, and with it the possibility of misusing the considerable powers released for selfish motives.”

Chakras and the Bible: a redemptive stance

If we, as Christians, believe that ALL things were made by God for God’s purposes, then we must consider how energy can be used for God’s purposes and according to his design. When balancing the energies in and through the chakras…

How can we call upon Jehovah Rophe, the God who heals?

Can we invite the healing power of Jesus into the chakras?

How might the healing Presence of the Holy Spirit help to balance our energies?

As we seek to answer questions around the truth about chakras and Christianity through a redemptive stance, we will need discernment. We must learn to separate observations about Creation from the worldview through which they were discovered. Essentially, it boils down to learning to separate the baby from the bathwater.

If we are successful, we might just receive the gift of a new model of health and wellness from the East. We might be able to experience the healing found in Christ in new and powerful ways. As we find the chakras explained from a Biblical perspective, we will experience the wonder of God’s glory, seeing the world with new eyes and catching a glimpse of the intricate design of his Creation. We might find new meaning in the Holy Scriptures when they proclaim “I am fearfully and wonderfully made”. (Psalm 139:14)

Ready to learn more about Christianity & chakras? Grab your spot in my online course: Energy & chakras: a Biblical perspective, get your FREE Jesus & chakras tool-kit, or check out my card deck, Journeying through the chakras with Christ and get started learning today!