Chakras are "energy centres" in the body, and we have seven primary chakras. When I first started to meditate, I didn't believe that chakras were "real"; after all, if there is an energy centre, then what kind of energy? Electrical, kinetic, electromagnetic? And energy can be measured - how many kilojoules were these energy centres processing, and at what rate? So it is that science doesn't believe in chakras - or if it does, it believes in the concept as a purely psychological construct, or metaphor. But then again, science doesn't really "believe" in love - it merely accepts that certain sensory inputs trigger reactions in the brain, which in turn manifest as psychological states. So frankly, I don't care whether chakras are "real" or a metaphor; I use them, and they work for me.

Chakra means "wheel", and your chakras can be visualised as spinning wheels of energy. Each chakra has a name (I've given the English and Indian names here) and is located at a certain point of the body. As there are seven main chakras and seven colours of the rainbow, many people correlate each chakra with a colour. You can visualise your chakras as you like, but personally I find this a useful correspondence, and I've used this colour correspondence on this page. The "sensations" I've listed for each chakra are a little simplistic - try practising the colour visualisation exercise a few times and see if you can sense what each chakra "feels" like for yourself. Each chakra is situated on a line running parallel to the spine, but in the middle of your body as opposed to down your back.

The base chakra is situated at the very base of the spine but inside a little - the area you can feel when you contract your anus. Pure, raw physical energy. Imagine the feeling, the buzz you get when you feel really satisfied after strenuous physical exercise - that's the base chakra feeling.

The sexual chakra is situated near your genitals - the base of the penis or clitoris. Raw sexual energy. When you feel horny, that's your sexual chakra doing its stuff.

The solar plexus chakra, as its name suggests, is situated in the area of your solar plexus. It's a difficult sensation to describe - but the term "gut feeling" sums up this chakra. Imagine feeling really confident about something - the warm glow of satisfaction.

The heart chakra is situated near the heart, but in the middle of the body (rather than to one side). Love - whether you're "in love" with someone, or just that powerful feeling of warmth and benevolence of love freely given - to your mother, your child, your friends - is the sensation of the heart chakra.

The throat chakra is situated in your throat, of course. The energy of communication. When you're just bursting to have your say and just want to chatter on and on - your throat chakra is working overtime.

The third eye chakra is situated in the "third eye", which is in the middle of your forehead between your eyebrows - but inside your head, not on the outside. This is a powerful psychic centre and its sensation can't be described easily in everyday terms. If you meditate, you will be familiar with the sensation of this chakra - a very warm or buzzing sensation in your third eye.

The crown chakra is not situated in the body at all, but just above the top of the head. It is a focus of spiritual energy, and the sensation associated with it is a feeling of connectedness and contentment with the Universe, or even spiritual enlightenment. If you actually know what this feels like - congratulations! I admit that I don't!

According to the system of Chinese philosophy called Taoism, the Universe is filled with a vital energy called Chi. This energy is present in all things, and in living organisms - you, me, cats, bats, rats, mice, lice, fleas and trees - Chi manifests as a life-force which flows through us. If the flow of Chi is blocked, then disease results. Of course, science does not admit to such a thing - and yet the whole of acupuncture is based on this principle, and many conventional medics are now referring patients for acupuncture. Taoism also recognises three areas of the body which can be seen as reservoirs of Chi, called "Tantiens" (pronounced "Dan-tee-ens"): the lower tantien corresponds to the solar plexus chakra, the middle to the heart chakra and the upper to the third eye chakra. I say "correspond" in a loose sense - in effect, the tantiens are "pools" of energy, and the chakras are the pumping stations that help to move this energy around.

Now, in combining the Chinese concept of Chi with the Indian concept of chakras, I may be accused of mixing and matching my philosophies here - but who cares; Truth is Universal!

To achieve balance, you need to have all your chakras working fairly evenly. If your upper chakras are working overtime and your lower ones have ground to a halt, you may feel "spaced out" all the time. If it's the other way round, you may feel physically well but feel discontent, or bored all the time. I use the following meditation to do a health check on my chakras periodically. Once you've done any sort of meditation, it's a good idea to close them again afterwards.

This meditation works best if your spine is vertical. You can either do it standing up, or sitting in a chair. You can do this meditation from the top downwards, or from the bottom upwards. Strange though it seems, I find that sometimes I can get it to work in one direction but not the other. See what works best for you; I'm going to describe the meditation from the bottom up. This meditation opens your chakras one by one, and helps to balance them.

Close your eyes, and start breathing easily and evenly, in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Be aware of the base of your spine, and the feeling of your feet on the ground. Imagine your feet are bathed in a red pool of energy. On a convenient in breath, breathing through your nose, visualise a stream of red energy going in through the soles of your feet, up your legs and gathering at the base of your spine.

Open your mouth, and gently blow out. Imagine you are blowing out smoke. Your intention is to blow out red smoke, but you may find that the visualised smoke you blow out is grey, or muddy, or some other colour. Don't worry - just keep gently breathing in the red energy to the base of your spine, and blowing out until the smoke you're blowing out is red smoke. Do this for a few breaths, to make sure the out colour is the same as the in colour each time. Now just be aware that your base chakra is balanced, and is doing its job properly. Any blockages there have been cleared.

Now as you carry on breathing, visualise the pool of red energy that has gathered at the base of your spine and imagine it rising up in a stream to your sexual chakra - situated about 5cm below your navel. As the stream flows up, it gets paler and becomes orange. Breathe in, visualising the stream turning orange and gather around your sexual chakra. Blow out, and note the colour of the smoke you're blowing out. Your intention is to blow out orange smoke. Do this a few times, until you are breathing in orange energy to your sexual chakra, and blowing out orange smoke.

Carry on breathing, visualising the pool of orange energy flowing upwards again as you breathe in, getting paler as it rises up towards your stomach, becoming yellow in the process. Blow out through your mouth, until you are blowing out yellow smoke. Do this until you are breathing in yellow energy to your solar plexus chakra, and blowing out yellow smoke.

Continue this process for the other chakras - the yellow energy in your solar plexus will flow up to your heart, turning green in the process. After this, the green energy in your heart will flow up to your throat, turning blue; the blue energy in your throat will flow up to your third eye, becoming indigo; and finally, the indigo energy in your third eye will flow up to the top of your head, becoming violet.

You may find some chakras easier than others. Make a note of any difficulties you find - maybe you have difficulty visualising the stream moving from one particular chakra. Maybe the stream flows, but the smoke you blow out is not the colour you intended, or it looks "dirty". These can indicate blockages, and the act of visualising them working properly is usually enough to clear the blockage. Be aware of these blockages, and see if there are issues in your life that need to be resolved associated with the chakras involved. For example, if your throat chakra has a blockage, maybe you are having difficulty in communicating your needs to someone; if your heart chakra is involved, maybe you are being too self-centred (or conversely, giving too much of your self to others and neglecting your own needs).

After finishing this meditation, close your chakras.

Even if you don't meditate regularly, various events will open certain chakras - in particular, dreaming will open your third eye chakra, and so when you wake up one or more of your chakras may be open. If your chakras remain open, this may leave you feeling drained or vulnerable, so it's a good idea to shut them down again, with one exception; try to leave your heart chakra open. The heart chakra is a very special one, and is associated with universal love. If you leave it open, you leave yourself open to give love unconditionally to those around you; and they'll give you love back. Or at least, enough of them will to make it worthwhile! If you are feeling really, really hurt and feel that you need all the love you've got for yourself then shut your heart chakra down too - but try to make this a temporary measure, or you'll end up feeling cut off from the community around you.

There are various ways to close down your chakras:

1. Exercise. This doesn't have to be vigorous - just getting out of bed and walking around is usually enough to close the chakras that were opened up while you slept.
2. Protection visualisation. This is good if you wake from a nightmare: imagine you are inside a sleeping bag, and the zip has come undone. Zip up the sleeping bag, from bottom to top, so that you are cocooned inside it, just peering out from it. Repeat this three times. Then imagine you, and the sleeping bag, are bathed in a pale blue light.
3. Colour closedown. I always do this after I've meditated - although the other methods are quicker, this takes less than five minutes and avoids leaving any chakras inadvertently open. Starting from the crown chakra, visualise your crown chakra as a lotus flower (or water lily), with a purple light streaming in through the top of your head as you breathe in. As it streams in, close the lily (use your fingers to physically go through the motions of closing the leaves). Then breathe out. Repeat twice more. Now move on to the third eye chakra, and do the same - this time, with an indigo light streaming in through your third eye. Repeat twice more. Carry on for all the other chakras (including the heart chakra). Then gently open your heart chakra: breathe in deeply, then slowly breathe out (through your mouth or nose), opening the lily on your heart as you do so, and imagine a stream of green light flowing out from your heart and into the Universe around you. Repeat this opening twice more.