Eastern Orthodox Chakras
There are none. The Wikipedia article on chakras claims that “Comparisons have been made between the Hesychastic centres of prayer and the position of the chakras,” with Hesychasm (from ἡσυχία, “stillness”) referring to the Orthodox tradition of quietist spirituality with its end in seeing God’s uncreated light. The only reference I’ve found to specific “Centers of Prayer” in Hesychasm is Mircea Eliade’s Yoga, Immortality, and Freedom, in which he describes four centers:
- the Cerebrofrontal Centre: in the space between the eyebrows
- the Buccolaryngeal Centre: “the commonest thought, that of the intelligence, expressed in conversation, correspondence, and the first stages of prayer.”
- the Pectoral Centre: “in the upper and median region of the chest”; “stabilty of thought…is much greater than in the preceeding cases, but it is still thought that defines the emotional color-ing and that is modified by it”
- the Cardiac Centre: “near the upper part of the heart, a little below (or ‘a little above’) the left breast;” “It is the physical sight of perfect attention.”
For my own part, I’m no expert on Eastern Christianity or Hesychasm and make no claim to the contrary. That said, I’ve yet to find an Orthodox source corroborating the idea of concrete centers of prayer so much as a method for learning to keep one’s mind from wandering and cultivating a state of nepsis (νῆψις, “watchfulness”), directing one’s intellect from the head to the heart.
Hesychasts openly admit their practices have parallels with Hinduism, Buddhism and Sufism, maintaining that what truly matters is the one invoked:
“The essential point in the Jesus Prayer is not the act of repetition in itself, not how we sit or breathe, but to whom we speak; and in this instance the words are addressed unambiguously to the Incarnate Saviour Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son Mary.”
All this said, the “Centers of Prayer” in Hesychasm come closest to a chakra system in that they serve to help imprint the Jesus Prayer – Κύριε Ιησοῦ Χριστέ, ἐλέησόν με (“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”) – onto the heart (onto the soul?) of the one praying while opening the hesychast up to the vision of Divine Light. This is very important, but beyond this there is no parallel. When coupled with the opposition to visualization I’ve encountered amongst Orthodox faithful, the Orthodox “Centers of Prayer” cannot be properly argued as a chakra system.
https://thavmapub.com/2016/04/05/chakras-the-middle-pillar-and-the-lords-prayer/
Eastern Orthodox Chakras
There are none. The Wikipedia article on chakras claims that “Comparisons have been made between the Hesychastic centres of prayer and the position of the chakras,” with Hesychasm (from ἡσυχία, “stillness”) referring to the Orthodox tradition of quietist spirituality with its end in seeing God’s uncreated light. The only reference I’ve found to specific “Centers of Prayer” in Hesychasm is Mircea Eliade’s Yoga, Immortality, and Freedom, in which he describes four centers:
- the Cerebrofrontal Centre: in the space between the eyebrows
- the Buccolaryngeal Centre: “the commonest thought, that of the intelligence, expressed in conversation, correspondence, and the first stages of prayer.”
- the Pectoral Centre: “in the upper and median region of the chest”; “stabilty of thought…is much greater than in the preceeding cases, but it is still thought that defines the emotional color-ing and that is modified by it”
- the Cardiac Centre: “near the upper part of the heart, a little below (or ‘a little above’) the left breast;” “It is the physical sight of perfect attention.”
For my own part, I’m no expert on Eastern Christianity or Hesychasm and make no claim to the contrary. That said, I’ve yet to find an Orthodox source corroborating the idea of concrete centers of prayer so much as a method for learning to keep one’s mind from wandering and cultivating a state of nepsis (νῆψις, “watchfulness”), directing one’s intellect from the head to the heart.
Hesychasts openly admit their practices have parallels with Hinduism, Buddhism and Sufism, maintaining that what truly matters is the one invoked:
“The essential point in the Jesus Prayer is not the act of repetition in itself, not how we sit or breathe, but to whom we speak; and in this instance the words are addressed unambiguously to the Incarnate Saviour Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son Mary.”
All this said, the “Centers of Prayer” in Hesychasm come closest to a chakra system in that they serve to help imprint the Jesus Prayer – Κύριε Ιησοῦ Χριστέ, ἐλέησόν με (“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”) – onto the heart (onto the soul?) of the one praying while opening the hesychast up to the vision of Divine Light. This is very important, but beyond this there is no parallel. When coupled with the opposition to visualization I’ve encountered amongst Orthodox faithful, the Orthodox “Centers of Prayer” cannot be properly argued as a chakra system.
