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tantra · Kundalini Tantra, Swami Satyananda Saraswati (Bihar School of Yoga)

Chakra Meditation: A Journey Through the Six Centres

A single sitting that moves attention in sequence through ajna, mooladhara, swadhisthana, manipura, anahata, and vishuddhi chakras, pausing at each to locate a subtle pulsation, before sweeping awareness up and down the whole chain several times.

The theory, briefly

This text presents chakra meditation as an integrated practice, done after individual chakras have already been worked with separately, meant to bring the whole mind-body-chakra system into balance rather than developing any one centre in isolation. It acknowledges plainly that most practitioners will not feel any real sensation early on — 'initially it is simply a matter of imagination' — and that a genuine pulsation is something that develops with repeated practice, not a fixed starting requirement.

The method is architecturally simple even though it has many stages: settle the body into complete stillness, then visit each chakra in a fixed order, pausing at each just long enough to try to locate its subtle pulsation and hold that awareness for a counted number of beats, before moving to the next. After all six centres have been visited individually, the practice closes with a faster sweep — moving awareness up and down through all six chakras in sequence, several times, before returning attention to the body as a whole.

The source's full version of this practice also interleaves brief physical techniques (nose-tip gazing, specific muscular contractions) between some of the chakra stages; this entry keeps to the core awareness-based sequence, which is what carries the meditation itself, and leaves those adjunct techniques to their own dedicated practices.

The practice

Sequential Awareness Through the Chakras

20–30 minutes · Meditative asana, preferably siddhasana or siddha yoni asana, hands resting on the knees in chin mudra

  1. 1Settle into a meditative posture with the spine upright and the whole body completely still and relaxed; hold this stillness for a few minutes before continuing.
  2. 2Bring awareness to ajna chakra, behind the eyebrow centre, and try to locate a subtle pulsation there; silently count 21 pulsations.
  3. 3Move awareness down to mooladhara chakra, at the perineum, and again try to locate and count 21 pulsations there.
  4. 4Move awareness to swadhisthana chakra, in the region of the tailbone, locating and counting 21 pulsations.
  5. 5Move awareness to manipura chakra, in the spine directly behind the navel, locating and counting 21 pulsations.
  6. 6Move awareness to anahata chakra, at the level of the centre of the chest, locating and counting 21 pulsations, then rest briefly in the felt sense of the heart space expanding and contracting with the natural breath.
  7. 7Move awareness to vishuddhi chakra, at the throat, mentally repeating its name and counting 21 pulsations.
  8. 8Now sweep awareness rapidly through all six centres in order — mooladhara, swadhisthana, manipura, anahata, vishuddhi, ajna, then back down again — touching each one briefly, and repeat this up-and-down sweep four more times.
  9. 9Bring awareness back to the whole body and close the practice by chanting Om three times.

None stated in the source for this practice specifically.

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