Imagine the body as a map. Down the line of the spine, from the base of the pelvis to the crown of the skull, there is a vertical channel. Along that channel sit seven points where energy is said to gather and turn. The Sanskrit word for those points is chakra — wheel, or disc. Each wheel governs a region of the body and a region of the inner life: stability at the root, creativity at the hip, fire in the belly, love in the chest, voice in the throat, intuition at the brow, the open sky above the head.

This particular map is the most recognisable one in the world, but it is not the only one. The Taoist tradition has the three dantian. Tibetan Buddhism has its own variant of the chakra system. The Yoruba ori sits at the crown. Across thousands of years and dozens of cultures, practitioners who used the body seriously concluded that the body has districts, and that each district has its own intelligence. For the athlete or yogi or rehab patient — anyone whose practice is physical — the chakra system is one of the most useful working maps available.

The chakra system briefly

The system as we know it today emerged from Hindu Tantric tradition, with roots reaching back to the Upanishads (around 600 BCE) and formalised over the following centuries. The most influential single text is the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, a 16th-century Sanskrit treatise by the yogi Purnananda which laid out the seven-chakra system in close to the form modern yoga schools teach.

Each chakra is described by a specific bundle of associations: a region of the body, an element (earth, water, fire, air, ether, light, consciousness), a colour, a seed sound (a bija mantra), a number of petals on a symbolic lotus, a presiding deity, and a quality of mind. Western popular culture has flattened a lot of this into a simple seven-colour rainbow, which is fine as far as it goes, but the deeper tradition is much more specific. What follows is a working version useful for someone whose practice is physical.

The seven chakras, walked through

1. Muladhara — the Root

Location: base of the spine, perineum. Element: earth. Colour: red. Affirmation: I am. Muladhara is the foundation. It governs everything that has to do with grounding — the feet on the ground, the sit-bones on the chair, the posterior chain that holds you upright against gravity. When this chakra is strong, you feel safe in the body. For the athlete, Muladhara is the glutes, the hamstrings, the deep posterior chain. It is the chakra of the deadlift and the squat. It is also the chakra to tend when anxiety has detached you from your body: long stances, slow walks, weight in the heels.

2. Svadhishthana — the Sacral

Location: lower abdomen, sacrum. Element: water. Colour: orange. Affirmation: I feel. Svadhishthana is the chakra of fluidity — creativity, emotion, sexuality, and the play between people. It governs the hips, the lower belly, the lumbar spine. For the athlete, this is the chakra of hip mobility, of the swinging stride, of the lateral movement that most adults have lost. Tight hips and a stiff lower back often map to a sense of creative blockage; opening the hips often unlocks more than just range of motion.

3. Manipura — the Solar Plexus

Location: upper abdomen, between the navel and the sternum. Element: fire. Colour: yellow. Affirmation: I do. Manipura is the engine. It governs willpower, determination, the capacity to decide and then act. In the body it is the diaphragm, the deep core, the muscles that brace and stabilise under load. For the athlete this is the chakra of effort — the willingness to push into the last set, to maintain pace when the lungs burn. Breathwork practices like kapalabhati (skull-shining breath) are traditionally directed at Manipura.

4. Anahata — the Heart

Location: centre of the chest. Element: air. Colour: green. Affirmation: I love. Anahata is the meeting point of the lower three chakras (earthy, physical) and the upper three (subtle, mental). It is the chakra of compassion, balance, the heart that opens and closes. In the body it is the literal heart and the lungs. For the athlete it is the cardiovascular system at peak — the moment in a hard run when the heart is the loudest thing in the room — and the quieter compassion you owe yourself when training does not go as planned. An open heart in the athletic sense means honest self-assessment without contempt.

5. Vishuddha — the Throat

Location: throat, neck. Element: ether. Colour: blue. Affirmation: I speak. Vishuddha governs expression and truth. In the body it is the throat, the cervical spine, the muscles of breathing and voice. For the athlete it is breath control — the ujjayi breath of a vinyasa class, the rhythmic breathing of a swimmer, the controlled exhale at the top of a lift. For coaches and instructors it is the literal voice. For everyone, Vishuddha is also the chakra of honest communication with the body: telling yourself the truth about how tired you are, what hurts, what you can and cannot do today.

6. Ajna — the Third Eye

Location: between the eyebrows. Element: light. Colour: indigo. Affirmation: I see. Ajna is intuition, lucidity, the inner witness. For the athlete it is focus — the steady attention that does not drift in the last ten metres of a race or the final round of a match. It is also visualisation, the technique used by elite performers across every sport to rehearse competition before it happens. Sports psychology has spent decades demonstrating that mental rehearsal produces real physical adaptation. Ajna was teaching that long before the studies.

7. Sahasrara — the Crown

Location: top of the head. Element: pure consciousness. Colour: violet or white. Affirmation: I understand. Sahasrara is the most subtle of the seven. It is the chakra of connection — to the rest of life, to the present moment, to whatever you call the bigger thing. For the athlete it is the rare flow state in which effort disappears and you are simply doing. The runner who suddenly notices five kilometres have passed without remembering them; the climber for whom the wall briefly becomes weightless. Flow is not summoned, but the conditions for it can be set up. Sahasrara is the chakra of those conditions.

The Reiki layer — Karuna Reiki on the Chakra Talisman

Layered onto the chakra spine on the Talisman design is a set of Reiki symbols. Reiki itself is a Japanese energy healing system developed by Mikao Usui in 1922 on Mount Kurama, near Kyoto. Karuna Reiki, an extension of the original system, was developed by William Lee Rand in 1995 and incorporates additional symbols intended to direct healing energy with greater specificity.

The Karuna symbols on the Chakra Talisman include Halu (deep healing and breaking through patterns), Zonar (releasing past trauma stored in the body), Harth (the heart, compassion, balance), Shanti (peace, calm under pressure), and Kriya (grounding action into the world). Whether or not Reiki energy is literally measurable, the symbols function the way most ritual symbols do — as anchors for attention and intent. Bodyworkers and modern yogis often use them precisely as such anchors.

The Sak Yant layer — Thai sacred tattoos

Also woven into the design is the Hah Taew, the Five Sacred Yants, one of the most worn Sak Yant tattoo designs in Thailand. Sak Yant (literally "tattoo yantra") is an ancient tradition in which sacred geometric and Khmer-script tattoos are inked, traditionally by a monk or by an ajarn (lay master), and blessed in a ceremony that activates their protective power.

The five rows of the Hah Taew each carry their own intent: the first protects from the wrong kinds of punishment and exorcises bad luck; the second reverses bad fortune already in motion; the third blocks black magic and harmful intent from others; the fourth energises luck and good fortune for the future; the fifth bestows charisma and the love of those around you.

It is important to be clear: the Talisman tape borrows the visual reference, not the ritual blessing. The traditional Sak Yant tattoo is administered and consecrated in a specific religious context. Wearing the Hah Taew design on tape is appreciation of the visual tradition, not a substitute for the ceremony. People drawn to the deeper tradition can travel to Thailand and receive the tattoo from an ajarn in the proper way.

Working with the chakras during practice

The chakras are most useful when you have something to do with them. Some practical applications:

• Yoga poses by chakra — standing poses (mountain, warrior, chair) for Muladhara; hip openers (pigeon, lizard, frog) for Svadhishthana; core work and twists for Manipura; back-bends (camel, wheel) for Anahata; fish and shoulder-stand for Vishuddha; child's pose with the forehead grounded for Ajna; headstand and savasana for Sahasrara.
• Breathwork — box breathing for Muladhara grounding; long oceanic ujjayi breath for Vishuddha; kapalabhati skull-shining for Manipura; nadi shodhana alternate-nostril breath for Ajna balance.
• Placement of the Chakra Talisman — the tape is designed to be worn along the spine. Placed root-to-crown during practice, it offers a literal visual map of where the chakras sit, useful as a reminder during long sessions.
• The thirty-second scan — before a session, briefly bring attention to each of the seven points in turn, from the root to the crown. Notice which ones feel open and which feel tight. That information is often more useful than a generic warm-up plan.

For anyone using the Chakra Talisman as part of a lower-back rehabilitation, our guide to taping lower-back pain pairs well with this article — the same region the tape supports physically is where Svadhishthana sits energetically.

Frequently asked

One last image

Return to the body as a map. Seven stops along the spine. Each one is a question you can put to yourself, in or out of a workout. Am I grounded? Am I flowing? Am I willing? Am I open? Am I honest? Am I clear? Am I connected? A serious practice is a regular tour of those seven questions, and the body keeps a more honest record than the mind does.