Chakra is a Sanskrit word often translated as ‘wheel of energy’. There are a minimum of seven major chakras in the body. The chakra system, though Indian in origin, is popular in many New Age forms of energetic work. Chakras have also recently been included in some modern forms of the system of Reiki.
There is no record of Mikao Usui, or his students Toshihiro Eguchi, Kaiji Tomita, or Chûjirô Hayashi working with chakras.
Hawayo Takata wrote of the ‘true energy’ in the body that ‘lies in the bottom of the stomach about 2 inches below the navel’ in The Gray Book, compiled by her daughter, Alice Takata Furumoto, from her diary notes. Here Hawayo Takata is referring to the hara energetic method that is used in Japan.
Chakras have been taught in the system of Reiki by a number of Hawayo Takata’s students, including John Harvey Gray and Iris Ishikuro. Barbara Weber also bases The Radiance Technique® on the chakra system. In some modern branches of Reiki, it is claimed that an attunement clears or opens a particular chakra. This is, however, a recent interpretation of the system.

Energy Anatomy and Physiology

Adonea Judith, in her book Wheels of Life, correlates the chakra system to the seven major nerve ganglia that emanate from the spinal column.

In this interpretation, physical nerve ganglia relate to the individual chakras as follows:

• the coccygeal plexus is equivalent to chakra 1
• the sacral plexus to chakra 2
• the solar plexus to chakra 3
• the pulmonary and cardiac plexi to chakra 4
• the pharyngeal plexus to chakra 5
• the carotid plexus to chakra 6
• the cerebral cortex to chakra 7

Japanese energy anatomy distills this system into its essence. In this interpretation, Japanese energy anatomy appears to combine chakras 1, 2 and 3, which regulate our experience of being in a physical body. These first three chakras are represented by the hara center, associated with Earth Ki. Chakras 5, 6, and 7, the centers that begin to connect the individual outward to other individuals and energies beyond physical experience, are represented by the upper (head) centre. This center is associated with Heaven Ki.

In both systems, the Heart center is associated with compassion.