The Autisitic Yogi Reflects on Chakras

Chakras are an interesting topic.  And in my experience very few people that I have encountered in the yoga realm have looked into the depths of writings of the chakras to see what the historical literature states about there use and functions. Most don't know that the psychology attributes to chakras are a modern addition to the chakra system from the East. I recommend looking into the work of Christopher Tompkins to gain more insights into the history and evolution of the Chakras.

It appears that in 1918 a book called The Serphent Power by Arthur Avolon that first made connections to psychology and chakras. Carl Jung continued this work with his own indepth studies of Kundalini and psychology systems. Joseph Campbell went on to solidify the westernized Psychology system of the Chakras.

From what I was able to gather the Chakras of old were more about sounds and intonations to affect specific locations either internally or externally. Christopher talks about sonic resonance from Mantra work. It would be interesting to see studies done on the effects of the subtle body through voice and song.

Modal vibrational phenomenon seams like it could be an area that the historical writers were trying to capture. see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_mode

Without a doubt I can see the anecdotal evidence of the effect of sound on a body system. But I wonder to what extent?

Does the sound of our instruments and voices have any effect on biology?

At what frequencies of sound is an affect observed?

Can cells be transformed or protected through sound?

What psychological effects are standard from music? 

Is sound culturally induced? 

Are there sounds that are universal and hold the same function/meaning regardless of culture?

Is motherese universal?

Are particular mantras universal?

There are a ton of questions that need to ultimately be asked to come to a more broad understanding of how common sounds created by humans affects the biological systems present. And is there any overlap with the chakra practices of mantra and yantra.

I am mostly inclined to think that there is a sublte reaction of the sounds we use. I am not convinved that the sounds themselves have much if any impact. But I do believe the value that the individual puts on the sound internally will have a farily dramatic effect (ie, listen to music you really dislike versus music you really like).

When it comes to other attributes of the chakras like, elements, colors, geometrical shapes, etc, it appears that history shows numerous systems that although similiar are fairly different. From one location of practitioners to another things like color and chakras, or even the number of them is different. Historically there does not appear to be a solid unity of what these factors are concerning chakras. And when we get into the nadi/marma system it gets even more complicated.

I am unconvinced of things like chakras are blocked or spinning wrong ways or their color is off, etc, etc. I take these thoughts as narratives individuals create to try and make heads or tales of our existence. Story/narrative is very useful but can also lead people into a ton of unfounded knowledge. 

The chakra system I think is useful to guide and to consider practices, but its not concrete. It can only ever be a tool utilized by us as we sort through knowledge and come to terms with historical and modern practices.