The study of the Chakras is one of the valuable means to learn the physical and spiritual dimensions of the human development.  We believe that CIHS is opening a door to approach the study of the Chakras.  As reported in the last newsletter, CIHS provided a Chakra workshop in March, which engaged a Japanese yoga master, and plans to offer a second workshop next year.  Not only are we offering Chakra workshops, but CIHS Subtle Energy Research Lab is considering preliminary scientific research of the Chakras.  It will be a meaningful research, based upon multidisciplinary studies that bridge science and ancient wisdom, to explore our human existence as a whole.
 
According to the yogic tradition in India, there are seven main Chakras in the body, aligned in an ascending column from the base of the spine to the top of the head. They are known as the Muladhara, Svadhishthana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddhi, Ajna and Sahasrara.  In addition, India's traditional medicine, called Ayurveda, advocates that locations of these Chakras correspond to the nervous plexus or ganglia, which control the function of the organs to maintain the physical health.  If this concept is demonstrated by scientific methodology, the Chakra system must be acknowledged from the medical and anatomical viewpoints.  This recognition leads us to integrate western medicine with ancient eastern wisdom.
 
Chakras are often referred to as "transducers," between the physical and non-physical bodies by means of the subtle energy.  Namely, the Chakras act as a functional convertor enabling an energy flow into the different dimensions. Although this is a unique concept to explain the functioning of living systems, based on ancient traditional understandings, the scientific research designed under rigorous experimental conditions has not yet been conducted.  Furthermore, no instrument can directly measure the subtle energy with current scientific techniques.  Although some commercial devices exist, which claim to utilize the subtle energy, they are usually untested or unverified scientifically. 
 
Despite little scientific investigation into the Chakras, there are a number of people who are interested in Chakra research.  For example, after reading Dr. Motoyama's books that present his Chakra experiments, some people have contacted CIHS to request further information regarding current Chakra research.  Dr. Motoyama also claims that there is a close relationship between the acupuncture meridians and the Chakras.  We would like to answer those inquires by formulating Chakra studies that provide supporting evidences for the existence of the Chakras and their connections to the meridian system.
 
Although it is still quite a challenge for the existence and the function of the meridians to be recognized in academic society, CIHS has endeavored to establish the subtle energy research since 1992.  The research substantiates that the AMI does detect some physical variable, which sensitively reflects the change in the subtle energy conditions when measured at special meridian points called the Jing-Well points.  Interpretation of AMI measurements has the potential to assess a relative energy change in the Chakras.  In addition, CIHS possesses its own research facilities, including conventional electrophysiological monitoring system and the Bio-Photon counting instrument inside an EMI-shielded room (Faraday Cage).
 
Thus, this basic research environment at CIHS offers a great potential for conducting human energy research that could explore the nature of the Chakra system.  The Chakra research is clearly in line with CIHS's principles, which is to establish a creative science that synthesizes mind, body and spirit.  Consequently Chakra research may open a door to better understand the true nature of human beings as well as the meaning of our existence.