Harry Potter and Yoga?
by Cindy Jepsen
J.K. Rowling’s wonderful world of Harry Potter has captured people’s imagination and has people looking beyond her written words to find the vital clues engrained in the chapters of her books. After searching for many hours, a connection was found that is worth investigating. There are seven chakras which relate to the body’s energy centers. These chakras correlate with Harry’s years at school and when examined closely give the reader clues to the plot line.
Tribe is the center of the first chakra and is associated with family and school. The tribe is where we learn that we are part of something. (Edwards)
This first chakra can be seen when Harry thinks to himself: ”He didn’t know what he was going to – but it had to be better than what he was leaving.” (PS/SS, 98) This conscious need to belong to something is Harry’s way of finding his tribe. This is emphasized when first entering the school, and Professor McGonagall states: ”While you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts.” (PS/SS, 114)
In the second energy center, power is represented. A person’s identity and psychological boundaries are developed in the second chakra. Control issues are primary to this chakra, along with the creativity to defend and protect one and others. (Edwards)
The second book is intermixed with the characteristics of the power chakra. The sorting hat chose to put Harry into Gryffindor, but seriously considered Slytherin. This decision has Harry questioning his personnel identity and Dumbledore helps him understand the choice. He says, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”(CoS, 333) Creativity and his natural ability come to Harry when he is fighting to save Ginny. Showing it is not all about magical ability but common sense, and the power to defend what is right. Harry has developed the power inside himself to progress into the third chakra.
Self is the area of the third chakra. After conquering the first two chakras, the third tangles with a persons language and everyday thinking. In this area of self, one might find self confidence and self – respect. Other abilities included in this chakra are self reliance and compassion for oneself and others. Strength development of this energy center involves ambition, willingness to take risks, ability to handle a crisis, generosity and ethics. (Edwards)
Harry’s ability to take a stand against the Dursleys shows his growing self confidence. His ability to fight off the dementors also shows his ability to handle his fears. His compassion for his friends is shown when he blindly followed Ron into the Whomping Willow. Harry also stopped Lupin and Sirius from killing Wormtail, showing his compassion and ethics. Harry states, ”I don’t reckon my dad would of wanted them to become killers – just for you.”(PoA, 376) Harry’s sense of right and wrong are developing strongly, leading him into the fourth chakra.
Love is the primary focus of the fourth chakra. It’s also known as the heart. This chakra is important in determining who a person really is and how they interact with the world in general. The qualities that are focused on in this energy center are attitudes, beliefs, and personal philosophies. The heart strengths are love, hope, inspiration, dedication, trust, and forgiveness. The color affiliated with this chakra is green and love is considered to be the divine power. Love in its purest form has the capacity for unending forgiveness and is considered the strongest force one can possess. (Edwards)
During the tasks it is clear that Harry is only as strong as his advisors or the people who gave him help which shows trust and is also an extension of tribe. (Waters, 314) When fighting Voldemort in the graveyard, Harry is extremely focused. Some believe that Harry is more superior than Voldy because of the divine power running through his veins. (Waters, 345)
Will is the energy of the fifth chakra. Strengths that come from here are the ability to make choices, personal expression, and knowledge. A person’s will is located between the fourth and sixth charkas, which are love (heart) and the mind respectively. A persons will is literally caught between the heart and the mind, causing struggles of will. (Edwards)
During the fifth book, Harry is angry at everyone. His anger is a manifestation of his heart and mind pulling him in different directions, leaving will in the middle. Harrys choices that lead to Sirius’s death are also part of this chakra. He blames himself for the death and tries to communicate with Sirius. He tries the mirror, Nick (the Gryffindor ghost), and then Luna. Luna explains to Harry, ”You heard them, just behind the veil, didn’t you? In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight thats all. You heard them.” (OotP, 863) The veil is believed to be an archway to the dead. While struggling with Sirius’s death, Harry finds out he is the only one that can kill the dark nemesis, Voldemort. He is struggling with inadequacy and loss and this will take him to the sixth and seventh chakras.
The next part is purely prospective accounts of what will happen in the sixth and seven books. The chakras reveal insights to what might happen.
Mental clarity of the mind is the sixth energy center. This chakra deals with the energies of the brain and includes the eyes, ears, and nose. The qualities of strength and weakness might lead to feelings of adequacy or inadequacy. As stated before, the heart and mind are constantly doing battle with each other, and the ability to apply ones emotions to ones life with any clarity at all comes from the congruence between the mind and the heart. Consequently this can be a persons greatest struggle. This agreement tends to play a large role in the evaluation of conscious and unconscious insights. Courage is used to look at ones fears with honesty. If the mind is clouded, one cannot see reality accurately, bringing confusion and deception and this inaccurate reality brings about feelings of detachment. (Edwards)
What do we learn from this information and what conclusions can a person draw from them? The significance of his eyes (the color of his mother’s) will be revealed in the sixth book, due to the eyes being energy of the mind. The reader will also learn the significance of the references, to noses, fingers, and hands. Harry will feel inadequate in his role to fight and distinguish the dark wizard. This feeling will also reveal itself in his attempt to tell his friends about the prophecy, but he will eventually accept his responsibility as the one. He might detach himself from his friends to try to protect them from the horrors that wait.
The collective unconscious resides in the seventh and final energy center of the body. Symbolically, it is the connecting point to ones essence, or the original contracts one entered into. This is the area of the higher self, where ones values and ethics reside. In the seventh chakra, the ability to trust in life itself, to see oneself as part of a whole, and ones selflessness live within the last energy center. (Edwards)
In the seventh book, Harry will have to fulfill his destiny, meaning he will have to kill Voldemort. There will be no other that can kill Voldemort, since he himself marked Harry as his equal. In this reality, Harry might sacrifice himself to save the world. His selflessness will be the one thing that saves him. In other words, his willingness to sacrifice himself to save the world will entitle Harry to live.
With all the evidence now given, it is important to investigate the green eyes and the power of love. In book five, Dumbledore explains to Harry of a room in the Department of Mysteries, he states; ”It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all.” (OotP, 843) The fourth chakra explores the power of divine love. It states that it is the strongest force when in its purest form, and it runs through Harry’s veins from his mothers sacrifice. Alone that is pretty foreboding, but the signature color of the fourth chakra is green. This can not be a coincidence, but an intelligent clue. The reader is always hearing about how Harry has his mothers green eyes. When looking at all the evidence and tracking down every clue, love and Harry’s eyes have to be the combination of powers that will defeat Voldemort.
This of course is all speculation but the evidence seems to be staggering. The investigation of the chakras and the clues given by J.K. Rowling lead the author to believe there is significant support to this theory. The books follow the characteristics of these chakras, if one has the ability to look past the words and burrow beyond the physical letters on the paper.