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trust (1), autonomy vs. shame and doubt (2), and initiative vs. guilt (3). Developmental issues center around the child’s acquiring a basic sense of security, developed through consistent loving care by the mother, and a sense of autonomy and strength, which is developed through the child’s struggle with the parents as he or she becomes more mobile and willful. This sense of autonomy is influenced by the attitude and behavior of the parents in this challenging stage.
The way these two chakras develop supposedly affects the structure, dynamics and mechanisms of the psyche and the functioning of the regulatory mechanisms of the ego.10 If the chakras are functioning abnormally, there might be a corresponding marked instability in personality, manifested by a lack of cohesiveness and steadiness, ease of regression and disorganization of personality, or a poor tolerance of frustration and predisposition to anxiety and guilt.
Chakras three, four and five are associated with the development of the distinctively human personality: in relationship to the kosas, the development of higher emotions and mental capacity. Parallels can be drawn between these three chakras and the higher developmental stages defined by Erikson and Piaget, as well as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, in which he defines such higher human needs as the need for meaningful work, for responsibility, for creativeness, for being fair and just, and for doing what is worthwhile and doing it well. This is in contrast to man’s lower nature, so well defined by Freud, which seeks gratification of the animal drives and instincts.
The third chakra is supposedly located in the abdominal area just below the navel and is called manipura, meaning “the city of the shining jewel.” It is associated with the psychological quality of expansive-ness, power and self-expression. It may be likened to Adler’s will to power. The interest in power at this level is different from that found at the anal stage, where the struggle for dominance and control is in reaction to a feeling of weakness and vulnerability and is primarily a defense against being manipulated, controlled and humiliated.
The power established at this point has to do with the drive to express the real power within, such as found in great generals and kings. It is the source of power on which the masters of the martial arts focus their consciousness in order to gain the sixth sense they possess in combat.
The psychological aspects of the first three chakras constitute