Svadhishthana

Svadhishthana is the second of the seven chakras in common modern chakra systems, located in the lower abdomen and associated with sexuality, creativity, and emotion.

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Chakra: A center or junction in subtle-body systems, especially those developed in Indian religious and spiritual traditions. Svadhishthana is one chakra within modern systems that arrange seven centers along the body.
Sat-Cakra-Nirupana: A sixteenth-century Sanskrit text describing six chakras and the subtle body. Its account of the six centers helped shape later presentations of the chakra system.
Six-chakra system: A chakra arrangement found in influential tantric sources that describes six centers, rather than the familiar seven. The system places Svadhishthana in a sequence that does not include a separate crown chakra.
Seven-chakra system: A modern popular arrangement of seven chakras extending from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. This is the framework that defines Svadhishthana as the second chakra.
Subtle body: A nonphysical body described in religious and esoteric traditions as the bearer of vital forces or consciousness. The chakra is located within a subtle anatomy rather than an anatomical organ.
Pūrṇānanda: A Bengali tantric author who composed the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana in the sixteenth century. His text is a major source for later descriptions of Svadhishthana.
Bija mantra: A single-syllable mantra associated with a deity, element, or other focus in Hindu and Buddhist practice. Modern chakra practice commonly assigns the syllable Vam to Svadhishthana.
Endocrine system: The body's network of glands that release hormones into the bloodstream. Some modern charts map chakras onto glands, but this is not an anatomical equivalence.
Kundalini: A spiritual force described in some Indian traditions as latent at the base of the spine and capable of being awakened. Kundalini accounts describe energy rising through the chakra sequence that includes Svadhishthana.
Arthur Avalon: The pen name of John Woodroffe, a British jurist whose early twentieth-century writings introduced tantric texts to English readers. His translation of the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana helped circulate chakra teachings in English.