CNS, gap junctions and chakra meditation

The paper (Neurobiology of Chakras and Prayer

with Richard W. Maxwell, “The Physiological Foundation of Yoga Chakra Expression”;

and Ruth Stanley, “Types of Prayer, Heart Rate Variability, and Innate Healing”

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF YOGA

CHAKRA EXPRESSION

by Richard W. Maxwell) interested me.

According to this paper the electrical synapses done by the gap junction may have concentrated in certain regions located in each level with the endocrine system together constitute the chakras in our body. These chakras have shown increased CNS function when activated and thus yogic practice is done through these. Fine, if chakras are the concentrated gap junction proteins what is kundalini shakthi???

This should be the electrical conductance which is activated at the base of spine and there may lie a balanced electrical conductivity from afferent and efferent nerves ?  

Well this paper proposes " the kundalini is, in part, a

subjective representation of state changes among polar molecules within a

channel in the CNS rising from the filum terminale to the brain.In this framework, that channel (sushumna,

or sus’umna’ in Roman Sanskrit) is a column of gap junction linked cells

whose gap junctions open as the kundalini rises. The broader aspects of

the sushumna are a product of the glial syncytium extending through the

whole volume of the spine and brain. Meditation functions to increase the

prevalence of gap junctions and integrate compartments within the glial

network, ultimately allowing a full electrical unification of the spine and

brain." This sushumna (the CNS channel in the spinal cord also called brahmanadi) has great role in development of neural tube wherein gap junctions in it plays an important role.

even acupuncture is shown to concentrate gap junction proteins like connexins and pannexins but in less volume and area compared with the chakras with electrical conductance achieved. 

The paper concludes saying,

"Physical systems related to a chakra have three

main aspects: a physical base that exists in the dorsal CNS, a concentration

point that is activating to that physical base, and influence of that physical

base over the activity of particular glandular secretions that have the potential

to bias mental function. With appropriate forms of concentration,

gap junction linkages in autonomic plexuses and elsewhere, typically subordinated

to chemical synaptic activity, may become activated (or regenerated)

and result in stimulation of important sites in the dorsal CNS.

Additionally, control over glandular functions may be susceptible to modulation

by gap junction mechanisms, presumably through autonomic nerves

Richard W. Maxwell 819

associated with these dorsal CNS sites. Identification of gap junctions within

the nervous system has had difficulties, and it is not likely to be easy to

find the proposed chakra centers within the CNS in animals or humans.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), or perhaps new technologies

such as functional near-infra-red spectrometry (fNIRS), together with

more refined electrophysiology could potentially yield signs of this underlying

physiology. If gap junctions are associated with chakra function, some

type of electrical signature should be present that could be identified. At

least one researcher has claimed to have identified electrophysiological signs

of chakra activity (Motoyama 1981). However, there is no evidence that

this work has been subjected to any peer review process."