Shoulder Chakra — Chakra 43 of 114

The Shoulder Chakra (स्कन्धचक्र) is the 43th chakra of the greater 114-centre Shaiva Siddha map, seated at Shoulder joint, both sides. Governed by the element of ether and presided over by Skanda (as bearer of the spear, lord of shoulders and strength), this centre is classed among the secondary or peripheral chakras that the Siddha yogis mapped alongside the seven principal wheels. Where the major chakras organise the vertical axis of consciousness along sushumna, centres such as this one regulate the lateral spread of prana into the limbs, joints, and sense-organs, ensuring that the subtle current reaching the crown and the current animating the body's periphery remain a single unbroken continuum. Siddha texts describe this chakra as a minor granthi, a knot where nadis converge and where stagnation first shows itself as stiffness, dullness, or diminished sensation in the corresponding physical region. Advanced hatha and kriya practitioners in the Siddha lineage regard its purification as essential preparatory work before deeper pranayama and kundalini practices are attempted, since blockages here are said to obstruct the free ascent of prana through the greater chakras above. Meditators who work with this chakra often report a subtle warming or tingling in the associated area, followed by a sense of lightness as old tension dissolves. Traditionally it is visualised as a small lotus or wheel of light, its petals inscribed with subtle sound-seeds that resonate in harmony with the element governing the centre. Regular attention to this chakra, the Siddhas taught, refines not only the physical function of its region but also the subtle sensitivity of the entire nervous system, making it an important but often overlooked component of complete chakra sadhana.

A small circular or lotus-shaped yantra bearing the chakra's bija syllable at its centre, encircled by petals equal to the chakra's count, drawn or visualised in the chakra's associated colour and used as a focal support during meditation and ritual worship of the centre.