Wheels of Life is a chakra guide for westerners. This text is a pratical guide and informative source for anyone interested in chakras. It has come highly recommended by anyone I know who works with them, especially Reiki healers and I can see why. I have been running the RhythmUS Network website for a few years now and my logo includes the 5th (throat) chakra Visuddha. At the time I decided to do this I knew very little of the chakras and have never read a book on them until this one. The chapter on this chakra reads like a step by step look into the concepts behind why I used it. I had not even realized how close to the mark I was until I read this. If you read this book and then read my 'About' page you will see what I mean. Most of this was simply intuitive. Now that I'm done ranting. This book has given me a much better perspective on exactly what the chakras are and how they can affect us in every aspect of our lives. The 'Wheels of Life' are actually vortexes which are located at key points of the body. You can actually locate them using devices that can record minute traces of magnetism or even a geode like a terminated quartz crystal suspended from a chain or strap. The crystal will actually spin in a cirlce when placed over the chakra. I remember when my wife was pregnant with my son and we tried this and the crystal spun so hard in such a wide arc I had to hold it tightly to keep it from flying loose from my hands. What I'm trying to say is that this is not a bunch of metaphysical mumbo-jumbo but something that has a real and felt physical presence as well as psychological and physiological affects on our bodies, minds, and lives. A most basic description of the Seven Chakra System can be found on the Chakra Page of the RhythmUS Network Spirituality Section of the site. Many easterners tend to focus the perception of the chakras on 'climbing' this stack to reach and enlightened state of being. However, Anodea refers to the fact that they must be kept in balance in order to maintain a fully healthy existence. This makes more sense to me as well. A person who sits cross-legged all day dreaming about the Oneness of the Universe is not exactly productive in society in the physical realm and a balance between the physical and spiritual is what is required for conscious evolution. There are way too many details given in this book about each individual chakra, generation effects, etc. for me to even begin to attempt to describe them here. What I can say is that if you are interested in the chakra system at all this book lives up to the recommendations I've received on it's behalf and I would highly recommend it to anyone as a great introduction to the subject. Unfortunately the version I read was not this particular revised and expanded edition but I do plan on picking a copy of this new edition up to find out what's inside. I'm sure it's worth it!