In my work as a bioenergetic therapist, the aim is to free a person from constricting blocks in the flow of their life force. Fear, for instance, always shows up in the legs in some way. Grief in the heart, and so forth. In the same way, illnesses in the body, such as digestive disorders, weight problems, asthma, or headaches correspond to psychological issues in the various chakras. Asthma, for example, is related to the breath, while the element air corresponding to the heart chakra.
Digestive disorders relate to a third chakra fire imbalance.
Some, like Castaneda in his books, or trance-channeled entities like SETH or Bartholemew, or modern masters like Bill Eichman, have said that the Chakra system, while valuable, is actually a vast oversimplification, and that, in actuality, surrounding our bodies is a swirling, whirling, multicolored, rapidly chaning, energy body that is shaped like a cocoon, and has many more than just 7 centers. The argument over a definitive number of chakras is a common one. Basically, a chakra is a vortex of energy, and there are an infinte number of them. In the body, there are chakras in the hands and feet, and many people postulate chakras above or below the body. The system of seven chakras is ancient and profound, and maps so conveniently onto the physical body, through the nerve ganglia and endocrine system, as well as metaphysical levels of reality, childhood developmental stages, periods of history, etc., that I find it to be a basic road map for the journey of consciousness.