Reddit mentions of Alone with the Alone

A couple of books on the more scholarly side; Sufism and Taoism and Mystical Dimensions of Islam are good, if somewhat deep and dense, and useful, orienting. The works of Henry Corbin, such as Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth and Alone With the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, are illuminating. Look into the Sufi mystics themselves as much as commentary, there should be a list somewhere online but Ibn Arabi, Suhrawardi, Jabir Ibn Hayan ('Geber'),Avicenna and Hallaj as well as the more well known Rumi come to mind. Your best bet if you really want to learn about Sufism is to take up instruction under a Shaykh in an order. Depending on where you are there is possibly a local order you could attend meditations and classes with?

Book of Corbin about creative imaginiaton according to Ibn Arabi

To be clear, there is absolutely no evidence that chakras are literal points of the body. They are imaginary symbols, but that doesn't mean they aren't real.

Since they are symbols, interpretations vary wildly. To quote Henry Corbin, "a symbol is never 'explained' once and for all, but must be deciphered over and over again, just as a musical score is never deciphered once and for all, but calls for ever new execution." (from Alone with the Alone, his dense academic work on Ibn Arabi's Sufism)

So, since there's no central authority defining what these symbols mean, consider everything you read merely as guidelines. Here's a video I uploaded for you of Joseph Campbell's thoughts on the subject. Of course, he conflates Hindu and Tibetan Buddhist ideas to fit his Jungian interpretation, but that doesn't mean he's wrong.

In the West, we have the tendency to interpret the "subtle body" as something like the Christian soul, thus making the whole Kundalini system very literal, inevitably leading to woo like new age chakra stones. Another interpretation (which I feel is closer to the Eastern) is that the subtle body is the mind/ego. So, consider chakras from this psychological perspective and ask yourself, "how am I attached to my fear, sexual desire, ambition, personal relationships, etc.?" Using this method, kundalini becomes a practical cognitive tool for self-awareness.

An interesting side-note: neuropsychologists are building fascinating models of the brain's relationship to other parts of the body. Here's a New Scientist article from a couple of years ago that talks about how what we call the "brain" is more than just the cerebrum. It seems like the ancients had an intuitive understanding of this.

In conclusion, I strongly suggest avoiding chakra and Reiki healers who promise to improve your "prana flow" for a nominal fee. None of their claims are based on true science. Relying on such healers for serious medical conditions can be dangerous and even fatal. In the very least, it's expensive. Every bit of wisdom and insight is already within you, so journey through the vast landscape of your own consciousness blissfully.