Chakras for beginners
At a subatomic level, everything in the universe vibrates. All matter consists of vibrating energy, including ourselves and our bodies. The chakras are the points within our bodies from which all our energy centralizes.
Not only does that energy determine the state of our physical health, but it also reflects the state of our mental health. To go a step further, the health of the chakras themselves are often a reflection of our core values, beliefs, and level of self awareness.
The chakras are points within our bodies from which all our energy centralizes. They represent the current state of our physical, mental, and spiritual health, as well as our core beliefs and values.
The word “chakra” is Sanskrit for “wheel.” We use this word to describe these energy centers because they spin and rotate. A healthy chakra continuously spins and radiates energy outward. An unhealthy chakra still spins and radiates energy, just not as strongly. This can cause all sorts of complications in our minds and bodies.
The main seven chakras are often depicted running up the spine and out the top of the head, with colors like a rainbow. But there are also lots of smaller chakras scattered throughout our bodies–they even occupy space around our bodies.
Energy healing practices generally focus on the seven main chakras because they are the largest and most influential to our physical/mental/spiritual health. For the sake of learning in this blog post, we will stick with the seven main chakras as well.
What chakras represent
Our bodies are wonderfully Divine. They are the vessels for our human experiences, and a perfect manifestation of whatever is going on within us.
Below is a brief rundown of the 7 main chakras and their associated traits. Please keep in mind that this list is not all-inclusive, and there really is no limit to what the chakras can represent in our lives and bodies.
• Root chakra (Muladhara): The red chakra at the base of the spine. Associated with material world, money, security, gratitude, acceptance, safety, passion, and all our basic survival needs.
• Sacral chakra (Svadhishthana): The orange chakra in the navel area. Associated with strength, discipline, confidence, creativity, sexuality, parenthood, and our ego/personalities.
• Solar plexus chakra (Manipura): The yellow chakra right above the navel in the rib cage area. Associated with self worth, self acceptance, vitality, our life purpose, our core beliefs, fear/bravery, actions. Some believe this chakra is where the soul resides.
• Heart charka (Anahata): The green chakra located right in the middle of the chest. Associated with love, compassion, kindness, judgment, relationships, empathy, emotions, fulfillment.
• Throat chakra (Vishuddha): The blue chakra right over the neck. Associated with self expression and creative expression, voicing opinions, truth/lies, reliability, authenticity, talking, sharing, language.
• Third eye chakra (Ajna): The indigo/purple chakra in the middle of the forehead. Associated with spirituality, psychic skills, dreams, other worlds, awakenings, self awareness.
• Crown chakra (Sahasrara): The white/gold chakra that floats above the head. Associated with Divinity, Creation, connected-ness, togetherness, enlightenment, universal truth, God, the afterlife.
Why chakras are important to a holistic lifestyle
A holistic lifestyle is all about seeing our health and our choices from a big-picture level. Our bodies are not separate from our minds, therefore we need to improve our mental health in order to improve our physical health. Ideally simultaneously.
The physical ailments we have in our bodies are merely symptoms that tell us what’s really going on deep inside our subconscious.
Modern medicine is finally starting to catch up with holistic healing. However, patients of modern medicine often have a hard time “believing” the concepts of holistic healing. For some reason, they write it off as hooey, claiming that their mental health has no impact on their physical health.
But any ethical doctor would strongly disagree. And anyone who has ever been truly dedicated to improving their health would disagree as well.
I think it’s really easy to be afraid of the holistic health approach because it requires you to destroy your comfort zones. In order to fully heal and be well, you have to dig deep and confront your demons. That also means taking responsibility for all the things in your life that aren’t exactly positive.
Plenty of people aren’t willing/ready to do this sort of inner work. As a result, their physical health continuously declines and their suffering seems endless. They become identified with their ailments, convincing themselves that this is how life must be and they have to learn to deal with it. And I’m here to tell you that is the exact opposite of what is true.
The ailments in our bodies are physical manifestations of the imbalances in our chakras. Each chakra is associated with certain diseases and complications. Experiencing these physical symptoms is the body/mind/soul’s way of telling us exactly what inner work needs to be done.
In order to fully recover from our physical ailments, we must do the inner work on that chakra as well as whatever modern medicinal methods are needed.
Taking whatever medicine or treatment that the doctor recommends is just the beginning. Healing only the physical body is rather difficult. But when coupled with mental and spiritual healing, we may see better results much faster.
Why balance your chakras?
Balancing the chakras helps us truly and completely heal from the inside out. It is by far the best way to get to the bottom of our physical/mental conditions and finally move past them.
The chakras are very fluid and dynamic. Their energy can shift in any moment, for better or for worse.
From a young age, our chakras begin to develop based on our home life, amount of loving attention from our parents, conditioned beliefs, natural psychic gifts, and many other factors. As we grow and mature, our chakras are growing right along with us.
At the same time, their energetic strength is largely influenced by core beliefs and memories formed in our childhood. Depending upon your life situation growing up, some chakras might be naturally more balanced than others. All this can change organically over time, or we can take deliberate action and change their energy ourselves.
When we actively work to balance our chakras, all areas of our lives improve. We can work on our chakras “in order” or we can focus on whichever one needs it the most. Either way, balancing our chakras is the fast track to overall wellness and happiness.
Our chakras are quite telling. The state of our chakras tells us all sorts of things about ourselves and our spiritual journeys. We can gain plenty of interpersonal insight by examining our chakras. This is one of the main reasons why anyone on a spiritual journey should balance their chakras–they expose to us exactly what our strengths and weaknesses are so we can live our best lives.
Why do chakras become blocked?
We all experience blocked chakras. By the time the physical ailment has made itself known to us, the associated chakra has been blocked for a while. This is why it’s so important to incorporate chakra healing into your life–so you can stop the ailments right at the source before they become an issue.
Humans have a nasty tendency to stick to their bad habits, no matter how negative their outcome.
It takes a ton of diligence to break and form habits. Our chakras are a reflection of our physical and mental habits. And each time we engage in our bad habits, that energy gets carved deeper into the associated chakra.
Here’s a simple example: A child lives with a family that is always struggling to make ends meet financially. As the child grows up they are repeatedly told that they are poor, that money doesn’t grow on trees, and that every penny counts. This results in a core belief in scarcity–meaning that the child will most likely grow up into an adult that believes they never have enough money. The adult now has a root chakra that is terribly imbalanced because they do not feel secure or abundant in the slightest. Their root chakra is blocked because of their core belief of scarcity.
This scenario can play out in an infinite amount of ways. Any and all the chakras can become blocked or imbalanced, individually and/or simultaneously. But this concept goes both ways.
Why do chakras become overactive?
An overactive chakra can be just as detrimental as a blocked chakra. When there is a lack of energy, the chakra is blocked. When there is too much energy, the chakra is overactive. It’s kind of a “too much of a good thing” sort of situation.
When we first begin to learn about chakras, we hear a lot about them being blocked. But not a lot of people realize that their chakras can be way too strong and powerful as well.
Chakras become overactive when there is an excess of energy somewhere in the body. If we lack humility, our sacral chakra is probably overactive. If we’re too dependent on our relationships, our heart chakra is probably overactive. Nothing good comes from these sorts of character traits. Just like having low self esteem or too many ideas in your head.
Here’s a simple example: An only child grows up wanting for nothing. Their parents give them plenty of attention whenever they want it, they get the latest and greatest gadgets, and they start to really develop a strong connection to the material world. As an adult, they struggle with debt and gratitude. They never truly feel happy with what they have, they are always looking for more. Their root chakra is overactive because they are too wrapped up in material desires and nothing ever feels good enough.
Again, this scenario can play out in an infinite number of ways. All chakras can become overactive if we cling too hard to their associated energy/traits. That is exactly why the goal is BALANCE. And it takes work. But it’s so worth it.
Techniques for balancing chakras
Like most spiritual practices, the actual act of balancing chakras is quite easy. What makes it difficult are our mental blocks and preconceived notions.
If you decide you are ready to work on balancing your chakras, it’s imperative that you keep an open mind and practice discipline. Chakra alignment can have lots of positive effects on our lives if we allow it!
Healing crystals can be excellent tools for balancing chakras. For the most part, crystals are associated with certain chakras based on their colors. Red garnet connects with the root chakra, clear quartz connects with the crown chakra, peridot connects to the heart chakra, and so on.
Placing matching colored crystals over the corresponding chakra helps open it up energetically. On the flip side, placing a contrasting colored crystal on an overactive chakra can help calm its energy. Blue angelite can be used to relax the sacral chakra, red jasper can be used to relax the throat chakra, and so on.
[mailerlite_form form_id=1]But crystals aren’t required for balancing chakras. We can balance our chakras with just our thoughts using simple visualization techniques. During meditation, imagine your chosen chakra as big, bright, healthy, and gently spinning and radiating beautiful energy.
For example, if you’re working on opening up your throat chakra, you would want to visualize the bright blue chakra gently rotating right over your throat. You could even couple this visualization with corresponding mantras. “I am free to express myself.” As you can see, it’s very easy to do. But it does require a certain degree of dedication to stick with it.
If you are suffering from a certain physical ailment, it would be wise to focus on the associated chakra. Someone who experiences chronic migraines would benefit from balancing the third eye chakra. Someone diagnosed with bronchitis could focus on the heart and throat chakras for healing.
The incredible book You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay has a very helpful and comprehensive list of various illnesses, what core belief likely caused it, and mantras to help release those beliefs.
Please know that I am not suggesting that you disregard modern medicinal practices. What I am suggesting is that you take charge of your health and approach it from all different angles. Take whatever medicine you need to take, then sit down for your meditation practice. What do you have to lose, other than your illness?
Thank you very much for reading! I hope I’ve inspired you to explore the health of your chakras, and to take a more holistic approach to your physical, mental, and spiritual health.
