Beginner’s Guide to the 7 Chakras

The seven chakras are energy centers in our bodies that energy flows
through. When energy is blocked in any of these seven areas, it can lead to
emotional or physical illness.

In an article from the Chopra Center, Michelle Fondin describes the chakra
system this way:

The Sanskrit word Chakra literally translates to wheel or disk. In yoga,

meditation, and Ayurveda, this term refers to wheels of energy throughout the
body. There are seven main chakras, which align the spine, starting from the
base of the spine through to the crown of the head. To visualize a chakra in
the body, imagine a swirling wheel of energy where matter and consciousness
meet. This invisible energy, called Prana, is vital life force, which keeps us
vibrant, healthy, and alive.
It’s important to know where your chakras are located, what they represent,
and how you can keep the energy flowing through them. So we created a
simple beginner’s guide to the 7 chakras.

Enjoy this informative guide to the 7 chakras and be sure to get the 8-Step
Guide To Practice A Chakra Meditation at the end.

A Short Guide to the 7 Chakras

1. Root Chakra (also known as Base Chakra)
Color Association: Red
Location: Base of the spine
Associations: Survival, standing up for yourself, financial independence,
security
Imbalances: Fatigue, low back pain, depression, cold hands and feet
Healing: Exercise and restful sleep, red food and drink, red gemstones and
clothing, red essential oils (ylang ylang or sandalwood)

2. Sacral Chakra (also known as Spleen Chakra)

Color Association: Orange
Location: Lower abdomen below navel
Associations: Feelings, ability to be social, pleasure, sexuality, well-being
Imbalances: Alcohol and drug abuse, depression, allergies, yeast infections,
urinary problems, sexual problems
Healing: Massage, orange food and drink, orange gemstones & clothing, red
essential oils

3. Solar Plexus Chakra

Color Association: Yellow
Location: Upper abdomen, stomach area
Associations: Personal power, self-confidence, self-control, humor, intellect
Imbalances: Digestive problems, diabetes, constipation, memory loss
Healing: Learning, doing puzzles, detoxing, yellow food and drink,
yellow gemstones and clothing, yellow essential oils (lemon)

4. Heart Chakra
Color Association: Green
Location: Center of the chest, above the heart
Associations: Ability to love, joy, inner peace
Imbalances: Heart and breathing issues, breast cancer, high blood pressure,
muscle tension
Healing: Family time, spending time with nature, green food and drink, green
gemstones & clothing, green essential oils (pine or eucalyptus)

5. Throat Chakra
Color Association: Blue
Location: Throat
Associations: Communication, relationships, trust, loyalty
Imbalances: Thyroid problems, hormonal issues, fever, menopause, mood
swings
Healing: Singing, conversations, collecting, blue food and drink, blue
gemstones and clothing, blue essential oils (chamomile)

6. Third Eye Chakra (also known as Brow Chakra)

Color Association: Indigo
Location: Forehead, between the eyes
Associations: Intuition, imagination, ability to make decisions, psychic
abilities
Imbalances: Learning disabilities, sleeping disorders, imbalance
Healing: Watch the stars, meditation, indigo food and drink, indigo gemstones
and clothing, indigo essential oils (patchouli)

7. Crown Chakra
Color Association: Violet
Location: Top of the head
Associations: Ability to connect spiritually, knowingness, spirituality,
connection to God
Imbalances: Headaches, mental illness, senility, lack of coordination, rashes
Healing: Focus on dreams, writing down inventions, violet food and drink,
violet gemstones and clothing, violet essential oils (lavender)

8 Steps to Practice a Chakra Meditation

Do you know how to practice a chakra meditation? Here is a simple 8-step

guide to practicing chakra meditation (And don’t miss the short video at the
end of this article on How To Awaken Your Chakras).

But first, what are chakras and what role does the chakra system play in our
mental, physical, and emotional health?
What Is The Chakra System?
There are seven chakras, or major energy centers, in the human body.
Chakra is a Sanskrit word which means “wheel”.

The chakras are similar to wheels in that they are spinning vortexes of energy.
They are centers of force located within your body, through which you receive,
transmit, and process life energies.

Each chakra is recognized as a focal point relating to spiritual, physical and

emotional energies. The chakras are the network through which your mind,
body, and spirit interact as one system.

The seven major chakras correspond to specific aspects of our consciousness

and have their own individual characteristics and functions.

Each has a corresponding relationship to one of the various glands of the

body’s endocrine system, as well as to one of the seven colors of the rainbow
spectrum.

Nurturing A Harmonious Chakra System

The main purpose in working with the chakras is to create wholeness within
yourself. In this way, you bring the various aspects of your consciousness
from the physical to the spiritual, into a harmonious relationship.

Ultimately, you will begin to recognize that the various aspects of your being
all work together, and that each aspect is as much a part of the whole as the
others. A big part of meditation is learning how to acknowledge, integrate, and
accept all levels of your being.

Here is how the folks from Chopra Center describe the importance of
integrated Chakra System:
These swirling wheels of energy correspond to massive nerve centers in the
body. Each of the seven main chakras contains bundles of nerves and major
organs as well as our psychological, emotional, and spiritual states of being.
Since everything is moving, it’s essential that our seven main chakras stay
open, aligned, and fluid. If there is a blockage, energy cannot flow.

Think of something as simple as your bathtub drain. If you allow too much hair
to go into the drain, the bathtub will back up with water, stagnate and
eventually bacteria and mold will grow. So is too with our bodies and the
chakras. A bathtub is simple; it’s physical so the fix is easy.

Keeping a chakra open is a bit more of a challenge, but not so difficult when
you have awareness. Since mind, body, soul, and spirit are intimately
connected, awareness of an imbalance in one area will help bring the others
back into balance.

Chakra Meditation: 8 Steps To Practice

The following steps describe how to practice a chakra meditation to balance
and align your chakra energies. It is brought to us by Holistic Review
Quarterly:

1. Chakra meditation begins by sitting in a comfortable position with your

spine straight, but not ridged. You then want to focus on each part of
your body starting with your feet and working up. As you do this, have
that part of the body relax and let the stress melt away.
2. The next step in chakra meditation is to focus on the breath. Do not force
it, but let the breathing become steady and deep. The mind will most
likely wonder, just gentle bring it back to the breath and maintain the
focus on each inhalation and exhalation you take. Visualize the oxygen
coming into your lungs and passing into the bloodstream. Visualize it
nourishing all the muscles, organs and cells of your body and then see it
removing the toxins from your body which you expel with each breath.
3. Next in chakra meditation you want to visualize the beating of the heart
and the perfect function of the body. See how all the parts work together
in complete harmony. See how the breath sustains all these parts and
the body as a whole. Become aware of how the breath is the life giving
force of the entire organism you call your body.
4. Next in chakra meditation you should imagine a life giving energy that
you are breathing in along with the air. See this energy as a yellowish
orange color. See this energy encompass your entire body and infuse
your aura. As this energy infuses your aura, imagine the aura growing
stronger, brighter and being charged with this incredible energy. Do this
step gradually, let the aura grow brighter little by little and keep this
energy flowing in with each breath.
5. The next thing we want to do in chakra meditation is energize each
individual chakra. Start with the root chakra in the lower back. Imagine a
clockwise swirl of energy and the energy you breath in feeds this swirl
and makes it strong and brighter. We want to next imagine another
source of energy that is coming up from the earth. This is the same life
giving energy and it adds to the swirling energy at the root chakra.
6. Next in chakra meditation we want to move up to the sacral chakra. Then
one by one the solar plex chakra, heart chakra, throat chakra, head
chakra and finally the crown chakra, infusing each with the life giving
energy. Take your time with this and do not worry about spending more
time on one chakra if you need to. It is strongly advised to always work
from the bottom, going up and not skip around. Each chakra will
influence the other chakras and energizing a higher chakra before a
lower chakra could have an adverse effect.
7. The last step in chakra meditation is to visualize all the chakras at once
being feed by this energy coming in from the breath and up from the
earth. Remember to see the chakras and your aura become brighter,
clearer and super charged from this life giving energy.
8. Finally we can open our eyes and relax a couple minutes with our eyes
open. Pay attention to your body and how incredible and energized you
 now feel. Try to practice 15 – 30 minutes each sitting. Enjoy, this is a
really good, uplifting chakra meditation.

How to Awaken Your Chakras

Boost the seven energy centers from the base of your spine to the top of your
head for optimum health and vitality. You’ll need to learn the function
associated with each chakra. Read more here and then watch this quick
tutorial on how to awaken your chakras.

“Focus your energy on the root chakra. Visualize the color red, which is
associated with this chakra, as a swirling ball of energy. With each breath,
imagine the light growing brighter.”