What is Chakra Balancing?

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.

The Importance of the Main Chakras in the Body

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. Take for example, a wife, who has recently lost her husband. She develops acute bronchitis, which remains in the chest, and then gets chest pains each time she coughs. The whole heart chakra is affected in this case. If she realizes the connection between the loss and the bronchitis, healing will occur much faster if she honors the grieving process and treats that as well as the physical ailment.

Balancing your chakras improves your health and well-being, physically, mentally and emotionally.

Chakras are wheels of light located all over our body.  We have thousands of them in our body but the seven major ones are located along our spine from its base to the crown of the head. Each chakra is represented by a colour of the rainbow –  red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

• Crown Chakra – Top of Head – Violet
• Third Eye/Brow Chakra  – Above & between eyebrows  – Indigo
• Throat Chakra – Base of throat – Blue
• Heart Chakra – Centre of chest – Green
• Solar Plexus Chakra – Just above navel – Yellow
• Sacral Chakra – Just below navel – Orange
• Root/Base Chakra – Base of spine – Red

Chakras are like the power stations of our body, bringing it to life, and keeping it healthy. Each chakra is associated with different parts of us and they need to spin totally in balance for us to feel good.

The chakras absorb energy that comes from our thoughts, feelings and outside environment and feed this to our body.  Our body is affected by the quality of the energy that passes through the chakras. Our chakras also absorb energy from the environment.

We cannot avoid coming into contact with negative energy or feeling down sometimes, but there is a lot that we can do to change our feelings from negative to positive and to protect ourselves from harmful energy in the environment.  Keeping our chakras in tip-top condition is the key, in other words keeping them spinning in balance.  Chakra balancing is a bit like spring-cleaning the chakras and fine-tuning them.

Each chakra is associated with different body parts, emotions and life areas, so in balancing each chakra, you will be giving energy and help to any issues or problems you have. There are too many areas to discuss in one article, but very general associations are shown below:

• Root Chakra – Survival, Security, Energy, Trust, Power to achieve
  Part of body – Skeleton, Legs, Bones, Spine, Large intestine
• Sacral Chakra – Feelings, Self-awareness, Self-love, Creativity
  Part of body – Kidneys, Bladder, Sexual organs, Reproductive system
• Solar Plexus Chakra – Personality, Self-respect, Self-confidence
  Part of body – Digestive system, Small intestine, Skin, Nervous system
• Heart Chakra – Love, Compassion, Sharing, Forgiveness
  Part of body – Heart, Chest, Lungs, Arms, Hands, Circulation
• Throat Chakra – Creative self-expression, Communication, Inspiration
  Part of body – Throat, Neck, Nose, Mouth, Teeth
• Third Eye Chakra – Intuition, Understanding, Insight, Realisation
  Part of body – Eyes, Ears, Base of skull, Nervous system
• Crown Chakra – knowing, wholeness, perfection, enlightenment, unity
  Part of body – Upper skull, Skin

The Chakras of Matter

The first three chakras, starting at the base of the spine are chakras of matter. They are more physical in nature.

First Chakra: The Muladhara is the chakra of stability, security, and our basic needs. It encompasses the first three vertebrae, the bladder, and the colon. When this chakra is open, we feel safe and fearless.

Second Chakra: The Svadhisthana chakra is our creativity and sexual center. It is located above the pubic bone, below the navel, and is responsible for our creative expression.

Third Chakra: The Manipura chakra means lustrous gem and it’s the area from the navel to the breastbone. The third chakra is our source of personal power.

The Fourth Chakra: The Connection Between Matter and Spirit

Located at the heart center, the fourth chakra, anahata is at the middle of the seven and unites the lower chakras of matter and the upper chakras of spirit. The fourth is also spiritual but serves as a bridge between our body, mind, emotions, and spirit. The heart chakra is our source of love and connection.

When we work through our physical chakras, or the first three, we can open the spiritual chakras more fully.

The Chakras of Spirit

Fifth Chakra: The Vishuddha chakra is the fifth chakra, located in the area of the throat. This is our source of verbal expression and the ability to speak our highest truth. The fifth chakra includes the neck, thyroid, and parathyroid glands, jaw, mouth, and tongue.

Sixth Chakra: The Ajna chakra is located in between the eyebrows. It is also referred to as the “third eye” chakra. Ajna is our center of intuition. We all have a sense of intuition but we may not listen to it or heed its warnings. Focus on opening the sixth chakra will help you hone this ability.

Seventh Chakra: The Sahasrara chakra or the “thousand petal lotus” chakra is located at the crown of the head. This is the chakra of enlightenment and spiritual connection to our higher selves, others, and ultimately, to the divine. It is located at the crown of the head.

Clue to Aligning the Chakras

Awareness to which of your chakras are out of balance is key to aligning them. Our bodies are in constant flux between balance and imbalance. Unless you have an apparent problem in one area of the body, imbalances can be difficult to detect. That being said, it’s good to bring awareness to your body/mind and start to learn its signals and clues.

For example, frequent constipation can indicate a blockage in the first chakra. A recurring sore throat leaves clues to a blocked fifth chakra. Frequent headaches around the area of the forehead may mean your sixth chakra is blocked.

Chakra balancing offers very positive results – improving your health and making you feel good about yourself.

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