Chakras 1-4
Happy Sunday beautiful people. Throughout my yoga certification, we had a week dedicated to chakras. We did a flow on each of the chakras and then had a follow up philosophy lesson on them. I want to share what I know about the chakras and research even more.
In this post I will go over the first four chakras, as I don’t want this post to be overwhelming. Next week I will continue with the rest of the chakras.
What are chakras?
Chakras provide subtle energy to different parts of the body to make them function at their highest. There are seven chakras and they are the main energy centers of your body. The website mindbodygreen.com explains, “Chakra translates to "wheel" in Sanskrit, and you can imagine them like wheels of free-flowing positive energy.” You want to keep the wheels open thus we practice ways to keep energy flowing through each chakra. The chakras are root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, and crown. Chakras have one inner and one outer meaning.
Root Chakra, Muladhara:
Location: Base of the spine/pericardium/mula bandha
Color: Red
Element: Earth
Meaning: Security and stability. This chakra allows you to feel grounded in your life and feel your identity and purpose. When you unblock this chakra, you can focus on your life goals and relationships. Since this chakra deals with security, we must ensure we are secure in the most essential ways: food and sleep. Therefore, eat when hunger arises and get a good amount of sleep. Do enough physical activity to get a good nights rest. Accept that life is always insecure and when you accept insecurity, that is the biggest security. You cannot control life, you can only control you. When this chakra is balanced, you will feel in tune with your body and the Earth. This chakra also gives us energy for life and is linked to the feelings of focus and belonging. You feel the drive to life and care for yourself and others.
It is unbalanced when: you have difficulty sleeping, weight gain/loss, fatigue, feeling unsafe or anxious, living in survival mode, etc.
How to balance it:
Use movement such as yoga, walking, being outside. Sit, walk, or stand with your bare feet on the ground. Feel the earth beneath you. If you are doing a yoga practice, do grounding postures like sitting and moving the flesh to allow your sits bones to touch the base of the ground. Also poses such as warrior one and two where you ground your feet. Whatever pose you do, focus on the part of the body that is grounding.
Use sound. Singing bowls, calming music, chanting, etc. Use the prayer “I am.” The breath for this chakra is a quick out while your stomach is in. Remember that when you breathe in you are filling the body with air hence your stomach should be going out and vice versa when you exhale. This breath will cleanse emotion and aids in digestion. I have noticed that if I feel overly full, I use this breath and it makes the digestion process quicker.
Combine meditation and movement. For example, if you take a walk outside, focus on each step. Focus on your feet, heel then toe and you place each foot and make each step.
Sacral Chakra, Svadhisthana:
Svadhisthana means “from here, your place as a human starts.”
Location: Pubis area
Color: Orange
Element: Water, water needs to flow and so do your emotions. Do not be stuck on one emotion as this will create other problems.
Meaning: Humanity starts here because emotion starts here. It is responsible for your sexual energy and your enjoyment of the first chakra. It relates to pleasure, sex, creativity, etc. It drives your enjoyment of life. This chakra stresses the balance of emotions to ensure that you are not too emotional or not emotional enough.
It is unbalanced when: it is overactive or blocked. It is overactive when you are drowning in emotion and emotionally all over the place. It is blocked when you show signs of detachment, isolation, loneliness.
How to balance it:
Meditate and focus on your emotions. Journal, talk to someone. Figure out why you feel the way you do and think of ways you can change that. Do something you love. Show yourself how enjoyable life can be. Forgive. I know this can be hard… trust me. Holding on to a trauma causes your chakra to be blocked and makes you constantly think about this memory consciously or unconsciously. Forgive for you, not for them. Allow your mind to be free of this pain. You deserve relief. Eventually, you will become so happy with yourself that you will wish a great life upon even your greatest enemy. Your power comes from your emotion and your ability to be the bigger person. Choose happiness, choose enjoyment.
Yoga poses that open this chakra are camel pose and bound angle and the breath is saying “who, who, who” as you breathe.
Solar Plexus Chakra, Manipura:
“Manipura” means “city of jewels.”
Location: Diaphram
Color: Yellow
Element: Fire
Meaning: Your ego and identity. The outer identity is your powerfulness or powerlessness. As I mentioned in the previous chakra, have bigger power. No one is inferior or superior. Do not accept feelings others offer to you. We want this chakra to be balanced because then when faced with negative situations you have the ability to be positive. You can be confident and self-motivated, not relying on others.
It is unbalanced when: You are aggressive, have low self-esteem or a superiority complex. This is physically seen when you over eat and have digestive disorders.
How to balance it:
Burn essential oils, repeat positive affirmations about power, and heal from the past. Do what makes you happy. Listen to your inner soul and go from there.
Heart Chakra, Anahata:
“Anahata” means “unbroken.”
Location: Center of the chest, above the heart
Color: Green
Element: Air
Meaning: Love and compassion. When you have devotion, the love blossoms, be devoted to yourself. There is no need to look for love because you are love. Soon you will love yourself so much that it will overflow and you can love others too. You need love to have gratitude. See the love everywhere, life is a celebration. We are being loved and protected by existence. Nothing is a burden if you love your life. This chakra is the seed of love and devotion. Embrace whatever comes your way and celebrate it. Have fun with life. The moment there is trust, you will receive grace.
It is unbalanced when: you put others first, too much so that it harms yourself. This is also seen through high/low blood pressure, bad circulation, heart/lung problems. If you feel jealous often, defensive, lonely, trust issues, fear of intimacy.
How to balance it:
Practice gratitude and loving kindness. What do you love about yourself? Do heart opening postures. Smile more, be kind to yourself. Show yourself patience.