The Basics of Chakra Healing

Chakras as the Foundation for Body-Mind Healing

Chakras are energetic centers located up and down the spine up through the top of the head.  They are understood to be a foundation of Eastern spiritual healing, centering and development practices.

As holistic healing and wellness techniques, or energy medicine, have continued to be more and more sought after in the West, so has the inner exploration of the chakras as the basis for creating body-mind-spirit balance and alignment.  Entering a meditative state is a primary way to explore the chakras.

The Placement and Meaning of Each of the Seven Chakras

Here is an overview of the placement and meaning associated with each chakra:

1. The first, or root chakra, is located at the base of the spine or correspondingly the base of the groin.  It is said to be the foundation through which primary life force energy, understood to be the divine, or infinite Source – enters individuals, and is associated with the color red.
2. The second chakra is located in the center of the lower back or correspondingly the center of the lower abdomen.  It is associated with sexual expression, procreation, creation, and ancestry, and with the color red-orange.
3. The third chakra is located just above the small of the back or correspondingly at the base of the diaphragm above the navel.  It associates with free emotional expression and personal identity, and with the color yellow.  It is commonly thought that for women, given millennia of patriarchal persecution, the overwhelming loss of personal identity “strips” this chakra, producing a central challenge to restore its whole function. 
4. The fourth chakra is located in the heart, correspondingly the center of the upper back.  It associates with unconditional love and the color green, and is understood to be the gateway to the soul. 
5. The fifth chakra is located at in what is commonly called the “voice box”, or in the area of the thyroid, correspondingly in the central back of the neck.  It is associated with integrity and “speaking your truth”, or what is called “higher truth”, and the color blue.  
6. The sixth chakra is a tiny spot between the brows, also called the “third eye” at the pineal gland.  It is associated with higher guidance, wisdom, and what is called “infinite intelligence”, understood to be the direct connection to Spirit, and the color indigo.
7. The seventh chakra, also called the “crown”, is located at the top of the head or even a little above.  It is understood to be the center through which we are directly drawn into the realm of the infinite, the “bridge between physical and spiritual worlds”, and the color purple. 

How to Connect with the Chakras for Centering and Healing:  A Brief Meditative Exercise

Settle back comfortably, body open and aligned, eyes closed; and take several deep, easy, regular breaths.  Imagine your breath as an endlessly flowing, rising and falling light wave of energy enveloping, nurturing, clearing, and uplifting every part of your body and mind.

For these next several breaths, each and every time you breathe in, say the word receive, and each and every time you breathe out, say the word release to yourself.  Imagine your endless, flowing breath effortlessly moves you deeper and deeper within.

Now imagine there are, as well, endlessly flowing energy centers called chakras located at particular points from the base of your spine to the top of your head; and that your flowing breath begins to move you, as if in the wink of an eye, into each chakra in turn, from the first all the way up to the seventh.  Simply imagine yourself going on this amazing inner journey through each chakra, rising higher and higher, ever so slowly as you are carried from one to the next.

Experiment for Body-Mind Healing

• As you are carried into each chakra, say to yourself the sentence: Here I endlessly receive and release healing, several times.  What happens?

However you picture or, inside your mind’s eye, experience these flowing energy centers, also imagine how easily you can observe your whole experience,  noting how your feelings unfold, as well as any physical sensations which occur.  You can lightly touch your sense of where each chakra is placed on your body as you sense you “come” to it through this unfolding inner journey.

When you have completed your exploration through the top, or crown, chakra, imagine how easily you simply allow your endlessly flowing breath to easily and naturally return you to full, waking consciousness, and when you’re ready, open your eyes.  It can further enhance your exploration of the chakras to record and/or draw what happened. 

You have just initiated and experienced energetic balancing, centering and healing through your chakras.  Consider practicing this every day as an experiment, and see what happens to how you respond and be in all aspects of your life, especially to your innate sense of Self.  Happy travels!