The 7 Chakras

Before we go into information on each of the 7 Chakras lets talk about what Chakras actually are.

Chakras are various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, or the esoteric or inner traditions of Hinduism.

In Sanskrit, the word “chakra” means “disk” or “wheel” and refers to the energy centres in your body. These wheels or disks of spinning energy each correspond to certain nerve bundles and major organs.

To function at their best, your chakras need to stay open, or balanced. If they get blocked, you may experience physical or emotional symptoms related to a particular chakra.

There are seven main chakras that run along your spine. They start at the root, or base, of your spine and extend to the crown of your head.

The chakra system distributes the flow of prana or energy throughout your subtle body. Stress, illness, emotional upset, or conflict all can cause blockages or imbalance in your chakra system.

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Crown Chakra

The Crown Chakra. Is the last of the 7 Main Chakras and is represented by the colour violet or white. It is mainly related to God, spiritually, faith & religion and is the connection to the Devine soul. The crown chakra is

situated at the top of the head & moves upwards and outwards past the structure of your body. The crown chakra is the point where the physical body and soul overlap. Many relate the crown chakra as the part of the soul that is the purest.

It is symbolized by, and often also called the Lotus with one thousand Petals. The crown chakra governs the part of the consciousness which is concerned with opinions of unity and separation. It represents the connection with God and the Spirit. It governs many organs, glands, and systems of the body such as

the brain, the nervous system, & the Pituitary gland. The crown directs the energy of a certain part of yourself which is commonly called the Higher Self & embraces you within its protective light making you feel secure & healthy. You will be open to accepting love and wisdom from your higher self and you will be filled with the energy of the divine spirit. The spirit will guide you and inspire you with all the things you should do. A balance crown chakra will keep you spiritually connected with the spirit.

Intelligence of the crown chakra increases your ability to form perceptions, analyse and absorb information into your system. You become more intelligent and aware. A balanced crown allows you to be open minded, able to question and give you a broad understanding of everything including the spirit.

Third Eye Chakra

Located between the eyes, the brow or third eye chakra, deals with intelligence ad psychic power. When I first started to learn to meditate, it was working with the third eye chakra that allowed me to connect at a deeper level. The third eye can help us visualise our heart’s desire, it can help us see which path we need to take. If you work with visualisation techniques, your third eye will offer you a real insight into the ‘truth’ you need to know at this time. A fully functioning third eye chakra will help you see what’s really going on around you, you will have much clearer and stronger intuition. It is the seat of psychic vision and has been known as Ajna by Hindu practitioners for thousands of years. Often symbolized by the symbol for the syllable OM with a petal on both sides each. The associated colours are indigo, deep blue, and sometimes violet. Hormones are responsible for the body’s function they are associated with many aspects of our body, which includes mental or emotional aspects as well. The Endocrine system of the body, which is responsible for the release of hormones that regulate many functions including growth and maturation, metabolism, tissue function and also mood. The 3rd eye governs the pineal gland, nose, eyes, ears and also the skeletal system. It is related to the senses of sight and hearing, and to your ability to perceive and form your own opinions about what you see and how you live. This chakra plays an important role in making you see things clearly, not only physically, but also morally and even intuitively. The Pineal gland’s main function is to secrete a hormone called melatonin which plays a role in regulating your sleep cycle, regulating growth, slowing down aging and also maintaining a stable mind. Vision as it governs your eyes, the function of physical vision and is related to this chakra, as well as psychic & intuitive abilities. The 3rd Eye plays a role in governing alertness as well as your ability to see things and predict things, to be optimistic and visualize outcomes that you desire. This chakra is responsible to form perceptions about reality. When this chakra is in balance you will be able to visualize easily and your memory and ability to reason become sharp. You will trust yourself & be able to form and reply on your intuitions.

Throat Chakra

The sky-blue chakra cantered in our throat. The gateway to consciousness-sound, rhythm, vibration, words. Our bodies are in a state of communication like our televisions, computers, phones etc it’s the key to life, it’s a seat to creativity. If you cannot express your ideas your creativity will be diminished at a certain extent. Chanting the mantra out loud will help activate & balance the energy of the throat chakra. Each chakra has their own mantras. The throat chakra related body parts are the Thyroid gland & the human Endocrine system which is responsible for the release of hormones they are important for growth & development also regulates the body’s metabolic system and is responsible for proper functioning of the larynx, trachea, ears, nose, teeth, mouth, throat, and the carotid arteries. If we want to speak from the heart, we need to be able to communicate this clearly, with honesty and integrity. It is much easier to do this if our throat chakra is in alignment with our heart’s desire. Everything we say has an effect. We need to be careful of the vibration that our communication creates. A balanced throat chakra it will help with All sorts of communication. So, to achieve balance in the throat chakra we must have gone through some development & purification. On our journey so far through the chakra system, we’ve learnt about our right to be here in the base and how to balance our base chakra and stay grounded. We have learnt that we have the right and need for pleasure and open and balance our sacral chakra. Moving up we’ve learnt about the fire in our bellies and about our fire of our own personal will in our solar plexus and then learning of the softer touch of the air we moved up towards the heart chakra.

This chakra development and the balancing of the lower chakras allows our heart chakra to open in turn to purify us it allows us too lovingly express ourselves by the throat centre. Vibration exists in the universe which vibrates through the cosmos.

Heart Chakra

The Heart Chakra is located in the centre of the chest area. Many emotions, such as love, hatred, grief, joy, jealousy, fear of betrayal, feelings of isolation & loneliness & the ability to make ourselves feel better are all cantered in the heart chakra. Associated with the element of Air. It is responsible for the administration of: Thymus gland, circulatory system, including the heart, the respiratory system lungs, arms, hands and fingers, shoulders, ribs breasts, and the diaphragm. The associated colour is green and pink. All the chakras have an important role to play in our general wellbeing, but as with the root chakra, I believe the heart chakra is just as important. It is the centre balance of our chakra system. In order of fire, we need air to burn, air is supplied from our hearts. We can use the fuel from the balance of the 1st & 2nd chakras, but we need the air too from our hearts to keep it healthy. We now realise that are actions have an impact on others not only ourselves, we start to realise that were a part of a larger interconnection system if we work together in love, compassion, & kindness then the world would be a better place for us all. Opening the centre of our hearts will help us receive & give love more easily. As mentioned before in our lower chakras we have the right to be here and have the right to express pleasure, now we learn to love ourselves and how we can give love to others. The heart is more aware of love not sexual love like the sacral. The heart connects the lower & upper chakras this is where we feel the soft touch of spirit.

Solar Plexus

From earth to water to fire! Our dance grows, impassioned now as we reclaim our bodies & reach through emotion & desires to find will, purpose and action. We grow in strength, we feel our power rising from our guts, descending from our visions, releasing joyously from our hearts. Entering the 3rd chakra, rising up from the combined levels of the first 2 chakras & embracing the growing current of consciousness that descends from the upper chakras.

Here the element fire ignites the light of consciousness. I’ve often referred to it as ‘my ego’, it is my own personal power. This can often be misused, and it shows itself when we mistreat others by being dominating or critical. When I first started working with the solar plexus chakra, I learnt how to breathe properly. Breathing fully, from down in the belly, filling the lungs and slowly exhaling is a good way of opening the solar plexus area. Our breathing is often very shallow and restrictive, try practising by breathing in for the count of 3, 5 or 7 and making the exhale longer than the inhale. Don’t get out of breath, go with your own natural rhythm.

Sacral Chakra

You are water-the essence of all forms, yet formless. You are the point from which each direction flows, and you are the flow. You are the one that feels, you are the one that moves.

You are the one that embraces the other.

2nd Chakra-Located between the navel and the genitals. Sometimes it is referred to as the navel centre. The sacral chakra is connected to the water element. The associated glands are the ovaries and testicles, and the related body parts are the womb and the genitals (our reproductive organs), kidneys, bladder, circulatory system and the lower back.

The sacral chakra is our emotional store bank, and it is the centre of our sexuality.

Root Chakra You are the ground on which all things rest. You are the Earth from which all things grow.

 You are here, you are solid, you are alive. You are the point from which all things begin.

The chakra system distributes the flow of prana or energy throughout your subtle body. Stress, illness, emotional upset, or conflict all can cause blockages or imbalance in your chakra system.

The 1st chakra -The Root chakra is where everything lives that we’ve believed all our lives. Go back to those kid years: what you get told when you’re 3 years old is still in there, unless you’ve actively changed your mind about it. Any ideas about personal safety, family, trust that someone would care for and about you-the first chakra holds it all Root Chakra and the importance of this chakra is often overlooked, especially when we’re looking for more ‘spiritual’ enlightenment or guidance.

It is believed by many that the higher Chakras are the ones that are going to help with spiritual evolution. This is not so true! For us to evolve ‘spiritually’, our foundations need to be rock solid. If you can imagine just for a moment that your house is built on dodgy foundations, ones that are weak and unstable…it’s not rocket science to understand that your house may topple down at any time. It is exactly the same as the bodily chakra system. The root chakra, our 1st primary chakra is the most important of them all. If we have a strong foundation, then all other levels have a stable and secure platform on which to evolve and grow.

When we come with an idea, we need to actually process that idea & take action to take it into being manifested. If we cannot focus on one thing at a time, if we cannot limit ourselves to focus on one thing at a time, we will become overwhelmed with ideas & emotions. A fully functional root allows us to have necessary limitation which in tune allows us to manifest the idea into a real thing and we can then make changes on it as we progress.