Beginners Guide to
the 7 Energy Chakras
Let’s talk about energy chakras. Do you know how to balance your own energy to balance your life?
At the moment I have it in abundance and if I am being truthful, I usually have lots of energy. I have been researching the 7 chakras lately and now realise how my thoughts control the energy that flows through and around me. Hey, I have pretty positive thoughts most of the time – the glass is always half full in my eyes.
So what is a chakra? Imagine chakras as energy centres within your body. Each energy centre is shaped like a wheel, with blades constantly turning and overlapping each other. The body has 7 of these wheels of energy and these are called chakras. (Chakras in the ancient eastern language of Sanskrit means wheel). When these chakras are in balance, so too are our thoughts, energy levels and feelings about life.
What are the 7 chakras?
The Root Chakra: (Muladhara)
- Security, safety
- Survival
- Basic needs (food, sleep, shelter, self-preservation, etc.)
- Physicality, physical identity and aspects of self
- Grounding
- Support and foundation for living our lives
IMBALANCED: If the root chakra is imbalanced, the emotional ramifications can be related to:
- Excessive negativity, cynicism
- Eating disorders
- Greed, avarice
- Illusion
- Excessive feeling of insecurity, living in survival mode constantly
The Sacral Chakra: (Swadhisthana)
- Emotions, feelings
- Relationships, relating
- Expression of sexuality, sensual pleasure
- Feeling the outer and inner worlds
- Creativity
IMBALANCED: If the sacral chakra is imbalanced, it can manifest itself in the following ways:
- Dependency, co-dependency with other people or a substance that grants you easy access to pleasure
- Being ruled by your emotions
- The opposite: Feeling numb, out of touch with yourself and how you feel
- Overindulgence in fantasies, sexual obsessions
- Or the opposite: Lack of sexual desire or satisfaction
- Feeling stuck in a particular feeling or mood
The Solar Plexus Chakra: (Manipura)
- Will, personal power
- Taking responsibility for one’s life, taking control
- Mental abilities, the intellect
- Forming personal opinions and beliefs
- Making decisions, setting the direction
- Clarity of judgments
- Personal identity, personality
- Self-assurance, confidence
- Self-discipline
- Independence
IMBALANCED: If the Solar Plexus chakra is imbalanced, it can show up in emotional and physical ways such as:
- Excessive control and authority over your environment and people
- Or the opposite in case of deficiency or blocked energy: Feeling of helplessness, irresponsibility
- Being obsessed with minute details, seeing life through a filter of plus and minuses while losing sight of the whole picture
- Being manipulative
- Misusing your power
- Lack of clear direction, lack of purpose or ambition
- Making plans or having a lot of ideas without finding efficient ways to realise them
The Heart Chakra: (Anahata)
- Love for oneself and others
- Relating, relationships
- Compassion, empathy
- Forgiveness, acceptance
- Transformation, change
- Ability to grieve and reach peace
- Compassionate discernment
- Center of awareness, integration of insights
IMBALANCED: If the Heart chakra is imbalanced, difficulties can emerge in the following ways:
- Being overly defensive
- Feeling closed down
- Jealousy; fear of intimacy
- Codependency, relying on other’s approval and attention, trying to please at all cost
- Always putting oneself in the role of the saviour or the rescuer; or on the contrary, falling into victimisation
- Excessive isolation, being recluse, antisocial
- Holding grudges, not being to forgive
The Throat Chakra: (Vishuddha)
- Expression, in particular, ability to express your truth, to speak out
- Communication, whether it’s verbal or non-verbal, external or internal
- Connection with the etheric realm, the more subtle realms of spirit and intuitive abilities
- Tendency to create, projecting ideas and blueprints into reality
- Realising our vocation, purpose
- Good sense of timing
IMBALANCED: If the Throat chakra is imbalanced, it can manifest in the following ways:
- Lack of control over one’s speech; speaking too much or inappropriately;
- Not being able to listen to others
- Excessive fear of speaking
- Small, imperceptible voice
- Not being able to keep secrets, to keep your word
- Telling lies
- On the opposite side, a closed throat chakra might manifest as excessive secretiveness or shyness
- Lack of connection with a vocation or purpose in life
The Third Eye Chakra: (Ajna)
- Vision
- Intuition
- Perception of subtle dimensions and movements of energy
- Psychic abilities related to clairvoyance and clairaudience especially
- Access to mystical states, illumination
- Connection to wisdom, insight
- Motivates inspiration and creativity
IMBALANCED: If the Third Eye chakra is imbalanced, it can manifest in the following ways:
- Feeling stuck in the daily grind without being able to look beyond your problems and set a guiding vision for yourself
- Not being able to establish a vision for oneself and realise it
- Rejection of everything spiritual or beyond the usual
- Not being able to see the greater picture
- Lack of clarity
The Crown Chakra: (Sahasrara)
- Consciousness
- Awareness of higher consciousness, wisdom, of what is sacred
- Connection with the formless, the limitless
- Realisation, liberation from limiting patterns
- Communion with higher states of consciousness, with
- Ecstasy, bliss
- Presence
- IMBALANCED: If the Crown chakra is imbalanced, it can manifest in the following ways:
- Being disconnected to spirit, constant cynicism regarding what is sacred
- On the opposite side, an overactive crown chakra could manifest as a disconnection with the body
- Living in your head, being disconnected from your body and earthly matters
- Obsessive attachment to spiritual matters
- Closed-mindedness
After reading about the 7 energy chakras, are you able to identify where you may be lacking balance in your life?
Linking up with Kylie for #IBOT
I’ve always wondered about the chakras and how understanding them may help me feel more balanced in life. I am interested in finding more about essential oils too that connect to the chakras. Will have to look into that.
The two often go hand in hand.
I always know that I am holding myself back from expressing something important when I get a sore throat!
Very true. The throat chakra is based on communication and is you follow the signs of blocked chakras, you will be true to yourself.
Very interesting. My anxiety manifests in my throat. I’m having a bad case this week and it feels like someone is strangling me. I’ve always been interested with the throat chakra. A friend gave me a balancing mist recently and I’ve been dousing myself in it lol.
The throat chakra is blue in colour so anything that inspires you with blue should be around you. Balancing your chakras is all about taking back control of your health wellbeing and working with your energy.