Chakra Practice For Beginners
Pit Gebeyaw
While playing a tone, focus on the corresponding chakra in your body. You can repeat the tone a fixed number of times (I use to repeat each tone 4 times) or just play it once and move on to the next one. While you focus on the chakra, just imagine that your sound comes from this chakra, and not only from your mouth.
EXPERIENCE: This meditation is a way to become physically and spiritually connected to each sound. Experience it, play it, share it. When we practiced it during the Fukiawase last June, with 11 shakuhachi blowing together, I felt totally rejuvenated after it.
Think of chakras as a blueprint for your own self-care, and your yoga practice as the architect that makes that blueprint a reality. The most direct way to use the chakras is to learn how each one is associated with an element in nature. As Alan Finger, founder of ISHTA Yoga, explains, the first five chakras are associated with the physical elements earth, water, fire, air, and ether (or space). The last two chakras are thought to connect us beyond the earthly realm, so they are associated with the elements of light and cosmic energy.
What it is: The Muladhara chakra is found at the pelvic floor. It is our tap root and keeps us grounded into embodied reality, physically strong and secure. This chakra governs your family ties and feelings of survival, belonging, and guardedness. Your earliest memories are stored in the muladhara chakra, including whether or not your basic needs were met.
What it is: This chakra is held in our sacrum. It corresponds with your reproductive and sexual organs, and represents fluidity, creativity, and fertility. You can take a literal interpretation of this, or associate this chakra with whether or not you feel deserving of a pleasurable, abundant, creative life.
What is it? Vishuddha is the energetic home of speech and hearing, and the endocrine glands that control metabolism. On a spiritual level, this chakra is all about expanding our conversation to the Divine.
Lie down with your shoulders supported on a folded blanket, head on the floor. Bend your knees, rock your hips up, lift your legs overhead, and then release your toes toward the floor beyond the crown of your head. Place your hands midback, and lift one leg at a time skyward. Allow your gaze to drop toward your heart, and hear the sound of your breath. Feel free to express yourself by joining the soles of the feet, or by lowering one leg at a time toward the floor. Hold for up to 2 minutes. To release, lower both feet to the floor above your head, release your hands to the floor, and lower yourself vertebra by vertebra. Freeing the neck and spine, and then turning the senses in toward your breath, allows you to connect with your own rhythm.
What is it? This chakra is is located eyebrow level mid-brain and is associated with your intuition, or sixth sense. It governs how the rest of the chakras function. It is the meeting point between two important energetic streams in the body, the ida and pingala nadis, and the place where the mind and the body converge.
The chakras are 7 energy centers that extend from the base of your spine to just over the top of your head. When prana (energy) flows through them easily your physical, emotional, and mental health all improve. When the chakras become blocked, you may experience physical or emotional symptoms.
Please note that we independently source all of the products that we feature on yogajournal.com. If you buy from the links on our site, we may receive an affiliate commission, which in turn supports our work.
Many practices focus only on the 7 major chakras, or primary chakras. But, some spiritual traditions also incorporate additional chakras. This could include foot chakras, knee chakras, shoulder chakras, etc.
Every chakra connects with nerve bundles, organs and glands, depending on their location. The 7 core chakras run along the midline of your body. They start at the base of your spine and travel all the way up to the top of your head. Each chakra represents aspects of your own human experience and the unconscious world within you.
Doing chakra meditation helps you recognise the health of these energy centres. Tune in and you can notice the colour of each individual chakra, how it feels and (potentially) the physical symptoms related to it.
Your RED base chakra grounds you in your physical body. It relates to the Earth element and its at the base of your spine. This chakra impacts your ability to meet challenges and feel safe in the world. If you perceive a threat to your finances or survival, this chakra may be blocked. You can use specialised root chakra meditation practices to help clear this.
An underachieve heart chakra makes it hard for you to live an authentic life. It also interferes with your ability to feel compassion. If overactive, you may prioritise love for others, rather than yourself. Physical symptoms include high or low blood pressure, palpitations and circulation problems. You can do specific heart chakra meditation practices to bring more love into their life. Visualise an emerald green light in the centre of your chest to get this process started.
People who speak with very loud voices or who interrupt others may have this overactive. If you have an underactive throat energy, you may be shy or quiet. You could also avoid difficult conversations. Physical symptoms include digestive trouble, throat pain, mouth ulcers or cavities.
An overactive third eye chakra may result in obsession with the spiritual or paranormal world. If underactive, you may feel disconnected from the spiritual side of life. Physically, you could experience headaches, allergies, or sinus trouble. Visualising an indigo or deep purple light in the centre of your forehead helps active your ajna.
Before you begin the ancient practice of chakra meditation at home, refer to a guide online to understand the exact location of each chakra. This is important because you will later need to visualise each chakra.
Sit in a comfortable position with your back straight and relaxed. Breathe naturally and deeply, drawing breath from your belly, not your chest. Now, relax into this breathing exercise for a minute or two before moving on.
Next, visualise each chakra and focus on it for a few moments. Start with your red root chakra and progress upwards. Imagine energy coiling up within each chakra, shimmering into a glowing ball of vibrant heat. Now imagine that heat melting away. Allow it to flow freely through your body, opening up blockages and releasing any spots of tension.
Nothing contained in this blog, and in any linked materials, is intended and should not be interpreted as medical or health advice or as a substitute for professional medical or health advice. You should only obtain medical or health advice from an appropriately qualified and licensed medical or health provider.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Avaana does not represent or warrant that the information contained in this blog is accurate, complete or up to date and disclaims all liability in relation to your use or reliance on any information contained on this blog, including any linked materials. You acknowledge and agree that if you choose to rely upon any information provided on the blog, including any linked materials, you do so solely at your own risk.
The seven chakras are the main energy centers of the body. You've probably heard people talk about "unblocking" their chakras, which refers to the idea that when all of our chakras are open, energy can run through them freely, and harmony exists between the physical body, mind, and spirit.
The Swadhisthana, or sacral chakra, helps inform how we relate to our emotions and the emotions of others. It also governs creativity and sexual energy. Those with a blocked sacral chakra could feel a lack of control in their lives.
The third chakra, the solar plexus chakra, speaks to your ability to be confident and in control of your life. Think back to the last time you had butterflies or felt a pit in the stomach: That's the Manipura chakra at work.
When it's functioning at full capacity, it allows us to express ourselves truly and clearly. Someone with a blocked throat chakra will feel like they have trouble finding the words to say how they truly feel.
As we move up the body, we're getting closer to communion with the divine. The Anja, or third-eye chakra, controls our ability to see the big picture and connect to intuition. Think of it as the eye of the soul: It registers information beyond the surface level.
Yogi Cameron left the world of high fashion to pursue the Yogic path in India, and has studied Ayurveda and Yoga since 2003. Today, he's based in L.A. and has helped thousands of people tap into their spiritual side through yoga, meditation, his books, and other practices.
Chakras (pronounced as chah-kruhs) are energy centers within the body that are believed to correspond to different aspects of our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Beginning to understand the seven chakras and their meanings can help us achieve balance and harmony in our lives, especially when learning to recognize and re-align them when they become blocked.
The root chakra represents our foundation and is located at the base of the spine. It is associated with stability, grounding, and our basic survival needs. When the root chakra is not balanced, we may feel insecure, anxious, or disconnected from the world around us. To bring the root chakra back into balance, activities such as walking barefoot in nature, practicing yoga poses that focus on the lower body, and using grounding breathing practices like Bahya Khumbaka can be helpful.
e59dfda104