The Chakras are aligned on a wheel imagined to be filled with beautiful colors. The wheel runs through the base of the spine all the way to the section hovering above our head. They are broken up into 7 colors that are placed vertically within our bodies. These channels control our actions, blockages and openness. Balancing chakras can help us with mental stress, anxiety, physical pain, regaining our power and feeling more balanced in life in general.
Balancing the Chakras
There are several ways to balance the chakras, but the most common ways are through yoga and meditation. Since each chakra is aligned with a section of the body, stretching and strengthening the weak sections through yoga can help the flow of the chakra. Creating a balanced flow throughout your chakras can help with physical and mental pain.
Visualization can help the chakras as well. If you focus on the section of the body that is causing you pain or mental distress, imagine filling it with a light the color of the chakra to cleanse it out. Of course, we don’t recommend that you avoid going to the doctor if you’re having persistent pain, but if you can tell that your pain is stress related, we suggest bringing awareness to balancing your chakras.
Chakra Break Down
Root Chakra: Muladhara
Color: Red
Location: Pelvic Floor
Supports: Security, grounding and stability. Home of basic needs such as having a home, food and water. This should be the first chakra to balance since it’s at the base of what we all need.
Balancing Yoga Pose:
Low Squat. From Downward dog, step your right foot outside of your right hand and step your left foot outside of your left hand. Bend your knees so that your bottom comes down towards the ground. Go as low as you can without reaching your edge. Release tension in your hips with each deep breath.
Sacral Chakra: Svadhisthana
Color: Orange
Location: Above the pubic bone and below the naval
Supports: Creativity and sexuality. Without procreation, our existence would cease to exist, that is why the Sacral Chakra comes second. This chakra should be balanced if you feel that your sexual drive is low or extremely high. Also balance this chakra if you’re having issues creating anything from food, to writing a paper, to having a baby.
Balancing Yoga Pose:
Butterfly. Sit with the bottoms of your feet connected and knees out to the side. Sit up tall and fold forward leading with your chest towards the feet.
Solar Plexus: Manipura
Color: Yellow
Location: Navel
Supports: Confidence. Self-Motivation. Judgement. Whenever you feel like your confidence is low or your ego is very high, your solar plexus should be balanced. Make sure the previous chakras are balanced as security, sex and creativity has a lot to do with our confidence.
Balancing Yoga Pose:
Seated twist with legs in Indian style. Sit flat, turn your torso towards the right and press your left hand against the outside of the right knee, place right hand behind you and look over your back shoulder. Inhale to lengthen the spine, exhale to twist even more. Repeat on other side.
Heart Chakra: Anahata
Color: Green
Location: Heart
Supports: Love for yourself and for others. Romantic and platonic relationships. How you treat yourself and others. It is important to balance the heart chakra during heart break, during new love and when in emotional arguments.
Balancing Yoga Pose:
Bridge Pose. Lay on back, bend knees with feet flat on the ground. Bring heels close to hands. Slightly spread your legs block width. On your inhale, lift your hips towards the sky and press into your feet.
Throat Chakra: Vishuddha
Color: Blue
Location: Throat
Supports: Your voice. Influences what you communicate vocally. Speaking your truth or speaking your lies. Balance your throat chakra if: lies are out of control, you have a sore throat, before giving a presentation, if you have a problem vocalizing what you want to say, you are a singer.
Balancing Yoga Pose:
Fish Pose. Laying flat on your back, inhale to use your core to lift the chest towards the sky. Tilting the head back and looking behind you, connect the top of your head to the ground with the throat exposed. Used arms along the sides to hold the pose.
Ajna Chakra: Third Eye
Color: Purple
Location: Between the Eyebrows
Supports: Your intuition. Feeling like you can’t decide on what route to take through life? Balance your intuition. Feeling guided to the best possible outcome? Your intuition is high, which in my opinion, can’t really be a bad thing. Unless your intuition has led you astray, investigate any unbalance in the previous chakras. If your previous 5 chakras are balanced, your intuition should be balanced too.
Balancing Yoga Poses:
Hands in prayer thumbs pressed against the space between the eyebrows, looking up, feet pointed forwards.
Pyramid pose. Standing tall split legs into a small triangle with feet facing forward. Hinge at the hips and fold forwards. Bend your front knee toward the head or with flexibility fold in half so that your forehead touches the knee.
Sahasrara: Crown Chakra
Color: Violet
Location Crown of the Head
Supports: Your connection to the Divine. Awareness that something bigger is at work and knowing your ability to combine with its power for good. The Crown Chakra needs balancing when you are not aware that there is something more than the human existence.
Balancing Yoga Pose:
Headstand. Come to your knees, place your hands down with your finger spread out, place your head flat on the ground where you can see your fingers, lift your hips and walk your feet toward your head while squeezing your core. Stay there or place your knees on to your elbows to stand on your head. From there lift your feet and legs into the sky.
Balancing your chakras takes time, but it all starts with beginning. The more awareness you bring to these body parts, these emotions, these underlying issues... the more we are willing to fix them and do the necessary work to improve ourselves.