Written by: Theresa Tirk, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The entire universe is made up of energy, and this includes your body. This belief comes from many ancient cultures that believed all living things carried a life force inside them. This includes the human body. They called these energies that move inside of us the chakras. They believed 7 main energy centers make up the chakras. Chakra is an old Sanskrit word that translates to wheel. Prana, or life force, is the energy moving inside of you that is spinning and rotating. It starts at the base of your spine and travels to the top of your head. It is believed that if your chakras are healthy and balanced, they provide the right of energy to every part of your body, mind, and spirit. By learning about the chakras, you can become in alignment with your body's natural energy cycles.
The 7 chakras are as follows:
The Root Chakra: Muladhara
The Sacral Chakra: Svadhisthana
The Solar Plexus Chakra: Manipura
The Heart Chakra: Anahata
The Throat Chakra: Vishuddha
The Third Eye Chakra: Anja
The Crown Chakra: Sahasrara
Let’s dig a little deeper into each individual Chakra.
The Root Chakra, Muladhara
This is where you need to start when determining if you are out of balance. You will not be able to balance any of your other 6 chakras if your root is not in alignment. This chakra is located at the base of your spine to just below your belly button. It is associated with your day-to-day survival, your emotional security, your financial security, the ability to take care of ourselves and our responsibilities. If this chakra is not balanced, you cannot fully balance the others. The color associated with this chakra is Red. The element associated is Earth. The planet is Saturn. The sound is "oohm." The yoga poses that you should do to work with this chakra are standing poses. "Lam" is the mantra that you can chant as part of your meditation. Try eating "earth or grounding" foods grown in the earth or the color red. When meditating, diffuse one of the essential oils and visualize a ball of red light at the base of your spine.
When your chakra is balanced, it translates to a sense of accomplishment, peace on money, safety, and shelter. You feel connected to the human experience. Imbalanced causes you to feel ungrounded, fearful, insecure, confused, and unclear in your purpose. When it’s overactive, you feel jittery and anxious. If it’s under-active, you may experience daydreaming, trouble concentrating, a “head in the clouds” type feeling. Physical symptoms can manifest in digestive issues, back and hip pain, ovarian or prostate issues. There are a few different ways to balance this chakra. Take care of your survival needs first. Focus on your spiritual connection – pray and meditate. Volunteer and provide acts of kindness and compassion. Spend time in nature – take a walk, get your feet in the grass.
Let’s talk about the essential oils that can work to help balance and calm this chakra. Try applying one oil or a blend of them to your feet and lower back, massaging in a clockwise direction. Once applied, focus on positive thoughts and intentions aimed at balance. You can also diffuse the essential oils in the home while you are working on balancing.
Cedarwood
Frankincense
Myrrh
Patchouli
Spikenard
Vetiver
There are also specific crystals that work well with this chakra. Try using these crystals during meditation.
Bloodstone
Garnet
Red Agate
Red Jasper
Red Tigers Eye
Ruby
Root chakra affirmation:
"I am grounded, stable and empowered to stand on my own two feet."
The Sacral Chakra, Svadhishana
The location of this chakra is below the belly button and includes your sexual organs. This is the home of your creative energy. Your place of self. Your identity as a human and what you do with it, your motivation to enjoy life, your ability to indulge in pleasurable activities. The color associated with this chakra is orange. The element is water. The planet is Jupiter. The sound is “vam,” which you can chat with during meditation. The yoga poses to aid in opening your sacral chakra are those that open the hips, such as downward-facing dog, seated side stretch, standing forward fold, sun salutation. Eat orange foods. When you are meditating, visualize a glowing orange ball at your lower abdomen and spreading outward.
When your chakra is balanced, you have a smooth creative flow, healthy sexual desire, and a positive outlook. When it’s out of balance, you will feel needy or withdrawn and fear intimacy, sexual problems, or dysfunction. Underactive can cause impotence, decreased sex drive, lack of passion and creativity. When it’s overactive, it can manifest in addictions and gluttony, obesity, restlessness, and hormone imbalance. It can manifest in physical symptoms as ED (erectile dysfunction), hormone imbalance, an intestinal disorder. To balance this chakra, find a creative activity you enjoy, such as painting, drawing, dance. Meditate and journal to process your emotions. Work on forgiveness of yourself and others.
Essential Oils to help open up and balance your sacral chakra:
Bergamot
Cardamom
Clary Sage
Neroli
Patchouli
Sandalwood
Ylang ylang
Crystals to use during meditation and for healing:
Citrine
Carnelian
Orange Calcite
Milky Quartz
Moonstone
Selenite
Sacral Chakra Affirmation:
"I am passionate, creative and empowered too manifest abundance from within."
The Solar Plexus Chakra, Manipura
The location of this chakra goes from your belly button to your breastbone. This is where your self-confidence, your identity, your personal power lives. It’s associated with your personal power, your physical feelings of confidence, and wisdom. It’s also referred to as your "Warrior Chakra." The color associated with this chakra is yellow. The element is fire. The sound is "ram," which you can chant during meditation. The yoga poses to aid in opening your solar plexus are twisting poses or poses to strengthen your core. You will want to eat yellow foods. Drink peppermint, chamomile, dandelion, or ginger tea. When your chakra is balanced, you have a sense of wisdom, decisiveness, personal power, inner peace. When it’s out of balance, you will have low-self esteem, feelings of abandonment, and nervousness. Underactive can cause lack of energy, indecisiveness or insecurity, timid and needy. Overactive can cause you to be quick to anger, lack of compassion and empathy, be controlling or greedy. Physical symptoms can manifest as digestive issues, imbalances in your internal organs such as the appendix, pancreas, livers, and kidneys. To balance, open your heart with love and compassion, meditate, refocus your power by thinking of things you are good at by making a list.
Essential oils to help open up and balance your solar plexus chakra.
Black Pepper
Cedarwood
Cinnamon
Clove
Ginger
Lemongrass
Grapefruit
Crystals to use during meditation for healing and opening your chakra.
Amber
Citrine
Golden Topaz
Sunstone
Solar Plexus Chakra Affirmation:
"I am confident and ready to express my life purpose to serve the highest of all around me."
The Heart Chakra, Anahata
This chakra is located right over your heart and radiates down to your breastbone and up to your throat. This chakra is associated with health and healing. It’s where your love, compassion, and kindness are empowered. It’s where you house your love for others and yourself. The color associated with this chakra is green. The element is Air. The sound is “yam,” which you will chant during meditation. The planet is Venus. Yoga poses to help open up your heart will be “chest opening, stretching,” such as cat pose, camel pose, cobra pose. Try eating green foods.
Since this chakra is associated with “air,” you will want to breathe deep when you meditate and visualize green air circulating around you. When your chakra is balanced, you can express love and compassion. You are giving, joyful and content. You have loved your others and for yourself. An imbalanced chakra causes emotions of jealously, selfishness, hatefulness, and depression. When your chakra is overactive, you lose personal boundaries and make unhealthy choices. When it’s underactive, you can have trouble getting close to anyone, be out of touch with your body and have a tendency to build walls.
Physical symptoms can manifest in the way of circulation problems, fast heart rate or palpitations, heartburn, or relationship issues. To balance this chakra may take a lot of work. Start by treating yourself well; practice self-care and self-love. Meditate, take relaxing baths, get massages. Spread love and compassion through volunteer work. Show appreciation for yourself and for others. Guilt, regret, and shame all plague the heart chakra and can cause greater disease. Antidotes for the problems of the heart are self-love and forgiveness.
Essential Oils to help balance and open your heart chakra are:
Bergamot
Sweet Orange
Ylang ylang
Lavender
Sandalwood
Jasmine
Crystals to help with healing your heart chakra are:
Amazonite
Emerald
Green Flourite
Peridot
Jade
Heart Chakra Affirmation:
"I love myself. I share this love with others. I live in balance with grace and gratitude."
The Throat Chakra, Vishuddha
This chakra is located between your collarbone and down to the center of your heart, and up to the center of your eyes. The chakra governs your communication to yourself, to others, to source, to higher powers. It’s intended to help you express your highest truths and intentions. The color associated with this chakra is blue. The element is Sound. The sound is “ham,” which you will chant during meditation. The planet is Mercury.
You can do various yoga poses such as Shoulder Stand, Plow Pose, Fish Pose, and Corpse Pose to open up your throat chakra. You can also try rolling your head back and forth, side to side, rolling it in a circular motion. Stretching out your neck and throat muscles. When your chakra is balanced, you have effective communication. You can express yourself. You are a good listener. You are patient and honest. You can open to criticism and constructive feedback. An imbalanced chakra can cause poor communication, cause you to be deceitful or manipulative. It can manifest as being shy or even causing you to talk excessively. When your chakra is overactive, it can cause you to spend a lot of time alone. You may feel ignored or invalidated. When it’s underactive, you can shut down and be unable to express yourself.
Physical symptoms can manifest in the way of circulation problems, fast heart rate or palpitations, heartburn, or relationship issues. To balance this chakra, try meditation, sound therapy and also try practicing the mantra of "think before you speak." Buddha says, “before you say anything, ask yourself is it true, is it necessary, is it kind?" Practice speaking your truth, being your authentic self.
Essential Oils to help balance and open your throat chakra are:
Lemongrass
Bergamot
Basil
Peppermint
Cypress
Blue Chamomile
Crystals to help with healing your throat chakra are:
Aquamarine
Sapphire
Turquoise
Blue Lace Agate
Blue Calcite
Throat Chakra Affirmation:
"I am able to clearly express myself and speak up about the truth that is important to me."
The Third Eye Chakra, Anja
This chakra is located between your eyebrows and radiates down to your mouth and up to the top of your head. This chakra opens up your mind to information beyond the material world and the 5 senses. It’s associated with extrasensory perception, intuition, or physic energy—our sense of knowing or higher wisdom, i.e., your sixth sense. The color associated with this chakra is indigo. The element is light. The planet is the Sun and the Moon.
The sound is “om,” which you can chat about during meditation. You can do the yoga poses for this pose are child’s pose, downward-facing dog, extended puppy pose, and head to knee pose. Eat purple foods as well as dark cocoa or chocolate. When you are meditating, visualize a glowing purple light spinning over your Third Eye. When your chakra is balanced, you feel in tune with the physical and material world. You receive psychic information frequently. When it’s out of balance, you will feel forgetful, have nightmares, judgmental, and non-sympathetic. Physically it can cause headaches behind your eyes or issues with vision and sinuses. Most people have an under-active Third Eye Chakra as we live in a world that tends to invalidate intuitive development. So we close off our 3rd eye and ignore our own psychic experiences. To balance this chakra, remind yourself that you are a creature of the Earth. Connect your body to the Earth. It will take practice to energize this chakra. You need to devote time to solitary meditation, focus on signals outside your physical body, listen to your spirit, and recognize how it feels.
Essential Oils to help open up and balance your 3rd eye chakra:
Clary Sage
Cypress
Elemi
Frankincense
Patchouli
Sandalwood
Vetiver
Crystals to use during meditation and for healing:
Amethyst
Blue Quartz
Sodalite
Charoite
Kyanite
Purple Flourite
Third Eye Chakra Affirmation:
"I trust my intuition and inner guidance. I see myself for who I truly am."
The Crown Chakra, Sahasrara
The chakra is located at the top of the head center and radiates down to between the eyes, and extends up and outward. This chakra influences our deeper understanding of ourselves beyond the physical or material. Whether we connect to another person, ourselves, or a source, this chakra presides over how that connection is made.
The color associated with this chakra is either white or purple, whichever you feel more drawn to. The element is space. The sound is a silent “om” or vibration. No specific yoga poses for the crown, just meditation, and visualization. Utilize the essential oils and crystals during your practice. When your chakra is balanced, you feel balanced in your spiritual life. You have a purpose. You are connected to others, and your trust your own wisdom and knowledge. When it’s out of balance, you will feel unspiritual. You may have an excessive fear of dying or of impending doom. You may not have a clear vision of your life purpose. You may feel alone or unloved. To balance this chakra is not easy to do. It’s also not possible to have an overactive Crown Chakra. The best steps to take to balance your Crown chakra are practicing your spiritual development and focusing on balancing the other 6 chakras. This can aid in bringing you closer to experiencing the conscious energy in your crown. Having an under-active crown chakra just means you are human.
Essential Oils to help open up and balance your crown chakra:
Cedarwood
Lavender
Myrrh
Neroli
Sandalwood
Rosewood
Elemi
Crystals to use during meditation and for healing:
Clear Quartz
Moonstone
Snow Quartz
Selenite
White Topaz
Crown Chakra Affirmation:
"I am balanced. I am connected to the universe and to spirit."
I hope that you can use this as a guide to balance and re-align your chakras. The energetic system within your body controls much more than you probably imagined! Having your chakras aligned and all working cohesively can greatly impact your life. Wishing you love and light.
Theresa Tirk, Executive Contributor, Brainz Magazine Through her work as a Spiritual Life Coach and Certified Aromatherapist, Theresa Tirk empowers women everywhere to step out of overwhelming and into joy by awakening their own validation and strength. Theresa creates massive impacts in her clients’ lives with dynamic daily rituals and simple yet powerful mindset shifts. Theresa was called to coaching through her own spiritual journey of self-discovery following a battle with depression and anxiety. Theresa is the host of The Ritual Queen Podcast and CEO of The Ritual Queen LLC.
