Our body is so much more than a physical, mental and emotional Being. It’s also contains subtle energies that we’ve known about for thousands of years, yet still barely understand.

Our chakras are part of this subtle energy system.

The word Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning wheel or cycle. This makes sense when we understand that the chakras are spinning wheels of light that reflect various energy centres or vortexes in our body. In short, they occur where we have a complex intersection of energy meridians. Whether the chakras feed the meridians or the meridians feed the chakras is not fully understood.

But suffice to say that the chakras, although subtle and not “felt” in the way that we feel our arms or our legs, are nevertheless extremely powerful.

Although most people travel through life blissfully unaware of these powerful portals that are weaving the energy dynamics of their body, there are certainly times when we need to bring our attention here – especially if we are feeling out of whack.

Balancing our chakras is a very simple way of calming our energy, reducing our stress, grounding and uplifting ourselves, and creating a calm interior ready to face any storm on the outside.

But before we can balance them, we need to understand where our chakras are located.

This is associated with the colour red and the Earth element, and it sits at the very base of the spine. It’s the storehouse of our vital energy, and when it’s out of balance it can give way to feelings of deep fear, insecurity, a lack of purpose, and the need to control.

Our Sacral Chakra is located a hand’s width under our navel. It emits the colour orange, and is associated with the Water element. It’s associated with our sexuality (which makes sense given its location), our creativity, our maternal instincts, and our sense of connection (eg. parent/child). When it’s out of balance we can lack creativity, be out of balance in our sexuality, and experience significant mood swings.

Manipura in sanskrit means “City of Jewels”. It’s located a hands’ width above the navel, and is associated with the colour yellow and the Fire element. This is the source of our Will, our sense of Self in the world, and our self-esteem. When it’s in balance, we are comfortably assertive, clear on our self-worth, and filled with drive. Out of balance, we can lack energy, have digestive or liver issues, and suffer from low self-esteem.

This is our middle chakra in the 7 chakras, and as such it joins the lower chakras (which are our “worldy” chakras) to the higher and more spiritual chakras. Its colour is green, and it’s associated with the Air element. It’s connected to both our physical and our emotional heart, and thus is the source of our Love (for self and others), compassion and understanding. When it’s out of balance, we can experience challenges with our heart and blood pressure, as well as being withdrawn, jealous and fearful around others.

This is our centre of communication, and it controls our neck, throat, tongue, jaw and mouth. Its colour is blue, and it’s associated with the Ether element. When our throat chakra is in balance, we can communicate in a clear way, getting our point across in a positive way, without anger or submissiveness. It also regulates our hormones, so it has a cascade of positive effects on our body.

The Third Eye Chakra is located just slightly above the point that sits between our eyebrows. It’s our centre of intuition, and associated with the colour Indigo. There is no element associated with the Third Eye chakra. It controls our intuition and inner wisdom. Headaches, migraines and blurred vision are all signs of an underactive Third Eye chakra. When balanced, the Third Eye chakra allows us to “see” and “feel” clearly, to access divine wisdom, and to walk in the world without being of it (ie. to be free of worldly attachments).

The Crown Chakra is located at the top of our head, and it’s depicted as a thousand petalled lotus. Its colour is violet, or white. When open and balanced, the Crown Chakra connects us to our Higher Self, to Universal energy, and to our spiritual Guides. When out of balance, we can feel disconnected from others, and self-destructive.

Because our chakras link to so many vital emotions and organs, keeping them in balance is just as important as brushing our teeth, or showering. As children, we’re taught how to do these simple things…but most of us have never been taught how to balance our chakras.

Are you keen to learn how? There are 3 main ways to do this:

1. Meditation (especially Creative Visualisation)
2. Essential oils, and
3. Yoga

In each of our next 3 blogs, I’m going to cover one of these methods. This week, let’s explore how we can use creative visualisation to bring our chakras into balance.

Visualisation is an active type of meditation. Instead of allowing our mind to rest in stillness, we keep our mind focused by following a set of guided imagery.

When I lived in Indonesia in my mid 20’s, I was privileged to have many spiritual friends. Some of them were from the Edgar Cayce society, and they taught me a chakra balancing meditation that they do before any channelling. This meditation is designed to bring the chakras into balance, allowing us to feel grounded and centred.

I’ve personally found it a wonderful meditation to do. I love to do it anytime I’m feeling out of balance, emotional or chaotic. It’s also designed to be done before any spiritual or psychic practices, to help clear that channel so we are working with Light energy that’s untainted by our own emotional “stuff”.

In fact, I love this visualisation so much, that I’ve recorded it on my meditation CD Discover your Spirit Guides.

Sit quietly. Bring your attention to the base of your spine (the Base Chakra). Imagine it as a spinning wheel. You want it to spin freely and smoothly, in a clockwise motion (ie. clockwise as if you were standing outside of yourself, looking at this chakra). If it’s not doing this, use creative visualisation to “repair” the imbalance. You might imagine that you are oiling the wheel so it runs more smoothly. You might imagine that you are using your hands to stop the wheel and then spin it the opposite direction (if it happened to be spinning anticlockwise). You might imagine yourself installing a motor in the wheel, to keep it running rhythmically. You might even imagine that you’ve removed the old wheel and replaced it with a new one.

Once it’s spinning freely and smoothly, move on to the next chakra. This time bring your attention to the front of your body, to the Sacral Chakra (located a hand’s width under your navel). Again, see it as a spinning wheel with a yin-yang symbol on it. As with the base chakra, use creative visualisation to correct any imbalances here, so it ends up spinning freely and smoothly.

Now, move your attention to the Solar Plexus Chakra. See a large pottery wheel, and observe its movement. You want it to be moving freely in a clockwise direction. If it’s not doing this, use your creative visualisation to bring it into balance.

Now, we’re moving on to the Heart Chakra, located in the centre of your chest (nearby to your physical heart). See your Heart Chakra as a four chambered heart. Imagine yourself as a teensy person, walking into the chambers of your heart with your broom and sponge, ready to clean any cobwebs and dark spots from it. I also like to imagine that I’ve got my handy Thieves Household Cleaner with me, and some essential oils. Do a spruce up of each of the chambers of your heart, till it’s sparkling and clean.

Next, bring your attention to your Throat Chakra, located around the Adam’s apple region of your throat. Imagine there’s a blue crystal here, and that you are a tiny person standing inside of your throat, looking out through this blue crystal. Use your imaginary hands and an imaginary polishing cloth to polish this crystal, until it emits a clear blue light.

Then bring your attention to your Third Eye Chakra, located slightly above the point between your eyebrows. Imagine there’s a purple crystal here (like amethyst), and that you are a tiny person sitting in your head, looking out through this purple crystal. As with the blue crystal, polish this purple one until it emits a clear purple light.

Now, bring your attention to your Crown Chakra, on the crown of your head. See a thousand petalled lotus here, with its petals close. As you watch it, see the petals open up, and see a white light moving up from your crown, up through the layers of the Universe, to the very highest realm. You might even visualise Angels and other Guides looking at you through this beam of white light.

Next, see a beautiful blue liquid or light running down from the heavens, down through this beam of white light. And as this blue liquid or light runs through each of your chakras in turn, see it cleansing each one, until it leaves from your Base Chakra, carrying any dirt or debris with it into the centre of the Earth.

Now, imagine the petals of your Crown Chakra gently closing. Hold the intention that they will open any time you need them to. The purpose for closing them is to offer a level of protection to us from chaotic energies that we encounter on a daily basis. If our Crown Chakra was to stay open all the time, we’d be buffeted by these energies, and drained. So we only open our Crown Chakra like this in the visualisation if we are about to engage in some spiritual healing work or channelling, and the rest of the time we have the Crown Chakra gently protected.

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