By Sejal Shah
Know the science of 7 chakras as outlined in ancient Indian yoga teachings. Awaken your energy, health, and happiness with guided chakra meditation.
Topics covered:
- What is “Energy”?
- Your subtle energy system
- How to open or balance my chakras?
- Flowers and chakras: the poetry of the chakras
- Discover the seven chakras
- Guided chakra meditation
- Easy does it
If you’ve been on the yoga or wellness scene for a while, chances are you’ve heard of the chakras. You may have heard of opening, balancing, or activating them. Yet, has anyone ever clearly explained to you what the chakras are and how to safely and effectively work with them?
You might be asking yourself questions like: What is a "chakra"? How are the chakras relevant in yoga? What is chakra energy? What does it mean to “open a blocked chakra”? Why would I want to open a chakra in the first place?
Well, today we’re going to share an in-depth introduction to the 7 chakras.
There are many articles on the web about chakras—their shape, size, color, related mantras, organs, and emotions, related asanas or practices to open, unblock, or balance them. Hopefully, this article will help you make sense of just what the chakras are and how they impact your life. Essentially, the chakras are like the energy centers in your body.
At the Art of Living, we take a traditional, time-tested approach. This post is based on the teachings of Art of Living founder and globally recognized meditation teacher Gurudev. Gurudev comes from an ancient lineage and has been sharing wisdom from the yoga tradition for over four decades. Enjoy a guided chakra meditation by him towards the end of the article to go beyond concepts and actually start to experience your energy centers.
To fully understand what the chakras are we need to understand the context in which they exist and the other elements with which they interact. So, let’s start with our deep dive into the chakra system and chakra essentials.
What is "Energy"?
According to quantum physics and scientific research, everything is energy. The movement of energy is considered as a core principle around which many healing traditions are based. In addition to yoga, many ancient practices such as Reiki, QiGong, and Tai Chi focus on the proper functioning of the energy system to achieve health and well-being.
Ancient yogis used a lot of symbolism to explain the deep philosophy of yoga.
One part of this philosophy is the understanding of "Kundalini." Kunda means ‘pot’ in Sanskrit (the ancient language of yoga). The body is like a pot, and the energy in the body is called the kundalini shakti (kundalini energy). In earlier days, this subtle energy was portrayed as a coiled serpent. The coiled serpent conveys the resting or dormant state of the kundalini shakti. It sits at the base of your spine, at your root chakra.
When this energy is awakened and rises, life becomes more and more of a celebration. Small things don't bother us as much. The entire world appears more beautiful and wonderful when the power of consciousness gets awakened within you.
Your subtle energy system
Imagine that your body has a circuit network. In the physical body this circuit network is made up of arteries, veins, nerves, and the organs they are connected to.
According to the yogis of ancient times, in addition to the physical body, there exists a subtle body or energy body that you can’t see or touch, but where all life-force energy flows. The circuit network in the subtle body is made up of chakras and channels through which life-force energy flows.
Before we go any further, what does “chakra” mean? Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning wheel or circular. The chakras correspond to nerve centers or nerve plexus in the physical body; a chakra is simply an energy center or reservoir. It is believed that the human body actually has 102 other chakras, but seven energy centers are of primary importance. These are likely the seven chakras you’ve heard of. Each chakra relates to a different element and emotion.
All these centers are connected through channels, subtle energy pathways through which life-force flows. It is similar to how roads meet at an intersection with cars flowing in and out. You can think of the chakra as the intersection (the convergence point), while the channels are the roads, and the life-force energy is the cars.
How to open or balance my chakras?
While there is a lot of talk about balancing, opening, or even activating the chakras, in traditional yogic philosophy the focus is more on how your life energy flows through the chakras.
The upward flow of energy
When the energy moves upward through the different chakras, from the base of the spine to the crown chakra at the top of the head, this is a positive, upward movement. When the energy is moving up, you experience enthusiasm, creativity blossoms, and there is generosity and contentment, which in turn give rise to love. Love takes you to gratitude, which helps to bring awareness and wisdom and ultimately leads you to joy. Your personal power and potential blossom. Your spiritual energy grows.
The downward spiral
However, when the energy flows in the opposite direction it is a different story. Joy fades, then we may experience anger. From anger springs hatred and aversion. This further leads to a sense of fear. Fear gives rise to jealousy and envy, which in turn can give rise to lust, feverishness, or obsession. And lust and obsession can trap us in inertia and negativity.
This is the downward flow of the same life-force energy.
This upward or downward flow of energy happens very naturally and spontaneously all the time. When we practice yoga and meditation while maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle, we can encourage the upward flow of energy, and enjoy its many benefits.
From our perspective, this is how we can engage with the chakras. More than trying to open or balance the chakras, the important thing is cultivating the upward flow of energy. We do this by engaging in our practice so that our energy rises upwards. By doing so we evoke all the positive and enjoyable qualities of each chakra.
So, rather than trying to balance or open each chakra individually, it is better to focus on cultivating an upward flow of energy.
Flowers and chakras: the poetry of the chakras
The ancient sages described each of the seven chakras in the form of a lotus or different flowers. This is because when you go deeper in meditation, the consciousness becomes very subtle, alive, and fresh like a flower. In such a delicate state of consciousness, you experience the rise of energy in the system. Lightness is connected with subtlety. Grossness is connected with inertia and negative sensations.
To recap and bring it all together
Before we go any further, let’s bring it all together!
According to yoga, you are so much more than just your physical body.
You also have a subtle, energetic body. This energetic body is made up of subtle energy pathways through which life force flows. There are certain points in the body where these energy pathways converge, and these points are called chakras.
There are seven main chakras which are located at various locations along the central energy channel.
Ideally, this powerful energy flows in an upwards direction. When this happens you experience the positive aspects of each chakra. When the energy flows in the opposite direction you experience the negative qualities of each chakra.
Discover the seven chakras
1. Root chakra (First chakra I Muladhara chakra)
Location: Base of the spine
Keyword: Enthusiasm
Element: Earth
We start with the lower chakras. When the root chakra is activated, dormant life-force energy flows freely upward through the seven chakras; it leads to an expanded state of consciousness. At the root chakra, the expanded consciousness is felt as enthusiasm. Enthusiasm supports and enlivens our lives and is the basis of all life. If there is no enthusiasm, life will become meaningless, boring, and stagnant. When the energy is moving downward from the crown chakra and hits the root chakra, we feel inertia.
Find out: How to balance your first chakra and how you can use root chakra for happier feelings.
2. Sacral chakra (Second chakra I Swadhisthana chakra)
Location: Behind the genitals
Keyword: Creativity
Element: The sacral chakra is connected with the water element. The maximum amount of water resides around the sacral chakra in the bladder region.
When the life-force energy moves upwards to the second chakra, which is located behind the genitals, it manifests as procreation, creative energy, and as the sex drive.
When the energy is flowing upwards you experience more creativity and enthusiasm. You can kindle this further through art, writing, dancing, or some other form of creative expression.
There is a joy to life and a desire to make things happen.
When energy flows downwards this is reversed. You may feel uncreative, uninspired, and don’t feel like doing much of anything. This can flip into lust and an obsession with sex.
Find out: How to balance your second chakra
3. Solar plexus chakra (Third chakra | Manipura chakra)
Location: Navel region
Keyword: Giving
Element: The solar plexus chakra is connected with the fire element. The digestive fire present in the belly region here helps with digestion.
The same energy moves upwards to the manipura chakra in the navel region and manifests in four forms—jealousy, greed, joy, and generosity. These are the four flavors of consciousness that manifest in the solar plexus chakra. Here the energy is represented as a four-petaled flower symbolically representing these four emotions. When people feel jealous they feel some sensation in the stomach region. Generosity and joy are symbolized as having a big belly. Just imagine Santa Claus, the Laughing Buddha, or a wealthy businessman—they all have a big belly.
Find out: How to balance your solar plexus chakra
4. Heart chakra (Fourth chakra | Anahata chakra)
Location: Heart or chest region
Keyword: Love
Element: The heart chakra is connected with the air element. The greatest proportion or presence of air in the body is in the lungs, in the chest region around the anahata chakra.
From the navel region the energy moves upwards to the upper chakras and the heart chakra, where it manifests in three forms—fear, love, and hatred. In the heart chakra, the energy is represented as a three-petaled flower symbolically representing these three emotions. When people feel hatred, fear, or love the sensation is felt in the heart region. When someone’s heart is broken it means that love has become sour and turned into hatred.
When there is love, there is no fear. When there is fear, there is no love. When energy is flowing upwards through the heart chakra, we experience love, and when it’s flowing downwards we experience more fear or hatred.
Find out: How to balance your heart chakra
5. Throat chakra (Fifth chakra | Vishuddhi chakra)
Location: Throat region
Keyword: Gratitude
Element: The throat chakra is connected with the Space or Ether element.
When the same energy moves to the throat chakra, it manifests in two forms—gratitude and grief. When you are grieving your throat chokes. And when you feel very grateful, your throat also chokes! Both experiences can make it difficult to speak. In the throat chakra, the energy is represented as a two-petaled flower symbolically representing these two emotions. So the throat chakra is an area of great gratitude and grief.
Find out: How to balance your throat chakra
6. Third eye chakra (Sixth chakra | Ajna chakra)
Location: Between the two eyebrows
Keyword: Aware
Element: The third eye chakra is connected with light.
When the energy moves to the center of the forehead in the Ajna chakra it manifests as anger, awareness, or alertness. Knowledge and awareness are found here in the third eye chakra. The same point is also the seat of anger and is also said to be the region of the mystical Third Eye. Often when we get angry we get migraines or will say that a situation (or person!) is a headache.
The third eye chakra is the seat of anger as well as the seat of knowledge and awakened wisdom.
Find out: How to balance your third eye chakra
7. Crown chakra (Seventh chakra | Sahasrara chakra)
Location: Top of the head, the highest chakra
Keyword: Joy
Element: The crown chakra is connected with universal energy
When activated, you experience greater joy in life. The crown chakra is represented by a lotus flower with 1,000 petals (sahasrara is a poetic reference to a thousand petal lotus). When energy moves to the top of the head one experiences joy. When firmly established there, duality, conflict, and separation fade. You feel totally connected and one with everything.
Find out: How to balance your seventh chakra
These seven chakras or seven nerve centers are connected with different glands in the body—the thyroid gland, the adrenaline glands, the pituitary gland, the pineal gland, and so on. Science is also exploring how these glands are connected with the experience of different emotions. This is something the ancient sages saw thousands of years ago.
Guided chakra meditation
Enjoy this chakra meditation to help balance your energy and experience the chakras. In this guided meditation Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar gives a simple explanation of how energy moves through the 7 chakras and what emotions you may experience with the flow of the energy.
If you are looking for even more guided chakra meditations (!) here is another beautiful guided chakra meditation for you to try. You now have all the theory you need to understand your chakras as well as guided meditations to experience them!
To know more about SKY Breath Meditation, a powerful breathing meditation that brings harmony and balance to the chakras, join us for a free online introduction to breathing and meditation.
Easy does it
A note of advice based on centuries of tradition: Do not try to forcefully awaken your energy. Let it be a natural occurrence. When energy rises naturally and with the right practice, one experiences enthusiasm, joy, and deep connection. All these are signs of awakening.
As yoga has become more and more popular, there are more and more people seeking and offering intense experiences, or promising to “awaken your Kundalini”. While it’s tempting to want to jump right in, it is healthier and more sustainable to go slow and steady, focusing on building a positive, life-supporting practice rather than flashy experiences.
If you are looking for a practice to help you in your journey and start enlivening your chakras you will love SKY Breath Meditation. It is a supportive and sustainable practice that will not only start moving your energy upwards (giving you all of those amazing benefits!) but can also help to reduce anxiety and depression, improve sleep, and boost focus.
Click the image below to join us for a free introduction session.
More to explore:
Feel the Prana! Activate Your Chakras Using this Hari Om Meditation
Try This Chakra Meditation to Balance Your Body’s Energy System
Balance Your Life Energy With This Beautiful 7 Chakra Meditation
Are you looking to join an in-person class? Join us at Chatswood, NSW
Sejal Shah, E-RYT 500 Sri Sri Yoga Teacher, YACEP, C-IAYT, Meditation Teacher, Happiness expert, NYU Post Graduate Medical School approved Yoga-CME retreat facilitator, Mind-Body Wellness Writer, Homeopath. She can be followed on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
