Chakras are energy centers located throughout the body that reflect and influence our consciousness. Learning about your chakras and bringing them into balance can be an important part of spiritual growth and overall wellbeing. There are several steps you can take to locate and open your chakras so you can tap into their healing potential.
What are chakras?
Chakras are energy centers in the body that correspond to nerve plexuses, major organs, and areas of our energetic-spiritual makeup. The word “chakra” comes from the Sanskrit for “wheel” or “disk,” referring to the spinning wheels of energy located along the spine and head. There are 7 main chakras that run from the base of the spine to the crown of the head, each correlating with different aspects of our consciousness and physicality:
- Root chakra – Security, survival
- Sacral chakra – Pleasure, sexuality, creativity
- Solar plexus chakra – Willpower, self-esteem
- Heart chakra – Love, compassion
- Throat chakra – Communication, self-expression
- Third eye chakra – Intuition, wisdom
- Crown chakra – Spirituality, connection to higher consciousness
When the chakras are balanced and open, energy can flow freely through them, allowing optimal functioning of the body systems, clear thoughts and emotions, and an overall sense of wellbeing. When chakras become blocked, it can manifest in physical or mental health issues related to those energy centers.
Why open your chakras?
There are many benefits that can come from activating and aligning your chakras:
- Improved physical health – Each chakra corresponds to major organs and body systems, so clearing chakra blockages can alleviate associated health issues.
- Emotional balance – Blocked chakras often reflect emotional disturbances or trauma, so releasing these allows our feelings to flow freely.
- Spiritual connection – Opening chakras like the third eye and crown fosters intuition and awareness of the divine within us.
- Personal development – As we clear limitations in each chakra, we gain positive attributes like willpower, love, communication skills and more.
- Energy and vitality – With chakras open, our vital life force energy can move through us unimpeded.
- Stress relief – Chakra healing techniques induce deep relaxation and reduce anxiety and tension in both body and mind.
- Higher consciousness – Fully aligned and balanced chakras allow access to expanded states of awareness.
Signs of blocked vs. open chakras
How can you tell if you have blocked chakras that need attention? Here are some signs for each main chakra:
| Chakra | Blocked | Open |
|---|---|---|
| Root | Insecurity, anxiety, restlessness | Grounded, stable, sense of belonging |
| Sacral | Sexual issues, creativity block, addiction | Healthy libido and habits, creative flow |
| Solar plexus | Low energy, lack of confidence, indecision | Self-assured, strong willpower, motivation |
| Heart | Grief, hatred, relationship struggles | Loving, compassionate, at peace |
| Throat | Unable to express self, fear of speaking | Communicative, self-expressed, speaks truth |
| Third eye | Lack of intuition and insight, mental fuzziness | Wise, perceptive, clear thinking |
| Crown | Depressed, disconnected, lack of purpose | Enlightened, blissful, unity with Divine |
If you recognize multiple issues related to a particular chakra, it likely needs some healing attention.
How to locate your chakras
To find your chakras, it helps to tune into the various parts of your body where they reside. Try these practices:
Chakra visualization
Use your mental focus to visualize each chakra and sense its location:
- Sit comfortably with your spine straight and eyes closed.
- Bring your attention to the base of your spine, visualizing a red lotus flower – this is your root chakra.
- Move up to your lower belly, envisioning an orange flower – your sacral chakra.
- Focus on your solar plexus, picturing a bright yellow flower – your solar plexus chakra.
- Shift to the center of your chest, imagining a green or pink flower – the heart chakra.
- Move to your throat, visualizing a blue flower – the throat chakra.
- Focus between your eyebrows, seeing an indigo flower – your third eye chakra.
- Bring your attention to the crown of your head, visualizing a violet flower – the crown chakra.
Sense each chakra point energizing as you focus on it. You may even perceive colors, lights, or energy swirling. With practice, you will come to inherently know the location of each chakra.
Physical localization
You can also physically locate the chakra positions:
- Root – at the base of spine, in the perineum
- Sacral – about 2-3 inches below navel
- Solar plexus – upper abdomen, below sternum
- Heart – center of chest
- Throat – front of throat
- Third eye – center of forehead, just above brow
- Crown – very top of head
Use your fingertips to gently apply pressure to each site, feeling for areas of tenderness or pulsation. This will give you a stronger mind-body connection to your chakras.
Chakra sounds
Each chakra is also associated with specific seed mantra sounds from Sanskrit tradition. Chanting these can activate the chakras:
- Root – LAM
- Sacral – VAM
- Solar plexus – RAM
- Heart – YAM
- Throat – HAM
- Third eye – OM (or AUM)
- Crown – NNG (or OM)
You can sing or chant these aloud or silently focus on each one starting from the root chakra upward. Feel the vibration resonating in the matching chakra as you chant.
Opening and balancing your chakras
Once you have located your chakras through sensing, touch or sound, you can begin working to open, align and balance them. Try these methods:
Chakra meditation
A chakra meditation uses focused breathing and mental imagery to open chakra centers. Here are the basic steps:
- Sit comfortably and close your eyes.
- Visualize the 7 chakras from root to crown.
- Bring attention to the root chakra; inhale and imagine breathing red energy into it, exhale and release any blockages.
- Move up through each chakra – sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye and crown – breathing corresponding colored energy into each one.
- Repeat several rounds until you feel each chakra energized and balanced.
- Optional: incorporate chakra seed mantras on the exhales.
Aim to do a full chakra meditation for at least 15-20 minutes daily.
Crystals
Certain crystals and gemstones can help amplify and balance the energy of specific chakras when placed on the body. Some key examples:
- Root – hematite, garnet, red jasper
- Sacral – carnelian, orange calcite, tiger’s eye
- Solar plexus – citrine, amber, yellow topaz
- Heart – rose quartz, green aventurine, emerald
- Throat – lapis lazuli, turquoise, blue lace agate
- Third eye – amethyst, sodalite, purple fluorite
- Crown – clear quartz, selenite, diamond
Lie down and place the corresponding stones on each chakra for 15-20 minutes as you visualize the chakra opening and clearing.
Essential oils
Essential oils also have vibrational qualities that resonate with specific chakras. You can anoint the proper oils onto the chakra locations:
- Root – patchouli, vetiver, cedarwood
- Sacral – sandalwood, citrus oils
- Solar plexus – juniper berry, lemon
- Heart – rose, jasmine, melissa
- Throat – German chamomile, peppermint
- Third eye – lavender, clary sage
- Crown – frankincense, rosemary
Use a carrier oil to dilute if applying directly on skin. Inhaling the oils also aligns the matching chakra energies.
Healing touch
Having a healing practitioner consciously work on your chakras can help open and release stuck energy. Techniques may include:
- Chakra-focused massage or acupressure
- Pranic or energy healing
- Reiki
- Reflexology
- Light touch or hands-on bodywork
Set the intention to open, balance and align your chakras as the practitioner stimulates each energy center through touch. This clears physical and emotional blockages.
Yoga and exercise
Physical movement and yoga poses help energize the chakras and keep energy flowing freely. Some beneficial practices include:
- Squats, leg lifts, leg spreads – for the root chakra
- Hip circles, pelvic tilts – for the sacral chakra
- Core twists, abs work – for the solar plexus
- Shoulder rolls, chest openers – for the heart chakra
- Neck stretches, chin tilts – for the throat chakra
- Forehead tapping, brow lifting – for the third eye
- Head rolls, crown stretching – for the crown chakra
Connect breath to movement and set the intent to free up energetic flow to each chakra area as you exercise. Yoga flows moving through chakras are ideal.
Conclusion
Learning to locate your 7 main chakras along the spine is an important step in harnessing the healing power within these energy centers. Tuning into the feel of each chakra through visualization, physical touch, or sound can help you connect to their subtle energy. Daily chakra opening practices involving breathwork, crystals, essential oils, energy healing, yoga or meditation keeps your chakras aligned, balanced and flowing freely. This allows optimal functioning of your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual beings.