If you google the word “chakra” these days, expect to be bombarded with ads and promotions for “chakra healing” remedies. Retreats, workshops, plant medicine, crystals, and “shamans” claiming to be able to fix whatever is wrong with you abound. Decolonized information on the chakras can be intimidating to delve into, especially due to the linguistic barriers that come with any literature that uses the original sanskrit terms, while western white-washed sources completely disregard huge tracts of information and are often tainted by capitalism and colonialism. How on earth are you supposed to weed through all of the conflicting information with all of that noise?! While I do not in any way claim to be an expert, and I still have lots to learn, here’s some wisdom that I have acquired through my years of research that might help lead you in the right direction:
Your Chakras are not “Blocked”
Part of the reason you hear so much about “blocked” or “closed” chakras may be due to the language barriers. When ancient texts, some in dead languages, are translated over and over, some of the meaning is bound to get a bit twisted. But when you see spiritual magazines or youtube videos claiming to “unblock” your horribly stuck chakras, I suggest you steer clear. These folks are misinformed, so at the least they will be ineffective. At the worst, they can cause you actual harm! Find a teacher who uses the correct terminology and doesn’t try to convince you that there is something “wrong” with you that needs fixing (for a fee probably)!
The chakras are simply archetypal energy that manifests in our thoughts, beliefs, and actions. The word “chakra” means wheel or cog, so imagine this energy being like a series of cogs or gears that are connected and all turn together; if one of the gears gets out of whack, it affects all of the others and your overall well-being feels off. You see the result of this in your daily life. Imagine that one of the cogs starts to move too fast, or slows way down; that out-of-balance life is the result. In general, your chakras are energy sources that flow and move in cohesion in your body, just like the various parts of your digestive, respiratory or circulatory system; you wouldn’t want any of those moving too fast or too slow or start heading in the wrong direction either! This brings me to the next important chakra fact:
Balancing your chakras is an action
I hate to break it to you, but balancing your chakras is NOT about eating a certain color of food, wearing a certain color, carrying crystals or talismans, using essential oils, or receiving any variety of “healing services.” Although getting reiki, taking yoga, and decorating your house with symbols and crystals (I am totally obsessed with all of that too, don’t get me wrong!) is lovely and healing in many other ways, the truth about chakra energy is that it takes real adjustments to your thought processes, a willingness to do a deep, honest self-examination and making real changes to your behaviors and habits. Just as you would exercise to improve your blood pressure or change your diet to improve digestion, bringing your chakras into balance is done by taking direct, concrete steps to change your inner self. This is not to say that using symbols, objects or rituals as reminders cannot be helpful, but they do not work as standalone remedies.
Achieving balance is really about detecting how your actions, choices, feelings, thoughts, and beliefs manifest in your life each day in positive and negative ways. Once you discover how your actions and choices truly affect you, you can then begin adjusting those to become closer to who you truly are. Healing your chakra energy system is about uncovering yourself and bringing yourself closer to your truest most authentic version of yourself. Each person has their own unique energy balance that is right for them, just like certain types of diet, exercise, and spiritual practices tend to feel right to different people. Once you start to detect imbalances and seek to understand where they originate, you can take actions to change this energy.
For example
Say you have been feeling very anxious lately. You are having anxious dreams at night, feeling jittery and nervous during the day, or maybe even suffering panic attacks. You spend several hours each day scrolling social media and checking your email, you work indoors eight hours each day, and you are always worrying about the future and what will happen tomorrow. You lie awake at night planning your next day and counting out the tasks on your to-do list.
This is a clear imbalance of your muladhara, or root chakra. You recognize this and decide to take action to bring that energy back into alignment. You practice grounding meditations and breathwork, dedicate yourself to barefoot walking for grounding and time spent outside each day practicing mindfulness and strengthening your connection to the earth and nature. You set a time limit on your phone, and don’t look at it for the last hour before bed each night. When worrying or “not yet” thinking starts, you make a conscious change in your thought pattern, disrupting those thoughts with more “right now” thinking, getting in touch with your physical body. You might do yoga or another physical practice that is slower and closer to the ground to bring you more into your body. You repeat affirmations that increase your sense of safety and distract your anxious mind. Over time, you find yourself calmer, slower, and more grounded. Muladhara energy has become more balanced.
Notice how the actions taken are a combination of physical actions, decisions, and inner work. As the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Balancing chakra energy often requires a few changed behaviors, quite a bit of thought control or focus, and healthier decision-making. The chakra system is just one way to understand the archetypal energies that exist in all of us, and working with them help us to live a more balanced life.
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