What is 7 Chakra Balancing and How it Helps Better Our Physical and Mental Well-Being

I have to say from the outset, I am a total beginner when it comes to Chakra Balancing. I stumbled upon the idea of chakra alignment only recently through essential oils. My two go-to essential oils companies have lines of chakra blends and I was always passing them by because I knew close to nothing about the seven chakras and what happens when they are not in perfect alignment. 

When I came across an article by the Chopra Center about chakra balancing I was intrigued. I have been following Chopra’s recommendations on nutrition, meditation and breathing techniques. So why not the chakras? Because I’ve been struggling to quiet my “busy” mind with guided meditation, I thought I’ll try to chakra meditate. The idea being that by focusing on each individual chakra as an anchor, I might be able to quiet the mind. And it works!

Here is is what I learned and started implementing.

What are the 7 Chakras? 

Chakras refer to the energy centers in our body. According to Sanskrit scholars, there are hundreds of these energy knots in the human body, but it makes sense to focus on the seven core chakras and attempt to keep them in balance. But Chakras are more than just energy centers. They can also be seen as points of contact with the world beyond the body and proper chakra balancing can lead to a stronger bond with the universe. 

As North Indian scholar Harish Johari describes in his book Chakras: Energy Centers of Transformation, chakras are psychic centers of transformation that enable you to move toward an enlightened state of being. Chakra is a Sanskrit word that means wheel, disk, or any arrangement in a circular form; it also indicates movement. In fact, Johari explains that chakras introduce movement because they “transform psychophysical energy into spiritual energy.”

The Chopra Center

All the seven core chakras have their corresponding color of the rainbow, a mantra to use during meditation, and a crystal that can also be used for balancing the chakras. 

The Root Chakra

The Root Chakra governs our connection to the outside world and is related to our basic needs for stability, food, and shelter. It encourages self-care and self-love.

• Location: Base of the spine
• Color: Red
• Element: Earth
• Mantra: Lam
• Crystals: Garnet, onyx, red jasper, bloodstone, hematite
• Essential Oils Blend: Vetiver, Myrrh, Frankincense Serrata, Grapefruit, and Pine

The Sacral Chakra

This chakra’s energy is linked to passion, creativity, and sexuality. It encourages exploration of the world and connection with others.

• Location: Below the navel
• Color: Orange
• Element: Water
• Mantra: Vam
• Crystals: Carnelian, orange zincite, amber, tiger eye, orange coral
• Essential Oils Blend: Sandalwood, Clary Sage, Cardamom, Cinnamon Bark, and Jasmine

The Solar Plexus Chakra

This chakra’s energy is a source of personal agency and self-esteem and it helps turn our wishes and desires into action. It is associated with personal power, energy, and transformation. For bodily functions, it helps regulate digestion.

• Location: Between the ribcage and the navel
• Color: Yellow
• Element: Fire
• Mantra: Ram
• Crystals: Citrine, yellow sapphire, moonstone, tiger’s eye
• Essential Oils Blend: Cedarwood, Grapefruit, Sweet Marjoram, Black Pepper, and Ginger Root

The Heart Chakra

The Heart Chakra is nestled between the heart and lungs and is associated with love, compassion, peace, and connectedness. When it’s out of balance, this can lead to problems in the respiratory and circulatory systems (breathing issues or high blood pressure).

• Location: Center of the chest
• Color: Green
• Element: Air
• Mantra: Yam
• Crystals: Rose quartz, green tourmaline, malachite, garnet, jade
• Essential Oils Blend: Geranium, Copaiba, Lime, Spearmint, and Rose

The Throat Chakra

The Throat Chakra is located in the throat and governs how we communicate and express ourselves. Balanced Throat Chakra will lead to confidence and understanding and allow you to speak your truth. An unbalanced Throat Chakra can cause a sense of isolation as well as hormonal issues. 

• Location: Throat
• Color: Blue
• Element: Ether
• Mantra: Ham
• Crystals: Blue lace agate, lapis lazuli, azurite, sapphire
• Essential Oils Blend: Peppermint, Cypress, Roman Chamomile, Rosemary, and Blue Tansy

The Third Eye Chakra

The “Third Eye” Chakra rules intuition and insight, especially at spiritual levels. When balanced, this chakra allows us to see how interconnected we are with the rest of the universe.

• Location: The center of the forehead, the “third eye”
• Color: Indigo
• Element: Light
• Mantra: Sham
• Crystals: Amethyst, turquoise, opalite, pearl, blue topaz
• Essential Oils Blend: Ylang Ylang Complete, Lavender, Clary Sage, Pine, and Frankincense Serrata

The Crown Chakra

The Crown Chakra is known as the “thousand petal lotus” chakra, and it’s believed to be the most spiritual of all chakras. When aligned, it has the potential to open us up to the divine and to explode our spiritual consciousness.

• Location: The top of the head 
• Color: Purple
• Element: Spirit
• Mantra: Om
• Crystals: Clear quartz, diamond, white agate
• Essential Oils Blend: Rosewood, Frankincense Sacred, Sandalwood, and Lemon

How to Harness the Power of Chakra Balancing

Reading the descriptions of the 7 chakras and their role in the proper functioning of our physical, mental, and spiritual selves, I realized that they might be responsible for a lot of our behaviors, habits, hang-ups, unresolved issues, bodily ailments, and connection to others and the world at large. 

In this era of COVID-19 and social distancing, it’s even more important to honor your multidimensional needs. The chakra system can help you to see past judgment and separation during this time so that you can see the light in others. As you begin to look at yourself through the lens of the chakra system, you may be able to see yourself holistically, as well as how your projection creates your reality.

Parita Shah

Each of the chakras is responsible for a crucial part of our being and if that is so, it’s clear to see that imbalance or blockage of even one of the chakras can result in problems, be it physical or emotional. Reflecting on the problems that might already exist in your life can point you in the direction of which chakra might be out of balance: either too expressive or not expressive enough (or even blocked).

For example: 

• If you’re shy to speak up during a meeting even though you know deep down your thoughts would contribute greatly to the discussion, your Throat Chakra might need realigning. 
• If you feel isolated from others, disconnected from the world (job, colleagues, community), it might make sense to address the Root Chakra imbalance.
• If your Sacral Chakra is in over-drive, you may look for excessive indulging and co-dependence.
• If the Solar Plexus Chakra is blocked, you might start giving in to anxiety and experience difficulty staying on task.
• If you have too much energy in the Heart Chakra, you might be prone to jealousy fits or being very clingy to your partner. But if your Heart Chakra is blocked, you might feel lonely and be unable to forgive others.

Many Roads to Chakra Balancing

Experts in Chakra healing suggest multiple ways to balance the 7 chakras. Some of them include wearing specific colors of clothes that represent the chakras or placing oneself in contact with the elements such as water or air for the Sacral and Heart chakras respectively. Others include yoga, gratitude, creative visualization, chakra meditation, and chakra healing crystals.

Since I’ve been advised by my naturopath to meditate as part of the holistic path to healing and recovery from cancer, I thought I’d try to chakra meditate. Generally, in my attempts to meditate, I’m still at the stage where I need a clear anchor, be it the voice in a guided meditation or focusing on my breath in an unguided one. 

I have to say, it doesn’t come easy for me to meditate without guidance. My thoughts start to trail off and I catch myself making a shopping list or a to-do schedule for the next day. I do much better with an anchor such as in a progressive muscle relaxation when I actually focus on a body part.

Focussing on the chakras does that trick as well. I’ve tried it and it seems to work. I am able to stay focused and feel refreshed after the 20 minutes or so practice. 

Chakra Balancing Through Meditation

I read many articles about specific chakra balancing meditations. Root Chakra meditation seems a very popular topic in itself since it might help with the sense of grounding and belonging. Crown Chakra meditation will specifically aid one in opening oneself to the powers of the universe. Many people seem to be also searching for the Heart Chakra mantra as balancing this energy point can help with relationships both with others and, even a more important one, with oneself. 

Because I am not at the stage of being able to pinpoint which specific chakra needs some attention, I believe in an all-encompassing all chakra meditation. This way, I’m attempting to address all potential issues while lowering the fire where there is too much energy and helping to bring more energy to where it’s lacking. 

To meditate on the chakras, I utilize specific chakra essential oil blends. They are in rollers and I can easily roll a few drops of the specific blend right onto the area that corresponds to that chakra. Additionally, Rocky Mountain Oils packages their Chakra oils in roll-on bottles with specific gemstone roller-heads. They are so adorable!

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Concrete Steps to Meditate for Chakra Balancing

1. Make sure you can be undisturbed for 20-30 minutes

2. Find a place where you can sit comfortably: on the floor with your legs folded in front of you or on a chair with upright back.

3. Hold your spine erect but not rigid. You should be comfortable, so use cushions or pillows if needed.

4. If using the oils, apply onto the chakras now. 

5. Take a few deep cleansing breaths and then return to your normal breathing. Your mind will most likely wonder, and if this happens just try to bring it back to the breath. 

6. Start visualizing each chakra in the ascending order: from Root to Crown. As you visualize, think of each of the colors associated with the chakra and feel the energy of this color flowing into and through the area of the chakra. Spend a few minutes on each chakra and then move on to the one above.

7. Once you arrive at the Crown Chakra and spend a few minutes on it, it is time to visualize all the chakras together. You might want to see all the colors together or even see them as colorful points on your own body or silhouette. Try to envision them again as being fed by the life energy that arrives with every breath you take and up from the earth. They are being fed from above and from below at the same time, placing you in perfect harmony with the Earth and the Spirit. 

8. Finally, when you’re ready, open your eyes and spend a moment checking in with your body and the senses. Do you feel energized? Uplifted? Loving? Grounded? 

The Chakra meditation should take about 20 to 30 minutes in total and should prepare you for the day or night, depending on the intention you set for yourself. 

It is strongly advised to always work from the bottom, going up and not skip around. Each chakra will influence the other chakras and energizing a higher chakra before a lower chakra could have an adverse effect. Imagine a clockwise swirl of energy and the energy you breathe in feeds this swirl and makes it strong and brighter. 

About Meditation

If you want to utilize the extra power of the oils to help with chakra meditation, here are the links (affiliate) to the amazing oil blends with gemstone rollerballs I mentioned before.

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Root Chakra Essential Oil Blend with Bloodstone Rollerball

Sacral Chakra Essential Oil Blend with Carnelian Rollerball

Solar Plexus Chakra Essential Oil Blend with Tiger’s Eye Rollerball

Heart Chakra Essential Oil Blend with Rose Quartz Rollerball

Throat Chakra Essential Oil Blend with Lapis Lazuli Rollerball

Third Eye Chakra Essential Oil Blend with Amethyst Rollerball

Crown Chakra Essential Oil Blend with Clear Quartz Rollerball

How to visualize the Chakras?

Visualizing does not come naturally to me. When I was dealing with cancer, I tried Guided Imagery and Chi Gong, and while they were helpful by way of relaxing and helping me meditate, I had great difficulties actually “seeing” whatever the teacher was wanting us to “see.” I find it a bit easier with Chakra meditation, probably because it involves focusing on the changing colors. It is much more specific this way.

I try to first imagine energy entering my body with every breath I take during the meditation. I visualize this life-bringing and sustaining energy as whitish-yellowish in color. When it comes to visualizing each Chakra, I imagine its energy with its specific color mixing into a swirl with that whitish-yellowish energy. I sometimes visualize them as bubbles in a sort of lava lamp, the swirls of the Chakra energy (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple) floating in the white-yellowish general energy that comes in with every breath. 

If it is difficult to visualize on your own – it has been for me for a while – you can turn to guided chakra meditation. Here is one I like to use before bedtime.

And here is a wonderful, 10-minute long Chakra meditation that I like to start my day with. Notice the wonderful “I Love You” at the end. It can melt your heart.

There you have it. I hope you’ll give it a try. Even if you don’t completely believe in the Chakra system, chakra balancing meditation is a wonderful way to start or finish your day, even if just because it is so pleasant and anchoring. 

Happy meditating!