Seven Chakra Meanings
The human body has seven chakras, and each one is in a different location in the body. But they form a vertical line, from the head to the base of the spinal column. They are pools of energy, and each one connects to different glands and organs throughout our bodies.
What makes these chakras relevant to us is that they can affect our health. When they do, it’s usually because one or more of them has been blocked. When this happens, the flow of energy throughout the body is disrupted, which can cause a range of illnesses, both mental and physical.
The seven chakras also have their own colors and influence different parts of our health. In this article, we’ll take you through each one so that you can gain a complete understanding of them. We’ll start from the base of the spine and work our way up.
Root Chakra
The root chakra is found at the base of the spine and connects us to Mother Earth. It influences a range of traits, including youthfulness, passion, vitality, and creativity. It takes the color red, which symbolizes logical thinking and realism.
But that’s not all it symbolizes. It also refers to our strength within our bodies, our sexual energies, and how we deal with problems. Beyond these areas, it also influences our sense of smell, and is attached to the gonads. In Sanskrit, this chakra is known as Moooladhara.
If it’s not balanced, it can make you procrastinate, become greedy, and suffer from a poor diet. If you want to know whether this chakra is unbalanced, you should ask yourself a range of questions to determine if you’re trusting of yourself and others, whether your daily habits are in pleasing patterns, and whether you’re satisfied with your life.
Sacral Chakra
The sacral chakra relates to water and accounts for all the water present within the body. It takes the color orange and covers a range of human passions. These include joy, compassion, happiness, and creativity. Like the root chakra, it also impacts our sexuality and reproduction. That’s why it’s often associated with sexual preferences.
In terms of the senses, the sacral chakra affects our taste and multiple organs within the body. These organs include the large intestine, lymphatic system, and bladder. In Sanskrit, the name of this chakra is Swadhisthana.
If your sacral chakra isn’t balanced, then you could be suffering from a wide range of health ailments like depression, anxiety, and aggression. These can manifest physically as low energy and pain in the lower back.
To see if your chakra is unbalanced, you can ask yourself whether you feel creative and how often you do and don’t do things you enjoy.
Solar Plexus Chakra
The next highest chakra on the list is the solar plexus chakra. It’s named in Sanskrit as Manipura, which means City of Jewels. Its main effect is on our power levels. You’ll find that it benefits your levels of success if it’s balanced.
It takes the color yellow and connects to fire and energy, as well as a range of powerful emotions. It provides us with energy, confidence, and activity while also helping us to feel cheerful and optimistic. It links in with our sight and adrenal glands.
If this chakra is unbalanced, then you’ll notice you feel lacking in confidence, as well as having a low mood. To balance or unblock it, you should repeat affirmations about your power and seek to heal past traumas in your life. You can also burn essential oils and benefit from aromatherapy.
Heart Chakra
It will be no surprise to know where this chakra is located. It’s called Anahata in Sanskrit and is closely tied with air. It has the strongest effects on our personal relationships with those around us.
It has the color green and causes a lot of problems if it’s blocked or disrupted. These problems generally manifest as emotional issues, like wrath, jealousy, anger, and envy. So it’s essential to ensure it’s balanced. It relates to the sense of touch, and it also connects to several of our glands. These are the thymus and lymph glands.
To balance your heart chakra, there is a range of steps you can take. These include practicing forgiveness, doing yoga, and being out in nature. It also helps if you can cultivate a sense of loving kindness toward others and yourself.
Throat Chakra
Continuing our journey up through the human body, we come to the throat chakra. It represents our inner voice and affects how we communicate with the people around us. It’s associated with the color blue. It also influences our levels of empathy and our ability to listen to others.
When this chakra, known as Vishuddhi in Sanskrit, is balanced, it has a range of beneficial effects on the human body. You’ll find yourself feeling more creative and artistic, as well as hearing the beauty in your voice. You can also develop your spiritual awareness through this chakra too and increase your comfort when meditating.
It’s linked to various body parts, like the jaws, oesophagus, ears, and vertebrae. If this chakra is imbalanced, you’ll probably get the sense that you cannot create and think as freely as you feel you should be. It’s worth asking yourself when was the last time you expressed yourself in a hobby.
Brow and Third Eye Chakra
Called the Ajna Chakra in Sanskrit, this one is regarded as a knowledge center. It takes the color of indigo and influences our thoughts, rationality, logic, and analytical abilities. It makes sense, given how close it is to our brains.
When this chakra is well-balanced, you’ll find that your personality traits become more appealing to others. In particular, charisma and charm increase. Interestingly, fear levels decrease as well, and there are rumors of telepathic abilities.
It’s linked to a few crucial glands in the body. Most notably, these are the pineal and pituitary glands. The pineal gland regulates our sleep cycle, and the pituitary gland regulates the function of other glands throughout the body. Therefore, balancing this chakra is crucial.
If it’s imbalanced, you’ll become obsessive and suffer from nightmares, and you might find it challenging to come to appropriate conclusions when analyzing situations. To balance it, you can practice meditation, get a good amount of sleep, and eat purple and blue foods.
Crown Chakra
The final chakra in the list is the crown chakra, known as Sahasrara in Sanskrit. It connects to light, as well as several organs throughout the body. These include the brain, nervous system, hand, and pituitary gland.
When the crown chakra is balanced, you’ll find your abilities get a boost, and you possess a heightened sense of death. Some say you can create miracles and transcend the laws of nature, but that’s something you can discover for yourself.
An imbalance crown chakra usually leads to feeling like you can’t let go of something that’s making you suffer and that you struggle to feel at ease and cultivate peace within yourself.
If you want to balance this chakra, it’s essential that you’ve balanced the others in ascending order. To do so, you’ll need plenty of meditation over time. Eventually, you’ll gain a sense of inner peace as the chakra comes into alignment with the others.
Why Balance Your Chakras
It is crucial to know the details about each of the seven chakras, their characteristics, and how they affect the mind and body. It’s good to balance individual chakras, but the real rewards come from balancing them all. Each one has its own approach that you need to pay attention to when attempting to balance them.
We’ve outlined some of what you can do to balance each chakra, but if you suspect that one or more of your chakras are imbalanced, the best thing you can do is conduct additional research and come up with a plan. Once you’ve balanced your chakras, you’ll notice that you feel balanced as an individual - physically, emotionally, and mentally.
You’ll also find that your personal and professional experiences improve, so there really is nothing to lose from balancing your chakras. You just have to devote the time required to get the results you seek.
Conclusion
The seven chakras of the body influence nearly every aspect of our lives, and when they’re out of balance, there can be all sorts of negative consequences. You’ll know about some of them from reading about the chakras in this article.
But you’ll also know that it’s within your power to balance these chakras by taking some simple steps over time. There are also plenty of resources available to help you achieve balanced chakras.
We’ve also covered a few different reasons why it’s important to balance your chakras so that you know your efforts are worth it. There are no doubt more reasons than the ones we had the space to cover, but what we’ve said should be sufficient to encourage you to at least check whether your chakras are imbalanced.