Meet Your Chakras
Have you ever wondered where your emotions go once you've experienced them?
You may guess that they become a memory. But where is the memory held?
The ancient yogis were convinced that just as the body has a physical structure to hold in place the organs which represent bodily functions, they thought surely there must be a system that represents emotional states. This system they called chakras.
The word, chakra, comes from the ancient Indian Sanskrit word meaning wheel.
Chakras are considered to be rotating vortexes of energy.
The energy represents different emotional states such as love, compassion, anger, fear, and the myriad other emotions experienced on a daily basis.
The more you hold onto an emotional state, the bigger the vortex whirls within you.
What's more, different emotional states are considered to have different energy points within the body.
Most chakra experts agree there are 7 chakra centers representing different emotional states, corresponding to different energy centers within the body.
Meet Your 7 Chakras
First (Muladhara) Chakra
Emotional State: feeling grounded, stable, survival
Location: base of spine (coccyx), hips, legs, feet
Color: red
Element: earth
Second (Swadisthana) Chakra
Emotional State: creativity, impulse, procreation
Location: reproductive organs
Color: orange
Element: water
Third (Manipura) Chakra
Emotional State: zest for life, passion
Location: stomach, liver, intestines, digestive area
Color: yellow
Element: fire
Fourth (Anahata) Chakra
Emotional State: love, compassion, gratitude
Location: heart
Color: green
Element: air
Fifth (Vishudha) Chakra
Emotional State: expansive calmness, silence
Location: throat, neck, vocal cords, thyroid
Color: blue
Element: ether
Sixth (Ajna) Chakra
Emotional State: release ego-centeredness, willpower
Location: 2 locations -- the brain stem and the point between the eyebrows
Color: indigo
Element: super-ether
Seventh (Sahasrara) Chakra
Emotional State: seat of the soul, liberation
Location: crown of head
Color: violet or purple
Element: super-ether
How to Meditate on the Chakras
There's so much more to the chakras, including sounds, stones, and negative and positive poles that represents each chakra. For the purpose of meditation, simply visualizing a particular color of a chakra you'd like to focus on can be helpful. It's also helpful to visualize a part of your body that represents the chakra you're focusing on.
For example, if you'd like to focus on love and gratitude of the fourth chakra, you could visualize the area of your heart and the the color green. You could cultivate the feeling as though you are expanding your heart with love and gratitude. You could even visualize someone else to send love and gratitude towards.
If you are new to chakras, the main things is not to feel intimidated by the chakras. They are simply locations within your body where you may harbor particular emotions and memories.
In Western culture, the notion of chakras may seem esoteric and even superstitious. However, with a little practice tuning into different emotional states and where you hold these emotions within your body, you may soon find yourself intuitively tuning into the concept of chakras.
Be Guided in a Chakra Meditation
Every Thursday on The Daily Meditation Podcast you're guided in a 10-minute episode using with a chakra focus that is customized around the weekly theme. Or, for a deeper, in-depth guided chakra experience, enjoy Day 5 of every week's new themed meditation series on the Sip and Om meditation app. Try it free for a week!