Chakra Reflections: Do This Practice to Balance and Heal Your 7 Chakras

Chakras represent both tangible and energetic areas of our bodies and our lives. Each of the seven major chakras has a corresponding endocrine gland so it participates in the beautiful, yet delicate, dance of hormonal cascades that are responsible for our vitality.
 
Energetically and metaphorically, these seven centers provide us with a framework for our personal growth and lifelong maturation process as we embody both our physical, human parts and our higher-consciousness, spiritual parts.
 
Therefore chakra cleansing, balancing, and healing is a necessary part of our everyday upkeep and growth.
 
The seven main centers begin at the base of the spine and end at the crown of the head. In ascending order there is the:

• Root Chakra
• Sacral Chakra
• Solar Plexus Chakra
• Heart Chakra
• Throat Chakra
• Third Eye Chakra
• Crown Chakra

 
Aligning and opening these centers requires a willingness to observe ourselves and engage in Svadhyaya, as well as a multi-level approach where we assess and integrate the physical, emotional, mental, and energetic implications of each chakra.
 
 

Before Chakra Cleansing, Here’s a Quick Chakra Overview

The lower three chakras (Root, Sacral, and Solar Plexus) are primarily concerned with basic human needs and drives – survival, procreation, and will.
 
This is neither “good” nor “bad.” Issues can arise when we experience different traumas throughout our lives that leave us “stuck” in a particular area of growth and development. When this occurs, the rest of the unfolding and ascension through these energy centers will be stifled and more difficult on both physical and psycho-emotional levels.
 
The Heart Chakra is the integration point between our human self and our more expanded self.
 
The upper three chakras involve expressing ourselves in the world, envisioning and receiving divine guidance, and finally merging into the infinite that is our true nature.
 
Without a doubt, the most important of all chakras is the Root Chakra. Much in the same way that it’s impossible to build a solid structure on quicksand, it’s impossible to build a healthy, nourishing life with unprocessed Root Chakra challenges.
 
Time may pass and chronologically we age and do all the things that come along with it. However, if the lower three centers haven’t been fully integrated, witnessed, and nurtured, seamless transition into the upper centers will prove to be difficult.
 
The following chakra cleansing and reflection practices, as well as other resources like flower essences, can help us to continue to bloom rather than stagnate.
 

 

Chakra Cleansing: Chakra Practices to Balance and Heal

The chakra cleansing and reflection practices are an invitation for you to pause and honestly assess this particular area of your life.
 
Sit with these questions in meditation, answer them in your journal, or even discuss them with a loved one. After reflecting upon each of the seven, you’ll have an idea of which areas need more focus and how to begin bringing more nourishment into your life.
 

1. The Root Chakra

The Root Chakra is associated with the adrenal glands. Issues with the Root Chakra can range from adrenal challenges, anxiety, stress, fear-driven living, scarcity mindsets, emotional eating, and more. Letting your system know that it is safe, focusing on abundance, managing your stress, and working to ensure you’re on top of basic essentials like finances can all be healing to the Root Chakra.
 
Root Chakra Reflection:
How safe do I feel in my life? Are my basic needs being met? How do I manage my fears, anxieties, and stress? What’s a nourishing action step that I can take today to strengthen the Root Chakra aspects of my life?
 

2. The Sacral Chakra

The Sacral Chakra is our place of creativity and where we receive and know what is joyful and pleasurable through our sensorial experiences. It’s no coincidence that it is also the site of our reproductive organs.
 
Issues with the Sacral Chakra can include reproductive challenges, urinary system dysfunction, a poor relationship with one’s emotional body, feeling creatively and emotionally “constipated,” low back and pelvic pain, and more.
 
Many of us aren’t taking time to play, pursue pleasure, or to create for the sake of creating. Perhaps we aren’t feeling safe enough to do so (hello, Root Chakra!), perhaps we’ve done so in the past and felt embarrassed, shameful, or guilty (all big killers of the Sacral Chakra).
 
Reconnect with your passions to bring more joy to your life to balance this center!
 
Sacral Chakra Reflection:
What do I long to create? How do I most experience pleasure through the senses of my physical body? How do I love to play? What’s a nourishing action step that I can take today to strengthen the Sacral Chakra aspects of my life?
 
Need more chakra balance? Here’s How to Personalize Your Own Chakra Mantras: A Journaling Exercise
 

3. The Solar Plexus Chakra

The Solar Plexus Chakra is all about our sovereignty and individuality, courage, and will. It’s about our true power and ability to discern and is associated with the pancreas and digestive system.
 
Issues with the Solar Plexus Chakra include blood sugar dysregulation, insulin resistance and diabetes, digestive troubles, a weak core, being “extreme” or “Type A” on one end or a “pushover” with poor self-discipline on the other.
 
Safeguarding our literal and metaphorical digestive abilities is crucial, as well as coming into the right relationship with our power, self-responsibility, and discipline.
 
Solar Plexus Chakra Reflection:
What’s my relationship with power? Which end of the spectrum do I tend to fall between “competitive, Type A” or “pushover, poor discipline?” Do I allow my sense of self to be easily influenced by outside sources? What’s a nourishing action step that I can take today to strengthen the Solar Plexus Chakra aspects of my life?
 

4. The Heart Chakra

The Heart Chakra is our sacred integration point between our human aspects and our more spiritual aspects and corresponds with the thymus gland. It is in this sacred center that we merge the two and begin to see ourselves as something greater than just our bodies and human needs.
 
Heart, lung, immune system, and blood problems, as well as tension in the shoulders, upper back, and chest may signify issues with the Heart Chakra. Have you noticed when you’re feeling depressed or have experienced heartbreak how your shoulders curl toward your heart?
 
This is a way of protecting and also closing off this physically and energetically vulnerable space. The best way to heal? Love.
 
Additionally, greediness, jealousy, codependency, depression, lack of empathy, and being antisocial and isolated may also suggest an imbalanced Heart Chakra.
 
Heart Chakra Reflection:
Do I fully love and accept myself? Am I holding onto old grudges or resentments? Do I allow myself to receive love and intimacy in relationships? What nourishing action step can I take today to strengthen the Heart Chakra aspects of my life?
 

 

5. The Throat Chakra

The Throat Chakra is our place of expression, sharing, and asserting ourselves and corresponds with the thyroid gland.
 
When there’s a resistance to express, when we knowingly stifle our truth or hold back, we are literally swallowing toxicity. Expression is a way of detoxing ourselves, especially on the mental body level.
 
Physically, imbalances in the Throat Chakra may manifest as thyroid challenges, voice issues, jaw and mouth challenges, teeth grinding, or tension headaches.
 
Poor expression of self, withholding one’s truth, fear of speaking, talking too much without listening, gossiping, and interrupting others frequently can suggest an imbalanced Throat Chakra as well.
 
Throat Chakra Reflection:
How easily do I express myself? What are my favorite ways of expressing myself (speaking, writing, creating art, dancing, etc.)? Do I listen and speak when necessary? What nourishing action step can I take today to strengthen the Throat Chakra aspects of my life?
 

6. The Third Eye Chakra

The Third Eye Chakra deals with our intuitive insight, innate wisdom, and the visions and mission of our life. It corresponds with the pineal gland.
 
Sleep problems, headaches, vision problems, an inability to believe in or receive intuitive insight, having a lack of imagination, feeling spacey, and more may all suggest an imbalanced Third Eye Chakra.
 
When we’re actively engaged with our liminal space and have a strong connection with our intuitive wisdom, everything else in life flows with more ease and synchronicity. Taking adequate time for silence, stillness, and reflection and turning to nature are all most helpful.
 
Third Eye Chakra Reflection:
Do I trust my intuitive wisdom? How do I connect to my inner source to strengthen the bond? Am I able to visualize things with ease? What nourishing action step can I take today to strengthen the Third Eye Chakra aspects of my life?
 

7. The Crown Chakra

The Crown Chakra is the place of our most pure and highest self, our infinite expansive nature, and our ability to live fully and integrated as human and Spirit. It’s associated with the pituitary gland.
 
Physically, issues with the brain and cognitive disturbances may suggest imbalances. Being overly spiritual at the expense of one’s 3D experience or being cynical, rigid, dogmatic, or apathetic toward spirituality may also signify imbalances in the Crown Chakra.
 
Crown Chakra Reflection:
Am I open to a power greater than myself? If not, why? Where in my life am I overly attached to something that’s no longer serving me and my path (a relationship, a habit, etc.)?
 
What beliefs do I carry that prevent me from fully embodying my Higher Self? What nourishing action step can I take today to strengthen the Crown Chakra aspects of my life?
 
 

How Everything Connects With Chakra Cleansing

To further exemplify the importance of a strong Root Chakra and healthy adrenals, the HPA Axis (hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal axis) comprise the Sixth, Seventh, and First Chakras respectively. When our Root is unable to communicate with our Crown and Third Eye, disturbances along the channel follow and other endocrine glands are impacted.
 
Worn out, overtaxed adrenals and a wired nervous system are the root of all dysfunction. Practices like Earthing, yoga, and meditation are truly changing and saving lives!
 
 

Chakra Cleansing and Reflections: The Takeaway

Whether or not you “believe” in the chakras is totally up to you. However, their representations, their correspondences, their needs, their manifestations, and the entire system is quite brilliant and bulletproof.
 
When we embark on a journey of awakening, having guidelines and tools is helpful. The chakras simply provide a framework for our organic development, our rebirth, and our natural maturation process.
 
How do you connect to these centers? Do you use them as a guide for your journey? What are your favorite tools and resources to support your path?
 
In need of some chakra work? Practice the Chakra Awakening Program on YouAligned

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