Chapter
1

Where Are Your Chakras?

Do you ever wonder why on some days, you feel safe, secure, and calm, as if all is right with your world, whereas on other days you feel jittery and anxious, as if someone is about to pull the rug out from under you?

Do you ever notice how on some days, you feel so emotional that you can hardly keep yourself from giggling aloud or bursting into tears, whereas on other days you frankly don’t care … about anything?

Have you ever thought of someone just before they happen to text you or tag you in a photo on social media? Have you ever started singing a popular song just before it comes up on a streaming playlist?

And whether or not you consider yourself a spiritual or religious person, do you ever wonder why you have those occasional uplifting moments of realization—those a-ha moments that make you feel like you just might be directly connected to some higher, healing power?

All those feelings are natural, normal, and part of being human, but they also come from somewhere. They come straight out of your body, mind, and spirit. To be more precise, they flow from your very own energy—infused, rainbow-hued, and spinning healing chakras.

How You’ve Already Touched Your Chakras

You might already assume you have chakras, and you might even know they are stacked up in line with your backbone, from the base of your spine to the crown of your head. You might have heard that you have five, or seven, or eight, or even hundreds of chakras. Or maybe you have no idea how many might be spinning around inside you. Have you heard that chakras spin?

The word chakra means “wheel” in Sanskrit, and that’s exactly what these energy vortexes are: spinning wheels of energy—your energy. According to ancient Indian wisdom, chakras (pronounced cha-kra, with a hard “ch” like in “chair”) are spinning energy centers in the body that lie along the body’s many energy pathways. While chakras correspond to certain glands, nerve centers, and organs in the body, they are part of the subtle energy body, not the physical body, so they cannot be detected by standard medical equipment, such as X-rays or MRIs. Chakras also correspond to various aspects of the body’s physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual state.

Even if you don’t know much about chakras, we can guarantee you have already felt them. A nervous stomach when you have to do something brave is your third chakra talking. The lump in your throat when you have something important to say but have trouble getting it out is your fifth chakra in action. Those lower-down butterflies you get when you see, touch, or even think about your romantic partner live in your second chakra. That constipation you get when you are traveling far from home is your first chakra getting protective. The stabbing pain you feel in your heart when someone has broken it? That’s your injured and throbbing fourth chakra.

You might have also been aware of your chakras while engaging in some of the holistic practices that tap into them, such as yoga, energy healing (like Reiki), massage, or acupuncture. Or you might have heard astrologers talk about the chakra energy of the zodiac signs. So, while a doctor can’t pinpoint a chakra on a scan, that doesn’t mean you don’t feel your heart opening up when you do a deep backbend; feel calm and grounded after a massage; or have a sudden insight after an energy healer has set your prana or your chi (Indian Sanskrit words for your life force energy) flowing more freely again.

But so what if you have chakras, and so what if you feel them? What does it mean for you? It can mean plenty if you learn to read your own chakras. Chakras can tell you a lot about who you are and how you can increase your health, balance your emotions, clear your mind, improve your relationships, feel more powerful, and even have a more fulfilling spiritual life. Understanding your chakras can greatly increase the speed of your personal evolution because they increase your self-awareness and ability to grow and change in positive ways. You’ll “get” yourself better than ever before. You might even feel more comfortable about your spirituality—your place in the Universe. So what are you waiting for?

The Wheels Are Turning

Chakras are amazing tools in your own body, to help you get to know and understand yourself better. They are like barometers for your internal weather—a measure of who you are at any given moment.

Chakras provide a template for your entire life, with each chakra governing major aspects of who you are (your first chakra), how you feel (your second chakra), what you do (your third chakra), how you love (your fourth chakra), what you say (your fifth chakra), what you know (your sixth chakra), and how you perceive your connection with the Universe or a Higher Power (your seventh chakra).

Throughout this book, we’ll explore each chakra and how you can learn about and use yours. To get you started thinking about your own chakra healing, check out the following table to see a brief description of what each chakra does.

Your Body, Your Chakras

If you were to look back into the history of Indian philosophy and theology for information on the chakras, you would find it proliferating on the internet—but some information would contradict other information you might find. Some traditions say the chakras are five regions of the body. Some systems pinpoint hundreds of chakras. Although many different subtraditions have evaluated and interpreted the chakras in different ways, for the purposes of this book, we use the model most commonly accepted today: the seven-chakra system. This system says we have seven energy centers that run along the midline of the body, from the base of the spine to the crown of the head. We acknowledge that there are other smaller chakras in other parts of the body, most notably in the hands and feet. Sometimes, we make note of those, especially in the way the foot chakras can help ground you via your first chakra and the way the hand chakras can help heal you via the fourth chakra. However, we get into all that later.

For now, let’s take a brief look at the seven primary chakras, where they are on your body, and what they mean for you. Consider what follows to be a formal introduction to your own chakra system. We cover each chakra in more detail in Part 3.

The First Chakra

First chakra, the Root chakra.

Call it the Root chakra, the Earth chakra, or the Foundation chakra, or use the official Sanskrit term: Muladhara chakra. The first chakra is located at the base of your spine, in front of your tailbone. Its symbolic color is red, and its symbolic element is Earth. This chakra is also the center for your feelings of safety, survival, and security, and it is the very root and foundation of your physical body. It all starts here.

When your first chakra is healthy and open, you feel a sense of connection to the ground under your feet, you feel comfortable in your own body, and you feel safe. You feel physically healthy, financially secure, and you have a strong sense of self. You know who you are and where you belong. You feel solid in your body as you walk and experience the grounded strength of your physical being as it moves in alignment with the Earth.

If your first chakra is too tightly closed, you feel flighty and untethered. You are too much in your head or too swayed by your emotions. You aren’t sure what home is, or you feel lost. You sometimes feel like you might just float away into the sky because you don’t really feel like you belong anywhere. You might have trouble managing your money or practicing good health habits. You might even get so distracted by your thoughts, strong feelings, or even by spiritual practices like meditation or prayer that you forget to do basic survival things like pay your bills, brush your teeth, or eat your dinner. You might have trouble looking up from your smartphone and lose your balance as you attempt to text and walk. (Don’t text and drive!) You might tend to trip a lot, have trouble balancing in yoga poses, twist your ankles, or have chronic foot or hip pain.

On the other hand, if your first chakra is too wide open, you might be sluggish, have trouble moving very much, feel heavy and Earthbound, or have a hard time getting things done. You might be a homebody to your own detriment, refusing to leave home or take any risks that involve change and movement. (The Japanese call this “stay at home syndrome” or hikikomori, where young people will refuse to leave their parents’ houses and only engage with society through the internet and social media from their rooms.) You might also feel ruled by your basic instincts, rather than being in charge of them; your hunger, thirst, desire for sleep, or need to exercise might be so strong that they keep you from getting other things done or prevent you from interacting with other people in real life. Sometimes, people who overeat, sleep too much, or are addicted to exercise have first-chakra issues, though those problems can also be related to other chakras. (Most issues people have do involve more than one chakra, but we get into that more later on.)

Our goal is to get your first chakra up and running, strong, healthy, and balanced with the other chakras. The Root chakra is an important one because all the others stand on top of it. While some people think spiritual pursuits are somehow “higher” or “better” than physical pursuits, we argue that without a strong foundation in the first chakra, it is hard to develop the higher chakras. Right now, you live in the world, in a body, and your job is to do that as well as you can. Your first chakra gives you the power and the resources to do that.

The Second Chakra

Second chakra, the Sacral chakra.

The second chakra is sometimes called the Sacral chakra, Sex chakra, or Emotion chakra. The Sanskrit term for this chakra is Svadhisthana. Its symbolic color is orange; its symbolic element is Water; and it is the center of emotions, feelings, creativity, movement, and sexuality. While feelings of love and compassion originate in the fourth chakra, or Heart chakra, the second chakra is the source of passion, desire, sexual attraction, and sexual relationships. Your creativity comes from here, and for women, you create life here because the second chakra is also the seat of your fertility.

When you have a strong, healthy, open second chakra, you are comfortable with your emotions and can feel them strongly without letting them take over. (A strong first chakra will help, too.) Your creativity flows, and you have the ability to get things done, make things happen, and accept changes in life with grace and ease. A strong second chakra also fuels a healthy sex life and helps you feel sexy, desirable, and satisfied. You aren’t afraid to feel things. When you get butterflies in your stomach, you are feeling your second chakra. This is your pleasure center.

On the other hand, if your second chakra is closed, your emotions might feel cut off or blocked. You might appear cold or unfeeling to others, even though on the inside, your emotions are a mix of depression and frustration. Physically, people with closed second chakras might experience infertility, sexual problems, chronic pelvic pain, gynecological problems (such as endometriosis), and prostate problems. If you have trouble finishing things, fear progress, feel disconnected from your creativity, or have trouble enjoying sex, you might have a second chakra block. Your second chakra might also be closed if you don’t or can’t feel intimately bonded with your romantic partner. (Although the problem might be related to your partner’s second chakra issues, in most cases, both second chakras are involved when a couple has intimacy issues or doesn’t feel emotionally bonded.) To protect or guard a sensitive and closed second chakra, some people also gain excess weight in their abdomens.

If your second chakra is too open, you are ruled by your emotions, and they sometimes keep you from getting anything done. Your feelings are too strong, so that they become incapacitating. Sexual addiction can also be related to a second chakra that is too open. (Ironically, if you are addicted to sex without emotional involvement, this sexual dysfunction can be related to a second chakra that is too close.) An overly large second chakra can also result in addictions and hedonism without discipline or structure.

Ideally, you can balance your second chakra with your first chakra. If you have a strong, grounded foundation, then you will feel more able to experience your emotions and explore your sexuality safely and freely. Some experts feel an overexposure to online porn has created distorted views of sexuality and sexual expectations while providing an escape from real-life experiences with a living, breathing partner. Aligning the first and second chakras can help to reconnect partners to real-life experiences of shared intimacy.

The Third Chakra

Third chakra, the Solar Plexus chakra.

The third chakra, sometimes called the Solar Plexus chakra, Power chakra, or in Sanskrit, Manipura, is the seat of your personal power. Its color is sunny yellow, and its element is Fire. Confident people radiate like the sun from the third chakra, projecting their energy in front of them from this spot over the solar plexus. This chakra is also linked with your digestion and the transformation of food to energy. What you take in here, you radiate out to the world.

If your third chakra is too closed, you will tend to feel powerless, as if you are at the mercy of fate (or other people) and have no control over what happens to you. Weak third chakras often result in victim mentality, lack of willpower, and an inability to be effective. Digestive problems also originate here, such as irritable bowel syndrome, indigestion, and constipation. A poor appetite, unbalanced gut microbiome, and disinterest in food might also be related to the third chakra. Weight gain might also be related, as if your body is trying to pad and protect your third chakra with body fat. (This can also happen when your body tries to protect your sensitive second chakra.)

A too-open third chakra can be related to overaggressiveness, bossiness, self-centeredness (narcissism), and being overly strict, both with yourself and with others. Very dominant, loud people with huge energy who take over a room often have third chakras that are too open. They might get things done, but it is at the expense of others, especially if they have closed fourth chakras at the same time. Sometimes, it can feel like these people are shooting others down with the intense power of their third chakras.

When you balance your third chakra with your other chakras, you can radiate your personal power and have a strong, confident sense of who you are without stepping on others or ignoring your own feelings and intuitions. A balanced third chakra is effectively powerful and courageous with a healthy dose of humility.

The Fourth Chakra

Fourth chakra, the Heart chakra.

The fourth chakra is usually known as the Heart chakra. In Sanskrit, it is called Anahata. This chakra’s color is green, and its element is Air. The Heart chakra is just what it sounds like it: the place from which you love. This is also the middle chakra. The three chakras below it are generally considered to be the earthly chakras, and the three chakras above it are generally considered to be the spiritual chakras. The heart links both and anchors them into you. Your heart keeps your physical earthly qualities in balance with your spiritual more ethereal qualities, so that you can have both a spiritual life and an earthly body. It all hangs together because of love, which is the very fuel for existence, according to chakra philosophy.

When your fourth chakra is closed, you have a hard time loving. You might feel like you’ve never really been in love or that your love relationships feel shallow. You might have trouble sympathizing with others or feeling empathy. You might also have difficulty loving yourself. If your third chakra (just below the fourth) is simultaneously too open, you might be more concerned with power, success, and yourself than you are with others. If your fifth chakra (just above the fourth) is simultaneously too open, you might be more interested in intellectual talking than in actual compassion for what’s going on right in front of you. Because the fourth chakra is so essential for linking body, mind, and spirit into an integrated whole, many yoga poses are intensely focused on opening the Heart chakra, often through backbends. Closed fourth chakras can also be related to actual heart disease, specifically heart attacks, angina, and other conditions related to clogged and blocked arteries to the heart.

When the fourth chakra is too open, you might be letting others into your heart to the detriment of your own health; you might feel so compelled to help others and sacrifice your own needs for the needs of humanity that you neglect yourself completely. You might lose your grounding or your sense of personal power because all you care about is giving yourself away. You might also feel such strong empathy for the feelings of others that you mistake those feelings for your own and lose your sense of identity. You might be too inclined to take on the pain and suffering of others without regard for your own heart.

When you learn to balance your fourth chakra with the other chakras, you can love fully, openly, and sincerely. You also feel comfortable accepting the sense of deep inner peace that true compassion and the ability to connect through love can bring to your body, mind, and spirit. You learn to love without losing yourself. Your fourth chakra serves as an anchor for all the other chakras, yoking them together like a strong central link in a long chain.

The Fifth Chakra

Fifth chakra, the Throat chakra.

The fifth chakra, or Throat chakra, is called Vishuddha in Sanskrit. Its color is a bright sapphire blue, and its element is Sound. The fifth chakra produces your voice and is the center for creative expression. The impulse to talk, write, draw, or paint comes from here; it is the place that compels you to communicate your ideas about the world. The fifth chakra is also the truth center. From here, you can speak the truth, and you can also learn to hear the truth from others, rather than deluding yourself about what is happening.

A closed fifth chakra can result in difficulty communicating. You might stumble over words, stutter, or tend to be silent, even when it would be appropriate to speak. You might know exactly what you want to say but just can’t get the words out. Often, you fear telling people what you really believe and become good at literally “swallowing” your words. You might also have a compulsion toward self-delusion. A closed fifth chakra also makes it difficult to hear the truth, especially the truth beyond the actual words someone else might be saying. You might experience creative blocks or feel as if you can’t find inspiration. When you are having trouble getting to the core issue of a problem or discovering the truth of a situation, try writing your random thoughts or even drawing a picture. The answer might pop out and surprise you, courtesy of your fifth chakra. Physically, you might experience sore throats, laryngitis, neck pain, vocal cord problems, and ear infections. Most of us have felt a temporarily closed fifth chakra in the form of a lump in the throat when we are trying not to say something or trying to repress a strong emotion that wants to come out in words or sobbing.

Often, people with fifth chakras that are too open tend to talk too much, yammering on and oversharing long after it is time to listen. Being in a relationship with someone like this can be exhausting because they don’t stop talking and they rarely listen. Although such people might be prolific creators, they might be so intellectually stimulated that they lose sight of other people’s feelings or needs. Your fifth chakra is probably too open if you attack others with words, argue incessantly, dominate conversations or online comments, always have to prove your point to be right, or are so focused on what to say next instead of actually listening.

A balanced fifth chakra taps into the heart below and the intuition above to speak and hear the truth in just the right measure. This allows you to be creatively charged but also socially sensitive.

The Sixth Chakra

Sixth chakra, the Third Eye chakra.

The sixth chakra is the Third Eye chakra or Ajna in Sanskrit. Its color is a deep indigo or, according to some systems, a deep royal purple, and its element is Light. The sixth chakra is the center of your intuition—that feeling you get when you just know something is true, even though you have no physical evidence. Your sixth chakra picks up on cues your conscious mind doesn’t necessarily detect. It governs your inner knowledge of both yourself and the world. Some people attribute clairvoyance or psychic “seeing” to this chakra, while others believe clairvoyance is just a more refined and sensitive ability to see. This is the place to cultivate that skill.

If you have a closed sixth chakra, you are more likely to be oblivious to your own inner wisdom. You ignore—or don’t even hear—those prodding urges that tell you to cross to the other side of the street or accept an offer or ask a friend if something is wrong. You might live too much in your body and be too entrenched in your physical life to spend much time on inner contemplation and the cultivation of your sixth sense; this is especially true if you have an overly open first chakra. If you have an overly open second or fourth chakra, your own emotions or the emotions and needs of others might cloud your inner judgment and ability to see the big picture. People with closed sixth chakras also might experience sinus headaches, tension headaches, sinus infections, nearsightedness, and other vision problems.

Having a sixth chakra that is too open can make you feel ungrounded in reality. People with sixth chakras that are too open tend to be too much in their head, overly intellectual, and likely to overthink everything. If your sixth chakra is too open, you may also confuse your dreams with your waking reality or even see visions and be unsure whether they are real. Such people often are so caught up in spiritual pursuits or psychic “seeing” that they forget they are in human bodies, living human lives. They might become overly obsessive about diet and exercise and might experience eating disorders or a distorted body image.

If you think you have psychic abilities, see ghosts, and/or spend a lot of time meditating or obsessing over food and body issues, you need to be particularly careful to nurture and strengthen your lower chakras. A balanced sixth chakra enables you to tap into inner knowing and wisdom—both in the world and within yourself—while also remaining grounded in the world and in your body. This balance also enables you to temper your strong intellect with emotion and heart.

The Seventh Chakra

Seventh chakra, the Crown chakra.

The seventh chakra, sometimes called the Crown chakra or the Thousand-Petaled Lotus chakra, is called Sahasrara in Sanskrit. Its color is purple, or according to some systems, pure white. Its element is Thought. The Crown chakra is the seat of pure consciousness, wisdom, and enlightenment. Here lies your universal self, the self that is greater than the individual you. A healthy seventh chakra indicates a healthy spiritual life and the awareness that you are connected with all things. Some of you exists in everyone and everything else, and some of everyone and everything else in you. Spirit, divinity, God, Goddess, or whatever you consider to be the source of all creation and the key to enlightenment, speaks to you through this chakra, and it lives inside you through this chakra.

People with closed seventh chakras have no interest in spiritual pursuits and make priorities of materialism and their own needs. People with closed seventh chakras probably would never seek out holistic healers, nor would they be likely to pick up this book, so chances are, you do not have this problem. However, sometimes the seventh chakra can shut down temporarily in response to a spiritual crisis, depression, feelings of isolation, or a personal tragedy, such as the death of a loved one.

People with seventh chakras that are too open relish the idea of a solitary life pursuing spiritual practices. They would do just fine living on mountaintops in the Himalayas or in monasteries or caves. In the real world, however, spiritual seventh chakras should be balanced, particularly with Earthly first chakras. This balance results in the ideal for life in the world—grounded in the now, but with a blissful sense of spiritual connectedness to all things in the Universe.

Unspinning the Myths

Now that you know what chakras are, let’s talk about what they aren’t. Some people think the chakras are the solution to all problems—fix the chakra and fix your life. Not exactly. Chakras reflect what is going on in our bodies, minds, and spirits. They are a little bit like mirrors or instrument panels that allow us to read ourselves better. But the chakras don’t cause the problems. Life brings us problems, and the decisions we make and the attitudes we foster either solve problems or create more. Don’t blame your first chakra if you are feeling ungrounded, your fourth chakra for being too trusting, or your sixth chakra for that bad dream that came true. Your chakras just help you understand yourself, so you can make choices that create your best life.

However, that being said, tuning in to and even healing the chakras can help urge your body, mind, feelings, and spiritual life back onto the right path. They go hand in hand with who you are, so if you work on the whole package at once, you will have quicker results. Ground yourself by healing your first chakra (you learn how in Chapter 7) and by eating more protein, getting your finances in order, or visiting home if you’ve been away for a while. (Texts and social media are great facilitators, but they are no substitute for the joy of seeing you in person, in real life.) Throughout this book, we talk about a lot of other ways to get yourself back in alignment when your chakras reveal that things are askew, but the point here is that your chakras are there for you to read. They are not the original cause of anything.

Another myth about the chakras is that they are gateways to potentially dangerous Kundalini energy. Maybe you’ve heard rumors about the Kundalini, or serpent power, and how it can transform you in positive and negative ways. Actually, negative press about Kundalini is less of a myth than a misunderstanding. We talk more about Kundalini energy in Chapter 5, but for now, rest easy knowing that your chakras are your protection against this intense energy surge, not a facilitator. When you are ready for Kundalini energy, your chakras open up and let it through. If you aren’t ready, your chakras close like valves. (There are some exceptions to this, when people purposefully open their chakras to release Kundalini, but again, we talk about that in more detail in Chapter 5.)

Finally, people sometimes misunderstand what each chakra represents. Just to clear the air right now, we will tell you the following:

• The first chakra is not your animal side. You don’t have to worry that tapping into this chakra will make you so instinct-based that you will be ruled by your basest instincts, resort to violence, or lose control of all your good sense. This chakra is grounding, not wild.
• The second chakra is not only the sex chakra. It is also about pleasure, passion, creativity, and everything you love to do. It is about moving and doing more than it is about sexual obsession. Sexuality is just one small part of this chakra.
• The third chakra is not the “bad” chakra. Power can be a positive thing for building self-esteem, getting things done in the world, and knowing who you are. Reclaim your third chakra and don’t be ashamed of it!
• The fourth chakra is not only about loving others. It is also about loving and healing yourself, so don’t focus all that energy outside toward others. If you save energy for yourself, you’ll be a much more open and giving person because you have the inner resources.
• The fifth chakra isn’t just about communicating to the world. It is also about listening to the world communicate to you, and discerning the true parts. This is an important power in our world where the line between what is true and what is untrue, or “fake,” has blurred, so don’t underestimate the importance of this chakra. Your neck might be hurting for a very good reason. Are you facing the truth?
• The sixth chakra is not just associated with psychic powers. While psychic powers can be part of this chakra, for most people, this is irrelevant. The sixth chakra isn’t there just so you can become a clairvoyant and have your own podcast. The sixth chakra is about intuition and learning to listen to your own inner voice. It is an inward-turning chakra that can lead you to deep wisdom and the answers you desire.
• The seventh chakra isn’t necessarily about God. You don’t have to believe in any particular god to tap into the power of this chakra. Instead, it is your connection to the eternal, the Universe, the life force, or a Higher Power, depending on who you are and what makes sense to you.

Spinning the Chakra Wheels

We want you to use this book as an instruction manual for operating your own chakras in a way that can make a difference in your life. You can learn to see them, measure them, understand them, and even change them. Their condition reflects who you are at any given moment, so it only makes sense that you should learn everything you can about them. Are you ready to spin the chakra energy wheels?

Whether you are new to chakra healing energy or you want to learn more, begin by introducing yourself to your chakras, one at a time, as they are right now.

1. Sit comfortably with good posture in a straight-backed chair with your hands on your knees.
2. Slowly and consciously breathe in and out; concentrate on following your breath.
3. Beginning with the first chakra, the Root chakra, place a hand on that chakra and breathe deeply into it. Let yourself feel your breath moving into the chakra and filling it up.
4. Hold your breath and while doing so, feel yourself holding your chakra with nurturing care.
5. Pay attention to the thoughts that arise in your mind.
6. Release the breath and with it the chakra.
7. Return your hand to your knee.
8. Take a few centering breaths in and out and repeat the process for each chakra, culminating in the seventh chakra, the Crown chakra.

What did you feel? How did you feel? Did you notice your thoughts? You’ve begun your healing chakra journey.