Finding balance in the modern world can be a challenge. We’re more connected to one another than ever before, which can be a wonderful thing, but it can also make it difficult to tune into our own needs every now and then. Flip on the tv or pull up any news feed on your phone, and you’ll be inundated with information -- from updates about friends to the latest on national and global issues. All of the noise can make it difficult to separate yourself from the broader community and focus on your own wellbeing.
There are plenty of strategies for taking care of your mental, emotional, and spiritual health -- from essential oils to music therapy to feng shui. Meditation in general and chakra meditation more specifically are helpful tools for unblocking your chakras and regaining a bit of balance in your hectic day-to-day life.
We’ll cover everything you need to start benefiting from chakra meditation today, including:
Chakra meditation is a form of meditation in which the practitioner focuses on controlling the flow of energy through their body.
Considered a central part of several spiritual traditions, the seven core chakras are energy centers that facilitate how energy flows through the body. These energy centers can become blocked or closed as you go about living in and coping with the world around you.
Blocked chakras can cause a variety of physical and emotional disruptions with different chakras correlating with different symptoms. Chakra meditation is a form of meditation in which the practitioner focuses on controlling the flow of energy through their body. It can be used to clear or unblock individual chakras, or chakra meditation can help you bring your whole chakra system into harmony.
Chakra meditation begins like many other forms of mindfulness and types of meditation: by creating a comfortable environment. This can mean adjusting the lighting in your space to created a more relaxed ambiance, using a diffuser with soothing essential oils, decluttering, getting out a mat, sitting on a chair, lying down -- anything that puts you in a headspace that allows you to tune out external concerns for a little while and focus on yourself.
Once you’ve created an appropriate space to begin your chakra meditation practice, a basic chakra meditation will follow the following steps.
Close your eyes. To bring your awareness to your body, spend a few moments focusing on your breath. As you feel your heart rate slow and your body start to relax, begin focusing on the individual parts of your body. Begin at your toes. Focus on your toes. If you’re holding any tension in that part of your body, consciously release it.Then move up to the lower part of your legs.
Scan your entire body in this way, paying particular attention to any areas that are particularly tense or experiencing any other notable sensations.
Scan your entire body in this way, paying particular attention to any areas that are particularly tense or experiencing any other notable sensations.
Breathing naturally, bring your attention back to your breath. Visualize the air flowing into your lungs with each inhale, refreshing your whole body with oxygen. With each exhale, visualize your body breathing out the used up oxygen and anything else it doesn’t need. Feel how the fresh air nourishes and cleanses you. Do this for a few minutes until you feel comfortable moving on.
Now that you’ve become aware of one life force in your body -- breath -- it’s time to focus on another -- your heartbeat. Feel your heartbeat, and visualize your whole body functioning perfectly as a result of its beating. Focus on how all of the parts of your body are connected and how they work together. Notice how your breath and heartbeat flow through this whole, harmonious system. Do this for a few minutes until you feel comfortable moving on.
Allow your focus on your breath and heartbeat as individual forces to soften, and focus instead on the flow of energy through your body as a whole. Visualize this life-giving energy as a glowing light that flows through your body, connecting it and sustaining it. See this energy infuse your entire body and connect with your aura, strengthening it and revitalizing it. Do this for a few minutes until you feel comfortable moving on.
Finally, it’s time to focus on each individual chakra. Begin with your root chakra in your lower back. Imagine a clockwise swirl of energy here, and allow the energy flowing through your body feed into it and empower it. Notice how your breath and heart give energy to your root chakra. Visualize energy from the earth radiating up through the ground, through the floor, through your mat or chair, and into your root chakra as well, connecting you with the earth.
Spend all the time you need on this chakra before moving onto the next, and then make your way through your chakras, in order, until you reach the crown chakra. Some chakras may take more work than others to balance, and that’s perfectly normal.
As you complete this step, you may want to incorporate other elements into your chakra meditation. Consider adding any of these tools to your practice:
Finding the right combination of tools is a process. Incorporate meditation aids like these into your chakra meditation practice if they resonate with you, but if they don’t, do not feel any pressure to use them. The right way to practice chakra meditation is the way that feels most natural to you.
Once you have energized all of your chakras, visualize again how your entire chakra system is connected. See the whole system functioning smoothly now that you have cleared any blockages. Do this for a few minutes until you feel comfortable moving on.
When you are ready to end your chakra meditation, open your eyes. Stay still for a few minutes as you reconnect with the world around you. Feel your breath, listen to the noise around you, enjoy how relaxed and at peace you feel.
Note that a basic chakra meditation session usually lasts about 15-30 minutes, but it’s completely okay if your meditation lasts longer.
Looking for more chakra meditation help? Don’t worry -- there are plenty of videos, scripts, and apps out there to help you further your guided meditation practice. Here are a few of our favorites:
Finding balance can be a challenge, but taking some time to take care of yourself through a chakra meditation can help. How do you do chakra meditations? We'd love to hear from you!
