A Simple Guide to the 7 Chakras
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There are seven chakras in the body that act as our energy centres. In addition to contributing to our emotions, the energy that flows through our chakras can relate to our feelings of physical wellbeing. You may notice that when you have a sore back, it has a direct effect on your emotions and how you are responding in the world. It works the other way around as well. When we are tense, depressed, stressed or angry, the effects can often be revealed physically too, via sore backs and headaches.
When our chakras are blocked, we are unable to release stale energy from the body, which causes stress in various aspects of our lives. Practices like Yoga and Reiki are fantastic for releasing stale energy.
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Below is a very high-level overview of the seven chakras for the beginner.
1. Root Chakra
Located at the base of the spine, the root chakra connects our energy to the Earth and works towards keeping us feeling grounded. The Root Chakra is directly connected to our energies and focus on day-to-day survival. Therefore this is the chakra that is connected to our feelings around financial matters, emotional security, food and shelter.
2. Sacral Chakra
Located in the lower abdomen, about two inches below the navel and extends into your centre, the Sacral Chakra is where our pleasure and creative energy lives. When our Sacral Chakra is balanced, we are open to experience the joys of life and to embrace the fruits of our labour. We welcome a sense of abundance and well-being. We are open to indulging in pleasurable activities like sex.
3. Solar Plexus Chakra
The Solar Plexus Chakra is found in our upper abdomen, in the stomach. When people say “I felt it in my gut” they are speaking to the Solar Plexus Chakra, which is connected to our feelings of self-worth, confidence and self-esteem. This is the key to your personal power and ability to move forward with feelings of control.
4. Heart Chakra
The Chakra where our love, compassion and kindness lives is not surprisingly located at the centre of the chest, just above the heart. The Heart Chakra is where we find our love energies for others, but also for ourselves. The Heart Chakra is associated is also connected to our health and our ability to heal.
5. Throat Chakra
Located at the throat, this chakra is connected to our ability to communicate and speak our personal truth. The Throat Chakra invites us to ask ourselves, where does our personal truth come from? What gives energy to our truth and how do we communicate it? The Throat Chakra is where our power of self-expression lives.
6. Third Eye Chakra
Found on the forehead, between the eyes, the Third Eye Chakra is we find the energy to open our minds to information that lives beyond the physical and material world and outside our 5 senses. This is where our intuition lives, as well as our psychic energy and extra sensory perception. This is also where we access the magic of our imaginations while honing in on our focus surrounding the big picture.
7. Crown Chakra
The Crown Chakra is our purest place of personal consciousness and our highest point of spiritual connection. Located at the top of the head, this is where we source our energy to achieve our purest bliss and joy as well as tap into both our inner and outer beauty. Our energy of consciousness connects us to the universe.