Chakras
What does each chakra do?
This section of my site gives information about chakra health. It is very important in Reiki to be knowledgable in dealing with and balancing the chakras.
Root (1st) Chakra
Concerns your physical survival -- food, shelter, natural and manmade disasters -- anything that involves basic security and safety -- are associated with the first major Chakra. Included in this area are your learned beliefs from your parents or guardians, teachers, religious leaders -- anyone having an impact on you in the formative years of your childhood.
To heal and balance this area, we need to look at those basic beliefs and determine how much impact they have on our current lives. We need to then question them for their validity and their ability to help us move forward. Do these beliefs hinder or help? Do they cause us to stay locked in a situation that is unhealthy? What did you learn about survival and security as a child that still impact you today? Are those beliefs valid?
Location: Base of spine
Element: Earth
Function: Survival, grounding, social order, family, beliefs, will to live
Malfunction: Weight problems, hemorrhoids, constipation, sciatica, degenerative arthritis, anxiety, ADHD, autism, superstitions, materiality, misperceptions, corruption, incest
Inner State: Security, stability, serenity, safety
Rights: to survive
Glands: Adrenals
Associated body parts: Legs, feet, bones, large intestine, spine
Color: Red
Sense: Smell
Musical Note: Middle C
Aromatherapy: Patchouli, Sandalwood, Cedar, Clove
Gemstones/Crystals: Garnet, Bloodstone, Hematite, Red Jasper, and Ruby.
Sacral (2nd) Chakra
This is the energy center where we perceive and create. When it is balanced, it provides a wealth of wonderful opportunities for us. This major Chakra is the next evolutionary level after the Root Chakra where we learned basic beliefs from our childhood. Here, in the Sacral, we continue with those beliefs into the areas of sexuality and creativity. What did you learn about the development of your body? What did you learn about sex? How healthy is your self-image? How well do you relate to others?
With a healthy first Chakra, you can now look at those beliefs objectively and determine how they are currently impacting you. Is it negative or positive? Does it help you and your relationships or is it harmful? And a healthy second Chakra allows you to channel your creativity into a passion for the improvement of yourself, relationships, and society.
Location: Lower abdomen
Element: Water
Function: Desire, pleasure, creativity, procreation, intimacy, morality, new life
Malfunction: Too low or too high libido, greed, lust, blame, guilt, power, control, stiff lower back, personal boundary issues, attachment - inability to let go, uterine, bladder, kidney problems
Inner State: Feelings, emotional center
Rights: to feel, to create
Glands: Ovaries, testes
Associated body parts: Womb, genitals, kidney, bladder
Color: Orange
Sense: Taste
Musical Note: D
Aromatherapy: Bergamot, Sandalwood, Ylang Ylang
Gemstones/Crystals: Amber, Carnelian, Coral, and Gold Topaz.
Solar Plexus (3rd) Chakra
This is the area of personal identity. How well do you know yourself and what or who is controlling you? Do you control others? The Solar Plexus is where we get gut feelings and where we feel we’ve been punched in the gut. If our Heart Chakra is open and in balance, we get loving messages into this area; if not, we become critical and judgmental, accessing the lower two Chakras to control with our beliefs, perceptions, and power, which also means unhealthy and unbalanced Root and Sacral Chakras. A healthy Solar Plexus Chakra allows us to remain calm and levelheaded in any situation and provides us with a healthy sense of humor.
The lower three major Chakras of Root, Sacral, and Solar Plexus relate to the physical plane of our life and cause us to become tyrants if they are out of balance and unhealthy. Once we evolve into a healthy and balanced fourth Chakra, we become loving, compassionate, and caring.
Location: Below ribcage
Element: Fire
Function: Self-interest, personality, seat of the ego
Malfunction: Victimization, power-driven, terrorism, extremism, perfectionism, helplessness, hopelessness, temper tantrums, road rage, co-dependency, bulimia, anorexia, ulcer, diabetes, hypoglycemia, digestive disorders
Inner State: Laughter, joy, anger, worry
Rights: to be me / to be able
Glands: Pancreas, liver, gallbladder
Associated body parts: Stomach, small intestines, muscles
Mental/Emotional Issues: Self-esteem, fear of rejection, over sensitivity to criticism, self-image fears, indecisiveness
Color: Yellow
Sense: Sight
Musical Note: E
Aromatherapy: Lemon, Lavender, Rosemary, Bergamot, Ginger
Gemstones/Crystals: Citrine, Peridot, Tiger’s Eye, Topaz
Heart (4th) Chakra
This major Chakra is the center of the Chakra system of the body and provides the bridge between the lower three physical and emotional centers and the upper three mental and spiritual centers – the mind-body connection in a healthy and balanced Chakra system. This is where unconditional love and forgiveness reside.
How do you nurture and love yourself and others? Have you ever felt smothered or do you smother others with overly attentive affection? Have you felt betrayed or have you betrayed others? Do you gossip? Do you love conditionally? These are questions to ask to discern the health and balance of your Heart Chakra.
Location: Mid sternum
Element: Air
Function: Love, hope, generosity, flexibility, copes well with loss, transformation
Malfunction: Asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease, breast cancer, lung disease, betrayal, gossip, despair (hate, envy, fear, and jealousy are from an inability to evolve to this level – above the 3rd Chakra)
Inner State: Compassion, forgiveness, mercy, trust, unconditional love
Rights: to love
Glands: Thymus
Associated body parts: Lungs, heart, circulatory system, lymph system, arms, hands
Color: Green (or Pink)
Sense: Touch
Musical Note: F
Aromatherapy: Mint, Sage, Rose, Chamomile
Gemstones/Crystals: Emerald, Jade, Malachite, Rose Quartz
Throat (5th) Chakra
Do you speak from your heart? Can you speak honestly without clamming up? The 5th major Chakra allows you to express the truth from your heart and your mind, and allows you to listen objectively and openly without prejudgment. Do you deny your emotions, burying them under layers of fears? Can you say, “I love you” to those special people in your life?
The health of this Chakra is not only about verbal or written communication, it is also about expressing creatively in art, poetry, singing, dancing. If you’ve always wanted to play violin or take voice lessons or dance with abandon, but fear that you are too old or would look silly or whatever other excuse you make up, look at this Chakra and the lower Chakras to determine where those false beliefs are generated. Then balance all of them with any of the therapeutic techniques and express your truth with abandon.
Location: Throat
Element: Sound
Function: Communication, will to express, takes responsibility, attitude, faith
Malfunction: Sore throat, TMJ, grinding teeth, stiff neck, colds, thyroid disorders, hearing problems, fibromyalgia, addiction, criticism
Inner State: Ability to generate and state ideas, to say the truth
Rights: to express
Glands: Thyroid, Parathyroid
Associated body parts: Neck, bronchial, shoulders, mouth, ears
Color: Turquoise
Sense: Hearing
Musical Note: G
Aromatherapy: Eucalyptus, Myrrh, Lilac, Orange Flower
Gemstones/Crystals: Blue Topaz, Aquamarine, Turquoise
Brow (6th) Chakra
Are you a snob? Do you judge others by their station in life, their achievements, or their education? People who teeter on the edge of sanity and genius, and who wax and wane between their fantasy world and reality are unstable in this 6th Chakra of intuition, wisdom, and imagination.
When this center is opened, balanced, and healthy, you become more aware of your purpose in the world. You are able to accept the differences in everyone without becoming involved and you give wise, loving counsel without any hidden agendas. You see the world as a whole – physical, emotional, mental, spiritual with regard for the environment and the health and well being of the universe.
Location: Forehead center (third eye)
Element: Light
Function: Seeing, intuition, discipline, service, center of integrated personality
Malfunction: Manipulation, vision problems, sinus problems, headaches, nightmares, allergies, seizures, panic, fear of truth, judgment, poor concept of reality, confusion
Inner State: Inner knowing, tolerance, open-mindedness, acceptance, objectivity
Rights: to see
Glands: Pituitary, Hypothalamus
Associated body parts: Left eye, nose, nervous system, medulla oblongata
Color: Indigo
Musical Note: A
Aromatherapy: Lavender, Gardenia, Mint, Rosemary, Jasmine
Gemstones/Crystals: Lapis Lazuli, Ametrine, Sodalite, Sapphire
Crown (7th) Chakra
Free will – do you know what that is? It’s choice but not choice alone, it’s also being held accountable for the choices that you make. It’s using the healthy, balanced Brow Chakra to look at the whole and discern the best, wisest choice for the good of all, being fully aware of the consequences of the action or the inaction. This is where, again with the help of the Brow Chakra, we get divine inspiration and guidance.
A healthy and balanced Crown Chakra allows you to become a truly spiritual person, an inner knowing that you are one with the Divine. You don’t follow dogma written by someone else’s rules, and you don’t follow aimlessly a religion that doesn’t speak to your heart. You follow what you believe is right for you, all for the highest good. You don’t preach; you are humble and content with the divine within you, and you use the wisdom and insight afforded you by a healthy and balanced Brow Chakra to be content with who you are. And you are open to the miracles that happen everyday.
Location: Top of head
Element: Thought
Function: Understanding, wisdom, humanitarianism, non-attachment, values, ethics, seat of the soul.
Malfunction: Depression, alienation, confusion, boredom, apathy, inability to learn, lack of purpose, loss of identity, following religious fanatics
Inner State: Bliss, interconnectedness with all
Rights: to know
Glands: Pineal
Associated body parts: Right eye, cerebral cortex
Color: Violet
Musical Note: B
Aromatherapy: Clove, Peppermint, Cinnamon
Gemstones/Crystals: Amethyst, Selenite, Purple Fluorite
Information found at: http://www.entheos-holistic.com/index.htm
