Balancing and Maintaining the Chakras
by Donna Thomson
Chakra balancing may sound rather "new age" but it is the key to your health and wellbeing. It is about allowing energy to flow freely into and out of our body. Achieving regular and balanced flow of energy - life force - is extremely hard to maintain in the physical world, not only due to all the outside influences that impact us daily, but due to our tendency to hang on to negative mental beliefs and attitudes, fears, emotions and so on.
How does our energy system become unbalanced?
When we don't release our emotions properly at the time they occur, we store them in our body. Hanging onto them causes energetic blockages which can lead to physical ailments and dis-ease, literally creating 'sore points'. Negative attitudes, beliefs and conditioning dampen your energy system, which may appear as dull or murky areas to someone who has the ability to see energy at this level. We can also have chakras that are overactive and taking in or emitting too much energy, e.g. if you are too heavily focused on spiritual and psychic matters, your crown and third eye chakras may be wide open and not in balance with the rest of your energy. As a result, you find it hard to focus on the physical world around you and need to become more 'grounded' to become centered again.
So when you work to create balance, you need to break apart and release any energetic blockages to allow fresh new energy to flow through the affected areas. You need to brighten murky energy spots by vitalising that energy - changing it from a negative expression to a positive expression - allowing the energetic colours to flow more intensely, smoothly and in harmony. Underactive chakras can flow more fully again and overactive chakras can be mediated so they are balanced against the rest of the chakra system.
Sensing the chakra system
It's not essential to find out how each chakra is functioning in order to balance your energy system, however there are a few things you can do if you would like to explore your chakras.
Using a pendulum
You can use a pendulum two ways to work out which of your chakras needs attention. A direct method is to place the pendulum over your chakras, one by one, and allow the pendulum to indicate the energy flow. An even, circular rotation in a clockwise direction indicates a balanced chakra. If the pendulum swings oddly (e.g oblong) or counter-clockwise then the chakra is likely to be out of alignment. No rotation, or very little rotation, indicates a blockage and a widely swinging pendulum indicates an overactive chakra.
The other pendulum method is to use 'yes' and 'no' responses like you would usually do with a pendulum. Determine your pendulum's directions for 'yes' and 'no' then ask about each chakra and write down the results. You could ask "Does my crown chakra need balancing?" or you can relate your questions to the chakra colours, e.g. "Do I need violet energy?" You can of course ask additional questions to determine whether the chakra is blocked and even the possible causes, but this tends to be the longer way around.
Visualisation
Lie down and close your eyes. Spend a few moments visualising each chakra area...what does it look like? Is the colour strong and vibrant or murky and dull? Is it hard to see colour coming from that area, e.g. red from the root chakra area? Do you see anything else that might give you a clue to the state of that chakra, e.g. dark patches, odd shapes etc? Use this to determine which chakras need attention.
Sensing with your hands
Rub your hands together, clap them a few times and/or blow on your palms. This has the effect of engaging the chakras in your hands that can sense energy. Now place your hands over your chakras one by one and see what you sense. You can start at your crown chakra or root chakra. Place your hands a few inches above your body - gentle warmth likely indicates that the chakra is flowing well...heat can indicate an issue with this chakra that needs work and coolness can indicate blockage in that area.
Energising the chakras
The key to restoring harmony within your chakra system is essentially 'light'. Light is our energy source and it filters through our energy field - the white light is split into the spectrum colours to be utilised by our body. Each colour relates to a chakra and each chakra relates to different areas of our consciousness, physical endocrine system, and organs. There are many ways we can take in this light and colour. Here are a few techniques you can try...
Colour visualisation
Lie down, close your eyes and work your way through each chakra. Beginning with the root chakra, see the spinning energy centre as a vibrant red. See any blockages being cleared out and released and the energy flowing smoothly and harmoniously. Then move up to the sacral chakra and visualise intense orange, vibrant yellow from the solar plexus, bright green from the heart chakra (you may also visualise pink for compassion), vivid blue from the throat chakra, deep purple/indigo from the brow chakra and violet-to-white from the crown. Take your time at each chakra, spending more time at the chakras that seem to need more attention. You can finish of the visualisation by seeing all chakras working in harmony.
For an alternative version that integrates nature into the visualisation, see "Chakra Tree Meditation".
Advanced visualisation
Rather than just visualising the chakras and their colours, you can 'draw in' the energy and often you will feel this as a tingling or warm sensation. For the first three chakras (root, sacral and solar plexus) you draw the red, orange and yellow energies up through the earth, through your feet and legs and up to the location of the chakra. These are warm, magnetic energies. When you get to the heart chakra you draw in this green energy from nature - from the world all around you - this is balanced energy, connecting the physical and spiritual in harmony. Draw in blue and indigo energies directly into the throat and brow chakras - this energy comes in through the "ether" around you. Finally, the crown energy is a violet-to-white energy that comes down through the top of the head from the universe - from the energies beyond the physical.
Affirmations/Statements
You can combine colour visualisation with statements relating to each chakra, reinforcing the positive expression of that energy. Here are some examples:
Root Chakra: "I am grounded, strong and full of physical vitality."
Sacral Chakra: "I am connected with my emotions and am creative in my life."
Solar Plexus: "I am empowered, make good decisions, and am a confident person".
Heart Chakra: "I am a compassionate and forgiving person. I love myself and others."
Throat Chakra: "I express myself clearly and speak my truth."
Brow Chakra: "I use my intuition to guide me in life."
Crown Chakra: "I access my higher wisdom and am connected to all."
Crystals
Crystals can be used according to their colour, by placing crystals of corresponding colours on the chakras. As well as having the colour qualities that the chakras need, crystals have additional energetic qualities that help restore balance in the chakras and remove blockages. See the following article for crystal suggestions for each chakra - "Creating a Set of Crystals for the Chakras". You can lay a crystal on each chakra and simply relax yourself for at least 10 minutes to benefit, or you can combine with any of the above methods which can bring a more powerful experience.
Alternatively, you can also use a single clear quartz crystal point to work on all chakras. Point the crystal towards each chakra in turn, rotating it in circles if you feel drawn to. Visualise the appropriate colour energy being transmitted through the crystal point into the chakra. Intend that the quartz remove any blockages and correctly align the energies in that chakra.
If you feel there is an excess of energy in that chakra or that something needs to be released, you can point the crystal away from your body to draw that energy out. Use your intuition to guide you as to which way to point the crystal and how long to leave it there. You may also use a clear quartz tumbled stone and leave it on each chakra for balancing.
Protecting the chakras
This subject is often overlooked when dealing with the chakras. When you have been working with the chakras you become quite vulnerable energetically - more 'open'. After working on your chakras you need to smooth around your energy field to sort of seal off the energies and settle them. You can do this by running your hands over your energy field (aura), smoothing it down from above the head, down to the ground. You could also use a large feather or a crystal such as a selenite or kyanite wand, or a clear quartz crystal to help smooth the aura.
Now it's a good idea to visualise a white/clear bubble of light around your whole energy field to seal off your energy from negative energies.
Maintenance
While regular balancing of the chakras is a good thing, for most people it will require a deeper exploration of some areas to fully heal and harmonise the energy system. It's also important to realise that balancing the chakras is only ever going to be temporary. You may still have negative thought patterns, fears and emotions to deal with and of course we continually encounter situations that may cause stress, emotion and fears to arise. Your energy is continually being influenced by both internal and external input so it's always adapting and reflecting you and your life at the present moment in time.
The best way to deal with this is to regularly balance and protect your energy system and in this way you are less likely to experience extremes because you are doing regular 'maintenance'. It's just like owning a car - if you do regular maintenance your car will work optimally and you will be more aware of anything that needs attention, while the neglected car suddenly breaks down and takes a lot more effort to get it back into good shape.
Other ways to boost your chakra system
Sun - I mentioned in this article that we feed our chakras from white light and as physical beings we get our white light most directly from the sun. So you need to spend some time in the sun each day for complete nourishment, not only of the physical body but the subtle bodies too.
Food - The food you eat will encourage positive nourishing energy in your body if it is as nutritional and raw as possible. Food is one of the ways we take in colour energy and of course life force, so plant-based foods are ideal. Taking in energy via the foods we eat is also a second-hand way to get sun energy.
Exercise - Physical movement gets stagnant energy moving so it's important to get some physical activity each day. Lack of exercise may promote feelings of being stuck and not progressing in life. So get active and get that positive energy moving through you.
Clothing and surroundings - If you are aware of chakras that need more attention than others, try wearing more of that colour and adding items of that colour to your environment, such as a bunch of flowers, images, furnishings and so on.
I hope this article helps you understand how to identify, maintain and restore your energetic system.