Chakra meditation helps us to open the main chakras and thus allow energies to flow better. We explain how meditation works.
What is a chakra anyway?
The term "chakra" originally comes from Sanskrit and means something like circle, wheel or vortex. There are a total of seven of these chakras (often incorrectly referred to as chakras), which in ancient Indian scriptures were referred to as the so-called energy centers of the body and run along the spine. "Bad" energies can therefore, for example, cause blockages in the individual chakras, which in turn can express themselves through physical symptoms such as palpitations or anxiety disorders.
What is Chakra Meditation?
At the end of the spine there is a kind of energy reservoir, the Kundalini. In ancient India it was often depicted in the form of a sleeping snake. With the help of chakra meditation, the Kundalini is to be activated and, as it were, to wiggle up the back to open the individual chakras, to recognize and release blockages and to allow the life energy to flow better in general. If the Kundalini flows through a chakra, a sound is created – the mantra. If the energy connection between all seven chakras succeeds, one speaks of "Samadhi" or also an experience of unity, which should enable an expanded state of consciousness.
Chakra meditation is also often associated with yoga – there is actually what is known as Kundalini Yoga, which is said to have an explicit effect on the chakras. Breathing exercises are usually combined with certain yoga positions in order to be more consciously aware of and even out tension.
As a rule, various breathing techniques are used in chakra meditation with a focus on a specific chakra, where you work your way up the chakras bit by bit ("chakra balance"). This is supposed to relax, improve the inner balance and ensure that symptoms in our physical body that have arisen due to the energy blockages subside. It is also important to include all chakras in meditation because they resonate with each other: If there is a problem with one chakra, this can also lead to disturbances in another.
Chakra Meditation: Instructions with all seven chakras at a glance
The seven chakras are usually different from person to person, therefore there are also seven so-called basic types to which various personality traits are assigned. In the instructions we explain what the seven chakras stand for and how they are activated.
To the chakra meditation it is best to lie comfortably on your back and let your hands fall relaxed next to your body. When you meditate, you concentrate on deep breathing in and out into your stomach, where when you inhale you imagine that positive energy flows into the body and when you exhale all muscles are consciously loosened. Take a short break between the individual breaths, feeling deeply into your body. At best, all chakras are activated one after the other with the chakra meditation:
Root Chakra (Muladhara Chakra)
- Seat: at the bottom of the spine, the pelvic floor
- Colour: red
- Stands for: Solidarity and roots in life, stability and material security
- Effect: As the lowest chakra, the root chakra is the source of life energy, which grounds us and gives us stability. Physical exhaustion and weakness make themselves felt in this chakra.
- Meditation instructions: Think of the root chakra as your source of energy on the pelvic floor, allowing its warm, red light to flow through the entire lower abdomen and warming this area.
Sacral Chakra (Svadisthana Chakra)
- Seat: about three finger widths below the navel
- Colour: orange
- Stands for: Creativity as well as creative thinking and acting, joie de vivre, sensuality and sexual energies
- Effect: The sacral chakra allows us to live out our creativity and love of life. It is also considered the center of female energy. If we are constantly sad or suffer from frequent tiredness, this may be related to the sacral chakra.
- Meditation instructions: Concentrate on your lower abdomen below the belly button and imagine the sacral chakra as an orange blossom of light that slowly unfolds throughout your body, improving your mood and giving you new energy.
Umbilical Chakra (Manipura Chakra)
- Seat: above the navel, on the so-called "solar plexus"
- Colour: yellow
- Stands for: Assertiveness and willpower as well as self-confident demeanor
- Effect: The third chakra serves as a central store for the so-called prana, the life energy. Stress and inner tension are most likely to be felt here.
- Meditation instructions: Imagine that a warm yellow ray of sunshine warms the area above your navel and spreads from there. The warm yellow solar plexus fills you with calm and peace.
Heart Chakra (Anahata Chakra)
- Seat: at heart level in the chest
- Colour: green
- Stands for: a warm, open, compassionate and tolerant being
- Effect: Our heart chakra gives us our gentle traits – it gives us the ability to love, to give and receive security and to be compassionate towards others. If it is not in balance, this can lead to feelings of loneliness, sadness or even a depressed mood.
- Meditation instructions: Imagine the heart chakra as a lush, light green spring meadow in your chest. Its soft light makes love and compassion bloom like flowers and flows from the chest through the whole body.
Throat Chakra (Vishudda Chakra)
- Seat: Neck area
- Colour: Light blue to turquoise
- Stands for: Understanding of music and all forms of communication, especially language
- Effect: With the throat chakra we perceive sounds and words and process all communication. Disturbances increase inhibitions and shyness, as well as anger.
- Meditation instructions: The throat chakra can be visualized well as a smooth lake surface or as a sky. Imagine breathing in clear prana and it flows as a light blue ray down your throat and then into the rest of your body.
Third eye chakra (Ajna chakra)
- Seat: as the "third eye" between the eyebrows
- Colour: Dark blue
- Stands for: Wisdom, imagination, recognition of your own goals
- Effect: The brow chakra helps us to better understand our own desires and goals, which in turn enables us to be more mindful and conscious of ourselves. If it is blocked, it can manifest itself through arrogance, excessive ambition and vanity.
- Meditation instructions: Concentrate on the point between your eyebrows and thus tune into the third eye chakra. Then imagine a velvety, dark night sky. The night transmits its peace and quiet to you and brushes you like a cool wind that flows first through your head and then through the rest of your body.
Crown chakra (Sahasrara chakra)
- Seat: at the highest point of the back of the head
- Colour: violet
- Stands for: faith and spirituality as well as pure awareness
- Effect: The spirituality that is connected to the seventh chakra, i.e. the crown chakra, gives deep inner peace and can cause megalomania in the event of disturbances.
- Meditation instructions: Imagine the crown chakra as a bloom of light in crystal clear violet in your head. It spreads slowly and its healing light gives inner peace and serenity, which gradually spreads throughout the body.
If you do chakra meditation regularly, it will be much easier to open all chakras. So it pays to stay tuned.
Reading tips: Here we tell you everything about Zen Meditation, Osho Meditation, Transcendental Meditation and how you can learn meditation. And in this article you will learn all about hatha yoga.
Do you want to exchange ideas on various health topics? Then take a look at our BRIGITTE Community!