A Guide for Day-to-Day Focus

Managing our Chakras is as easy as waking up each morning, getting dressed and setting off on our daily tasks!

 What are the Chakras?

A Chakra is a spinning vortex of light, of energy. Energy can be anything and is everything. Sound is energy; light is energy; movement is energy. Your body is energy.

Energy makes up everything in the known Universe. Nothing is solid.

To understand how chakras operate, think of a river: one that flows freely. But along the banks of the river and sometimes in the middle of the stream, you get rocks and obstructions. There may be currents in the river, and they all cause spinning vortices like maelstroms. Your body and its energy system, has a flow of energy that mainly flows in through the top of the head and out the soles of the feet, and at the same time you have a flow of energy coming in through the soles of the feet and travels up along the spine, to exit at the crown. It is this simultaneous flow of energy that creates vortices along the spine, which we refer to as chakras.

I am sure that you understand that each vortex of energy, each chakra relates to certain aspects of our Being. For instance the base chakra concerns itself with material, financial and family matters. While the throat chakra is about our expression, speaking our truth.

For a moment I would like to invite you to pretend that you are scooping your hand into your body. Physically and literally do the action of taking a chakra, for instance take the solar plexus chakra, take it out and hold it in your hand. For a moment I would like you to extend your other hand towards it, gently and carefully. Can you feel its circumference? Can you feel its energy? Can you feel its vibration? How does it feel?

And maybe you can close your eyes, and for a moment connect with the chakra in your hand. Maybe you can see it, or you can hear it vibrate. Or maybe you can taste something. Become aware of any sensations when you connect with this chakra.

And now I would like to invite you to place the chakra back and just note how it feels where it sits. Generally the chakras are aligned down the spine, from the crown the head down to the base of the spine at the perineum, where the base chakra sits. These are your physical chakras and we work with seven main chakras (although each chakra has sub-chakras and minor chakras.) Each organ has its own chakras, sub- and minor chakras. There are chakras on the palms of your hands, the tips of your fingers as well as the soles of your feet and the tips of your toes.

To effective balance your system, we will only be working with the seven main chakras in the physical body. Later on, when you are ready, I invite you to make a study of the transpersonal and the subpersonal chakras. Transpersonal are the chakras that are above the head, and subpersonal are the chakras below the feet.

I, personally, work with twelve plus one chakras, but that amount of information becomes intimidating when you are just starting out with your own journey through the chakras; it is a lot of information to try and digest! So keep it simple for now, and once you have worked with, and understand the seven physical chakras as best you can, only then would I suggest you move on to expand your knowledge and experience to the Ascension Chakras.

Why is it important to manage the chakras?

Sometimes we go through experiences that may cause one or more chakra, to become unbalanced. We have been taught that a chakra can become blocked. I believe it is more a question of a chakra’s influence at a particular time in your life, may be more or less prevalent than at any other time. You may be going through a financial slump, yet your creativity is flowing. Maybe you find it difficult to follow your intuition, yet emotionally and compassionately you are in top form and helping so many people feel good about themselves.

Think of the zodiac and all the planets that play a role in astrology: when Venus is in conjunction with Mars in the fifth house, does that mean Jupiter has disappeared? Has the Sun been blocked? What has happened to Aquarius? They are all still there, but at certain times in our lives we are influenced strongly by certain aspects, junctures or oppositions. This is also true for our chakras: they never really get blocked, but are rather more or less prevalent in order for us to have certain experiences. It is neither good nor bad, just pure experience!

So why do we then manage our chakras if they are going to go on their own course in any case? For a few simple reasons: we want to make sure energy flows steadily throughout our system, and we want to understand which chakra is influencing us at any particular time in our lives.

Another reason why it is a good idea to manage our chakras, is that it gives us an opportunity to also help clear issues on a collective scale. Our planet has her own set of chakras, and when shifts take place, our own chakra system is affected by these events. So, when we pay attention to our own bodies and take care of our chakras, we help to facilitate shifts for our planet as well.

Managing the Chakras: Days of the Week

A popular method for managing the chakras, is to assign a day of the week to each of the chakras. That means that on each day of the week you will be paying special attention to one of your chakras. For instance on a Monday, the focus would be on the Base (Root) chakra. Work with any and all aspects of the Base chakra: balance your checkbook, clean the house, do administrative duties; wear red; eat red foods or root vegetables; wear a red chakra stone such as carnelian.

Here is a guideline you could use:

About Colours and Complementaries

If a chakra feels overactive, you could wear a complimentary colour with the intention of balancing that particular chakra. The colour wheel that artists and designers use is a brilliant reference to get an understanding of which colours to use to activate, balance or calm a chakra. For red, you would use green. The blue of the throat is balanced with orange.

People who work with crystals can also take note that the colour of a stone is often a very clear indication as to which chakra it would apply to. However, you may also use certain crystals to balance and soothe an overactive, unbalanced chakra. Again, refer to the colour wheel for a basic understanding of how to do this.

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Methods for Working with your Chakras

When working with your chakras, whether it is on a day to day basis, or in general, it is good to know a few methods by which you can interact with your chakras.

1. Meditation is one of the most important ways to connect, interact and work with your chakras. Find a meditation that you enjoy that will help you work through your chakras, either all at once, or one chakra at a time. If you cannot find a guided meditation to help you, devise one of your own. It is okay to write it on a piece of paper first, and read it aloud to yourself or, if you have a voice recorder on your cellphone, you can record it and play it back to yourself with headphones.
2. The foods we eat can help to heal and balance our chakras. For instance, if you decide to work with the chakras separately day-by-day, you could eat leafy green vegetables and cruciferous vegetables for the heart chakra. The solar plexus would love bananas, corn or yellow peppers. Interesting to note is that tart (or sour) foods such as lemons, are a great way to help the throat chakra! Just be sure that the food you consume is its natural colour, organic and whole! Steer clear of processed foods, artificial and synthetic colourants and red meat!
3. Working with the colour of each chakra is also very effective. You could wear the colour of the chakra, bathe yourself under a lamp that has a coloured filter or just visualise the colour of the chakra. Remember that you would need to work with pure colours, and to stay away from earthy, dirty or muddy hues.
4. Crystals are another way to balance the chakras. It is best to work with one stone and one chakra at a time, rather than to wear ALL seven chakra stones at once, as this could jumble and muddle the energies.
5. Each chakra has a yantra, which is a mystical diagram that represents all symbols associated with the chakra. By focussing on a chakra’s yantra, it is said to balance and clear the chakra, and activate its properties.
6. Mantras are sounds that carry the vibration of the chakra. By chanting the mantra for the heart, you will clear, open and balance this chakra. The same goes for all the mantras associated with each chakra.
7. Certain mudras may also help when working with the chakras. There are said to be 108 mudras, of which quite a few are hand mudras.

   • Mudras are positions of the body that have some kind of influence on the energies of the body, or your mood. Mostly the hands and fingers are held in some position, but the whole body may be part of the mudra as well.

8. Yoga asanas, when combined with proper breathing (pranayama) will also help to balance certain chakras. Ask a yogi or yoga instructor for guidance and inspiration.

I present regular chakra workshops and talks. Each of my workshops deal with some basic information about the chakras. I incorporate as much of the above methods as possible, along with the exploration of some philosophical material relating to each chakra. Delegates are given the opportunity to get creative, and we make sprays, oils, mandalas, origami gifts and more in each workshop!

Working with your chakras should not be a pain! It is a fun process and a lot can be learned when you actively pay attention to them, as they are part of who you are. To learn more about chakras, stay connected. I have quite a few projects lined up that relate to chakras and working with them.

Aloha, and Weirdmaste!