Written by Rachel Harwood, C2C Business Director and Reiki Master Teacher
In the first post of this Energy Healing Series, I introduced the subtle energy systems within the human body, which include our chakras, meridians, and auras—what I refer to as your personal energetic blueprint. In this post, we’ll dive into the energy anatomy of the chakras: what they are, how they affect us, and how we can use energy healing techniques to restore balance.
Understanding the chakras is crucial because they are the energetic centers of the body. While people often focus on the seven main energy centers, there are actually many more. These centers not only correspond to different parts of the body but also reflect various aspects of our lives and the way we exist.
When a chakra is imbalanced, it can lead to difficulties in the related area of life or cause physical issues, potentially manifesting as health conditions. Our bodies often try to communicate these imbalances through physical symptoms. Although the concept of chakras is well-known in Eastern traditions, it is not tied to any religion. Like yoga, it’s simply another way of interpreting the body and its energy. It’s our body’s way of talking to us.
Recent peer-reviewed studies on chakras have explored their physiological and anatomical aspects. Research has shown that chakras may emit measurable electromagnetic frequencies and align with certain nerve plexuses in the body. For example, studies have identified nerve clusters corresponding to the heart and root chakras. Additionally, various studies have detected specific frequency bands emitted from chakra locations, supporting the idea that these energy centers have a basis in the human biofield and electromagnetic radiation (ACEP).
The Root Chakra
The Root Chakra, located at the base of the spine, relates to survival, safety, security, grounding, and life force energy. It also connects to finances. If you’re struggling with money or experiencing financial stress, you might have physical issues in this part of your body.
When your Root Chakra is balanced, you feel:
grounded
energetic
physically fit
safe
secure
fearless
calm
centered
However, when it’s imbalanced, you may experience:
apathy
laziness
anxiety
depression
fear
insecurity
lack of motivation
weak physical health
To assess the health of your Root Chakra, consider these questions:
Am I generally free from fear or anxiety in my daily life?
Can I easily maintain my focus and presence in the moment?
Am I able to meet my basic needs (food, shelter, clothing) without excessive stress?
Am I financially secure and able to provide for myself and my loved ones?
Are my legs, feet, and lower back free from pain or discomfort?
For instance, when I moved to China ten years ago, the drastic change disrupted my sense of safety and security, leading to a bladder infection—a physical manifestation of my unbalanced Root Chakra. Understanding this connection allowed me to recognize the imbalance in my energetic body.
The Sacral Chakra
Located just below the belly button, the Sacral Chakra is the center of sexuality, relationships, joy, pleasure, emotions, and creativity. When balanced, it brings feelings of creativity, passion, sensuality, playfulness, emotional stability, and joy. An imbalance, on the other hand, may result in addictive behaviors, explosiveness, drama-seeking, attention-seeking, lack of desire, insecurity, anxiety, or guilt. This imbalance is more common in women, often manifesting as menstrual issues.
To assess the health of your Sacral Chakra, consider these questions:
How is my sexual life?
How are my relationships?
Do I experience joy or pleasure regularly?
Am I able to express myself creatively?
How am I managing my emotions?
The Solar Plexus Chakra
The Solar Plexus Chakra, located above the stomach, is the center of self-esteem, power, ego, strength, and transformation. When balanced, you feel strong, empowered, confident, motivated, determined, decisive, and collaborative. An imbalance may lead to feelings of competition, anger, aggression, low self-esteem, lack of energy, powerlessness, egotism, or manipulation.
To assess the health of your Solar Plexus Chakra, consider these questions:
Do I feel confident in my abilities?
Am I able to assert myself without feeling guilty or fearful?
Do I have a healthy sense of self-worth?
Am I open to personal growth and transformation, or do I resist change out of fear of losing control?
I personally noticed this when I began struggling with stomach issues and an ulcer, which made sense given the challenges I was facing in my life related to the energy of my Solar Plexus.
The Heart Chakra
As the name suggests, the Heart Chakra is located at the heart and is the center of love, empathy, kindness, compassion, gratitude, and faith. When balanced, it brings feelings of love, compassion, kindness, acceptance, and peace. An imbalance might make you feel needy, helpless, tired, exhausted, afraid to let go, lonely, lacking purpose, or overly attached.
To assess the health of your Heart Chakra, consider these questions:
Do I regularly practice gratitude and appreciation for the good things in my life?
Am I able to trust in the process of life, even when things don’t go as planned?
Do I trust others and feel safe in my relationships, or do I struggle with feelings of loneliness or fear of abandonment?
Do these physical symptoms coincide with times when I feel emotionally distressed or heartbroken?
Interestingly, women are more prone to breast cancer, while men are more prone to heart disease, which can be linked to imbalances in this chakra.
The Throat Chakra
The Throat Chakra, located at the throat, is the center of communication, expression, authenticity, and purification. When balanced, you can easily speak your truth, and you feel sincere, truthful, outspoken, attentive, authentic, and clairaudient (clear hearing). An imbalance may cause fear of speaking, shyness, social anxiety, lack of trust, secretiveness, critical behavior, gossip, or inauthenticity.
To assess the health of your Throat Chakra, consider these questions:
Do you often find it difficult to express your thoughts and feelings clearly?
Are you comfortable speaking your truth, even if it might be uncomfortable or unpopular?
Do you feel free to express your creativity and ideas?
Do you feel like you’re able to be your authentic self around others?
How do you handle conflicts and disagreements? Do you address them openly or avoid them?
For me, my throat is where I often feel the first signs of illness, indicating where I carry many of my energetic imbalances.
The Third Eye Chakra
The Third Eye Chakra, located between the eyebrows, is the center of intuition, imagination, lucidity, and astral projection. When balanced, it enhances intuition, imagination, clear thoughts, vision, and vivid dreams. An imbalance might lead to fear, delusion, anxiety, tension, excessive rationality, psychic disorders, or brain fog.
To assess the health of your Throat Chakra, consider these questions:
Do you trust your gut feelings or intuitive insights, or do you often doubt them?
Do you find it easy to see things clearly and objectively, or do you struggle with confusion and uncertainty?
Do you have a strong sense of self-awareness and understanding of your inner self, or do you feel disconnected from your own inner world?
Are you able to concentrate and maintain mental focus, or do you often feel scattered and distracted?
The Crown Chakra
The Crown Chakra, located just above the top of the head, is associated with consciousness, unity, spirituality, and oneness. A balanced Crown Chakra brings trust in the divine, strong faith, deep awareness, and feelings of oneness. Imbalances may cause loneliness, lack of purpose, weak faith, depression, or spiritual disconnection.
To assess the health of your Crown Chakra, consider these questions:
Do you feel a sense of connection to something greater than yourself, whether it's a higher power, the universe, or the collective consciousness?
Do you have a clear sense of your life’s purpose or a feeling of alignment with your spiritual path?
Are you open to new spiritual ideas and experiences, or do you find yourself rigid in your beliefs?
Are you aware of your thoughts and how they impact your spiritual well-being, or do you feel disconnected from your inner self?
In summary, awareness of your body and energy is the first step toward exploring energy healing. Understanding the chakras helps you interpret any energy imbalances you experience, guiding you toward greater well-being.
The Healing Power of Color
One important thing to note is that chakras are often represented by colors. As I mentioned earlier, everything has a vibration, including colors, which have their own frequency or vibration.
The colors associated with each chakra correspond to the frequency of that chakra. Each of your chakras, or energy centers, emits a sound frequency vibration that matches the color displayed for that chakra.
Well, there's a reason for that. And it's all about the vibration. We're naturally drawn to the energy that we need, whether we're aware of it or not.
For example, when thinking about your root chakra, if you want to send love and healing to that part of your body, you can simply visualize the color red. This visualization offers your body a vibration or energy color it needs to find balance.
If I'm feeling heavy or sluggish, I pause and ask myself where in my body I'm feeling it. Usually, a specific part of my body will stand out—it might feel tight or tingly.
For instance, I might feel it in my heart. I know I do this all the time where everything I buy, all the clothes I buy will be the same color. This last winter, I don't know how many green sweaters I bought, but I needed that frequency. And the heart chakra is the color green. Next, I consider what I know about the Heart Chakra. The Heart Chakra is the center of love and can be associated with
feelings of loneliness, a lack of love, or even a sense of betrayal.
Understanding that this is where I'm holding my energy makes sense given the situation I'm in. It's how I'm interpreting my experience energetically, and it’s manifesting in the Heart Chakra. So I was needing to surround myself with things that helped me to feel that vibration, that the heart chakra carries of love. Paying attention to those things too, because we are naturally drawn to things that we need.
But once we know these things, it's really interesting to look back and think, yeah, okay, I remember, I remember that time where all, you know, everything that I wanted to decorate my home with was this particular color.
So, the first step is becoming aware of your own body and energy. The second step is using your knowledge of the chakras to interpret any energy imbalances you experience.
Having this awareness is incredibly helpful when exploring energy healing. It helps you navigate your day and life by understanding how different things influence you.
In the next post, we’ll explore the meridian energy system and other practices and modalities. Then I’ll discuss the importance of intention and visualization in energy healing. Finally, I’ll share practices and techniques you can integrate into your daily life.
You are more than welcome to reach out to me if you have any questions or would like any recommendations.
~Rachel
P.S. This blog post was inspired by my recent Masterclass on the topic. Check out our upcoming Masterclasses here.
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