Chakra Meditation

What exactly is Chakra Meditation? Which kind of Meditation is best for your Chakras? Do we need specific Meditations for each Chakra? How can we blance, open, cleanse and heal our Chakras with Meditation?

This article will answer all of these questions and many more. It also features a free Guided Chakra Meditation, as a starting point for your practice of Chakra Meditation. You will also find links to all the other specific and individual Chakra Meditations on this website.

Every Meditation can be a Chakra Meditation

Chakras and meditation techniques are closely interlinked. To grasp the connection between the 7 Chakras and meditation, we need to realize that this connection exists on two levels:

1. Indirectly – Any well-known meditation has general and specific effects on the chakras
2. Directly – There are specially-designed Chakra Meditations that directly balance, align and activate the Chakras

Supporting the Chakras through Chakra Meditation

Every meditation technique in the world, whether ancient or newly developed, can indirectly support the chakras. The very act of meditation balances and opens chakras. In this sense, all Meditation is Chakra Meditation and there is no essential need for an intentional focus on the chakras. The calm and centered space of meditation allows the seven chakras to begin to function optimally, and thus to better absorb life-force (prana). This clears away emotional and mental overload which is stored within them and disturbs their action, and releases their dormant spiritual capacities and awareness.

Chakras love silence, peace and balance (the state that is called in Yoga, “Sattva”). For the very same reason, they respond very well to nature, peaceful music, a loving touch, and deep sleep. In such a state, they revitalize the subtle nervous system (the nadis), and nourish the physical nervous system, glands and organs, to which they are connected.

In particular, the root chakra’s fears and anxieties are relieved by meditation, the solar plexus chakra’s frustrated wills calm down, the heart chakra’s emotional needs are replaced with peace, the third eye chakra’s mental restlessness dissolves, and the crown chakra opens up to receive the nourishment of cosmic prana.

That said, known meditations balance and open certain chakras more than others. Further below you will find list of classical meditations and the specific chakras that they activate.

Activating the Chakras through Chakra Meditation

On the other hand, there are meditations that belong to the category of “chakra meditations”. Such meditations have been designed to directly activate the chakras – sometimes all seven, and sometimes a specific one.

Though all meditation techniques balance and open chakras, the main advantage of chakra meditations is the awareness we bring to the way the chakra functions. Even the mere attention to a particular chakra can begin to stimulate and balance it. As a result of our concentrated attention, the chakra releases its dormant powers and capacities into our conscious mind.

Chakra Meditation and Chakra Alignment

In principle, any meditation technique makes your subtle anatomy go through a process which can be called “chakra alignment”. Chakra alignment is the harmonization of all seven chakras into one continuum of energy flow. When the 7 chakras align, they form in us a state of wholeness and completeness. This condition is also a perfect metaphor for spiritual enlightenment.

There are, however, techniques which enable us to evoke the state of chakra alignment. In such techniques, we usually focus our attention on each chakra individually from bottom up, until we reach the seventh. Our attention enkindles each of the seven chakras, and so when we reach the crown chakra, the chakras form a union between them.

The great advantage of chakra alignment is that this state brings an extraordinary amount of life-force into our body-mind system, allowing the chakras to deeply nourish our being. This state is also a powerful source of physical healing.

Good examples of meditations for all 7 chakras are Osho Chakra Breathing Meditation and the Full-Chakra Expansion. But even simply resting our attention on each chakra and breathing into it could bring about a basic state of chakra alignment.

Chakra Cleansing through Meditation

The human energy field is not a closed system, rather it can be envisioned like a cloud of energy. During the day we interact with countless enery fields that permeate each other. Through effects of resonance, or because different energies may touch and trigger us in certain ways, this can lead to the feeling of “stuck energy” in our system and Chakras.

Simply feeling our own energy again in the Chakras, unwinding accumulated tension and letting go of impressions and energy patterns we have “collected” during the day, automatically cleanses the Chakras.

For a simple Chakra Cleansing Meditation, usw the guided Chakra Meditation below or see our article on the topic: Chakra Cleansing Meditation (coming soon).

Chakra Meditation Techniques for specific chakras

The following Chakra Meditation Techniques are known to have particular effects on specific Chakras

• Meditations for the Root Chakra

  Since the Root Chakra is prone to fears and anxieties, any deep relaxation meditations can serve as a great source of balance. For example, transcendental meditation which uses specific mantras to calm the brain and the nervous system, or vipassana, which releases tensions that are caused by body-mind connections and at the same time, promotes disassociation from emotional and physical pain. For the Root Chakra, even listening to meditative music could be an effective meditation. The practice of mindfulness can be an excellent key, since it trains us to stop worrying about the future and to begin to synchronize with the action we make right now as well as to unify the body and mind. Relaxing Pranayama (yogic manipulation of breathing) practices, such as Nadi Shodhana, are also helpful.

• Meditations for the Sacral Chakra
  

  Any cathartic movement meditation could affect the Sacral Chakra’s condition, including ecstatic dance and trance-like and shamanic experiences. The meditations developed by the 20th century spiritual teacher Osho, such as Osho dynamic meditation, Osho Kundalini meditation, No dimensions and Nataraj, can be very helpful for the balancing and opening of the Sacral Chakra. They are great for breaking social taboos that stifle the natural flow of the life-force within us. Any tantric practice that transforms sexual energy into spiritual energy can be a great meditation for the Sacral Chakra – for example, the meditations taught by Taoist Master Mantak Chia. Also, intense breathwork that allows the prana or chi to flow strongly in the body can support the Sacral Chakra as it is responsible for this flow.

• Meditations for the Solar Plexus Chakra

  The Solar Plexus Chakra requires meditations that direct its energy of willpower and train its dormant capacity to govern lower instincts and impulses. Gurdjieff’s sacred movements, for instance, which demand mastery over body-mind coordination, or intense forms of yoga practice, martial arts, and Quigong.

• Meditations for the Heart Chakra

  Naturally, meditations that focus on heart, love, healing, and compassion, are all balancers of the Heart Chakra. The Buddhist loving-kindness meditation is one good example. Prayer in any form is an obvious Heart Chakra Meditation as well as meditation on a beloved deity or guru. In these links you can find two major Heart Chakra  Meditations – the basic Heart Activation and the Heart Gym exercise: Heart Chakra Meditation

• Meditations for the Throat Chakra

  Chanting and sacred singing are the strongest meditations for the Throat Chakra. Aside from that, other meditations could be associative writing, cathartic speech, and laughter meditation. Though not exactly a meditation, the practice of silence retreat, for a period of at least a day or longer, could heal, balance and open this chakra.

• Meditations for the Third Eye Chakra

  The meditations that enhance our Third Eye Chakra are always connected to seeing and perception. Any form of visualization practice is therefore related to the third eye. But also practices such as darkness meditation – sitting in complete darkness with open eyes – and sungazing meditation – looking at the sun at the harmless times of sunset and sunrise. All practices for the development of concentration and focus, centering your attention on one point, are beneficial. Even staring at candlelight or simply focusing on the meeting point between our eyebrows can immediately stimulate the Third Eye Chakra. Techniques that enable the brain to reach continuous Alpha or Theta waves are useful too. The classical practice of witnessing our thoughts, emotions and actions without reaction is a clear Third Eye Chakra meditation. Self-inquiry, such as the question “Who am I?”, and koans – questions that derive from the world of Zen-Buddhism – can open the Third Eye.

• Meditations for the Crown Chakra

  Any deep-going meditation, sitting for long periods of time in complete silence and just being, can affect the Crown Chakra. Long and intense meditative periods, such as fasting retreats, silence retreats, or dark-room retreats, are highly effective. The Zen-buddhist meditation called “Zazen” is also a seventh chakra opener.  All kundalini practices are recommended here as well as initiations by spiritual masters and shaktipat (energy transmission from a true yogi).

Chakra Balancing Meditation

The purpose of specific chakra meditations is to directly affect the functioning of a chakra and as a result, bring about a state of wellness on all the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects that are related to it. This process is often termed Chakra Balancing. For instance, meditating on the root chakra enhances the feeling of groundedness, reduces fears and anxieties, makes us feel capable of facing life’s stresses and intensities, helps to establish a sense of inner stability within us, and even reduces muscle tensions.

Meditating on a particular chakra can help to balance it, even if temporarily, and even open it energetically and spiritually. One of the advantages of such a meditation is that it promotes the release of specific blockages related to the chakra. Another advantage is that each chakra carries a certain energetic and spiritual potential, including powers and capacities, and chakra meditation unveils this potential.

Since we may find ourselves interested in specific chakras according to our current stage in life, chakra meditations can help to accelerate the process of growth and understanding throughout that stage. To determine which chakra can best affect our current point of learning and evolution, it is recommended to carefully read about the mental and emotional aspects of the chakras, including their common blockages and imbalances.

I recommed the Chakra Expansion Meditation for Blancing the Chakras, you can read more about this Chakra Meditation Technique below

Chakra Expansion Meditation

The expansion of chakras, based on the Expansion method that I developed years ago, is a direct, easy-to-get way to access your chakras, balance, open and align them. The Expansion allows you to choose whether to focus on one particular chakra or on all seven – which at least from time to time, could be an awesome experience of inner wholeness, supreme health, and spiritual enlightenment.

The expansion is based on two simple processes. First of all, you get in touch with a specific chakra by focusing on the area in the body in which it is located. Using your inner senses, you meet with the chakra as it is right now, trying to describe to yourself what it feels like, and detecting a shape, an image, or a general sensation, within that area. Sometimes you may even find there a certain color and a fragrance. You can even give a title to this mental, emotional, sensual and visual state of the chakra.

The second stage is imagining – through breathing, visualization and intention – the structure that you have defined within the chakra expand more and more until it reaches its maximal limits and cannot expand anymore. Even if the structure becomes bigger than your own body, the room, or the cosmos, at one point it reaches a maximal measure, naturally leading you to a greater “circle” or state which includes the one before it.

You can repeat this two-phase process as much as you want. With every expansion, you will feel the chakra more balanced and open, revealing more and more its dormant spiritual essence and releasing emotional and mental content.

You can find here the exact instructions for this process in our article on Chakra Balancing.

Chakra Healing Meditation

For the most part, meditation techniques – including the ones that focus directly on chakras – cannot heal your chakras. Meditation cannot replace deep therapeutic processes, which may be vital for uprooting samskaras (the deep-seated, unconscious imprints that shape our mind and emotions). On the other hand, many of these therapeutic processes may actually happen in a meditative state and be a lot like guided meditations. Without question, an expanded state of consciousness can be extremely helpful in dealing with Samskaras in an effective way.

What meditation can do, however, is to unveil the deeper issues within the chakras so that they are released to the surface of your conscious mind. As soon as you bring concentrated attention and peaceful spaciousness into any of your chakras, it begins to function optimally. One of the first actions a healthy chakra takes, is detoxification – striving the remove its own blockages and hindrances. For this reason, we often find that during a peaceful meditation and the state of relaxed alertness, unresolved issues, sometimes even in the form of images, appear in our mind.

This is natural and can be likened to the difference between a gushing river and a still pond. Throw a stone to a river and you will not even notice its effect on the river’s flow. But throw a stone to a pond and you will clearly see the ripples. In the same way, when your mind is quiet, you can notice unresolved issues that hope for your attention, simply because you are finally there to fully listen.

Meditation techniques are therefore the beginning of a healing process. Some techniques, such as Vipassana, Osho dynamic meditations, silence retreats or dark-room meditation, can be particularly effective in bringing to the surface your hidden chakras’ issues.

More Information on Chakra Healing in our detailed article: Chakra Healing  (coming soon)

Chakra Meditation Music

Though youtube is exploding with Chakra music meditations, I have honestly never encountered such a meditation that could directly heal, balance or open a chakra, or – as some claim – all seven chakras at once. Chakras certainly respond to sound and music. In general, any harmonious, beautiful and delicate music could bring about a temporary sense of balance, opening and even alignment within your chakras. Chakras love harmony which resonates in them their own natural harmony.

But so far, the claim of frequencies that stimulate chakras has not been convincing, from my own experience throughout the many years of inquiry into this field. Rather than one specific frequency it seems to be the overall energy conveyed by the music that affects the Chakras.

Specifically, a very relaxing music balances the root chakra; a joyful and playful music balances the sacral chakra; an empowering and energetic music enhances the solar plexus chakra; a soft, loving and emotional music engages the heart chakra; music that uses singers’ voices in an extremely releasing and expressive ways balances the throat chakra; any profound and mysterious sounds awaken the third eye, and a deeply spiritual music, using celestial sounds and voices, can open the crown chakra.

Chakra Symbol and Chakra color meditation

Visualizations of the traditional Chakra Symbols or colors of the chakras could balance and open the chakras to a very limited extent. The main reason for that is the symbols and the colors are not necessarily the current symbols and colors of your chakras. Connecting directly with your chakras may bring about different symbols and colors to which your chakras can be more responsive.

The difficulty with Chakra Symbols is the fact that our Western mind does not necessarily respond strongly to the ancient images associated with each chakra. In other words, if you can’t seem to find a crocodile in your sacral chakra, there is no reason to worry, and there is absolutely no reason to count the number of petals of the lotus flower above your crown!

Chakras are a dynamic phenomenon. It would be therefore wise to be attentive to whatever they reveal to you, including a color that you have not anticipated. Sometimes, you may find yellow in your solar plexus chakra, or a purple in your third eye, but allow the vision to remain without fixations in order to let the chakras lead the way. For this reason, the Expansion of chakras enables you to meet your chakras as they are and to blossom in their own organic way.

Chakra Mantra Meditations

For exactly the very same reason, the traditional seed-mantras of the chakras will work only if you believe in them very strongly or – through practice – trained your mind to associate these Mantras with the Chakras. Uttering “Lam” or “Ram” does not automatically trigger the corresponding chakras. Sometimes, using affirmations to which your mind responds much more strongly could even be far more effective. Here you can be quite creative. As soon as you have learned the issues, blockages and potentials of each chakra, and related them to your own current learning in life, you could come up with your own mantra. For instance, “My heart remains open even if I get hurt”, or “I give voice to my own truth no matter what”, or “I put my both feet on the ground out of my own inner stability”. In this way, you also begin to establish a more direct contact with your chakra system, rather than contacting them based on a hearsay.

Finding your right meditation according to your chakra personality type

Chakra Meditation is meant to balance, activate and open the Chakras. But not everyone responds to every Chakra Meditation in the same way. We all are more inclined towards certain meditations and also it depends very much on the current state of our Chakra System which Chakra Meditation is most helpful at any particular point in time.

So how to choose the right Chakra Meditation? The meditation “market” offers an overwhelmingly vast and promising array of techniques that seems difficult to navigate. Luckily, your chakra system provides an inner compass that can assist you in finding a helpful Chakra Meditations.

We all belong to one of the seven Chakra Personality Types. The system of Chakra Personality Types asserts that each individual has one chakra that is most active and expressed. Through this major chakra we experience reality, and it shapes many core tendencies of our personality. Getting to know your major Chakra  – your Chakra Personality Type – can lead you to the type of meditation that corresponds best with the natural expression of your “soul” in this incarnation. The idea is that you will respond most strongly to any meditation, that feels natural, effortless and second nature to you, and such meditation therefore can free us and broaden our awareness in the most transformative way. It is the meditation that is most synchronized with your constitution and with it, you can naturally flow towards the revelation of your true nature.

Read more about your ideal Meditation in our detailed article Chakra Meditation for Chakra Personality Types (coming soon)