How to cleanse and balance your chakras

Our chakras are subtle energy centres that manage the flow of energy related to all areas of our lives

They are our personal power centres.

They’re similar to our physical organs, except they operate at a much higher frequency*.

The word chakra means, in Sanskrit, “spinning wheel of light”.

Our chakras are these spinning wheels of light, coming out of body and swirling in front of our body, behind, above and below.

They regulate both physical and subtle energies, making understanding them and looking after them an important part of a healthy, balanced and aligned life.

Protecting our energy is something we all have the power to do, as do we also have the power to cleanse and balance our energy.

I believe if you understand more about your chakras and how to look after these powerful energy centres, then you’ll be well on your way to living a cleansed, energetic and balanced life.

Understanding the chakras

Each chakra relates to a specific location and organ within the physical body, as well as a specific frequency-based colour and sound. Along with everything I’ve mentioned in this post, you can also work with these energies, emotions, colours and sounds to balance your chakras.

Here’s a brief look into the 7 main chakras, using information I’ve collated from my reading and research, as well as my own interpretation and understanding.

The books I’ve used are listed at the bottom of this post if you’d like to learn more about the chakras.

Base chakra: the first chakra, it’s located at the base of the spine It’s also often called the root chakra. This chakra is red in colour and relates to your feelings of safety, security and survival in the world, as well as where you fit into your ‘tribe’, and how ‘grounded’ you feel. The organ it relates to are the adrenal glands, and the sound is lam.

If this chakra is imbalanced, you may feel ungrounded, scared, fearful, and unsure of your place in the world.

Sacral chakra: located near your navel, this chakra is orange in colour and relates to your sexuality, creativity, ability to create, and relate to others in relationships, and in your own body. The organs related to this chakra are the reproductive organs, including the womb, and sound of this chakra is vam.

If this chakra is imbalanced, you may feel sexually and creatively blocked, and suffer from reproductive issues such as PMS or lack of periods. You may find it hard to maintain relationships or feel creative or fertile – in any sense of the world – in your life.

Solar plexus chakra: located between the navel and the base of your sternum (think: stomach area) this chakra is yellow in colour and relates to your feelings of self; self-confidence, self-worth, self-love, self-esteem and inner power. It relates to the pancreas, and the sound is ram.

If this chakra is imbalanced, you may feel insecure, powerless, lacking in self-love and confidence, and unworthy. You may also be sabotaging yourself or an area of your life.

Heart chakra: located in the centre of the chest, this chakra is green in colour and relates to your feelings and emotions in relationships, to giving and receiving love and forgiveness, gratitude and appreciation. It’s mission is relationships and healing. It relates to the heart, circulatory system and breasts, and the sound is yam.

If this chakra is imbalanced, you may find it hard to love and forgive yourself and others, to be compassionate to yourself and others, or to feel gratitude in your life.

Throat chakra: located in the throat area, this blue chakra relates to communication and expression (to self and others), truth, speaking up, and self-responsibility. It relates to the thyroid, and the sound is ham.

If this chakra is imbalanced, you may find it hard to communicate, to express yourself and speak up, and you may often get a sore throat.

Brow chakra: located between the eyes, this purple / indigo chakra, with the sound of om, relates to vision, intuitive, insight, hindsight and future-sight. It relates to the pituitary glands and eyes.

If this chakra is imbalanced, it may be hard for you to tap into your intuition or you may feel a block around this, as well as being able to look ahead or look within.

Crown chakra: located at the top of the head, this white chakra relates to your spiritual nature, connection with the Divine, with the Universe, and with your Higher Self. It relates to your purpose and spirituality, to the pineal gland, and to the sound of visarga (a breathing sound).

If this chakra is blocked or imbalanced, you may find it hard to tap into source energy, to feel connected to the divine, to something greater than yourself, to the universe, and you may feel lost, spiritually and in your life, as if you’ve lost your soul purpose.

Here are 5 ways to cleanse and balance your chakras:

Through meditation

This is one of my favourite ways to cleanse, balance and align the chakras, and I believe one of the best ways to do this is by listening to chakra cleansing guided meditations.

These are meditations that specifically focus on shifting out old, stuck energy to ensure your chakras are open, activated, cleansed and able to support you in a nourishing way.

In Vibrational Medicine, Richard Gerber says that meditation is an important method of opening, activating and cleansing the chakras of the body, especially when practiced with active forms of visualisation, such as in guided meditations.

Gerber goes on to say that with repeated meditation, over time, new neural pathways are established which help to clear stress, prevent the re-accumulation of stress effects, and actually promote inner stimulation of “pleasure centres” within the brain.

Basically, chakra cleansing guided meditations are a natural stress release mechanism.

I absolutely love chakra cleanse guided meditations. They’ve formed a large part of my spiritual and health journey. Because of this, and because I know how important and beautiful it is to create a self-care practice that nourishes you, I’ve created a chakra cleansing, guided meditation album.

Learn more about my Breathe & Receive chakra cleansing meditation album here >

Working with crystals

I work with crystals myself, and in my clinic. There are specific crystals you can work with for each chakra:

Base chakra: red jasper, red coral, garnet, ruby, hematite.

Sacral chakra: orange calcite, moon stone, yellow jasper, carnelian, sunstone.

Solar plexus chakra: citrine, amber, pearl, tiger eye, golden topaz.

Heart chakra: emerald, green calcite, aventurine, rose quartz, green jade, malachite, green or rose tourmaline.

Throat chakra: blue quartz, blue topaz, aquamarine, turquoise.

Brow chakra: amethyst, saphire, lapis lazuli.

Crown chakra: clear quartz, diamond, fluorite.

Here’s a post on how to work with crystals, including how to choose them and program them for your use and intention.

With essential oils

There are also specific essential oils you can work with in relation to each chakra:

Base chakra: cedar, patchouli.

Sacral chakra: gardenia, ylang-ylang, clove.

Solar plexus chakra: lavender, citrus oils, rosemary, bergamot.

Heart chakra: rose, anise, lemon balm.

Throat chakra: sage, eucalyptus.

Brow chakra: jasmine, mint.

Crown chakra: frankincense, sandalwood.

I love the Resonate Essences energetic sprays, oils and essences, as well as the Sacred Self Alchemical Oils.

I use both of these brands both on myself and in clinic.

With kinesiology

In my 1:1 kinesiology sessions, blocks in the chakras may come up depending on what’s going on for you. These blocks may be affecting your energy, vibration, and thoughts, and therefore your actions or often, reactions, in life.

I use the gentle art of muscle testing, which allows me to pinpoint imbalances in your chakras, body, mind and spirit… helping to bring awareness to what is keeping you feeling stuck or blocked.

We are then able to pinpoint exactly what your body needs or wants in order to release the blocks… and help you move towards freedom, harmony, ease and spaciousness (or… anything else that you want to feel!)

We do this using a variety of tools and resources to bring the body into harmony and alignment.

We may massage certain points or meridians, hold or tap specific acupressure points, find ‘blocked’ emotions from an emotions chart, or use a combination of essential oils, energetic and flower essences, guidance and oracle cards, affirmations, goal-setting, sound and colour therapy, herbal and nutritional medicines, movement, books… and so much more.

Kinesiology helps to realign and balance all parts of your being, on every level, reuniting body, mind and spirit… so you’re completely open and able to receive, heal, change, balance and grow, and is a perfect modality to use in order to bring about more balance within your chakras.

Yoga

You might not initially think of yoga as a chakra-balancing activity, but it’s such a beautiful and simple way to cleanse and balance your energy.

Certain poses really work to balance, open and activate specific chakras, e.g. downward dog is beautiful for the base chakra, while certain styles of yoga can work specifically work to cleanse the chakras, such as kundalini yoga and it’s ability to open and activate the crown chakra.

If you want specific chakra balancing sequences, search YouTube to find one that resonates with you, otherwise take yourself off to your favorite yoga studio, and get moving, flowing and breathing. Your body, breath and pure intentions will do the rest.