I have written about OCD blocking the flow of qi, life energy, in your body. Chakras are energy centers in your body, through which qi flows. The seven major ones each have a color associated with it. These progress in the order of a rainbow from your lowest to highest chakras. I had always wondered why the color green was associated with the heart chakra. Why not red for love? An answer occurred to me as I was driving through the lush green landscape of the countryside. Green is the color of life, the life of the planet. And love creates life.
Let’s look at some possible interpretation of all seven of the chakra colors.
Root: Red
Red is the color of blood, and the root chakra relates to basic survival: food, shelter, and the very physical nature of the body. The body is kept alive through blood. Red is a good reminder of the nature of the root chakra, grounding your body in the physical world.
Sacral: Orange
Orange reminds me of the warmth of the sun, and the sacral chakra is tied up in emotions and sensations, including sex and pleasure.
Solar plexus: Yellow
The solar plexus chakra is where you store your personal power. It’s color is yellow, like the sun, which powers the weather and life on the planet.
Heart: Green
The biosphere of the Earth is green. The heart generates love and gratitude. This not only makes life worth living, but love is the energy that creates and animates life.
Throat: Blue
When I was on my drive through the woods, pondering the connection between green and the heart, I looked up and saw the vast expanse of blue in the sky. Blue is the color of creation, and your throat chakra is the center of your creative expression.
Third Eye: Indigo
This chakra is a portal connecting to your true self, the observer, or Atman, independent of the body and mind. As the evening comes, the sky turns indigo before black. Indigo connects the conscious daytime realm with the subconscious sleep realm.
Crown: Purple
Commonly depicted as purple, the crown chakra is also sometimes seen as a white lotus. Purple is a mystical color, and this is an opening to higher realms. White reminds me of the stars at night and the worlds they represent.
Perhaps anchoring the chakra colors to symbolic meaning — green for life energy, purple for access to the universe — can help you to picture the colors when clearing or otherwise meditating on your chakras.
Here is a simple chakra meditation to help you feel safe, free, powerful and more in balance:
- Sit comfortably in a quiet, dark space with a straight spine, to align your chakras. If you are unable to sit, you can lie with a flat back.
- With eyes closed, take a few slow, deep breaths to relax.
- Begin by rooting yourself to the Earth: Imagine a ball of energy swirling at the very base of your spine, in your sacral chakra. Let that ball of energy shoot a beam down to the center of the planet. You are held by, and rooted to, the Earth
- Focus your attention at each energy center, one at a time:
- Imagine the red energy of your root chakra, located at your perineum, glowing and pulsing. Feel energy flowing up through the beam of light that you sent down to the center of the earth and glowing red in your root chakra. Trust that you are safely connected to the Earth, and open this chakra wider. Relax and let it close just a bit, knowing that it is healthy and balanced with the energy of the Earth.
- Feel the energy from your root chakra travel up to your sacral chakra, located at the base of the spine. It now radiates orange light. Know that the energy of this chakra is in coherence with the energy of your root chakra. Feel this chakra open and glow orange, and then relax, closing just a bit.
- Follow the qi energy from your sacrum up to your upper abdomen at your solar plexus. It is transformed to yellow as you open this energy center up, knowing that it is now in alignment and coherence with your root and sacral chakras. Relax and let it close just a bit.
- Allow the energy to flow upward to your heart, where it is transformed to love. Visualize your heart chakra glowing with green energy as it opens up to the people in your life, the whole world and beyond. Energy flows freely from the Earth, through your lower chakras to your heart. Allow this chakra to close just a bit, still glowing vibrantly.
- Ascend your energy from your heart to your throat, where it glows blue with creativity. Allow this energy center to open wide, knowing that it is in energetic sync with your heart and lower chakras. let it close just a bit.
- Follow your energy to your third eye, located between your eye brows and inside your head. Feel your third eye opening wide and pulsing with indigo light. It is in balance now with all lower chakras. Allow it to gently close just a bit.
- Your energy, coming from the center of the Earth, passes through all of your balanced chakras, transformed as it goes, until it reaches your crown, at the top of your head. Imagine a purple portal opening wide to the universe. Imagine a thousand petaled white lotus. All of your chakras are whole, and aligned with coherent energy. Allow your crown to close just a bit.
- Take a few more slow deep breaths to finish your meditation.
You can see that the basic idea is to ascend your energy up your chakras, allowing them to open very wide and then, to keep them from being overactive, closing just a little bit, still open and flowing with energy.
If this seems a bit much to remember, you can follow my guided chakra meditation:
