What are the 7 Chakras? Chakra Meanings Defined

Chakras are an important aspect of understanding in Reiki. The chakras are a series of seven energy points located in seven different areas of the body. Chakras, or “wheels” in Sanskrit, are non-physical energy points that operate just like wheels: they turn and turn and turn vital physical and spiritual energy in order to ensure that the body and mind are in perfect harmony. There are seven points throughout the body associated with each chakra. There are a variety of physical, emotional and spiritual behaviors and symptoms associated with each chakra, as well as specific remedies used to ensure that they are individually balanced. Here is a helpful overview of the 7 chakra meanings and the seven chakra symbols, so you can make sure yours are open for optimal flow.

7 Chakra Meanings, Symbols, Colors and More:

• Crown chakra symbol:

• Meaning: The crown chakra represents our connection to spirit, source, God, the Universe, or whatever your personal spiritual beliefs are – the crown chakra is responsible for that connection. Your crown chakra allows you to not only connect with a higher, spiritual realm, but also recognize that same ethereal and eternal expanse in other people and in yourself.
• Color: The crown chakra is associated with the color violet.
• Sanskrit: Crown chakra Sanskrit translation is “Sahasrara”.
• Energy: The energetic properties that the crown chakra provides us are feelings of higher consciousness and spirituality, bliss, presence, awareness, inner and outer peace, connection with all living and invisible things and the ability to tap into one’s higher self.
• Body: The crown chakra is located above your head and the physical parts of the body that corresponds with the crown chakra are: the pineal gland, hypothalamus and the occipital lobes.
• Blockage: An underactive or closed crown chakra manifests itself in the following behaviors: feeling disconnected from spirituality, religion, or faith, feeling disconnected with your own body or living in “your head”, fear-based dependency on spiritual matters (such as praying something away, for example) and even close-mindedness.
• Healing: Strengthening the crown chakra calls for your commitment to your physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. Whatever rituals, readings, and practices that keep you in shape across each of these three means of existence will keep your crown chakra open and healthy.
• Symbol: The crown chakra symbol is often represented as a flower.

• Third Eye chakra symbol:

• Meaning: The third eye chakra is associated with the spiritual realms that our third eye (or the physical spot between your eyebrows) deals with, such as intuition, psychic abilities, and spirituality. It embodies the ability to bring us wisdom.
• Color: It is associated with the color indigo.
• Sanskrit: Third eye chakra is also known as “Ajna” in Sanskrit.
• Energy: The third eye chakra is associated with feelings and behaviors such as wisdom, inner knowing, trust, vision, motivational leadership, healing, and keen perception of everything and everyone around you.
• Body: The third eye chakra is associated with the forehead, brow, nervous system, and the pineal gland.
• Blockage: Persons who are susceptible to illusion, false ideation, lies, and propaganda have a blocked third eye chakra. If you feel highly sensitive to light, feel disconnected or easily distracted from meditation or spiritual practice, or can’t “see” something through, you may have an underactive or closed third eye chakra. Additional symptoms of an underactive or closed third eye chakra also include: feeling stuck with no future outlook on your life, not being able to see clearly (both visually and spiritually), rejecting or doubting spiritual beliefs or your intuition, not being able to see the bigger picture of a situation or your own life, and even feeling unfocused and unclear.
• Healing: If you are able to easily feel other’s emotions or thoughts, or have an inner knowing that there are other means of existence beyond the physical realm, than your third eye chakra is healthy an open. If you would like to strengthen or heal your third eye chakra, I recommend the following physical exercises and foods: child’s pose and/or shavasana in yoga, eye rotation exercises, rubbing your third eye and temples, massage, acupuncture, essential oils, and eating berries, nuts, and chocolate.
• Symbol: The third eye chakra symbol features a downward triangle and a lotus flower.

• Throat chakra symbol:

• Meaning: The throat chakra is associated with communication, expression, and speaking and living in your truth.
• Color: The throat chakra is associated with the color blue.
• Sanskrit: Translates to “Vishuddha” in Sanskrit.
• Energy: A closed throat chakra is associated with feeling afraid to speak up because you may be judged, aren’t sure if you trust yourself to communicate effectively, or even recognize that your voice is an instrument for creating opportunity and information for others and yourself.
• Body: On the body, the throat chakra is located not only at the throat, but is also associated with the ears and mouth since both are vital for communication.
• Blockage: The throat chakra also carries a risk of being over-active, meaning that it is too open and causes equal physical and spiritual harm. Symptoms of an over active throat chakra include gossiping, nonstop talking, teasing, and verbally harassing or abusing others (including arguing).
• Healing: If you feel like you are able to confidently and easily speak up and out about something you are passionate about, no matter what others may think, then you have an open and healthy throat chakra. Singing, talking, laughing, and even coughing to help clear out your throat are excellent ways to strengthen and heal your throat chakra as well as drinking juices, teas, and plenty of water. Sound therapy and meditative breathwork are also excellent healing modalities for working with the throat chakra.
• Symbol: The throat chakra symbol is a crescent with a circle inside.

• Heart chakra symbol:

• Meaning: Just like our hearts, this chakra is associated with love, compassion, and how we give and receive love to others in our lives and in the world.
• Color: The heart chakra is associated with the color green.
• Sanskrit: The heart chakra is also known as “Anahata” in Sanskrit, which means “unstuck” and is often represented in this original name.
• Energy: The heart chakra is associated with feeling love for self and others, transformation, compassion, emotional intelligence and empathy, forgiveness and acceptance of others.
• Body: It is located at, well – you guessed it – at your heart!
• Blockage: A closed heart chakra is associated with world-weariness and fear about others, other-ness, and disappointment, fear, or intentional self-sabotage toward receiving and giving loves from/to others and to yourself.
• Healing: An open and flowing heart chakra freely gives loves and empowers feelings of love in others, in your self, and even to show others the value of self-love. If you want to strengthen your heart chakra, you can visualize sending out endless love, hope and forgiveness to people in your life and into the world in general. The heart chakra is deeply emotional and its healing and strengthening require a deep commitment to unconditional love. Consider supplementing your healing practice for your heart chakra with these healing foods: kale, spinach, fennel, eggplant, herbs, and green tea. The heart chakra is one of the chakras that also responds really well to crystals and essential oils. The best healing crystals and essential oils to use for strengthening or opening your heart chakra include: rose quartz, clear quartz, carnelian, jade, kyanite, rose, geranium, ylang ylang, jasmine and bergamot.
• Symbol: The heart chakra symbol features a six pointed star within a circle.

• Solar Plexus chakra symbol:

• Meaning: The solar plexus is associated with feelings of confidence, power, ambition, that “gut feeling” and fortitude in our lives. Additionally, the solar plexus chakra is associated with and physically affects our diaphragm, the smaller intestine, and the ribcage. The solar plexus chakra empowers us to live and carry out our lives feeling like we have meaning and purpose.
• Color: It is associated with the color yellow.
• Sanskrit: Means “Manipura”, or jewel city.
• Energy: The solar plexus chakra evokes the following feelings in ourselves: willpower, drive, judgment, decision making, self-discipline, confidence, and responsibility.
• Body: Located in the center of the body above the navel.
• Blockage: As a result, the inverse of these feelings, which is fear, shame, doubt, and hesitation around your own power or fear of giving up familiarity, is associated with a closed solar plexus chakra.
• Healing: A healthy and open solar plexus chakra means that you have a lot of self-motivated drive to make your dreams come true, no matter what. I recommend the following physical movements to help strengthen the solar plexus chakra: hula hooping, dancing, floor Pilates, breath work and belly breathing, hip and hamstring opener poses in Yoga. Healing foods for the solar plexus chakra include: corn, grains, rice, cauliflower, broccoli, and peppers. The solar plexus chakra is also strongly associated with element of fire, which in the presence of a flame or even lighting organic candles can also bring additional healing for a weak or blocked solar plexus chakra.
• Symbol: The solar plexus chakra symbol features ten petals with triangle inside, reminiscent of the lotus.

• Sacral chakra symbol:

• Meaning: The sacral chakra represents emotion, passion, relationships (work, personal, romantic, etc.) creativity, innovation, and ideas that we not only think about but also put into action.
• Color: Orange is the color associated with this chakra.
• Sanskrit: It is referred to as “Svadhishthana” in Sanskrit.
• Energy: The sacral chakra embodies the following characteristics: emotions, creativity, sex drive, fantasy, and relationship building.
• Body: Physically, the sacral chakra is located at the base of the spine and is associated with navel, reproductive system, and lymphatic system. Therefore, the sacral chakra is associated with our sacral spine and hip area.
• Blockage: If you navigate life feeling fearful or leery of others, or feel like you have great ideas that have difficulty seeing the light of day, there’s a good chance that your sacral chakra is blocked. Additional weak or blocked sacral chakra symptoms include: over dependency on others, over emotionality, overindulgence in pleasure, or feeling stuck creativity or in a dead end relationship.
• Healing: All energies associated with a healthy sacral chakra embody balance and harmonious relationships, confidence in your abilities and creative potential, acceptance, and your emotions. Physical exercises that can help strengthen your sacral chakra include: dancing, squats, abdominal exercises, pilates, yoga (especially the Cobra pose), and deep belly breathing. There are also a variety of foods that can support with strengthening the sacral chakra, such as nuts, oranges, mangoes, tangerines, turmeric, tea, sweet potatoes, peaches, apricots, nectarines, grapefruits and coffee. Spending time with foods, scents, and experiences that awaken and tantalize the senses is also helpful for healing, strengthening and opening the sacral chakra.
• Symbol: The sacral chakra symbol is a six orange colored petals inscribed with various syllables.

• Root chakra symbol:

• Meaning: The root chakra is the lowest chakra and is considered the “first” chakra to connect with when you are just beginning your practice of connecting with, opening and closing the chakras.
• Color: It is associated with the color red.
• Sanskrit: Known as “Muladhara”.
• Energy: The root chakra represents the energy of basic survival needs, such as health, sex, and resources (monetary, emotional and spiritual) as well as your ability to independently meet these basic needs.
• Body: The root chakra is located at the “root” of our body: the base of the spine.
• Blockage: The root chakra, as its name suggests, is all about our foundations. As such, fear blocks it and hope keeps it healthy and open. Also, since the root chakra is the considered the first chakra, a blockage or weakness will absolutely effect all of the others. A tree cannot grow ripe fruit unless its roots are healthy and stable, and in this case, the roots of your physical and spiritual tree is the root chakra.
• Healing: If you have a blocked chakra or want to keep it healthy, the following foods strengthen the root chakra: apples, beets, cayenne peppers, paprika, tomatoes, yams, potatoes, carrots, yucca, and eggs. Recommended physical techniques for strengthening the root chakra include intentionally stomping your bare feet into the ground (bonus points if it is outside, on actual Earth instead of a floor), Kundalini yoga, hip and lower back yoga postures, pilates, and even spending an adequate amount of time in nature, connecting to the physical environment as much as possible.
• Symbol: The root chakra symbol features a yellow square center with four-petaled lotus surrounding it.

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Chakras: A Brief History and Overview

The chakras are energy centers located in specific areas throughout the body. The discovery and study of the chakras dates back to ancient Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist beliefs. Chakra, meaning “wheel”, is considered to represent a full energy cycle that continuously spins across several major points in and outside of the body.

Depending on the spiritual origin, there are chakra systems: a 12 point and the conventional 7 point. Tradition states that the chakras are manifestations of how the human body can exist in both the spiritual and physical realms and that the body is an energetic vessel existing in these two realms simultaneously. We must take care of our chakras as they deeply influence our physical and spiritual well being.

As a result, there are a variety of holistic recommendations and remedies that can help keep our chakras in balance. This list of some of the best chakra books covers this topic in deep detail. A brief sample includes: yoga, meditation, Reiki, cooking and medicinal foods, aromatherapy, crystal therapy and sound baths with singing bowls.

What is My Chakra Symbol?

Maintaining the health of our chakras is critical to achieving physical and emotional well being. If you are new to the practice of connecting with your chakras, there are a variety of excellent resources out there that can help you discover how your chakras uniquely present their various energies to you and how you can detect when your chakras are in need of extra healing.

What’s the Chakra Test?

One of my favorite resources out there on discovering your chakras is this easy to use quiz that serves as a diagnostic tool for seeing how open or closed your chakras are.

Each of the survey questions asks you to gauge your feelings in response to various chakra-related prompts. Depending on your answers, you’ll find that some chakras are much more open than others and the quiz even gives you a bar graph to keep tabs on your progress as you work to heal and strengthen them. For example, each question gauges how deeply you feel close with certain behavioral characteristics that are traditionally associated with particular chakras in order to “diagnose” how open or closed your chakras are.

For only a five minute investment of your time, this chakra test provides immediate and helpful results that can allow you to have a transformative chakra healing experience.

• You can take the Eclectic Energies Chakra Test here!

How to Clear Chakra Energy Blockages?

Blockages across all or just a singular chakra are caused by a variety of emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical trauma that culminate in the gradual dysfunction of the chakra’s health; which, in turn, affect your own wellbeing. Chakra blockages are often caused by toxic subconscious and/or repressed beliefs that are created from our childhood.

As a result, one of the first steps to clearing chakra energy blockages is to first admit that you have a chakra blockage. This means self-educating yourself on the chakras, what each of the symptoms of chakra energy blockages are like and how strongly they resonate with you. The second step is accepting that although you are the cause of your blockages, you are also their healer and have the ability to reverse this unhealthy impact in your life. The third step is for you to research all the various healing modalities that can support with chakra health, such as food medicine and healing, aromatherapy, yoga, breathwork, Reiki, acupressure, massage, acupuncture, sound healing, hypnosis, movement, and talk therapy.

Depending on which modalities work well with you, it may be helpful to find an energy healer near you who is fairly well educated on how to best treat your chakra energy blockages based on the symptoms (emotional, spiritual and physical) that you present to them. The final step of this process is maintaining your chakra’s health by keeping a regular routine to activate and strengthen them and be kind to yourself throughout this process.

This can be a lengthy healing process for many because there is rarely a singular chakra energy blockage: since the chakras all work together, a blockage in one will have a trickle effect into the others and create additional blockages as well.

What are the 7 Chakras? Chakra Meanings Defined:

Final Thoughts on the 7 Chakra Meanings and Symbols:

Working your chakras and understanding the seven chakra symbols and their meaning is an incredibly powerful step in your Reiki healing journey. I encourage you to spend ample time exploring each chakra through all the various healing modalities, books and the Chakra Test to determine which chakras need some extra healing attention. Be open to the transformational healing that will take place in this journey!

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