Next, this is a thing I’ve sent to several newcomers who have been in need of a basic chakras instruction. Everything here is written with my own style/interpretation so, for anyone who is new to this, certainly cross reference with other sources.
CYCLING THE WHEELS
Assume a comfortable position. This can be sitting, laying down, or even standing.
Breathe slowly and deliberately, in through your nose and out through the mouth. Honestly, breathing in and out through either orifice works fine if you find the prior method to be distracting. It is generally recommended to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth to get your body into a rhythm in eastern practices.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Focus on your body, your physical manifestation that anchors you to this reality. Feel the weight of it, the solidity.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Focus on your “inner” being, on the presence of the thing that is You. It may be a bright shining star floating in vast nothingness. It may be a black hole, the gravitational center of everything. It may be a supernova. Whatever form it takes, recognize it as what it is, the eternal source of limitless energy of your true self.
Pull energy down from the heavens, through the top of your head, down through your body, to your heart/chest. Pause.
Feel the energy centered there.
Push the energy down through your body, past your body, down into the Earth.
Down through the grass, through the dirt, passing roots, through the layers of sediment, through the layers of the Earth, shooting all the way to the core of the planet.
The planet will respond, boomeranging energy back up, up, into and passing through you. Feel the Earth’s energy passing through your energy centers, igniting each in white light, and skyrocketing out of your head, back into the heavens.
Breathe.
Feel yourself tethered to the planet, synced.
We begin at the base.
Muladhara: The Root.
Breathe and concentrate just below your spine, below the coccyx, and be aware of the energy there. This is typically visualized as Red. This is the place of primal understanding, of survival instinct and inherent, shared subconscious knowledge. By necessity, it is a place of raw sexuality as well.
Feel the red energy, the fire and strength there.
Be aware of its motion. For most people, this is clockwise. For others, counterclockwise. In my opinion, there is no “right” direction. It all depends on how you’re tuned. What is important is that all of your energy centers are in agreement.
When your root chakras is comfortably humming along, we move to the Sacral.
Svadhishana: The Sacral.
Just below your bellybutton and above your genitals, you will find this energy center. This is the center of creativity and for common sexuality due to its proximity to reproductive functionality. This is also the seat of Emotion. The “gut feeling”, “sick to the stomach”, and so on.
Focus on the energy here. The color associated is Orange. I personally find that I visualize it as a burning sun.
Feel the warmth of your creative passion and feel the movement of this wheel.
When the sacral chakras is happily spinning, we move to the solar plexus.
Manipura: The Solar Plexus.
The fulcrum point of your physical body is the location of the Solar Plexus. This is the center of Qi (Chi), used in every form of martial arts and home to the energy that is also known as “Power”. Mastering your Qi is beneficial for both your spirit and body.
This center is typified by the color Yellow although I think “golden” is a closer approximation. Yellow like the rays of daylight, perhaps.
Focus on your seat of power and feel it pulse and flow outward. Feel its motion.
When your solar plexus center is content and harmonized, we move to the Heart.
Anahata: The Heart.
Located in the center of your chest, the Heart chakras is to your spiritual body as the solar plexus is to your physical body, the center balancing point of your personal energy.
This center is the seat of Love and compassion. It is represented by the color Green. Think a bright green, the joy of the planet in spring. Warm yet cool, fresh, moist, fragrant…
The Celts believed all magick was green. This energy center goes a long way to explaining that.
You will find that this point tends to burn bright. It has a larger presence than the other chakras thus far and it even has its own field, which can be opened through meditation. Like the others, focus on the movement of this energy. Allow it to occupy the space it needs to. Don’t try to contain it. Open yourself to Love, as it it were.
When the Heart is thriving in its rotation, move along to the Throat.
Vishuddha: The Throat.
This is located exactly where you’d surmise, in the center of your neck. It is associated with the color Blue. I generally see it as a bright cobalt blue or a light blue.
The throat is the place of your Voice and as such, your declaration of intention and truth. It’s also used for Sound, or more accurately, Vibration. Tuning this chakra is quite helpful if one intends to do work with vibrating names/words in ritual. Or if you just want a better singing voice or plan to do public speaking, so on and so forth.
Focus on this center and acknowledge the importance of your own Voice, on the things you have to offer and the deliverance of that message to others.
Feel the motion.
When your Throat is harmonized, we continue up to the Third Eye.
Ajna: The Third Eye.
The infamous Third Eye is, of course, the place of psychic awareness and visibility into the “hidden” world. That is the world that exists all around us as part of the physical world but is typically outside of our range of vision.
Opening the third eye will allow you to “see things as they truly are” but, for us humans who are accustomed to a particular illusion, this can be a bit distracting.
It is also the place of Intuition and related mental/spiritual abilities.
Still, it’s good to keep the Ajna cleansed and attuned in order to access our higher functions when needed.
The color most associated is Indigo. I have found that I identify it more as a straight-up Purple, with Indigo being the blending between the throat and forehead. I am not alone in this.
Whether you are aligned with indigo, purple, or some variant thereof, focus on that color and the energy therein. You may feel a flow in through your left temple and out through the right. This is the ida and pingala, the dual energies of the kundalini prana that flows along the same lines as the Qi.
When you feel your third eye is in a balanced rotation, we move further up, past the confines of your skull, to the Crown.
Sahaswara: The Crown.
The uppermost of the primary chakras, the Crown is the place of enlightenment, deep understanding of the way-things-are, and true spirituality.
The color commonly associated is Violet. I tend to find that it feels like a sort of pinkish-violet, like a light lavender.
Remember to breathe as you focus on your crown. When you attune yourself to its movement, thrumming in harmony with your other chakras, you’ll feel something different in the way it moves. As it spins, it will unfurl. This has been represented by a large lotus flower, amongst various other artistic interpretations. Petals of pink fire, is how I would describe it. It explodes out, encircling your head, hence “crown”.
When I first accessed my Crown chakra, I felt like I was wearing a hat for about a week.
Don’t be surprised if you find this energy brings you visions or if you temporarily feel transported to another place entirely. This energy center is the jumping-off point to some pretty incredible possibilities using your spirit body and/or the transcendental abilities of your mind.
For the purposes of this exercise, stay focused and simply acknowledge this power of your higher self.
Wrapping It Up
From here, if you are finished, you can simply breathe and bring yourself back to the day-to-day by focusing on your physical body. Feel the interconnectedness of your energy centers and your form. Draw your rooted energy back up from the Earth.
For cleansing the chakras, we remain connected. Breathe, and pull clean starlight down from the heavens, down through your body, and into each chakras, starting again at the Root.
Push the white energy into the chakras, replacing its native color, and feel it pulsing within you.
Pull down from the heavens, cycle the white light into the wheel, for each point, working your way up through to the crown.
Once this is done, draw your grounded energy back up and through you, releasing it to the heavens.
Some Notes:
While the Heart chakras is Green, many people work with Pink when doing anything around Love. This is valid, although it is not part of the modern chakras system. If anything, I think that pink represents the connection between the Crown and the Root, which is very interesting. Pink could be thought of as indicative of all-encompassing love. The Root-Crown connection is important in terms of completion of a natural cycle. In the Kabbalah, the root is Malkuth while the crown is Kether. The beginning and end are one in the same. The cycle continues.
The heart organ is, of course, off-center of the “heart” chakras. There is a modern school of teaching that includes the “aetheric heart” which is between the green and blue chakras. Its color is Teal and it is associated with the thyroid. Metaphysically, this has some interesting applications/implications.
When I’ve done work with the Third Eye, it appeared as a very bright golden/white. I believe that purple/indigo is representative of the general energy center while that golden-bright-light is the manifestation of the open eye.
Riffing off that, many who “master” the energy centers use either golden or white for all of the chakras. When one focuses on Qi, running it through the body, that’s certainly the case.
If you do ida/pingala cycling via kundalini methodology, it is also gold and white/silver.
Likewise, when I focus on my personal energy, and not necessarily the specific points, it’s all a circulating white/gold. That said, I do find the rainbow system to be a fantastic one for working with specific energies or for balancing all of the points, as I’ve written here.
There is another, older, system of chakras that has a lot more points of specificity both along the body and way beyond the crown. In doing the above meditation, I have found myself accessing these as well. Don’t be shocked if you make little stops along the way.
Points of interest could include the “golden oven”, where the Sacral energy blends with the Solar Plexus, the aforementioned aetheric heart, the place between the third eye and the crown, and most interesting of all - the points beyond the crown.