When our chakras are balanced, this impacts our aura, our energetic field. In turn, the “vibes” we give off can be picked up by others. As you may know, according to the universal law of attraction, what we put out into the Universe impacts what we can attract into our lives.
Practicing yoga can also help to open up specific chakras in the body. By consistently taking small steps to balance your chakras, even if it’s just a few minutes each day, you’ll not only be able to maintain a balanced energetic system.
Today, I’m sharing with you my go-to chakra balancing warm-up sequence that receive the most “thumbs up” from my Hatha, prenatal, vinyasa, and power yoga students.
Seven Main Chakras
We all have seven main energetic centers commonly referred to as the chakras. Each chakra represents a quality.
Root: Security, belonging
Sacral: Creativity
Solar Plexus: Personal power
Heart: Compassion, forgiveness
Throat: Truth, communication
Third Eye: Intuition, wisdom
Crown: Enlightenment
A lot of times if we are depleted from the week and don’t really recharge on the weekend, our chakras can become imbalanced.
By incorporating some chakra balancing techniques into our yoga practice can help us gain a sense of grounding.
1. Breath work in sukasana
Come to a comfortable seated position
Flutter the eyes close
Imagine yourself rooted to the earth
Ground down through your sits bones
Through the root chakra
Note: The root chakra is associated with the element earth and feelings of stability, security, belonging, and coming home.
We’ll establish stillness in order to feel grounded before opening up other energy centers. If your thoughts are everywhere today, place your palms facing down on your knees for more grounding. Let go of any thoughts that don’t serve you right now.
Take a few deep cleansing breaths, filling up the lungs like a balloon. Letting go another thought with each exhale. Continue to focus on your breath, your anchor. That will keep you in the present moment. You are centered and grounded.
Set your intention for your practice. Perhaps it’s to be more self-accepting, less judgmental, more forgiving. Whatever the adjective for the intention, we’ll work on it through opening up the chakra for that quality.
2. Kundalini rolls
Warm up the spin with Kundalini rolls
Start with leaning as far to the right
Then making your way to lean forward
Then rolling to the left side
Completing the circle by leaning back
Continue exaggerating these circles to warm up the spine
Switch directions when you’re ready
Note: Begin to open up the second chakra with simple movements to warm up the hips. The 2nd chakra is the center of creativity, associated with the water element. So we are coming from a place of stability, security to a place of play, creativity.
This movement also incorporates our solar plexus, 3rd chakra. The solar plexus is the center of confidence, strength, and willpower. It is embodied in strong, powerful standing poses such as Warrior 2.
As we make our way through each chakra from the root to the crown, we are still working the previously mentioned chakras. Grounding to the Earth for the root chakra. Activating the hip joints for the sacral chakra. And continuing to engage the solar plexus, associated with the fire element, building up your core heat.
3. Spinal twist
Let’s bring both hands to the shoulders
Inhale twist right
Exhale twist left
Continue this at your own pace as we open up the heart chakra
Note: This chakra is associated with the element air and feelings of openness, compassion, love and joy. Inhaling and exhaling air to help our energy flow. Come back to neutral and switch directions.
Let’s move upwards to activate the 5th chakra, which impacts our ability to express what’s in our hearts and speak our truth.
4. Shoulder and neck rolls
Roll the shoulders forward and up towards the ears
Then back and down
Exaggerate to open up chest
Continue for a few more repetitions
Then bring the right ear to the right shoulder
Gently roll through center and continue to the other side at your own perfect pace
5. Child’s pose
Let’s make our way to table top
I invite you to do some cat/cow poses to continue warming up the spine
When ready, from table top, send the hips back to balasana
Massage the 3rd eye chakra, seat of intuition
Rolling the forehead side to side
Tuning in to the breath
When we pay attention to what we are trying to activate, this helps us to focus sending our energy to opening up our chakras. Regularly incorporating yoga and energy work to balance the chakras to help us attract what we want in life.
In the heart moment of class you open your heart chakra to your truth. The backbend postures in this part of the sequence invites you to surrender to your truth by way of opening the throat chakra.
In the cool-down phase, you reflect on the truth which engages the third eye chakra. Specifically, in savasana you become the truth (crown chakra).
The below three yoga poses can be incorporated into various styles of yoga practice to help balance the chakras. Doing so will help not only to clear blocks in the chakras, but also raise your vibrations.
6. Downdog
Send the hips back to downward facing dog
Pedal out the feet to activate the foot chakra
Allow oxygen flowing to the head to open up the crown chakra
Shaking your head yes and no
Take 3 cleansing breaths here
Inhale making the sound: H-A- Haaaa
Activating the throat chakra
Inhale
Let it all pour out with the HA sound
Deep inhale
Sigh it all out
From downdog, lift the right leg up to the sky
Take a deep bend in the right knee
Open up the hips lining up the right on top of the left
Stretch the core to activate the sacral chakra
Bring the leg back down to the earth
Lift the left leg up
Really twisting open so you feel it in the solar plexus too
And bring it back down to ground yourself
Walk your feet to your hands to forward fold
Grabbing opposite elbows
Let go any thoughts fall from the crown of the head to the mat
7. Wild Thing
From downdog, extend your top right hand
Bring your weight into your left hand
Roll onto the outer edge of the left foot
Gaze down as you pivot back to the ball of the foot
Swing your right leg back into a one-legged downdog
Note: In backbends and chest openers, the throat chakra and heart chakra is completely exposed. There’s a certain amount of vulnerability. After all, it can feel vulnerable to speak your truth.
All those throat and heart opening backbends are great for becoming more outspoken, finding your voice. Specifically, when the throat chakra is blocked, you may feel like you can’t find your voice or your truth.
When the throat chakra is open and stimulated, your voice moves through space to help you communicate your emotions in healthy ways. You also become better at listening to others and honoring their personal truths without judgment.
8. Savasana
Savasana, or corpse pose, helps to balance all chakras, as the root to the crown is exposed yet relaxed. Savasana seems like the easiest pose of all. But it’s not easy to be fully immersed in the pose when we have a busy mind.
When there is a lot going on in life, it’s difficult to stay grounded. Thus, connecting to the earth, by having the palms face down, helps ground the root chakra.
In savasana, the objective is to experience a truer state of being. In a sense, we become the truth. The crown chakra represents our ability to fully connect spiritually, experiencing higher planes of consciousness, and deep connection with ourselves, which is what savasana is all about.
Overall, opening up the chakras is great for lifting your mood and detaching from the ego. May your next yoga practice help you balance all your chakras!
Ready to clear your money chakra?
Your money chakra your career, money mindset and sense of security.
The money chakra impacts all other chakras as it is your foundation. Located at the base of the spine, the money chakra represents basic survival needs.
Balance your chakras throughout the day.
No need for meditation, headphones or mantras. You can even play this while sleeping or watching TV.
Access the Chakra Balance Guide today!