Chakra checkup

You should implement a daily routine of maintaining the health and integrity of your chakra energy centers just as you would for your physical health

From the Etsy shop GPyoga

Chakras are energy points existing within your spiritual body or subtle body, and are meeting points of the energy channels, called Nadiis. Within these channels flow the essential life force (prana -or- vital energy). There are several Chakra points throughout our bodies, however there are seven main 'zones'. It is the common believe in Hindu, Tantric yoga practitioners, and other believe systems that the Chakras, while apart of the spiritual body, can have a great effect on the physical well being of a person. An unbalanced or blocked Chakra can cause physical, mental, psychological, emotional, and spiritual ailments. The word Chakra derives from a Sanskrit word meaning wheel or turning, so think of them as swirling vortexes of energy that, when functioning properly, distribute clean and healthy energy throughout your entire body where it is needed. 

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Go HERE to read the infographic on Mindvalley Academy Blog about each chakra, and their spiritual and physical relations to the body, how to know if you have a weak chakra, and which chakras cause the most problems. 

some ways to maintain healthy chakras

kundalini yoga

Yoga poses that will help balance, open, and maintain the flow of energy through your chakras. 

mudras

Spiritual hand positions that create energy flow. Find Mudras (and Mantras) here that will help 'workout' your chakras. 

mantras

Spoken sounds or syllables that can create different spiritual and psychological affects. (I am, I feel, I do, I love, I speak, I see, I understand)

meditation 

This one is my personal favorite, and is more powerful than some people think. You can visualize the cleaning, clearing, opening, and closing of your chakras and the moving of clean, vibrant energy. 

Did you know.. 

Everything from the food you eat to the color clothes or jewelry you wear can affect your chakras. This can be in a good way or bad. Pay attention to what you put into your body. Know which chakras need attention and what foods you can eat to help. Also dress with a purpose. Color therapy is an actual thing. 

There's no wrong way to visualize your chakras, you can use my visualizations or find your own. To discover how your chakras uniquely look to you, go to your meditation space, somewhere quiet and undisturbed. With each breath in call your energy back to your body, because we are often "besides ourselves", "mind is somewhere else", or "zoned out". Bring all of your focus, or spirit back to center. With each breath out release all the chatter that is naturally always present in our minds. Take your time and slowly release any thought that comes to you, but is not serving you and your present purpose. (When quieting the mind the trick is to not 'force a shut down'. If you try to turn your thoughts off all at once, for one thing it won't work and you will be discouraged, you can lose useful thoughts that may have a right to be there in the present moment.) Slowly allow your inner self to travel through your body to a chakra center and 'look' around. What does it look like? What is it doing? What color(s) do you see? 

some of my personal chakra meditations

I always start with a general checkup of my chakras, and go through my body and 'observe' each chakra center and  assess the overall well being of that center. I start with my root chakra, sense that is what grounds me and is where I am 'rooted' from. I visualize my root chakra is a red floating mechanism, made of organic material that looks like red bones, cartilage, blood vessels, and organs. Within the structure there is a red, swirling disc of energy that rotates when my chakra is open and functioning. From this structure red veins grow out through my aura and connect to the earth, I also have a grounding cord I visualize that stretches down into the center of the earth, where I release all unwanted energy and thoughts. 

Sculptures by Lorenzo Nanni

Each of my chakras look and act differently from each other. The center of my heart chakra is just a glowing orb, and when it is open and healthy creates a green fire that consumes my body all around where it is located and down my arms. 
But my throat chakra consists of blue sand like material. It can be like a dangerous whip, or a cloud of dust in the air, or a lingering wisp like smoke from a cigarette. It reminds me of those 5Gum commercials where all those tiny metal balls are covering an enormous speaker and the balls bounce and vibrate to the beat of the music. 

my chakra cleaning visualization
 

I visualize that I have a special vase of purified water I pour over every chakra to cleanse them. I was taught to visualize / imagine in very intricate detail in order to reinforce or better create the reality. (Because you are steadily creating your own reality, what we visualize is what we will manifest) So my water vase is a very big and Greek looking mosaic vase, covered in beautiful pieces of blue broken glass. It's similar to the one to the left by Laurel Yourkowski. The water that's inside the vase glows with a shiny white light. When I pour this water over my chakras it rinses them, and washes away dust, bad or foreign energies, and anything else hindering them from working properly. The water then washes down my grounding cord, into the center of the Earth. 
Some of my visualizations may sound strange, and that's ok. Not everyone will envision things to be the exact same. You should meditate and develop your own way of recognizing and cleaning your chakras. This is an exercise that you should do at least once everyday, and add in the other ways I mentioned before (yoga, mantras, mudras) whenever possible. 

so to sum things up.. visualize the cleaning of your chakras like you brush your teeth - & - use yoga, daily mantras, or something to maintain the health of your chakras. Be good to them and they will be good to you.