balance
Living in Alignment UNDERSTANDING YOUR CHAKRAS Written by Amy Hobson | Owner of Aligned Yoga
Balance: something we all need, long for, and strive to achieve - work life/home life balance, a balanced diet, balance of mind, body, heart and soul needs. Our bodies are equipped with systems of checks and balances. Every organ system and physiological process working to create homeostasis. Chakras are one such system capable of restoring balance. There is plenty of “chakra talk” in the world - perhaps you’ve heard them referred to in a yoga class, energy healing session or you’ve seen the beautiful rainbow of colors displayed by artwork of the seven most well known Chakras. What is a Chakra? The full answer to that question is a dive so deep, it could not be answered in a single article. I have long been fascinated by the Chakras and what follows is my my humble attempt to shed light on the depths of this wondrous subject. The word Chakra comes from the ancient Sanskrit term “wheel of light” and refers to the energy around and within all life forms. The Chakra system is a model for the flow 28 mar • apr 2022
of energy that runs through the human energy system. It is like a ladder that takes us from the physical realm of substance up through the workings of the higher mind and spirit and into the realm of Divine Consciousness. While we have far more than seven Chakras, there are seven that are most widely known and referred to. They are from number 1 to 7: Root, Sacral, Solar Plexus, Heart, Throat, Brow and Crown. The first chakra, Root, or in Sanskrit, Muladhara, is located at the base of the spine. Its element is Earth and color is red, this chakra is considered the most dense and sets the foundation for the ladder stepping upward along the chakra path from earth to the cosmos. The Root Chakra correlates to bones, nails and teeth and is primarily concerned with self preservation, safety, security and believing in the goodness of life and that you are worthy of that goodness. If out of balance, one could suffer victimhood - feeling separate from the whole, uprooted or threatened and live from a place of scarcity
