In this post, I provide an introduction to the chakras and their role with respect to intuition and our subconscious mind. The research I have done on these areas specifically and the way I’ve written it to try lay out how each chakra relates to each other, intuition and the subconscious mind ended up being a lot of information so I’ve broken it down into a few posts to try to keep each post manageable!
I only recently learned, through the process of opening to my intuition, the role of the chakras. I had never really spent a lot of time learning about the chakras, even with my reiki background, so understanding the way the energy system works through the clairs has been enlightening. Initially, I learned the role of the third eye chakra in opening to psychic powers such as the clairvoyance. The third eye chakra is where I focused my attention primarily during my buddhist shamatha meditation practice for 15 years. Shamatha basically means concentration, so you concentrate on the third eye as a single focus in order to learn to empty the mind of thoughts and ultimately, to recognize there is actually nothing behind the thoughts that flow through the mind. Although I would say I did have a few non-dual experiences, in that I lost track of me, space and time and saw there is nothing behind the thoughts in our mind, I never had psychic experiences during that time. It was only since participating in the Practical Magic summit that I opened to my psychic gifts and the clairs.
After I’d started having psychic experiences, I then learned the role of the heart chakra in developing a frequency of gratitude and opening the flow of love with the divine/source/infinite intelligence. This frequency of gratitude and understanding that I am an expression of the divine itself, is the primary key to stream of intuition. And of course, connecting the third eye with the heart chakra means passing through the throat chakra, the seat of communication and where clairaudience comes through.
In learning more about the chakras, however, I now see so many things about my life that are connected to the chakras that I never knew! For example, if you have imbalance in the heart chakra, you may experience feeling not good enough, feeling that there must be something wrong with me or a feeling of not being worthy of love and support in the world. Which would explain my relentless fear of missing out (FOMO) and drive for personal development. In another example, an imbalance in the root chakra has meant I had an overreliance on logic and reason, denying my spiritual gifts from an early age and also body image issues, which I always felt came about because my mother was obsessed with her weight and my brothers constantly teased me about my weight growing up.
I hope you’ll enjoy this overview of the chakras and how they relate to intuition specifically and our feelings of worthiness and self esteem more broadly.
The Chakras
According to practitioners of chakra healing, we all have seven primary chakras that correspond with vital areas of our bodies and emotional and spiritual aspects of our lives. The seven chakras form a line from the base of your spine to the top of your head. Chakras have their own color, vibrational frequency, and symbol. For example, the first chakra is found at the base of the spine and is known as the root chakra. Other chakras include the sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, brow, and crown chakras. Each energy center must be vibrating at the proper frequency independent of one another in order for the entire body to vibrate in harmony. Therefore, each chakra is equally important to optimal functioning of the body according to the chakra healing tradition.
Root chakra
Located at the tailbone, and a bright cherry red colour, this is the beginning of the chakra column in the body. The purpose of the Root chakra is the foundation of beliefs – our very foundational beliefs about ourselves, our place in the world and our bodies, picked up in utero, through infanthood and into childhood when we are unable to discern ourselves from those around us.
The root chakra relates to our right to be here and to have this body – if you were born into a family where mom or dad were unprepared for a baby or were worried about how they would provide for a baby or were afraid they wouldn’t be good parents, we would pick all that up as babies. From birth to 2 years old we can’t differentiate between ourselves and our parents, even our parents’ thoughts seem to be our own. From 2 years onwards start to understand we’re an individual but are influenced most by our parents’ behaviours and how to make parents love you, pay attention to you, give you what you need and get their approval.
As adults even, most of our beliefs and actions are from the subconscious program from our parents, our upbringing and the way our life is now is likely a direct result of that program, so we are acting from stuff that is totally outdated and irrelevant and yet, we haven’t figured out how to rewrite our own program.
The root chakra includes the spinal column, kidneys, legs, feet, rectum, and immune system. So, when this chakra is out of balance, it may lead to lower back pain, varicose veins, leg cramps, rectal/bowel conditions, depression, as well as immune related disorders. A lack of balance in the root chakra may be caused by feelings of low self esteem, insecurity/safety, or family concerns.
Root chakra imbalance can show up as reliance on intellect and logic – use the mind most vs using the body and feelings for decisions and this would impair our abilities to sense our intuitive guidance. We might not care for the body (for ex. not going to the chiropractor, getting a massage, seeing the doctor) or love or trust our body; we may have lower back, knee or foot problems; we may have money issues from our program; have low energy; we may not trust the world is a safe place; we may have abandonment issues; we may be overweight.
If you feel like some of the imbalances are evident in your life, here are some mantras you can use to help reprogram the habits, beliefs and ideas about our bodies and root chakra:
I am safe.
I love life and life loves me.
I am welcome on this earth.
Everything always works out for me.
I am financially abundant.
I’ll continue to provide the chakras overview in the next post.