Have you ever felt inexplicably drained, anxious, or somehow ‘out of tune’ with yourself — even when nothing is obviously wrong? Yoga offers a beautiful map for those moments: the seven chakras, the subtle energy centres that run from the base of your spine to the crown of your head. Understanding them is the first gentle step toward bringing yourself back into balance.
01What Chakras Actually Are
The word chakra means ‘wheel’ in Sanskrit — spinning centres of energy that sit along the spine, each one governing a part of your body, your emotions, and your sense of self. Think of them less as mystical objects and more as a language for how life-force, or prana, moves through you.
Yogic anatomy describes this movement travelling along thousands of subtle channels, or nadis, of which three matter most: Ida and Pingala, the lunar and solar currents that spiral around the central channel, Sushumna, which runs straight up the spine through each of the seven centres.
When energy flows freely, you feel grounded, open and alive. When a centre becomes blocked — by stress, grief, or years of holding on — you feel it, physically and emotionally. The good news is that breath, movement, sound and awareness can gently set the wheels turning again.
02Root Chakra
Sanskrit: Muladhara · Colour: Red · Location: base of the spine · Bija mantra: LAM · Governs: safety, stability, belonging
When this centre is open, you feel secure, calm and at home in your body and your life. When it is blocked, fear, restlessness, money worries and a sense of not belonging can take hold. Physically, it is linked to the legs, feet, and the body’s basic sense of being held by the ground beneath it.
Grounding practice: stand barefoot, feel your feet, and take ten slow breaths into your belly. Try Mountain and Warrior poses, and silently repeat ‘I am safe’.
03Sacral Chakra
Sanskrit: Svadhisthana · Colour: Orange · Location: lower abdomen · Bija mantra: VAM · Governs: emotion, creativity, pleasure
When this centre is open, you feel creative, joyful and comfortable with change and connection. When it is blocked, you may feel emotionally numb, uninspired, or stuck in old patterns. It is closely tied to the reproductive organs and the body’s relationship with fluidity and change.
Free the hips: gentle hip-openers, flowing movement and a little water by your side. Let yourself feel, and silently repeat ‘I feel’.
04Solar Plexus Chakra
Sanskrit: Manipura · Colour: Yellow · Location: navel centre · Bija mantra: RAM · Governs: confidence, will, personal power
When this centre is open, you feel confident, purposeful and able to act on what matters. When it is blocked, self-doubt, procrastination or a need to control everything can surface. This is also where yogic tradition places much of our digestive fire, or agni.
Kindle your fire: core work, Boat pose, and breath of fire (kapalabhati). Stand tall, and silently repeat ‘I can’.
05Heart Chakra
Sanskrit: Anahata · Colour: Green · Location: centre of the chest · Bija mantra: YAM · Governs: love, compassion, connection
When this centre is open, you give and receive love easily, and forgive without forcing it. When it is blocked, grief, loneliness or a guarded heart can quietly close you off. It sits at the exact midpoint of the seven centres — the bridge between the earthier, survival-based lower three and the more expressive, subtle upper three.
Open the chest: gentle backbends, Camel and Cobra, and a hand on your own heart. Breathe into the space behind it, and silently repeat ‘I love’.
06Throat Chakra
Sanskrit: Vishuddha · Colour: Blue · Location: throat · Bija mantra: HAM · Governs: truth, expression, voice
When this centre is open, you speak and listen honestly, and express who you really are. When it is blocked, you may hold your words back, or speak in ways that do not feel true. Many yogis notice tension here after years of swallowing things unsaid.
Free your voice: chanting, humming, and a simple ‘Om’ held long and low. Let sound move through you, and silently repeat ‘I speak my truth’.
07Third Eye Chakra
Sanskrit: Ajna · Colour: Indigo · Location: between the eyebrows · Bija mantra: OM · Governs: intuition, insight, clarity
When this centre is open, you trust your inner knowing and see situations clearly. When it is blocked, confusion, overthinking and disconnection from intuition set in. Traditional texts associate it with the pineal gland, our deepest internal sense of rhythm and light.
Quiet the mind: seated meditation with a soft gaze between the brows, and less screen time before sleep. Silently repeat ‘I see clearly’.
08Crown Chakra
Sanskrit: Sahasrara · Colour: Violet / White · Location: crown of the head · Bija mantra: silence, or a soft OM · Governs: connection to the whole
When this centre is open, you feel a quiet sense of meaning and belonging to something larger. When it is blocked, life can feel flat, cynical or spiritually empty. Unlike the other six, this centre asks for surrender, not effort.
Simply sit in stillness and silence. Let go of the need to understand, and allow whatever arises to simply be.
09Bringing Them Into Balance
You do not need to ‘fix’ your chakras like broken machines. They respond to attention and care. A steady practice — breath, movement, meditation, honest living — naturally keeps the wheels turning, and most students find that one or two centres tend to ask for more attention than the rest at any given time in life.
A simple way to begin: notice which description above felt most familiar today, and give that single centre five honest minutes — its asana, its breath, its bija mantra — rather than trying to work on all seven at once.
“Balance is not a destination you reach once. It is a relationship you keep, one breath at a time.”
10Chakras and the Class You Attend
You rarely need to consciously target every centre in a single session. A well-taught, well-rounded yoga class — grounding poses, hip and chest openers, twists, breathwork and closing stillness — already moves through all seven in sequence, whether or not the teacher names them aloud.
This is one reason a structured, traditionally taught practice tends to leave people feeling more balanced than a random sequence of postures: the order itself is quietly doing the work.
The heart of it
- Chakras are a map for how life-force moves through you.
- Blockages show up as familiar physical and emotional patterns.
- Each centre has its own colour, location, bija mantra and affirmation to work with.
- Breath, movement, sound and awareness gently restore the flow.
Want to explore the subtle body properly, with teachers who live this tradition? A teacher training in Rishikesh is where it comes alive.
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