There are literally thousands of ways you can heal and balance your chakras.

Meditation and visualization are both very popular choices, sound is another good method, sight is yet another (using yantras or mandalas , and smell works really well too ! it"s called aromatherapy. #oga is another very popular way to work on your chakras, and $ could go as the list is too long to recite. %ut do each of these modalities work e&ually well' The answer is yes, and no. (r the proverbial, it depends. )irst of all, $ think it"s important to realize that each healing modality is actually more closely associated with each one of the chakras. This means that one method may work better for a particular chakra than another.*et me e+plain. The ,th and -th chakras balance well with visualization and meditation and pure energy work, because they are in the higher fre&uency realm. The seventh chakra isn"t even truly physical ! it"s our spiritual connection to everything. $t resides off the body, above the crown of our head.The si+th chakra is at the third eye ! in the middle of the forehead ! and it is the least physical of the si+th bodily.related chakras. Think of your bodily chakras stacked up like a sort of pyramid ! with the lowest one, your first chakra creating the wide and heavy base of the pyramid, and the highest one in your body, your si+th chakra, representing the highest tip of the pyramid. $t"s light and airy and easily mutable, while the first chakra is dense and heavy and more difficult to change (in fact, the first chakra represents and strengthens stability, so it"s very nature is the opposite of change. /ach chakra also relates to a sense and an element, like this0 )irst chakra 1 smell2earth 3econd chakra 1 taste2water Third chakra 1 sight2fire )ourth chakra 1 touch2air )ifth chakra 1 hearing2sound 3i+th chakra 1 si+th sense2light 3eventh chakra is off the body and unrelated to the sensory world, so it has no associations, e+cept to pure consciousness. 3o, for the first chakra, the best, long term healing comes from very physical activities ! like hatha yoga, because the first chakra is the most dense and most related to the physical body. 3mell.oriented treatments, like aromatherapy, work well too because this chakra is related to your sense of smell. 4emstones are great for first chakra healing as well, because stones are from the earth, the element of this chakra.

)or the second chakra ! which is still very dense and physical ! hatha yoga is good ! especially tantrically.oriented yoga that plays with intimacy. 5ealing with chakra foods is good for this chakra since it"s related to taste, and doing a&uatic bodywork ! like watsu (pictured ! is really good too, because the second chakra is related to the water element. )or the third chakra ! 6isual therapy like working with yantras is very good here, as are affirmations and %yron 7atie"s The 8ork, because our conscious, mental reasoning ability and our self.image are both associated with the third chakra. 3un bathing is good, because the third chakra is related to the fire element, and it"s located in the solar ple+us.9nd if you"re up for it, fire walking will stoke your third chakra in a ma:or way. )or the fourth chakra ! the bridge between the lower (more physical chakras and the upper (more spiritual chakras , touch is good. 3tudies show that babies thrive when nurses and nanny"s hold them, and so do adults. 5umans need hugging. 5ugging !even self.hugging (do it now; is one of the simplest ways to boost and balance heart chakra energy. /)T ! the process of tapping ! is great for this chakra too, as is breath work, because we breath in and out of this chakra and the element here is air.

)or the fifth chakra ! sound healing takes the cake. #ou can use this techni&ue two simple ways ! putting sound out, in the form of mantras, chanting, and seed sounds (or even :ust singing a favorite song that makes you feel good and taking sound in, in the form of crystal bowls, mantras or again, a favorite song. The seed sounds (shortest mantras for each of the chakras are0 <st ! *am =nd ! 6am >rd ! ?am @th ! #am Ath ! 5am ,th ! (m -th ! 3ilence (again, pure consciousness )or the si+th chakra ! visualization is the best tool, since our third eye is ground zero for all our dreams and visualizations. This is the place where we spin our visions. )or the seventh chakra, meditation ! pure, silent, thoughtless openness is the best. Bust opening to the space that we are, with nothing added. Cow, this is not to say that meditating won"t help the first chakra, it can. %ut we"re talking about a super subtle techni&ue being used on a super dense chakra (kind of like hammering a nail with a pencil .

$t may cause a shift in the energy field of the first chakra, but for it to stay for good, lots of repetition and consistency (both &ualities of the first chakra are needed. 4etting into the actual body ! tissues and bones ! works much better for creating long.term, positive, first chakra shifts. 9nd conversely, for the si+th or seventh chakras to be greatly affected by something as physical as hatha yoga, you need to make sure you"re paying e&ual attention to your subtle energies while doing your physical practice. $t"s a trade off. My general suggestion is this0 try lots of different modalities so all your chakras can be affected positively by their most compatible modality. %e aware that you will tend to avoid the modality you need the most. 5ere"s whyD $f you need more first chakra energy (more earth energy , then you tend to live more in your upper chakras, which means you are not deeply inhabiting your body. $t also means that you like to float around, not being consistent, and not committing to things. Enfortunately, the way to balance and heal such an issue is to do what you don"t want to do ! go into the body with yoga or conscious bodywork F and commit to going in there deeply and consistently. 3o another rule of thumb is don"t :ust do what you like to do. 9 popular new age adage is Go what you love. 8hile that"s certainly good some of the time, it"s not good all of the time. More of the same cannot create positive change. $f you want things to change, you need to change the things you do. The general rule of thumb is0 Ese more meditative.type techni&ues for the upper chakras, and do more physically.oriented techni&ues to best effect the lower chakras. )inally, try out my Hhakra %oosters 5ealing TattoosI for any or all the chakras. They"re beautiful, fun to apply, and they boost and balance your chakras even while you"re sleeping. 5appy 5ealing; Vicki Howie, MA, ERYT, CHt is a Life Coach, Hypnotherapist and Chakra Healer based in Los Angeles, California !he is also the creator of Chakra "oosters Healing Tattoos#$ www chakraboosters co% &or infor%ation on working with her Healing Tattoos, click here To learn how yo' can work with Vicki, click here

Balancing the Chakras

Many of the chakra balancing tips you find in books or online are really chakra boosting tips. That is, they are tips on how to increase the energy and flow of any given chakra. Hhakra %oosters 5ealing TattoosI are called boosters, but they are actually balancers, because they are sized in a way that boosts a deficient chakra while reducing an e+cessive one. This means that you can use Hhakra %oosters 5ealing TattoosI to balance your chakras without having to diagnose your chakras first. %ut it"s important to realize that putting on all seven Hhakra %oosters 5ealing Tattoos at once may be too much of a boost to your energy system if you are not used to running much energy through your system. )or more information on how to begin using the tattoos, please refer to )re&uently 9sked Juestions for Hhakra %oosters 5ealing TattoosI. Typically, to balance your chakras, you first need to diagnose their current state. #ou need to discover which chakras are deficient and which ones are e(cessi)e. To determine the current state of your chakras now, please take this &uick and easy Hhakra Test. Gon"t think too much ! answer instinctually. 8hether or not you take a chakra test, it"s important to be aware that your chakras are always shifting ! always ! meaning =@2-. They may be shifting in subtle or not.so.subtle ways, depending on what"s going on in your life and whether or not you are consciously engaged in chakra healing. )or this reason, it is good to have a general, chakra balancing meditation that will be effective regardless of the state of your chakras. 8e offer a great, guided Gaily Hhakra %alancing Meditation as part of our online course, %oost #our )irst Hhakra for 4rounding K Lrosperity. $f you prefer, you can follow these instructions, and do it on your own0 )ind a comfortable seated position ! cross.legged or sitting in a chair with your feet planted firmly on the ground. Cow, your body"s position always affects your energy, so it"s important you take a moment to ad:ust your posture all the way up your spine. This way, the energy of the spinal channel can flow unimpeded during the meditation. )irst, make sure you have a slight lumbar curve in your lower back. $f your lower back feels outwardly curved, boost your hips a bit by sitting on the edge of a folded blanket, or grab your thighs with both hands and turn them inward and backward, drawing the flesh of your sitting bones back, slightly widening your sitting bones apart. )or best results, bow forward slightly as you take your thighs back and apart. 9fter you create a slight lumbar curve, scoop your tailbone down toward the floor. $n other words, tilt your pelvis back a bit and ground the energy of your tailbone downward. This should create a sensation of slight engagement in your abdomen. Then lift your chest up higher, and widen your collarbones to the sides, e+panding your heart center. )inally, take the sides of your

neck back slightly to line your neck up with the rest of your spine, and then lift up lightly through the crown of your head. #ou are now in optimal spinal alignment. Llace your hands gently on your thighs and close your eyes. 4ently draw your attention to the base of your spine. $magine your tailbone has an actual tail (or cord ! a red one. 6isualize this red cord e+tending from your tailbone all the way to the core of the earth. 3ee it attaching to the core of the planet, and feel how it immediately grounds and connects you to Mother /arth. (n the ne+t inhale, draw earth energy up the red cord, into your spine, and all the way up into your heart. 5old it for a moment, then e+hale up the spine, and visualize bright white light e+tending up to the sky, like a whale"s spout. Lause a moment, then inhale white energy from the sky back through your crown into the bottom of your heart. 5old it a moment, then e+hale, sending it back down the spine to the core of the earth. ?epeat this process several times, until you feel both calm and energized in a balanced way.

3uggestions for %oosting $ndividual Hhakras

The meditation above is for general daily use when you want to balance all the chakras evenly. 3ometimes you may want to focus on boosting a particular chakra if it feels low in energy or if a diagnostic test has singled it out as being deficient. 5ere is a comprehensive list of ways to increase the energy of any given chakra.

Chakra One Muladhara Root

< = > @ A , M Go a grounding meditation ! imagining your tailbone attaching to the core of the earth. ?est and sleep well. 8alk F with bare feet, if possible F paying close attention to your connection to the earth. Grum. 4arden. Make pottery on a wheel or sculpt with clay. Trace your personal history and create a family tree. (bserve and2or hug trees, and visualize their roots reaching deeply into the earth.

N $ngest red foods and drinks. %eets are particularly strong since they are a root vegetable and a very rich red.

<O Lut out lots of different scents and practice smelling them while blindfolded (smell is the first chakra sense . << Llace a <st Hhakra %ooster 5ealing TattooIon the lowest part of the back. (r for super grounding, place two of them on your front body ! one on the top of each thigh.

Hhakra Two ! 3vadisthana ! 3acral

< 4et a sensual massage

= Take time to savor a delicious meal ! include :uicy foods and eat with your fingers if possible. > @ /n:oy a long, aromatic bath. Gance like nobody is watching.

A Make love with yourself or another for twice as long as you normally would. *ight candles and put on some pleasing music beforehand. , M N 5oola hoop. Llay with kids ! and let them lead the way. *ick a sucker all the way down without biting it (taste is the sense of the second chakra . /at orange foods, especially :uicy ones like oranges or canteloupe.

<O Llace a =nd Hhakra %ooster 5ealing TattooI on the sacral portion of your back and2or below the belly button on front.

Hhakra Three ! Manipura ! 3olar Lle+us

< = > @ A , ?ead mentally stimulating books. 3unbathe. 6olunteer to lead something. Go a liver cleanse or a general deto+ program. Go mind puzzles. Go something that scares you. *augh every day.

M N

/at yellow foods and carbohydrates. 3et a goal and create plan of action to reach it. Lerform in public.

<O Lut a >rd Hhakra %ooster 5ealing TattooIon your solar ple+us on the front and2or back.

Hhakra )our ! 9nahata ! 5eart

< = > @ A , M N Lractice gratitude. Lractice gratitude. Lractice gratitude. 7eep a gratitude :ournal. (4et the picture' Go some heartfelt volunteer work. 3mile at three strangers (or more every day. 3ay $ love you to at least three people you love every day. 5ug yourself ! :ust wrap your arms around yourself and s&ueeze lovingly. 7eep a photo of yourself as a child where you can see it often, and give it love.

<O /at green foods ! lo)e your vegetables. << Llace a @th Hhakra %oosters 5ealing TattooI on the front and2or back side of your heart center.

Hhakra )ive ! 6isuddha ! Throat

< = > @ Lractice saying no. 8rite a haiku about anything (it"s easy, A syllables, - syllables, A syllables . 3ing in the shower. *et out a deep scream ! or big laugh F in the privacy of your own car.

A Take a one hour vow of silence, then e+pand it to more hours, until you can spend a whole day without talking. , Tell someone a secret you"ve been keeping.

M N

*isten to your favorite music while doing nothing. )ake yawns for about five minutes to open the :aw energy. 3ay your favorite mantra (or affirmation <O times.

<O /at blue foods. %lueberries are a super anti.o+idant. << Llace a Ath Hhakra %oosters 5ealing TattooIon the back of your neck.

Hhakra 3i+ ! 9:na ! %row Henter

< 3targaze.

= Go e+ercises that balance the right and left hemispheres of the brain (search for some online . > @ A , M N Gaydream. *isten to your intuition ! and do what it says. Try to see people"s auras ! a faint energetic outline around them. Meditate. 7eep a dream :ournal and analyze your dreams. 3earch 4oogle $mages for a ,th chakra yantra and hang it up. /at violet2indigo colored foods ! like :uicy grapes.

<O Llace a ,th Hhakra %oosters 5ealing TattooIabove and between the brows or anywhere else on the body (see use instructions .

Hhakra 3even ! 3ahasrara ! 9bove the Hrown

< = > @ A Lray. Meditate. $magine a thousand petal lotus on your crown. Lut clear &uartz crystals in your water to make -th chakra tea and drink it often. Make a beautiful altar with your favorite sacred items and pictures of beloved deities.

, M

3ee yourself in every person you meet. )ind at least one commonality. %e silent for a chosen period of time. 8ear white.

N Llace a -th Hhakra %oosters 5ealing TattooI on the top of the crown (if you"re bald or anywhere else on the body ! the back of the high heart (between the @th and Ath chakras is a particularly effective spot.