Chakras. Seven Colours, Seven Energy Centres... and What Does Any of That Mean?

Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet.

You’ve likely seen the chart.

Maybe you’ve seen chakra bracelets, chakra candles, chakra sprays, chakra meditations, chakra yoga, chakra crystals. Basically, if something can be made in seven colours, someone (including me!) has likely connected it to the chakras.

But what are chakras actually supposed to be?

And more importantly, what are you supposed to do with that information?

Because memorizing seven colours is not particularly useful if you have no idea why any of it matters.

So, what is a chakra?

The simplest way I explain it is that Chakras are energy centres.

The word Chakra comes from the Sanskrit meaning wheel.

I work with the seven main chakras that run from the base of the spine to the top of the head.

Each one gives us a different place to pay attention.

Not just physically. Also emotionally and energetically.

And in the way we are actually living our lives.

That last part matters to me.

Because I’m not particularly interested in teaching you a pretty rainbow chart and having you memorize that green means Heart Chakra.

I want you to understand how this can actually become useful in your day-to-day life.

Think of the chakras as places to notice.

Your Root Chakra might invite you to look at things like stability, safety and feeling grounded.

Your Sacral Chakra may bring your attention toward creativity, emotion, pleasure and connection.

Your Solar Plexus can lead into confidence, personal power and choice.

Your Heart invites reflection around love, compassion, connection and receiving.

Your Throat brings us into communication, expression and truth.

Your Third Eye is often connected with intuition, awareness and perception.

And the Crown brings us into connection, meaning and something larger than ourselves.

Do you need to memorize all of that today?

Nope.

You’re allowed to learn over time and with experience.

So what do chakras have to do with Reiki?

Reiki doesn’t require you to know anything about chakras. You can receive Reiki or practice Reiki without ever memorizing a chakra chart.

I use the chakras as another way to notice and explore what may be happening. Reiki is the energy practice. The chakras give us places to pay attention.

They work well together, but they aren’t the same thing.

What does it mean when someone says a chakra is “blocked”?

This is where I find things can get unnecessarily dramatic.

You’ll hear things like:

Your Heart Chakra is blocked.

Your Throat Chakra is closed.

Your Root Chakra is completely out of balance.

And suddenly it sounds like we’ve discovered an energetic plumbing emergency.

That’s not how I want you approaching this.

When I use words like blocked or out of balance, I’m not diagnosing you.

I’m using a framework to help us notice.

Maybe you’ve been having a hard time speaking up for yourself.

That might make the Throat Chakra an interesting place to explore.

Maybe life feels completely chaotic and you’re craving stability.

We might spend some time with the Root Chakra.

Maybe you have been giving and giving and giving, but you’re terrible at receiving.

There may be something interesting to notice around the Heart.

The chakra gives us somewhere to begin looking. It does not hand us a diagnosis.

If you’re wondering what a “blocked” chakra actually means, I go much deeper into that here.

This is where curiosity matters

You’re going to hear me say this a lot:

Notice first. You can decide what it might mean later.

If we are working around your Solar Plexus and something comes up for you around confidence, we can notice that.

If nothing comes up? Also fine.

If I notice something during Reiki, I can share what I observed.

You decide whether any of it has meaning for you.

The chakra system can open a door. You decide whether you want to walk through it.

If you’re wondering what a “blocked” chakra actually means—and how to tell the difference between an energetic imbalance and life simply being life—I go much deeper into that in Is My Chakra Blocked? Or Is Life Just Life-ing Right Now?

Do I have to believe in chakras?

No.

There will be no chakra belief test here.

You can choose to look at chakras as energy centres.

You can choose to use them as a framework for reflection.

You can choose to be fascinated by them.

You can choose to be skeptical.

You can choose to decide that some parts resonate with you and others don’t.

I would rather you explore something honestly than tell yourself you’re supposed to believe it because you’re learning Reiki.

What about the colours?

Yes, each of the seven chakras is commonly represented with a colour.

Earth = Black or Brown

Root = Red

Sacral = Orange

Solar Plexus = Yellow

Heart = Green and/or pink

Throat = Blue

Third Eye = Indigo

Crown = Violet

Higher Crown - Clear or white

And I love that part of it.

Colour gives us something tangible to work with.

That’s why chakra work lends itself so naturally to things like crystals, bracelets, essential oils, sprays, visualization and other physical anchors.

Sometimes having something you can see, touch or smell gives you a simple way to bring your attention back to what you’re working with.

A bracelet doesn’t do the work for you.

A crystal doesn’t make a decision for you.

A spray isn’t going to fix your life.

They can be reminders.

Anchors.

Ways to pause and reconnect with an intention.

That is how I like to use them.

Do chakras have to be perfectly balanced?

No.

And frankly, I think working to keep all seven chakras in some state of permanent perfect balance sounds exhausting.

Life moves. We change. Things happen.

Sometimes you feel grounded and sometimes everything feels upside down.

Sometimes you communicate beautifully and sometimes you replay a conversation three hours later and think, well, that could have gone better.

Sometimes you feel deeply connected, and sometimes you pull inward.

That does not automatically mean something is wrong with you.

It means you are human.

The chakra framework gives us another way to pay attention to what is happening right now.

Not what should be happening.

What is happening.

Chakras aren't a checklist

Root: done.

Sacral: done.

Solar Plexus: fixed.

Heart: balanced.

That isn’t how I see this work.

For me, chakras are part of a larger conversation about awareness.

• Where am I right now?

• What feels steady?

• What feels uncomfortable?

• What keeps showing up?

• What do I need more of?

• What might I be ready to look at?

Sometimes that exploration happens during Reiki. Sometimes during meditation. Sometimes through journaling. Sometimes while making a bracelet and choosing the stone you keep being drawn toward.

And sometimes it happens while you are standing in your kitchen realizing, Oh. There it is. That has meaning.

Working with Chakras 

You don’t need to learn every Sanskrit name.

You don’t need to memorize every colour, crystal, oil, affirmation and body location.

You don't need to know whether your chakras are perfectly aligned.

You can start with curiosity.

Pick one. Learn a little. Notice what resonates. Ask questions. See what comes up.

Then decide what, if anything, is useful to you.

This is not a test, nor is it another thing you have to get right.

You can simply choose to look at chakras as another way to understand yourself.

Start where you are.