How to Balance Your Chakras Through Movement & Exercise

Beginner’s Guide to Energy Healing through Fitness

 

Every emotion, thought & word produces energy.

 

Through your senses, everyday, you are putting energy out into the world & everyday you are absorbing it in.

And your mind-body is constantly deciding how to react or respond to this ongoing exchange of energy.

 

The system that organizes this input & output of energy is the chakras.

 

The chakra system is an energy system that communicates with our body on a cellular level.

 

As energy is being exchanged in & around you, the chakras help to assimilate the information through the nervous & endocrine systems of the body.

 

Both the nervous & endocrine systems have a massive impact on your overall health & well-being.

The chakras\’ effect on the endocrine glands & our hormones will be discussed in a future post.

This post is going to focus on how to embody the energy within each chakra through movement & exercise, so you can create balance, be more connected & feel stronger in your body.

 

What is a chakra?

 

The word chakra is Sanskrit for “wheel.” Referring to a spinning vortex of energy where we receive, absorb & distribute prana/chi/life force.

All ancient traditions agree & have some sort of chakra system for the body. This post will focus on the 7 chakra system from classical Hindu tradition. These 7 chakras run up & down the central channel of the spine.

 

The chakras don’t necessarily have an actual physical presence in the body, but they have physical expressions. Each chakra’s energy finds a physical expression through a different location, muscle group & function within the body.

 

The ideal state is when all the chakras are balanced & energy is flowing freely.

Chakras can become overactive, under-active, depleted or blocked.

 

Think of your chakra system like wheels on a car – they all function together so the car can drive smoothly.

If one wheel gets low or depleted of air, you might be able to drive for a bit, but eventually you will have to pull over & fix it.

If a wheel is over inflated or overactive, you’ll be able to keep driving for a bit, but eventually it will affect the alignment of your whole car.

In either scenario, you want to (or will eventually need to) address the issue before it throws off your entire alignment & becomes a worse or more chronic problem.

 

How do you know if your chakras are out of balance or blocked?

Emotions are the easiest way to identify an imbalance in your chakra system.

E-motions = energy in motion.

 

Since emotions come with a lot of energy, being aware of how you are feeling is the perfect indicator for knowing how your chakra system is operating.

Chakras are tools for investigation, a way to understand where & how emotions are being processed in your body. By learning about your chakras energy system, you can learn how to create balance in your body-mind & in your life.

 

How can you use movement & exercise to balance your chakras?

You know your emotions carry a lot of energy. If you don’t consciously harness that energy it can become destructive on your systems, which inhibits your ability to think clearly or function effectively.

 

Movement & exercise provide an outlet for that energy. This allows you to harness the energy & use it in positive ways that create & heal.

 

This is the process of embodiment, the expression of something in a tangible or visible form.

By expressing the energy of a certain emotion through the physical, tangible tissues of the body, you can take control of your health & well-being.

Step #1 Identify how you are feeling & find the correlating chakra.

Step #2 Incorporate movement related to that chakra as a way to create balance for that chakra.

How to Balance Your Chakras Through Movement & Exercise

If you\’d prefer to watch the video, check it out on YouTube

1st Chakra – Muladhara Root Chakra

Processes feelings around survival, safety, stability & support.

When it is under-active, you may experience:

• Feeling disconnected with your body

• Feeling physically weak

• Poor circulation

• Living in your head

• Apathy & insensitiveness

• Forgetting to eat

• Living in fear

• Not being able to stand up for yourself

• Not feeling like you belong

 

When it is overactive, you may experience:

• Feeling greedy
• Feeling dominant over others & unable to get along with others
• Ankle swelling
• High blood pressure

 

If you experience any of these feelings, in order to balance your root chakra, when you exercise try this:

❤️ Focus on your feet – stretch your feet & create mobility in your ankles. Focus on the pressure of your feet against the ground as you exercise. Exercise barefoot.

❤️ Add in lower body exercises – strengthen your legs with exercises like squats & lunges.

❤️ Go on more walks – walking is extremely therapeutic for the root chakra. Walk with mindfulness of your feet every step you take & be aware of your surroundings.

 

 

2nd Chakra – Svadhisthana Sacral Chakra

Processes feelings around sexual energy, relationships, nurturing & creativity.

When it is under-active, you may experience:

• Feeling detached or disconnected from others

• Distrust in others

• Tight hips and/or lower back pain

• Poor circulation

• Low self-esteem

• Repressing emotions & feeling shy

• Lack of creativity

• Unable to go with the flow

• Functioning from a state of lack

• Feeling guilty

 

When it is overactive, you may experience:

• Unhealthy attachments to sex, food, or relationships

• Tight hips and/or lower back pain

• Being overly aggressive

• Being controlled by emotions, overly emotional & moody

 

If you experience any of these feelings, in order to balance your sacral chakra, when you exercise try this:

???? Focus on hip mobility & stability – open your hips with stretches & mobility exercises. Try this 5 Minute Hip Mobility Routine.

Then learn how to stabilize your pelvis during exercises – Try this Pilates hip stability routine

???? Find flow within your movements – this chakra is ruled by the water element, so finding ways to move more fluid will support the energy here. What movement feels like play to you? Dance, yoga, roller skating? Find movement or exercise that helps you feel more fluid.

 

 

3rd Chakra – Manipura Solar Plexus Chakra

Processes feelings around willpower, discipline, drive, digestion & effectiveness

When it is under-active, you may experience:

• Low self-esteem

• Lack of confidence & self doubt

• Lack of motivation or drive

• Eating disorders

• Slow digestion & digestive issues

• Extreme nervousness

• Anxiety

 

When it is overactive, you may experience:

• Overactive digestion

• Ravenous hunger

• Being too demanding

• Perfectionist & workaholic tendencies

• Overly critical

• Aggression over money or others

• Ulcers

• Anger

• Excessiveness & possessiveness

• Mental/physical exhaustion & fatigue

 

If you experience any of these feelings, in order to balance your solar plexus chakra, when you exercise try this:

???? Abdominal exercises – this chakra is located in the abdomen, so core strengthening exercises will help support the energy in the 3rd chakra.

???? Breathwork – breathing exercises are the best way to stimulate activity within the abdomen & digestion. Try Breath of Fire for 3 rounds of 30 seconds, click here to learn how.

???? Heat – this chakra is governed by the element of fire, so doing exercises that heat the body will help stimulate its energy.

 

 

4th Chakra – Anahata Heart Chakra

Processes feelings around love, forgiveness, guilt & shame.

When it is under-active, you may experience:

• The inability to forgive

• Not feeling loved

• Feeling fearful

• Upper back & shoulder tension

• Distrusting the world around you

• Getting sick easily or a lot because of a depleted immune system

 

When it is overactive, you may experience:

• Possessiveness

• Tightness in the chest muscles

• Conditional love – loving only if… or only when…

• Jealousy

• Codependency

 

If you experience any of these feelings, in order to balance your heart chakra, when you exercise try this:

???? Strengthen your upper body – add in exercises to strengthen your chest, upper back & arm muscles.

???? Spinal extension & backbends – add in exercises that lengthen the spine & strengthen your back muscles. Any movement that helps you feel open, long & tall.

???? Touch – put your hands on your body to help you become more aware of your alignment & muscle activation during exercises.

???? Breathe – this chakra is located in the chest & related to the thymus gland, so big, deep breaths are a great way to stimulate activity within this energy center. Become aware of how you breathe during exercise, or begin a daily breathwork practice. Ujjayi is a great breathing technique to use during physical fitness, click here to learn more

 

 

5th Chakra – Visshudha Throat Chakra

Processes feelings around communication & expression.

When it is under-active, you may experience:

• Communication issues with self or others

• Lack of self-expression

• Inability to communication healthy boundaries & to stick to them

• Neck & shoulder tension

• TMJ & jaw tightness

• Sore throat and/or throat issues

• Block in creative abilities

 

When it is overactive, you may experience:

• Inability to listen

• Excessive talking

• Overactive thyroid

• Uncomfortable sitting still or being quiet

• Lack of integrity – talking about doing things, but not acting on them

 

If you experience any of these feelings, in order to balance your throat chakra, when you exercise try this:

???? Neck exercises – stretch & strengthen your neck. Create mobility in your neck with rotation exercises.

???? Audible exhales – while your exercise practice using sound as you exhale to help you release tension & connect to your body.

???? Be direct & purposeful – create a plan before you workout. Set an intention. And execute your workout with diligence & intent.

 

6th Chakra – Ajna Third Eye Chakra

Processes feeling around intuition, perception & insight.

When it is under-active, you may experience:

• Poor memory

• Headaches

• Absent-mindedness, easily confused

• Eye problems

• Balance issues

• Inability to visualize

• Not being able to think for yourself (relying on others too much)

• Rigid beliefs

 

When it is overactive, you may experience:

• Difficulty concentrating

• Balance issues

• Nightmares

• Fantasizing too much, excessive daydreaming

 

If you experience any of these feelings, in order to balance your third eye chakra, when you exercise try this:

???? Balance exercises – add single leg and/or arm exercises into your routine.

???? Challenge yourself – add something new to your routine that forces you to concentrate in a new way. Play memory games with yourself while working out.

???? Exercise with your eyes closed.

 

 

7th Chakra – Sahasrara Crown Chakra

Processes feelings around connectedness & big picture thinking.

When it is under-active, you may experience:

• Cloudy thinking

• Indecisiveness

• Selfishness & stubbornness

• Prejudice in thinking & bigotry

• Not open to spirituality

• Too attached to the physical & irrational fear of death

 

When it is overactive, you may experience:

• Restlessness

• Irrational

• Overbearing

• Addicted to spirituality or other-worldly concepts

• Disconnected to the body & ignoring bodily needs

 

If you experience any of these feelings, in order to balance your crown chakra, when you exercise try this:

???? Slow down – do your exercise A LOT slower & more intentional.

???? Integration practices – give yourself time post-workout to pause & take a few breaths. Allow your exercise to soak in before you continue on with your day.

???? Find flow – add in movement that feels like freedom to you. Go outside. Connect to the world around you as you exercise.

 

 

You may be thinking – Whoah! That’s a lot… where do I begin?!

The best place to begin is at your root chakra. Most of us can always use more work in this area.

And you may find that you are under or over active in several of the chakras. Just start by incorporating 1 new thing at a time. Practice that consistently for at least 2 weeks, then add in another element.

 

Using movement & exercise as a tool to affect your energetic body can be a fun & rewarding journey.

Just remember, it is a lifelong journey, not a sprint.

 

Be patient & kind to yourself.

 

Finding movement that fits your body, lifestyle & energy is my specialty. So if you need any further guidance or support, please reach out.

 

Cheers to movement that empowers you ✌????

-Jessi Rose

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