“Chakra-balancing” might sound like new-age mysticism. However, like many ancient practices, it has its roots in solving human problems. Could a chakra meditation for beginners be the answer you seek? 

Your chakras align with specific energy centers or nerve bundles in your body. These information superhighways carry information from your brain to various organs and peripheral tissues. When one becomes blocked, you can experience unpleasant physical and mental symptoms. 

What can you do if you feel this problem plagues you, but you have no experience? Here is a chakra meditation for beginners focusing on each area to restore your body and mind to balance. 

1. Root Chakra 

Your root chakra lies at the base of your spine. You can think of this chakra like the roots of a tree, responsible for holding the rest upright and delivering nutrients and information to the rest of your body. This idea isn’t hocus pocus anymore — scientists have learned that your gut microbiome sends signals to your brain that influence mood and behavior. It also manufactures serotonin, a neurotransmitter you might know about if you ever had a depression diagnosis. 

Symptoms of a blocked root chakra include the following:

• Nervousness and anxiety 
• Irritability 
• Feeling empty and disconnected
• Lack of energy and passion 

If you think your root chakra is blocked, try the following meditation for beginners to restore energy flow: 

• Sit comfortably. It helps to have a zafu or another cushion. It’s advisable to keep your base on the ground, although those with severe back pain can lie down if it’s more comfortable. 
• Breathe deeply into your belly: Use your count as a focal point. Inhale deeply for a 5-count and exhale the same length, concentrating on the rise and fall of your stomach. 
• Visualize yourself at peace: You might imagine yourself sitting by a roaring fire on a snowy day or relaxing on a beach hammock in midsummer. The crucial part is to create a mental scene free of stress, anxiety and irritability. Relax and breathe. You might repeat the words “cozy” and “safe” with each inhale and exhale. 

2. Sacral Chakra 

Your sacral chakra is located just below your belly button, often represented by an amber or orange color. Here’s the seat of your sexuality, and it isn’t surprising that blockages in this area result in a lost libido and troubles with intimate relationships. 

Fortunately, you can unblock your sacral area with the following chakra meditation for beginners. As always, start by getting comfortable — you may be seated with your spine straight or lying back with it supported for this exercise. It may help to put your feet in supta baddha konasana or a reclined tailor pose with the soles pressed together and knees out, forming a diamond shape. 

• Focus on your breath: Breathe deeply into your belly. As you do, try to generate a sensation of warmth and heat in your lower abdomen and reproductive organs. Can you feel them tingle as you draw your awareness there? 
• Perform a loving-kindness meditation: Draw to mind someone who you hold dear and imagine yourself sending love energy to them from this region. It might help to visualize an amber light reaching from just below your navel to theirs. 

3. Solar Plexus Chakra 

Your solar plexus chakra lies above your belly button, embodied by the fire element and governing much of your passion. Signs of blockage include the following:

• Digestive troubles 
• Liver troubles
• Anger issues 
• Problems trusting others 

To unblock this area, try the following solar plexus or Manipura chakra meditation for beginners: 

• Lie down: Your job is to dispel fire energy, so let yourself fully relax on your back. Breathe deeply into your belly, focusing on allowing it to expand and contract. It may help to cross your hands over your abdomen to feel it rise and fall. 
• Visualize: Imagine you have a volcano in your belly. With each inhale, bathe it in cooling white light — you might even picture yourself dousing the magma with ice cubes or snow. With each exhale, open your mouth and sigh out all that anger and negativity. 
• Tune in: Pay attention to your physiological reactions. You might notice tension or tightness in your low or mid-back, for example. If so, continue breathing and visualizing until the sensation fades. 

4. Heart Chakra 

Your heart chakra, unsurprisingly, holds your sense of love and compassion for yourself and others. When it becomes blocked, you may isolate yourself, experience social anxiety, feel jealous or hold grudges against loved ones or fear intimacy. 

Fortunately, it isn’t challenging to unblock your heart chakra. Your best bet is a guided loving-kindness meditation where you focus on spreading compassion and kindness first to loved ones, then those you don’t know well and, finally, to yourself. 

5. Throat Chakra

Your throat chakra governs speech and self-expression. When it becomes blocked, you may hesitate to act with authenticity. Some people hide away and isolate themselves, while others use rash language that hurts others — and themselves when the repercussions come home to roost. 

Unblocking your throat chakra is a snap with this meditation for beginners. You might also find yoga poses like camel useful for opening this area. 

Start by sitting straight and tall in lotus or hero’s pose. Tilt your chin forward slightly as you repeat the following affirmations:

• I communicate confidently and respectfully. 
• I let loving-kindness temper my words and speech. 
• I set clear boundaries and am unafraid to express my limits. 
• I listen as often and carefully as I speak. 

6. Third Eye Chakra 

Your third eye chakra is your seat of intuition and creativity. It lies just above the bridge of your nose and is represented by the color indigo. 

Blockages in this area can manifest in the following ways:

• Troubles with concentration and focus
• Frequent headaches 
• Visual disturbances
• Sleep disturbances
• Close-mindedness

To unblock your third eye chakra, try a different meditation approach. Begin in child’s pose, kneeling on the ground with your knees wide, your torso extended between them and your arms reaching forward. 

Rest your head on the yoga mat. Gently roll your forehead side to side while letting your mind take a flight of fancy. Doing so activates this area, helping you become more imaginative, creative and focused. 

7. Crown Chakra

Your crown chakra aligns you with the divine. It’s your center of interconnectedness with all living things. Blockages make you feel disconnected, lonely and depressed, and physically, you may become wobbly and off-balance as you struggle with coordination. 

Perhaps the best chakra meditation for beginners to unblock your crown doesn’t involve sitting on a pillow at all. Instead, it focuses on restoring your connection with the world. Try one of these activities: 

• Garden: Working with growing things can reconnect you with the life cycle. 
• Play with children or pets: Both remind you to set aside the to-do list and simply be. 
• Volunteer: There’s no better way to restore your sense that you can make a positive difference in your world while increasing your feelings of interconnectedness with your fellow humans. 

Chakra Meditation for Beginners 

Your chakras align with energy centers in your body. When one becomes blocked, you develop unpleasant physical and emotional symptoms. 

Fortunately, you can correct the problem with these chakra meditations for beginners. While they shouldn’t substitute for medical care, you’ll find that you can often take charge of your health and well-being in this natural, holistic way.