Ancient knowledge tells us that the human body contains a reservoir of energy deep within. The highly evolved souls propagate harnessing this energy in order to create the ideal living conditions in and around us. They promote the idea of external help to restore normal body functioning. The theory that gained ground was Chakra balancing, i.e., synchronized movement of seven primary energy centers within the body, to improve all aspects of life (spiritual, emotional, and physical).

In addition to their location in the body and significance, these seven chakras can also be distinguished by the colors associated with each of them. You can use these colors to correct the imbalance in their movements that might have crept in due to any reason. The process of using colors in such a therapeutic manner is known as Chakra Color Therapy.

Here is a brief description of the primary chakras and their associated colors:

1. The Base Chakra (Muladhara) is situated at the coccyx (base of the spine). This first chakra is associated with our very basic survival needs, courage, and vitality. The color associated with this chakra is Red. The attributes of Red color for the body includes vitality and energy provider on all levels.

2. The Sacral Chakra, or Svadhisthana, is located just below the navel. This chakra is associated with our sexual drive and emotions. The associated color is Orange, which is known for its qualities of success, self-confidence, and independence of thoughts.

3. The Power Chakra (or Manipura), situated just above the navel region, is associated with autonomy, will power, and metabolism. Yellow is the color associated with this chakra, which empowers the body with clarity of thoughts and self-worthiness.

4. The Heart Chakra, or Anahata, is located in the center of the chest. This chakra is associated with love, compassion, and self-expression. The associated color is Green, which is known for its qualities of intimacy and forgiveness.

5. The Throat Chakra (Vishuddha) is situated in the throat region. This fifth chakra is associated with expressing oneself and communicating with others. The color associated with this chakra is Blue. The attributes of Blue color for the body includes creativity, self-identification, and clearly expressing ones thoughts.

6. The Brow Chakra, or Ajna, is located between the eyebrows at the third eye position. This chakra is associated with intuitive power of the body. The associated color is Indigo, which is known for its qualities of understanding, self-responsibility and visualization.

7. The Crown Chakra (or Sahasrara), situated on top of the head, is associated with consciousness, knowledge, and wisdom. Violet is the color associated with this chakra, which empowers the body with a sense of spiritual awareness and self-awareness.

The color associated with each Chakra can be used and incorporated in our lives to balance the dysfunctioning chakras. Chakra Color therapy can be used only after identifying the damaged chakras in the body, which are responsible for its abnormal functioning.

The next step is Color Breathing. This is simple exercise of relaxation with all the seven (colored) cloth swatches besides you. After identifying the disturbed chakra by going through the events of the day, take the colored cloth swatch, and lay them on the body part associated with the affected chakra. Close your eyes, take deep breaths, and visualize the color being absorbed by the chakra. The constant practice of this process for 5-10 minutes should be enough for the balancing of the affected Chakra. If more than one Chakra is out of balance, repeat the process for the imbalanced Chakras.

Chakra Color Therapy is a healthy option for maintenance of chakra balance. For daily maintenance, just lie down and repeat the above process by placing the relevant colored swatches on the relevant body parts. 5-10 minutes should be sufficient to recharge your chakras and correct the imbalanced ones to give you a better life free of physical, emotional or spiritual ailment.

Since our chakras are directly influenced by everything around us such as the technique to regular cleansing of our chakras logically follows that we should take our environment into consideration as well. To achieve balance and harmony, the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual aspects of our being also needs cleansing in order to heal our energy systems. This is necessary since all aspects of our existence are interconnected and are necessary to function harmoniously for healthy and vibrant living.

Following are some of the conventional chakra cleansing methods man uses for thousands of years:

1. Regularly burning incense or certain herbs and plants and allowing ourselves to soak in the smoke can negate the negative effect of obstacles to our energy points. Smudging is an age-old practice known to people of diverse cultures and civilization as an effective method if achieving balance and harmony in life.

2. Auric brushing with the hands or the aid of gemstones and crystals is one of the highly effective chakra cleansing technique. Caution must be taken however that the practice should only be performed by a well-practiced individual since there is the possibility of serious damage rather than successful healing due to the inherent powers of the gemstones and crystals employed in the process.

3. A healthy lifestyle, drinking plenty of clean water, tea and fruit juices, plus enough sleep and relaxation are highly recommended in order to maintain strong energy systems.

4. Performing regular physical and breathing exercises are also necessary to achieve and maintain the health and stability of our chakras. The obvious benefits of exercise to our body are also an important consideration in doing physical activities and appropriate breathing techniques.

5. Connect with the wonders and magic of nature. Learning to appreciate the nature has a wonderful influence in the function of our energy systems.

6. Since each individual colors have different vibrations that affect different elements of a person, you can effectively perform chakra cleansing by looking at real color or simply by visualizing them.

7. The power of music should never be underestimated nor set aside. Music is an effective stimulant and chakra cleansing method that balances the functions of our energy points.

8. We should not tire of pursuing learning situations. In fact, it is highly recommended to continually pursue learning and intellectual challenges to keep us on our toes and keep our energy points active.

9. Meditation or spending time alone with ourselves for a few minutes daily is enough to let us keep in touch with our thoughts and emotional feelings. Meditation is also a powerful chakra cleansing technique because it makes us conscious of everything that is in our environment.

10. Learn to love yourself. This is important so that you can also learn to love others around you. Feelings of love and appreciation releases chemicals that benefit our body and in the same way, feelings of anger also releases chemicals that affect us negatively.

11. An awareness of our feelings and emotions coupled with the ability to express them in a constructive manner to people around us is a very vital chakra cleansing and maintenance strategy. Restrained thoughts, feelings and emotions can invariably cause energy jams that can disturb our health and well being.

12. Be creative in everything that you do even if it is not related to the arts. Enjoy your tasks and perform them in a jovial manner and they would not be a drudgery.

13. Coming to terms with our past and having an appreciation of its meaning can provide us a deep understanding of our objective as a human being.

14. Maintaining sincerity and reliability in all facets of our lives keeps us healthy and righteous. Living a life anchored on moral values help make us more productive, creative and dependable, not only to ourselves but for others as well.

15. Communicate with your Creator through prayer. Praying is a fundamental part of our health and energy systems because it is an acknowledgement of humility and a sign of respect for the Almighty. It also helps put us at ease and make us sensitive to our environment.

All the above methods of chakra cleansing are very important. However, it takes practice and a realization of your love for yourself and others before you can truly understand and use them for chakra cleansing. It is not necessary to use them all at the same time but it is recommended to start off with one or two or three and continue to add methodologies over time. Chakra cleansing is not achieved instantaneously, it is a constant and lifetime process (just like chakras are continually in motion) in order to achieve and maintain a healthy balance among all the elements involved.

Everything is said to be in its best when at equilibrium, the environment that protects us, the mind that guides us as well as the chakras in our body. Along with the physical existence in this world we also have a spiritual existence, what we call our soul, our conscience.

Anything that we do requires an apt combination of both sides of our existence and while nutrition plays the role of the energizer for our body and provides us with the strength and the power, the chakras play a similar role for the comfort of our soul. Hence the maintenance of chakra balance is highly critical.

Once you have performed the exercise of chakra cleansing it is crucial that you follow it up with the act of balancing your chakras. During the cleaning process you let off all the negative energy in your body and try to get in the positive energy which supposedly is generated by the actions of the planets and the heavenly bodies.

Only after each of the chakras is in a state of equilibrium and hence all the chakras put together form a balance in the human body, chakra balance is said to be achieved. It implies that the human body is free from any kind of problems or uncomfortable situation.

As one would know that there is a specified organ linked with each one of these circles of energy and hence you need to take care that all the chakras are in a balanced state or else a small disorder in a critical body part could lead to quite a few health problems.

An important component of the chakra balance in our body is water, the association our body has with this liquid shares a big impact on the physical body as well as our chakras.

Our surroundings are very inspiring and colorful and these colors also have an impact on our chakras. All chakras have symbolic colors and these are very helpful to maintain the balance of the chakras in our life.

Adequate sleep brings to our body freshness and a revived energy to perform various day to day activities and functions and similarly while we meditate our soul goes into the relaxation mode and our aspirations, will power and various other inner strengths get awakened and sharpened. All the more important is the fact that to achieve chakra balance your soul needs to be relaxed and that can be through meditating.

Sleep has also been identified to be a form of unintentional mediation as the body goes into a state where in it loses awareness of the environment to an extent. This provides a relaxing sensation to the soul and also helps to intake spiritual energy.

It is very important that along with all activities to maintain chakra balance, an individual should also include adequate amount of exercising in his/her habits, this not only beneficial for the body parts but it also helps the re arrangement of the chakras physically. The duration of the exercise need not be long but then it should be strictly followed.

Various chakras are impacted by the kind of food you consume and hence it is very important to change your eating habits to healthy food so that the chakra balance is not disrupted. There are many illnesses that are caused due to the type of food consumed and hence you should be careful about your diet.

So it can be said without a doubt that chakra balance has tremendous significance in the smooth performance of our daily activities and hence ensure that your act of balancing the chakras is in place!