Think of your chakras as storehouses of information, about the past, present, and future. Most of our chakras are stuck. They can be stuck closed, open, or be stuck partially open, sort of like a semi-open door.
Our chakras become stuck either because they are bogged down with information or because they are not in touch with their blueprint.
The information our chakras are bogged down with is primarily emotional: our past traumas, unprocessed emotions, and former selves that have not yet found reconciliation.
They are also stuck in the future, projecting fears, inadequacies, and energies away from the present.
We also then have our daily existence, the stress of to-do lists, work and life that we must wade our way through.
Our chakras are the spiritual interface with our physical nervous system. They let spiritual information– information regarding the “more than physical”– into our energetic, and ultimately, physical body.
They also let out the emotional and spiritual internal information that we are willing, ready, and able to release.
A healthy chakra is not an open chakra; it is a chakra that can open and close like a door. It can let in information that is helpful, and release what is no longer helpful.
When a chakra is fully flowing, it can open and close as needed. That chakra in its healthy flow then connects us to other people, to the earth (and to all of the elements), to the divine, and to all that is.
To have all of our chakras flowing means they can all open and close as needed, working together in synchrony.
When this happens, we are “up to date”: we no longer are healing childhood pain, or emotional stressors from several years or decades ago. We are no longer projecting our fears (and even our hopes and desires and potential) onto the future.
There is a lot of talk about “being in the present moment” and this is what it truly means. Every chakra, every cell, every part of us is awakened and grounded in the physical body at this particular moment.
This can only happen fully when our chakra system is healthy.
While our chakras are most commonly shut down because of internal pain yet to be processed, it is equally as valid to talk about how common disconnection from our energetic blueprint is.
In our natural state we are connected to all that is. Our energetic blueprint is a map of all of our chakras in a healthy, flowing state (both major chakras as well as minor chakras: we have over four hundred minor chakras, correlating with acupuncture points in the body).
We also have channels of energy flowing through that blueprint that go all through our bodies.
Due to our experiences of this world, or in some cases our ancestors and past lives and the historic moment/ time and place we were born, we shut down, armor, or become stuck in our channels and chakras.
When something becomes too overwhelming for us, we either shut down, blocking flow, or we completely energetically remove a section of our body, a chakra, or part of a channel from our current recognition of self.
This may have happened so long ago that our body-mind no longer remembers its blueprint– that there can be vital energy flowing through that area of our bodies.
There are different maps of the chakras. In current Western consciousness, we tend to refer to seven chakras, distributed throughout the midline.
In other chakra systems, for example in Daoism, there are three major chakras (third eye, heart, and abdomen/lower abdomen). In other maps of the chakras where they are located in the body can differ.
For example, some conceptualizations of the chakras combine the first and second chakras. This chakra would be contained as a big ball in the pelvis (with the cup of the sacrum holding it). When it is healthy and functioning there would then be energy flowing downward, through the genitals into the legs and feet, as well as through the genitals between the legs flowing down into the Earth.
This is particularly important for people to understand kundalini energy, which is a big ball of potential energy located in the sacrum. For those who have that deep energy of kundalini awaken there may be considerable felt sensation in the perineum, traditionally associated with the first chakra, but the “rising” or uncoiling of the ball moving upwards occurs and is felt from what we commonly would think of as the “second” chakra located in the pelvis.
We have more surface energies that flow through our channels and our chakras, and then we have deeper, more primary energies that flow through. The deeper energy is like an ocean, and the more surface energies are like a smaller stream.
Other chakra systems also include chakras outside of the physical form, such as chakras above the head or below the feet, connecting us to the divine and to Earth.
While these are interesting and important to know about, these chakras outside of the body cannot open fully unless the chakras within the midline are already reasonably functional and flowing.
Each chakra energetically creates the energy and physical structure around it. For example, the heart chakra also includes the chest, the lungs, the shoulders and upper back, as well as the arms.
For our chakras to be fully healthy and functional, the first chakra needs to be healthy. Due to the nature of our culture, we tend to have overactivated chakras and portals (eyes, ears, nose/sinuses) in the head, without much energy anywhere else.
The first chakra is also a place where we tend to store our deepest traumas: the legacy of shame around sexuality and our genitals, past sexual experiences and assaults, ancestral traumas, and embodiment issues (for example, if we want to be present in our bodies and this world or not).
Consider the first chakra to be in charge of the entirety of the chakra system. It is the sort of lever that turns on and off the entire system of primary chakras (the chakras of the midline). If it is offline, clogged, stuck, or otherwise not functional, the rest of our chakras will be unable to attain a state of functionality and health.
While it sounds so simple, activities like physical exercise, yoga or stretching to open up the low back and pelvis, and massage of the legs and feet can help to open up the first chakra. Ultimately attending to any blockage through spiritual healing or energy work may be necessary, however.
When all of our primary chakras are flowing, it feels like a river flowing through our midline. We can know when this happens fully when the crown and the first chakra open, letting that stream flow above the head and below the genitals into the Earth.
Eventually flow can move on from there, flowing through all of the channels, every organ, and every cell of the body.
It is at this point that we can move into stages of permanent oneness. A feeling of light flows in and around us and we are able to recognize ourselves in each person that we meet. We will feel vital connection to ourselves, to the world, to the earth, to the divine, and all that is.
Overall, the chakras basic function is bring in and let out information of varying types. If we are feeling frazzled, ungrounded, our nervous system feels continually on guard, or we have significant pain or dysfunction in an area of our bodies, it is a good sign that our first/root chakra and other chakras may need some attending to.
Mary Mueller Shutan is a spiritual teacher, healer, and author of several books including The Spiritual Awakening Guide, Working with Kundalini, and The Complete Cord Course.
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