I’ve talked about balance the past couple weeks, and that’s really what my blog is about, but I also don’t want it to seem repetitive. So this week, I’m switching it up. Today, I’ll be discussing chakras. They do still involve balance and maintaining it, but I’ll just be talking about the basics of chakras. Next week, I’ll move more into how you can keep them in check and whatnot.

In my journey to find peace of mind, I stumbled across chakras — seven main points in your body that are part of an ancient Indian approach to healing our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual selves.

According to “The Book of Chakra Healing” by Liz Simpson, the word chakra comes from, Sanskrit, meaning “wheel” or “disk.” These energies are traditionally pictured as lotus flowers, each resonating at a different frequency. The seven chakras are root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye and crown.

Here’s a basic rundown of each chakra and what it does:

Root chakra: The root chakra is located near the base of your spine. This chakra is primarily concerned with physical needs and basic survival. Keeping this chakra in balance will help give energy to your physical state and keep your emotional state in control.

Sacral chakra: This is the second chakra and is located in the lower abdomen, between the base of your spine and your belly button. This chakra is associated with creativity, nurture and emotions.

Solar plexus chakra: This chakra is located near the navel area. The primary purpose of this chakra is to promote power, joy, happiness and anger. It’s the main point of your emotional intensities.

Heart chakra: Located near the center of your chest, the heart chakra’s main purpose is to maintain love and compassion.

Throat chakra: The throat chakra is located near the throat (I’m sure you could’ve figured that out). This primary function of this chakra is communication and creativity.

Third eye chakra: This is the sixth chakra and is located near the center of the forehead, just above the eyebrows. This chakra is often associated with being spiritual and can be used as a psychic tool to help remember anything that you see, touch, smell, hear and taste.

Crown chakra: The crown chakra is the final one and is located near the top of the head. It’s commonly known as the chakra of understanding and forgiveness.

Each chakra is so different, and there are so many different ways to help balance them out and bring the energies to fruition. Next week I’ll be talking more about how you can balance your chakras — there are some many ways to balance them, it’d be almost impossible to talk about them all. Be sure to check back in next Thursday for more knowledge on chakras.

Junior Margaret Mellott is a very down-to-earth person who loves expanding her knowledge of the world around her. She enjoys learning about the New Age movement, nature and how the world can benefit people in everyday life.