Chakras have been central to many ancient healing practices for centuries. The chakra is like a funnel that radiates energy out from the spinal column and, when balanced, allow us to feel healthy and in flow.
If you’re like most people, you will have learnt about chakras through the practice of yoga. Most teachings about the chakra system available today are based on the Indian Tantra yoga tradition and are believed to be around 3000 years old.
It’s through yoga that we get the Sanskrit definition of chakra — “wheel” — which describes the spinning motion the chakras use to draw energy into our beings. This tradition also explains that the seven chakra centres throughout the body act a bit like lungs, breathing in vital energy and distributing it through the body.
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But chakras aren’t something that need to be explored and understood exclusively by an adult mind. The chakra system can be taught to children, especially as a wonderful way to introduce them to yoga or to help them reconnect with themselves and understand their own needs for experiencing wellbeing.
Children are much more open and receptive to energy than adults, and childhood is a great time to help them to become aware, understand and communicate the sensations they experience and how they are affected by the energy in their internal and external worlds. Chakras are so central to wellness that it makes sense to teach our children about them.
How understanding chakras can help your child
Here are three reasons why teaching your kids about the chakra system is important:
- Understanding chakras allows kids to better understand themselves
How your kids think, feel and act is affected by the energy flowing through their chakras. This energy expands or shrinks according to the changes they experience in their internal world (how they think and feel) and how they interact with the external world (people they meet, places they go and the things they do, eat, smell and see). If there’s too much or too little energy flowing into each energy centre, your child will feel an associated imbalance that will manifest physically, emotionally or psychologically.
Understanding the chakra system can give your child a way to be more aware of the energy in their body. It gives them the language to communicate this to you and to then find ways to bring their chakras back to balance.
- It enables self-care and independence
From a deeper level of understanding and awareness of the energy in their body and how it impacts on the health of their mind, body and spirit, your child is better equipped to care for themselves and make wise, independent choices.
Learning about chakras will introduce kids to the benefits of promoting stillness and quieting their minds, which can really help them deal with the stress of living in a world where constant stimulation is a regular part of life. It’s in these moments of stillness that they will give their intuition a chance to step up and guide them in finding ways to bring more balance into their lives.
- It builds trust in their intuition
Children have an incredible ability to experience life on an energetic level. They are very aware of how people, places, colours, food and sounds can have a shrinking or expanding effect on the energy in their bodies. This ability is advanced well before they are capable of communicating effectively.
By teaching your kids about chakras, you are helping them to understand the changes they experience to their energetic bodies and to trust their intuition on how to bring about balance.
We can all relate to this and know there are some places, like beaches and rainforests, that expand our energy. In contrast, there are people, places and activities, like busy city streets, that can shrink our energy. However, what expands or shrinks energy can be different for everyone and this is why it’s so important for children to build trust in their own intuition by acting on it and experiencing how wise and helpful a source of guidance it can be.
How to support a child’s chakra system
Parents have a unique connection with their children and know them better than anyone. This awareness of the state of a child’s wellbeing and ability to take action is one of the greatest supports you can offer your child. You instinctively know if something isn’t right.
Joy Fichiera is a yoga instructor, reiki healer and chakra expert. She explains that when your child’s chakras are balanced they will experience “balanced emotions, deep connections with others, clear communication, a guiding vision for their life and a connection to the higher power in their life”.
When a chakra is open/expanded, the energy flows freely through it and this is reflected in the corresponding display of physical, emotional and mental health. If a chakra is blocked/shrunk, various ailments can arise.
For parents, it can help to understand which ailments are connected to which chakra and then how you can offer support. In doing so, Fichiera suggests “focusing on supporting the chakras directly above and below the imbalanced chakra”. The following table gives some ideas on how common chakra imbalances present, as well as how to support your child to open that energy centre.
| Chakra | Common imbalances in children | How to support your child |
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Base chakra
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Often fearful and anxious, suffers from frequent constipation or diarrhoea, is under- or overweight, frequently complains of aches and pains in their legs and feet, or excessively collects or hoards things. | Focus on providing stability, safety and nourishment, and building trust. |
|
Sacral chakra
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Has excessive mood swings, is emotionally sensitive or insensitive, has frequent hip or lower back pain, has bladder trouble or is abnormally inflexible, transition to new activities is extremely upsetting, is often bored and dislikes routine. | Support their desire to explore while balancing separation and attachment. |
|
Solar plexus chakra
|
Aggressive to other children or family, blames others for mistakes or choices, consistently has more or less energy than their friends, afraid to make mistakes and avoids doing things they don’t feel good at, very competitive or frequently suffers from digestive disorders, eating disorders or diabetes. |
Encourage self-esteem and support autonomy.
|
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Heart chakra
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Suffers from asthma, has slouchy posture or sunken chest, is a people pleaser, prefers to be alone and has difficulty fostering friendship, is often jealous of friends or siblings or overly critical of themselves or others. | Support peer relationships and model empathy and moral behaviour. |
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Throat chakra
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Grinds teeth, tells lots of lies, suffers frequently from sore throat or strep throat, stutters or speaks with a weak voice or an excessively loud voice, talks too much at inappropriate times or has difficulty expressing themselves or is excessively shy. | Stimulate creativity and support communication. Encourage them to expand their horizons and ways of looking at life. |
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Brow chakra
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Overactive imagination or lack of imagination, suffers from frequent nightmares, has poor vision or other eye issues, frequently complains of having a headache, has difficulty concentrating or has a poor memory. | Support their expression of individuality and independence within reasonable boundaries. |
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Crown chakra
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Lives too much in their head and over-intellectualises things, has excessive attachment to objects or people, is closed minded, easily confused or apathetic and lacks curiosity and never questions teachers, parents or other children. | Stimulate curiosity and a love of learning. |
6 chakra-clearing rituals to teach kids
There are many strategies you can teach your kids for balancing and expanding their chakras, from creating a sacred space to using techniques such as meditation and visualisation to using colour, sound and aromas.
It’s never too early to teach your kids these basic chakra-clearing and maintenance rituals. By exposing them to such practical tools, you will help them to grow and lead healthier lives.
Chakra clearing helps kids to feel safe, enjoy life, be self-confident, loving and compassionate, and speak their truth. Children can learn how to use their bodies and awareness of discomfort to release fears and interrupt patterns of struggle and pain.
Bronte Spicer, a children’s reiki practitioner and meditation teacher, shares some practical and fun ways to incorporate chakra-clearing and maintenance rituals into your children’s daily lives. It should be noted that you should start balancing the base chakra first and then work your way up to the crown chakra.
- Meditation
It’s so easy for children to become disconnected from their own inner wisdom on what their bodies need. The best way to reconnect with their spirits and to expand the energy in their chakras is through meditation. Spicer encourages parents to “make it fun, simple and engaging”. Meditation is best practised as a family and you can start as early as you like.
She suggests using their age as a guide to the duration: one minute for every year of age. It can be as simple as visualising the sun above their head and sending light down through their spine through each energy centre, down their legs and through to the soles of their feet.
- Music
Chakra sounds are frequencies that vibrate at specific rates. The lower root chakra vibrates at a slower rate but, as you move up the chakras, the rate increases and the higher the sound becomes. Listening and meditating to these tones helps you and your child raise your energies.
- Rainbow wardrobe and diet
“Exposing your children to a wide range of colours and colourful food allows them to experiment and understand their different qualities and vibrations,” says Spicer. By encouraging them to choose from this rainbow of clothes and foods, your kids will learn to intuitively use colour to heal and maintain wellbeing in their chakras.
- Creative colour activities
Drawing and painting are great ways to expand and heal chakras and maintain their health. Allow your children to illustrate any discomforts they are experiencing or emotions that challenge them.
- Demonstrate
Children copy the behaviours of their parents, so don’t forget to lead by example and add chakra clearing to your daily self-care routine. Take a moment to stop and be open with your child when you feel out of balance or exhausted, or just want to boost your energy.
Explain how you use affirmations, colour visualisations, music and dancing to shift the energy in your own body. “For example, if you are feeling frazzled and mentally drained, let your child know how you feel and that you are going to step outside and stand on the grass for a minute to ground and balance your base chakra,” suggests Spicer.
- Describe
Talk about how you can expand the energy in your chakras before you leave the house by breathing and visualising a ball of white light expanding from inside your chest all the way out beyond your physical body. Explain how this makes you feel. You can use the terms “shrinking” and “expanding” or use your hands to gesture.
Tips for seeking an expert
As parents, all we want is to help our children live happy and healthy lives. But sometimes, even after integrating chakra-clearing rituals into your children’s lives, filling their bellies with nourishing foods, creating space for stimulation and reflection, encouraging nature play and helping to foster friendships, they continue to be challenged by ailments such as tonsillitis and asthma or remain overly fearful and anxious.
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That’s where an expert may come in. Just as you complement your own traditional medical care with massage, yoga or a reiki treatment, you may like to do the same for your child. Focus on finding a practitioner who specialises in children’s reiki treatments or children’s yoga or meditation.
