The Secret was a game-changer in the world of self-development. While many “in the know” had been aware of the Law of Attraction and the concept of what you think you attract, to the mainstream public this book was a turning point. For the first time, many people started exploring the idea that they were the creators of their lives and that, by focusing on the positive, more positive would come into their world. But it wasn’t as easy as that.

While The Secret was important, it was simplistic, too. It probably had to be; it was intended for mass consumption. But if you really want to dive into the law of attraction, your energy fields and how to really get your life ticking along smoothly, it needs more than just positive thinking.

You need to change your energy anatomy. And the best way to do that is to explore your chakras and get them rocking and healthy.

What are chakras?

Your energy field, also called your aura, is a magnificent field of pure energy that exists all around you. It not only surrounds your entire body, it also radiates out from beneath your feet, either side of your body and above your head.

Your energy field comprises 12 different levels of vibration. These levels of vibration are called “chakras” and the chakras are found at specific places within your physical body or in your energy field. Six of the 12 chakras are found in the body and the other six are located above the head.

“Within you is a marvellous inbuilt system which is there to create a joyful, creative, abundant, fulfilling and beautiful life.”

Each of your chakras energetically fuels and sustains aspects of your life and your body. They do this by receiving energy for your energy field from the universe and then transporting this energy into a certain area of your life and body.

Belinda Davidson is a medical intuitive, spiritual mentor and creator of School of the Modern Mystic, the internationally successful training program on chakra health and manifestation. She has been reading people’s chakra health and guiding them to clear their energy to get their life working for more than a decade.

“Think of the chakras as happy, eager, diligent workers who spend all day looking after, managing and organising every aspect of your life,” she says.

“There is a chakra whose job it is to look after your career, a chakra that looks after your abundance. One that makes sure you rest and enjoy yourself, and one that supports you in discovering and living your creativity. It’s that amazing! Within you is a marvellous inbuilt system which is there to create a joyful, creative, abundant, fulfilling and beautiful life. It really is a magnificent design system inbuilt in us!”

Why manifesting is not just positive thinking

So many people have tried positive thinking and affirmations and have struggled to see any results. You’ve repeated the mantras and done the vision boards, but you’re stuck in the same patterns. So what’s not working?

“Over the past 13 years working as a medical intuitive (somebody who can psychically see “into a person” and know what health problems and life challenges they have), thousands of people have asked me the same questions: Why am I tired all the time? Why don’t I have enough energy to get through the day? Why do I have constant headaches, bad digestion, bad skin, back problems, sleeping problems?” explains Davidson.

“They also ask me: Why don’t I have enough money, enough time for my family, my partner and myself, enough support from my family?

“The simple fact is, most of us are not happy with our lives. We are struggling to get through the day. We are struggling to make ends meet. We are struggling to find the time for our children and our partners. We are struggling to find time for ourselves and to do what we love to do. Life for many people is a struggle. Because knowing isn’t enough. For any real change to occur, it needs to happen on an energetic level.

“Whatever is going on within you energetically is creating your universe. Your energy field is primary, and your life situation secondary. This means the state of your energy field determines your life.”

The job of the crown chakra is to awaken you to the truth of who you really are: a magnificent, infinite soul and being of light, temporarily housed in a body experiencing life on Earth.

Most therapies and self-help methods are mind-based and do not directly work with the energy field. While repeating positive thoughts does change energy to some small degree, if you’re up against an ingrained belief system or lifelong struggle, repeating “My life is full of abundance” will feel false. And it won’t have any effect on your energy field.

“I know this goes completely against what you’ve been taught,” says Davidson. “You’ve been taught that your thoughts create your reality. What you think, you draw to you, right? I know, I’ve believed that, too; but the truth is your thoughts are a byproduct of what is going in within you energetically. ‘You are what you think’ isn’t entirely inaccurate and it isn’t the whole truth. ‘You are what you vibrate’ is the whole truth.”

How your chakras connect to your life experience

So once you start to understand that it’s your energy that creates your reality, and not just your thoughts, what do you do next?

The best starting place is to understand how each chakra centre relates to your health and your life, and identify what’s not working. Once you do that, you can start to clear the old, stale and “stuck” energy, and start manifesting what you really desire.

Chakra 1: base or root chakra

Found at the base of your spine and is the colour red

If you are struggling to finance your existence and to make ends meet, have low energy, leg, hip, feet and spinal problems, feel alone and crave finding your Home in the world, your base chakra is not working properly.

Chakra 2: sacral chakra

Found just below your navel and is the colour orange

If you feel like your life is not full of pleasure, you don’t know what you love or brings you joy, you have reproductive health problems or struggle to feel passionate in relationships, and you can’t just be happy in the moment or have real abundance in your life, your sacral chakra is not working properly.

Chakra 3: solar plexus chakra

Found in your stomach region and is yellow in colour

If you have bad digestion, stomach, liver, gallbladder or pancreas problems, feel like you don’t have strong boundaries with people or struggle to stand up for what you believe in, and find it difficult to say no without fear of being rejected or judged, your solar plexus chakra is blocked.

Chakra 4: heart chakra

Found in your heart region and is the colour green

The heart chakra, obviously, is connected with heart health and matters of the heart, but also affects the amount of joy and happiness you have in your world. Do you have a job you love? A hobby you love? People around you who fill you with joy? If you are joyous most of the time and your life is full of all the things you love, your heart chakra is working. If not, it isn’t working properly.

Chakra 5: throat chakra

Found in the throat area and is a blue colour.

The job of the throat chakra is to not only look after your throat, thyroid, neck and jaw but also to help you find your authentic and individual voice, and express it. If you struggle to say what you mean or communicate effectively, express yourself through arts or creative expression and be your authentic self, then your throat chakra is not working properly.

Charka 6: third eye chakra

Found on the point of your forehead between and above your eyebrows and is described as an indigo colour.

This chakra looks after your brain, neurological system, eyes, ears and nose, and also is related to your trust in the universe. Its job is to teach you the power of your mind and how you can, through your willpower, heal yourself and change your life. This chakra also opens you up to becoming more intuitive and psychic. Most people have not yet begun to harness the power of their minds to change their reality. Most people have also not yet begun to see the infinity of possibilities that exist and to use this insight to create their dream worlds.

Chakra 7: crown chakra

Found on the crown of your head and is violet in colour.

The job of the crown chakra is to awaken you to the truth of who you really are: a magnificent, infinite soul and being of light, temporarily housed in a body experiencing life on Earth. Have you had this experience? Is your life imbued with peace and joy because you know you are one with everything there is, eternally connected to and loved by the universe? If not, your crown chakra is not working properly.

Chakra 8–12: your spiritual chakras

The crown chakra also acts as the gateway, a portal, to the five higher levels of your energy anatomy: chakras 8–12. These chakras reveal to you your purpose and show you how to live it.

It all starts with meditation. The fastest and most effective way for you to raise your vibration, change your energy and clear the chakras that are blocked and holding you back is to meditate.

Meditation — and in particular meditation focusing on the chakra system — tunes your body and mind into your energy centres and effectively starts reinvigorating them and clearing the stale energy and blocks. And the great news for all those people who have spent years (and thousands of dollars!) in therapy analysing why something has happened in the past to be able to heal and “move on” is that this system believes it’s not important to understand why something is the way it is; it’s only important to change the frequency of the correlating energy centres.

“‘You are what you think’ isn’t entirely inaccurate and it isn’t the whole truth. ‘You are what you vibrate’ is the whole truth.”

“This probably also goes against what you’ve been told and believe to be true, as many people invest a lot of time and energy in digging up the past and trying to understanding what is wrong with them because they think that knowing what is wrong will change it,” says Davidson. “But the truth is you don’t need to know what baggage you are carrying and where it came from. All you need to know is this: if an area of your life is not working, one or more of your chakras is not working. Your job is not to concern yourself with the why; it is to make sure your chakras are working properly.

“Like everything in life, if you want something to flourish, to blossom, to become its best and reach its potential, you need to take care of it. So, too, do the chakras need your care in order for them to be the best ‘workers’ they possibly can be for you. It’s the chakras greatest joy in life to serve you by looking after their assigned aspect of your life.”

When you start to practise meditation and connection with your energy fields — in particular, envisioning each centre growing in strength and colour — you will start to see a change in your everyday life. The Law of Attraction is all about like attracting like and, when you start vibrating at a higher level, you attract a higher level of energy. And that, in turn, creates more abundance. Change your energy and change your life.