Have you ever felt gripped by feelings of anxiety or experienced a panic attack?
Anxiety can feel scary and isolating, but fortunately, there are many ways to treat and manage it.
Some people turn to holistic and alternative methods, such as chakra work, to find relief.
What Are Chakras?
Chakras are wheel-like energy centers in the body that correspond to physio-emotional functions. They’re said to affect our emotional and physical well-being.
Some people believe that blockages in these energy centers can affect our health, leading to physical or mental health conditions, including stress, depression, and anxiety.
Research supporting the existence of chakras is limited.
However, a 2020 study of 223 people conducted at Nungin University in Korea suggests that chakra meditation may be effective in alleviating anxiety caused by various stressors in adults.
A 2018 study found that complementary and alternative medicine focused on restoring balance to energy fields in the body may be useful in the treatment of substance use disorders, stress, and anxiety.
More high quality studies are needed to define and explain the role of chakras, if any, in anxiety and mental health.
How Do Chakras Affect Anxiety?
Some believe that different chakras have different relationships to anxiety.
Root chakra:
The root chakra is the foundation of all other energy centers, so ensuring it’s well balanced and unblocked from negative energies is of utmost importance to your overall physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.
The fiery red color that represents it is connected to our flight-or-fight response, though there’s no scientific evidence to support this.
When the root chakra is blocked, you may have difficulty accessing feelings of balance, peace, and security.
A blocked or unbalanced root chakra will most likely manifest as a sense of loss and instability…
When you feel scared and full of fear, the survival instinct is to shut down the root chakra so you can’t feed the other chakras within your body.
Location: base of the spine
The root chakra provides:
- stability
- strength
- security
- grounding
A severe blockage may lead to:
- apathy
- anger
- pessimism
- overthinking
- feeling unable to take action
Sacral chakra
If this chakra is blocked, you may find it hard to feel pleasure. Emotions will be unstable and relationships may not be balanced.
A closed sacral chakra can make you feel detached from your own emotions, as well as the emotions from the people around you. You may try to regain a sense of control by lashing out and exhibiting controlling behaviors towards others.
Location: center of the pelvis or sacrum
The sacral chakra is associated with:
- creation
- emotion
- inspiration
- imagination
- joy
A blocked sacral chakra may lead to:
- numbness
- detachment
- anxiety
- isolation
- loneliness
Solar plexus chakra:
A blocked and unbalanced solar plexus chakra is probably the harshest imbalance you can have relating to anxiety.
In relationships, an unbalanced solar plexus may lead to jealousy and possessiveness: It becomes harder to stay open to feedback. You may become reactive, harsh, and feel overly defensive or confrontational.
Location: in the abdomen, above the navel
The solar plexus chakra involves:
- power
- confidence
- feeling unstoppable
An imbalanced solar plexus may lead to:
- low self-esteem
- self-doubt
- paralysis from fear
- no sense of direction
- a sense of failure
Heart chakra
The heart chakra is all about love, both the ability to give and receive unconditional love for yourself and to others. If your heart chakra is unbalanced, you may feel unworthy of love or kindness which can spiral into a disbelief that you could ever have a happy relationship.
This may lead to anxiety around self-worth and a sense of defensiveness toward criticism and personal attacks.
If you’ve been struggling to feel connected to the world around you, then you may be experiencing a blockage in your heart chakra. Jealousy, self-doubt, and codependency are classic signs. It may also lead to a sense of detachment and a fear of showing your true self.
Location: center of the chest
The heart chakra deals with:
- unconditional love
- connection
- ability to give and receive love
- self-acceptance
- healthy boundaries
A blocked heart chakra may involve:
- feelings of unworthiness
- relationship struggles
- fear of rejection
- difficulty accepting yourself
- codependency
- jealousy
Throat chakra
The throat chakra is primarily linked to self-expression and communication. It governs the mouth, tongue, and throat and all lower chakra imbalances must be in order before you begin working on it.
The stress of this repression can cause anxiety and insecurity as well as it can lead to a sense of pressure and fear around saying the “wrong” thing.
Location: at the center of the neck
The throat chakra involves:
- self-expression
- communication
- sharing
- mouth, tongue, and throat
An imbalanced throat chakra may lead to:
- inability to express thoughts and feelings
- fear of speaking
- avoiding difficult conversations
- social anxiety and avoidance
Third eye chakra
The third eye chakra can be a major source of anxiety when out of balance.
This is because it becomes difficult to see things as they are as your perception and awareness become more limited.
As your inner eye closes, your ability to perceive the big picture diminishes. This circle of ruminating thoughts could cause you to be plagued by fear, self-doubt, and anxiety.
Location: center of the head, between the eyebrows
The third eye chakra represents:
- imagination
- intuition
- spiritual clarity
- spiritual connection
A blocked third eye may lead to:
- insecurity
- indecision
- inability to understand
- overthinking
- worry
Crown chakra
This chakra allows you to see the full picture, to understand that every single hardship is for a reason, and supports our surrendering to divine energy.
When the chakra is in balance, you can live life with absolute trust that you are exactly where you are supposed to be. You can process all scenarios with less drama-driven emotion and your faith is unbreakable.
On the other hand, blockages may lead you to perceive every problem as a personal attack. You may have a sense that bad things always happen to you. This can lead to fear and anxiety.
Location: the top of the skull
The crown chakra is associated with:
- seeing the bigger picture
- understanding
- awakening
- trust
- oneness
Blockages may lead to:
- taking things personally
- expressing negativity or a victim mentality
- lack of spiritual connection
- short-sightedness
Stress And Chakras
Different kinds of stress may affect the chakras in different ways, causing them to become blocked or unbalanced.
For example, the death of a parent might put stress on the root chakra. A relationship breakup might affect the heart chakra. Losing out on a job opportunity might stress the solar plexus chakra.
Of course, the interconnectedness of the chakras means that they’re rarely affected in isolation.
When a chakra is blocked, there is absolutely no energy movement at all. Much like lots of cogs in a clockwork mechanism, if one chakra is not allowing the energy through, it’s almost impossible for all the cogs to keep moving, so the mechanism stops working.
In normal situations, a person with perfectly balanced chakras may become stressed or anxious, but it will be short-lived and there will be no after-effects from it.
Still, perfectly balanced chakras are likely rare.
Panic Attacks And Chakras
The root chakra is connected to the adrenal medulla, the inner part of the adrenal gland that’s involved in the fight-or-flight response.
Feeling unsafe and in fear for your life… will shut down the root chakra, blocking any movement of energy from the root chakra through the body. This, in turn, may begin a domino effect, and the other chakras may become blocked.
Chakra Balancing
When discussing how to unblock chakras, it may be more helpful to talk about balancing the chakras as opposed to opening them.
If you feel anxiety as you work on your chakras, visualization techniques may help.
Try to imagine a purifying white light being drawn to the particular chakra. This visualization may calm you down and help settle the chakra energy.
If you feel unsafe or uncomfortable, stop what you’re doing and try again later with maybe a crystal of a corresponding color. If it still feels ‘wrong,’ then contact someone who works in this field so they can help support you in feeling safe while you let go and surrender.
If fear and anxiety are overwhelming, don’t rely on chakra balancing alone.
Talk with your healthcare professional or a mental health professional to get support.
Chakra balancing should never replace medical or psychiatric care, though it may be a complement to your care.
Chakra Practicing For Anxiety
When you start working on your chakras, always start with your root, because as the gateway to the other chakras, it should be balanced first.
Meditation outdoors with crystals that match with the root chakra such as red jasper, heliotrope, and obsidian can also help with anxiety.
Other common chakra-balancing exercises include:
- breathwork
- mind-body exercises such as yoga or tai chi
- energy healing practices like reiki or acupuncture
Heart/solar plexus breathing
- Rub your hands together until they’re warm.
- Place one hand on your heart chakra and another on your solar plexus chakra.
- Imagine directing your breath to those areas.
- Continue for as long as desired.
Third eye pressure point
- Press one finger into the middle of your brows, where the third eye chakra is located.
- Place continuous pressure here while focusing on your breath.
- Continue for as long as desired.
Throat-soothing crystal energy
- Hold a blue lace agate crystal to your throat chakra.
- Allow the soothing energy to envelope you.
- Imagine the color of pale blue expanding from the crystal to every cell of your body.
- Continue for as long as desired.
Rooting exercise
- Place an obsidian crystal at your root chakra.
- Imagine you’re growing roots from your feet deep into the earth.
- Allow yourself to believe you have the strength and wisdom of the largest oak tree.
- Continue for as long as desired.
Takeaway
While research is limited, some people believe that blocked or unbalanced chakras can contribute to feelings of stress and anxiety.
It’s important to follow the advice of your healthcare professional or a mental health professional when treating anxiety.
However, you may find that holistic therapy such as chakra balancing acts as a complement to treatments like medication or talk therapy.