The chakra system consists of seven energy centers running along our spine. Each chakra, or energy center, has qualities that are contractive and expansive. We can awaken our chakras and the expansive qualities within them by meditating on them. Chakras are made of energy, and when we meditate on them we give them more energy and they glow brighter.

To meditate on your chakras, simply concentrate on them one at a time, usually through visualization. When we concentrate on a chakra, we are directing energy from other areas of our bodies toward that specific chakra. It’s important to then direct this energy in and up, rather than out into the world. To do this, simply focus your energy on a chakra and offer that energy up to the spiritual eye at the point between the eyebrows.

As we guide our energy upward toward the spiritual eye, the seat of higher consciousness, we are working towards higher states of awareness. The more energy that we are able direct there, the higher our state of awareness becomes. When we live from this higher place of awareness, we are generally more kind and compassionate, and much less reactive.

For each of the seven chakras, there are expansive and contractive qualities. You can chant “aum” at the chakras to help in this process to develop the expansive qualities. When the energy in a chakra is moving inward and upward we will manifest the more expansive qualities. When the energy is going down and out from a particular chakra we will tend to manifest the contractive qualities. Often times we are manifesting mixture of both. We simply want to keep focusing the energy inward and upward to manifest more of the expansive qualities as we progress.

Understanding these qualities will help you determine what chakra or chakras you’d like to meditate on. We’ve provided a list of these qualities below. Additionally, Chakras for Starters by Savitri Simpson, is a wonderful resource to better understand the chakras and is packed with meditations for each chakra. Yoga to Awaken the Chakras with Gyandev McCord, a DVD, is another excellent resource.

• Muladhara chakra, first chakra
  • Location: coccyx center
  • Element: earth
  • Expansive qualities: steadfastness, courage, loyalty, perseverance
  • Contracting qualities: stubborn, harsh, inflexible, bigoted
  • Musical note for chanting “aum” at the chakra: G (below middle C)
  • “The tendency to remain set in our ways can be developed into steadfastness in our search for truth.” —Chakras for Starters

• Swadisthana chakra, second chakra
  • Location: sacral center
  • Element: water
  • Expansive qualities: flexibility, willingness to change, intuitive, creative, receptive to new ideas and divine inspirations
  • Contracting qualities: indecisiveness, unsettledness, too easily influenced by others
  • Musical note for chanting “aum” at the chakra: A
  • “The sacral chakra is where we begin to feel at home in the flow of life, accepting everything as it comes, with true discrimination and inner joy—knowing the thing to do and when to do it.” —Chakras for Starters

• Manipura chakra, third chakra
  • Location: lumbar center
  • Element: fire
  • Expansive qualities: zest for life, enthusiasm, self-control, loving leadership, self-development, ability to burn away obstacles that keep us from truth
  • Contractive qualities: destructive ruthlessness, harshness, cruelty, anger, lack of consideration for others, abusive power
  • Musical note for chanting “aum” at the chakra: Bb (B-flat)
  • “(Working with our third chakra means) learning how to regain control over our own energy, so we can withdraw it and direct it upward in the astral spine in meditation.” —Chakras for Starters

• Anahata chakra, fourth chakra
  • Location: heart center
  • Element: air
  • Expansive qualities: devotion, compassion, expansiveness, non-attachment/unconditional love, expansive love, divine love, kinship with life
  • Contractive qualities: delusion, attachment, apathy, prejudice, harmful emotions such as anger, rage, hatred
  • Musical note for chanting “aum” at the chakra: D
  • “Unless we really love, and unless we give our heart’s love to God, we won’t be able to advance truly rapidly on the spiritual path. The heart chakra is where we must begin to unfold the heart’s natural love and offer it up to the Divine.” —Chakras for Starters

• Vishudha chakra, fifth chakra
  • Location: cervical center (throat)
  • Element: ether
  • Expansive qualities: deep calmness, expansive, calm, silence
  • Contractive qualities: restlessness, boredom, spacey, mercurial, worldly longings
  • Musical note for chanting “aum” at the chakra: Eb (E-flat)
  • “To develop the fifth chakra, try not to use your voice only as a sort of beast of burden for your ideas, but as a channel for calmness.” —Chakras for Starters

• Agya chakra, sixth chakra
  • Location: spiritual eye (positive pole) and medulla oblongata/base of skull (negative pole)
  • Element: super ether
  • Expansive qualities: selfless service, divine surrender, little self offered into higher Self
  • Contractive qualities: ego-involved, proud, vain
  • Musical note for chanting “aum” at the spiritual eye: G (above middle C)
  • Musical note for chanting “aum” at the medulla oblongata: F
  • “People’s awareness of their egos is often distributed vaguely throughout the body. By centering it consciously in its true seat, the medulla, it becomes possible to direct ego-consciousness toward its own high octave (the crown chakra).” —Chakras for Starters

• Sahasrara or crown chakra, seventh chakra
  • Location: directly above head
  • Expansive qualities: beyond duality and all opposites, harmony, free, omnipresent, omniscient, samadhi bliss
  • Musical note for chanting “aum” at the chakra:
  • “The goal of all yoga practices is samadhi or superconscious union of the little self with the Higher Self or God. You can’t reach the seventh chakra until the spine has been completely magnetized in the lower six chakras. It is at this point that the soul finally becomes united with God.” —Chakras for Starters

We'd like to leave you with this interview with Savitri Simpson (author of Chakras for Starters) on awakening the chakras: