Chakra Cleansing 101

A chakra cleansing may be just what you need to reset your energy and focus for the path ahead. I explored a cleansing routine using frequency therapies to support prayer and meditation. If you’re unfamiliar with frequency therapies, I’ll explain how light, color, and crystals can impact your wellbeing.

But first, the backstory of their weird journey.

The Problem(s)

Postpartum depression is a beast. Though the height of my anxiety and depression was over, I dealt with the lingering effects for more than a year. That made it hard to identify if the tension throughout my body was rooted in depression or something else.

I started to think it was something else.

The positive physical effects of my yoga asana and meditation practice didn’t last as long as they used to. Within hours of stepping off of my mat, I felt rigid again and had difficulty taking deep breaths. My brain and body kept replaying the same pain and unrest from my multiple times throughout the day, every day. I’d dealt with trauma before (and will continue to) but this was different.

How Woo-Woo Can I Get?

A random psychic told me that I needed my chakras cleansed from a negative energy that recently surfaced from my past.

I was like…what?

She insisted that I also needed my chakras sealed so that I wouldn’t be affected again. She sensed that I was a healer, a body worker of some kind, and I was often influenced by others’ energies. She was right. I’m a yoga teacher and an empath. So I wondered if she was also right about the chakra cleansing and sealing. But she was charging $540 for said services so… I took my wonder elsewhere.

I was also 100% sure that if a chakra cleansing and sealing is what I needed, I could do it myself. So I started doing my research.

The Rarely Told Stories of Frequency Therapy

 There are several ways to conduct a chakra cleansing. I was most drawn to methods that used a combination of meditation, prayer, and frequency therapy. The latter can be performed using crystals.

Crystals?! Yeah. So…about that. As a kid, I was always drawn to them. I enjoyed geology and basically all-things-nature so it made sense. I’d find certain stones and keep them for years. My husband and I enjoyed mining amethyst together as date outings. There was nothing metaphysical about my interest at first.

About a year before my run-in with the psychic, I learned about different forms of frequency therapy: sound, color, and crystals.

In layman’s terms, the idea is that certain frequencies can cause reactions in our bodies. We already know this to be true. Sound cannons are used as weapons by law enforcement. The military has used sound for torture. On the less awful side, multiple researchers have confirmed that music awakens a range of our emotions. But such frequencies can also reduce stress, soothe inflammation, and combat other sources of disease.

Chromo therapy, commonly called color therapy has its own host of benefits, including the ability to influence our mood and emotions. Colored light therapy also has specific effects on the systems of our bodies. People are even exploring the use of color to address visual problems caused by brain injuries.

(Side note: I’m convinced that the only reason these modalities of healing aren’t more widely researched and accepted is because they don’t stand to bring in high revenues. At a rudimentary level –like for prevention rather than treatment– they can be performed at home.)

My logic was literally this: “I have already experienced the benefits of sound therapy. I have also experienced the benefits of color therapy. Why wouldn’t the frequencies of something else, like crystals, also have benefits?”

From 0% to 70% Convinced

I wasn’t completely sold. But I did buy a few crystals that I thought were beautiful. If nothing else, I could decorate my yoga studio and the color therapy aspect would help.

My perspective on crystals changed when I bought my first moldavite necklace. I was interested in the crystal because its formed as a result of meteor impact. How cool! My husband and I picked one up while strolling Little Five Points. I wore it a few days later.

ZOOM. High energy. Chatty. Daydreaming. Completely unfocused. I was a mess, but I felt good. About midway through the day, I thought, “I’ve had zero coffee. Zero matcha. Why am I so…zingy?” As if on cue, the sun caught the quartz crystal accent on my moldavite necklace. I Googled the crystal’s metaphysical characteristics. Bingo. I kid you not.

I started doing experiments on myself. I’d buy a crystal that I liked, keep it on my person, and see how I felt throughout the day. Sometimes I didn’t feel anything noticeable. Some days, I felt really really noticeable sensations. I’d make mental notes and then look up the crystal’s metaphysical properties at the end of the day. Spot on.

After several experiments, I was 70% convinced there was something to crystal frequencies. As I pondered the crystals with no effect on me, I researched intention and “charging” crystals and wondered if there was anything to it, even if it was just the placebo effect. (The power of the mind should not be belittled or underestimated.)

Fast-forward about 1 year and a random person tells me I need to cleanse my chakras and– what do you know!–I already had all of the supplies that I needed to do so.

Chakra Cleansing 101 – The Tools

There are several options for using crystals for a chakra cleansing ritual. Each of the seven energy centers of the body have several crystals that are respected for their cleansing abilities. (There are crystals for balancing, opening, sealing, etc.) So I selected crystals that I had at hand:

The Chakras of Matter

First Chakra- Muladhara – Red Carnelian-  stability, security, and our basic needs

Second Chakra- Svadhisthana- Orange Calcite – our creativity and sexual center

Third Chakra- Manipura – Yellow Calcite – personal power

Connection Between Matter and Spirit

Fourth Chakra – Anahata – Green Aventurine – the middle chakra, the center of love and connection, which bridges our body, mind, emotions, and spirit

The Chakras of Spirit

Fifth Chakra- Vishuddha – Blue Aquamarine- verbal expression and the ability to speak our highest truth

Sixth Chakra- Ajna “third eye” chakra- Deep Blue Sodalite – center of intuition

Seventh Chakra – Sahaswara – Deep Purple Amethyst- spiritual connection to our Highest self and the Divine

I used 4 clear quartz in a diamond shape around my mat and 1 in each palm as general healers and amplifiers. I also used 1 jet crystal at each foot as my grounding stones.

Sound

I originally intended to listen to a chakra cleansing meditation that I had just found on Apple Music but I opted against it. I hadn’t listed to it before I was guarded against integrating something not-previously-approved at such a vulnerable time. So I used tracks of choral music that had consistently helped me to feel balanced, at peace, and deepen my meditation.

Light + Color

The only light in the room was the flickering, amber glow of LED candles. Amber is a color that soothes my anxiousness. When working with this color, anxiousness is replaced with warmth, comfort, and hope.

Chakra Cleansing 101 – The Method

I began a yoga asana practice to help me connect with my body and notice what energy was active in different areas. When I first stepped on the mat, the tension in my neck, chest, and shoulders were prominent. I also held tightness in my adductors. As I practiced, the tension relaxed. I stimulated the stagnate energy using my breath and movements.

I got to a point where I felt balanced energy throughout my body. (For some, this may be when you feel fully “warmed up.”) I prayed, releasing any negative energy that felt trapped in my body. I released negative thoughts and emotions regarding certain people and events. I prayed for help with forgiving myself and others. I requested and received peace.

I then lay down and arranged my crystals over each chakra point. After 10 minutes under the influence of sound, color, and crystal frequency therapy, I quietly left my yoga room and went to bed.

Reaching 100%

The fall equinox occurred that night. Unaware, I rose to the first day of autumn. All around me were messages about the beauty of letting things go that didn’t serve me. I kept running into the message to turn inward and open myself to learning from my past without letting it cause current and future damage.

I physically felt lighter. The tightness in my chest was gone. Even when the traumatic incidents came to mind, I felt like an observer rather than a triggered victim. I was able to notice rather quickly when I tightened my jaws because, otherwise, my face, neck, and shoulders were relaxed. Also, I had a shit-ton of energy.

“What in the actual f*ck did I do last night?!”

That evening, I told my husband everything. Without judgement, he shared my curiosity as well as my relief. When the physical and mental effects lingered days after the cleansing, I had to admit…I was convinced.