Inside: Learn about the chakras, their attributes, benefits, effects, and relation to shamanism and more, specifically concerning the guidance we wish to offer our spiritually aware children and teens.
What are the chakras?
Chakras are energy centers. They are energetic organs that facilitate the flow of our energy, serving as a channel that transfers information between our physical body and our energy bodies.
We are all more than our physical selves. A Spirit encapsulated in a physical form for one lifetime (and then another). Chakras are part of the mechanism that allows the flow of information from our essence, soul, and higher being to our physical self.
I believe that all children should learn about their energetic anatomy. It is equally important as learning about our physical organs, structure, and how our biological systems work.
Observing our energy and our chakras
The challenge in teaching about our energy system and chakras allegedly stems from our inability to observe the chakras or our energies.
Are we really unable to observe them?
Or maybe the observation takes place with a different set of eyes?
Most (not all) spiritually aware children, teens, and parents can sense their energy.
Sensing energy happens in numerous ways. Entering a room, someone else’s house, or a classroom and feeling overwhelmed, or as if we wish to get out of there immediately, is sensing energy. Likewise when we enter a room, someone else’s house, or a classroom and feel deeply welcomed and relaxed.
Words carry energy. We can speak with nice words but convey an entirely different meaning because of our intention or because we are frustrated or angry about an unrelated matter.
Written words carry energy. A beautiful story can be nourishing or depleting, depending on the energy sitting between the lines and in the subtext.
The clothes we wear and their colors create energy and communicate energy. It can be a positive communication or not.
Plants are energetic beings. So are our pets. The food we eat carries energy from the soil it grows on, the water and hands that nourished it, the way it was prepared, and the energy of the person who prepared it at the time of preparation. The same dal, made with the same ingredients, can be nourishing one day, empty of energy the next, and sadly carry negative energy when the cook is frustrated with something unrelated when preparing it.
Knowing our energy system begins with experiencing it.
Spiritually aware children sense energy
Most (not all; it depends on their personal mission) spiritually aware children sense energy.
Sensing, being affected or being reactive to unseen energies is often perceived as being sensitive, or being empathic. Our children and ourselves may be aware and able to name the energy that we are sensing and that affects us. Often, until the energetic language is learned, we lack the wording to express what we experience.
As their guides, before teaching our children about the chakras, we wish to sense the extent to which they feel energy.
The simplest way to do this is by creating a ball of light. See here for detailed instructions .
The chakra system for children
If you search the web about the chakras, you’ll find specific information regarding each chakra.
Its symbol, its characteristic color, what type of power/attributes/information is carried through it, and more. I won’t go into this information here.
The reason for this is that knowing our energy system begins with experiencing it.
Sensing the energy, learning when it is balanced and when it is not.
Learning about the chakras immediately takes us to our minds. Many of my clients who try to learn about the chakras respond that the process reveals so much information that it confuses them. The confusion, in turn, distances them from working with this amazing map.
So what do we teach children about the chakras?
(1) The structure/map
Show your children an image of where each of the main chakras is located. We always begin with the seven most familiar ones. Later, if our children need this guidance, we can share more information about our numerous chakras. Some children sense them. They sense the energy in that area of their body, like in their palms, for example, and learning that there are chakras—energy centers—in and around our palms facilitates their inner understanding and knowing.
(2) Should we share the name of each chakra?
For younger children, I recommend staying with the numbers. Yes. No naming.
Why? Because some of the names already carry attributes of the power held by that chakra. When we give them the meaning, we may divert their attention from what they sense and know for themselves to what they learn in their minds.
As children grow up, sharing the names comes along with sharing bits of information about each chakra’s power and what it represents (see more about this below regarding teens).
(3) How to sense the energy of the chakra?
Learning to sense the energy of our chakras is our most important teaching.
Step 1: Guide your child(ren) to put their hands near the location of the chakra:
Chakra 1: The Root Chakra sits at the base of the spine; to sense it, we place the hand between our legs, about 10 cm/~3+ inches, below our groin.
Chakra 2: The Sacral/Creation Chakra is located about four fingers below our navel; we place our hand about 10 cm/~3+ inches above the chakra.
Chakra 3: The Solar Plexus Chakra is located at the solar plexus, the bottom of the rib cage; we place our hand about 10 cm/~3+ inches above the chakra.
Chakra 4: The Heart Chakra is slightly about the physical heart, on the center line of our body; we place our hand about 10 cm/~3+ inches above the chakra.
Chakra 5: The Throat Chakra is at the base of the throat; we place our hand about 10 cm/~3+ inches above the chakra.
Chakra 6: The Third Eye Chakra lies between the eyebrows; we place our hand about 10 cm/~3+ inches above the chakra.
Chakra 7: The Crown Chakra sits at the crown of the head; we place our hand about 10 cm/~3+ inches above the chakra.
The specific distance at which we place our hand can differ. If you or your child don’t sense anything at the beginning, place your hand at a distance from the chakra, and also remember that sensing the chakras requires practice.
Step 2: Hold your hand or guide your child(ren) to hold their hand above the chakra they are trying to sense and play with the distance, bringing the hand closer and then slowly pulling it away.
The sense we are looking for is that of a very delicate warmth.
Stay in this stage and play again and again.
You can also try to sense each other’s chakras.
Chakra colors?
Some spiritually aware children and teens see the colors.
In line with not feeding them known information, I recommend avoiding giving the chakras colors. However, if this comes from your child, allow any colors they sense to be the ones they attribute to that chakra. Also, allow changes in their perception. Avoid confirming that one chakra is characterized by one particular color or another.
Sometimes, a chakra needs nourishment in a theme related to another chakra. Thus, green light (characteristic of the fourth-heart Chakra) can stream into the first chakra (mostly characterized with red).
The chakra system for teens.
As our children grow, they are able to integrate what they sense with existing knowledge. This is the time to share information while guiding them to always self-reference.
Teen Psychic by Julie Tallard Johnson is a great book for spiritually aware teens, and it includes a section focusing on the chakras.
As teens learn what each chakra represents and the type of energetic flow it is responsible for, they can utilize this knowledge to release density and heal themselves daily.
For example, if one is overwhelmed by fear of something, anything—from managing a school assignment to standing in front of a crowd or a social meeting—and they know their chakra system, they can set an intention to release the density sitting in their second chakra.
Taking our family’s work with our chakra system further.
Noticing when our chakras need balancing.
Once you get familiarized with how your chakras feel, and your children know their own energy centers, you can bring your attention to delicate differences in how each chakra feels. Learning how the chakra feels when all is well and when it might be out of balance.
Many of my spiritually aware children and teen clients just know.
Without feeling or knowing how to sense their chakras, they can come in, or meet me over Zoom, and guide me, telling me they know it’s something with their ____ Chakra. It is an inner knowing.
Once they learn how to sense, they can also take responsibility and learn how to balance their chakras.
Opening and cleansing – Closing and nourishing.
This is the most practiced tool among my young clients, so I’ll start with it.
We sense the chakras as spirals. In Sanskrit, the meaning of chakra is wheel. Children and teens relate to this meaning and can easily understand that the chakra is spinning clockwise when balanced and counterclockwise when out of balance.
As part of this exercise, we go chakra by chakra.
- Open the chakra you are focusing on. The opening happens merely by bringing our intention to an opening of the chakra or by using our hand and spinning it by the chakra, counterclockwise.
- Use your breath and blow the density out. Some will see and feel nothing but their intention and effort to blow density out. Others will feel the cleansing, the stream of energy, or see the dense energy being pulled out of their chakra.
- Blow one breath or several, depending on what you are called to do.
- Slow your breath. Breathing slowly, set your intention to close the chakra or use your hand, spinning it just in front of the chakra to spin clockwise.
- Visualize a ball of healing light, or a stream of healing light, nourishing the chakra you just worked with.
Is there a clear order?
- You can work with only one chakra if you are called to.
- You can work with the chakras in any order you are called to.
- It is common to work through all of the charkas, beginning with the first, and finishing with the seventh.
Summary
Our energy is part of us. When children understand their energetic aspects, they better understand themselves.
Working with our chakras is easy and healing.
It is empowering for children and teens, as well as for us, their parents, to be able to clear the density we collect or that arises because of what we deal with during our days.
Even more empowering is our ability to nourish. Feed our energy, and through our energy, feed our physical self, by working with our chakra system, and nourishing it with healing light.
