The seven chakras
Seven centres from the base of the spine to the crown, each with a colour, an element and an area of life it is said to govern. Below is what each one means — and which parts of the system are actually ancient, which most pages will not tell you.
The seven, and their colours
| Chakra | Sanskrit | Colour | Location | Element |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Root chakra | Muladhara | Red | Base of the spine | Earth |
| Sacral chakra | Svadhisthana | Orange | Lower abdomen, below the navel | Water |
| Solar plexus chakra | Manipura | Yellow | Upper abdomen, at the stomach | Fire |
| Heart chakra | Anahata | Green | Centre of the chest | Air |
| Throat chakra | Vishuddha | Blue | Throat | Ether |
| Third eye chakra | Ajna | Indigo | Between the eyebrows | Light |
| Crown chakra | Sahasrara | Violet or white | Top of the head | Thought |
Root chakra
Muladhara
Safety, and whether the ground under you holds.
Sacral chakra
Svadhisthana
Pleasure, appetite, and permission to want things.
Solar plexus chakra
Manipura
Will — whether you can act on your own behalf.
Heart chakra
Anahata
The hinge — where the physical three meet the higher three.
Throat chakra
Vishuddha
Saying the true thing, in your own voice.
Third eye chakra
Ajna
Seeing clearly, including what you would rather not.
Crown chakra
Sahasrara
Meaning — whether any of this connects to anything.
Where this system actually comes from
The centres are genuinely old. Muladhara, Svadhisthana, Anahata and the rest are named in Sanskrit tantric texts, placed on the body much as they are placed today, and used within specific yogic practice.
Three things about the familiar version are not old. The fixed list of exactly seven — classical sources vary. The rainbow colours — assigned by Western esoteric writers in the early twentieth century, principally through C. W. Leadbeater's The Chakras (1927). And the reading of each centre as governing a psychological theme, which maps a modern therapeutic vocabulary onto material that was not describing that.
None of that makes the modern system useless. It is coherent, people find it a genuinely useful way to locate where they are stuck, and it is what you are looking for when you search this. It is just not what it is usually claimed to be, and you deserve to know which part is which.
Frequently asked questions
What are the seven chakras?
Seven energy centres running from the base of the spine to the crown of the head: root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye and crown. Each is associated with a colour, an element and an area of life, and the system is used both in yoga practice and, more loosely, as a way of describing where someone feels stuck.
What are the chakra colours in order?
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet — the visible spectrum, ascending. This is the part people most often assume is ancient, and it is not: the spectrum mapping was assigned by Western writers in the early twentieth century. The Sanskrit sources describe the centres in terms of lotus petals, syllables and deities rather than rainbow colours.
Are the seven chakras actually ancient?
Partly. The centres themselves, their Sanskrit names and their positions on the body are genuinely classical and appear in tantric texts. What is modern is the specific seven-item list treated as standard, the spectrum colours, and the reading of each centre as governing a psychological theme. Classical sources vary in the number of centres and treat them as stages in a disciplined practice rather than as a diagnostic checklist.
How do I know which chakra is blocked?
The usual approach is to work backwards from where you actually feel stuck rather than from a quiz. Each page here describes what an imbalance is said to look like. One caution worth stating: several of those states are also symptoms of conditions a doctor should look at, and this framework is not a substitute for that.