The chakras provide a map to show imbalances. This holistic system, when healthy, acts as an integrated whole maintaining our equilibrium.
A chakra becomes dysfunctional from receiving too little or too much life force. This effects its frequency, causing overactivity or sluggishness, which impacts the rest of the system, and causes dysfunctional behaviours.
Lack of love in childhood can result in a shut down heart chakra, where someone feels unworthy, or an excessively open chakra, over-compensating, causing co-dependency, possessiveness, and conditional love.
A useful analogy for chakra balancing is the archetypes of mythology. These universal themes or models of human behaviour from stories, fairy tales and movies, assist in understanding the values underpinning choices, beliefs, and attitudes, by simplifying them.
Each chakra is associated with a healthy archetype, and a dysfunctional one.
The first chakra relates to security, so if a baby feels neglected, ‘the victim’ develops, as they cannot meet their own needs.
The solution is then, ‘the earth mother,’ where one nurtures one’s self. The second chakra is about personal responsibility, self-expression, abundance and believing we deserve to enjoy life. Out of balance, people will see themselves as a ‘martyr.’ The remedy here is ‘the sovereign,’ who looks for the best in things.
The third chakra is about our relationship with ourselves, self-esteem, and personal power.
The healthy archetype is ‘the spiritual warrior,’ balancing inner-strength with belief in a divine guiding force. Its opposite is ‘the drudge,’ who depends on others for approval, projecting onto others the power they wished they possessed (which they do, if only they could acknowledge it).
The fourth chakra balances the love of others and ourselves.
‘The lover’ is healthy as they truly own themselves and radiate love. Its counterpart is ‘the performer,’ who looks outside for the love they seek, fooling themselves that someone external will heal their wounds.
The fifth chakra is associated with communication and self-expression.
‘The communicator’ is the healthy version, as opposed to ‘the masked self,’ who hides behind comedy or unrealistic positivity to cover up feeling no-one will listen. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, where if ‘the masked self’ revealed their truth, they would become the communicator, who is listened to.
Chakra six is about perceiving and knowing, represented by the third eye.
When this is balanced, ‘the psychic’ is the archetype, where the person trusts their instincts, which they weigh with theory. The opposite is ‘the rationalist,’ who is stuck in intellectualising and following rules, causing increasing limitations.
The seventh chakra is related to wisdom, consciousness, and spiritual connection.
Chakras and Archetypes ‘The guru’ has given up attachment, accepts personal limitations and is aware that all things are possible. ‘The egocentric’ focuses on self-determination and control, leading to materialism, which is eventually found meaningless, putting ‘the egocentric’ into crisis, where they can become ‘the guru.’
The solution to these chakra challenges is in the analysis, where once one understands their behaviours and motivators, they are able to make more conscious, healthy choices.
