Tune Into Your Major Chakra to Design Your Optimal Sacred Space

Chakras are subtle energy centers along the spine (think yoga) that manage every part of our lives. We each have one major chakra through which our true personality expresses. By applying the lines, colors, and textures that relate to your strongest chakra, you can design and create a sacred space that truly reflects your inner self.

Find Your Chakra

Select whichever list best describes your personality.

a) Sensual, expressive, carefree, emotive, fluid. Constantly innovating and connecting. Supersized feelings.

b) Romantic, heart-based, considerate, accepting. Into healing, forgiving, caregiving.

c) Visionary, aesthetic, strategic, perceptive. Lover of originality, colors, clairvoyance.

d) Intellectual, mental, organized, scholarly. In love with ideas, power, success.

e) Spiritual, peaceful, meditative, harmonious. Devoted to a cause and higher pursuit.

f) Organic, physical, dynamic, passionate. Always doing, moving, manifesting.

g) Philosophical, learner, teacher. All about writing/singing/musing/speaking/verbally achieving a goal.

What Is Your Chakra?

See the answer key below to determine your major chakra. Then match that chakra with its corresponding aesthetic to find the design style that best reflects your inner self.

a) The second chakra. This orange chakra, based in the abdomen, is the chakra zodiac center for emotions and creativity. Go you—the most innovative of chakra types.

b) The fourth chakra. This chest-anchored chakra is green and describes the most romantic and relational-based of the chakra types. If it makes your heartbeat, you’re there.

c) The sixth chakra. Nothing like a picture rather than words, right? This purple center, located in the brow, describes the most visual and strategic of chakra-ologists. Use your clairvoyance, or clear seeing, when making decisions.

d) The third chakra. You’re all about thoughts and facts and are very organized. The third chakra, which is yellow and in the solar plexus, supports you in establishing structure.

e) The seventh chakra. The purity of white in this top-of-the-head chakra illuminates your spiritual light. That’s you, the devotee to the highest of all lights.

f) The first chakra. Rocket red and in the hips, this energy center is all about flame-on energy. As the manifesting specialist of the chakra system, you’re devoted to physical reality.

g) The fifth chakra. If it can be thought, you’ll say it; noted, you’ll sing it. Centered in the blue chakra in the throat, your communication expertise makes you all about expression.

Chakra One = Rustic and Modern

You are an extreme individual. You’re organic, natural, and all about the rugged outdoors—but also spend time racking up success. Your inner spirit must marry the raw and unrefined with clean and simple.

To keep your soul shining, assure that the natural sunlight (and moonlight) streams in, and near that wild, probably flame-red contemporary sofa, use a cottony fabric lampshade with a full-spectrum bulb. Hang plants everywhere and fill your corners with rocks and stones from mountains and riverbeds. Then when stressed, turn on that sleek electronic equipment to surround yourself with the sounds of waterfalls, birds, whales. Consider Tree of Life and sacred geometry icons to anchor your altar space, along with earthy-scented incense and beeswax candles set in funky vintage bowls.

Chakra Two = Bohemian

Carefree, fuss-free, and sensual. Eclectic. What else explains the second chakra creative? Your expansive spirit will alight under inspirational lighting. Try feathery, tasseled, or colorfully beaded chandeliers and a disco ball pick-me-up when you’re down. Fountains are your thing; indulge your comedic self by bobbing a few yellow duckies in the water, and when you’re ready to spiritually connect, enter that sacred space full of treasures. There’s the jute or multi-colored rug, icons from various cultures, and a crayon box to express all your feelings with your burnt-orange, aromatic candle burning bright. Not for you, the yoga posture on the floor. You’ll sink into joy on your over-stuffed rainbow-hued stuffed chair.

Chakra Three = Industrial

The thinking-based third chakra person is all about functionality. Schedules, administrative details, with a bit of funky. Get mindful under a chic-steel dome or lantern on a meditation chair (yellow, your chakra color) you can fold up and put away. So organized you are! Keep the rest of your altar space clean and neat, blending wood and steampunk, but indulge your air-element soul with images of birds or icons reflective of the quiet mind, like Buddha, Kwan Yin, or Jesus reflecting from a mountain top. Aromatic scents like lemongrass and pine will melt away your stress, and you’ll go zen tending to your one, single, and beloved plant.

Chakra Four = Mediterranean

Ahhh … The romantic soul of the heart-based healer. Your home must be your haven, a respite from your over-busy relationships, so start by bringing in the colors of the sky, ocean, and sun: turquoise, emerald, and rose-yellow.

Stained glass with images of saints, gurus, and mystics symbolizing love can be anywhere: lampshades, wall hangings, as picture windows. You’ll feel refreshed by their loving smiles, even more by wind chimes placed just outside your windows. And that special altar space? Fill it with photos of your special someones and white votive candles to light when you pray for them. Try setting up a mood board you can draw or write on. Scents are a-okay with you, as long as they evoke flowers and love. Crystals, anyone? Pink quartz hearts can be sprinkled just about anywhere, as can a few angel cards.

Chakra Five = Old World

If your soul could select the perfect era to live in, it would be the 16^th or 17^th centuries. Old Europe and the Renaissance … think rich, intelligent, bookish. Indulge your inner Rembrandt with ochres, deep browns, dark blues, and burgundies and spirit-pieces blending mystique and the ancient.

Comb antique stores for statues of crumbling or distressed angels, rusty bell chains, and maybe an old-fashioned fountain to fill with stones. Your quiet corner must feature at least one woven tapestry, and maybe a medieval candelabra to create smoky privacy. What’s a sacred site without retro-shelves and plenty of reading material, maybe a hymnal? Incense evocative of books, like coffee, vanilla, or sandalwood? It’s okay to sneak in tech to help with your mantras or Gregorian chants.

Chakra Six = Hollywood Regency

Who says spirituality can’t be fun and picturesque, even Art Deco? Hold your place in the chakra zodiac by going timeless, glamorous, and upbeat. Blend soul and style with metallic and jewel tones and a mix of fabrics throughout your house, but settle your nerves with a sacred space set apart from the everyday. You’ll need a private room or splashy room divider to suit your aesthetic self—and go opulent. It’s okay to stare into a mirror when meditating, your multi-colored candles and array of incense on a lacquer tray nearby. Try starburst motif for your lighting—after all, you are a star—and bright and shiny objects placed in sundry spots. Your pillows or bench? Go old Hollywood. What would Greta Garbo or Clark Gable select?

Chakra Seven = Scandinavian

Of all chakra types, you embody spirituality, and you don’t actually have to be Swedish or Norwegian to instill the clean, crisp, and pure Scandinavian design into your environment.

Don’t restrict yourself; your entire environment should invite contemplation. Think white and light, with a bit of gray and hint of black—the shades of your chakra. Then go individualistic with a bit of color, maybe crystals of every chakra hue placed all around. Stands of incense should encourage you to light up mystical scents in every room, say frankincense and myrrh, and it’s even okay to have prayer mats in several spaces. Each can be watched over by a special icon in statue or picture form, all enjoying the sounds of silence that speak to your soul. Okay, select a special altar spot, but maybe go a little wild? Think yoga-like on an animal print.

Keep reading about chakras: “7 Chakra Healings to Reduce Financial Stress.”