Balance Your Chakras With 7 Easy Yoga Poses and Aromatherapy

Explore the seven yoga poses and corresponding aromatherapy options to align your chakras.

You are sitting in your yoga class after an intense workout and your instructor mentions your chakras. You take a deep breath in and out and begin to visualize a healing. First your root chakra is grounding you, then your sacral is filling up with bliss; perhaps you're guided to open your third eye; you open your crown, inviting in the divine. It’s all very relaxing and you open your eyes and feel better.

What just happened? Just because you do yoga doesn’t mean you have the knowledge you need to understand the benefits of balancing your chakras if they are blocked or sluggish. You may have heard that yoga, meditation, and self-love are wonderful ways to amplify and balance these amazing swirling vibrational energy centers. You decide when you get home you will do a little more research.

No need to do any heavy lifting—we have got you covered here with some chakra education, seven easy yoga poses that open your chakras, and essential oils you can add to your practice.

How Do I Know if My Chakras Are Blocked?

Most people don’t know how to assess their chakra health. So, to start, let’s self-assess. Blocked chakras can cause a wide range of symptoms, including:

Feeling sluggish and unenergetic
Unable to become emotionally connected with your partner
Not committing to your goals due to low self-esteem
Feeling like you have to please others to deserve a love connection
Going along with others’ thoughts or actions due to the fear of upsetting anyone
Lack of inspiration and feeling stuck in your current life stage
Struggling to find the meaning in life and what your purpose is
Holding anxiety and stress in a part of your body like your belly, chest or throat

If you find yourself experiencing any of these symptoms, then it’s time to pay attention.

Neglecting your blocked chakras for too long may cause physical pain and discomfort, but also unwanted emotional baggage. It also will impinge on your ability to tap into your higher consciousness which can provide much needed ease and grace.

The Benefits of Breathwork

Some may think of yoga as just another type of exercise, but it’s so much more. Yoga is a powerful ancient practice that focuses on deep breathwork. That is why it is such a complement to chakra healing. Both focus on intentional breathing to shift the mind, body, and spirit.

Using breathwork during your yoga or meditation practice is essential since it helps you focus on your mind-body awareness. Breathwork is one key component to chakra balancing. Your chakras love it when you stop, breathe in and out, and become present to your intention to balance and heal your energy.

Breathwork cultivates a variety of healing and self-actualizing benefits in your life, such as:

Creating a deep sense of self-awareness
Helping you face everyday challenges
Teaching you to let go and cultivate acceptance
Increasing compassion, understanding, and kindness
Bringing more meaning to your yoga practice
Oxygenating your lungs and heart to release endorphins

Scent With Intent: Aromatherapy and Your Chakras

Using meditation, yoga, and essential oils together to enhance your practice has been around since before 500 BC, according to Indian scholars. It’s also fair to assume that chakras and yoga go hand-in-hand since chakras are mentioned in the Yoga Upanishads in 600 BC.

These ancient practices have stood the test of time and have helped millions achieve inner peace and balance. Whether you're new to yoga or have been a yogi for decades, you can enhance your yoga and breathwork practice by adding aromatherapy.

With the current state of the world, yoga and meditation practices offer an oasis from the doom and gloom we are exposed to through the media. Aromatherapy is the new “killer app.” With aromatherapy you can do your breathwork anytime, anywhere. There is a powerful connection between olfaction and the limbic center of our brain which regulates our physiology including mood, memory, and emotion. Discovering this new practice of scent-based breathwork is transformative.

With that in mind, let’s get to the seven recommended chakra poses and their corresponding essential oils to help you keep your chakras open, prevent blockages, and ultimately promote better health and a sense of increased balance.

Tree Pose – Root Chakra “I Belong”

The muladhara, or root chakra, is located at the base of your spine and provides you with the foundation you need to have a sense of security and stability.

Balancing your root chakra is important because it helps with your grounding. When your root chakra is balanced, you will feel more secure and connected to the world around you. It can help to give you a sense of stability, allowing you to make better decisions and face life’s challenges with more confidence. It also helps to reduce feelings of fear and anxiety, allowing you to achieve greater inner peace and harmony. By balancing your root chakra, you can stay connected to your inner strength, enabling you to move forward in life with greater ease.

The best way to unblock the root chakra is through Tree Pose.

Recommended essential oils for healing the root chakra: sandalwood, ginger, patchouli, vetiver, cedarwood.

Bridge Pose – Sacral Chakra “I Feel”

A picture containing person, wall

Description automatically generated

The svadhisthana, or sacral chakra, is located right below your belly button and refers to your reproductive system. This chakra provides a sense of sensuality and creativity.

When your sacral chakra is balanced, you will feel more creative, open, and accepting. It encourages self love and self care, allowing you to experience life more fully. It also helps you to become more in tune with your emotions, allowing you to better understand and express your feelings. A balanced sacral chakra helps to increase self-confidence, allowing you to take risks and make decisions with greater ease. By balancing your sacral chakra, you can open yourself up to a world of possibility and live a more energized and blissful life.

The best way to unblock the sacral chakra is through Bridge Pose.

Recommended essential oils for healing the sacral chakra: blood orange, orange, ylang ylang, geranium, and jasmine.

Boat Pose – Solar Plexus Chakra “I Can”

The manipura, or solar plexus chakra, is located in your stomach area. This chakra affects your digestive system since it’s the housing center for anxiety and nervous energy. It provides vitality, power, and independence.

When your solar plexus chakra is balanced, you will feel more confident and in control of your life. It helps with self-esteem and self-worth, allowing you to take pride in your accomplishments so you can be true to yourself. A balanced solar plexus helps you to become more assertive and focused, allowing you to pursue your goals with greater clarity and purpose. By balancing your solar plexus chakra, you can tap into your inner strength and create the life you desire.

The best way to unblock the solar plexus chakra is through Boat Pose.

Recommended essential oils for healing the solar plexus: lemon, lime, cinnamon, and peppermint.

Camel Pose – Heart Chakra “I Love”

The anahata, or heart chakra, is the chakra of pure love and can easily be affected by a lack of it. This chakra is responsible for feelings of affection, love, and compassion.

When your heart chakra is balanced, you will feel more connected to yourself and the world around you. It encourages empathy, compassion and unconditional love, allowing you to form meaningful relationships and find inner peace. It also helps to reduce feelings of fear, sadness, and anger, allowing you to open your heart and accept love. By balancing your heart chakra, you can bring more joy and harmony into your life.

The best way to unblock the heart chakra is through Camel Pose.

Recommended essential oils for healing the heart chakra: rose, gardenia, jasmine, bergamot, and lemongrass.

Plow Pose – Throat Chakra “I Speak”

The vishuddha, or throat chakra, is your communication center. This chakra represents your voice, speech, and hearing.

When your throat chakra is balanced, you will feel more confident in expressing yourself. It helps to increase your self-awareness, allowing you to communicate your thoughts and feelings with greater clarity. It also helps to reduce feelings of fear, allowing you to speak your truth and be heard. By balancing your throat chakra, you can open yourself up to greater understanding and connection.

The best way to unblock your throat chakra is through Plow Pose.

Recommended essential oils for healing the throat chakra: peppermint, chamomile, sage, rosemary.

Forward Fold Pose – Third Eye Chakra “I See”

The ajna, or third eye chakra, is located right between your eyebrows. It represents your wisdom, intuition, and understanding that there’s more than what meets the eye. Keeping this chakra open helps you envision different possibilities and to dream a new reality into your life.

When your third eye chakra is balanced, you will feel more connected to your intuition and inner wisdom. It helps to increase your awareness and imagination, allowing you to gain greater clarity and insight into life. It also helps to reduce feelings of fear, allowing you to trust your instincts and make decisions with greater ease. By balancing your third eye chakra, you can open yourself up to greater understanding and connection. You are connected to your true magic.

The best way to unblock the third eye chakra is through Forward Fold Pose.

Recommended essential oils for healing the third eye chakra: lavender, sage, frankincense, and tulsi.

Corpse Pose – Crown Chakra “I Am”

The sahasrara, or crown chakra, connects you to your Higher Self and reminds you of where you’ve come from and where you still need to go.

When your crown chakra is balanced, you will feel more connected to your higher self and the divine. It helps to increase your sense of spirituality, allowing you to gain greater insight into life, the universe, and your place in all things. It also helps to reduce feelings of fear and confusion, allowing you to trust in the divine plan and move forward in life with greater ease. By balancing your crown chakra, you can open yourself up to greater understanding and connection with the divine.

The best way to unblock the Crown Chakra is through Corpse Pose.

Recommended essential oils for healing your crown chakra: rosewood, cardamon, lavender, and myrrh.

To keep your chakras active and healthy, yoga and meditation will provide a physical expression of your desired healing. Adding chakra-boosting essential oils to your practice will make your practice perfection. But let’s face it, you don’t always have time to do yoga or meditate. On those days, use the oils you have begun to add to your practice as a part of your daily morning routine. Apply your essential oils, either pre-blended single notes or blends specifically formulated for your chakras, before you dress as natural perfume oil on your wrists and neck, inhale deeply, and focus on your chakra healing. Adoratherapy has created a range of chakra healing and balancing oils. Try their chakra boost discovery kit and begin to transform your day.

Sources: