by Today’s Raising Spiritual Children is all about the chakra system!!! Yay!!! Okay, but really, it is helpful to give kids the tools and words to describe how their energy is feeling. Teaching kids (and adults) what chakras are and how to read them can be very useful.
***If you want to learn the basics of metaphysics yourself, check out the books in my Friend to Friend series for an easy to understand explanation of different metaphysical topics – Chakras and Auras, Dream Interpretation, and Psychic Development***
***Links in this post may be amazon affiliate links – meaning if you purchase something from clicking on the link I will get a small percentage but the price will remain the same for you***
I also have a little secret for you. So far in journey into the metaphysical world, learning about how to read chakras and knowing if they are open or closed has been my daughter’s favorite activity. You want to know why?? Well…you have to wait and read the rest of this post to find out!
Explaining What Chakras Are
The chakra system that we look at and refer to today is based on the Hindu beliefs and has become very “Westernized” and taken out of its original shape and form. One must remember that fact when teaching this system, but also when working with information on the topic from different sources.
Personally, I use the term chakra to describe what I am talking about here because that is the term that currently works for our vocabulary. There is not a different term used in the West to describe these areas of energy in the body that coalesce at certain points.
The information about chakras exists for a reason – these points of collected energy vibrate a certain colors and frequencies that correspond to different areas and situations in our lives. Basically, chakras are these pools of energy in your body that vibrate. That vibration corresponds to a certain color and frequency. That vibration also corresponds to different life activities. If you break down the chakra system like this, it becomes easier to both understand and teach.
We recently had a “teaching lesson” of this fact, that chakras are not really different in themselves just pools of collected energies, when my daughter wanted to check out the charkas of her stuffed animal. She wanted to see if they were open or closed. I told her before hand that I didn’t think her stuffed animal had actual chakras, but, this was a great idea on her part, so I let her go for it.
And I ended up getting a lesson in this activity! It turns out that her stuffed animal’s heart chakra read as “open”. What this actually meant was that this stuffed animal was currently vibrating at the same energetic frequency that the heart chakra does – that of love (repeated examination of other stuffed animals had the same results). A great reminder that our items around us accumulate the energy we give them, but also that chakras are really energy pools in the body and that same energy can exist in other places as well.
Okay, so how do I actually teach this system? Slowly and with practical experience.
Describing the Each Chakra
In everything I teach my daughter, we do it slowly, one concept a week that we build on and circle back around to the next week. With the chakra system, we started with the root chakra because it is the easiest to comprehend and understand. This chakra tends to close with lack of physical activity (which is happening a lot right now as we spend our days inside with super cold weather outside). Learning what this chakra does and why it might not be functioning at 100% is pretty easy to understand.
Then, the next week, we move up to the sacral chakra. This chakra is concerned with creativity and making things. To explore opening this chakra involves art projects and lots of orange paint.
The solar plexus chakra is up next and ideas are discussed about self confidence. How we feel when we get something right and are proud of ourselves. That yellow color that represents the sun and the feeling of achievement.
The heart chakra focuses on loving kindness and sending love to other. When we hug another individual our heart chakras open and touch, sending love to the other individual.
The throat chakra centers around our voice and speaking. It is great to work this chakra out with some singing or vocalization. Finding songs with the word blue in them doesn’t hurt either!
Looking at the third eye may seem tricky, but you can use this as an opportunity to create wonderful images in your mind. Children tend to be naturally creative so this is their opportunity to shine. Work on describing silly images – an elephant wearing a pink skirt and riding a bicycle – picture them in your mind and see who can come up with the silliest image to make you laugh!
The crown chakra also may seem a little more abstract to teach, but it can be fun as well. For this we talk about our connection to energies outside of ourselves. If your faith includes angels, or guides, or spirits, or dead relatives, this is where you can talk about your connection to these entities. If not, you can do a fun exercise where you rub your hands together to activate those hand chakras and then put a hand on top of your head and see if you can feel the energy radiating out of your crown charka. You can talk about how this is your connection to energies you can’t see with your eyes. Like a telephone signal beaming out of the top of your head!
Getting the Tools for Chakra Readings
So, now we get to the “fun part” of the chakra experience. I actually teach this part along with each chakra to get used to learning how to read your own chakras. Basically, I aim to give my daughter the tools to learn which of her chakras are closed and to know what to do to get them open herself.
This is also her favorite part of the activity because it is a more active process!
Everyone wants to know whether their chakras are open or closed, and kids are no exception here. We use a pendulum and a chakra mat to read the chakra energies. With kids, especially modern kids, they tend to like material possessions…right – kids like stuff! So this is an area where you can get them their own pendulum, either picking one out for them or letting them choose one they like.
For our purposes, I, of course, have an extra pendulum I received as a gift at some point that just so happens to be rainbow colored – different crystals cut and glued together to create a pendulum using the chakra colors. This is my daughter’s pendulum and I leave it sitting out next to mine on my desk so she can get it whenever she wants to use it. If you don’t have an extra pendulum and don’t want to buy one, using a string and attaching a heavy object, like a ring or a button, is also a great and creative way to make your own pendulum.
We also use a chakra mat because it makes it easier to see and visualize where the charkas are and also read them for yourself. If you don’t have one, I highly recommend making a picture yourself to use for this process. Stick figure people work very well with little circles of colored marker where each chakra is located on a body. But, if you want to purchase a mat, this Chakra Cloth from The Spirit Den is high quality and works perfectly for this process.
How to Read Chakras Using Pendulum
Once you have the tools, a pendulum and a chakra mat, it is time to learn how pendulums work and how to read your chakras. We first start out by teaching how to hold a pendulum. This is probably the hardest part in this process because your child (or you) will want to swing this thing around. My daughter has seen me use pendulums for years and I now realize she was likely thinking I was making the pendulum swing – well, here is where she learns that it wasn’t me making it move!
For this step I literally hold my daughter’s hand still to help her see that the pendulum will move on its own without her help. I have her say “show me yes” and “show me no” so we can learn which way her pendulum responds to her. We also ask “what is open” and “what is closed” as these can be different from “yes” and “no”.
Also, side note here, if you are dealing with someone who is predominantly left-handed (like my daughter) remember that they will hold their pendulum in the opposite hand as a right-handed individual.
Once we figure out which way her pendulum responds to her, we work through each chakra, holding the pendulum over the root chakra of the mat and seeing which direction it swings, noting whether it is open or closed and move on from there. Personally, I helped my daughter with this process the first few times, still holding her hand to keep it steady, but depending on your child they may work well independently.
After going through the chakras, and checking if they are open or closed, you can discuss any activities you may want to add to our day to work on opening the closed chakras. Be careful here because you don’t want your child to think they did anything “wrong” because they have a closed chakra. You can even read your own chakras with your child and discuss activities you may want to do. Remember to make this fun and not make it feel like homework or that having a closed chakra is “bad”. It is perfectly normal and part of the human experience!
Okay, so that is how I teach the chakra system. Pretty fun and exciting right! If you want to learn more about chakras, I have a great book, Chakras and Auras: A Practical Guide to Your Energetic Body, that makes the chakra system (and auras) easy to understand. Older kids may also find it enjoyable to learn from as well!
Do your children understand chakras? How do you teach about these energy centers to kids?
Mary Shannon 
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