All Seven Chakras/ How they Work, What they Do, and How to Keep them Open and Aligned

     As anyone, who has studied yoga and meditation, know, we all have seven chakras, root to crown.  I would like to describe each one, its purpose, and how to keep them balanced, aligned and connected properly, as well as open, to the best of one's ability.
     Sit in a comfortable position, legs crossed, and if this is difficult, put your legs in a comfortable position.  If you cannot sit up straight, you can lean back on something solid.  
     Simply breath, hands outstretched and open on top of the legs, eyes closed and relax.
     As you keep breathing, starting at the root chakra, at the perineum, color red or black like the stone onyx, and visualize either color and groundedness.  
     Imagine a silver thread leading upward to and through the sacral chakra,
just below the navel, color orange.  Imagine openness, creativity, sexuality, energy.  See the color orange.
     Then continue as you breath, to imagine the silver thread going up to the solar plexus, right in the center of the rib cage, below the breast, the upper stomach, right in the center.  The color is yellow, stone citron, energy, your center.  
Visualize and just imagine its openness, the balance, the alignment, the connectedness.
     Continue to breath into the chakras, down each one, oxygen nourishing every cell with every breath, slowly in and out, no thoughts.  Letting any thought go as simply as it came, just breath, as the silver thread continues upward to the heart chakra, the chest center, color green.  Compassion, grief, love.  Feel your grief unwind, disappointments leaving with every tangle of thread, which simply unwinds, leaving a clear space, and open heart.  
     Let your breath fill your whole chest cavity, so that you are aware of the back of the heart, as well, which is your mid upper back.  You carry stress here, and when there is suffering, this area becomes stressed, so just relax, and feel the green openness, as you simply breath, the silver thread now joining the heart chakra, and we continue.
     The silver thread goes upward still, to the throat chakra, color turquoise, like the stone.  Lift the chin, so that this chakra opens, chanting yum, repeatedly and softly.  
     This chakra pertains to communication, singing.  A blockage here makes communication less easy, and to express oneself fully, it needs to be balanced and open, so just breath into the fifth chakra, the throat, and feel the connectedness to the other chakras, as well.  Visualize its openness, the color turquoise. 
     The thread continues up through the head and sinuses to the third eye, indigo, center of forehead.  Here lies insight, sight beyond the sight of the physical eyes.  Look within, at the third eye, and as you look up at it, you will visualize indigo color or purple, a dark blue or purple stone.  Many things may come into your vision, but pay no attention to them.  Let them come and go, just as they came.
     Now the third eye is connected by the silver thread running through it, and we continue to the top of the head or crown chakra, the seventh chakra, highest of all.  The color is gold or white.  It is the most holy.  It is the chakra from which halos come from.  Here is compassion, the opposite of human imperialism.  Just breath all the way to the top of your head, where gold or white light, or both, emerge.
     Continue to breath deeply.  Now all chakras are aligned.
     Finally open your eyes, bow to honor the light within you, thanking one another for taking this time to meditate, saying 'namaste.'  
     Feel how different you feel, how much more relaxed and peaceful.  Once you have meditated, using a pendulum, you can test these chakras, or ask a friend to.  Some may still not be fully open.  Some may be very open.  It is not automatic.  However, the difference in the way the pendulum will swing for different ones, is amazingly accurate, and incredibly obvious.
     Do not feel bad if some chakras, one or two, or even more, are still blocked, because we know now which ones need work, and why you are having certain difficulty.
     Knowing where and how healing needs to take place, is a step towards healing.  Reiki is helpful, as well as continuing to meditate in this way, and do yoga.  Even if you cannot take a yoga class, a book can be helpful.  There are some very good books on chakra yoga, if you look at your local bookstore.
     I had a blockage of the third eye chakra as well as the throat chakra, and I have not checked them lately, but I really experienced how this effected me.  I could not communicate, nor assert how I really felt, what I really wanted or did not want to do.  I had a lack of insight, as far as what I should be doing, and who I should spend time with, who was healthy for me, and who was not.  
     I guess no one is perfect, and life always has its complications and difficulties, or usually, but balance is the key, I think, as well as being calm, and carrying on.  'Keep calm and carry on.'