Chakra Quiz: Find Out Why You're Feeling Blocked

This introspective chakra quiz will help you identify your energetic blockages and shift the balance within your body.

Your energy introduces you before you even speak. Your energy is a subtle yet very real thing that is difficult to describe. It’s more than your words and your body language. It is the vibration you give off. How you experience it yourself and how others around you experience your energy may be the single most important factor in your success in life. But how do you know if your energy is balanced and flowing and what can you do if you suspect it is not?

Fortunately, yogic technology gives us not only a roadmap for the energy centers of the human body, but methods and tools to create energetic balance and flow. This roadmap is called the chakra system. Let’s take a closer look.

Before Taking The Chakra Quiz, Familiarize Yourself with the Entire System.

The word “chakra” is a Sanskrit word meaning “wheel” or “circle.” Discovered thousands of years ago by the ancient yogis, chakras are whirlpools of energy mapped along the wheel's spin that correlate to different emotional, physical, and psychological issues. The combined effect of our chakra systems becomes who we are, how we feel, and how we behave. The chakra system can be used to help identify imbalances and to establish internal harmony.

In most branches of yoga, there are seven chakras. Some forms of yoga, like Kundalini Yoga, recognize an eighth chakra (the electromagnetic field) but that’s a subject for a different post. Here we will explore the commonly recognized seven chakras and a series of questions you can ask yourself to see if any of your chakras are blocked.

The First Chakra/Root Chakra (Muladhara)

Muladhara means “root” or “support.”

The first chakra is about survival, support, and feeling grounded and safe in your environment. It relates to your ability to focus, project, and manifest worldly, practical needs. When the first chakra is balanced, it manifests as a feeling of security.

When the first chakra is out of balance or blocked, it results in feelings of instability, insecurity, grief, and depression. There can be themes of self-centeredness and self-indulgence as the ego works hard to get its needs met. In extreme imbalance, this can look like a very self-serving person.

First chakra quiz:

1. Do you take care of your physical body? Do you exercise?
2. Have you had a recent physical examination or gone for routine dental care?
3. Are you at your optimal weight?
4. Do you actively seek information about your diet? Do you eat a healthy, well-balanced diet free from processed food?
5. Do you enjoy your work? Do you experience fulfillment in your job?
6. Do you budget, save money, and actively manage your financial situation?
7. Do you feel secure in your environment?
8. Do you feel a sense of abundance of resources including time, money, energy?
   
   If you answered “no” to one or more of these questions, your first chakra may be out of  balance.  Try this 33-minute class to help open and balance your first (root) chakra.

The Second Chakra/Sacral Chakra (Svadhisthana)

Svadhisthana means “sweetness.”

The second chakra is about sexuality, creativity, inspiration, and energy storage. This is the chakra of polarities (opposites), and these polarities create movement. Pleasure is one of the essential features of the second chakra, and the second chakra is where you gain a degree of freedom and complexity. When in balance, this chakra manifests as the ability to experience pleasure, creativity, and inspiration in an open, yet tempered way.

When the second chakra is out of balance, you may have a hard time experiencing pleasure, expressing yourself, and relaxing. Pleasure is a double-edged sword and being out of balance in this chakra can manifest as avoiding pleasure or indulging in it too much. Imbalances can result in frustration, attachment, anxiety, fear, or overindulgence, and excessive hedonism.

Second chakra quiz:

1. Are you able to express your emotions in acceptable ways at the right time?
2. Are you flexible: physically, emotionally, and mentally?
3. Are you able to let go of a feeling? Are you able to forgive others?
4. Are you able to nurture others? Are you able to accept nurturing?
5. Are you able to relax and seek pleasure?
6. Do you allow time for play and relaxing?
7. Are you comfortable doing nothing?

If you answered “no” to one or more of these questions, your second chakra may be out of balance.  Try this 37-minute class to open and balance your second (sacral) chakra.

The Third Chakra/Solar Plexus Chakra (Manipura)

Manipura means “lustrous gem.”

The third chakra is about personal power, a strong will, self-motivation, the ability to make decisions, and the ability to inspire other people. When in balance, this manifests as the ability to confidently pursue your goals, to project powerfully into a situation, and your personal grit to keep going in difficult circumstances.

When the third chakra is out of balance, you may lack initiative, and you may not pursue your goals. You may feel victimized by life circumstances and have feelings of powerlessness.

Third chakra quiz:

1. Do you have willpower, grit and determination?
2. Are you able to set goals and achieve them?
3. Do you know how to maintain personal energy levels?
4. Do you feel self-confident?
5. Do you have strong, clear personal boundaries?
6. Is it easy for you to advocate for yourself?
7. Do you inspire others to see their personal best and potential?

If you answered “no” to one or more of these questions, your third chakra may be out of balance. Try this 33-minute class to open and balance your third (solar plexus) chakra. Learn why pilates is also a great practice to activate the third chakra.

The Fourth Chakra/Heart Chakra (Anahata)

Anahata means “unstruck” (as in the sound made without two things striking).

The fourth chakra is about love and the infinite patterns of interdependence between all things. When the heart chakra is open and balanced, you perceive the world as unity, not separation. When in balance, you can easily and consistently access compassion, accept others in a non-judgemental way, and feel joy, happiness, and bliss.

When the fourth chakra is out of balance, you cannot access compassion. You may be afraid to give or you may give to those who either don’t deserve it or don’t want it. You may be blocked from feelings of joy and happiness, and you may feel isolated.

Fourth chakra quiz:

1. Do you feel happy on a regular basis?
2. Do you make friends easily and are you able to maintain long-term friendships?
3. Are you able to love and accept yourself?
4. Are you able to experience compassion?
5. Do you feel part of the world around you?
6. Do you see the world as “we are one” (versus “us against them”)?
7. Are you able to give and share?
   
   

If you answered “no” to one or more of these questions, your fourth chakra may be out of balance.  Try this 46-minute class to open and balance your fourth (heart) chakra.

The Fifth Chakra/Throat Chakra (Visuddha)

Visuddha means “purification.”

The fifth chakra is about sound, communication, creativity, connection, expression, and interactions. When the fifth chakra is open and balanced, we communicate our truth clearly and compassionately. We can both speak effectively and listen actively.  Purification is an aspect of this chakra.

When the fifth chakra is out of balance, communication is ineffective. This may manifest as a lack of expression or as bitterness. You may have something you want to say but you have difficulty speaking or communicating in a way others can hear. It may be difficult for you to speak your truth.

Fifth chakra quiz:

1)    Are you able to listen to ideas expressed from a point of view that differs from your own without reacting?

2)    Are you able to hear what others have to say?

3)    Do you find opportunities to approach different aspects of your life creatively, such as performing mundane chores in a way that brings beauty and grace to the task?

4)    Do you like the sound of your voice when you are talking, singing, thinking silently, and meditating?

5)    When you are with others, do you blend and harmonize with them?

6)    Can you manifest your ideas?

7)    Can you speak your truth in a non-defensive way?

If you answered “no” to one or more of these questions, your fifth chakra may be out of balance. Try this 45-minute class to open and balance your fifth (throat) chakra.

 The Sixth Chakra/Third Eye Chakra (Ajna)

Ajna means “to perceive.”

The sixth chakra is about intuition, visualization, imagination, perception, and dreaming. The sixth chakra is the center of seeing the unseen and tuning into the subtle undercurrents of a situation. When in balance, your intuition is strong and clear. You can visualize situations and access inner wisdom.

When the sixth chakra is out of balance, you may experience detachment, confusion, or ongoing nightmares. You may experience indecision and a lack of clarity.

Sixth chakra quiz:

1. Can you visualize and imagine things?
2. Can you see in imagery and understand things in a non-linear way?
3. When you hear the word “tree” do you see a physical tree (versus the word “tree”)?
4. Have you had psychic experiences, clairvoyance, or unusual coincidences?
5. Are you in touch with your intuition (when you know something clearly without knowing why)?
6. Do you have vivid dreams regularly?
7. When you do yoga or meditate, can you visualize energy?

If you answered “no” to one or more of these questions, your sixth chakra may be out of balance. Try this 31-minute class to open and balance your sixth (third eye) chakra.

The Seventh Chakra/Crown Chakra (Sahasrar)

Sahasrar means “thousandfold.”

The seventh chakra is about thoughts, information, and understanding. It represents your conscious and unconscious thought structures and belief systems. The function of this chakra is knowing and when in balance, you take in and understand full information. Knowing is a complex process that requires continual transcendence and shedding of the old. To be in balance, you must constantly discover and assimilate new information.

If the seventh chakra is out of balance, you may become close-minded, rigid in your thinking, depressed, confused, and anxious.

Seventh chakra quiz:

1. Are you able to become aware of your own thoughts, actions, and motivations?
2. Are you objective and accepting of your thoughts, actions, motivations, and feelings?
3. Do you meditate regularly? (Meditation is one of the most effective activities to bring the seventh chakra into balance.)
4. Are you open to having spiritual experiences?
5. Have you had a spiritual experience?
6. Are you able to take in new information?

If you answered “no” to one or more of these questions, your seventh chakra may be out of balance. Try this 25-minute class to open and balance your seventh (crown) chakra.

Keeping the chakras open and balanced is an ongoing effort. Fortunately, tools like yoga and meditation exist with these very concepts and goals in mind. In the same way you tune up your car or take care of your physical body, you can tune up and maintain your energy. The chakras and ways to manage them in the chakra quiz are the diagnostic tools, and the physical practices outlined above offer wonderful maintenance opportunities to keep your energy balanced and flowing.