![sara[h]ng](/community/data/avatars/m/2/2548.jpg?1425214557){kind=avatar}
I don't know where to put this. Maybe 'Alternative'? But since the thread that birthed (something about the heart and the mind) it is in Philosophy, this is where I'm typing it. Maybe it will get moved later.. 
Anywho, RevKelly asked that I post what I learned about cleaning chakras and sorry about me taking so long to do it! Let me note first of all that I am in no way saying that I'm a pro at this or trying to teach or any of that. Just repeating what I was taught.
All of this may take significant imagination at first, but over time, you'll get a feel for it and it will feel less like you're just making stuff up and more in tune with your body and energy.
Start by grounding and running your energy. Sit in a comfortable position - for the visuals, it helps me to be in some kind of 'sitting in a chair' posture, with legs mostly together and bent at the hips and knees, body mostly upright, etc. But I don't suppose it really matters. To ground yourself, picture a cord going from your tail bone to the center of the earth and pulling you down, just slightly. Recreate this cord in your mind, either in one session or over multiple sessions, with different colors and types until maybe you find one that feels right. For me, I knew my color of cord right away, and I don't know what it means to have one type or another, but anything else feels very very different.
So you've got a cord now going from your tailbone to the center of the earth. Now check all of your chakras, one by one. Imagine them kind of like the apertures of cameras. They can be fully open or fully closed or anywhere in between. I was told that there are ideal degrees of openess for each chakra for the beginner, but I don't remember what they are, and honestly, I doubt it makes a huge difference, so long as none of your chakras are either wide open or shut up tight. So starting low, go through each chakra and try to picture how open or not it is and, if needed, adjust it to a moderate level.
Now to run your energy, go back to the chakra at your feet. Open it fairly wide and imagine energy from the earth, a green light - or whatever feels right to you - coming up through the soles of your feet. Up through your calves and knees and thighs. You may feel a tingling here that matches how high you have imagined the energy to go so far. When the energy is to your hips, imagine it going down your grounding cord and keep this cycle running - always new energy from the earth and always returning it to the earth.
Go to your crown (I think that's what it's called) chakra and open this one wider as well. Imagine a golden or white light coming from 'above', from God or the essence of life, or whatever you prefer, coming down through your spine. When it reaches your collar bone, have some of it split and go down your arms and out your fingers. The rest of it will continue down your spine until it meets with the green earth energy. Here, the two mix slightly and the white light takes some of the green with it as it moves back up your front, up your stomach and chest, through your chin and face and back out through your crown. Maintain these two flows as you do the following energy work.
To clean a chakra:
Become aware of your aura, either by just acknowledging that it is there and feeling it with your being or, if that's a little too new or abstract, by feeling it physically by taking one hand and extending it in front of you like you're going to hug someone with one arm. Bring that hand, palm towards you, closer to your chest until it's about six inches away, and then back out about as far as you can reach. Slowly repeat this movement and pay close attention to the tiny sensations on your palm. With practice and focus, about a foot away from your chest, you will feel a difference and this is where your aura begins.
Now imagine a rose outside of your aura. Any color, any degree of fullness - whatever feels right to you. Reach out with either a physical or mental hand and take that rose, bringing it into your aura. I hope you've used or seen a cotton candy machine, because if you haven't, this might be tough to imagine. Your chakras are dynamic, always moving. They're whirling like a whirlpool or a vortex or a cotton candy machine. Take the rose and put the blossom into the whirling edge of your chakra. It moves with the chakra and spins, and like a paper cone in a cotton candy machine as it whirls, it picks up the debris inside. Imagine this as a gray gunk like dust bunnies stuck to the rose. When the rose is 'full' or when there isn't any junk left in your chakra, take the rose back outside your aura and destroy it by any means that feels right to you. Maybe it catches on fire or explodes, or melts away with the rain, or whatever. Repeat if necessary to get all that nastiness out.
So now your chakra is clean but you may now be lacking energy in your aura, which is bad because it's incomplete or there may be room for something unhealthy to get in. So, imagine a golden or white ball of light descending from above you. Allow this ball to come into your aura and down through your body, filling in all those areas that are lacking.
Finally, lean over and shake yourself out. Sounds and looks weird, I know, but it can make difference to how you feel after doing this. Experiment with it maybe, and see if you feel disoriented, dizzy or have a headache those times that you don't shake yourself out.
Sarah
I didn't go back and reread that because it took forever to type. Let me know if something doesn't make sense and I'll edit.
Anywho, RevKelly asked that I post what I learned about cleaning chakras and sorry about me taking so long to do it! Let me note first of all that I am in no way saying that I'm a pro at this or trying to teach or any of that. Just repeating what I was taught.
All of this may take significant imagination at first, but over time, you'll get a feel for it and it will feel less like you're just making stuff up and more in tune with your body and energy.
Start by grounding and running your energy. Sit in a comfortable position - for the visuals, it helps me to be in some kind of 'sitting in a chair' posture, with legs mostly together and bent at the hips and knees, body mostly upright, etc. But I don't suppose it really matters. To ground yourself, picture a cord going from your tail bone to the center of the earth and pulling you down, just slightly. Recreate this cord in your mind, either in one session or over multiple sessions, with different colors and types until maybe you find one that feels right. For me, I knew my color of cord right away, and I don't know what it means to have one type or another, but anything else feels very very different.
So you've got a cord now going from your tailbone to the center of the earth. Now check all of your chakras, one by one. Imagine them kind of like the apertures of cameras. They can be fully open or fully closed or anywhere in between. I was told that there are ideal degrees of openess for each chakra for the beginner, but I don't remember what they are, and honestly, I doubt it makes a huge difference, so long as none of your chakras are either wide open or shut up tight. So starting low, go through each chakra and try to picture how open or not it is and, if needed, adjust it to a moderate level.
Now to run your energy, go back to the chakra at your feet. Open it fairly wide and imagine energy from the earth, a green light - or whatever feels right to you - coming up through the soles of your feet. Up through your calves and knees and thighs. You may feel a tingling here that matches how high you have imagined the energy to go so far. When the energy is to your hips, imagine it going down your grounding cord and keep this cycle running - always new energy from the earth and always returning it to the earth.
Go to your crown (I think that's what it's called) chakra and open this one wider as well. Imagine a golden or white light coming from 'above', from God or the essence of life, or whatever you prefer, coming down through your spine. When it reaches your collar bone, have some of it split and go down your arms and out your fingers. The rest of it will continue down your spine until it meets with the green earth energy. Here, the two mix slightly and the white light takes some of the green with it as it moves back up your front, up your stomach and chest, through your chin and face and back out through your crown. Maintain these two flows as you do the following energy work.
To clean a chakra:
Become aware of your aura, either by just acknowledging that it is there and feeling it with your being or, if that's a little too new or abstract, by feeling it physically by taking one hand and extending it in front of you like you're going to hug someone with one arm. Bring that hand, palm towards you, closer to your chest until it's about six inches away, and then back out about as far as you can reach. Slowly repeat this movement and pay close attention to the tiny sensations on your palm. With practice and focus, about a foot away from your chest, you will feel a difference and this is where your aura begins.
Now imagine a rose outside of your aura. Any color, any degree of fullness - whatever feels right to you. Reach out with either a physical or mental hand and take that rose, bringing it into your aura. I hope you've used or seen a cotton candy machine, because if you haven't, this might be tough to imagine. Your chakras are dynamic, always moving. They're whirling like a whirlpool or a vortex or a cotton candy machine. Take the rose and put the blossom into the whirling edge of your chakra. It moves with the chakra and spins, and like a paper cone in a cotton candy machine as it whirls, it picks up the debris inside. Imagine this as a gray gunk like dust bunnies stuck to the rose. When the rose is 'full' or when there isn't any junk left in your chakra, take the rose back outside your aura and destroy it by any means that feels right to you. Maybe it catches on fire or explodes, or melts away with the rain, or whatever. Repeat if necessary to get all that nastiness out.
So now your chakra is clean but you may now be lacking energy in your aura, which is bad because it's incomplete or there may be room for something unhealthy to get in. So, imagine a golden or white ball of light descending from above you. Allow this ball to come into your aura and down through your body, filling in all those areas that are lacking.
Finally, lean over and shake yourself out. Sounds and looks weird, I know, but it can make difference to how you feel after doing this. Experiment with it maybe, and see if you feel disoriented, dizzy or have a headache those times that you don't shake yourself out.
Sarah
I didn't go back and reread that because it took forever to type. Let me know if something doesn't make sense and I'll edit.