Weaver Kathy Litchfield creates these very special scarves with a meditation for enhancing the positive and energizing qualities of the “chakras,” or the body’s specific energy centers. Each chakra is a center of activity that receives and expresses life force energy. By focusing one’s attention on a particular chakra, by wearing a scarf woven in the chakra’s traditional colors for instance, one can enhance characteristics related to the chakra, or bring new, positive elements into one’s life.

A wonderful book about chakras is “Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self,” by Anodea Judith.

The First or Root Chakra (base of spine)

Color: Red; Element: Earth. Has to do with self-preservation and survival, physical body, stability, security and health. Working with the Root Chakra can enhance stability, grounding, connection to the Earth, physical health and trust.

 

The Second Chakra (lower abdomen/genital area)

Color: Orange; Element: Water. Has to do with sexuality, giving/receiving, movement and desire. Working with the Second Chakra can enhance one’s ability to experience pleasure, deepen emotions, work creatively with others and “go with the flow.”

 

The Third or Solar Plexus Chakra (above the navel, below the chest)

Color: Yellow; Element: Fire. Has to do with the central nervous system, power, self-control, centered-ness and autonomy. Working with the Third Chakra can enhance self esteem, balance the ego, confidence, sense of humor and one’s personal power.

 

The Fourth or Heart Chakra (center of the chest)

Color: Green; Element: Air. Has to do with love, self-acceptance, relationships, empathy and compassion. Working with the Heart Chakra can enhance peer and family relationships, romantic relationships, compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, good immune systems, and a peaceful way of living from the heart.

 

The Fifth or Throat Chakra (throat area)

Color: Bright Sky Blue; Element: Ether. Has to do with communication, speech, sound and thyroid. Working with the Throat Chakra can enhance clear communication, expressing oneself through creative endeavors, speaking one’s truth, communicating with clear intention, power of the spoken word, honesty, creative living and thinking.

 

The Sixth or Third Eye Chakra (center of the forehead between the eyebrows)

Color: Indigo (dark blue); Element: Light. Has to do with seeing beyond day-to-day functioning, visualization, intuition, dreams and vision. Working with the Third Eye Chakra can enhance intuition, imagination, perception, memory, accessing one’s dreams for positive growth, seeing things with clarity, and manifesting vision.

 

The Seventh or Crown Chakra (top of the head)

Color: Violet; Element: Thought. Has to do with universal understanding, higher power, belief systems, divinity and unification of the higher self with the human body. Working with the Crown Chakra can enhance idealism, selfless service, open-mindedness¸ thoughtfulness, the ability to perceive, analyze and assimilate information, wisdom, mastery and broad understanding.