When we listen to the body, we don’t just heal symptoms… we begin to understand our story.
– Inna Segal
Energy affects everything: how we feel, heal, and show up in everyday life. When we understand the chakra system, we start to see why certain patterns repeat, why the body speaks through specific symptoms, and how we can bring ourselves back into balance in very real, practical ways.
In this insightful interview, Stacey Chillemi from The Advisor sits down with intuitive healer and bestselling author Inna Segal to walk through the chakras from crown to root, exploring what each center holds, how it can become blocked, and simple practices to reconnect. The conversation is gentle, grounded, and empowering; an invitation to listen to your body and to your own inner guidance.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory?
I’m delighted to be here. My work really began when I started listening to the body and realizing it holds an incredible amount of wisdom about our health, emotions, and purpose. Over time, I developed a way of working that blends visualization, color therapy, breathwork, and, of course, chakra awareness so people can understand what’s really happening energetically. That work grew into books like The Secret Language of Your Body and into programs where I guide people to explore their own energy centers in a practical, grounded way. My intention has always been to help people connect to themselves, not to make them dependent on someone else for healing.
What are chakras, really?
Chakras are energy centers in the body that are constantly giving us information about how we’re living. From what I’ve seen, they spin in both directions, and they have a front and back aspect, and those different aspects can reveal different parts of our story. They connect to timelines, organs, experiences we’ve had, and even to archetypes… so they don’t just tell us about the body, they tell us about our psyche and how we embody life. When we actually connect with them, we get the opportunity to understand ourselves and then make conscious changes based on what shows up. That’s why I love teaching this work more deeply… because once people “see” their chakras, they start to see their patterns.
How do imbalances in the chakras show up?
They rarely show up as something mystical… they show up as life. We notice them through behaviors, emotional blocks, patterns that keep repeating, or parts of ourselves that feel numb, overwhelmed, or disassociated. Sometimes it’s anxiety, fear, trauma responses, or the same kind of relationship dynamic over and over again. Other times, it’s very physical; an issue in a particular part of the body that links right back to that energy center. Almost everything we experience is stored in the chakras, which is why when I describe them, most people relate to several of them at once.
Can we walk through the chakras from the crown down?
Yes. The crown chakra is about allowing divinity or higher wisdom to guide you. In its light expression, it’s like the sage; you feel inspired, you can make clear decisions, you sense your purpose, and you don’t even always know where the knowing comes from. When it’s closed or shut down, people can become overly skeptical, stop believing, and focus only on the physical. On the body level, that can look like headaches or nervous-system-related issues, because the energy isn’t flowing the way it’s meant to. So already at the crown, we can see how purpose, belief, and health are interlinked.
What is the third eye about?
The third eye, just above the eyebrows, is connected to the pineal and pituitary glands and is still part of our spiritual connection. But it’s also very practical, it’s about vision: can I see beyond a challenge, can I turn a challenge into an opportunity, can I envision a future that is more beautiful than the present? In the shadow, this chakra becomes the judge, and we start procrastinating or making excuses for not moving forward. In the light, it becomes the visionary who can create. When people lose their ability to focus on what’s inspiring or positive, they often lose inner vision, and sometimes even their actual vision is affected because they can’t “see the bigger picture.”
Why does intuition need refinement?
A lot of people think intuition just opens and that’s it, but that’s not accurate. If you keep using intuition without refining it, without training the mind to be objective and logical, the head area can become overworked. I’ve seen very well-known teachers become angry or aggressive because they were using intuition without doing the deeper exercises. Concentration practices help us make intuition clearer and calmer, so we’re not mixing our personal state with what we’re receiving. When we refine intuition, it becomes a tool that serves us and others without draining us.
Can you explain the simple concentration exercise you mentioned?
Yes, it’s very simple and very powerful. You take an ordinary object, a pen is perfect, and for two minutes, you focus only on that pen and create logical, connected thoughts about it. You might think about its color, its cap, who made it, how many people work for that company… the point is to keep the mind on one thread without letting it jump all over the place. You do this daily and gradually increase the time, and afterward, you draw the energy to the back of the head and focus on words like “confidence” and “calm.” This settles the nervous system and trains the mind so that when you tune into people or your own body, your perception is clearer and not clouded by emotional noise.
What is happening in the throat chakra?
The throat chakra is our place of voice and participation. It’s where the vision of the third eye meets the compassion of the heart, so if we don’t express, the energy often gets pushed to the back and can show up as neck pain, thyroid issues, or just a feeling of being silenced. Our voice carries our uniqueness; no one has the same voice, so how we use it matters. Many of us were taught early on that our real sensitivity, creativity, or truth wasn’t welcome, so we hid it, and the body kept score. That’s why so many challenges actually start in the throat, even if they don’t show up there physically.
Why is communication so central to health?
Because when we don’t communicate, we disconnect from ourselves and from others. The throat chakra is about being honest about who we are, and when we push that down, it has to go somewhere else in the body. Sometimes people use tools that analyze the voice, and those are fascinating because they show how much information is actually in our sound, but we still need to come back to real self-connection. We also need to learn to communicate differently with different people; what we say, how we say it, and whether it’s coming from the heart and vision together. That’s a lifelong refinement.
What does the heart chakra teach us?
The heart is about intimacy, relating, and the ability to feel our feelings instead of suppressing them. So many health issues — heart attacks, high blood pressure, strokes — are linked to not working through hurt, cutting people off, or running away from what needs to be healed. Real self-love is not just saying “I love myself,” it’s a daily practice from the moment you wake up: do I connect to the divine, do I listen to my heart, what do I eat, how do I speak, where do I place my attention? Every action can either nourish the heart or close it. And the heart is also deeply connected to purpose… it asks “Why am I here?” and “Why am I choosing this?”
How is the heart connected to purpose and opportunities?
In the heart, we have archetypes; in the shadow, the saboteur that pushes opportunities away because of fear; in the light, the inner guide that brings them closer. When we follow the heart, we often reach a “now or never” moment, when it’s time to act on what we’ve been feeling. The heart wants alignment between soul and action. When we ignore it, we procrastinate and stay in safety; when we listen, doors open in very surprising ways. So purpose isn’t separate from the heart; it’s expressed through it.
What about the solar plexus?
The solar plexus is our feeling and processing center. It’s connected to the digestive system — stomach, intestines, liver, spleen — and many people carry their stress there. Often, digestive issues are not just about food but about unprocessed experiences that were pushed away or numbed. The archetypes here are the victim and the victorious self: we can feed the part that says “life happens to me,” or we can feed the part that says “I can assimilate this and take action.” This is also where we begin to back ourselves and ask, “What do I need to learn, what action do I need to take, what’s my investment in myself?”
What is stored in the sacral chakra?
The sacral holds a lot of family conditioning, creativity, feminine energy, and identity… especially from ages 7 to 14. It asks, “Who am I? Am I lovable? Am I attractive? Can I be creative?” When this area is blocked, people can experience reproductive issues or feel disconnected from their femininity, especially in a society that pushes constant doing. Unfinished dreams and painful relationships that we “just put away” can sit there, too. That’s why slowing down, nurturing, and allowing ourselves to feel can be such a healing antidote for the sacral.
Why is feminine flow so important here?
Because the sacral is about allowing, not just pushing. I once contrasted a very busy, full life with someone who practiced femininity by resting, journaling, nourishing herself, and just being — and it showed me how fast many of us are going. That feminine rhythm actually supports the sacral to stay open and creative instead of tense and overworked. When we ignore that, we can see things like cysts or reproductive challenges because the energy of “giving birth” to ideas or experiences isn’t being expressed. So sometimes the lesson is simply: slow down.
What do we need to know about the root chakra?
The root is connected to ages 0 to 7 — tribe, family, survival, and a very real sexual energy. We absorb the beliefs of whoever is caring for us because our own energetic body isn’t fully formed yet. This chakra is very intuitive and very manifesting — it attracts what we focus on, whether we want it or not. There are two archetypes here: the inner child and later the prostitute archetype, which, in its shadow, is about living out of integrity and doing what others told us to do; in its light, it becomes the divine lover of life, unmanipulable and aligned. Lower back issues, bowel issues, and even headaches can be linked back here because the body reflects itself.
Is it true that once a chakra is activated, it stays clear forever?
That’s a nice idea, but it isn’t how it works. Chakras don’t shut down unless we die, but they do contract and expand depending on what we’re living and whether we’re doing the real work. I’ve seen people become aware of a chakra but avoid the deeper issue, and over time, that chakra can look almost empty, especially in the solar plexus or sacral, because the shadow parts were being fed instead of the wisdom. The healthier approach is to stay connected, explore, and keep doing the practices that bring energy back. Healing is alive, not a one-time event.
If someone wants to start today, what’s the best way?
Go slowly and with curiosity. Take one chakra a week and really explore it — journal, move your hands over it, feel the energy, ask it questions, notice what shows up emotionally and physically. Give yourself seven weeks to discover instead of trying to rush through everything in one day. When we do things with detail and patience, the chakras start to reveal their wisdom. That’s when the work becomes joyful.
Should people keep doing the concentration practice alongside chakra work?
Yes, because it calms the nervous system and makes your perception more objective. When your mind is scattered, it’s easy to confuse your own state with what your body or someone else’s energy is actually saying. That little practice, even just a couple of minutes a day, trains you to stay present. Then, when you tune into a chakra, you’re seeing more clearly and not through the lens of old emotions.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
They can go to innasegal.com for all masterclasses, courses, books, events, and more! There’s a lot there for anyone who wants to explore. You can also stay connected with me on Facebook.
I invite people to look at the new Awaken the Healer Within masterclass at innasegal.com/masterclass because it helps you go deeper in a structured way… so people can truly integrate.
This was so insightful, Inna! Thank you for breaking it down in such a real, grounded way.
Thank you, Stacey. I loved our conversation, and I hope everyone listening gets curious, patient, and kind with their own body and energy.
