9 Chakra System Explained – Beyond 7 Chakras With Sound Healing

9 Chakra System Explained – A Healer’s View of the 7 Known Chakras, the Earth Chakra, and the Star Chakra

In my work with singing bowls, most people begin with what they already know — the 7 chakras. These seven energy centers are the foundation of chakra healing, meditation, and inner balance. They help people understand their emotional state, physical grounding, mental clarity, and spiritual awareness within the body. For many people, this is where the journey starts, and for a long time, this is enough.

But in deeper sound healing practice, especially during longer and more focused sessions, I have seen that energy does not stop at the body. Once the seven main chakras begin to balance, the experience can naturally expand downward into deeper grounding and upward into higher awareness. This is where the 9 chakra system becomes meaningful.

In this approach, the 9 chakra system includes the 7 chakras that many people already know, plus two additional energy centers: the Earth Chakra below the feet and the Star Chakra above the head. Together, they complete a fuller energetic path — one that connects you not only to your body, but also to the Earth beneath you and the spiritual space above you.

Start With the 7 Chakras You Already Know

The 9 chakra system does not replace the traditional 7 chakras. It builds on them. The first seven chakras are still the core of personal healing work. They relate to grounding, creativity, willpower, love, communication, intuition, and spiritual awareness within the self. If these seven are weak, blocked, or unstable, higher energy work often feels scattered or unbalanced.

That is why I always tell people to begin with the foundation first. The 7 chakras teach you how energy moves through the body, how emotions affect balance, and how awareness begins to open from within.

If you want to explore the full meaning of the 7 chakras in more detail, you can read the complete page here:

This page gives the proper base. Once that is understood, the 9 chakra system becomes much easier to understand, because the extra two chakras are not separate from the seven — they extend the flow of the same energy system.

Why the 9 Chakra System Goes Beyond the Body

In sound healing, there is often a moment when the vibration of the bowl is no longer felt only in the ears or in the body. It begins to feel larger than that. First the muscles relax, then the breath softens, then the mind becomes quieter. After that, many people begin to feel either a deeper pull downward, as if they are settling more fully into the Earth, or a sense of openness upward, as if the space above the head is becoming lighter and clearer.

This is why I find the 9 chakra system so useful. It helps explain an experience that many people already feel during healing, but may not have words for. The Earth Chakra gives that deeper rooted feeling. The Star Chakra gives that expanded, open, spiritual feeling. Together with the seven chakras in the body, they create a more complete healing map.

The Two Additional Chakras in the 9 Chakra System

In this version of the 9 chakra system, the additional chakras are not both above the head. One is below you, and one is above you. This matters because true energetic balance is not only about rising upward into spiritual awareness. It is also about anchoring yourself properly. A person who only seeks higher energy without grounding can feel unstable, mentally restless, or emotionally scattered. A person who is only grounded without spiritual openness can feel heavy, stuck, or uninspired.

The Earth Chakra and the Star Chakra create balance in both directions. One roots you. The other lifts you. One connects you to the physical world. The other connects you to subtle awareness. And when singing bowls are used with intention, both of these extra chakras can be supported in a very natural way.

Earth Chakra – The Energy Below Your Feet

The Earth Chakra is located below the feet, outside the physical body. While the Root Chakra helps you feel safe, stable, and present within yourself, the Earth Chakra takes that grounding even deeper. It connects your energy into the Earth itself. This chakra is associated with anchoring, support, belonging, stability, and a more complete sense of being held by life.

In healing sessions, this chakra becomes especially important for people who feel anxious, overactive, mentally overwhelmed, emotionally unsteady, or disconnected from the present moment. Sometimes a person appears calm on the outside, but their energy feels like it is floating. They are not fully settled. In those cases, sound work is not only about opening awareness — it is first about bringing the person back down into themselves.

That is how I understand the Earth Chakra. It is not abstract. It is deeply practical. It is the part of your energy that says, “I am here. I am supported. I can stay in my body without fear.” When this chakra is strong, people often feel heavier in a good way — more centered, calmer, slower, steadier, and less reactive. Their breath drops lower. Their thoughts lose intensity. Their presence becomes more rooted.

With singing bowls, grounding tones and lower vibrations can help support this process. The sound does not need to be dramatic. Often it is the steady, warm, resonant tones that work best. Before someone can move into higher awareness, they often need to feel the Earth first. This is why I believe the Earth Chakra is one of the most overlooked but important additions to the chakra system.

Star Chakra – The Energy Above Your Head

The Star Chakra is located above the head and represents your connection to expanded awareness, higher consciousness, and spiritual openness beyond the personal self. While the Crown Chakra is already associated with spiritual connection, the Star Chakra goes one step beyond that. It is not just about awareness within your own spiritual experience — it is about reaching into something greater, wider, and more universal.

In sound healing, this chakra is often felt when a person enters a quieter and more spacious meditative state. There may be a sensation of lightness, a feeling of openness above the head, or a subtle sense that the mind is no longer working in the same ordinary way. The person may not always be able to explain it clearly, but they often say they felt more open, more connected, more peaceful, or somehow beyond their normal mental noise.

This is how I describe the Star Chakra. It is the opening above you. It is the energy of expansion, inspiration, subtle guidance, and spiritual spaciousness. It is not something that should be forced or chased. In fact, when people try too hard to reach higher states without grounding, the experience can become confusing. But when the lower chakras are balanced and the Earth Chakra is stable, the Star Chakra opens more naturally and safely.

When this chakra is supported, people often experience a sense of peace that feels bigger than ordinary relaxation. They may feel clearer without needing answers, lighter without losing stability, and more connected without becoming overwhelmed. In this way, the Star Chakra completes the upper part of the 9 chakra system just as the Earth Chakra completes the lower part.

Why Earth Chakra and Star Chakra Must Work Together

One of the biggest mistakes in spiritual practice is trying to rise without rooting. Many people are drawn to the idea of higher chakras, spiritual awakening, and expanded consciousness, but they skip the grounding that makes those experiences stable and meaningful. This is why I like the Earth Chakra and Star Chakra model so much. It reminds us that energy should move in both directions.

You are not meant to be only grounded and heavy, and you are not meant to be only open and floating. Real balance is both. The Earth Chakra keeps you anchored, embodied, and supported. The Star Chakra keeps you open, uplifted, and spiritually aware. When these two work with the seven chakras in the body, the whole system becomes more complete.

In practical healing terms, this means energy can move:

• from the Earth upward through the body into awareness, and
• from spiritual awareness downward into the body and into lived presence.

This is what makes the 9 chakra system feel more whole. It is not only about becoming spiritual. It is about becoming balanced between Earth and spirit.

How Singing Bowls Support the Full 9 Chakra Experience

Many people first buy a singing bowl for relaxation, meditation, or the beauty of its sound. But with regular practice, the bowl becomes much more than that. It becomes a way to tune the body, settle emotions, clear mental heaviness, and create space for awareness to shift.

When used for chakra work, singing bowls can help in two important ways. First, they support the seven main chakras by bringing attention and vibration into the body. Second, they help create the conditions in which the Earth Chakra and Star Chakra can also be felt more clearly. A grounded tone can support settling downward. A clear, spacious tone can support opening upward. Over time, this creates not just relaxation, but a fuller energetic experience.

This is why some people begin with a single bowl and later feel drawn to a full chakra set. A single bowl can be powerful, especially when chosen well. But a chakra singing bowl set gives more flexibility for working through the whole system in a more intentional way.

Do You Need to Work With All 9 Chakras Right Away?

Not necessarily. If you are new to chakra healing, it is still best to start with the seven chakras you already know. Learn how your body responds. Learn how your breath changes. Learn how sound affects your emotional state. That is already meaningful work.

But if you have been practicing for some time and feel that your experience is going beyond the body — either into stronger grounding or into a wider sense of openness — then the Earth Chakra and Star Chakra model can help you understand what you are feeling. It gives language to an experience that many people already have during meditation and sound healing.

You do not need to force the 9 chakra system. You only need to allow it to become relevant when your practice naturally grows into it.

From the Earth to the Stars – A More Complete View of Chakra Healing

The beauty of the 9 chakra system is that it does not ask you to abandon the traditional 7 chakras. Instead, it honors them and then extends their meaning. The seven chakras remain the core of personal healing. The Earth Chakra deepens your grounding below. The Star Chakra expands your awareness above. Together, they create a fuller energetic picture.

As a healer, this is the way I prefer to explain it: the 7 chakras help you understand yourself, the Earth Chakra helps you stay rooted, and the Star Chakra helps you stay open. When all of them work together, healing feels less fragmented and more complete.

That is why this system matters. It is not only about having more chakras to talk about. It is about creating a better balance between stability and expansion, body and spirit, grounding and higher awareness. And that is exactly where singing bowls can become such a powerful companion.