Smoothies are one of those things that can change drastically with the seasons.

And this is wonderful, because who wants to drink the same smoothie, day after day, week after week, month after month? Not me, that’s for sure.

I love to have fun with my food and to play around with what energies certain foods possess and how they can change our mood, our own energy and even the balance of our chakras.

Some would say wacky, I would say wonderfully fun.

A little over a year ago, a group of women, including myself, started a worker-owned vegetarian cafe cooperative.  Smoothies are one of our main staples, especially in the summer. We change our menu with the seasons, and of course, summertime always seems to be the most fun because of the abundance of local ingredients.

As we were creating our smoothie menu, we decided to create a smoothie for each chakra. It was so hard to narrow down our creations that we ended up with 10 smoothies! Three for the root chakra, just to make sure our customers had ample opportunity to be well grounded, and then a high heart chakra smoothie for a little taste of universal love.

We created the recipes based on several criteria. The colour of the smoothie had to coincide with the colour most often associated with the chakra, combined with the use of ingredients that really “felt” like they activated each chakra that we worked with. We tried and tested so many recipes, involving many opinions, until we finally reached a place of consensus on how the smoothies made each of our chakra centres feel.

I understand that all of this might sound a bit bizarre, but when you get a few witches in the kitchen, all sorts of magic and myth can come to life. If this concept of using food to balance and activate your chakras systems seems like fun, start paying attention to how certain foods make you feel, research the chakra systems so you have an understanding of what they are and where each one is located, and then use your intuition to choose ingredients that you feel will be helpful to your own balance of energy.

Each one of the featured smoothie recipes here has the potential to activate and balance certain chakras. Add your own intention while preparing and consuming for an even more potent experience.

These summertime smoothies will surely make your mouth water and your heart sing songs of joy.

Heart & Soul

1/4 cucumber (based on a medium sized long English cuke)

1 cup green grapes (fresh or frozen)

3/4 cup frozen pineapple

3 leaves fresh kale

1/2 – 3/4 cup water

sprig of fresh mint

garnish with another sprig of fresh mint for extra digestive delights

The Heart & Soul smoothie has the potential to activate and balance the heart chakra with its bold green colour and its light, complex and nurturing mix of ingredients. It is also refreshing, alkalizing (add extra kale and lemon or lime juice for an even more alkaline experience) and full of goodness.

One Love

1 1/4 cup strawberries (fresh or frozen)

3/4 cup rhubarb (fresh or frozen)

2 tbsp honey (local & raw)

5 rose petals

1 pinch Himalayan salt

1 cup water

sprinkle of bee pollen on top for a bold & beautiful garnish

The One Love smoothie has the potential to activate and balance the high heart chakra, which is located between the heart chakra and the throat chakra. When I imagine what universal love feels like, it is sweet, with undertones of tartness (we’ve got to be a bit realistic here right?!), and with a rose coloured view. It is amazingly delicious and refreshingly decadent, just like universal love!

True Vision

1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1 tbsp chia seeds

splash of fresh lime juice

pinch of true cinnamon powder

pinch of vanilla powder

1/2 – 3/4 cup water

garnish with fresh lime zest for a little extra zing

The True Vision smoothie has the potential to activate and balance the throat and third eye chakras. When drinking it, you can actually feel your throat clearing and your third eye waking up. If you feel like you need more activation on one of these chakras over the other, send energy to the chosen chakra when drinking the smoothie. It is full of flavour and high in vitamins.

When making smoothies, I like to try and balance the fresh to frozen ratio to create a nice consistency that isn’t too cold or warm, something that is just right, in case Goldilocks shows up for breakfast!

Have fun with these recipes. Use them for inspiration. Use your own intuition to create something original and nourishing for yourself. And share your creations with your friends, because that’s what we’re here for—encouraging and providing each other with our ideas and culinary delights!

Thanks to all the members of the Earth Mama Love Kitchen Collective for the inspiration behind these recipes.

Author: Morgan Leigh Callison

Image: kawaiikiri/Flickr

Editors: Catherine Monkman; Travis May