Choosing The Right Yoga Beads: Mala Beads Meaning By Color

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Gemma Clarke

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Mala Beads Meaning By Color

Several things can influence a mala bead’s energy, properties, and qualities. Many people understand the material of the beads is significant but are unaware of another of the most critical factors – the color.

Yes, that’s right. The color of the beads determines the energy you’ll receive when wearing and meditating with them. As each color has specific associations and qualities, doesn’t it make sense to choose mala beads of a color that aligns with your intention?

So, to help you get the very best from this sacred meditation and spiritual tool, we’ve put together this guide to mala beads meaning by color.

Mala Beads Color Meanings

Every color has a unique spiritual meaning and carries a specific vibrational frequency. Moreover, with mala beads, the color’s properties combine with the qualities of the crystal or material. Here are the 10 most common mala bead colors and their meanings.

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Purple Mala Beads

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The color purple is well known for its connection to royalty and luxury. Purple is not just the color of royalty, though; it is also a very spiritual color. It is associated with the crown chakra and is about our connection to the universe and spiritual world. It is also linked to fantasy and magic, which gives it an air of mystery.

The most popular purple mala beads use Amethyst, like this one by Jovivi. This potent stone has many benefits, from enhancing your meditation practice to helping you develop spiritual abilities. It also clears negative energy, reduces insomnia, and improves memory.

Another purple stone you might come across is Sugilite, used by people who want to break negative emotional patterns and attachments and set boundaries. Sugilite also has potent abilities to relieve stress and worries.

Blue Mala Beads

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Light blue is linked to peace, calm, and relaxation. Wearing sky-blue mala beads can help you find more outer and inner peace and stay calm in challenging situations. Light blue is also the color of the throat chakra, related to communicating openly and freely and speaking your truth.

Dark blue/indigo has different associations and is the third eye chakra color. It is linked to intuition, imagination, mystic powers, and inspiration. If you want to cultivate more self-awareness or spiritual wisdom, indigo-colored mala beads are a good choice.

Popular blue natural stones used in authentic mala beads include turquoise, aventurine, and lapis lazuli. Turquoise promotes serenity, flushes negative energies from the mind, and supports detoxification in the body.

Blue Aventurine is excellent for balancing emotions and eliminating fear. It is one of the best stones for the throat chakra, promoting effective communication and self-expression. It can also encourage creativity and success.

Lapis lazuli is a stone used for third-eye chakra activation. Wearing a Lapis Lazuli mala like this one from ‘My Gems Rock‘ can help you cultivate more inner truth and awareness. It also helps clear mental fog, allowing you to solve problems, find solutions, and think more clearly.

Green Mala Beads

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The color green has many associations, including peace, nature, health, and personal growth. It is a well-known symbol of luck and represents rebirth, renewal, and immortality. In addition, green is the heart chakra color, which is all about unconditional love, compassion, understanding, and emotional healing.

Green mala beads are often made from the semi-precious gemstones Green aventurine or Jade, which help with heart chakra activation and emotional self-expression.

Green Aventurine is a joyful and positive stone that lifts your mood and improves overall well-being. It also promotes compassion, empathy, and self-love and increases your determination and perseverance.

Green Jade promotes harmony and prosperity and stimulates creativity and insight. It can help to release negative thoughts and heavy energy from the heart. Jade can be one of two minerals: jadeite or nephrite. Nephrite is extremely tough, so it makes for a highly durable mala like this one by Meru Beads.

Yellow Mala Beads

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Yellow is a cheery, fun color with many associations. It is linked to creativity, optimism, and enthusiasm. Yellow is also the color of the solar plexus chakra, the home of our personal power. Thus, wearing yellow mala beads can increase self-esteem, self-belief, self-confidence, courage, and resilience.

Citrine is the most popular yellow stone used in prayer beads, such as Awaken Your Kundalini‘s mala necklace. It aids personal growth, success, and prosperity. It has an uplifting energy that inspires, motivates, and keeps negative energies from entering your aura.

You may also find mala beads made from Honey Calcite, another solar plexus stone. It increases confidence, strength, and persistence, so it is an excellent choice if you have a goal-oriented intention.

Orange Mala Beads

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When you think of the color orange, you likely think of happiness and warmth. Orange is a joyful color, but it has many other beautiful qualities, such as creativity, pleasure, and playfulness.

Orange is the sacral chakra color, which is all about our ability to feel pleasure and joy. It relates to intimate energy, passion, emotional balance, and connection to our life purpose. The most common orange stones found in mala beads are carnelian, goldstone, or amber.

Carnelian is a solid sacral chakra healing stone that sparks energy, increases creativity, and helps amplify intimate and emotional expression. Goldstone is the stone of ambition, promoting courage, drive, and confidence to help you reach your goals.

Wearing orange beads made from amber like this Baltic Amber Half Necklace infuses the wearer with good luck, health, and happiness. Amber has many cleansing and healing properties for both physical and emotional ailments and, thus, is a good choice if you’re looking to boost your vitality.

Red Mala Beads

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Traditionally red represents passion, lust, anger, and danger. However, its spiritual properties include stability, safety, courage, and energy. Red is the root chakra color, which is associated with our sense of security, having our basic needs met, and our survival instincts.

If you have recently experienced a traumatic event that compromised your safety, wearing red mala beads could help you regain a sense of stability and security. Likewise, as the root chakra is about feeling grounded, red can help during periods of upheaval, such as moving home.

Red mala beads also help to give us the power and drive we need to face whatever challenges come our way and overcome obstacles. The gemstone red jasper contains a lot of dynamic energy to help us move forwards and gives us the courage needed to do so. Red Jasper is also used for protection and grounding.

Red tiger eye is another popular crystal used in mala beads, like this one from ‘Coai Om.’ Like jasper, red tiger eye is an energizing stone that increases motivation and stops us from giving up.

Lastly, you can also find red wooden mala beads made from rosewood, a sacred wood that clears negative energy, provides spiritual healing, and strengthens intuition. However, although it appears red, rosewood is more associated with the heart chakra than the root.

Pink Mala Beads

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As you would imagine, pink is related to love and connection to others and ourselves. Like green, pink relates to the heart chakra, with qualities like affection, compassion, self-love, and empathy. As a feminine color, wearing pink mala beads can also help to cultivate more yin energy.

The most common pink crystal used in mala beads is rose quartz. Rose quartz is the crystal of unconditional love, promoting harmony and trust in your relationships and friendships. In addition, rose quartz can dispels negativity and help with emotional turmoil like grief and heartbreak.

Another pink crystal worth knowing about is Rhodonite. Rhodonite mala beads like this one from BALI BALI help to release blocked or stagnated emotional energy that is keeping the heart close. Thus, wearing this stone around your neck promotes heart opening and emotional expansion while healing past hurts.

Black Mala Beads

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Black mala beads are a top choice if you want to protect yourself from negative energy or clear it from your aura. While black is associated with grief, depression, and sadness, wearing black malas can help you overcome these negative feelings and mindsets. The color black is also associated with sophistication, status, and success.

Most black mala beads will be made from Obsidian or Black Onyx crystals, known as protection stones.

Obsidian mala beads like this one from Sunyik can shield you from absorbing any pessimistic energy around you, including from places you are in or people you are with. It also increases mental clarity, relieves stress and tension headaches, and works through emotional blocks.

Black Onyx transforms negative energy into positive and creates a protective layer in our energetic fields. It also balances energies in the body and can help you move through grief and depression.

Another black crystal you may find in mala beads is Smoky Quartz. This stone neutralizes all negative vibrations, eliminates toxins from the body and mind, and protects against EMFs caused by electromagnetic radiation. It is also excellent for lowering stress and increasing positivity.

Brown Mala Beads

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Brown, like black, is a very grounding color. It is associated with the earth, ad planting roots and wearing it can evoke feelings of warmth, security, and wholesomeness. Brown malas are also a good choice if you want to cultivate more inner strength and resilience.

Most brown mala beads are made from wood like sandalwood or seeds, such as rudraksha or bodhi seeds. Sandalwood calms the mind, relieves mental stress, reduces anxiety, and can help you deepen your spiritual connection and feel closer to the divine.

Bodhi seeds are known for calming the nervous system and promoting inner peace, wisdom, and general spiritual balance. This certified Rudraksha seed mala beads necklace from Wonder Care help improve concentration, control stress, and lower high blood pressure.

White Mala Beads

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White is a standard color used in spiritual practice, representing purity and peace. In addition, it is associated with spaciousness, goodness, and various aspects of the spiritual realm, such as angels.

Both white and transparent colors are also associated with the crown chakra and are believed to have cleansing healing energy. Similarly, crystals of these colors are the most purifying.

Clear Quartz can amplify the qualities and intention of other stones. It is also used in manifestation and meditation to promote mental clarity and sharpness.

White Howlite, a white stone with dark streaks, is used to strengthen several mental faculties, such as memory, improve communication, and allow you to see things from new perspectives. Mala beads with this stone, like this one from BALI BALI, are perfect if you have an overactive mind or sleeping difficulties.

Final Thoughts On Mala Beads Meaning By Color

Rather than simply choosing beads that look nice, learning the mala meditation beads meanings can make a huge difference. Now you know the mala beads meaning by color, you’ll be able to get the most out of this meditation tool and go deeper into your spiritual practices.

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About Gemma Clarke

Gemma Clarke is a certified and experienced yoga & meditation instructor. She has been practicing meditation since 2014 and teaching since 2018. Gemma specializes in yoga and mindfulness for emotional wellbeing, and she has taught in Thailand, Cambodia, and the UK. Gemma is passionate about sharing her expertise and experience with meditation to inspire others to live more mindfully, becoming happier, healthier, and calmer. Follow me: Instagram | LinkedIn