9 Signs You Have Karmic Blocks (And Which One Is Holding You Back the Most)

Have you ever felt like you are doing everything right , thinking positively, working hard, setting intentions , and yet something keeps pulling you back? Like an invisible hand is holding you just short of the breakthrough you deserve?

In energy healing, we call this a karmic block. It is not a punishment. It is not your fault. It is simply an energetic imprint , carried forward from past actions, relationships, or unresolved emotions , that quietly shapes your present reality.

Over years of practising Reiki and Karuna Reiki, I have worked with hundreds of students and clients who came to me with this exact feeling. What they discovered was not a mystery. It was a pattern. And once we identified which karmic block was most active, the healing could begin.

In this post I am sharing nine of the most common karmic blocks I have seen , ranked from most subtle (the ones you might not even notice) down to the most deeply rooted. See which ones you recognise in your own life.

Sign #9: You always feel like you owe someone

This block shows up as a chronic feeling that you must earn your place in relationships, at work, or even in your own family. You give endlessly, find it hard to receive, and feel quietly anxious when you are not being useful to someone.

In Reiki terms, the solar plexus carries our sense of personal power and boundaries. When karmic debt imprints are held here, the energy literally contracts , and life reflects that contraction back to you as situations where you are always the giver and rarely the receiver.

Notice: Do you apologise often even when you are not wrong? Do you feel guilty saying no? This is karmic debt energy seeking resolution.

Sign #8: You sabotage good things before they fully arrive

A new opportunity arrives, a relationship starts going well, an income source opens up , and then, almost automatically, something in you moves to disrupt it. You pick a fight, you procrastinate until the window closes, you tell yourself it was not real anyway.

This is one of the most heartbreaking karmic patterns because the person suffering it often genuinely does not understand why they keep doing it. The root cause is a deep energetic imprint that says: ‘Good things are taken away from me, so I will take them away from myself first.’ Safety karma lives at the root and sacral levels.

Reiki healing for this block focuses on grounding and building a new energetic story , one where receiving is safe, and staying is allowed.

Sign #7: The same argument or situation keeps repeating

Different people, different situations, same emotional experience. You keep ending up in the same argument. The same dynamic plays out at every workplace, with every partner, in every circle.

Karmic loops are the universe’s way of pointing to unresolved energy that has not yet been learned or released. The situation will keep returning , sometimes in different costumes , until the energy underneath it is cleared.

In my experience working with clients, the throat chakra is often involved here because the unresolved piece is almost always something that needs to be expressed, acknowledged, or finally spoken.

Sign #6: You feel unworthy of receiving

Compliments make you uncomfortable. Money arriving feels like it should not really be yours. Love offered to you feels suspicious. This block lives in the heart chakra and often has roots not just in this lifetime but in ancestral and generational energy patterns.

Worthiness karma is quietly one of the most widespread blocks I see , particularly in women, caregivers, and highly spiritual people who have been taught that wanting things for themselves is selfish.

The Violet Flame is one of the most powerful transmutation energies for this kind of block. Combined with Reiki, it literally dissolves the old energetic verdict , ‘I am not enough’ , and replaces it with open-hearted receptivity.

Sign #5: Guilt follows you even when you have done nothing wrong

This is guilt that has no clear source in the present. You feel responsible for other people’s emotions, for things outside your control, for events from the past you cannot change. Even when you are enjoying yourself, a quiet voice asks whether you should really be allowed to feel this good.

Guilt karma can be carried forward from past-life experiences or absorbed from family lineages where suffering was the expected norm. When it sits in the energy field unexamined, it acts like a dimmer switch on your joy, your confidence, and your ability to fully say yes to life.

Clearing this block is one of the core focuses of our Karmic Blocks 21-Day Challenge this month , because guilt is often the foundation beneath several other blocks on this list.

Sign #4: You attract the same type of difficult relationship

The controlling partner. The emotionally unavailable friend. The colleague who undermines you. If you have met this person more than once , in different bodies , you are experiencing relational karma. Soul contracts that were never completed, debts of emotion that were never settled, bonds that were formed in pain and never properly released.

Reiki and Violet Flame healing for relational karma works beautifully through distant healing, because the energy does not require the other person to be present or even willing. You clear your side of the energetic cord. That alone shifts the entire dynamic , or releases you from it entirely.

I have seen this block transform lives. When a client clears their relational karma, the people around them literally begin to behave differently. Or new, healthier people begin arriving.

Sign #3: Abundance drains away as fast as it arrives

Money comes , and then, somehow, it is always gone by the time you want to use it for something meaningful. Opportunities open and close. Projects get so close to launch and then stall. This is not bad luck. This is financial karma.

Abundance karma often has deep generational roots. Many people grow up hearing beliefs like “money is hard to keep,” “rich people are greedy,”. In religious teachings, money is described as the cause of problems, while struggle and poverty are sometimes seen as signs of goodness or humility.

Over time, these ideas settle into the subconscious mind and begin running quietly in the background of your financial reality. Even when you consciously want abundance, these old energetic stories can create guilt, fear, or resistance around receiving more.

In Money Reiki and Karuna Reiki, we specifically address the root and sacral energy centres to dissolve these programmes and replace them with an energetic cleansing , a genuine capacity to hold and circulate abundance.

Sign #2: You feel an unexplained heaviness, especially around the heart

Not clinical depression. Not ordinary sadness. Something older , a heaviness that has no exact name in your present life. You might have a beautiful life by all external measures, and yet there is this weight. Some people describe it as carrying sorrow that does not feel entirely theirs.

That feeling is not imaginary. Grief karma is real. It is the emotional residue of losses , in this life, in past lives, in your ancestral line , that was never fully processed through the energy field. It sits in the heart chakra like sediment, softening joy, muting colour, making everything feel slightly effortful.

Karuna Reiki works particularly deeply with grief karma. The Karuna symbols carry a quality of compassionate transformation that reaches into these very old emotional imprints in a way that feels both gentle and profound.

Sign #1: You are carrying a subconscious vow of poverty

How common I see this: Very common

This is the deepest financial karmic block and the most hidden, because it does not feel like a block at all. It feels like just the way things are.

A vow of poverty is a soul-level agreement, usually made in a past life, often in a religious or monastic context, where you committed to renouncing wealth as a form of spiritual devotion. The vow made perfect sense in that lifetime. But the soul carried it forward, lifetime after lifetime, as an unconscious programme that quietly says: abundance and spirituality cannot coexist. If I am truly spiritual, I should not have too much.

This block shows up in spiritual people, healers, and teachers with particular frequency. You may love your work deeply and yet find it almost impossible to charge fairly for it. You may feel guilty about wanting financial comfort. You may unconsciously turn away opportunities for wealth because somewhere underneath, receiving abundantly feels like a betrayal of who you are.

The beautiful truth is that the vow served its purpose in another time. You are no longer in that life. You are allowed to release it, fully, completely, with gratitude for what it once meant. And when this vow is cleared, the change in a person’s relationship with money is often the most dramatic shift I witness in any healing work.

Which block is most active for you?

Read back through the nine signs above. Notice which ones created a physical response in you as you read , a tightening, a recognition, a quiet yes. That is your energy telling you something important.

You do not need to have all nine. Even one deeply rooted karmic block can quietly shape your entire experience of life. And clearing it , even partially , changes things in ways that ripple outward into health, relationships, finances, and peace of mind.

How Reiki and Violet Flame clear karmic blocks?

Karmic blocks are energetic in nature, which means they respond to energetic healing. Traditional Reiki channels universal life force energy to restore flow through the chakras and release stagnant imprints. Karuna Reiki adds a layer of deep compassionate healing that reaches into older and more complex karmic patterns.

The Violet Flame is one of the most powerful spiritual tools for karmic transmutation. It does not suppress or avoid the block , it transforms the energy at its source, shifting the vibrational frequency of the imprint so it can dissolve and be released.

If you want to understand the Violet Flame in a deeper and more practical way, this book is a beautiful resource.
“Violet Flame: Alchemy for Personal Change” by Elizabeth Clare Prophet explains how the Violet Flame can help transform negative energy, emotional heaviness, and karmic patterns through prayers, affirmations, and spiritual practice. ✨💜

You can check it here: Violet Flame: Alchemy for Personal Change

When these three , Reiki, Karuna Reiki, and the Violet Flame , are combined in a dedicated session, the effect is cumulative. Clients often report feeling lighter after the very first session.

Frequently asked questions

What is a karmic block?

A karmic block is an energetic imprint , usually formed through unresolved emotions, actions, or experiences across lifetimes or generations , that creates a repeating pattern in your present life. Karma is a simply energy pattern that has not yet been cleared.

Can karmic blocks be cleared completely?

Yes. Some blocks clear in a single focused session; others are layered and respond best to consistent clearing work over time, which is why a 21-day practice is so effective. Each layer of clearing shifts your energetic frequency and opens new possibilities in your daily life.

Do I need to be a Reiki practitioner to clear karmic blocks?

Yes and no. If you are already familiar with energy healing practices like the Violet Flame and understand how to work with that energy, you can absolutely practice karmic clearing on your own.

However, if you are completely new to energy healing, Reiki, or the Violet Flame, it is usually better to take guidance from a Reiki practitioner or healer. They can help you understand the process, work through deeper blocks safely, and support you during the healing journey.

How do I know if a karmic block is clearing?

Common signs include feeling lighter or more at peace, old situations resolving naturally, changes in dream patterns, a new sense of perspective about long-standing problems, or emotions arising briefly and then releasing. Every person’s experience is different.

What is the Violet Flame and why is it used for karmic clearing?

The Violet Flame is a high-frequency spiritual energy associated with transformation and transmutation. In healing practice, it is invoked to convert the vibrational frequency of old karmic imprints , literally changing stuck energy into light. It is gentle, safe, and profoundly effective.

You might also enjoy

• The Ultimate Violet Flame Beginner’s Guide | Easiest way to Transmute Karma
• What is Money Reiki and how does it help with financial blocks
• How distant Reiki healing works , the science behind it

Final thoughts

Karmic blocks are not a life sentence. They are an invitation , from your own energy, from your soul , to finally put down something you have been carrying far longer than you needed to.

Whether you join our 21-day challenge, book a personal session, or simply sit with one of the signs above and breathe some gentle awareness into it , you have already begun. Awareness is the first act of healing.

I am here if you want to go deeper.

Reiki Blessings,