Root Chakra
(Muladhara)
My student Anne recently called me to schedule a private yoga
session. A few months ago, she'd moved from Georgia to the
Bay Area for her husband's work, and she was having difficulty
finding a new job as a graphic designer. While she felt good
about their relocation, her house was unfamiliar, she missed
her relatives in Atlanta, she worried about finding work,
and she was feeling tired and worried about coming down with
a cold.
If Anne had consulted a job
counselor, a therapist, and a doctor, each of her problems
might have been treated as separate—and certainly she
could successfully tackle them in this way. But because for
years I have looked at life using the lens of the chakra system,
a way of understanding human life that is woven into both
yoga and traditional Indian medicine, I was able to see the
common ground in all of Anne's issues. Even more important,
I was able to suggest yoga poses and other practices I was
fairly sure would support her in facing each of her challenges.
Anne's symptoms sounded to
me like a first chakra deficiency. That was hardly surprising,
as the recent changes in her life presented her with classic
first chakra challenges. Centered at the perineum and the
base of the spine and called Muladhara Chakra (Root Chakra),
this energy vortex is involved in tending to our survival
needs, establishing a healthy sense of groundedness, taking
good basic care of the body, and purging the body of wastes.
The associated body parts include the base of the spine, the
legs, feet, and the large intestine.
Circumstances that pull up
our roots and cause a first chakra deficiency (like Anne's)
include traveling, relocation, feeling fearful, and big changes
in our body, family, finances, and business. Some people,
often those with busy minds and active imaginations, don't
need special challenges to become deficient in this chakra;
they feel ungrounded most of the time, living more in the
head than in the body.
We experience deficiencies
in this chakra as "survival crises." However mild
or severe—whether you've been evicted, gone bankrupt,
or just have the flu-these crises usually demand a lot of
immediate attention. On the other hand, signs of excessiveness
in the first chakra include greed, hoarding of possessions
or money, or attempting to ground yourself by gaining a lot
of excess weight.
There are many yoga poses
that correct first chakra imbalances, bringing us back to
our body and the earth and helping us experience safety, security,
and stillness. Muladhara Chakra is associated with the element
earth, representing physical and emotional grounding, and
with the color red, which has a slower vibration than the
colors that symbolize the other chakras.
To help her ground, Anne and
I began by focusing on her feet, for all poses that stretch
and strengthen the legs and feet help the first chakra. She
rolled a tennis ball underneath one foot and then the other,
pressing into it to help awaken the soles (a mini acupressure
treatment) and open the "doors" of the feet. To
stimulate the toes and encourage them to spread for standing
poses, she sat cross-legged and laced her fingers in between
her toes, reaching from the sole to the top of the foot. Then
she knelt, curled her toes under, and sat on them for a minute.
Following these warm-ups, we did an hour of calf openers,
hamstring stretches, and standing poses to help her open and
strengthen her lower body and root her attention downward.
When our hamstrings are tight,
the contraction creates a sense that we're constantly prepared
to run away. As Anne slowly stretched the backs of her legs
in Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend) and Janu Sirsasana (Head-to-Knee
Pose), she received some of the gifts of the first chakra:
calmness, patience, and a willingness to slow down and stay
in one place. As she strengthened her quadriceps and opened
her hamstrings, she renewed her confidence and commitment
to the next steps on her life's journey. Her fears eased as
she allowed herself to trust the earth and her body.
Anne and I ended our session
with peaceful restorative poses, like Supta Baddha Konasana
(Reclining Bound Angle Pose), Salamba Savasana (Supported
Corpse Pose), and Salamba Balasana (Supported Child's Pose),
all of which settle an overactive mind and encourage us to
surrender to gravity. By the end of our session, she no longer
felt so worried. At home in her body, she was more prepared
for the challenges she faced
Your Root Chakra:
Balanced Foundation.
Located in the energy field
at the base of your tailbone, it provides the firm foundation
necessary to living, establishes personal access to
everything needed in order to survive and grow, and offers
a basic sense of security and safety.
Your first chakra's main role
is to help you meet your basic needs for
survival-smoothly, certainly, and with grace. It focuses attention
on your daily needs and stimulates your ability to fulfill
them. The result is confidence - in yourself and the Universe
- and connection, a true sense of spiritual heritage and community
kinship.
Root Chakra Facts:
· The first chakra governs eating, the need for shelter,
warmth, and
comfort and the desire to feel protected.
· A well-balanced root chakra results in a feeling
of calm and an aura of quiet strength and confidence.
· In your body, the first chakra governs the bones,
blood, immune system, colon, rectum, legs, and feet.
· An apt image for the first chakra is a plant or tree
rooted firmly in
Mother Earth.
· The root chakra vibrates with the color red.
· The root chakra's mission statement is: I want, I
need.
Maintaining a balanced foundation
is an ongoing and sometimes challenging process. Life is ever
changing, and you must be able to go with the flow, bending
like the branches of a tree in an unpredictable wind. Because
it is impossible to control your external environment, you
must concentrate on creating an inner environment that is
both solid and flexible.
More Articles To Help With The Root Chakra
(Chakras)
(Chakra
Balancing - Working With Chakras Pt1)
(Chakra
Balancing - Working With Chakras Pt2)
(Chakra Healing With Reiki)
(Chakra Chart)
(Chakra Colors)
(The Seven Chakras)
(Chakra
Meditation)
(Root Chakra)
(Sacral Chakra)
(Solar
Plexus Chakra)
(Heart Chakra)
(Throat Chakra)
(Third Eye
Chakra)
(Crown Chakra)
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