Root Chakra
Root Chakra
The Foundation of your physical structure & the energy body, your connection to family - *having cold feet is a sign that you don't or didn't feel safe in your family structure
Location: Pelvic Floor
Element: Earth
Root chakra (*Teal Swan) governs your parasympathetic nervous system, legs, feet, spine, bone, blood, sciatic nerve, colon, most of the male sexual organs and some of the female sexual organs. It also plays a key role in the health of adrenal glands, bladder, hips & teeth.
A lot of people think that this place is lower than other chakras and that Muladhara is not worth working on...
Everyone wants to go into the higher states, and have some profound transcendental experiences but they don't pay attention to the lower chakras. Especially in the New Age community, they are focusing on opening the 3rd eye and crown chakra but so little do they know how fundamental it is to work your root chakra on daily bases. Having a solid stable foundation is very important so it can hold you in the world. You don't build your house on an airy shaky foundation - you build it from the ground up on a solid safe base. The diet goes with it.
Kundalini yoga always spends a decent amount of time working the bottom chakras first in each session. These practices always build a solid base first before they move to the upper chakras. The entire yogic system focuses on Muladhara Chakra so you can actually build the foundation to hold the higher transcendental experiences. Without a solid foundation, your higher self won’t descend into your body. You won’t experience wellbeing or a sense of completeness.
With yogic practices, you build up your "legs" in this world. So they can carry you through life.
You need to empower yourself first by feeling safe & content within yourself so you can walk confidently and do stuff. Do you know how the person walks when they truly feel stable in themselves? You always notice that by how the person walks. If you feel more stable and more content in yourself no matter the challenges you might have in your personal life you will become like a mountain, nothing can shake you.
Root Chakra is linked to or overlaps with the Sacral Chakra and is also connected to Spleen and deals with "survival"= the spectrum of basic survival to more complex ones.
Every Human has 7 basic needs that he can not live without and are fundamental otherwise he will die.
7 Needs
Air
Water
Sleep - *this will go down rapidly if you do some sadhana and have a decent yogic diet, I can go only with 5h of sleep but I am living more on prana and I know what I am doing.
Food - *we talk about the majority of people. There are also breatharians that live solo on the breath but those are rare. There is also a tribe that lives only on water and honey.
Shelter - any kind - *roof above the head
Connections - *this doesn't have to be to a human. I don't believe that everyone needs a human-to-human connection, you can be connected to a tree, to a plant, to the sea, to animals and other beings in other dimensions, to your galactic family.
I always thought that I desperately need a human connection but when my dog passed away I realised that the best and deepest one I ever had was with him & I started to see relationships differently. When he was gone and I went through the grief period I started to deal heavily with the root chakra & spleen. I had a lot of aha moments and a lot of healing happens. (*You can find a blog post about how to deal with the grief of your pet on my web)
The last of the human needs that no one can live without is
Creative expression - *that's why people are unhappy, unfulfilled and zombified because they don't do anything creative. We are all born as creators before the system and parents beat it out of us we are very creative, you can see it in the kids.
The Root Chakra is a long-run and endless healing. The physicality itself and the fear of being here in this physical experience are perhaps the most telltale sign that your root chakra needs your attention. Breathwork and traditional yoga are the best you can pick they not only bridge the physical with the non-physical but also bring those who have the tendency not to be in the body back to the body. People who don't want to be here don't breathe properly, fibromyalgia for example is a clear sign that your root chakra is out of wack. Anxiety and depression belong to the spleen area and are byproducts of trauma in the root chakra. It's the root chakra that needs your attention if you have a fear of being here.
Fear
Root Chakra deals with
- secure and safe relationships - trust also fits here
- all sorts of fears that involved insecurities around housing, fear of people, and fear of losing others... *fear has a huge spectrum and that is a topic on its own but here are a few things to look at:
- fear of any kind of physicality that involves all the 7 basic needs above including fear of intimacy, fear of life itself, fear of being out there in the world and fear of not being supported by your own creative expression. The last one is interesting because that fear includes vulnerability.
More on the Root Chakra & creative expression
Once we start coming out with our creative selves all our fears and limiting beliefs will come to the surface. That's why people rather work 9-5 boring jobs that keep them safe instead of quitting to fully pursue their longing to become a dancer, writer, artist, musician, healer, channeler, tarot reader, yoga teacher etc. they do not believe that this creative expression can support them in the world financially...
All the limiting beliefs around why your creations can not support you financially are rooted in your root chakra and most likely linked to trauma from the past. Especially if you procrastinate a lot, or are experiencing paralyses or creative blocks. Otherwise, it's just a limiting belief and you need to flip it. It's a perspective that is not even yours (parents, society, school system, culture, friends etc... are usually involved in this one)
People who don't do anything creative whatsoever don't really live & are depleting their life force. Creative expression is the key to happiness and is fundamental and nonseparable from the human experience. Without it, you don't truly live.
Food: Beetroot, radish, red peppers, and red cabbage are a few in the vegetable kingdom that will support your root chakra - beetroot is the best one - you can find a lot of beetroot receipts on my blog in the food section. Also, dry Cranberries are great for supporting your root chakra that are available all year long.
Gems: Red Jasper, bloodstone, and all the black gems like tourmaline, hematite, and garnet,,, are some to mention - there are many...
Yoga poses: Kundalini yoga, Tantra, Raja Yoga - traditional yoga is designed to work all of your chakras - Sun Salutation in a good set with some extra poses designed as a kriya is a wonderful and full holistic set that will work the entire system in a very profound way. Suriya Kriya designed by Sadhguru is a beautiful peaceful practice.
Kundalini yoga especially Nabhi Kriya is the most energising core-builder. It will give you courage, will restore your self-esteem, strengthen your personal power and give you confidence. It is more for the Navel point - your solar plexus but it will work all your bottom chakras. There are many variations out there that are extremely challenging but the easiest one is thought by Jai Dev Singh