Recently we started our Chakra series with an overview post about what the chakras are and where they came from (or rather where they were first documented). If you're new to Erstwhile's blog and the spiritual community, you might want to take a few minutes and peruse the article titled "Getting Serious about Chakras."
This week, we start our deep dive into each chakra to explore more of what these energy centers do and how we can maintain each chakra to promote our highest spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health. The best place to start this process is at the roots. I mean the root chakra, of course!
The root chakra, also called the Muladhara, sits at the very base of the spine and is signified by a deep red color. When we think about the root chakra, we can consider the root system of a tree. These roots provide a foundation for the tree and help draw life-sustaining nutrients to the tree. Our root chakra does very much the same thing. The root chakra is responsible for our basest needs such as food, water, shelter, safety and security. The Muladhara is also responsible for our emotional needs. The root chakra is our foundation to the Earth and, in many ways, our attachment to the physical.
A common issue among even the most veteran spiritual seekers is an unbalanced root chakra. If you feel like you are floating along, have a difficult time feeling attached to the ground or like your mind is floating, if you have unexpected anxiety or fear that appears out of nowhere, or if your experience nightmares, you may have an issue with your root chakra. In the same respect, if you have stomach, colon, or bladder issues, back, legs or feet issues or just general balance issues, you might also have an issue with your root chakra. If you've ever experienced relationship or sexual trauma, your root chakra will almost definitely need some focus and attention. When our chakras are out of balance, we can manifest both psychological/emotional and physical symptoms.
So once we recognize that these physical and spiritual blocks are tied up in our root chakra, what do we do? First, try the simple balancing exercise posted in "Getting Serious about Chakras." This mediation is a great way to get energies moving in the right direction and grounding yourself so you are prepared to do more extensive work. Another way to get energy moving toward your roots would be using sound and vibration. To stimulate the root chakra, the lower the sound/vibrational tone, the better. You can achieve this through chanting the mantra LAM, using a large singing bowl, humming, or even using tuning forks.
Another way to bring your root chakra into balance is to stimulate your sense of smell. Our sense of smell is directly linked to our oldest memories, the root of our psyche if you will. Stimulating this sense will help you to bring your root chakra into focus and start moving energy through it more appropriately. Try using deep earthy scents to help stimulate your grounding.
If you are a fan of pocket stones or wearing stones as jewelry, I would suggest getting yourself a piece of red jasper. This stone has a way of helping guide you through figuring out your root issues. Red jasper is very grounding and helps balance our anxieties while working through our safety, security, and sexual issues. If you're not a fan of red jasper, try something like garnet, black tourmaline, or bloodstone. I like to set a piece of stone near my root chakra while I focus energy on the chakra itself. I imagine the stone focusing the energy to brighten and circulate my chakras in the right direction.
Just as your garden or yard plants need to have a strong root system to weather whatever the universe has to throw at them, so too do you. Tending your root chakra requires getting tot he bottom of the issues you've probably spent a great deal of energy trying to bury. Sometimes we have feel even more icky to get rid of the ickiness of our root chakra. Having a strong and aligned root chakra takes work, but I promise you that you will find yourself feeling much more grounded having spent time working on your roots. One of my favorite sayings is that humans need strong roots and sunlight...basically, humans are just complex houseplants, and truer words were never spoken. Many blessings to you all this week!