Name: Root
Sanskrit: Muladhara
Element: Earth
Energy type: Physical energy
Sound: The mantra is LAM, musical note C
Symbolic animal: Bull
Metal: Iron
Colour: Red, dark red.
Complementary colours: black, grey, brown
Endocrine gland: Adrenal glands
Phrases and keywords: "I exist". Source of vital energy. Survival, grounding, self-affirmation, attachment to life, the will to live in physical reality. Sense of the position and movement of one's body in space. Realm of primary instincts. Conservation, tradition. Nationalism, ethnic conflicts. According to Eastern thought, kundalini energy is located in this chakra. It is connected to the fifth chakra.
Linked physical organs: Anus, rectum, last part of the intestine, lower limbs, kidneys, spine at the height of the sacrum and coccyx. Correspondence with blood and circulatory system.
Physical correlations: Tiredness, lack of physical strength, chronic fatigue syndrome, weakness in the legs. Poor sexual energy. Bowel problems. Hemorrhoids. A sensation of emptiness in the kidneys.
Psycho-emotional correlation: Inability to impose, a little will to live, lack of courage. Difficulty making decisions for fear of not making it. Problems with money (greed or excessive lavishness). Inability to be concrete, difficulty in keeping one's feet on the ground. This chakra controls a masculine, aggressive, earthly, and material sexuality, intense as the satisfaction of a craving.
Body positioning: Perineum area. For the application of the remedies, the chakra can be reached from the groins. To treat the first vortex, 2 identical crystals are required to be placed on the groins (one on each groin); otherwise, a single stone will be placed between the legs, near the perineum, in support of natural material. The essential oil pad is preferably placed between the legs.
Characteristic: The first chakra is a single vortex, facing the earth: it, therefore, does not have the front and rear aspects that characterize the chakras from the second to the sixth included. Through this energy centre, the energy coming from Mother Earth is channeled and distributed in the aura, to then produce effects in the physical body. It governs the physical presence and movement of the body, the perception of tactile impressions, kinesthetic sensations (body balance and imbalance, chills, physical pleasure or pain). If this vortex is disharmonious, this means that it suffers the influence of the Earth excessively or insufficiently: in the first case the individual tends to remain too anchored to his positions and it remains difficult for him to evolve in space and time; in the second case it will be devoid of practical sense, it will move the physical energy to the upper floors, exerting little control over its physicality and showing itself deficient in terms of realism and concreteness.
Crystals: Fire agate, heliotrope, pyrope garnet, mookaite, hyaline quartz with black tourmaline, ruby, black tourmaline, black obsidian, hematite, red jasper.
Essential Oils: Benzoin, cinnamon leaves, frankincense, rosewood, oakmoss, patchouli, rosemary, sandalwood.
Bach flowers: Beech, Gentian, Gorse, Hornbeam, Mimulus, Pine, Rock Water, Sweet chestnut, Walnut, Wild Oat, Willow
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Prerequisites: To fully understand this post: Knowing what chakras are, please read the blog The 7 chakras first if you are new to the argument
The Muladhara - root chakra is located roughly around the pelvis floor, near the end of the tail bone and it's the first chakra of the energy system related to your physical body. It's associated with the element Earth and with the colour Red (but also black, brown, and grey).
The Root Chakras governs the parasympathetic system (sometimes called the rest and digest system, the parasympathetic system conserves energy as it slows the heart rate, increases intestinal and gland activity, and relaxes sphincter muscles in the gastrointestinal tract) and also kidneys, bladder, adrenal glands, the spine, legs, feet, bones, colon, most of the male and part of the female sexual organs, teeth. There are a few overlaps of areas governed by the root with the sacral chakra.
The root chakra is our survival chakra, his primary concern is needs, from your most basic needs to your most complex ones. Security is another primary concern for this chakra, as its stability, and its main chakra relates to what people often refer to as Grounding.
The root chakra is related to your sense of safety, trust, sense of belonging, courage, instinct, primal energy, self-esteem, resourcefulness, the now, generational pattern, and tribe, both positives, and negatives.
What causes this chakra to go out of alignment?
This chakra tends to go out of alignment when your sense of safety and trust with the universe is threatened, one of the primary causes of this is when your interests are not in fact taken as a part of other people best interests, there is no way to feel safe when that occurs. It also threatens when your sense of belonging within a social group is threatened, most especially in childhood.
What is important to understand about this chakra is that it pulls energy from the Earth and releases energy down towards the Earth and this is the rooting process, if at any time this chakra begins to close we become unrooted, we lose grounding. When this occurs we feel disconnected from the physical world and to other people, ungrounded, lost, disillusioned like we don't belong, deeply unsafe, insecure, distrustful, unmotivated, depleted, aggressive, defensive, stuck, weak, desperately lonely, pessimistic, not focus, disorganized, compromised, anxiety or panic, depression, resentment, disinterest, post-traumatic stress, and nightmares.
It is only when we have our needs met that we can focus on growing or evolving, if that sense of safety and security is not met we don't expand. The dis-alignment of the root chakra prohibits our growth immensely and forces the other chakras to overcompensate. The root chakra is directly linked with time, if dis-alignment occurs it suggests that some element of trauma took place in your own personal timeline, most specifically your childhood experience.
How to re-open/re-align your root chakra
First let me just quickly warn you, working on opening your root chakra means to confront all the blockages you have from belonging to rooting into the physical and all the safety issues that caused you to close it. Normally when opening a chakra you feel good, but it's not the case with the root chakra, instead, it is going to feel very stormy, bringing out resistance and fear, but you can use these emotions to put yourself back together, which will heal you and will cause the chakra to open.
So how do we open the chakra?
Accept that you have needs. To start this process ask yourself in a given situation "what do I need to feel...?" add whatever it is (ex "what do I need to feel supported?") and answer the question
Opening the root chakra is not looking for independence, this will only lead you backward! What you need to focus on is that we all need people and to find those people that are compatible with you.
Safety, living being sense of safety is primarily about the capacity to believe that one can reliably get one's needs met and two if you have issues with the root chakra safe and secure relationship, is your point of trauma, this means to become an expert on how to have fulfilling and safe relationships. You need to start and develop those secure and safe relationships where you belong in your current life, in the here and now, and in reality.
Don't try to get rid of your fears nor deny your fears or be brave despite them. The reality is that if you are physically incarnated you have fears! We need those fears to survive on this planet. When fears arise you need to take love and care out of them instead of dealing with fears. The goal is to integrate those instinctual energies, so you are not trying to become fearless but you try to integrate your fears
Use colours, red, black, brown, and grey but also any colour that gives you a sense of security, belonging, or safety. Dress with those colours, decorate your house or room with those colours.
Music. You can find binaural bits on the internet designed for the root chakra or use sound therapy like Tibetan bowls specially designed for the root chakra. You can use a mantra that sounds like "LAM" and repeat it over and over, the best with mantras are monks, you can find sounds on the internet to guide you or allow them to chant for you. What you are looking for in this mantra is to have your root vibrating by that toning.
Get into your body, connect with it, and exercise, the root chakra is the one most affected by physical movement, by all kinds of exercise. It's most stimulated by strength and vigorous exercises that really get the circulation moving. Also, the root chakra is very responsive to movement meditation like yoga, QiGong, or Tai Chi.
Learn how to receive and alter your perspective about abundance, when people have abundance issues it gets them into a mentality of scarcity, it always affects your root chakra and brings it out of alignment
Breathe work and breathing exercises (pranayama). Breathe works are really interesting because breath is like a bridge between the physical and non-physical therefore breathing work has the capacity to bring somebody that is too grounded into the physical into the non-physical and vice versa.
Ground yourself. Do things like walk bare feet on the earth, listen to grounding music, take a salt bath, spend time with your own grounded individuals like your family.
Connect to the Earth and connect your body to the Earth when you are doing that, this means spending time in nature. Actually be grounded in the cinematic sensation that is occurring when you are out there, pay attention to the texture, the sensations, the smells, the taste, the sights, the sounds.
Eat food that particularly helps this chakra. Things like beets, rhubarb, red potatoes, red cabbage, root vegetables, radish, red peppers, protein-rich food, cinnamon, nuts, cherries, pomegranates, red apples, watermelon, and beans
Use Crystals like Red Jasper, Bloodstone, Rhodonite, Brown Aragonite, Black Tourmaline, Turquoise, Smokey Quartz, Petrified Wood, Hematite, Staurolite (Fairy Cross), Garnet, Red Beryl, Ruby, Red Coral, Crazy Lace Agate, Brown Agate and Lagoon Agate (crystals in the picture below follow the same order as listed).
Opening your root chakra enables you to build the foundation upon which the other energy centres can actually function. Doing this will provide the necessary condition for you to evolve and expand beyond what you have ever imagined you could!
Love and Light
Namaste
Stefano