As my understanding of chakras began to deepen, I started using them for specific reasons, particularly when I’d fall out of my daily alignment practice with all seven.
I’d do a heart chakra meditation when I began closing off to people. A solar plexus meditation when I needed to get things done or if I needed a confidence boost on a matter. I’d do a root chakra meditation when I’d be feeling spacey and uncertain. A sacral chakra meditation when my emotions or my creativity felt like they could use acknowledgement. A brow chakra meditation when I began getting too attached to concepts and ideas. A throat chakra meditation when I felt myself constricting my truth. A crown chakra meditation when I wanted to connect or communicate with greater consciousness or the spirit world and all that lies beyond the perceptions of the five senses.
Learning the purpose for each of them began to serve as little boosts whenever I remembered I had the tools. I began to play with energy and witness the effects of different states of consciousness (each chakra is associated with a certain degree of consciousness).
Before guiding a yoga session, meditation session or having a one on one session I would align all seven, opening the seventh and sometimes the eighth depending on what the intention for that session is. They became an integral part of my own life and an especially helpful tool whenever I’d find myself guiding anyone else.
Over the next few posts I will be sharing how I’ve come to understand and use the seven chakras, plus two more. The eighth one situated above the head, and the palm chakras located in each hand.
The Root Chakra
As I’d work with the root chakra in my own body and then in the bodies of my clients, I’d realised more and more how connected each system is to the next. An example is of a client who’d had a particularly challenging time grounding for a number of years. I had suggested a number of grounding exercises after meditation or yoga sessions together.
Then one day she decided to start 1:1 sessions with me which helped her pinpoint some of the recurring themes in her life and then work on releasing the energy trapping her in those cycles. We did a number of exercises but it was only until I had done a reiki session with her that I felt the blockage in her sacral chakra. As we released the energy, she said she felt as though her whole body went up in smoke, instantly feeling that release of the emotional trauma that had been replicating the feeling of ungroundedness for the past 4 years. Sometimes the answers for one chakra’s imbalance lie in the blockage of another.
I think this is a wonderful way to begin exploring chakras together, as it reveals right from the beginning that working typically on one chakra without the consideration of the others won’t always lead to the results that we desire. Broadening the scope is often necessary.
What the Root Chakra Connects to
Cindy Dale, an American author of more than 20 books on energy healing, explains that the Root Chakra is the base of our personal identity. She goes on to explain that this centre governs our safety, security and raw material needs. That our career and monetary success as well our sexual relations and the way we show up in the world are connected to this energy centre.
Mark Passio, an American de occultist, makes the connection between the chakras and the Kabbalah Tree of Life, with the tarot. He shares that in terms of the tarots relationship to the Tree of life, the Wheel of Fortune placed at the base of the tree, (the same position as the Root Chakra) represents the lack of knowledge of the higher levels of consciousness or being completely identified with the earthly self. We’re in ignorance and governed by the base instincts if we don’t continue to progress beyond the Root level of consciousness.
In terms of what the Root Chakra is more widely know for, when balanced we feel safe, secure, financially provided for and grounded. When imbalanced we can lean toward greed, insecurity, cynicism and living in survival mode.
How Do I Work With the Root?
There are a number of methods for balancing our chakras and not all of them particularly resonate with each individual. Some of these methods include meditation, reiki, yoga, colour baths, crystal healing, nature walks, eating specific foods, the list goes on.
I personally like meditation, specifically white light visualisations for clearing, energising and balancing my root chakra. Another visualisation method I use is to imagine a root growing from my root chakra, down into the earth, firmly establishing that connection. Sometimes, depending on what I need in that moment, I would visualise absorbing the energy from the earth, into my body, filling each cell from the inside and eventually resonating outward. One other visualisation I do is to imagine roots growing out of my feet while I’m walking. The roots then walk for me, they move my body forward. This makes me feel larger than life! In truth we really are.
I also use different yoga postures and reiki, but occasionally enjoy adding a different approach like including certain foods such as root vegetables, red fruits as well as nuts to support my root chakra.
The next post will dive into the ways I interact with my sacral chakra, some of the challenges I’ve experienced with working with it and some of the benefits that have arisen since working with it.
Namaste