Chakra Centers, Part One: Healing the Root

As Saturn retrogrades, and so many of us are working on our internal power structures, now would be a good time to review Chakra Healing.

When you are experiencing physical illness, discomfort, or pain in your body…these things are often symptoms with a spiritual root.  Learning about your chakras can help to speed up your understanding of the illness as well as the process of healing your body.

1^st Chakra:  Root Chakra

Center of Manifestation

The root chakra, located at the base of the spine, is the grounding force that allows us to connect to the earth energies and empower ourselves.  This is the center of physical energy and vitality and gives us the energy necessary to succeed in earthly matters such as business and financial security.  This chakra rules all forms of security, safety, survival, physical self-preservation, heredity, passion, and matters of the material world, as well as primal erotic and procreational urges.

Every other chakra is downstream of the root and can only receive the energy that the root chakra can pass through it.  So, the path to health and power goes right through the gender organs.  To understand your root chakra, you must come to a place of peace with your sexual energy.  This is where a man can learn to integrate his feminine power and a woman can learn to integrate her masculine power.

To balance this chakra, connect with the earth.  In the warm months, this is easier as you can go barefoot outside.  However, there are other things you can do year-round.  Dancing is very good for grounding.  Also, domestic tasks such as cooking or cleaning will help you to ground.  Focusing on the color red can help bring your energetic body ‘down to earth’ and in alignment with your physical body.  You can open this chakra by using scents and crystals as well, listed below.

All of the emotional, behavioral, and physical health issues listed below have to do with the ability to let go.  When we cannot release what is holding us back, we cannot move forward.  When we cannot release what is blocking our root, the energy cannot move forward through us. 

Balanced root energy:

Centered, grounded, secure, stable, healthy, fully alive, unlimited physical energy, can manifest abundance. Ability to initiate sexual encounters is comfortable and natural.  Takes good care of the body. Eliminatory system functions well.  People who have open root chakras love their lives and love their physical incarnation in their present bodies.

Excessive root energy:

Egotistic, self-indulgent, self-centered, domineering, greedy, sadistic.  Sexual energy is entirely genital. Judgment and biased opinions.

Deficient root energy:

Lack of confidence, weak, can't achieve goals, absent-minded, confusion or boredom with practical aspects of existence, problems with the home, worries about survival, overabundance of stress, suicidal, physical pain, feel unlovable, little interest in sex, masochistic.  Fear and insecurity. Blockage in this energy center of the body can result in a core sense of unworthiness and self-doubt and shame. Thought forms such as "I don't deserve love," "I'm ashamed of who I am," and "I'm always misunderstood," are common in people with a blocked Root Chakra. They try to compensate for these feelings by acquiring, keeping and controlling material possessions, by becoming addicted to material things.  The ultimate root chakra failure is suicide.

Illnesses associated with the root chakra:

Drug addictions, anemia, cancer, arthritis, heart disease, gynecological problems, Aids, herpes, candida. Decreased immune system. Lower back pain. Sciatica. Constipation. Hemorrhoids.  Colitis.  Prostrate problems.  Physical problems with the coccyx, anus and genitals.

Glands/organs/body parts associated with the root chakra:

Adrenals, kidneys, spinal column, colon, legs, bones

Stones/crystals/minerals to aid root chakra healing:

Ruby, garnet, bloodstone, red jasper, black tourmaline, obsidian, smoky quartz

Aromatherapy for the root chakra:

Patchouli, cedar wood, lavender, musk, hyacinth, cinnamon and sandalwood