Understanding and Nurturing the Root Chakra

We hopefully have a reasonable understanding of what makes up our Material Body, such as the respiratory system, digestive system, circulatory system, skeletal and muscular system etc. However, we also have an Energy Body with comparable systems that function alongside and within it, our energy body is interconnected with our physical body and works hand in hand to keep us feeling well. Thankfully more is understood about our energy system due to research being done around the world and our existing intuitive understanding is being correlated with that to increase our knowledge. There is so much more to learn about in addition to the chakra and meridian systems, but let’s keep it relatively simple.

If you have read any past posts, you will now be familiar with the word ‘Chakra’ and have a general idea that they are understood to be subtle energy exchange centres and emotional processing or ‘administration’ centres.

We have already looked at where in our bodies we feel different emotions, so with all that in mind I will continue to try and simplify a complex subject.

Fear and the Root or Base Chakra (located at the base of the spine)

We’ll start with what is possibly the most common and problematic emotion we experience:

Fear – which is expressed as anxiety, anger, insecurity, apprehension and at its worst, fear for our survival.

Fear is one of most basic emotions linked to our survival. When we are faced with apparent danger, we produce fear hormones, Adrenaline and Cortisol, which trigger what is commonly referred to as our fight or flight response. Adrenaline increases our heart rate and prepares us for action, Cortisol releases glucose from the liver to supply an extra boost of energy and slows down other functions of the body that are not required for immediate survival.

This is great when we need to run fast or find extra strength to save ourselves from danger, but more commonly our danger today is the stress of modern life. I’m sure we can all make a list as long as our arm about things that cause us worry and stress, but on the whole, when we feel stress and anxiety, we are not exerting ourselves in physical activity to escape danger. Therefore, we don’t use up that burst of hormone activity with intense or fast physical action, so we remain in a state of high alert. This affects our ability to sleep soundly, our metabolism is affected, blood pressure increases, and we cannot relax, which increases our emotional trigger response, so anxiety surges and eventually affects our mood, health and general sense of well-being. You can see how this cycle of emotion is a difficult one to put a halt to.

We need to remember that our emotions are also a form of energy; as explained in previous posts. Once energy is created, it doesn’t disappear, but it can be transmuted or changed.  If damaging emotions such as fear become stuck in our system, there is the potential to experience ‘suffering’.

The energy of fear-based emotions can become stuck at our root chakra.

The root chakra can store energy connected with our sense of safety and survival, but when that chakra becomes overloaded with stress, out of balance or blocked for any reason, our fear emotions can surge and become irrational. We may start to feel extreme anxiety, worry, fear of death, fear of accidents and all this stored fear energy can trigger those ‘fear hormones’ which may also make us react impulsively to situations that make us feel threatened, even if we feel threatened by an idea, or someone not having the same beliefs as ourselves. (We witness this on social media!) We might become tearful, irritable, angry, or even lash out with violence or hateful words. Some people think anger motivates them into action, but anger is not a positive emotion to trigger action if we want positive results. In the law of ‘like attracts like’ anger generally begets more anger.  

We might not even know where our fear-based emotions originate from, they can stem from childhood experiences which we think we have forgotten and locked away, to more recent events in our life. It might only take another relatively minor experience to trigger extreme anxiety and stress, or even produce irrational reactions or intense feelings that can seem totally out of character.

(Fear and anxiety can also be related to past life experiences – but there is only anecdotal proof of reincarnation at present so I’ll save that for another time.)

We know that stress has become an epidemic in our modern lives and it only takes a quick online search to learn about the many effects it has on our physical as well as mental health. It sends many to seek help from the G.P. which may result in medication to mask the feelings or being sent for counselling to express those feelings and hopefully try and find a cause and solution.

Both of those traditional options have a purpose, but at present, mainstream therapies do not seek what is literally the root cause of the problem.

(Isn’t it interesting how we mention where the problem lies, as if deep down we already know it!)

Possible Symptoms of Root Chakra Energy Imbalance or Blockage

Feeling unsafe, anxious, fearful, depressed, cynical, negative, disassociated with life or those around us. Sleep problems, weight gain or loss, tiredness, weakened immune system, problems with the lower back and legs. Problems with the lower digestive tract.

N.B. Please always consult your G.P. in the first instance regarding any of the above problems, it is always imperative to have a correct diagnosis and appropriate medical treatment prescribed before you seek the additional support of a trained therapist.

A Healthy and Balanced Root Chakra

This results in feeling stable and secure with a healthy survival instinct and a sense of being part of the world around you. You will be likely to be regarded as dependable, responsible, able to care for yourself, well balanced and able to work with focus.

Self-help to clear or balance a root chakra

There are many self-help methods and you may already be familiar with the term ‘Feeling Grounded’ and therein lies a good clue to what your root chakra needs. Being outside, gardening, walking, running, enjoying nature. Activities such as dancing, yoga, Pilates.

But also breathwork, affirmations, meditation, visualisations, these are what a good therapist can offer advice with.

Complementary Therapies for Chakra Work:

·        Healing therapies such as Reiki, Spiritual Healing and Energy Healing

·        Sound Healing

·        Crystal Healing

·        Colour or Light Therapy

Other therapies can also help such as E.F.T. (Emotional Freedom Technique), Neuro Linguistic Programming, Psychotherapy, etc, even though they do not target chakras, they can target the emotions, thus incidentally helping to balance the chakras.

Affirmations

I’ll say a little about affirmations, because I used to think they were nonsense! Nowadays I think about them much more positively since I better understand how they alter and retrain neural pathways in our brain. Admittedly you will not get instant results, it takes commitment, and for that it is best to develop a routine of saying them while in the shower, in the car, waiting for the kettle to boil, pin up notes with your affirmations where you will see them and remember to say them. Make them short, punchy, fun, and memorable, if they make you smile, all the better. Affirmations can become a good lifetime habit. The great thing is, that initially, you don’t need to believe what you are saying to yourself, it doesn’t matter if you think you are just tricking yourself, do it anyway! One rule is to choose your words carefully, our brains are tricky things and need things to be said in the present tense. So for example say things like:

“I am safe”

“I am at peace”

Saying things like ‘I will be safe’ or ‘I will feel at peace’ is not going to work. Neither will phrases spoken with a negative in them, such as ‘I am not in danger’, or ‘I am not stressed’. Our brains do not listen to the word ‘not’! Ideas for affirmations can easily be found online.

Anxiety and trauma are awful to experience and can feel so isolating.

If you feel like this, I invite you to contact me for ideas regarding breathwork,

meditation, affirmations, etc (no charge!).

I am happy to help over the phone, by email or in person if you can visit me.

Or see www.aya-healing.world for more useful information.