What is the Root Chakra Energy System?

THE ROOT CHAKRA PROVIDES THE ENERGY TO MEET OUR BASIC NEEDS

QUALITIES

• • The ROOT chakra is located between the legs, its tip seating into the sacral-coccyx joint at the bottom of the tailbone. Called the Muladhara (support) chakra, it represents life, strength, power and vitality. The energy to meet our basic needs resides here. This area is the key to grounding our dreams in the material world and in transforming etheric energy into observable reality. This is the universal life force, the Kundalini serpent of wisdom and life, lying coiled, ready to rise.

• • The GOAL of this first chakra is “Mastery of the body so it can be used as a tool for Spirit” (Alex Jones, Seven Mansions of Color). Only when we have firm control over our physical affairs, can we turn our attention outward in service.

• • CONNECTED with the root are the color red, the note C, the sound LAM, the element Earth, the Sun and the Moon.

    It is associated with the spinal column, adrenal glands, kidneys, rectum, legs, bones, feet and the immune system. Caroline Myss in the Anatomy of Spirit refers to the root as the tribal chakra and lists the primary strengths of this energy as tribal/family identity, bonding, tribal honor code, support and loyalty that give one a sense of safety and connection to the physical world. John Ruskin in Emotional Clearing identifies the primary feelings that indicate blocks in this chakra as: threat of material loss, lack, bodily injury, disease, death, anxiety, possessiveness, selfishness, insecurity, limitation, delay, and desire for protection.

• • PSYCHOLOGICAL IMBALANCE in the root chakra may manifest as role confusion, fear, martyrdom, anger, self-pressuring, greed, cruelty, and over impulsiveness.

• • PHYSICAL IMBALANCE may manifest as anemia, iron deficiency, low blood pressure, decreased muscle tone, fatigue, and adrenal insufficiency.

• BALANCED, clear and bright, this basic energy provides affection, generosity, sensitivity to others, ambition to better one’s self and strong physical propensities. Balancing the root results in the ability to take higher action to break mental conditioning and rapid change toward physical well being.
  Because this chakra contains old belief patterns that may still have authority in our lives, balancing it may require careful introspection. There are currently a series of commercials on television about medications “you just must have” to feel good. In each commercial, after listing all the benefits of the medication, a listing of its side effects are given. A commercial to lose weight says that side effects may include: “an increased frequency of bowel movements, a urgent need to have them, and an inability to control them”. Now, what is this commercial asking you to believe? That you can only lose weight if your GI system goes haywire! Beliefs about our body, our health, our money are deeply ingrained in us.
  When we work with the root chakra, we work to change our beliefs about the very basic issues of our lives. We pledge to release beliefs that hinder us and we open to beliefs that fulfill our lives. Below are some guidelines to assist you in balancing this vital energy that supplies your basic needs.

ACTIVITIES AND RITUALS

1. 1. Use the color red in your environment to stimulate will and life force, overcome depression and bring about positive change. Wear red, sit under a red light, look into a red painting, eat red-skinned fruits and vegetables (cherries, strawberries, radishes, beets, and tomatoes?). Use your creativity to bring more red into your life!

1. 1. Listen to music written in the key of C or sing songs in that key.

1. 1. Chant the sacred sound “LAM” to bring energy into the root chakra and open up the flow.

1. 1. Play with gemstones. The following is a partial listing of gemstones associated with the first chakra: garnet, ruby, coral, jasper, red tiger’s eye, smoky quartz, obsidian, pyrite and red agate. Place one of these stones in your pocket and each time you touch it, affirm your physical vitality and material well being. Sleep with a stone in your hand all night to allow your subconscious to affirm your willingness to accept improvement in all conditions associated with this chakra.

1. Imagine traveling deep into the earth and planting there all your desires for material wellness. Release all fears and worries and use them as fertilizer for these new conditions that will manifest into your life. Perhaps you may wish to actually do just that! Write down all the beliefs you wish to release, then tear up the paper or burn it, saving the scraps or ashes. Now write down all the desires you wish to manifest. Bury these desires in the ground, intact, and spread your “fertilizer” around them. For “out of the ashes rises the phoenix”.

SUMMARY

It is wise to attend to the energy of the Root Chakra when you are feeling “spacey” and out of sorts. When the plans you have made do not come to fruition, when you are feeling physically tired or ill, when you are constantly worried or fearful, then look to this energy at the base of your spine.

This chakra is particularly difficult for many of us. We have great ideas in our heads, but have a hard time grounding them in reality! We may be experiencing chronic health difficulties, chronic financial worries or other conditions that underlie our basic fears. Becoming aware of the energy of the root chakra, and using the activities listed in this chapter can help open up this vital earth energy. Pay particular attention to the mental attitudes and emotional feelings you may be holding onto in this area. Opening this chakra may be a simple as watching a movie that comforts you, or spending a day in nature, sitting under a tree. You know when you are balanced in the root chakra when you truly feel safe and secure. If you don’t feel that way now, find small ways to bring these feelings into your life and then let them grow bigger and stronger. In Spirit, you are safe and secure, always. Now allow that feeling of Spirit to enter your daily affairs. Patience and practice will give you results!