I have a whole bunch of sankalpahs (resolutions) right now. The keen-eyed will notice that I have added Facebook and Twitter feeds to my Home page. (What do you think? Let me know if you think it works.) I am eventually getting my head round Twitter and have resolved to tweet once a day. There's usually a piece of news about class updates or a lovely quote to share. I've also resolved to blog more regularly. Weekly would be good but monthly is probably more achievable! I don't need to commit to use Facebook more, I chat on that a lot, which probably says something about my 5th chakra (throat, voice, speech)... more on that one when we get there.  In my last post I gave an overview of the chakras. I'd like to give more of a personal view of each one. There are a lot of changes going on my personal life right now with respect to the way I earn a living, support myself and my children, and so as the first or root chakra, Mooladhara chakra, relates to our basic physical survival in the world, it seems a good time and place to start.  This energy centre is at the base of the spine, its colour vibration is red (2nd is orange, and so on up through the colours of the rainbow).  It's associated with the Earth element and our connection with it - how we survive on it (money, shelter), how we move about on it (the movement of the legs), how 'grounded' we are.  When the root chakra is under-active, we are likely to feel nervous or insecure, unworthy and misunderstood. There can be a tendency to compensate for these feelings by acquiring, keeping and controlling material possessions, by becoming addicted to material things. An over-active root chakra can lead to aggression, recklessness, impulsivity or belligerence. It's important that we balance the energies of all our chakras to ensure we feel our best. In the 1940s and 50s, Abraham Maslow was looking at human motivation in a business context, and he drew up this hierarchy of needs (diagram courtesy of http://www.businessballs.com). He determined that we can only address our higher needs of motivation and fulfillment once we have fulfilled our basic needs of home, support and security.  Similarly, we must open and balance our root chakra, ensuring energetically that we have our feet on the earth and a feeling of security, before energy can flow to higher chakras and we can give attention to our higher needs. So what can we do to balance our root chakra? Dance, go barefoot, feel your connection with the earth.  Clean your house, cook, look after your physical well-being. Take care of your plants, or plant a new garden, take a walk in nature.  Focusing on the color red can help bring your energetic body "down to earth" and in alignment with your physical body. Asanas (postures) which can help us to bring the base chakra into balance are those which engage moola bandha (the root lock - read Moola Bandha The Master Key, the definitive text on this) and those bring the base of the body into connection with earth, like hanumanasana.  Use sound - chant 'lam', the bija mantra or seed sound which resonates with the chakra, or practice bhramari pranayama (hummingbee breath).  There are lots of clips demonstrating bhramari pranayama on YouTube, but I particularly this the bhava (mood) of this one by QuickFixYoga - sitting on the earth, surrounded by nature - perfect!
Positive affirmations to balance root chakra: I am supported. I have everything I need. I love life!  Here is a great site where you can test how active or under-active your chakras are... as I thought... it tells me my throat chakra is over-active! Giving it a rest for now then. Namaste, Donna |
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