I used to live a self-conscious life where I was more concerned with opinions of others on how I was doing, rather than what felt right for me. My yogic practice retaught me that I have the right to feel anything and everything.
From that point on, I declared victory in making my life mine and truly allowing myself to feel again. I started living life the way I practiced yoga on the mat: an embodiment of breath-led yoga poses linked together with emotion. I gave myself to the process and everything changed.
The sacral chakra encourages us to allow our emotional identity to ripen. Working on this energy channel, I started to drop self-criticism about who I was and what I was feeling. The judgment I feared from others no longer had power over me. I could now confidently declare that I am me.
The Sacral Chakra
Also known as Svadhisthana, which in Sanskrit translates to “sweetness,” “one’s own base,” or “sacred home for the self,” the sacral chakra is the second primary chakra and can be found on the lower abdomen between the belly button and pubic bone, two inches above the pelvic floor.
Svadhisthana governs our intention to individuation, our right to feel, our capacity for self-gratification, and our emotional identity. This chakra is also concerned with our ability to move fluidly, to notice sensations, and to feel and receive pleasure from movement.
Color: Orange
Element: Water
Sense: Taste
Healing Stones: Carnelian, coral, orange jasper, orange jade
Affirmation: "May I be at home and at ease in my body, and find balance in my relationships between myself and others."
Mantra: "I am me."
Psychology of Svadhisthana
The sacral chakra deals primarily with issues of sexuality, relationship, pleasure, play, and creation. When underactive, its bearer exhibits frigidity, mental rigidity, poor social skills, a lack of passion, a denial of pleasure, and excessive boundaries.
On the other hand, an excessive svadhisthana is characterized by addiction to pleasure, obsessive attachment, extreme, strong emotions (bipolar), oversensitivity, and emotional dependency.
A severely out of balance sacral chakra manifests as repressed or excessive sexual energy, guilt or inhibition, poor boundaries and obsessive attachments, and addictions to sex, alcohol, or heroin.
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I encourage you to invoke the second chakra element and move like water, find the path of least resistance to the challenges in your life, and give yourself to the emotional process. My intention is for you to create a way to live where you feel as much as possible.
