The Sacral Chakra: Swadhishthana - Pleasure & Creativity...
This blog continues the theme of chakras with my focus being the Sacral chakra or what is commonly known as the water chakra. It is our creativity, emotional and sensation-focussed pleasure centre. Located in our lower abdomen, between the pubic bone and the navel, it is the centre of intimacy, relationship and creativity.
The colour of this chakra is orange. It spins faster than the root chakra and the feelings emanating from here are generally 'softer' fuelling our creative and emotive expression. It also controls our sexual energy and creativity in this area too. So trust me when I say; to embrace a life where we can bask in the simple and freely given pleasures of our mind, body and spirit, it is essential to maintain balance within our Sacral chakra.
The joys of a balanced sacral chakra will bring the ability for expressiveness in all areas without maliciousness, controlling tendencies, or a need to be cruel. You are quite simply content in your own skin. You make friends with relative ease, but can also let go of people when necessary, sometimes with regret, but usually without drama. It is the chakra that helps us embrace changes in life. Quite simply the ability to share harmony in relationships, easy physical contact, fluid movements and attractiveness on a level far deeper than mere skin, demonstrate that your sacral chakra is open and balanced. You flow emotionally and physically and this 'flow' is essential as the element this chakra represents is water.
Two of the biggest challenges to maintaining balance of the sacral chakra is social conditioning and social expectations. Firstly, we are taught to suppress our emotions, (which is extremely unhealthy as they will simply manifest in other forms, be it illness or stress or physical pain within our bodies). We are also entirely dependent during the formative years of our lives, that's our pre-school years, on our parents and their emotional skills, (or lack of them). Therefore issues and hangups they carry will invariably be passed down to us.
The second challenge is to our sexual selves. There are so many cultural and societal issues that make this area a virtual minefield. Issues range from extreme glorification & propaganda, to extreme rejection and imposition of moderate behaviour; neither of which reflect our true balanced & healthy sexual needs & requirements. Physical touch is essential for our health and energy levels and pleasure shared in an intimate way, especially when given hand in hand with an emotional connection, allows a person to give and receive immense amounts of pleasure. This kind of openness and generosity, when balanced, will always bring happiness levels right up to the max and beyond.
When the Sacral chakra is blocked you may find that you put your own needs above others in a selfish way; emotionally you have been starved or suppressed so you are always seeking to grab more for yourself - this is entirely understandable. Everything is a crisis that needs to be controlled. You experience inappropriately strong (but unnecessary) emotional responses. You will be more negative or unhappy, you may not maintain friendships and the ones you do keep are usually superficial. Your behaviour may become excessive in that you may drink too much, behave in a promiscuous or hedonistic way, and are simply unfulfilled; often aware or slowly becoming aware of a void in your life that no amount of alcohol, drugs or sexual partners can fill.
A weak chakra will result in a person being extremely shy, guilt ridden, inhibited sexually, overly self conscious, and needy.
As I mentioned briefly above, it's not unusual at all to find problems with the sacral chakra stemming from childhood. We carry our issues with us, often unaware of the dysfunctional aspects in our emotional responses towards others; it is simply a learned response, a way you have always responded & therefore believe your outbursts etc to be normal and acceptable responses. We blindly carry these issues around with us like a millstone around our necks, hampering ourselves in our pursuit of happiness at every turn.
At about 2½ years old we separate emotionally from our mothers. Her ability to love you, coupled with your father's ability to support this transition, will heavily influence your sacral chakra and your emotional self image.
Our feeling bodies are based in energy and the ability to deal with our feelings and allow them to come and go in different situations is key here. If we were raised in an emotionally healthy environment then we will be fine - but let's face it very few of us were - myself included!
Studies estimate that between 75% and 95% of families are dysfunctional in one form or another, so if you relate to any issues I'm raising here you are by no means in the minority!
Say for instance you never want to deal with or feel sadness. Instead of feeling this way, you get angry, this is a fairly common form of deflection, found particularly in men who sadly have expectations imposed on them from an early age that, for example, crying is unacceptable, men don't cry etc. If we find we have no control over a situation, be it someone's response to us, or a predicament we find ourselves in, it exposes us to vulnerability, it has the potential to hurt us and we dislike it, therefore we get angry as we feel in anger we have control...
What we really need to do is accept that the situation IS actually sad or hurting us, accept our vulnerability and allow the energy of sadness or hurt to come and then flow away, when we deal with it & accept it, we ultimately release it. We can admit that it hurts and it leaves us vulnerable, whilst knowing that we will ultimately recover.
By viewing the sad or hurt emotions as bad or negative energy, but seeing the anger as something driven by us and therefore within our control, is a misconception. In either case the truth of the matter is that we have no control, not when it comes to circumstances outside of us, like other peoples actions or loss of any kind. Therefore being able to see and accept this is far more healthy and ultimately gives us the ability to cope. This is why it is essential to have a balanced sacral chakra as afore mentioned, this chakra helps us adjust healthily to changes that are thrust upon us throughout our lives.
We will live, learn & grow stronger from all emotional experiences. Feelings are good, we need to accept them and allow them to heal and form us. The fire might burn, but it also forges us into something stronger and far more interesting.
This is ultimately why our learned responses from our parents and their ability to deal with emotions and allow us to express ours freely, with support & without ridicule is key. If you cried as a child but were never comforted then your chakra becomes unbalanced and you learn to suppress your tears and grow up with the expectation that such emotions are invalid as they trigger no response.
When we grow and are nurtured in an environment of unconditional or unreserved love, we feel secure to express our emotions and know that we will still be loved. When we are supported physically too, with hugs, hand holding, pats on the back and gentle reassurances, this adds to our security and the openness of our sacral chakra. We flow. We therefore grow up to be adults who are capable of loving in an unconditional or unreserved way.
However, most people cannot fully accept being loved in such a way and will invariably push the boundaries or test their partner. They do not feel worthy of being loved unconditionally and therefore feel it will not last ,so they try to break it, or test to see if it is breakable. This becomes a self-fulfilling cycle, where the partner will ultimately move away as they no doubt also carry emotional issues of their own too! What a tangled web we weave, we are indeed complicated creatures.
There is much to be gained from balancing your sacral chakra and accepting that you can love and can be loved.
The sacral chakra meditation is - VAM, (VVVV-AAAAHH-MMMM)
The meditation theme is - I FEEL.
To identify if your chakra is blocked ask yourself these questions:
Can I maintain a healthy and happy relationship? Can I express myself physically & emotionally being capable of giving and receiving love? Or do I need to control?
Am I withdrawn physically, do I withhold touch in a unnatural or reserved way, or feel it to be invasive?
Are my responses reactionary or such that they will suppress my partner in some way?
Do I feel free to express myself in my relationships, both the good feelings and the more negative ones, for all are valid and in the emotional energy range - if you feel a certain way you need to be free to express this and work through it together.
Am I mainly motivated by selfish or self serving desires or am I open and reciprocal in my responses giving as much as I receive?
Am I capable of expressing myself without being malicious or cruel or controlling?
Do I feel free and comfortable to express my emotions particularly when feeling hurt or vulnerable or do I feel the need to appear infallible? To pretend that I am unaffected or admit to being hurt?
Do I feel worthy of being happy or do I feel that happiness is a gift for others but not for me?
Do I have unhealthy physical desires, addictions or appetites? (By this I mean wanting to hurt yourself or others - don't misconstrue I don't mean BDSM which is a mutual and consensual form of physical pleasure. I refer here to a non consenting way, through deception, infidelity, drug abuse, alcoholism etc)
Do I feel stuck in any area of my life?
Do I have achievable goals that I am working towards?
Do I like myself physically, if not how will I achieve healthy changes - goals?
Illnesses associated with an imbalance of the sacral chakra:
Circulatory or lymph problems
kidney problems
urinary tract issues
reproductive problems
Emotional problems and having too many general aches and pains with no real reason for them.
Ways to heal and balance our sacral chakra:
First we must recognise the issue and cleanse, then we must seek to find balance.
Meditation is the primary way to rebalance your chakras. Below is a guided meditation video for balancing and healing:
Guided meditation for the Sacral chakra
Use crystals to boost your energy and cleanse your sacral chakra. Ideal crystals for this are; carnelian, this crystal is perfect for opening the sacral area. The orange shade gives courage to the timid and enables us to pursue our dreams without our fear based illusions blocking our path. If your chakra is too open, try Lapis Lazuli to help moderate your behaviour. Other crystals and gems are; orange calcite, citrine, carnelian, amber, peach adventurine, clear quartz, red adventurine or Moonstone. Carry them with you as worry stones in your pocket that you touch often. Or was jewellery worn in contact with your skin. Keep them on your desk or near to you, under your pillow when you sleep, or even in your bra - if you wear one!
Use mindfulness to refocus your emotions. There is a powerful visualisation given in the audio track above. Also try visualising healing energy entering your body from the head down or the feet upwards, travelling through you and balancing your chakras as it flows. See only a warm orange glowing orb within your sacral chakra, balanced and clear with a warm white centre. Say the meditation chant in the image below as you use the visualisation techniques.
Walk barefoot upon Mother Earth. This is a great way to let negative energy soak away into the earth whilst you absorb the healing energy of our great planet through your exposed skin.
When you feel overwhelmed emotionally and have no person to talk with, try sitting under a tree. Remove your shoes and socks and soak up the healing energy of the tree and the roots beneath you. Until you try it, you will never understand just how beneficial this can be. Trees do far more for us than simply giving us oxygen.
Use essential oils, in your bath or a diffuser in your living area, on a tissue in your pocket so you can sniff it often, or left by your bed or under your pillow to inhale while you sleep. Use; Sandalwood, Ylang-ylang, Neroli, Orange, Tangerine, Geranium, Rose, Rosemary, Clary Sage, or Jasmine.
Combining all or some of the methods mentioned above, such as diffusing oils whilst you meditate and wear healing/balancing crystals, is always the best way to open your chakra and allow energy to flow. Of course any form of meditation will benefit your life in innumerable ways and I truly cannot emphasise enough how marvellously your life will improve with the use of daily meditation.
This has been a very full blog & I thank you for reading all or any part of my ramblings.
In humility, I wish you much success and joy on your journey to achieving balance and harmony in your life, remember we are all a work in progress.
Peace & light to you 🙏🏽 🌟 ૐ )0(