Use our guide to understand the first energy center at the base of the spine and move your life forward.
Are you feeling stagnant or stuck? It could be your first chakra, the root chakra, or Muladhara Chakra. But before awakening or balancing our root chakra, let’s define what a chakra is and isn’t.
Aside from our physical body, we also have a subtle body known as the energetic body. This energy comes together at powerful energy centers called chakras.
According to meditation master Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, there are 109 chakras in the entire chakra system, with seven main chakras being the most important. The main seven chakras flow from the first chakra, the root chakra (base of the spine), to the crown chakra (top of the head).
Each chakra has different qualities and emotions linked to it, which can manifest differently depending on whether the chakra is balanced or not. Prana flows up or down from one chakra to another, resulting in positive or negative emotions.
In other words, chakras never block or unblock. Instead, chakras can either get stuck in the downward flow or become unbalanced.
Now for what a chakra isn’t.
Chakras are not colorful flowers as artists show, but chakras do have associated colors that represent the energy of each chakra. For a deeper understanding of chakras, read on!
Topics covered:
- What is the Muladhara Chakra?
- The characteristics of the root chakra
- Signs and symptoms of unbalanced Muladhara energy
- How to heal and balance the root chakra
- Conclusion
- Related posts
What is the Muladhara Chakra?
Location and meaning
The perineum, or the base of the spine.
Muladhara means foundational support or basis. “Mula” means root, and “adhara” means support or basis (of existence).
The characteristics of the root chakra
Associated Color: Red
Element: Earth
Qualities: Enthusiasm or inertia
The dormant Kundalini Shakti (the ultimate life force energy) rests at the root chakra. As this energy moves upward from the root chakra through the seven chakras, it expands awareness. In this energy center, the expanded consciousness is felt as enthusiasm. Enthusiasm supports and enlivens our life. Enthusiasm is the basis of a fulfilling life. Without enthusiasm, our lives will become meaningless, boring, and stagnated. When the energy is moving downward, we feel inertia.
Enthusiasm helps you push through life’s challenges and failures. Enthusiasm gives you the will and motivation to take action every day. Enthusiasm is the fuel for action.
If the foundation of your being is unstable and imbalanced, how can you expect to be steady, with inner strength, and thrive? We need to take care of the foundation of the energy body first. That’s where Muladhara chakra healing comes in!
Signs and symptoms of unbalanced Muladhara energy
You may have heard people talk about chakras being blocked, closed, or unbalanced. Or, you may have sometimes felt some block or tension in the body and thought your chakras were blocked. It can all sound quite confusing. But you need not rush to get rid of any perceived blocks! You just need to help the energy to flow freely and balance the chakra.
How can you tell if a chakra is in imbalance? Listen to your body and mind. Pay close attention to your physical body and mental well-being.
Physical symptoms
- Stiffness in the body
- Arthritis
- Back pain
- Constipation
Mental signs
- Sluggish
- Dullness
- Fatigue
- Laziness
How to heal and balance the root chakra
Challenges. They’re one of life’s inevitabilities. Whether big or small, if our energy is low when they arrive, we tend to get overwhelmed or feel defeated. We feel stuck and often stop before we begin.
The answer? Re-energize—even if it feels like the last thing you want to do!
When we feel grounded and energized, we can see clearly and take action, no matter how small. This makes a difference. Our energy shifts, we shift, and our life shifts, too.
Let’s try it out.
Step 1: Get the body moving. If you feel tired, moving around, especially in the morning or daytime hours, can give you energy. *Yoga is a great place to start. Start your day with Sun Salutations, a perfect routine with many benefits. Follow this step-by-step guide.
*The effects of yoga start from day one and are cumulative (so keep going!)
Step 2: Action. Do one thing that ignites enthusiasm or makes you feel alive—big or small. Take that step forward.
Step 3: Breathe. Our breath is connected to our emotions and energy levels. We breathe differently when we are sad, angry, happy, or calm. Using breathing exercises, we bring these emotions into balance while also increasing the flow of prana.
Try this easy breathwork, Alternate Nostril Breathing, aka Nadi Shodhan Pranayama, to balance your whole system.
Meditation
Balancing your chakras is easiest using meditation techniques like Sahaj Samadhi Meditation (mantra-based) and SKY Breath Meditation (breath-based). You can also read these articles for a guided chakra meditation to benefit your whole chakra system:
Try This Chakra Meditation to Balance Your Body’s Energy System Today
Feel the Prana! Activate Your Chakras Using this Hari Om Meditation
Affirmations
Affirmations may or may not positively affect your root chakra. Affirmations can have some small positive effects on our mindset. But because they are words or thoughts without any special energetic powers– repeating positive affirmations may not give the results you’re looking for.
Though, if you love affirmations, there is no harm in using them.
Yoga poses that stimulate Muladhara energy
- Warrior Pose
- Standing Forward Bend
- Monkey Pose
- Garland Pose
- Chair Pose
- Mountain Pose
- Tree Pose
- Lotus Pose
- Head-to-Knee Forward Bend
- Child’s Pose
- Corpse Pose
Need a yoga teacher to help you get started with your yoga practice? Try the Art of Living Yoga Studio online.
Healing visualization
Like affirmations, healing visualizations may be less effective in balancing and healing your root chakra. That is unless you have been meditating in a cave for decades and mastered your mind. In that case, you probably wouldn’t need healing visualizations–LOL!
Specific foods
Eat high prana food that makes digestion, metabolism, assimilation, and elimination easier. Fresh, raw fruits and veggies have some of the highest prana levels. Favor freshly cooked food, plant-based food, complex carbohydrates like oats, rice, and sprouted grains and legumes. All of these are also great for building life force energy.
Mudras
Mudras are specific hand positions used for thousands of years to positively influence the mind and body. They affect our nervous systems by stimulating nerve endings in the hands. You can think of mudras as a way of accessing your body's subtle energy grid.
Here are four mudras that, when practiced in sequence, help the energy flow in an upward direction, benefitting all the chakra energy centers. You can practice ujjayi breath (victory breath) for three minutes to enhance this process.
Gyan Mudra
Hold the tips of the thumbs and index fingers together lightly while extending the other three fingers without exerting any pressure. Rest your hands on your thighs as you gently breathe in and out.
Chin Maya Mudra
Hold the thumb and index finger together lightly in a ring. Curl your three remaining fingers into the palms of your hands and hold them there loosely. Place the hands on the thighs with palms facing upwards. Keep light attention between the eyebrows and continue breathing with victory breath.
Adi Mudra
Place the tip of your thumb at the base of the small finger and curl the remaining fingers over the thumb, forming a light fist. Place your palms facing upwards on the thighs. Keep light attention on the two sides of the head/brain, and breathe gently in Ujjayi.
Merudanda Mudra
Place your hands in the thumbs-up position, resting on your thighs. Keep gentle attention on the spine and continue to breathe in ujjayi.
Stones and crystals
Everything is energy. Even stones have energy– they are not dead. Here are some semi-precious gemstones with energy that resonates in the energy center, Muladhara chakra.
- Garnet
- Hematite
- Black Obsidian
- Black Tourmaline
- Red Jasper
Essential oils
- Sandalwood
- Cinnamon
- Frankincense
- Patchouli
- Cedarwood
Conclusion
The best meditation technique to increase spiritual energies for all the chakras is SKY Breath Meditation. SKY is easy to practice and gently awakens the Kundalini energy center at the base of the spine. A SKY practice (featured in the Art of Living Part 1) also gives you more life-enhancing benefits than any other meditation technique. Using the power of your breath, SKY gives you:
- Greater mental focus
- More life satisfaction
- Increased joy
- Improved relationships
- Higher spiritual plane
- And so much more!
You can see for yourself how powerful your breath is for meditation by registering for Art of Living Part 1. Register today!
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