Hello beautiful people! I want to take a moment to thank everyone for respecting my need to rest last weekend.
I enjoy doing a variety of different things that allow me to live my life fully—even in this more virtual environment, but rest is always an important part of my life’s equation. Sometimes, we get the signs and we can feel it in our body—the need and the desire to rest. Do we, do I, always listen? Absolutely not. I know from life experience though, that if I don’t listen to the cues from my body to do something that I am being called to do, that eventually something will happen that will force me to listen. See this week’s video here: https://youtu.be/ZPnpnykiTtc
I think it is important to remember and to just acknowledge that we are in the midst of a global pandemic, and there can be some hard days, some hard weeks, in fact, and we have to be gentle with ourselves through this. We can be both grateful for certain aspects of our life, and yet simultaneously we can be grieving for the loss of people, things, events, and experiences that have eluded us due to this larger event that we are all collectively experiencing. We must afford ourselves the grace that we need during this time, and be respectful to ourselves about what we need. I suppose that is also why when I have felt the need to share on my blog and channel some of the things that anchor me, that ground me, and that help me maneuver through this thing called life. Hopefully some of this information is also useful and helpful to you!
So it is with all of this in mind that we continue our journey up from the first chakra, the root, and make a stop at the second chakra, the Sacral Chakra or the Svadhisthana. Liz Simpson says describes this journey as “the energy that shifts humankind from survival to nourishing the soul. From survival we have traveled upward to the “pleasure principle.” The sacral chakra leads us from basic existence to help us embrace what makes life worth living.”
Svadhisthana translates to “where your being is established,” essentially it is the dwelling place of the self. Some say that it also means “sweetness,” because it is associated with things that make life sweeter. These include: pleasure, nurture, movement, and change. We must dwell sweetly within ourselves; we must make ourselves our home—we must hold our mind, body, soul, and heart as sacred spaces. Tad Williams said, “Never make your home a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You’ll find what you need to furnish it—memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey.”
The Sacral Chakra is located two inches below your naval, and it is associated with the color Orange. Orange is a color of passion and of fire. As a mixture of yellow and red, it is a color bursting with energy and warmth. The Hindu symbol for this chakra is an orange six petal lotus with a white circle symbolizing the element of water, and a blue or silver crescent moon in the middle. If you look closely enough at the crescent moon you might see a fish-like creature within the moon. It is called a makara (some say it is a crocodile) and it holds similar energies to that of the Kundalini (a story for another day). Within this chakra is said to lie all of our creative pursuits and duties. Our dharma. Dharma is not super easy to explain in a short video, but it is a central and very important philosophy within Hinduism and Buddhism. The simplest explanation is, “that there is a right or true way for each person to carry out their life in order to serve both themselves and others.”
Because of the powerful and passionate energies that lie in this chakra, including those of our sexual desire, it can be dangerous when neglected. It can represent our greatest pleasure or our greatest pain. I read a quote that said, “Svadhisthana is a beautiful lake filled with both the disgusting muck and precious gems of the self. When you are ready, only you can unearth your true self. We can often see clearly what is in someone else’s lake, but this is avoiding the great responsibility of the sacral chakra.”
Both the moon and the element of water which are both associated with the sacral chakra, deal with emotions. The sacral chakra is a hub, if you will, for our emotional desires, needs, wants, and security. It also governs creativity, sensitivity, sexuality, intimacy, emotional-wellbeing, self-expression, self-confidence, the nature of your relationships, your sense of being nurtured and cherished, your sense of being appreciated by others and freedom from guilt. This is also the chakra where we discover what things we enjoy out in the world, it is how we design a life that we want through interacting with the world, without losing ourselves to the world. It is the chakra that forms the foundation of a healthy ego. When it becomes blocked or imbalanced, it can lead to some very serious issues.
Imbalances with the chakras can have both physical and emotional/mental manifestations. As a reminder from our discussion on the root chakra, each chakra also has physical associations. The sacral chakra resonates with the reproductive organs, the bladder, kidney, lymphatic and circulatory systems, the prostate, the womb, the ovaries/testes, and the large intestines. These areas can be impacted when the sacral chakra becomes blocked or imbalanced. The sacral chakra can become blocked by fear, especially by the fear of death. Imbalances in the sacral chakra can also cause fears, insecurities, depression, reproductive issues, sciatic pain, lower back pain, low self-worth, guilt and even manipulative tendencies. A balanced sacral chakra that is functioning correctly allows you to feel fearless, fulfilled, confident, trusting, expressive, emotionally connected and secure, powerful, creative, and better able to manifest your desires. That’s a whole lot!
This chakra and I have a very personal history. It is said that empathetic people—empaths, hold a lot of the energy that they absorb from others in this area. If you don’t properly cleanse your energy from what you absorb from others, it can impact you by causing an imbalanced or blocked chakra. But this chakra can also reveal the fears, and the guilts that you don’t even realize you are holding onto. My parents, who I have mentioned before had me when they were both teenagers. I grew up hearing with an often unstated but lingering reminder in the back of my mind—don’t be a statistic. Don’t also become a teenager parent.
Also having helped raise my younger siblings, I knew first-hand how difficult and expensive it can be to raise children. At some point the “don’t have children early, switches to when are you going to have a child.” Often the people asking these questions have no intention of helping raise said child. I devoted many years of my life to my education and to my career. When I went through a divorce in my late twenties, I did feel that pressure of a biological clock ticking away, and guilt and sadness at the perceived loss of this precious period in my life. Jamaican culture is the type of culture with many good and bad aspects. One of the shadow sides is a constant emphasis on asking women when they are going to have children. It can be so stressful.
I want people to stop asking women this. We don’t know the intimate details of a woman’s body—the things that she has been through, or the personal decisions that she has made about her body, or even whether she has lost a child already. This question can be triggering and painful.
A few years ago, I started experiencing a sharp pain in the area of my ovaries. I didn’t do anything about it for a long time because believe it or not, as humans, we can grow to live with immense pain. I went to see my doctor, and all of this led to the discovery of a very large ovarian cyst—caused from years of taking birth control to help regulate pain, a smaller cyst, and some evidence of endometriosis. I only knew about endometriosis because a friend was brave enough to share her experiences with it. I ended up having surgery, and experiencing the pain of internal physical healing. I know that a lot of women, black women especially also suffer from fibroids.
I believe that there is a certain stress that modern women hold in this area—worrying and wondering if they will be able to do it all. Children, career, and more. And if we don’t check one box, does that mean we are less than? It doesn’t and I think healing the sacral chakra is an important way of getting to the realization that you are amazing as you are, without any additional pressures from society. I don’t know my own personal future as far as whether I will one day have children, but I have been in the lives of many young people, and even more, having established a relationship with my sacral chakra, having learned to dwell in myself, has allowed me to be at peace with whatever the future holds. All of this to say, when working with your sacral chakra, look inward to see if there are any subconscious guilts or fears that you are holding. Can you let these go? You should let them go, gently, with love.
So what are some ways to balance the Sacral chakra?
· Meditation to balance the Sacral chakra. Many meditations out there can help you to concentrate healing energies to the Sacral Chakra area. Each Chakra is also associated with a particular sound. The sacral chakra is associated with the sound/mantra VAM. Meditating and chanting to VAM for even a few minutes can be beneficial to helping balance the sacral chakra. Listening to 288Hz frequency while meditating is also great—this is the frequency that resonates with the sacral chakra. I once went to visit my cousin in Bermuda, and she took me to get sound healing and an amazing massage that I will never forget. The healer conscious of my previous surgery, did an amazing sound session that resonated with my sacral chakra. I will always be thankful for that.
· Crystal Healing. Crystals vibrate with different energies. Helpful crystals for sacral chakra healing work are: coral, citrine, carnelian, orange aventurine, and amber. Carrying these close to you and placing the gemstones on the area of your sacral chakra while lying down can be very beneficial to helping with alignment.
· Colors. Surround yourself with the color orange. This color is most strongly associated with the sacral chakra. Wear orange clothing. Add some orange to your décor.
· Foods. Eat orange foods and foods that are centering—oranges, tangerines, mangos, pumpkin, cantaloupe, sweet potato, carrots, nuts and seeds, and squash are good ones.
· Be Creative. This chakra is associated with creativity, and any blocks like writer’s block are associated with sacral chakra imbalances. The best way to engage with your creativity is to do something—anything. Paint, draw, make music, cook, write, bake. Julia Cameron, the writer of a phenomenal book, “The Artist Way,” says two things that I really love. First, “Boredom is just, what’s the use in disguise. And what’s the use is fear, and fear means you are secretly in despair. So put your fears on the page. Put anything on the page. Put three pages of it on the page.” Second, “In filling the well, think magic. Think delight. Think fun. Do not think duty. Do not do what you should do—spiritual sit ups like reading a dull but critical text. Do what intrigues you, explore what interests you; think mystery, not mastery.” And so please do anything, something that intrigues and delights you.
· Belly dance. Yes, I said it. Watch some tutorials from YouTube and get your sacral chakra moving. Since this chakra is below the belly, these types of movement, help to open you up!
· Seek therapy to heal from past issues and insecurities. I will always include this, but I am aware that it can be difficult for some people, whether due to financial barriers or through other forms of access. There are resources available for low cost or virtual therapy. Here is a resource from SAMSHA: https://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/
· Connect with the water element. I have a blog/video on this. Water is one of my favorite elements. I love to soak in the sea, the river, or the tub. But I have also learned about the importance of drinking water. Check out one of my previous videos on water, and soak up the love that this element gives to your sacral chakra. See this one on the Element Water: https://youtu.be/h1g0OHnv360 See this one on the importance of Drinking Water: https://youtu.be/vnfBpT0AQmQ
· Practice your affirmations! Here are a few: I love my body. I am radiant, beautiful, and strong. I allow myself to experience pleasure. I feel emotionally secure. I am creative. I allow sweetness into my life.
I hope that this information was informative and that you can apply these in a practical manner in your life. Please let me know if anything works well for you!! Also, please feel free to drop more tips/suggestions in the comments. May the stars shine brightly over your week and may your sacral chakra help you to delight in all of life’s sweetness. Have a beautiful week.
(Some photos used from Unsplash & Google)
Celestial Goodness 