Sacral Chakra

Your sacral chakra is located in the area of your navel, lower abdomen, low back and sexual organs. The basic issues affected are creativity, sexuality, money, relationships, empathy, nurturing, pleasure, emotions, movement, change, warmth, and intimacy. It represents your ability to go with the flow – grace and acceptance and allowing yourself to enjoy your life and achievements.  The associated body parts are your hips, lower back, sexual organs, bladder, kidneys, stomach, large intestine, pelvis, appendix, and bodily fluids.

Our roles are affected by the programming in this area of fear of abandonment, financial security, social status, children, and creativity.  You can be controlled by your fears, level of trust, control, blame, guilt and shame. This area is concerned with daily aspects of living, people to whom we relate, and quality of our relationships.  It also relates to everything we own, money, relationships, and passion.
If you are feeling pain or discomfort in your any of these body locations, it may be an indication that there are some emotional issues that need clearing. Low back pain has a high association with money issues among other things.  If you do not have a habit of safely expressing your emotions, it is likely that your lower body is holding onto these emotions until you are ready to process them.  Unexpressed and unprocessed emotions do not go away, they take up residence in your energetic and physical bodies.



Ask yourself these questions to see if you have any stuck energy in your sacral chakra.
1.            In what areas do you allow yourself to experience pleasure? Where do you not? 2.            Do you feel creative and sensual? 3.            How often do you do things that you don’t really enjoy?  That you do enjoy? 4.            When you do things for others is it from a genuine desire to be of service or are you really trying to win their approval or love? 5.            Do you have co-dependent relationships? How do you contribute to them? 6.            Do you experience jealousy? 7.            Do you trust that life is abundant and there is always enough?  8.            Do you allow life to be easy or do you believe you have to struggle and sacrifice and that everything is hard?

SIGNS OF A BALANCED SACRAL CHAKRA

Easy Going

Expressive

Passionate

Creative

Emotionally sound

Sense of love

Sexually Fulfilled

Joy

Warmth

SYMPTOMS OF AN IMBALANCED SACRAL CHAKRA

Obsessions

Addictions

Creative blocks

Impotence

Promiscuity

Guilt

Depression

Hormonal imbalances

Lower back pain

Kidney stones

Urinary problems

Gynecological issues

Prostate problems

Poor sense of taste

Self hate

Manipulative

Oversensitive

Frigid

Anger

BALANCING COMPONENTS OF THE SACRAL CHAKRA

Color: orange
Symbol: crescent moon
Element: water
Spice: cinnamon, vanilla, carob, sweet paprika, sesame seeds, caraway seeds
Food: sweet fruits
Mantra: VAM (pronounced VANG)
Sound: vowel sound O and musical note D
Gemstones: gold topaz, aventurine, coral, fire opal
Aromatic Oils: sandalwood, myrrh, bitter orange, vanilla
Bach flowers: oak, olive, pine

 AFFIRMATIONS

I enjoy my life now.

I accept myself just as I am now.

I deserve to happiness.

I trust that I am loved.

 

6 Ways to Balance the Sacral Chakra

 

1. Hip-opening yoga postures.  If you’ve ever taken a yoga class, you’ve likely heard a teacher say at least once that we store emotional and physical tension in our hips—hence yoga’s many hip-opening postures. This directly connects to your sacral chakra. If you doubt at all the validity of this, notice where you grip or clench your muscles the next time you’re in a stressful situation. It’s likely your throat area (another emotional center) and your hips and lower abdomen. Remember also that your hips move in many directions— even though many people think of hip-openers as external rotation only. While it’s ideal to do a few postures that stretch your hips through their full range of motion, holding one pose and focusing on completely letting go is a great place to start. My personal favorite is cow pose, but bound angle is another ideal asana to hold and breathe into.

2.  Dance like no one’s watching. Dancing is one of the best—and easiest—ways to open your sacral chakra. So close the door, turn on your favorite music, and move. For double the cleansing effects, get out with friends as you move your hips to your favorite rhythm.

3. Tone up. While learning to let go of unnecessary muscular gripping and tension is ideal for chakra health throughout your body, it’s also important to take care of your body and keep your muscles strong and healthy. One of the main reasons to have a physical yoga practice is to make the body a fit—no pun intended—vehicle for the spirit and to prepare your body for seated meditation (another reason for hip-opening postures), and the lower abdominals are frequently an area that people let go. Some of my favorites for strong lower abs are boat pose (really hug the knees in towards the chest), pendant pose and yogic leg lifts.

4. Visualize orange. Orange is the sacral chakra’s color. Imagine a bright, healing orange glow filling up your entire lower abdomen—keeping in mind that we’re three dimensional. I have SI joint problems and often focus specifically on this region, so feel free to send your breath—and the color orange—to any particular area of disease or tension.

5. Balance your other chakras. A severe imbalance in one chakra almost always means imbalances in other chakras as well. (They work as a system.) Your throat chakra in particular has strong connections to your sacral chakra. The next time you practice your deep hip-opening posture of choice, notice if you feel a release in your throat area as well (double pigeon/fire log pose is wonderful for this). You can also try working a pose like bridge that allows you to connect with many of your chakras at one time; flowing slowly in and out of the posture as you connect your breath and movement.

6. Let go. You’ll see me write this a lot in my blogs, but learning to let go—of unhealthy emotions, people, and memories—is so important. When we learn to let go of the baggage that we don’t need to carry, we create space and energy for new and better opportunities.

In life, it’s all too easy to become emotionally closed off or overly dependent on the people around us. Learning to trust our intuition, yet not be ruled by our emotions, is something that—like many worthwhile things—takes practice. I hope these tips for sacral chakra balancing inspire you on your journey to be your best—and healthiest—self.