Chakra Series: Part One - Root Chakra

Hi everyone, as promised, I'm starting the chakra series, covering the basics to help people to understand what they are, where they are etc.

There are seven main or major chakras and many minor ones that are situated around our body/aura. They are energy centres or concentrations of life force energy, which spin at different speeds. They are 'seen' as wheels of light, each one a different colour, the colour is created by the speed at which that chakra is spinning. The seven main chakras are located from the base of the spine up through the spine to the top of the head (see diagram below).

Having a general awareness of the chakras can help us to heal and understand why we manifest our illness or problems the way we do. Every belief, action or choice we make affects the amount of energy that can flow through us. When our chakras are balanced, we are healthy and in harmony with our Higher Self. When energy becomes blocked through stress, over work, negative, fear-based thinking, or trauma, our chakras become blocked or unbalanced, which affects the amount of energy/life force flowing through us. Each suppressed emotion or negative belief we hold is stored away in a particular area of the body and over time, these suppressed energies begin to manifest physical blockages which we experience as illness or physical pain.

My aim here, is to give a little insight into why and where we store the things we do (without consciously realising it of course) so that we can then clear them away and create increased health in all areas of our lives. I hope you find it interesting and helpful!

The Root/Base Chakra:
Colour: Red
Position: Base of the Spine
Associated Organs/Areas: Kidneys, Bladder, Rectum, Vertebral Column, Hips, Lower Back, Legs, Feet, Hands.
Endocrine Gland: Adrenal (cortisone)
Related Emotions: Fear, Courage
Basic Need: Security, Confidence
Spiritual Aspect: Self-awareness

The base chakra is associated with the base-ic needs in life. Our material needs for survival, including physical health and strength, money, home, work, and general safety. It is our fight or flight area! If we notice any health problems in the base chakra area of the body, we can look within to examine the possible underlying causes of the illness or pain, and see if we can connect them with the beliefs, emotions and issues that are governed by the root chakra.

Common problems occur in this area when there is a fear of not having enough, whether it be enough security, money or any material lack. Those who have suffered abuse will often have blockages in this area, as they feel it's unsafe for them to open to receive. The root chakra is our connection with the Earth and any negative beliefs we have about being here will block our connection and prevent us from being grounded and in the present moment, the very place where we need to be to create and receive abundance.

Issues about work and income are governed by the root chakra, often people are unsure of their direction in life or what they want to do for a living. Some believe that you can't enjoy your work and earn enough money as well. These and other restricted ways of thinking that we believe (or have inherited) are stored away in the lower part of the body and over time, can start to manifest into physical health problems. Many people suffer with lower back pain, hip, knee pain or stiffness, for example, sometimes these ailments are a physical manifestation of the pain or stiff way of thinking associated with moving forward in life or with a lack of support financially or materially.

It's all to easy to be in our heads, thinking, thinking, thinking and rushing around being too busy, often though, this is a dis-connection from ourselves and a way to avoid problems. It often causes problems in the root chakra area because the root chakra is where we store away old emotions regarding safety, money, our home and our belongings. It's where we store our fears about survival. Many people have a lot of fear surrounding their material security and loss of that security. Many confuse material security with true inner security and confidence.

Healing or balancing the root chakra develops inner security and true confidence, which is love-based and real. No-one can take these away! When we feel safe inside our own skin, we create and receive more security externally. If we focus our mind on security and being safe, having enough and on life taking care of us and taking care of the details about how things will work out for us, then we can relax more and let go into a deeper place of true inner security.


Tips for balancing the root chakra:

• Wear red clothes, they increase a sense of security, warmth and increase/stimulate energy levels and circulation. Get some red socks! Have beautiful red things in your home to look at

•  Focus your mind on being safe, having enough, imagine what you want rather than what you fear

• Take time off to re-balance and slow down. Hear and feel the fears then release them to feel more secure, rather than running away from them

• Examine your beliefs about money, home, work and safety.

• Take time to do what gives you joy! It builds confidence and helps us to feel good about being alive!

• Meditate every day. See why in this post: Why Meditate?

Click here for part 2 - The Sacral Chakra

Gratitude

It's always good to be grateful! But there's more to it than just good manners...when we show gratitude to others, we are giving back to them in love. When we appreciate something they've done for us fully, our gratitude to them completes the circle of giving and receiving. Although when we give unconditionally, we don't expect anything in return, receiving gratitude from others feels great! It strengthens and empowers us and helps us to give more.

Some people find it hard to receive and they can come across as being very ungrateful. Often, this is because deep down, they feel unworthy of receiving love, be it a compliment, a supportive friend, or a gift. It jars with their mistaken belief that they can't have it this good, so they push love and the person trying to offer it, away. Through learning to love ourselves more, we slowly begin to feel more comfortable receiving love from others too and in doing so, feel safer to receive in gratitude.

Gratitude isn't just about giving and receiving in this way though, it's something that we must all cultivate as a way of thinking; the attitude of gratitude. By spending more time mentally focusing on what we do have going for us and being grateful for that, we begin to manifest and attract more of the same into our lives. If we can notice and remember the good things that happen to us and the wonderful moments we experience, however small, each day, our focus of attention becomes more love-based and this is a powerful and very healing place to be!

I spend time each day, thinking mindfully about the good I have in my life, the small things, like a peaceful few minutes in meditation, or the kindness shown to me by my family. I'm so grateful to Nature for showing me the beauty of the birds in my garden, the bumble bee buzzing by and the fresh air I have to breathe each day. So many things, fresh water to drink, electricity, clean clothes, good food, a comfortable bed to sleep in...

Take time each day to find three things (or more) to be grateful for. The small things are actually the most important because they help us to shift our mental state to a more positive place by realising we have more than we think going for us. Sometimes, people find it hard to acknowledge that they have anything to be grateful for but when we start small, there's always something. By deciding to be grateful for all we have that's good in our lives, we open up to receiving more love from life. We are focusing on abundance rather than lack. When we focus on the problems or the fear of what seems to be wrong, we attract more of that too, so it makes sense to begin to shift our thinking to the attitude of gratitude.

Over time, it becomes our natural instinct to immediately think about being grateful and giving our thanks to others and very importantly, to life, for providing so well for us. The Universe wants us to have all we desire, when we are grateful, we receive more! It also helps cultivate a greater sense of security because you realise eventually that life will look after us if we get out of the way and allow it to.

Healing through the blocks and fears does take some time but we can help things along by finding the things each day to be grateful for and spending our time thinking about those, instead of worrying about what's wrong or what we haven't got. Releasing old fears and emotions surrounding lack is very important and once the emotions have been released, we can return to thoughts of gratitude. Be grateful that you've cleared away some emotional baggage, so you're more free to move forward in life in ways that suit you now.  

Healing, for most, is a cyclic process, working on various aspects of ourselves and our lives. The other issues that can sometimes come up regarding gratitude include self -worth and abundance, which I'm covering in other posts, so please do check those out if it seems relevant to you. In the meantime, notice the small things that are wonderful! Look to Nature to show you something amazing to lift your mind! A flower, a colour, beauty...in the end we become grateful for having the attitude of gratitude! That in itself feels amazing and when we feel good, we relax into life, we let go and allow the good things to flow to us.

Self Worth: You are good enough now!

Improving our levels of self worth is an ongoing process for most people. There are often some areas of life that we feel comfortable and happy with, yet other areas that prove problematic. Sometimes, on deeper levels, we don't believe we deserve to have what we really want in life, be it good health, enough money, happy, fulfilling relationships, or a great job that we love.

On a conscious level, we may crave these qualities of life but if on a deeper level, we believe (mistakenly of course) that we're undeserving, we'll block the good from coming to us. Either that or the good things will come and then we'll sabotage them as a way to get rid of the good. Sounds mad doesn't it? That we do this? It's true though, but fortunately through healing, we become more self-aware, which means we become more aware of our patterns and beliefs that stem from the past, which are still tripping us up now.

Through our life experiences, we have developed many negative, fear-based beliefs about ourselves, others, life, money, health etc. If we have experienced lack of any kind, we can end up believing that we aren't 'enough' to recieve the love that comes our way from the Universe. Maybe we inherited patterns of fear from our families, perhaps there wasn't ever enough love, time or money to go around. The problem is, that if we continue to hold fear based beliefs about anything, including ourselves, then we will continue to manifest and attract that to us.

By changing to a more love based set of beliefs about life and ourselves, we are able to open to receive the love, health, money and joy etc into our lives. Developing a greater level of self worth is a very powerful process. Opening to receive more sounds easy and obvious, yet, for many it's a scary business because opening to receive means being out of control. It means trusting life, or another person. Opening to try something new takes courage. Often, receiving more can cause powerful healing responses as it triggers off old fearful patterns and emotions from the past. This is a positive step however, as the old emotional baggage must be cleared to make room for new, love-based experiences and a better quality of life.

We can recognise low self worth patterns in ourselves when we catch ourselves 'trying'. If we're only happy when we've achieved something, or when we put our happiness in the future, "when I'm _______"  or  "when I've achieved _______". We make our happiness conditional to something instead of saying "I allow myself to be happy now, as I am now, because I'm good enough / deserving enough right now!" These statements can cause discomfort but this is good, it's a sign that old restrictive patterns are being challenged and loosened and that some old mental programming is on it's way to being changed for something more positive!

It's very liberating to nurture these beliefs about being 'enough' right now. And the other thing is, they aren't just beliefs, they are the TRUTH! The Universe loves us all and wants us to have our every wish come true, we're the ones who block the love, this is how powerful we are! Reiki is excellent for helping to bring to light and then heal old patterns of negative thinking. It re-connects us with the truth of who we really are and clears away the emotional baggage from the past so we can live fully now. Positive affirmations are also great, check out Louise L. Hay's little card decks, including the I can do it cards, they're simple, yet powerful.

There's a lot to say on this topic, so more another time, but for today, allow yourself to entertain the idea "I'm good enough now!" because you are...