The Sacral Chakra
- Ursula Barbieri
- Mar 17, 2022
- 20 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Unit 6 - Master Your Energy E-course.
The Sacral Chakra.
Living with Joy and in the Flow.
Introduction
We will describe the Sacral chakra following four main maps: the original Vedas, the 5 Elements of the Medicine Wheel, the Inca shamanic tradition and A. Judith’s Age development model.
(For an overview of the models, see Unit 3 ‘The Energy of Chakras’)
Description and Archetypes
With the second chakra, we enter the lighter frequency of water and movement. The lotus, strongly rooted in the mud, emerges into the nourishing waters and moves towards the sunlight. In the same way, the ascending kundalini energy rises up from the root chakra, in alive and vibrant motion, longing for expression in the world of sensual creation.
The sacral chakra represents our connection to life, where we come in relation with the world of sensations, emotions and perceptions. Therefore, it is about movement and flow, creativity and playfulness, sensuality and pleasure. This energy centre is a place of emotion, intuition and instinct, where we feel our deepest desires and creative needs, and where we enjoy connecting with the world around us.
The sacral chakra is positioned in the lower abdomen between the navel and the genitals. In the Vedas, it is called Svadhisthana, meaning ‘the dwelling place of the Self’, but also translated as ‘Sweetness of Life’. A way of linking these two meanings is to affirm that this is ‘the place where the Self, as the ultimate Being, experiences the joy of coming into existence’. The sweet home of the Self.
In the Vedas, the symbol for this energy centre is a white crescent moon, an image associated with the element of water and evoking the shadowy deep undercurrents of our psyche. We access here our emotional intelligence, our inner well of sensations, perceptions and feelings, which guide us to fulfil our desires and creative endeavours.
The Indu divine trilogy of Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva-the destroyer, symbolises the life cycle of creation, sustenance and destruction. Vishnu is the deity residing in the sacral chakra as the Sustainer of the Universe. What is being created with Brahman in the root chakra is now sustained and nourished by Vishnu, a protecting and stabilising force for all creation to manifest. Vishnu is married to Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, love and beauty. Together they sustain life expression in joy, abundance, creativity and pleasure.
Another Hindu myth, evoking the joy of celebrating life, as the main vibration of the 2nd chakra, is the ecstatic union of Parvati and Shiva. It is said that Parvati created the world for Shiva to play. Parvati embodies the Kundalini-Shakti energy of Samsara (the river of life), whilst Shiva represents the infinite, eternal space of Nirvana (consciousness). She is a creature moved by desire into the dance of life, yearning to surrender in love to Shiva, who experiences himself in the mirror of his beloved, in the ultimate realisation that they are One Love Energy. Together, they realise the sacred intimacy of beingness with sensual experience.
Water is the traditional element of the sacral chakra, and it is invoked in Celtic shamanism by honouring its natural features.
Water is the life-giver, nourishing, holding and healing. Great civilisations have developed near important bodies of water, like the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia or the Ganga in India, where access to water created an abundance of crops and thriving communities. Rainfall nourishes the earth, the waters of the living womb nourish new babies, and the water of sacred wells nurtures and heals our Souls.
There are more symbolic qualities connected to water and its physiognomy.
The principle of flow, for example, is evoked by the image of rivers flowing continuously whilst remaining the same essence in each spot.
When we connect to the deep ocean, we experience the silent depth of our being. Storms remind us of intensity and passion, whilst lakes bring us a sense of stillness and peace. Sacred wells and waterfalls feel cleansing, healing and rejuvenating.
The quality of flow, in particular, is an important feature of the sacral chakra energy and is correlated to our ability to change and be fluid emotionally. Like waves are born, develop and die, life flows in a continuous cycle of death and rebirth, of Eros and Thanatos, of change and renewal, of creation and destruction. We flow in a rhythm between opposites, i.e., connection and separation, letting go and holding on, ecstatic passion and quiet stillness, action and relaxation and so on.
A person with a balanced sacral chakra is able to surf all the waters of life, owning the full range of her emotional spectrum and creative abilities, and is able to change and flow in every life circumstance.
In Inka shamanism, the sacral chakra is a power centre. The spirit of Jaguar governs its energy and inspires us to live as peaceful warriors. Jaguar is alert, perceptive, ready for action and walks the Earth with no fear as it is at the top of the food chain. In the same way, peaceful warriors are highly aware, able to act out of choice rather than reactivity, and in charge of their emotional responses. When the sacral chakra energy is in balance, we are not driven by fear or pain, which is imprinted in the body by trauma, and causes us to behave in a compulsive way. We have stepped out of the negative karmic stories that have been running our lives, into self-awareness and clear perception, and we connect harmoniously with the world around us.
The sacral chakra is a power centre in many traditions. In Yoga, all the 72000 nadis meet here. The nadis are the network of channels through which the prana (life force energy) flows in the body. 36000 nadis come from the Pingala Nadi (the right Sun-masculine meridian) and 36000 from the Ida Nadi (the left Moon-feminine meridian), creating a powerful core.
In other traditions, such as Japanese and Chinese, this focal point of energy, called Hara or Dan Tien, houses the essential life force known as Ki, Qi, or Ch’i.
The sacral chakra is literally a generator of life force, magnetising and radiating energy into the field around it. Here we hold our strong core and, like holding a rudder amidst the currents of the ocean, we ride the raw, powerful kundalini energy.
Similarly, in Huna shamanism, this is the space of the Basic Self, the powerhouse of our psyche, in deep touch with the underworld of our wild emotions and instinctual awareness, and in direct connection with our Higher Self. (See more about the Basic Self in Unit 4 – Power and the Shadow).
In the age development model, the child is 1-2 years old and is enjoying life with all her senses. She explores the world around her actively and fearlessly, moved by pleasure and curiosity. She is in love with everything and in wonder with all new sensations and perceptions. This is the realm of the joyful, magical, radiant child, who is learning to separate from the mother to connect with the people and the world. The child’s task is to develop her emotional identity and learn to perceive through her senses, feelings and perceptions. When her basic needs for protection, safety and love are met in the root chakra, through sensory stimulation and play, the child learns to trust her own intuition and her ability for independent exploration. The tension here lies between attachment and authenticity, as the child moves from the need to bond in love with her parents to the desire for exploration, independence, and self-expression.
Emotions, Core beliefs and Issues
An open sacral chakra moves us to join Samsara, the river of life. Therefore, any block to experiencing the joy of living lies at its core wounding. When we perceive ourselves as separate or disconnected from the world, from others and from our own instinctual nature, we block the vital flow of energy in this centre.
We may then become shut down, isolated from the environment and from our own emotional, creative intelligence. On the other hand, we may compensate for the pain of separation by losing ourselves in excessive attachments to people, jobs or other addictions, in an attempt to feel more connected. Either we retreat from the world, or we feel overidentified. In both cases, we freeze the carefree fluidity of being intimate with life and non-attached at the same time.
In the Veda the myths of Lakshmi and Visnu invite us to enjoy the luscious abundance and beauty of the world, whilst the union of Parvati and Shiva invites us to experience the ecstasy and sacredness of intimate connection. Whenever we lose touch with the Sweetness of Life, restricted by fearful belief systems of lack vs abundance, struggle vs pleasure, resistance vs flow, the energy in our sacral chakra becomes unbalanced, either excessive or deficient, and we live in suffering rather than joy.
We are in an excessive sacral chakra modality when we move through life in struggle and stress, often following the dictates of a hard-working, high-achieving mindset. The beliefs that ‘there is never enough’ or ‘I am not good enough’ lead us to operate in a ‘fight’ mode; we are then driven towards overdoing, competitive behaviour, aggressiveness, excessive search for pleasure, distraction or other harmful addictions. We want to push the river of life and end up being overwhelmed.
On the other hand, the same lack of trust in life and in ourselves, and the same core belief that ‘I am not good enough’, may contract our energy into depression and numbness. We then operate in a flight-freeze mode, incapable of sensual and emotional intimacy, living in low self-value, poverty consciousness, and driven by fear, guilt or self-sacrifice. We stay on the bank of the river of life, feeling that we are not able to join in.
The relationship with the Water Element may be unbalanced when we deny its symbolic quality of self-nourishment, as fulfilment of our physical, emotional and creative needs. The mantra of the sacral chakra is ‘Needs are good! Follow your Bliss! Feel good with physical movement, good food and sensual touch, as well as cultivate deeply supportive emotional relationships and uplifting endeavours. When we do not recognise and fulfil our needs, we may become needy towards others or trapped in compulsive addictions, or we may live in self-denial, numbness and isolation. The martyr is a good example of someone who does not believe she can have pleasure in life, and therefore, she sacrifices her personal needs to support others or external causes. Lack of acknowledgement and appreciation will then lead the martyr to sink into self-pity and guilt-inducing behaviours. The martyr needs to move away from self-sacrificing behaviour, which reflects her core belief that life is suffering, and towards making more life-affirming choices for herself.
The sacral chakra energy may be blocked when we deny the qualities of flow and change in our lives. The ever-flowing river of life is never the same in one spot, continuously flowing and changing. In the same way, we need to embrace change, moving from fixed identities and beliefs into new possibilities, letting go of what needs to die and no longer serves us, and taking the risk of expanding beyond our comfort zone.
The chakra becomes deficient when we create rigid, fearful structures and set excessive boundaries, resisting any form of change. The chakra becomes excessive instead, for lack of stability and poor boundaries (the river doesn’t have strong banks), and we surf through life without a firm hand on the rudder, taken over by chaotic external circumstances.
Typically, the sacral chakra is associated with the realm of emotions. The symbol of the moon and the element of water symbolise emotional depth and emotional fluidity. Issues arise when we are trapped in the negative spectrum of the emotional range. Due to trauma, stress and other wounding, we may live in depression, anxiety, uncontrollable mood swings, chronic adrenal exhaustion (fight-flight-freeze) and more. These negative states of emotional numbness or overwhelm may lead to patterns of behaviours such as co-dependency, addictions, rigid dogmatism, aggressiveness and more, all a reflection of the inability to allow and transmute emotions.
Furthermore, emotions are shamed in our culture and are seen as a sign of a weak mind. The perceptions of empaths are judged as subjective and not measurable. Expressing emotions is condemned as a lack of control. Emotional guidance is a scientific fact. The entire area of the womb is wired with neurological connections. It is like a second brain that continuously receives and sends information. Repressing emotions shuts off our intuition and life force, causing them to get lodged in the body. Only when we allow emotions fully, with awareness and without judgment, are we able to transform them and move into the positive polarities of joy, love, pleasure, play, and effortlessness.
The chakra's power to be a radiant generator of life force can be limited for a number of reasons. However, the lack of power over our emotional states is often a common denominator to many imbalances. When we are not able to master our emotions, the centre does not hold. This means we are unable to allow for our full emotional range whilst remaining still, quiet and present. Without a strong hold in our centre, we cannot direct our power from a state of neutrality and make conscious choices.
Emotions are reflections of our Soul; they are the expression of our beliefs, thoughts, and all the karmic stories that live in our psyche. When working with wounding at this level, we are facing deep patterns over which we often have little awareness or control. These subconscious energies are imprinted in our bodies and drive us through life in reactivity, attracting more trauma and negative events. Karma, as the sum of our imprinted emotional wounding, is an inner job. We cannot blame the external world for our suffering. We need to take responsibility for transmuting these negative emotional patterns and restore our divine essence of calm presence. Only going back to our still, aware centre of presence, can we create a new karmic current in harmony with our Soul highest values. These were the lessons of the Inka shamans, who knew how to clear the old karmic suffering, becoming luminous warriors who control and harness their emotions, act in integrity, and leave no negative traces on the Earth.
The inner Magical Child, whose essence exists prior to any experience, is divine and incorruptible, and retreats in the shadow of our psyche if there is wounding in early childhood.
At the age of 1-2, the child is separating from mother to discover independence, through her senses and feelings. It is such a pleasure to witness a playful toddler getting excited at almost anything! However, this is a delicate transition, and the sensitive child can be easily hurt. Wounding may come from too much control, emotional enmeshment, abuse, not enough sensory stimulation, neglect, feelings not validated or repressed, lack of touch and love, feeling unsafe, and more. Books have been filled with psychological issues at this stage of development. From an energy perspective, however, what is important is that the outcome of any form of physical and emotional abuse is Soul loss or the loss of connection with the selfless magical child and her wonderful creative talents. The child has retreated into the depths of the subconscious and is not coming out to play. Instead, what is being formed is her Fear body and Pain body, as a conglomerate of imprinted negative emotions, wounding and conditioning, which will play havoc later on in life. Our magical child is creative, playful, and in wonder at all creation, and knows herself by connecting with others and the world.
Core beliefs in the Sacral Chakra:
Connection to Life and the joy of living:
Life is a struggle, and I need to work hard
The world is unsafe, overwhelming, and I cannot cope.
Life is unbearable, and I don’t want to be here (death wish)
Life is suffering, and I don’t deserve joy or pleasure
Sexuality and sensuality: any leading to addiction or repression
Abundance: any related to greed and material attachments, or lack and poverty consciousness
Self-Nurturance:
Personal needs are not important, self-sacrificing
Selfish gratification
Change: rigid identities and attachments, or lack of boundaries, instability and unsafe risk-taking
Creativity, exploration and play: any limiting or blocking beliefs
Emotions:
I am too sensitive
I am overwhelmed by my emotions
Other people’s emotions overwhelm me
I feel invaded by the energies of people and environments
I can’t contain my emotions
I am scared by my emotional intensity
I can’t feel my emotions
I must hide my feelings
I can’t express my emotions
Emotions need to be controlled and repressed
I don’t trust my emotional guidance
Imbalances in the body
There are specific correlations between glands, organs and systems with every chakra, mainly depending on the position of the chakra in the body.
Typically, the second chakra relates to the entire sacral area and we may find imbalances in the reproductive system (uterus, prostate, genitals, ovaries and testes), urinary system (bladder, kidneys, urinary tract), small and large intestines (and microbiome), hip joints and lower back, other muscles or joints when inflexible, peripheral nervous system and immune system.
Imbalances may manifest in other parts of the body and in relation to the symbolic qualities of the chakra. For example, a continuous state of stress as opposed to joy, effortlessness and flow may cause very diverse symptoms, like adrenal exhaustion, infections, eating disorders, or more. Mental health disorders may manifest, such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolarity and more.
The territory is vast to cover, and we know that energy medicine addresses the psycho-spiritual causes of diseases more than the symptoms. These root causes depend on the individual's specific Soul journey. When a shaman was asked, “How do you cure cancer?” He replied, “Bring me the person”.
Healing and balancing the chakra
Healing the sacral chakra is about restoring our joyful and creative participation in life.
Are we open to connecting with others and the world? Do we nurture our deep needs and desires? How do we harness our vitality and joy? Are we in the flow, or are we resisting what life presents us? Do we embrace change with an attitude of curiosity, play and exploration?
In order to feel joy, we need to heal our pain body, burdened by negative conditioning and wounding. Living in stress and in reactive wounded mode contracts the energy in the chakra and disconnects us from our instinctual intelligence.
In order to flow, we need to balance opposite forces, for example, the need for intimacy and the need for freedom, or the desire for involvement with life and our state of detachment.
The energy in the chakra is naturally soft, expansive, and surrendering. However, we also need to know how to contain it and ride it when it becomes too exuberant.
In general, healing the sacred chakra is about cultivating our natural state of relaxation, whilst being in friendly, joyful connection with the world around us.
I suggest four ways to work with the chakra.
Breath is of fundamental importance, as it is the link between the body, emotions, and Soul. Awareness of breath allows us to slow down, calm our mind and emotions and be still enough to listen to our enhanced perception and to our emotional-spiritual compass.
The connection to the element of water, with its qualities of stillness, flow, and nourishment, helps us balance the life force in our energy system. Water, in fact, constitutes 70% of our body, and it holds memory, allowing for purification and rejuvenation.
With karma work, we will explore those repetitive patterns that hinder the connection to our still, peaceful centre of presence. By releasing and transforming these deep emotional charges, we liberate energy towards our goals and desires.
Eventually, we will reclaim the essence of our magical child, an archetype of curiosity, playfulness, wonder and untainted joy for life. The magical child represents that state of pure connection to Source, sometimes lost whilst growing up because of wounding, but always present and accessible.
Meditations
All meditations are designed so you can reuse them many times, depending on the area of interest at the moment, such as relationships, creative projects, money and abundance, intimacy and sexuality, and physical or emotional wellness.
Emotional Flow Meditation
In this meditation, you are going to connect to the element of water to entrain its qualities of flow and regeneration. You will create a state of openness and fluidity, of lighter emotional vibration.
Peace, joy, sensuality, and playfulness are all naturally available to us when we stay in awareness, allowing all our emotions to transform at will. You can use the meditation to uplift your emotions in general or to focus on a particular area, such as relationships, work, money, or spiritual growth.
Karma Healing Meditation
In this meditation, you will heal and transform a karmic pattern that is holding you back in a chosen area of your life where you are experiencing difficulties. We will clear a core negative emotional pattern and restore your essential state of happiness, peace and harmony.
Karma is a software we can transform through awareness and by releasing its emotional charge. By accepting our past, forgiving ourselves, and embracing all lessons and gifts, we liberate immense power to manifest our true dreams and desires.
I Am Magical Child Meditation
In the aware space of your True Self, you will connect with the joyful energy of your Magical Child. The Divine Child is eternal, ever-present, and unchanging in its essence. This playful and lively state of being is always accessible to us, inspiring our creativity and wonder for all existence. The radiance of your Magical Child will heal any past wounding and guide you in expressing yourself authentically. We will create an inner sanctuary where your child feels safe, protected, and loved unconditionally.
Tools and practices
Practice Awareness
Think about emotions as pure energy forms which transform when observed. Allow your emotions, breathe through them, soften them. Emotions keep moving; they come and go. Do not hold on to them, do not do anything, only observe them and let them go.
A good method is writing, letting everything flow out on paper with no restraint, no judgment. You will notice that slowly these negative emotions will shift and transform into pearls of joy and calm.
Practice neutrality and detachment from any emotional turmoil in your daily life. As E. Tolle says, create ‘space consciousness’, a silence around your emotions. Emotions live inside you, and you are the vast field of awareness. Emotions come and go; do not hold onto them. They are not who you are.
What gives you joy
Emotional guidance is about tuning in and knowing what feels good and what doesn’t. You may want to write as many sentences as you can with the two following starting phrases:
1- I lose my joy when…..
2- I feel joy when….
Which thoughts create positive emotions, and which ones lower your vibration?
Which activities or external circumstances give you joy and pleasure, and which don’t?
Practice your emotional compass
Practice your inner YES and NO at an instinctual level.
Ask yourself: how am I feeling when I say this YES or this NO? Am I feeling expanded, or am I feeling contracted? Notice what happens in your feelings and in your body when you decide on a yes or a no answer.
Keep your mind out of the way. Tune into the body and the feelings, what expands and what contracts your energy? Maybe your mind says YES, but your body is tensed and stressed. Maybe your mind says YES, but your feelings are of anxiety or fear.
Our truth comes from a still, quiet space inside and is always kind. If our response is charged with negative feelings, we need to understand why. We need to recognise and transform the negative feelings arising from past wounding and trauma.
Flow and change
A way we interrupt our flow is through resistance. When we are in opposition to what is present in the moment, we are in a stress response. We are in fight, flight or freeze response, and in this state, our body and mind are not relaxed or calm.
Practice acceptance as a way to yield to life. What we resist persists because we give it power with our attention. Acceptance and awareness allow us to maintain a stillness within, from which we respond to life harmoniously. In this state of mind, in neutral detachment, we can change reality when possible, or accept reality when we have no control over it.
Flow and change go together because life is constantly in motion. Adaptability and flexibility to change can be practised. We are creatures of habit, and we love our comfort zone. Practice change for the sake of change, starting with small things in your everyday life. Try a new look or haircut, a new itinerary to work, a new trail in nature, a new music band, a new inspirational speaker and more. Be curious about possible ways of doing things differently in your life.
Samsara (the river of life) is at one with Nirvana (the unmanifested). We surrender to the flow of life without being swept away, because we are always connected to Source within.
Breath work
Breathwork is of utmost importance for connecting with the energy of the sacral chakra.
By focusing on the breath, the mind calms down, and the body relaxes, and we entrain the slow rhythm of flow. Awareness of breath allows us to soften and to be more open to what we truly feel and perceive. Try the following two simple exercises.
Slow breathing
Take a deep inbreath and release on the outbreath. Then allow the breath to become normal, maintaining the observation of each inbreath and outbreath. Allow your breathing to slow down. Breathe in deeply and allow your outbreath to lengthen. Notice how your breathing slows progressively until the breath becomes almost imperceptible. You may want to focus on where you feel the breath in the body, maybe in your belly, or in your chest or in your nostrils.
Observe the breath until it’s just a flutter, slow and shallow, almost non-existent. Allow the natural flow and do not block any longer inbreaths or outbreaths that may arise. Just keep the awareness, be the observer. If thoughts, emotions, or physical tension arise, simply return to the breath.
Observe how the breath becomes barely noticeable and be in the energy of silence, of presence, in the moment. You can observe your breath during meditation, while taking a bath, or while relaxing. However, you can observe your breath at any time of day: just stop for a moment and observe your breathing, take one or a few conscious deep inbreaths and outbreaths, then just observe your inhalation and exhalation in your body, in your belly, chest, or nostrils. Breath happens involuntarily, quite miraculously, really, and by putting attention on the breath, we immediately step into deep being and relaxation.
Hara-Heart breathing
The objective of this technique is to entrain the energy of the hara (located in the lower belly) with your heart and create a circuit of calmness. The hara is your centre of power, emotional stability, and core strength. The heart is the centre of your Self, where you are one with your Soul and Source.
Exercise:
Start by placing a hand on your heart and another on your lower belly.
At first, breathe in and out, focusing on the heart. Do it for a while. Focus on slow breathing in the heart. Imagine your heart as a shining sun radiating outwards.
Then breathe in and out from your hara, focus on slow breathing. Imagine a vortex of light and ripples of energy expanding outward, like circles in water.
Notice how a current of energy is forming between the hara and the heart. It happens spontaneously; the two centres will start vibrating in resonance together, enhancing each other's energy.
You can also do this meditation, starting from the hara and then entraining the heart. If the hara feels a place of wellbeing, breathing from there will help balance the heart by resonance.
Cultivate what gives you pleasure
What moves you, what awakens your desire? Which body movement do you like? Maybe dance, yoga, biking, running, walking and more. And what relaxes you? A massage, a sauna? Movement and relaxation energise this chakra, activating endorphins and other joy hormones.
What else stirs up your senses? Explore colours, shapes, and textures in art, home decoration or clothing. Which tastes and flavours do you like in food? Which music, or sounds in nature, soothe you and give you joy? Which scents and types of touch do you like?
Play and creativity
Honour the magical child in you. Let her try new things, even small ones like new recipes or new types of books, or bigger adventures like exploring a new country, pursuing a parallel career path, or taking a new course of study. Honour the magical child in others. Intend to connect, open to make new friends, and to play and work creatively with like-minded people.
Play and create with no goal in mind. Which creative activities do you like? Maybe singing, painting, or writing. Embrace spontaneous creativity, trust experimentation, and follow your unique interpretation of set techniques.
Connect to the element of water in nature
Go to nature and connect to different bodies of water. Embody the spirit of lakes, wells, waterfalls, streams, rivers, or the ocean. Listen to the wisdom of water.
Drink more water, pure water. Be grateful each time you drink.
Take long meditative baths or regenerate with every shower you take. Swim in the wild or indoors. Imagine connecting with water creatures, both real ones like dolphins and whales, and mythical ones like Undines and Mermaids.
Positive affirmations
By focusing on positive affirmations, we help our subconscious to entrain the energies we want to magnetise in our lives. Please find a few suggestions and create your own.
I trust life, I choose life, I open to joy, I open to abundance, I am connected with others, I am in intimacy with all life, I am one with life, I welcome to pleasure and sensuality, I embrace playfulness, I allow all my feelings, I love intense emotions, I am pulsing with passion, I open to my deep desires, I trust my intuition, I trust my emotional guidance, I allow difficult emotions, I know how to rebalance my emotions, I honour my sexual and emotional needs, I honour my creative drives, I embrace change, I accept reality as it is, I flow with life, my life is a harmonious dance, I resist nothing, I open myself to surrender to the flow of life.
Walking meditation. This technique was taught by the great Buddhist master Thich Nah Han. It is about walking very slowly and coordinating your breath with your feet.
Breathe in and move the left foot.
Breathe out and move the right foot.
At each step, repeat your affirmations.
For example:
I open to Abundance (inhale, move the left foot - receive)
I am Abundance (exhale, move the right foot – become)
SUMMARY TABLE
Description
Name/meaning: Svadhisthana, the Sweetness of Life or the Home of the Self
Element: Water
Position in the body: lower abdomen, between the navel and the genitals
Energy Body: Emotional body
Archetypes
Veda: Vishnu and Lakshmi, sustaining life
Induism: Parvati-Shiva in ecstatic union
Inka shamanism: Jaguar, the peaceful warrior
Chinese-Japanese-Yoga: Generator of life force, ki, qi (ch’i), prana
Shamanism: Spirit of water, Basic Self, Magical child
Developmental model: Child, 1-2 years old
Core emotions, beliefs, issues
Issues: vitality, self-nurturance, creativity, abundance, intimacy, connection to others, emotional balance, intuition, flexibility to change, adaptability.
Core negative emotions: suffering, numbness, guilt, fear, panic, anger, self-loathing, the pain-body.
Core positive emotions: joy, fulfilment, flow, stillness, flexibility, acceptance, connection to others, the joy-body.
Excessive: energy needs to be contained, overly sensitive and emotional, mood swings, hyperactivity, tantrums, addictions, poor boundaries, emotional neediness, obsessive attachments, instability, greedy, fight response.
Deficient: energy needs to open, emotional numbness, isolation and fear of connection, lack of desire, frigidity, impotency, rigid boundaries, fear of change, depression, withdrawn, poverty consciousness, flight-freeze response.
Other information
3rd dimensional colour: orange
5th dimensional colour: soft pink
Relationship with other chakras: Heart centre to balance its energy, Third eye to connect to higher intuition
Body correlation: gonads, reproductive system, urinary system, hips and lower back, muscles and joints, intestines and microbiome, immune system, peripheral nervous system, emotional brain (limbic system).
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