Our second stop along our chakra journey finds us at the
sacral chakra located in our lower belly just below our navel. The Sanskrit name for this energy center is
Swadhistana which means "one's own abode". It’s our own personal home, the place where we feel
comfortable and at ease. It is also
where our personal impressions and habits from past experiences are
stored. Swadhistana is often referred to as the pleasure centre as it is
asking us to experience all of the joy and abundance in our lives. Hopefully after our work with the root
chakra last week we are starting to realize how much we have and how strong our
foundation is that we’ve created around us.
The color for the sacral chakra is orange, and the element is water. So, while the root chakra was solid, stable and strong, the sacral chakra is soft, moldable and is constantly moving. The root chakra was in charge of our physical body, while the sacral chakra is the emotional center of our bodies. Emotions = energy in motion, so all of our emotions (both pleasurable and painful) need to be felt, experienced and moved through us. We often have a tendency to repress or suffocate "bad" emotions, which can result in these things being trapped somewhere in our bodies. The areas of the body focused on with this chakra are the hips, lower back and belly, and these seem to be places that our repressed emotions like to settle.
Creativity is another element of this energy
centre as once our emotions are moving, we often look for a way to express
them. Any creative endeavor such
as drawing, painting, dancing, cooking, . . . . . whatever is a creative outlet
for you . . . . can be very healing for this energy center.
The second chakra is very much asking us to
recognize who we truly are, knowing that we have our own rhythm, flow and
unique individual traits. We
aren’t like anybody else, and we are being asked to not only celebrate this
fact, but to express our uniqueness out into the world.
I will be honest when I say that this particular
chakra is sometimes challenging for me to work with. I have always loved to dance, so the movement and flow
aspect is not the area I have difficulties with. My challenge comes from recognizing that unique spark within
myself. I have always had a nasty
habit of comparing myself to others, and often in my comparisons, I didn’t
stack up. Why do we do this to
ourselves? Why is it that we can’t
recognize that someone is awesome in one way, but we’re just as awesome in a
different way? When I was away
doing my teacher training, I came across many people who were living a
lifestyle that was different than the norm, and this was so eye-opening for
me. For the first time I realized that
it’s ok if I decide to stray from what the norm of our society is. I started to recognize that I have
spent many years doing what I thought I “should” be doing. I was largely living my life and making
decisions based on how I thought other people or society in general wanted me
to be. But following the path of
“should” catches up with you, and you are eventually forced to make the choice
– do I continue to do what I “should” be doing possibly at the expense of my
own happiness, or do I start to carve out my own path and do the work to really
figure out what it is I want and what it is that makes me unique and happy? So, my challenge this week in working
with Swadhistana is to recognize something about myself everyday that is
awesome. Interested in joining me?
Have an amazing week of getting creative,
feeling all of your emotions and finding your flow of awesomeness,
Roxanne
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