The root chakra is the foundation of our chakra system, and it is important to continually nurture this energy center. In this article, we are going to look at how we can heal and balance our root chakra.
When the root chakra is in need of healing and balancing, we experience fear, struggle with survival and meeting our basic needs of food, water, and shelter. Through the use of visualizations, meditation, mantras, exercise, as well as selecting the right foods, incense and gemstones, we can heal and balance our root chakras.
In this article you will learn how to identify the symptoms of a root chakra that needs balancing and healing, as well as the various methods available to us in order to do the heal and balance.
The Root Chakra Is the Foundation of Our Chakra System
The Root chakra is the first chakra, located at the base of the spine. It is housed in the area of your coccyx bone and perineum and is the foundation of our chakra system. It is related to the element earth, our bodies, safety and security, and our ability to manifest in our physical reality. The Sanskrit name is Muladhara. It is related to the physical aspects of our life, and we can strengthen and solidify our roots through the process of grounding.
Signs Your Root Chakra Is in Need of Healing
Your outer experiences are an expression of your inner world, and your chakras are the structure of this inner world. When your root chakra is in need of healing, it will show itself in your life. Along with the experiences of struggling with meeting your survival needs, you will experience feelings of fear, and struggle to form the relationships that support you thriving in your material existence. If your root chakra is in need of healing, you are probably experiencing some or all of the following:
Operating out of fear
Each chakra has an associated emotion that can be thought of as the demon of that chakra. For the root chakra that feeling is fear. An unbalanced root chakra can be experienced as fear clouding the way you process your life. When outcomes are uncertain and important decisions need to be made, instead of excitement and trust, we experience fear, expecting the worst outcomes to happen.
Trust issues and Feelings of insecurity
When we are experiencing the effects of a weakened root chakra, we start to develop a memory bank of negative reference experiences. This means that as we encounter new experiences, places, and people in our life, we start to expect thing to not go well. We anticipate other people treating us poorly, business ventures to fail, health problems to arise, etc., since that is what has happened before. When the root chakra is healthy, we are much more easily able to operate from a place of trust, excitement, confidence, and strength.
Lacking a supportive community
When the root chakra is lacking, it can manifest in the absence of a supportive community of friends and family. Having a healthy root chakra means a person’s basic needs of water, food, and shelter are not only met, but highly safeguarded against potential threats. This can mean you are surrounded by a trustworthy community that includes relationships with those who are able and willing to provide assistance in any form should the need arise. When a person’s root chakra is in need of healing, they are probably having an experience of isolation. For example, not all people who are homeless and live in the streets have addiction or mental health problems. But the thing that is most common amongst the homeless is that they have become isolated from other people.
Negative feelings and experiences with finances
When we are experiencing a lack of energy in our root chakra it often means we do not have the money to care for our survival needs. A healthy root chakra can be expressed not only in financial health, including savings and assets, but also in the lack of possession of a high value skill that will allow you to earn the money you need to live. This is especially true for long-term chronically diminished root chakras. By strengthening our root chakra, we are simultaneously strengthening and building our ability to manifest resources into our life.
The importance Of Grounding in Healing Your Root Chakra
Grounding is the process of strengthening our connection with the earth upon which we stand. Just as we are connected to the divine through our crown chakra, we are also connected to the earth through our legs and feet. Not being grounded means we are unstable, easily swept off our feet, and prone to day dreaming. It means we cannot create form out of our ideas. Through our roots we gain nourishment, power and stability. It means we are tapped into the vast instinctual realm of the collective unconscious. By strengthening our connection to the earth, we become more resilient to the ebbs and flows of energy in our lives. Grounding means that energy from the upper chakras can flow freely downward to the base of our existence, releasing excessive mental, emotional, and psychic experiences we may be having. Grounding allows us to be present in the here and now. It is experiencing gravity, and placing our awareness in our physical bodies.
Meditations for Healing the Root Chakra
Practicing energetic self-healing is usually done in either a seated position or laying down. The root chakra is unique in that it is the most physical of our energy centers, so there are actually some active moving meditations, which we discuss later in this article. However, the following root chakra meditations are best performed in a relaxed seated or laying down position. They are focused on your root chakra and are designed to strengthen and balance.
Grounding Meditation
This meditation can be done either seated in a chair, or standing, but it is important you’re your feet are planted on the ground. If possible, being barefoot is a great idea. Shift your focus to your feet. Feel them lightly pushing into the ground as gravity pushes the weight of your body downwards. Start to feel energy flowing from your feet and deep into the center of the earth, like giant roots that anchor you. Keep this flow going and turn attention to the rest of your body. Feel the weight of your body, and focus on the spinal column running down your back. Shift your awareness to the base of your spine, thinking of it as an anchor holding you down. Now tune into the central channel of energy that is flowing through your body, aligning each chakra above the base chakra upon which they rest. Visualize vibrant energy filling your central column from above, filling your root chakra with fresh cleansing energy, and running through your legs, into your feet and deep into the ground through. Keep this flow of energy moving throughout your body, down through your legs and into the ground, rooting your entire being, as both your subtle and physical bodies are firmly grounded.
Ancestral and Childhood Root Chakra Meditation
A lot of the issues we face in life that have to do with the root chakra are related to experiences we have in our first few years of life. Everyone experiences some trauma in these early years, as our consciousness is just starting to develop, and our focus is on food, water, shelter, and being nurtured by those who take care of us. Our root chakra is also highly influenced by the ancestral and familial karma we inherit. To the extent in which our ancestors suffered to satisfy their survival needs, our root chakra reflects this.
In this ancestral and childhood root chakra mediation, we are going to connect with our higher selves so that we can operate beyond space and time. Begin this meditation by sitting comfortably in a chair with your back straight and feet firmly planted on the ground. Take a slow deep breath, feeling your body gently expand in all directions. Now begin to observe yourself as a living being in the present moment, and as a product of all that came before, including the experiences you’ve lived, as well as those of the generations of people that came before you. Now visualize divine red light moving down into your crown chakra, filling you with deep red light. Red is the color of the root chakra, as red is the lowest frequency of the visible light spectrum. Red can be intuitively understood as the color of the survival chakra when you consider red is the color of blood, and also warnings of danger are usually expressed using this color. Feel this red light flowing throughout your inner column of energy, and especially into your root chakra, feeding it with fresh new energy and coming into balance. Now move this red light into your adrenal glands, which sit just above your kidneys in your lower back. Our bodies use adrenaline to bring ourselves to sudden drastic actions should the need arise in order to survive, and because of this the root chakra and adrenal glands share a special connection.
Next, shift your awareness to the part of you that exists beyond space and time, or to what people often refer to as your higher self. From this perspective, send the same healing red energy backwards and forwards in time, across all timelines. Send this healing red energy to yourself as a child, filling the root chakra of yourself as a child. Now send this healing red energy beyond your own life, moving further and further backwards in time, healing and balancing across generations.
Moving Meditations and Exercises for Healing the Root Chakra
As the root chakra pertains to our physical reality more so than any other chakra, it is of great benefit to explore physical movement in our bodies when haling your root chakra. When exploring movement as part of your journey of healing the root chakra, it’s all about making contact with the earth. The following exercises are great for shifting our awareness into our bodies so that we can be grounded, anchored in our bodies, with strong roots.
Standing Root Chakra Meditation
Begin by standing upright with feet hip width apart, shoulders back and chin up. Point your feet slightly outward, while letting your arms comfortable rest at your sides. Then rise up onto your toes. Sway your arms above shoulder level in unison with the movement of yours legs, and then lower again as you return your heels to the ground, placing your weight into them and feeling your connection with the earth beneath you. Repeat this several times. Next, stamp your feet into the ground a few times on each side. Find your own style, it can range from the theatrical foot stamps of sumo wrestlers, or even gorillas, to fluid graceful swaying up and down.
Visualizations for Healing the Root Chakra
Various wisdom traditions across the world have left us with a rich tapestry in which we can refer to and operate upon when conducting our own inner alchemy, such as the process of healing the root chakra. Selecting the symbols that resonate with you and holding them in your consciousness cultivates and attracts that energy into your life and your own energy fields.
The grounded and supremely physical nature of the elephant, ox and bull makes these animals perfect symbols to strengthen your root chakra. You can visualize these animals in your mind’s eye, or place images of these powerful animals in your living space. Paintings, photographs, or statues can cultivate this energy in your life. Even better, spending time around these animals is an excellent way to get in touch with your own grounded, physical, and earthly nature.
Like all planets in our system are seen as representing different aspects of our consciousness, so too does the planet we live on. Earth, or Gaia as she is sometimes called, symbolizes being practical, grounded and dependable. It is about sense of duty, responsibility and reliability to those in its sphere. Visualize our planet in your mind’s eye, and feel your connection with it. You can even visualize energy flowing from the center of the planet into your root chakra.
Deities and Higher Beings for Healing the Root Chakra
You can bring in the energy you need by working with deities and higher beings. By visualizing them in your mind’s eye you can channel them into your life. Also, placing images of them in your living space is a great way to deepen your connection. Ultimately, it is about opening yourself up to their existence in the present moment, and acknowledging their presence and that they are supporting you on your journey.
Brahma the creator god in Hinduism.
Brahma is the creator of the four Vedas, religious texts originating in ancient India. Early texts describe him creating himself in a golden egg, and then creating the entire universe. The process of manifesting into physical reality is the energy we need to strengthen and balance our root chakras.
Archangel Auriel
This archangel can take on both masculine and feminine forms depending upon what the person working with them needs. Auriel brings gold and white energy, and helps us connect with who we are, and our purpose.
The Malkuth Sephira of the Kabbala
For those who work with the Kabbalah system, you can focus on the Malkuth sephira when healing your root chakra. In the Kabbalah system, Malkuth sits at the bottom of the Tree, and represents earth. The word Malkuth means “Kingdom”, and like the root chakra, this sephira is the culmination of a process of energy descending from the divine or Godhead, becoming structured and defined as it moves down the tree to Malkuth. If this symbolism speaks to you, play with you by visualizing in your mind’s eye, drawing it, or meditate while gazing upon images of it.
Mantras for Healing the Root Chakra
Mantras are a powerful tool of growth and change, and this is especially true when healing your root chakra. The root chakra is all about manifesting in the physical world, and mantras can provide the focus and conscious intention to see results. Here are a few great mantra ideas, but work with any mantra that feels right to you.
- I have the right to be here, and to have all that I need.
- I have everything I need
- I am supported by those around me
- I am safe, and all is well in my world
- I choose to trust the universe to guide me
Lam sound frequency for healing the root chakra
The sound of “Lam” is a harmonious vibration for the root chakra. Chant, sing or, listen to this sound, feeling it in the base of your spine.
Foods for Healing the Root Chakra
The root chakra is all about being grounded, living in your body, and having the strength to meet your survival needs. Meat and other highly dense, protein rich foods feed the root chakra. They require a lot of energy to be used to digest, and allows your body to build powerful muscles.
Cedar Incense for Healing the Root Chakra
Coming from a massive tree native to Morocco and Algeria, it has a woody scent. In times of stress and fear, cedar relives tension and anxiety, while building confidence, and enhancing social bonds.
Gemstones for the Root Chakra
When choosing gemstones to work with when healing your root chakra, look for deep red hues. The following are 4 excellent choices because the frequency of these crystals resonates with our root chakras.
Lodestone
A magnetic grounding stone, lodestone dispels energies that will cause instability, while attracting positive energies.
Ruby
The beautiful naturally deep red tones of ruby increases focus, making you more alert and able to take action.
Garnet
An energizing stone, garnet boosts your manifestation powers. It brings vitality and protection, as well as confidence and focus.
Bloodstone
A grounding stone, bloodstone also purifies and cleanses. It invigorates the blood and provides protection in your life.
Recommended Reading
If you want to continue exploring this subject more deeply, you can see which books I recommend by clicking here.
