“Mind severed from body, culture from planet — to lose our ground is to lose our home.” – Anodea Judith
At the beginning of my yoga journey, if asked what chakras I wanted to work on, I would have responded with the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth. The muladhara, svadhistana, manipura, anahata, and vissudha chakras, respectively. I had very little connection with my body, I focused on my mind more than my body. This mind/body disconnect is more of an issue with the muladhara chakra, or the root chakra.
With an unstable first chakra we feel our foundation is shaky. People with unbalanced muladhara chakras could have personality traits of anxiety, fear, restlessness, lack of confidence in their body, poor boundaries or rigid boundaries, chronic disorganization, hoarding, material fixture, obesity, sluggishness, addiction to security. People experiencing problems with this chakra tend to become fixated on material possessions in order to feel safe and secure (Judith, 53).
As I have stressed before I suffer from high functioning anxiety. I used to put value and importance on material wealth, thinking if I just had more money I would be safe. I had a lack of confidence in my own body and ignored what my body told me. Being diagnosed with autoimmune diseases was, in a way, a blessing. It made me realize that I needed to listen to my body more and pay attention to what it was saying.
We might not need our physical body once we reach enlightenment because at that point, all that matters is our consciousness. But our body is paramount in our well-being and providing the foundation in order to reach enlightenment. Our body is the temple that protects our essence, what we feel, what we think, how we react, and how we understand ourselves and the world around us. When we do not take care of our temple we inadvertently place the other parts of ourselves at risk.
Anodea Judith, a leading authority on the psychology of the chakras, states that, “Universities educate our minds at the cost of our bodies, where we sit completely still for days, months, and years, training ourselves for sit-down jobs that continue to ignore the body’s needs” (Judith 55). This, I believe extends to most of our school system. We enter school and must spend 8 hours focused on information meant to broaden our intelligence while we ignore our wants and needs of our body. We cannot rest when our body needs rest, we have to wait to eat, and even going to the bathroom is restricted. We train ourselves over 12 years to ignore our body, then some of us continue to do so. It took a severe flare up while working on my PhD to realize that I was hurting myself. If I had continued I would have ended up in the hospital with a bleeding ulcer, or worse.
“Our bodies are the home of our spirit” (Judith 57). When we take care of our body we allow our spirit to flourish and shine. The muladhara chakra is considered the root chakra because it is the base of the chakra system, it is where we seek connection to the earth. Much like a tree, if our roots are not deep or strong enough, then our foundation is flimsy and can be ripped from the earth, leaving us disconnection from the world.
Our instinct is to survive, resulting in choices geared toward survival. In the first chakra we struggle with our right to be here or our right to have what is needed to survive. When we are grounded we experience a connectedness to the earth, to time and space. Our connection to the environment is the foundation that allows us to connect consciously to the universe. We often spend time dwelling on events in the past or wondering how we can survive in the future, we lose sight of who we are in the present moment. Focusing on the past and the future can be detrimental to our state of being. When we are stuck in the past we have no way to move forward, when we only give attention to our future we are not experiencing our life in the present. Our past experiences are important to reflect on to improve our present and the future is meant to give us the opportunity in the present to set goals.
Without strong grounding we do not form proper boundaries and, therefore, we cannot grow. As with a tree, without a proper root system, the tree will not grow properly toward the sky. Without our own foundation we are incapable of channeling our energy upward to our consciousness. The downward flow of energy is just as important as the upward flow. Moving downward, we funnel our conscious self into the earth, we connect to the world around us via our roots.
Everyday I take time to plant my feet firmly on the ground or sit comfortably. I envision a sparkling root system beneath me, extending from my body, pulsating as I exchange energy. I bring strength, assurance, and stability into myself from the earth and offer understanding, acceptance, and connection in return. I am far from the picture of harmony and balance, but I have worked on my chakras since I started my YTT (yoga teacher training), and have noticed an immense change in my outlook, my priorities, my body’s health, and my mental state. I would now say that the chakras I still need to focus on are the second and fourth chakras, but I will continue visiting all the chakras because balancing our chakras is a constant journey of growth.
Our existence in this world is a beautiful occurrence, a miracle that should not be tarnished or disrespected. However, we have harmed our environment because we have lost sight of our bodies and our connection to the earth. I believe everyone needs to take time to remind themselves to be present, to find their placement, and to recognize they are here for a reason. Our ability to acknowledge our connection to the environment stabilizes us. We become grounded.
“Just as the groundedness of a tree routes the flow of sap from earth to leaves and from leaves to earth, so does our groundedness channel the flow of excitement from ourselves to the environment and from the environment to ourselves.” – Stanley Keleman
Judith, Anodea. Eastern Body Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self. Celestial Arts. New York City, New York. 2004.
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