Takeaway: Understanding the root chakra can help you tune into what you need to feel grounded. In this post, I explain what it is and how to tell if it’s blocked. Plus, I share some of my favorite tips for how to balance the root chakra to help you feel more grounded than ever.
Before we dive into the nitty gritty of root chakra energy and root chakra development, consider if you experience any of the following:
1) High levels of fear, anxiety, or mistrust
2) Feelings of being unsafe, disconnected, or unsure of yourself
3) Questioning of your relationships, career, location, or other aspects of life with discouragement
4) Hyperfocusing on money or objects as a way to feel good enough
5) Poor digestion, stomach aches, or elimination issues
6) Difficulty letting other people's energy go
7) Achiness or stiffness in the body from tension, such as the hips, lower back, legs, or neck
8) Difficulty breathing into your lower belly and feeling grounded
If you said, "yes" to any of the questions posed above, then you might have root chakra imbalances from stress, emotions, life circumstances, and more. When we feel scared, uncertain, or strained in our everyday lives, we cut ourselves off from our vital life force, causing a build-up of energy and stagnancy. This can then cause us to feel worse, resulting in additional worry, confusion, and anxiety.
Below I'll first cover the history of chakras, and then go over how to open, clear, and upgrade your root chakra for more self-confidence, trust, safety, and ease. Ultimately, when this energy center is healthy and functioning properly, emotional energy flows without becoming stagnant, causing us to feel supported in our lives and connected to Mother Earth. When we have a healthy root chakra, we trust ourselves and more easily navigate life without becoming tense, constricted, or fearful.
Before you continue reading, I invite you to try this small root practice to regulate your nervous system:
Root Practice
To begin, pick your favorite tree, or imagine the first tree that comes to mind. Once you have it, simply close your eyes, take a deep breath, and imagine yourself as this tree. Your head, shoulders, and arms are the branches, your torso the trunk, and your pelvic bowl and legs the root system.
Take five deep in-breaths and out-breaths, breathing down through your feet, and into the floor below you. See if you can let your body soften on the out-breath, and imagine your energetic tree roots simply weaving between the floorboards and then into the earth below you. Imagine the magnetic core of the earth pulling down your roots with ease, anchoring them solidly into the soil, and feeling or imagining that you are safe, grounded, and cared for by Mother Earth. Feel yourself as strong and rooted, and remember the cells of your body come from the earth and stars.
If you choose, simply say silently out loud or to yourself, "It's okay. I am safe. I am loved. I am healing. I am whole."
Stay here as long as you need. And when you are ready, let's dive in.
What are chakras?
First off, let's look at the historical background of chakras. The concept of the chakra system originates from Indian spiritual and philosophical traditions, particularly within Hinduism and later integrated into other belief systems like Buddhism. The earliest references to the concept of chakras can be found in ancient Indian texts, including the Vedas, Upanishads, and Tantras. These texts, dating back thousands of years, describe various aspects of human energy and consciousness.
The word "chakra" is derived from the Sanskrit language and means "wheel" or "disk." Chakras are often depicted as spinning vortexes, wheels of light, or energy centers. The root chakra is often shown as a red ball of light located at the tailbone or base of the spine. The human body is a remarkable system of energy centers, each playing a vital role in our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Among these centers, the root chakra stands as the foundational cornerstone, anchoring us to the physical world and ensuring a solid base for our spiritual journey.
As a side note, when I teach others about chakras and how to connect with them, I often advise students to picture the seven chakras as powerful suns within them. Each chakra has an individual purpose, frequency, and power. Each chakra sun has an essence and holds pieces of our life force. Inside this energy center are layers of an ecosystem that impact different aspects of the body. Even though we will only be focusing on the root chakra in this blog, six other main chakra systems in the body are connected to other organs and bodily functions.
Ultimately, choosing to learn about your chakra system will offer you a holistic framework for understanding the interconnection of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of your human existence.
Understanding the root chakra
The root chakra, also known as the Muladhara chakra in Sanskrit, is the first of the seven primary chakras in the body's energy system. It is located at the base of the spine and is associated with feelings of safety and a sense of belonging. It is the first energy center of the seven main chakras, representing our connection to the Earth element and our fundamental sense of security and stability. This energy vortex is responsible for grounding us in the present moment, ensuring our basic needs are met, and creating a solid foundation upon which all other chakras rest. When the root chakra is balanced and open, it helps us feel grounded, confident, and connected to the physical world.
Healing and balancing the root chakra is essential for several reasons. Firstly, a healthy root chakra creates a strong foundation for personal growth and spiritual development. It ensures that we feel secure and grounded in our daily lives, allowing us to pursue higher levels of consciousness. Additionally, an imbalanced root chakra can lead to physical and emotional ailments, making it vital to address for overall well-being.
Signs of a blocked root chakra
If we struggle to let energy go, fall into a scarcity mindset, fear our bodies, or mistrust the world, our root chakra is often closed off or constricted, almost like a hand closed into a fist. A shutdown or blocked root chakra can directly correspond to constriction in the physical body, which can lead to the inability to move skillfully through our lives or digest our life experiences.
Although each chakra is whole in itself, they are all connected, and when one chakra becomes unbalanced, it can trigger imbalances in others. The second chakra, or sacral chakra, located a couple of inches below the belly button, is often considered the emotional, sexual, and relationship center. Like a domino effect, if we struggle to feel safe in the world, we might experience doubt, resulting in anxiety and sadness, causing us to feel disempowered in our relationships. This core feeling of scarcity and not feeling safe interacts with the emotions of the second chakra, causing both systems to feel clogged or stagnant.
Let's look at some reasons why someone might experience a root chakra imbalance, or in essence, a chakra that isn't functioning at its highest capacity:
Mental health struggles
Anxiety and depression can cause us to question who we are, our power, and our ability to navigate the world. The first chakra thrives when we believe that we have everything we need to succeed and we trust ourselves. Thus, constantly questioning "what if" (anxiety) or not feeling enough (often depression), can directly impact our feelings of security, safety, and trust. This is another example of how the second and first chakra dynamics impact health and vitality. Prolonged periods of anxiety and depression in the second chakra can cause stagnant energy to build up, causing us to feel unrooted in our first chakra. Chakras vibrate and rotate, like the wheel of a bike, moving us through our existence. Anxiety and depression could be viewed as a build-up of mud on the tires, causing us to feel stuck in moving successfully. In response, we might begin to question our ability to survive or succeed, causing us to close down our root chakra, reinforcing feelings of stagnancy and stuckness.
Unconscious beliefs and behaviors
What did the people who raised you say about the world? Did you learn "strangers are bad," that "people are greedy crooks," or that "everyone is just trying to get ahead?" These phrases often define how we view other people and the world. If we can't trust our existence, or other people, regardless of whether or not we've experienced these things, we shut down our ability to move fluidly through the world. Exploring your subconscious beliefs and noticing how your body responds to everyday situations, such as walking through a grocery store or answering a text message, can bring important insight into how open your root chakra is while you navigate the world. When we are shut down to the world, the world can seem shut down or unavailable to us. Little do we know, we are the ones communicating a mistrustful boundary to others unconsciously first!
Ancestral trauma
Ancestral trauma, also known as intergenerational or transgenerational trauma, refers to traumatic experiences and their emotional effects that are passed down from one generation to the next within a family or cultural group. Ask yourself: Where did your family come from? Are there certain beliefs or behaviors that you learned consciously or unconsciously from your family members? Are they helpful in the present time or do they get in the way? You might carry ancestral trauma that unknowingly impacted your general sense of feeling safe in the world or supported by your family, friends, or Mother Earth. People with a history of ancestral trauma may have a heightened sense of vigilance and fear in their daily lives. They may be more prone to interpreting neutral or ambiguous situations as threats, which can lead to chronic stress and anxiety. Additionally, ancestral trauma may result in the transmission of emotional patterns and coping mechanisms from one generation to another. For example, if a person's ancestors experienced a traumatic event or lived through a period of extreme stress (e.g., war, genocide, oppression), the emotional scars and coping strategies they developed may be passed down.
Simply put, if your grandmother had a closed root chakra, which caused your mother to fear the world, and then she taught you to mistrust your environment or even your body, it's important to view the healing process of your root chakra with deep care and compassion. Ancestral trauma comes with wisdom and pain, and learning how to let go of old programming that has been passed down can be difficult. Finding someone to support your unfolding is crucial if this is you.
Obsession with money or objects
Do you find yourself mentally spiraling about wealth and financial security? Or find yourself chronically shopping or focused on material possessions? If this is you, this can also be a sign of a root chakra that isn't open to viewing life as abundant. A blocked root chakra can result in viewing life as a competition, and show up as struggling with jealousy, comparison, and scarcity mindset. This might result in unethical business practices to get ahead, putting money ahead of quality time, or sacrificing essential self-care. If you have a balanced root chakra, you likely trust your body, find gratitude in your life circumstances, and see life as a school and a process of learning. You might see money as an opportunity to experience the world with more joy and ease but do not get stuck in feelings of lack or competition towards others because you recognize that the universe is abundant.
High sensitivity and disempowered empathy
Do you identify as a sensitive, empathic, or intuitive person who hasn't been able to fully trust or accept your body due to your ability to sense things at a higher level? Disempowered empathy can result in an inability to be present, engaged, or trusting of yourself or the world around you. Additionally, high sensitivity in humans has been linked to becoming overstimulated by the environment, resulting in nervous system dysregulation. This can cause the body to secrete stress hormones, signaling that the world around you is dangerous or that something threatening is nearby. If you are someone who finds it difficult to feel grounded in your body due to sensitivity, empathy, or intuition, it is crucial to learn energy medicine or meditation techniques to rewire your nervous system.
The importance of healing your root chakra
Healing and balancing the root chakra is essential for several reasons. Firstly, a healthy root chakra creates a strong foundation for personal growth and spiritual development. As I noted in the root chakra meditation above, the root chakra is like the root system of a tree - without solid roots or trust, a tree cannot grow and expand. We face the same problem when we are not grounded into trust within our bodies. Although we all experience different life circumstances, some of which we do not choose, we do choose our response. And if we can choose to respond to life with love, presence, and self-trust and come home to our deeper soul essence, we often find security, safety, and roots.
When we feel secure and grounded in our daily lives, we can also pursue higher levels of consciousness. To "ascend" to a higher spiritual plane of consciousness, or tap into universal energy through the energetic body, we must "descend" into the body by bringing balance, ease, and trust to our root chakra.
7 tips for how to balance the root chakra
A balanced root chakra creates health, ease, and openness in the physical body, which then impacts the sacral chakra energy center. When your first and second chakra work together (safety and security combined with healthy emotions, relationships, and sexuality), we become empowered and embodied, which then supports our third chakra, which relates to personal power, manifestation, and our mission. Each chakra impacts the other as you move up the central channel. All the chakras are interconnected. Hence, attending first to your Muladhara chakra at the base of the spine, and improving your connection to your body and the earth, will result in a stronger sense of self-worth and self-assurance. Healing your root chakra will allow it to flow more openly and easily. Here are some tips for root chakra balancing:
Learn root energy medicine
Recognizing when your root chakra is shut down from fear or clogged with beliefs or programming is vital to maintaining the health and vibrancy of this wheel of light. Clearing out your root chakra is similar to cleaning a house - it requires putting in more effort at first for a deep clean, and then smaller amounts of time to maintain the integrity and function of the structure. Once you have the system down, it takes less and less time to clear out your root chakra because you are also changing the way you view the world and yourself, resulting in a healthier life force that doesn't become stagnant as easily. To learn more about the Root Medicine energy healing courses I teach, book a free call here.
Get support from a holistic therapist
Learning to identify and release emotional baggage and negative thought patterns can promote balance and stability in this foundational energy center. Working with a holistic therapist, coach, or bodyworker who understands this framework and can support your learning and healing journey can make a huge difference.
Connect with Mother Earth
Your root chakra is directly connected to your ability to feel safe on the earth and in your body. Spending time in nature, walking barefoot on the earth, and engaging in activities that strengthen your connection to the earth element can be immensely soothing to the root chakra. Check out how people in Japan use forest bathing for healing and grounding or learn how "earthing" positively supports the body.
Nutritional choices
Processed food often lacks vital nutrients that promote the healthy functioning of our organs and biological systems. High levels of sugar, caffeine, and nicotine typically cause us to feel ungrounded and distanced from our bodies, which can directly relate to fatigue and difficulties adapting to our environment. Consuming foods that are nourishing and grounding, such as root vegetables, supports your root chakra and also provides more consistent energy throughout your day.
Use of essential oils
Essential oils are often used in aromatherapy and holistic wellness practices to promote various emotional and psychological states, including a sense of grounding and stability. While the scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of essential oils for specific emotional states is limited, I have found that certain scents can have a calming and grounding effect for most people.
Lavender: Lavender is known for its calming and soothing properties, making it a popular choice for promoting relaxation and a sense of grounding.
Cedarwood: Cedarwood essential oil is thought to help individuals feel more connected to the earth, making it a choice for those seeking grounding.
Frankincense: Frankincense is often used in meditation and spiritual practices to promote a sense of inner peace and tranquility.
Patchouli: Patchouli is believed to help individuals feel more centered and rooted, making it a choice for grounding practices.
Yoga and physical activity
Nothing grounds you more easily and quickly into your body than combining physical activities with awareness and presence. Practicing yoga poses that focus on the lower body and engaging in physical activities, like walking or dancing, stimulates the root chakra and helps us feel centered in ourselves. I began a running practice recently where I practice keeping my root chakra open while I run to stay connected and open to the earth. It's been a phenomenal learning experience, and I'm having way more fun while I do it. I have found on the days that I run that my energy stays more consistent, I experience less fear or worry and I trust life and view it with more fluidity and openness.
Mindfulness and grounding exercises
Incorporating mindfulness and grounding exercises into your daily routine to stay rooted in the present moment are key to maintaining awareness of your energetic system. In addition to external modalities, cultivating self-awareness and mindfulness can play a significant role in root chakra healing.
The role of psychic practice in healing the root chakra
Learning about your chakra system and combining it with intuitive practice and meditation techniques can completely shift your mind, body, emotions, and soul connection. The root of the word "clairvoyant" simply means "clear seeing," or the ability to see deeply into ourselves with neutrality and openness.
By developing your deeper soul connection to this inherent energy within you, reading your chakras and identifying blockages becomes a piece of cake. When you can easily see what caused a slow down in your wheel of light, you learn how to take it less personally, move healing energy through it, and heal yourself quickly and efficiently.
To learn more about my root medicine course where I go into depth on this topic and teach techniques, schedule a free call to see if working together is right for your journey.