Located at the base of the spine, the pelvic floor, and the first three vertebrae, the root chakra is responsible for your sense of safety and security. The word Muladhara breaks down into two Sanskrit words: Mula meaning “root” and Adhara, which means “support” or “base.”

If we think of the words root, support or base it conjures up images of trees and their roots going deep into the ground or the foundations of a home. A solid foundation to help a tree grow strong and beautiful, or to ensure a house does not slip into subsidence.

Roots are grounding and this is true of your Root chakra. Ensuring you are connected to all the basic needs that support and help sustain you. Food, water, shelter, safety. Letting go of fear and feeling secure.

Whether or not you feel secure now often has less to do with what you have at your disposal and may be more to do with how safe you felt as a small child. When you consider psychologist Erik Erickson’s stages of development, the first stage—trust versus mistrust—is closely related to your root chakra development. As infants, if your caregivers readily gave you what you needed to survive with consistency, you felt secure in the world. You felt that the world was a place that could be trusted to provide your basic needs. Yet, if your caregivers withheld or delayed in giving you what you needed, or if that giving was inconsistent, you may find yourself with first chakra blockages.

Imbalances in the Root Chakra

If there is an imbalance in the root chakra you may experience anxiety disorders, fears, or nightmares. Physical imbalances may manifest as problems in the colon, with the bladder, with elimination, or with lower back, leg, or feet issues. In men, prostate problems may occur. Eating disorders may also be a sign of a root chakra imbalance

How to Balance Muladhara

While meditation does connect you to a higher spiritual plane, it also serves to ground you. You may not always be able to trust that the world will give you what you need to survive, but the connection to your higher self and trust in a power higher than yourself will give you what you need to feel safe.

It does not matter if you call that higher power Consciousness, Mother Nature, God, or Spirit. Connection to universal energy will bring you a sense of peace and stability. The animals in the forest have no idea if and when they will find food each day, yet somehow they trust in nature to provide for them. The sense organ that corresponds to the first chakra is smell. While meditating, focus on the tip of your nose to help align the root and bring forth the qualities you need to balance your root chakra.

 

*reference and thanks to http://www.chopra.com/

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