Chakra Meditation/Muladhara

Muladhara: the Root Support

The muladhara chakra is your energetic foundation; it is about finding your path in life and standing on your own two feet. Muladhara is where you connect with and relate to your personal vehicle (the physical body) in your journey through life. It is the energy centre that enables you to ‘put down roots' and to nourish yourself physically and spiritually. Matter in its densest, most gross form of ‘earth' (solid) is associated with the base chakra. "Lam" the sound vibration of muladhara is the mantra of earth. The literal translation of ‘muladhara' is ‘root support'. Kundalini, your limitless storehouse of potential spiritual energy, lies dormant in the muladhara chakra. When your root chakra is in balance, you feel secure and safe; Your life seems stable, but not without excitement. Your sense of community is well developed; you are loyal and patient. Your life is full of active and positive energy. When balanced and unobstructed, muladhara energy flows in two directions. It acts as a downward releaser of negativity, like a lightening rod, as well as drawing up energy from the earth. If the energetic flow of your muladhara is not healthy, you may never feel as though you ‘belong'. You may have problems connecting with others, have constant financial difficulties, find that you are easily disoriented and frequently indecisive, be tired all the time, have difficulty in holding a steady job and/or maintaining healthy relationships. Imbalance in muladhara leads you to being overly concerned with survival and security; you may become a workaholic. You may place too much importance on the physical world and have difficulty in connecting to the spiritual aspects of life. Fear, prejudice, blind faith, hatred, intolerance, inpatience and greed are the negative attributes of muladhara energy. Deep seated imbalance in the muladhara energy is usually the result of some trauma in your early life. Perhaps you were not properly nurtured as a child. You might or may not have received sufficient nutrition, but you did not bond properly with your family and community. You may perceive yourself as having been abandoned; perhaps you are adopted or a parent died when you were quite young. These early traumas often exaggerate the impact of later upsets, such as the break up of a relationship, the loss of a job or change in living conditions. Many people compensate for lack of grounding by becoming too rigid. Or, if they are too grounded, if the muladhara energy is ‘stuck', they may become overly controlled and controlling, greedy, lack imagination and initiative, and be unable to adapt to changing situations. If you are unable to make positive changes in your life, if you can't even think of what possibilities there might be, if you feel that aspects of your life are ‘set in stone', this is probably the result of overly static energy. Working with the muladhara could help you to bring new insights into your life. It is important when doing inner work to not let yourself become ungrounded or overly airy. As you become increasingly aware of your spiritual dimensions, do not lose touch with your physical needs. Purifying and balancing muladhara energy will enable you to function in the present moment. It will aid you in bringing your creative and spiritual ideas to full fruition. In the physical body, the Muladhara chakra governs the immune system, skeletal system (i.e. support); lower digestive tract, i.e. colon, rectum, anus. If the energy is blocked or unhealthy, it might manifest in physical symptoms such as arthritis; ME; constipation, IBS or haemorrhoids; obesity and weight problems; foot, knee and leg problems; poor balance; lower back pain or sciatica. Take some time to work with Muladhara; you will probably undergo an improvement in your energy levels and general health. You will experience a greater sense of well being, be more secure in yourself, develop courage and inner strength, and be blessed with the fulfillment of all your earthly needs. Remember that the health, or lack of well-being, of the muladhara determines the state of the foundation on which all the other chakras rest. Brahma granthi, the first of three psychic knots, is tied in kundalini. It blocks your entry to the higher realms of consciousness. The knot keeps the kundalini in the lower chakras by creating an extreme attachment to security and fear of losing it. When the brahma granthi is untied, you experience your whole being as being pervaded by divine energy.

Working with muladhara When meditating on the root chakra, try asking yourself important questions about how you may be blocking your energies, such as:

* How can I reconnect with my own body?

* Am I able to maintain healthy lasting relationships and let go of ones that have proven to be unhealthy?

* What can I do to make my eating habits less erratic? Do they reflect a lack of balanced earth energy?

* When I feel ‘weak-kneed' (the minor chakras in the knees are governed by Muladhara), how can I be more decisive?

* How prepared am I to embrace positive changes in my life?

* Do I allow myself to become ‘stuck'? Or do I enjoy both giving and receiving when they are expressions of a healthy exchange of energies?

This article is exerpted from the new book "Chakra Meditation" by Swami Saradananda.