Healing the Physical BodyELEMENT: Water (Jala)
COLOR: Orange
MANTRA SOUND: VAM
The word Svadhisthana means “sweetness,” which is a great way to describe this chakra of attraction. Svadhisthana is the chakra of creativity and sexuality. It is also referred to as the “sacral chakra.” It’s the second chakra of matter and the point of awakening from the self in survival to the self reaching out toward others. The second chakra is the focal point of pleasure, desire, sexuality, and procreation. While the anatomical region certainly indicates that this chakra is largely focused on sexual matters, matters of creativity are of equal importance. A person who can harness the sexual energy of the second chakra can accomplish great things.
The element of the Svadhisthana chakra is water, or jala in Sanskrit. Water is cohesive in nature. It binds, brings together, creates love and devotion, and connects us to one another. Think of the sexual fluids that bind together a woman and man in sexual harmony; these fluids come together to create life. While the first chakra is bound by the earth element, the second chakra has the flowing nature of water.
The anatomical region of the second chakra is the sacral plexus, from the top of the pubic bone up to the navel. It includes the lower abdomen, the genitals, and the womb. The second chakra is also responsible for the bladder and kidneys.
The sense we associate with Svadhisthana is taste, especially the sweet taste. The sense organ is the tongue.
The Ayurvedic dosha corresponding to the second chakra is Kapha, which is composed of water and earth. Svadhisthana is ruled by the guna tamas.
The color we attribute to the sacral chakra is orange. The mantra, or bija (seed) sound, we vocalize for the second chakra is VAM.
Illnesses and disorders of the second chakra include sexual and reproductive dysfunction such as repeated miscarriages, abortions, frigidity, erectile dysfunction, and premature ejaculation. Second chakra imbalance can also cause uterine, bladder, and kidney problems as well as lower-back stiffness and addictions. Emotional afflictions include eating disorders, low self-esteem, envy, and jealousy.
Svadhisthana energy comes from the dynamic of its water element and lunar energy. Water plays a big part on our planet and in our bodies. Almost three-fourths of the earth is covered in water and about two-thirds of the human body is made up of water. The moon has a major influence on the tides, our moods, women’s menstrual cycles, and even the birth of babies. This dynamic dance between the water element and the moon mirrors the dualistic awakening that happens in the Svadhisthana chakra.
The first chakra energy of survival and its earthly limitations evolves to the second chakra energy of water and the search for connection. The awakened sexual energy leads to desire for earthly pleasures. It’s no longer about needing and accumulating things; it’s about desire. Food is no longer just a necessity for living; eating becomes a tantalizing sensual experience.
The concept of polarity plays out in the chakras as it does in life. The first chakra carries yang, or masculine energy, and the second chakra carries yin, or feminine energy. Then in the third chakra the energy shifts back to masculine, and so on.
The celestial body of the second chakra is the moon. The energy of the moon is feminine, passive, and changing. Water is the element that gives way to life. The womb of creation, literally and metaphorically, is rooted in the second chakra energy.
Out of the second chakra come music, art, poetry, and dance. Imagination develops in this chakra, as does the deep desire for marriage and family.
Imagine the ebb and flow of the oceans. No longer are we bound to a seemingly solid state where we must find our place. Now we’re moved to taste what the earth has to offer. Think of baby sea turtles emerging from their cozy nests in the sand and making their way to the ocean to begin life.
Discovering the second chakra’s delights is an exciting awakening. For the first time we experience true duality, in the romantic sense, and we learn the meaning of cause and effect. In the stage of development that corresponds to the second chakra, a baby learns how to playfully manipulate others to get what he wants. When he flirts with his caregivers by performing, laughing, giggling, or repeating some funny antic, he gets hugs, kisses, and much love. We start to learn the effect we have on other people and how to woo them to our side.
The moon energy of the second chakra is a passive but attractive energy. It includes deep emotions, inner strength, nurturing, and nourishing. The mermaid is an archetypal energy of the Svadhisthana chakra. In mythology, mermaids are known for their alluring beauty and melodious voices. Depictions of mermaids show them beautifying themselves by combing their hair and adorning themselves with jewels. They are sexually tantalizing, seductive, and charming as they attract sailors with their luscious song. However, they also have an independent and rebellious side to them, and they only appear by the light of the moon.
Our Societal Relationship with the Second Chakra
In the West, or more particularly in the United States, the predominant lifestyle shows an overindulgence of second chakra pleasures. Everything Americans do is big. We eat large amounts of food, especially in restaurants because they have to give you enough bang for your buck. We are the largest consumers of prescription pills, painkilling medications in particular — we consume 80 percent of the world’s supply of opioids. We spend more than $90 billion per year on alcohol consumption. And Americans have on average around $16,601 in credit card debt. We are enthralled with stars and sex symbols, and we attempt to live out pleasures vicariously through them by way of reality TV shows. We are a society of overindulgence.
The concept of delayed gratification holds little ground here. We want things the way we want them, and we want them quickly. The constant search for pleasure and the avoidance of pain, without regard for the consequences, is a second chakra imbalance.
Like the small wooden boy in Disney’s Pinocchio who is led to Pleasure Island and indulges in many forbidden pleasures but then barely escapes with his life, we too have begun to see consequences of choosing such a lifestyle. Chronic lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, cancer, and alcohol and drug addictions afflict 133 million US adults, or roughly half the adult population. We’re getting fatter, sicker, and more addicted by the day.
Pleasure in itself isn’t a bad thing. We need to seek out pleasure and avoid pain for our bodies to know that all is well. However, it’s the excess that is harmful. It’s the inability to overcome the persistent urge to indulge rather than direct this creative energy toward a higher purpose.
Women Working the Second Chakra
Women are readily hardwired for the strengths of second chakra energy. The womb of creation is within them, and they possess the same creative power as the Creator of the universe. This blessed gift gives them the ability to nurture, to be highly sensitive, and to have a heightened sense of intuition. Women are also naturally blessed with the passive inner strength of the second chakra. This strength imbues women with the power of attraction. In mythology, many goddesses are portrayed as passively awaiting good things while adorning themselves with jewels or brushing their thick, luxurious hair. The idea in this portrayal is that the goddess doesn’t have to do anything but relax, and like a magnet, she attracts good things to her.
In modern society, women are pulled to live more in yang energy, which is masculine, forward moving, and competitive. As they compete in the workplace with their male counterparts, they must take on more masculine roles. But in order to remain balanced, all people, women as well as men, must embrace both energies, yin and yang, and problems can result when women move too far into yang energy. Some women feel that they must deny their femininity in certain situations at work or at home, and this can create imbalances. For example, at work a woman might feel compelled to dress more like a man to avoid potential sexual harassment or to fit in a mostly male workplace.
Typically, women who naturally have more yin energy find it easier to swing the pendulum back: they’re able to embrace their femininity while performing more masculine activities, and they don’t have a difficult time remaining balanced. On the other hand, women who naturally feel more comfortable in a masculine role might not strive to temper their yang energy with their inherent yin.
Health problems can result when women lose this balance. Some women who overidentify with yang energy develop depression, lupus, cancer, high blood pressure, and other diseases. Many others have a hard time getting pregnant. Fertility and procreation are natural when the second chakra is balanced. In fact, they’re a normal and healthy part of the process of life. But today, because of the demands of higher education and work, many women wait until after age thirty-five to try to get pregnant. Waiting this long decreases a woman’s chance of getting pregnant in the first place. Then, when she finally does get pregnant, she must face the fear of not being on par with her male co-workers because of the physical vulnerability of being pregnant and having a child. So instead of embracing pregnancy as a natural time to enjoy being a woman and to embody goddess energy, she can suppress these feelings in order to fit in.
Excessive yang energy also spills into relationships and family life. Many women are single mothers and must play the role of breadwinner, disciplinarian, homemaker, parent, and head of household. Women who are used to having power and respect in the workplace then take that same yang energy and apply it to parenting and marriage.
The problem is, women aren’t physically built to sustain the demands of taking on every single task of both a man and woman, such as working full-time, taking care of a household, creating babies, raising children, being a great wife, balancing the budget, lifting weights five days a week, and volunteering. Wow! It was exhausting just writing all of that. Yet many women are doing all this. In the not-too-distant past, women didn’t even handle the traditional household roles alone. They had support networks. Extended family members shared tasks, and the burden was spread across many instead of piled up on one.
Women today feel ashamed that they can’t do it all, but they were never meant to. They shouldn’t consider it a weakness to need help or to want to embrace their femininity. Women should be proud of their ability to create, to acknowledge their emotions, to be nurturing and sensitive. These are all great qualities. Women shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help or admit that they’re not Hercules. (You shouldn’t be able to carry six grocery bags in one haul.)
I discovered my swelling yang energy when I was learning to dance salsa. I had recently come out of a harsh breakup, and I made the decision to learn how to salsa dance. Partner dancing is very much a second chakra activity. It’s flowing, dynamic, and sensual and has a sense of give-and-take. While I fully embrace my feminine side, I am a high-powered woman. I am a single mom. I run my own business, my household, and my life. I’m used to being in control. But whoa, did I learn the hard way that that doesn’t work on the dance floor! I took on dance lessons like I take on life. I said to myself, I’m going to work hard and learn this right. I’m going to be a great dancer, learn the steps, and perfect this. I was so goal oriented and yang in my thinking, you’d think I was a CEO launching a startup.
Salsa dancing is difficult to learn, but it’s not a left-brained activity. It’s an art. It’s movement and creativity. Supportive — and, I might add, very patient — dance partners taught me how to embrace my second chakra energy. They did this by gently reminding me, “Relax. Let me lead.” The first one hundred or so times I danced salsa, I heard that phrase again and again. The funny thing is, I thought I was letting them lead. I learned how to be a woman once again on the dance floor. If I hadn’t let my dance partners lead, the dynamics of duality and polarity could have never taken place. You can’t have two leaders or two followers on the dance floor — it simply doesn’t work. The beauty is in yin and yang meshing together perfectly to create the work of art you see in dance competitions.
Women need to decide what energy they truly want to embrace in their relationships. Sometimes I see women who really want to be feminine and act through yin energy, but they don’t let themselves, out of fear of being weak. In reality, though, weakness lies only in not knowing who you are or in sending out conflicting messages to the world that don’t reflect what you feel inside.
I see this especially in dating. Because they’re overidentified with yang energy, many women have become more assertive in dating and in some cases downright aggressive. Traditionally, thanks to his competitive yang nature, a man would want to pursue the woman, woo her, and win her heart. But today, when women take on the yang role, the energetic transfer can take away the man’s drive to go out there and work hard to get what he wants.
As a woman, figuring out how to balance your second chakra involves knowing how you would like to embrace your feminine energy so you can keep it open and flowing at all times. Figure out who you are and how you want this energy to manifest, and stick with it. For example, if you’ve always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, but family pressures have caused you to remain in a full-time job, you can work toward the role you want to embrace. You could, for example, explore the options of a home-based business working only part-time. I have a friend who ran a home daycare as soon as her first child was born. It allowed her to have income while being able to stay at home with her children. For your own health, try not to let society’s expectations get in the way of knowing what’s right for you. When you meditate, focus on your second chakra and especially your female sex organs, and ask yourself if you’re fully embracing who you are. If you’re not, what’s holding you back? Stay true to yourself, and you’ll find you can more easily become your own best friend.
Living Life in the Svadhisthana Chakra
A person living in the second chakra is like a child exploring the world for the first time without restraint. Imagine the person is a butterfly flitting from flower to flower, tasting, experiencing, and then flying off to experience some more. The words that describe this person are imagination, emotion, and indulgence.
When it comes to dealing with emotional second chakra people, you’d better watch out. While first chakra people tend to get angry and violent when they’re upset, second chakra people throw temper tantrums to get what they want. They sulk, cry, and use emotional blackmail to get their way. You may feel you’re on an emotional roller coaster in their presence.
Balanced second chakra people are carefree and imaginative. They like to play out the dramatic role of heroine or dream of being famous actors. They may not have the wherewithal to buckle down and set goals to achieve their dreams, but they talk a good game on how they will be rich and famous. They love art, poetry, and romance.
Like kids in a candy shop, second chakra people tend to overindulge. They overeat, usually eating too many sweets, and indulge in alcohol or drugs. The overindulgence may very well come in other forms such as shopping, gambling, or hoarding. Addictions are typically a problem for people living completely in second chakra energy.
Recognizing Second Chakra Imbalances
When your second chakra is out of balance, it can cause you to be reactive, to get bogged down in deep, dark emotions, and to forget your higher purpose. You can get caught up in emotional battles with yourself or others, which keeps you operating from a low level.
You limit yourself and your Svadhisthana power when you engage in negative self-talk because your emotions tell you, for example, “You screwed up again. You just gained ten pounds”; or when you down an entire bottle of wine because you feel your husband will never understand you; or when you get back at a lover by having sex with someone else.
Also, having shameful feelings about your own sexuality will create blockages and hinder your creativity. Blocking the flow of energy can be as harmful as overindulging in the energy without boundaries.
The gifts you receive from your sacral chakra are perhaps some of the most powerful and transformative gifts of all.
According to Napoleon Hill, author of the world-famous book Think and Grow Rich, sexual energy is the most potent energy we possess as humans. He explains that it’s the most powerful, motivating, and moving energy if we transmute it wisely — in other words, channel it into other creative pursuits and bring new ideas into being to make the world a better place. And, he continues, if we combine sexual energy with the energy of love (fourth chakra), we can attain anything we put our minds to. He calls this power sex transmutation.
You can channel your sexual energy into any creative activity, whether it’s baking a delicious dessert, making a costume, choreographing a dance, or inventing a new electronic device. Entrepreneurs, writers, and scientists are examples of those who know how to successfully use sexual energy by converting it into creative power.
Using sexual energy for sexual intimacy and pleasure is discussed in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The first yoga sutra presents the yamas, moral precepts for those who wish to live a yogic and disciplined lifestyle. The fourth yama is bramacharya. Bramacharya can be interpreted as sexual restraint. The original concept was to refrain from sexual activity to preserve the sexual fluids, known as shukra in Sanskrit, to gain greater illumination. In a way, it mirrors the philosophical thought of sex transmutation. Bramacharya was intended to mean that sexual desire is not to be used for selfish and self-serving means. A person who has several sexual partners or goes from one partner to another isn’t exercising sexual restraint. The practice of bramacharya means using your sexual energy for sexual pleasure in a committed and intimate partnership, where your concern is to give to your beloved.
I have the right to feel what I feel. I allow myself to follow my dreams. I deserve pleasure and goodness in my life. I go with the flow.
Since so much of the second chakra involves the emotional body, healing your emotions is an integral part of healing Svadhisthana. As we explore second chakra physical healing, I’d like you to think about such things as accepting your gender, your sex organs, the beauty of your physical body, and your sense of taste. While gender and sex aren’t the same thing, the polarity of second chakra energy, which includes opposites, indicates gender identity. For example, some women are ashamed of being female and therefore hide their bodies behind unflattering clothes or they hunch their shoulders as they walk or stand. Some men, who may have been beaten down by overbearing mothers, are afraid to show their strength and masculinity.
Your sense of taste is linked to the water element, the Ayurvedic Kapha dosha, and the second chakra. Our sense of taste can become polluted by eating the wrong foods, such as deep-fried, processed, and artificial foods, and by drinking alcohol. Tasting your food is part of the sensual experience of being alive. You can enliven and enhance your sense of taste by swishing with organic food-grade raw sesame oil.
In the first chakra healing section, I suggested eating in silence. You can take this one step further by truly tasting what you’re eating and paying close attention to the flavors you enjoy. A good way to wean yourself off junk food is to sit in silence and feel the sensory experience of the unhealthy food. Years ago, I used to eat fast food from time to time. When I noticed the coating of grease stuck to my tongue and teeth or the sugar coating left in my mouth after drinking sugary beverages, I immediately noted that I hated the taste. Then it was easy to let go of those things.
Second chakra healing practices that involve water or water-like movements can be soothing. Some people are drawn to bodies of water for activities like swimming, surfing, or sailing. Others prefer dancing, tai chi, or qigong. Yoga, especially a slow flow, is great for continual second chakra healing. You will know intuitively which water-like movement practices resonate with you. Choose movements that open your hips, stimulate your internal organs, and strengthen your lower back.
Most people don’t know how to mindfully breathe. Women are taught to suck in their tummies or wear pants that are too tight. Men might tighten their belts to try to look thinner. As a result, many wind up chest-breathing, which creates shallow and panicky breath. As you breathe naturally, your belly should inflate and deflate. This is known as belly-breathing or diaphragmatic breathing, and it involves inhaling from the lower abdomen around the area of the second chakra. You will feel your lower belly puffing out as you inhale properly. To get a full healing breath, refrain from tightening your stomach muscles. Let it all go. Visualize the air circulating freely, in a swirling wheel, throughout your abdomen. As you exhale, you will feel your tummy moving inward, toward your spine. When you shift your breathing in this way, into the area between your pubic bone and belly button, immediately you will feel calmer and more relaxed.
While this section is dedicated to women, men reading this book can use this knowledge to help and support the women in their lives. We live in a society that is constantly on the go. In the modern world, it’s not acceptable to take sick days, slow down, or show lack of drive toward accomplishment. This philosophy goes against the grain of creativity. Creative thought and creative endeavors are best sought out in silence and stillness. Creative energy needs space to move through its channels. When you fill your schedule with too much to do and move full speed ahead, there is no room for space or pause. Women have been blessed with a natural cycle to slow them down at least once a month: their menstrual cycles. Their natural bodily rhythms call for this space in grounding and quietness. A woman’s body asks for rest, relaxation, and introspection during the time of menses. If she honors those needs, she will be reinvigorated as a new cycle begins. As a result the second chakra will stay open and aligned. Not only will she experience increased fertility and flow in her life, she will also benefit from increased creativity in the way of abundance and manifestation of desires.
FOODS TO ENHANCE REPRODUCTIVE TISSUE
Ayurvedic remedies to help with fertility and to heal reproductive tissue (shukra dhatu) include adding asparagus, broccoli, organic milk, organic fresh dates, organic fresh ripe mangoes, and organic rice pudding to your diet. To reduce toxins before trying to conceive, detox the first and second chakras by taking gentle herbs such as senna or the Ayurvedic formula triphala. Spices such as cumin, black cumin, and turmeric are also good for reproductive tissue. These foods and spices will help heal reproductive tissue in both men and women.
YOGA ASANAS AND PRANAYAMA EXERCISES TO HEAL THE SECOND CHAKRA
Yin yoga is a great style of yoga to help balance the second chakra. The idea behind yin yoga is to keep the body cool by doing slow movements and holding the poses for three to five minutes each. During a yin class, you’re assisted with yoga props such as blocks, blankets, bolsters, and straps. A set of yin yoga poses assists in opening your hips and working your connective tissue. The poses below are yin poses, except the last one, dhanurasana. I’ve included dhanurasana, a yang pose, because it helps bring vibrant energy to the second chakra.
To view a video demo of these exercises, go to
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Click on the Playlists tab, and select
Chakra Healing Asanas & Pranayamas.
Scroll down the list until you find the one you’re looking for.
Left-Nostril Breathing — Ida Nadi Pranayama: Sit tall and place your left hand on your lap. Place the index and middle finger of your right hand on your right nostril to close it. Slowly inhale and exhale through your left nostril only. Do this breathing technique for a minute or two.
Cow and Cat Poses: On all fours, spread out your fingers on the floor and flex your toes. As you inhale, lift your tailbone up toward the sky, raise your head and look up, and lower your belly toward the floor. As you exhale, draw your belly button in toward your spine and your chin down toward your chest, lower your tailbone, and raise your spine into a curve, like an angry Halloween cat. Do eight sets of cow and cat.
Pigeon Pose — Eka Pada Rajakapotasana: From your all-fours position, slide your right knee forward, and set it down in front of your left knee. Bring your right heel forward, away from your pelvis as much as possible. Extend your left leg all the way behind you, and set your left foot on the floor as you bring your hips close to the floor. Come down to your elbows and rest your forehead down. If your hips are tight, you can place a bolster or pillow underneath your right hip. Hold for three minutes, then switch to the other side.
Cobra Pose — Bhujangasana: Lie flat on your belly. Slide your feet together so your big toes touch. Place your forehead to the floor. With your palms on the floor, bring your fingers slightly behind your shoulders with your elbows bent. Squeeze your bottom, and press your pubic bone toward your mat. Bring your shoulders back and away from your ears. Press down on your hands, and hug your elbows against your torso to lift your head and upper chest off the floor. Be mindful of your feet and make sure they stay on the floor. If you’re doing this properly, you should feel this pose in your lower back (area of the second chakra) and triceps. To make the pose a yin pose, as you lift your head and chest, set your elbows down underneath your ribs and place your hands and forearms down on the mat, like a sphinx. Relax your shoulders down, and breathe as you stimulate your lower belly and lower back. Hold for two minutes.
Happy Baby Pose — Yoga Nidrasana: Have you ever seen a baby hold his feet and giggle happily on his back? That’s the idea of the happy baby pose. On your back, lift your legs up and bend your knees, drawing your knees and feet wide apart. Hold the outer edges of your flexed feet with your hands. It will look like an upside-down squatting posture. If you can’t clasp your feet, hold on to your ankles or calves. To stimulate your kidneys, inhale deeply and hold your breath. Still holding your breath, rock side to side six to eight times, then exhale as you come back to the center. Repeat the series two to three times.
Reclining Bound-Angle Pose / Reclining Butterfly Pose — Supta Baddha Konasana: Lie on your back. Bring the soles of your feet together as your knees open wide, into a butterfly shape. Allow your hips to relax completely. If the stretch is too intense, you can place yoga blocks underneath your knees. Place your hands on your belly, and focus on your breath. Hold the pose for three to five minutes.
Bow Pose — Dhanurasana: Start on your belly with your arms at your sides. Bring your feet up into the air, and reach up to catch them with your hands. You can take hold of your feet or your ankles. Lift your head and chest, and breathe deep into your lower belly. A deep rhythmic breath will create a rocking motion and will stimulate your internal organs. This is also a great pose to do for menstrual cramps. Hold the pose for one to two minutes and repeat two to three times.
Healing the Emotional and Energetic Body
From repressed sexuality to low self-esteem to overindulgence, issues surrounding the emotional body of the second chakra are many. Healing this area will help you overcome many emotional scars and advance in your emotional and spiritual journey.
Good self-esteem can be a result of nature and nurture. Sometimes children who grow up in the same family have varied levels of self-esteem. Other times, low self-esteem seems to result from abandonment or emotional or physical abuse in childhood. No matter the cause, it can be challenging to build self-esteem back up to normal levels.
The practice of yoga, including a focus on chakra healing, can help raise self-esteem. People with low self-esteem are constantly seeking approval from others. This is known as object referral. Object referral says, “I’m valuable because of what I do, who loves me, or what I have.” Right or wrong, it’s what happens. But in reality, it’s impossible to please or impress everyone — one hundred people will have one hundred different opinions of you — and to even try to do so is exhausting. Self-referral, on the other hand, says, “I’m valuable because I’m an integral part of this great big universe. I’m needed and wanted because I’m here. God, Mother Nature, or my Higher Power is in me, and I hold the same creative essence that is contained in them.” When you assimilate yoga practices and philosophy, you begin to shift your focus from object referral to self-referral. When this shift happens, you have an aha moment—you finally realize that everything you have been striving for in the way of approval (and, of course, falling short) is an unattainable goal. You’re already perfect as you are.
Become your best friend. Before you say something to yourself or think something about yourself, ask if you would say it to your best friend.
Take care of your body as a good mother would take care of her child. She makes sure the child is eating three to five times per day and getting plenty of nutrients. She ensures the child gets enough rest. She takes her child out for walks daily. She caresses and strokes her child’s skin and reassures her child when she’s frightened. She makes sure her child has time for play, work, and friends. A good mother takes her child for wellness checkups and gives her vitamins to grow. Take care of yourself in all the same ways.
Nurturing is a second chakra trait. You will enhance your second chakra energy when you nurture yourself.
People who suffer from addiction, in any form, have a second chakra imbalance. Addicts seek pleasure through the object of addiction at all costs. They will charm and deceive others to get that object. Like second chakra energy, there is a sense of reaching out toward others, but the goal isn’t for connection and love in the higher sense of the chakra but rather to attain a temporary fix for a transcendent moment in bliss. However, all false attempts to reach transcendence and enlightenment by destructive means create karmic debt and leave the user in a deeper hole of indebtedness each time.
I’m very much attached to the subject of addiction because I have a loved one who suffers from alcoholism. I became so entrenched in the study of alcoholism that I wrote a book about it titled Help! I Think My Loved One Is an Alcoholic: A Survival Guide for Lovers, Family, and Friends. I’m a firm believer in 12-step programs for any addiction. Some addictions may be healed through practices such as meditation and yoga, but as one of my friends in recovery told me, the -ism is still there. Addiction doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s not undone overnight. If you or someone you love suffers from addiction, I highly recommend getting professional help in addition to using chakra-based healing or other holistic and spiritual practices.
Mind-body connection in health is undeniable. Study after study, including one published in the January 11, 2017, issue of The Lancet, shows that emotional health can have as much of an impact on your heart health as tobacco use or obesity. Doing emotional health exercises is just as useful as physical exercise. Those who aren’t hardwired with an optimistic emotional outlook may need to practice increasing emotional health daily to strengthen those muscles.
Here are a few things you can try daily:
• Say, chant, or write positive affirmations, and refrain from negative self-talk.
• Write your thoughts down in a journal.
• Have in-person experiences with good friends and not simply online relationships.
• Volunteer your time once a week or once a month.
• Keep a gratitude journal: on a regular basis, write down the things you’re grateful for.
Aligning with and accepting your power of creation can help heal your second chakra spiritual energy. Your power to create was freely given to you by your Creator and therefore is good. In healing the second chakra, we work to overcome limiting beliefs about our sexuality and creativity.
Religious interpretation of sexual intimacy has given this natural, human, and God-given act a dirty name. The many words we hear in religious circles around sex include shameful, dirty, sinful, and lustful. I believe this creates a shadow energy around sexuality and vilifies it. As a result, people sneak around behind closed doors and talk about sexual intimacy in hushed tones. This aura of oppression can cause people to act toward extremes and wreak havoc on relationships.
I personally don’t believe that the Creator of the universe, who gave us consciousness and conscious awareness of love and intimacy, intended for it to be this way. To heal your sexual energy, you may need to shift your thinking and behavior toward a healthier pathway.
The Western interpretation of Tantra or Tantric sex, in its purest meaning, gives a clearer picture of a more spiritual experience with sex. We are different from other animals in that we have the capacity to control and modify our emotions, breath, bodily functions, and connection to each other and to spirit. We have the choice to act differently than with the instinctual and hardwired reactions programmed in our brains by our predecessors.
From my understanding in connection with yoga, which means “to yoke,” “to unite,” or “to join together,” the act of sexual intimacy can be spiritual in nature, as a way to honor the body, mind, soul, and spirit of your partner and vice versa. In accordance with bramacharya, this union is best explored in a committed, exclusive, and long-term relationship. Instead of pure mechanical performance, so to speak, spiritual sexual intimacy brings more awareness to the physical connection. It involves taking the time to get to know your partner on every level and arriving at the level of vulnerability needed to create union in a yogic sense of the word. The act of lovemaking can be a truly transcendent experience.
In this understanding of transcendent sexuality, you wouldn’t want to take lovemaking lightly, but instead come at it from a vantage point not of shame but of purity — a sense of purity that comes from within you, as a true recognition of the gift your sexuality brings, rather than an idea imposed on you from someone or something external. When you assimilate this understanding into your being, you won’t want to squander your sexual energy on a subpar or purely physical experience.
Some of the things you might want to explore within yourself as you look toward healing the sexual power of your second chakra are the following:
1. What is my view of my own sexuality?
2. What was I taught about sexuality growing up?
3. Have I ever given away my body to another because of demands put upon me?
4. Have I ever had a sexually intimate experience in which I felt connected to my partner in body, mind, soul, and spirit?
5. Have I ever used sex to get what I want?
6. Has my view of sexual intimacy changed over the years? 7. Have I had physical symptoms in my second chakra as a result of my beliefs about my sexuality? (Examples are lower back pain, uterine problems, erectile dysfunction, and ovarian cysts.)
8. How will I change my view of my own sexuality to help heal my second chakra?
As I was growing up, I thought the creative gene had been given only to my sister, who was naturally artistic. I looked at my scribbles and stick-figure drawings and felt destined to a life of desk work and intellectual pursuits.
Yet as I grew up I learned I did have some creativity in my genes. After all, writing is creative. But I also love to bake, cook, and dance. Creating is all about taking raw materials that you know, such as words or food ingredients, and putting them together to create something new. So even if you’re an accountant and have discovered a more efficient way to enter numbers, you’re a creator.
That being said, awakening the creative energy of the second chakra is about opening yourself to the creative mind of the universe to assist you along the way. Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich says, “The great artists, writers, musicians, and poets become great because they acquire the habit of relying upon the ‘still small voice’ which speaks from within, through the faculty of creative imagination.” He explains that this creative imagination, also known as “hunches,” is only obtained through four sources: infinite intelligence, one’s subconscious mind, the mind of another person, or another person’s subconscious mind. He explains that genius is only released through this method and that most people don’t access this incredible force during the entire span of their lifetime. I’m reminded of the great Walt Disney, who, despite major failures and setbacks, worked the second chakra in a positive way to create magic for families across the globe.
Taking a break from daily monotony to do something creative can allow your imagination to run wild. Daydreaming, imagining, and mind wandering are wonderful ways to create anything you desire. As speaker and author Tony Robbins says, “Everything in your external world started in your internal world.”
Today, take thirty minutes out of your day to do something creative. Turn off all electronic devices, and give your imagination free rein. Become immersed in the creative flow.
SVADHISTHANA GUIDED MEDITATION
Wearing clothing that allows you to breathe fully into your lower belly, sit comfortably with your eyes closed. Take a couple of deep inhalations and deep exhalations, imagining the breath circulating throughout the area of the second chakra.
Visualize a deep orange color moving in a spinning motion, like a disk, cleansing the area above the pubic bone and below the navel. Imagine this spinning disk catching debris, toxins, and any other negative impressions left in the Svadhisthana chakra. Imagine the disk, like a magnet, attracting all negative and clogged energy from your bladder, sex organs, lower back, and pelvis. Once the spinning orange disk has collected all debris from the second chakra, it now pulverizes that negativity and turns it into dust. That dust will be eliminated through your excretory system. Now your second chakra is free from all blockages and negativity.
Next, imagine beautiful, cleansing water such as clear ocean water moving through the second chakra, polishing it and making it like new. Imagine the swishing sound as the salt water flows throughout, bringing harmony back to your creativity chakra.
You are now ready to move into a higher aspect of second chakra energy. You are freed from addictions, lust, cravings, low self-esteem, sexual dysfunction, and infertility. You are now ready and open to create whatever it is that you desire. You are free to create a baby, a new job, a new home, a new relationship, a new company, or a new work of art. Whatever you can imagine, you can achieve. Your creative energy is at one with the creative mind of the universe. In your healing, you draw from this energy, the energy of Source. Creativity flows through you and outward. You are infinite possibilities.
Notice how connected you feel to the water element. Notice how awake and alive your creativity chakra feels. You can enhance the vibrations by chanting the mantra sound VAM three times.
ENERGY-BODY HEALING WITH GEMS AND COLORS
You can remind yourself to focus on second chakra healing by wearing the color orange or surrounding yourself with orange objects throughout the day.
The gemstones for this chakra are amber, orange calcite, citrine, and orange aventurine.
Second Chakra Mindfulness Ideas to Ponder
1. Affirmation: I am strong and healthy. I am valuable and perfect the way I am. I am a creative force like the One who created me.
2. I will spend part of my day near a water source — a flowing fountain, a pond, a river, a stream, or the ocean — or I will immerse myself in water sounds such as falling rain or ocean waves. As I listen to and experience the power of water, I will imagine the fluidity of my own body. Even though it’s seemingly solid, it’s ever flowing and transforming.
3. I will embrace the power of lunar energy and its cycles of waxing and waning. I know that I too have cycles within my body, and I respect those cycles. I will respect my need for rest and relaxation as well as activity. I will align myself with the earth’s cycles of day and night and the changing of the seasons, and in so doing I will move with the creative flow of the universe.
4. I will respect my need to play, dance, sing, paint, bake, and express myself and my body in creative ways. I know that giving in to this carefree side of who I am will create balance in my life.
