THE ROOT
The root chakra is the very first chakra, and governs our basic sense of what it means to be human. A lot of our fears are stored here, and our mere survival is driven largely by this chakra. It is also largely responsible for how we carry out unconscious behavior, and by balancing it with practices and meditation + extensive work through Self Psychology exercises, we can create a positive program that can potentially run by itself, and continually work in our favor, simply by tuning the frequency and stimulate this area in a positive way.
CLASS
RECOMMENDED READING
Read Chapter 1 of ‘The 8 Human Talents’ by Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa
Download PDF here
Buy the book here
LECTURES AND PODCASTS
Library of Teachings January 22, 1991
The GOOP Podcast: ‘A different way to live virtuously’ with Cynthia Bourgeault
ADDITIONAL EXERCISES
Working with crystals
Energy balance with a red crystal (red jasper, garnet, ruby…): Place the crystal between the legs by the base of the spins. Relax and breath deeply while your root chakra’s frequency align with the frequency of the red crystal.
Malasana
Try the following yoga posture: bring your feet hip distance apart. Turn your feet out slightly, then squat down deeply. Place your hands in prayer pose and rest your elbows against the knees. Hold this posture with long deep breathing for up to 3 minutes. See photo of the posture here.
SELF PSYCHOLOGY EXERCISES
Contemplate your relationship to your Root Chakra with these Self Psychology exercises.
The themes of the root chakra are acceptance, worthiness, security, fear, stress and instinct.
The location of this chakra is the anus, and the glands associated with it are the adrenals.
Journal through the following questions. If you find that your mind takes a different direction and additional questions come up, follow your trail for additional deeper insights.
How do I feel today? What is moving within me right now?
Working through your fears:
What do I fear?
—Take each thing you wrote down and bring it through the remaining questions. Then take the next fear and do the same. Continue with all the fear you listed down in the previous exercise.
What would happen if it came true?
What is the worst case scenario?
How likely is this to happen?
Is my fear rational? (It is okay if it isn’t but you still feel afraid. Bring awareness and loving self acceptance to your fear. Embrace it as part of you. It is likely there to give you insights and a deeper understanding of yourself)
When fear manifests into stress:
Complete the sentence “When fear causes me stress I…”
What causes me fear or stress (if any) at the moment?
What might be the underlying cause of it?
What seems to be triggering it?
What do I plan to do next time I feel stressed? (Create a game plan. Fx: “The next time I notice shortness of breath because I have to speak publicly, I will sit down and do 3 minutes of breath of fire.” etc.)