What is the Root Chakra?
There are 7 Chakras and the Root Chakra is the 1st one that is located at your genital area if you’re looking at the front of your body and at the base of your spine if you’re looking at your back.
It’s called Muladhara in Sanskrit. This area is associated with the element of earth, with passion, sex drive, feeling grounded in your body, being present in your body, and feeling safe and supported on earth. It’s main association is with survival.
The Root Chakra is the foundation for all of your other chakras. You’ll want to balance this area first and send the energy up through all of your other chakras, out through your Crown Chakra. If you balance and open this center, you will feel the energy rise up through the rest of your chakras, through your spine and out the top of your head.
The spine carries many of the emotions that have been trapped in your body so balancing the Root Chakra at the base of your spine will help to release these through your spine.
Where is the Root Chakra?
It’s located in your groin area, your genitals on the front of your body and at the base of your spine on your back.
What color represents the Root Chakra?
The color that it is mostly represented with it is red.
If you use red in color or essential oil therapy, you probably feel more present and grounded in your body. Using red as the color for the Root Chakra is fitting because when you tune into its energy vibration, you will notice a more primal sense of awareness and the instinct for survival. As you move past the thoughts of being aware of these instincts, you may feel more balanced and safely supported on the earth.
When is the Root Chakra open?
When the Root Chakra is open, you’ll experience feeling more awakened, passionate, and connected to the earth. You’ll be able to act upon opportunities that present themselves to you if they are a good fit. You’ll feel that you can let go and trust people more often than looking for ways they are untrustworthy.
You’ll feel more grounded in your body and not as easily swayed by email, social media, or any other forms of communication. You’ll be more in tune with what you need and want at the moment and act on those desires rather than pleasing other people or getting caught in drama of the moment.
You’ll feel better able to be yourself and go with the flow. You won’t be anxious about upcoming events or social gatherings. You’ll just know there’s an event coming up and not worry about the details.
You’ll feel safer on earth and in your body. Often, trauma victims feel numb in this area and separated from their body. When your Root Chakra is open, you’ll be more in touch with what you think and feel about things and act from your authentic truth, knowing you are safe to do so.
You’ll feel more connected to other people and better able to communicate with them. You won’t be attached to them, but will respect them and have healthy boundaries.
When is the Root Chakra blocked?Â
When the Root is blocked, there are different symptoms that will show up in the way you act towards yourself and others. These issues also show up in your emotions, mental thoughts, and behavior.
- You may feel as if you’re spinning out of control and unable to gain your footing or ground. You might actually feel dizzy or overwhelmed. This could be from too much information, coming from communications from people through phone, text, email, or social media
- You may have repetitive nightmares, intrusive thoughts, or visual images that bombard your inner space of thinking.
- You may feel fearful and like the world is unsafe
- You may feel numb and unable to truly feel grounded or at home in your body
- You may take a lot of action without a plan or no action on opportunities at all
- You may feel as if you can’t trust other people
- You may take charge of situations all the time without regard for others
- You may feel as if you’re always lacking in food, resources, information, or something else
- You may complain a lot about things that you expect to be a certain way, but not communicate your thoughts and feelings in an organized way to make changes
How to activate the Root Chakra?
Activating the Root Chakra is easy to do and really only takes your focus, concentration, and intention to activate it for yourself.
The Root Chakra mostly gets activated by doing physical exercise. By walking, running, doing yoga, or working out your legs, you can activate the Root Chakra. You can also focus on your Root Chakra and the color red to open and activate it, then send the energy up through the rest of your Chakras through your spine.
Other things you can try:
- Exercise by doing a sport or activity you enjoy
- Dance, do yoga, or another activity
- Jump up and down or do jumping jacks
- Tune into the color red for this area at the base of your spine, then imagine white light running up your spine through the other chakras, activating their colors and send the energy out through the top of your Crown Chakra
- Sit with your legs crossed and imagine yourself and this area at the same time then place a sphere of light close to this area and let all negativity be drawn to the light
- Place your fingers or a gemstone or crystal on your Root Chakra and feel the vibrations from this area
- Listen to a guided meditation to activate your Root Chakra
- Listen to certain sounds that are meant only for your Root Chakra
- Draw, paint or color intuitively what you feel and see in your Root Chakra each day until the blockage dissolves and your Root Chakra is activated
- Say affirmations to awaken this area
- Say a mantra in meditation
- Meditate with your focus, concentration, and intention on activating your Root Chakra
- Get out in nature and go for a walk or hike a trail
- Listen to drum music that resonates with this chakra. Japanese drumming and some Shamanic drumming is helpful.
How to balance the Root Chakra?
If you feel that the Root Chakra is off balance, there’s a few things you can do to bring it back in balance that are simple and fun to do.
Color Therapy for the Root Chakra
Find a red card and focus on the color of it. Let the red energy come into your mind and space. Look into the red color and allow for yourself to feel its energy. Ask for the color to open your Root chakra to feel and perceive what truth and information you most need from the universe right now.
When you feel complete with focusing on the color, hold a Red Jasper or piece of Black Tourmaline up to your Root Chakra. I recommend these because they are associated with grounding and clearing your chakras. The Red Jasper has a fiery energy that will help you visualize the color red in your Root Chakra to activate it. The Black Tourmaline is useful in grounding and allowing the energy from the past, numbness, and all negativity to be released from this chakra area.
Crystal Therapy for the Root Chakra
Crystals you can use to help balance and heal your Root Chakra include:
- Red Jasper — this bright, fiery crystal assists in grounding your energy and increasing your alertness. It’ll help you tune into your Root Chakra to begin the process of releasing negativity and any stuck energy that is located there. Typically, I see a lotus in this area that is projecting out of the mud. By looking at how it is blooming, whether opened or still in a bud, I can tell whether the Root Chakra is opened or stuck. Using Red Jasper gets the lotus to open up more and activates the energy of this Chakra.
- Rhodonite – this crystal assists in releasing tears from the past. You’ll be assisted in forgiving others and yourself with this crystal. It’s especially useful in the Root Chakra to allow all of the pent up guilt, depression, fears, and trauma out of this area and this crystal has a strong ability to do just that. Even just looking at the crystal brings up the energy of letting go and allows you to clear it out.
- Shiva Lingam – this crystal stone helps to balance your Root chakra between the male and female parts of us. It helps us feel more secure and grounded in our bodies. This stone brings in the element of peace and sweet release from the past. It aids in transformation through focusing on kundalini energy to be moved up your spine from your Root Chakra
- Garnet – red garnet, even rough stone, is helpful to ground your Root Chakra. It takes a bit of focus to allow this crystal to work through your Root. It manages to allow the energy of the crystal to clear off the built up stuck energy and gain feeling in this area again. Garnet is useful for building self confidence, getting your sex drive up, protection, and to help your mindset be steadily focused on your goals and course of action.
- Bloodstone – this unique combination of green and reddish brown stone is helpful for purification of your Root Chakra. It builds a quiet strength in your mindset and motivates you to take action on your ideas and goals. It’s useful in helping you feel grounded and protected. It also boosts your energy and clears the way for things to happen.
- Hematite – This crystal helps to ground your energy and balances the Root Chakra. It has a bright energy that allows you to keep going and going and going. It’s a very motivating stone. It also assists in giving you courage and confidence and focus to complete tasks and projects. It clears your mind and your energy to whisk away any negativity and bad juju from the past. You’ll no longer think of any negative thoughts or words people said to you with Hematite.
- Clear Crystal Quartz – cleanses, removes built up thoughts and emotions, purifies, energizes, balances, helpful for communicating truth with still, clear thoughts. Works with any chakra.
Essential Oil for Your Root Chakra
- Frankincense
- Sandalwood
- Myrrh
- Cinnamon
- Patchouli
- Vetiver
- Ylang Ylang
- Ginger
- Cypress
- Cedar
How to heal the Root Chakra?
If you find imbalances and stuck energy in your Root Chakra, healing these things requires moving the trapped energy out of your body and it also means gaining trust again with this chakra.
One of the ways I strongly suggest healing your Root Chakra is through art, music, and dance. It’s fun to combine all of these into a healing ritual as medicine for your soul and chakras.
Art to Heal Your Root Chakra
By doing art, you can easily just paint red blobs on a piece of paper, although I challenge you to paint what you see in your Root Chakra. You’ll want to tune into this chakra first and paint intuitively. You can use red or any colors you want. You also don’t have to paint. You can use crayons, colored pencils, markers, or any other type of art supplies that call to you.
Music to Heal Your Root Chakra
Through music, you can tune into the vibration of your Root Chakra and release anger, guilt, and any other pent up energy stuck in this chakra. A lot of times, trauma victims have these emotions trapped in their Root, which is what partly causes the numbness because the feelings of rage, guilt, and self loathing can be very intense, even when these feelings are not caused by themselves, but are from others.
A lot of empaths also store the energy of others in their Root Chakra so it’s important to clear this chakra out if you’re empathic and pick up on others’ feelings and emotions. Any helping practitioners would be best served by releasing the energy from the Root Chakra daily.
One of my favorite music instruments to clear and change the energy of the Root Chakra is the drum. You can pick up a handheld one online or from your local store. You can use a Shamanic drum. Any type of drum is helpful for releasing the energy stored here.
You can start with a small tap and increase the energy by increasing the tempo.
Dance to Heal Your Root Chakra
In dancing, you will find that your body awakens to itself in ways you’ve not ever known were possible before. One of my favorite ways to release the energy from the chakras is through Gabrielle Roth’s 5 Rhythms. There’s a special energy to the Root Chakra that will assist you in clearing it out and grounding yourself.
There’s other ways to heal the Root Chakra you may want to try:Â
- Find the root cause. Typically, we ask the Root Chakra to reveal what we need to know that is blocking it in this moment.
- Channel information from your Root Chakra is helpful to allow yourself the time and space to just be with this chakra area without restriction.
- You can also keep a bullet journal if you have just a few minutes each day to doodle here and there.
- Ask questions to resolve the issue. Be curious and genuinely ask questions that will help resolve the negative event in your mind.
- Move the energy out of your body. Use emotional freedom technique tapping or guide the energy out of your body with your hands. You can also imagine your chakra spinning and see the purple or bluish-purple color get brighter as you do this.
- Use crystals to release the stuck emotions from your body.
- Use color therapy to imagine the color and light drawing the stuck emotions and energy out of your body. Imaging the light outside your body and any negative or trapped emotions being drawn to it, then dissolving in the light.
- Use art therapy to draw what’s going on in your Root Chakra and to release the energy that’s stuck there.
- Use music or a guided meditation to release the stuck energy from your Root Chakra.