It can be a challenge to build meaningful relationships, especially with COVID that has created isolation and separation between us. You may feel lonely and withdrawn, disconnected from yourself and others. One of the best ways to help reconnect and strengthen your relationships is by opening the sacral chakra. You may not have heard of chakras and might be asking, "what are those?"
The chakras were first discovered in India thousands of years ago. The word chakra in Sanskrit essentially means “spinning disc”. Chakras are energy wheels within your body. There are seven main chakras: root chakra, sacral chakra, solar plexus charka, heart chakra, throat chakra, third eye chakra, and the crown chakra. They are separate yet connected to the physical and energetic body. These spinning discs support and process energy that flow through you.
Each chakra is associated with different aspects of your life and self, they keep us in balance and aligned. When a chakra is blocked and there are many reasons why a chakra can be blocked, these discs are no long spinning at a healthy capacity. Below gives you a better understanding of the sacral chakra, what it looks like when it is blocked and how to connect with others and yourself.
Sacral Chakra (Svadhisthana)
Meaning: “Dwelling Place of the Self”
Colour: Orange
Symbol: Moon
Element: Water
Energy Type: Feminine
Animal: Fish
Mantra: Vam
The second chakra is called the sacral chakra or Svadhisthana in Sanskrit. It is associated with your relationships with others, connections, creativity and being in tune with your sexuality. The element of the sacral chakra is water, representing flow and adaptability within our relationships and our own sexuality. This chakra is located roughly three inches below the naval and is connected to our reproductive organs and the lymphatic system.
Sacral Symbol
The symbol for the sacral chakra is associated with the moon and its feminine qualities. The symbol has the crescent moon imbedded within the petals of the flower. The circle represents the water elements and has a close relationship with the phases of the moon and the unrelenting tide it pulls with water and our emotions. The moon also relates to the feminine menstrual cycle and connection with our sexual and reproductive organs. The sacral chakra is said to be where our soul is embodied within us. There is psychic connection within the sacral chakra as is with the higher chakras.
Is your sacral chakra in balance?
Your sacral chakra focuses on your relationships with others that are built on mutual respect, strong connections with others including friends and family, and healthy relationships with your own sexuality.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself about the sacral chakra:
Do I have deep connections with others?
Are my relationships built on mutual respect?
Do I own my emotions without clouding my judgement?
Do I feel comfortable in my own sexual power?
Do I have a healthy relationship with sex?
Do I have healthy moderation in my life when it comes to alcohol, drugs, and sex?
If you answered, “Yes” to these questions then you have a healthy sacral chakra. If you are unsure and perhaps answered, “No” to the majority of these questions, then you may have some work to do on opening your sacral chakra.
Do you have an overactive sacral chakra?
When a chakra is out of balance with being too open, this can also start to cause problems. This can come through as being overly emotional, arrogant, developing alcohol additions, sex additions, or excessive eating.
Do you have a blocked sacral chakra?
If your sacral chakra is blocked, you may be abusive or controlling in relationships, have a fear of abandonment, co-dependent on others, or ruled by your emotions. The opposite can happen by feeling out of touch or numb, overindulgent in sexual obsessions or lack of sexual desire, feeling stuck in certain emotions, or reliance on unhealthy addictions, or lack of creativity and inspiration.
Unhealthy relationships: When our sacral chakra is blocked, we can start to develop unhealthy relationships with others that can become detrimental to them and yourself. You may lash out at others if your emotions are ruling your behaviour. It is okay to own your emotions and acknowledge how you feel but when we become ruled by emotions, we can start to lose control and lose sight of a situation.
Shame: When we feel out of balance in our sacral chakra, it can cause feelings of shame. A lot of definitions of shame include some aspect of guilt by an action or behaviour. In contrast, Brene Brown relates shame to stem from when we do not feel worthy of love. Her definition is, “the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging – something we’ve experienced, done, or failed to do makes us unworthy of connection[1].” To be your authentic self is to truly accept yourself regardless of your flaws. Self-love has a profound effect on releasing feelings of unworthiness and self-shame. It is also associated with the heart chakra, you can learn more about this chakra and how to incorporate self-love. When we have the ability to love ourselves, this helps us to become our true self without fear of judgement.
Addictions: When you start to become reliant upon unhealthy substances such as overeating or sexual obsessions, this is another indicator that your sacral chakra is blocked. We sometimes use these addictions as crutches to either numb how we feel or to make us feel more alive. These addictions can create co-dependent relationships instead of understanding why we need them.
What are the physical symptoms?
Blockages within the sacral chakra can create chronic lower back pain, ovarian cysts, urinary tract infections, issues with the bladder and kidneys, or can affect impotency.
How do you clear a blocked sacral chakra?
The sacral chakra focuses on our interconnected relationships with others, being comfortable within our own sexuality and releasing any fears and shame that is associated with coming into our own light. We have to own our emotions and our relationships with others, build on those relationships and focus on any addictions or co-dependencies we have developed.
Dancing: One of the ways to open the sacral chakra is through dancing and movement. As it is associated with the water element, connecting to music and movement helps to open and remove blockages from this chakra. It also lifts your emotional state and lets you move freely in a creative form to set us free from our everyday life to be in our energetic element.
Connecting: Connect with friends and family. Building meaningful relationships with others will lift you up. This means more than texting or connecting on social media. To create these deep and meaningful relationships, it is best to physically meet up with people or if this is not available, use video chat, virtual meetings where you can see their facial expressions. Creating meaningful bonds with people will help to grow you intellectually. Join “meet up groups” with shared interests to expand your social circle and meet with new people. Make sure to stay connected with family and resolve any contentious issues. As issues or problems arise in relationships, address them in the moment in a respectful manner instead of letting it fester. Having a strong network of friends and family will help you to strengthen your sacral chakra.
Ignite creativity: Incorporating creative outlets within your daily life can help to spark ideas and innovative ways of thinking within yourself. I am not saying you have to be an artist to be a creative person. By incorporating a creative outlet on a small scale will help to boost the sacral chakra. This can come in the form of writing, painting, sketching, doodling, art projects, DIY ideas, etc. Pinterest can give you a lot of inspiring ideas to get the creative juices flowing. This will help to expand your creative side and help you move you into the flow.
Yoga for Your Sacral Chakra
Yoga can play an important role in helping to strengthen chakras. As with meditating, yoga helps to calm your mind and open up your body through breathing. The following yoga poses focus on opening your hips to expand the sacral chakra:
Trikonasana (Dancer pose)
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (Half pigeon pose)
Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclined butterfly pose)
Ananda Balasana (Happy baby pose)
Mandukasana (Frog pose)
Crystals
The energetic life force of crystals can be your ally in assisting with opening chakras. Crystals associated with the sacral chakra can help to embrace your creativity, dispel negative energy and own your sexuality.
Carnelian: Restores vitality and energy within the individual. It helps to stimulate creativity. Carnelian boosts courage, dispels negativity and helps to gain success.
Orange Calcite: Assists in creating positive energy and stimulating sexuality. It helps to flourish creative thoughts and generate new ideas. It has been known to remove emotional fears and promote courage by going after your dreams.
Amber: Is fossilized tree resin. It helps to release negative energy and is used as a protection stone promoting good luck. It elevates creativity and encourages self-confidence in one’s self. Amber helps to create a brighter outlook on life with optimism.
Breathwork
In my experience, breathwork has been very beneficial for healing the chakras. Conscious connected breath is an active breathing technique. It over oxygenates the body to start releasing stagnant energy that could be in your body for years lying dormant. This stagnant energy can contribute to blocked chakras and this type of breathing can help to elevate consciousness along with releasing negative energy. It helps energy to flow throughout the body. It has been used to help with ailments within the body. Visualizing flowing water during breathwork can help to move this blocked energy and to help open the sacral chakra.
Meditation
Combining meditation with visualization is a powerful way to open your chakras. The more your imagination can use its creative imagery to paint a world of possibilities, the more you become fully immersed in the meditation. Listen to the free guided audio meditation to assist in opening your sacral chakra.
Affirmations
“I embrace my sexuality”
“Creativity flows through me”
“I am one with my sexuality”
“I am filled with joy in my life”
“I own my sensuality and feel pleasure”
“I embody creativity”
“I flow with the energy of creativity”
“I honour my sacred body”
“Creativity flows through me freely”
“My relationships are healthy and nurturing”
Opening Sensations
Each chakra has a unique sensation when it opens and differs depending on the person. You may be asking yourself, “What does it feel like for the sacral chakra to open?” You may experience vibrations, fluttering, or tingling in the lower abdomen or energy moving within you sacral area. You may start to receive sexual thoughts and feel a fire within your sex drive.