Understanding the Chakras: SACRAL Chakra
The second chakra we’ll be looking at in this series is the sacral chakra. If you missed the first post on the root chakra, catch up with that here
The sacral chakra, or svadhisthana, is home to our emotions, creativity, and sensuality. Its liquid, flowing nature means it is associated with water, as well as the color orange.
This chakra is related to pleasure, emotional wellbeing, empathy, and relationships. When it is open and balanced, we feel connected to our sexuality and our creativity.
While the root chakra corresponds to our basic and essential needs, the sacral chakra is linked to our enjoyment of life through our physical senses. The simple pleasures of touch, taste, smell, sound, and sight are ours to appreciate when energy is flowing freely through our sacral chakras.
Where Is the Sacral Chakra?
At the front of your body, you’ll find your sacral chakra around two inches below your belly button. From the back, it corresponds to the lumbar region of your spine (your lower back).
It also incorporates your genitals and reproductive organs, which is one reason it is associated with sexual pleasure and sensuality.
The Sacral Chakra in Balance
When your sacral chakra is open and balanced, you’ll notice your passion and creativity flow freely. You’ll find it easy to appreciate bodily pleasures, such as cool sheets against your skin on a hot day or the feeling of grass against your bare feet.
When energy is flowing freely through your sacral chakra, you will find it easy to connect with your creative process.
Creativity doesn’t always mean the typical artistic pursuits, such as music, dance, or painting, although it can do. There are many ways to create – cooking, crafting, writing, imagining. Even coming up with new or innovative business ideas is a form of creation.
Intimacy will come easily to you too, both in building strong friendships and in enjoying your sexuality. You will feel confident in expressing and exploring sexual pleasure.
Deficiencies in the Sacral Chakra
Blockages in the sacral chakra can cut us off from that sense of ease and pleasure in our bodies. You may find that you become depressed or detached. Your confidence drops, and you find it difficult to relate to other people.
A loss of creativity is also a sign that your sacral chakra is blocked. You may find it difficult to connect with your creative flow and feel like you lack imagination. Hobbies that once absorbed you may lose their appeal.
You might notice a drop in your libido. Sex can become uninteresting or unenjoyable. It might even be painful. Your delight in the physical sensations your body can experience disappears.
Blockages in the sacral chakra can translate into physical symptoms too. You may experience pain or stiffness in your lower back, pelvis, or hips. Constipation and urinary issues are other possible symptoms. Some people experience problems with fertility.
Excesses in the Sacral Chakra
When your sacral chakra is too open and becomes overactive, it can also cause issues. You might find that your emotions become overwhelming and that you swing quickly from one mood to another.
Addiction is another symptom of overactivity in this area, as you constantly chase pleasure. Your sexual expression may become dysfunctional too.
An excess of energy in your sacral chakra often results in a loss of personal boundaries. You may find you lack a healthy sense of separation in your relationships, which can become co-dependent.
What Triggers Blockages in the Sacral Chakra?
Many of us carry emotional baggage with us, sometimes from as far back as childhood. When we hold onto that pain, it can cause blockages in our sacral chakras.
Shame is a powerful emotion and is often a cause of a blocked sacral chakra. It comes in many forms and may have been pushed onto us from our families, our societies, or our cultures. Shame can prevent us from developing a healthy relationship with our body and with physical pleasure.
That doesn’t only mean sexual pleasure. Our cerebral, productivity-driven society often rejects the simple pleasures of physical sensation as being less worthy.
There won’t necessarily be one defining event you can point to. Blockages in the sacral chakra often build up slowly over time.
How Can You Bring Your Sacral Chakra Back into Balance?
There are several practices you can try to unblock your sacral chakra and bring the energy flow back into balance. Diving into sensual enjoyment and exploring your creative side can help you to find your equilibrium again.
Some options include:
1. Yoga: Hip Poses
Poses that target the areas associated with the sacral chakra, such as the hips and abdomen, are good options to try. Examples include butterfly pose (baddha konasana), goddess pose (utkata konasana), reverse warrior (viparita virabhadrasana), and a deep squat (malasana).
2. Spend Time with Water
Water is associated with the sacral chakra, so spending time near it can help to encourage the flow of energy. If you can, visit natural bodies of water, such as a lake, river, or the sea. Ideally, immerse yourself in the water – even if it is only your feet.
You could also take a sensual bath at home. Add essential oils, such as rose, sandalwood, or sweet orange, which are also helpful for unblocking the sacral chakra.
3. Eat Orange-Colored and Naturally Sweet Foods
The sacral chakra is associated with the color orange, so eating orange foods is another option when you are experiencing a blockage. Oranges themselves are an obvious choice. Other options include carrot, mango, squash, sweet potato, and pumpkin.
Since it is linked with sensual pleasure, choosing sweet foods can also support a healthy sacral chakra. I’m not suggesting you go for highly processed junk food, but naturally sweet options such as dates, raisins, and other fruit.
4. Embrace Your Creativity
This may be easier said than done when you are experiencing a blocked sacral chakra. But prioritizing your creative side can help open this area again. Remove any expectation of what the result will be and give yourself permission to create without judgment.
5. Breathwork
Your breath can have an amazing effect on blocked or stagnant energy if you know how to channel it correctly. Do some deep abdominal breathing to encourage the flow of energy through your sacral chakra. Concentrate on fully inflating your abdomen as you breathe in and fully release it as you exhale.
6. Sensual Dance & Movement
When the sacral chakra is blocked this area of our body is often tight and feels constricted which creates an overall lack of openness in our lives. To open yourself up to the pleasures of life I encourage you to try sensual dance or any movement of this area. Put on some music and just let your body move – when working with clients we often do hip circles and rotations to bring awareness to our centre of creation.
Joy, abundance, warmth, and pleasure are the signatures of a healthy, balanced sacral chakra. I hope that this guide has helped you identify if you are experiencing any blockages and has given you some suggestions for reclaiming your balance.
In loving service, Candice