What is Sacral Chakra?
Let’s first understand that Sacral Chakra, the second of the Seven Chakras, is the opposite of the first Chakra – Root Chakra.
While the first Chakra seeks to hold on, this second Chakra wants to let go. It wants to flow, which allows one thing to connect energetically with another. And so, it craves connection. With this craving comes desire. And with desire, come emotions and sexuality. We long to unite, to reach out, and to grow.
That is what Sacral Chakra does.
What is the power of Sacral Chakra?
The energies of the Sacral Chakra help us feel emotionally balanced and connected to the external world. Because it likes to flow, it is not scared of changes. It wants to move, and so, it gives us the power to heal and move on in life.
Balanced Sacral Chakra makes us feel grateful, passionate, creative, and present. We are emotionally stable, and we feel joyful most of the time. It brings us movement, pleasure, change, and growth.
What happens when we ignore Sacral Chakra?
To ignore Sacral Chakra means to suppress our ability to connect with the world. We experience guilt, shame, or internal pain.
Guilt is the demon of the Sacral Chakra as it counteracts the sense of joy and connection that this Chakra ideally brings.
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We start blaming ourselves for real or imagined offenses, and that blame game comes from a sense of inadequacy. For example, we don’t allow ourselves to enjoy pleasure time for a little extra sleep, a high-carbs food, or a leisurely walk. We eat a chocolate cake; we start feeling guilty. We take rest for an additional hour, and we feel guilty. Such guilt can be a psychological burden that interferes with our emotions and quality of life. Feelings of guilt can also signify a sense of unworthiness.
If you are dealing with excessive guilt, we recommend you to read this article.
Why does this happen?
From a very young age, we have learned to find pleasure in external circumstances such as food, products, job, title, relationships, family, and others. There is nothing wrong with seeking such comfort. It is beautiful that we get to experience such external joy daily.
But we fall into the trap when we start believing our value is dependent on these outward circumstances and we start looking for external validation.
And when we do not have these materialistic pleasures and validations, we start feeling inadequate and incompetent. Self-doubt and the acceptance of false actualities become our realities.
Worse, as we are seeking happiness externally, we start losing our passion within ourselves. With no passion and creativity in life, we start finding it difficult to get excited about life. We stop seeing the full beauty and benefits that life offers to us. We find it difficult to associate with other people and the world around us.
That’s when we experience emotional instability, fear of change, sexual dysfunction, depression, or addictions.
What is the mantra for healing Sacral Chakra?
Mantra is simple. Start understanding that our real pleasure is hidden within yourself. And be curious about yourself.
When was the last time you observed yourself?
- How do you talk?
- How do you eat?
- How do you walk?
- How do you react?
- How do you listen to others?
- How do you smile?
- How do you frown?
Observing yourself without any judgment will help you strengthen your connection to yourself. And stop looking for external validation to feel complete.
On a deeper level, you are already complete. When you realize this mantra, there is a joyous energy behind what you do. That is the power of Sacral Chakra.
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Here are some tips to heal your Sacral Chakra
- Observe your feelings, and name them. For example, whenever I feel low, I call it ‘Super,’ and I start communicating with ‘Super.’ I often name my anger ‘Cool’ or my fear ‘Brave.’ This technique has helped me overcome my negative feelings.
- Accept your thoughts and emotions.
- Simple self-nurturing such as long, hot baths, showers or swimming (all having to do with water) is good (check water cleaning exercise below)
- Enjoy some solo activities that we find energizing or calming. For example, walking in nature, petting your dog or cat, creating art (focusing on the process, not the product); listening to favorite music; and cooking dinner.
- Practice self-compassion. For instance, don’t dwell on questions like – why do I deserve this? I still have not lost weight, and how can I eat? Who do I think I am?
All these questions, filled with guilt, will convince you that you need to be mean to yourself to get results. Reality is that you do not need to take on a disciplinary perspective to make positive changes. You can be kind to yourself in the process of achieving the result as well.
Sacral Chakra’s Middle Way of Pleasure
Here is a beautiful story about Buddha (Siddhartha) before he was enlightened. In the beginning, Siddhartha believed that he must undergo terrible penances to attain nirvana. And so, he deprived himself of food until he became emaciated.
One day a milkmaid offered him a bowl of milk. He drank it. Then he ate some food and began to feel healthy again. It became clear to Siddhartha that neither the pleasures of life nor the physical suffering offered him the wisdom he sought. And so, he learned how to find balance in life.
It is the same with the Sacral Chakra. It is all about finding that balance.
Joy is good for our mind and body as we learn to relax and release tension. It also enables us to feel fulfilled, have a foundation for power, love, creativity, which are all aspects of Sacral Chakra.
Key is you need to find that joy within yourself. You probably do not need all these external circumstances to be able to find peace within you. Perhaps, just being yourself, living in the moment, and creating your sunshine can bring joy for you.
Recommended Simple Yoga Poses
Exercises for opening the second Chakra involve working with movement in the hips and lower abdomen. I am sharing some poses that open, stimulate, and move energy in and through this area. You can try some of these poses and try to stay in each pose anywhere between 2-5 minutes. I love this simple waist rotation with swinging arm exercise too.
Here is the magic of Color Orange
The color orange is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.
Orange also offers emotional strength in difficult times as the color psychology of orange is optimistic and uplifting. And so, the color brings spontaneity and a positive outlook on life. Besides, it is also the color of letting go of unhealthy emotions.
Water Cleaning Exercise For Sacral Chakra
Since this Chakra is associated with water, here is a water cleansing exercise. We have used the same script, as suggested in the book Wheels of Life: A user’s guide to the Chakras by Dr. Judith.
Mantra for Sacral Chakra
The Bīja Mantra (Seed Mantra) of the Sacral Chakra is VĀM, the sound of spiritual awakening. It removes emotional blockages in this Chakra and heal the energy. Here is a video that we have found helpful.
And lastly, do not forget forget to save this positive Sacral Chakra Affirmation
Summarizing Sacral Chakra
| Sanskrit Name | Svadhisthana |
| Meaning | Sweetness |
| Location | Just above the pubic bone, Lower abdomen |
| Element | Water |
| Function | Desire, Pleasure, Sexuality, Procreation |
| Inner State | Feelings |
| Rights | Right to Feel (positive) |
| Outer Manifestation | Liquid |
| Glands | Ovaries, testicles |
| Other Body parts | Womb, genitals, kidney, bladder, circulatory system |
| Malfunction | Impotence, frigidity, uterine, bladder, kidney problem |
| Color | Orange |
| Sense | Taste |
| Seed Sound | Vam |
| Petals | Six |
| Foods | Liquids |
| Guna | Tamas |
This is a part of the Chakra Series blog. We will write about different Chakras and what Asanas you can practice to stimulate them.
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Where’s the rest of the chakras?