The Root/Base Chakra

The Root/Base Chakra

Activating Colour: Red

Element: Earth

Location: Base Of Spine, Groin

Aspect: “I Am”.

The Root Chakra is also known as the Base Chakra and is the first of the seven main Chakras.  It is situated at the base of the spine and is associated with the colour red and the element of Earth.  This is a very important Chakra because it channels energy upwards through the feet and legs and creates the foundation for all the other Chakras.  It is also associated with the physical body and its main function is to ‘ground’ us to the energy of the Earth, allowing us to feel stable and secure within ourselves. In order to build a strong foundation for lifting your vibration it is very important to have a balanced Root Chakra. Our relationship with our Mothers is also associated with our Root Chakra.  If we had a poor relationship with our Mother, or we did not bond sufficiently with her for our needs as a baby or child, we can often feel cut off from our roots.  This will affect all areas of our life as we grow and develop and is particularly damaging for our physical life, and our attitudes toward home, security and money will be negatively influenced.

Positive aspects of a balanced Root Chakra: You are stable and secure in your own ability to manifest what you need in life such as money and a happy family environment.  You do not give your power away by expecting others to take care of you. You can create drive, ambition and change when needed, and are happy, comfortable with your sexuality, confident and connected to nature.

The Root Chakra begins to develop in the womb and continues developing until around 1 year of age.  There are also 7 year cycles linked to the energies of each Chakra, so from birth to 7 years of age is an important development stage for your Root Chakra.  If you were lucky enough to have been raised in a loving, nurturing and stable environment your Root Chakra will probably have developed fully, giving you a strong foundation for the development of the rest of your Chakras. 

Unfortunately at this time it is more common for people to have unbalanced or blocked Root Chakras.  There can be a lot of inner child wounding held here which causes depletion in the energy flow through the Root Chakra.  This in turn will prevent the Root Chakra from developing fully, creating unstable foundations which will not be strong enough to support the growth of the other six Chakras, therefore it needs healing and releasing.  So at a very early age you begin to build the energetic foundations for your thoughts, feelings and what you will create in your life.

Negative aspects of an unbalanced Root Chakra: You feel insecure in yourself and in your surroundings.  You will not have faith in your own personal manifesting abilities and will have issues surrounding money either with greed or an inability to provide for your basic needs.  You may have low self esteem, feel depressed or fearful about life and may display addictive qualities or suffer from a victim mentality.  You will have an inability to stay grounded and will often feel disconnected from what is going on around you.

Physical symptoms of an unbalanced Root Chakra: Weight problems including over or under weight, constipation, haemorrhoids, lower back pain, sciatica, varicose veins, knee problems, bone disorders.

The areas of the physical body that are associated with the Root Chakra are: gonads, testes, prostate, rectum, blood, colon, joints, feet, legs, bones, teeth, nails.

Possible causes of problems in the Root Chakra: A difficult upbringing, physical abuse, abandonment issues, a fear of the environment you live in, insufficient maternal bonding.

Overcoming fear is the overriding aspect of this Chakra.  It is easy to be heavily influenced by what is going on in the world around you and to take on the inappropriate levels of fear that are created by the media, governments, and various religions. Through newspapers, magazines, television programmes and radio you are subjected to a constant stream of negative thoughts around fear of people with different beliefs, fear of viral outbreaks, fear of nuclear threats or outbreaks of war, fear of failing economies etc etc.  This keeps fear alive in your belief system which makes it very difficult for your Root Chakra to function properly and creates a feeling of separation from all around you.  “The images that you ‘eat’ are as important as the food that you eat” – Marion Woodman.

Once you can acknowledge what your fears are and work through them, any blocks in your Root Chakra will be released, clearing the way for new energy to flow up from the Earth and on to your other Chakras.