The first of the seven main chakras, also known as the Muladhara, is located at the base of your spine (also known as the pelvic floor). The root chakra oversees the functioning of our lower back, lower spine, and kidneys. This chakra is the foundation for our lives, helps us feel grounded, and provides us courage when facing life’s challenges and difficulties. This chakra is all about connection to the Earth, from establishing a deep sense of physical body to understanding the environment that surrounds you.  Psychologically, this chakra is your primal, animal nature – your fight-or-flight response. When you feel rooted and balanced in your root chakra, you feel a stronger self-confidence in your decision-making.

Did you know Muladhara is a combination of two Sanskrit words with “Mula” meaning “root” and “Adhara” meaning “support or base.”

How to discover if your root chakra is out of balance?

To have your root chakra or any chakra out of balance means you aren’t getting the healthy flow of energy through this chakra. If it is not aligned, it can manifest in your body physically or your mind mentally. Blocking the energy flow to your root chakra can block the next closest chakra and continue spreading until all of  your seven chakras experience some form of blockage.

Mentally

How we feel mentally is the foundation of how we go about our day and how we feel. The body picks up on our thoughts and mannerisms. When your Root Chakra is blocked, you may feel:

• Insecure about feeling vulnerable or how you perceive yourself
• Anxious
• Frequent thoughts of fearing the worst-case scenario
• Feeling lethargic

Physically

When we don’t keep the Root Chakra balanced, you may feel pain in your lower back or intestines. These pains can manifest physical complications to our body, such as:

• Weight loss
• Weight gain
• Constipation
• Feel fatigued

Spiritually

We all go through our downs in life without really understanding why we feel the way we do. Without the awareness of our Root Chakra being blocked, we may feel:

• Loss of will; can be free will
• Lack of desire
• Feeling stuck in life without direction

Reading about having a blocked Root Chakra can seem scary to some. When ignored they may only get worse when they aren’t attended to and can spread to the next chakras. It will take some work to realign when you realize you have a blocked chakra, but the feeling of a realigned chakra is incredible.

Balancing Your Root Chakra

There are an abundance of ways to realign your chakras, from doing yoga poses to simply wearing the color of the chakra. Yoga is an excellent way to connect to your body and connect to your chakras. Remember, if your Root Chakra is unbalanced, you are not grounded similar to a tree not rooting itself into the ground. We want our Root Chakra to be strong, clear and fully rooted so that we can withstand any storm.

To realign with your chakra, you must feel connected to the earth and grounded. Here are a few yoga poses to help you realign the Root Chakra.

Yoga Poses

• Sukhasana - Sit on the ground with one leg bent and the foot tucked inside near your body. Your other leg comes across, lying parallel to it. As you inhale through your nose, close your eyes and think about breathing positive and refreshing energy. As you slowly exhale through the mouth, let go of the stress, fear, anxiety, and anything that no longer serves you. As you take several breaths, feel a sense of Confidence, Trust in Yourself, and Releasing Fear

• Malasana - Also known as the Yogi Squat. Sit down in a squat (or on a yoga block), bring your palms together, and place your elbows on the inside of your knees. Sitting in this pose can increase blood flow and circulation to the pelvis.

• Virabhadrasana - Also called “Warrior II,” is the most fierce pose to stand against your fears and doubts by feeling strong, proud, and confident. Virabhadrasana translates to “fierce warrior,” allowing you to feel strong and grounded in your inner strength when you choose this pose.

Meditations and Mudras

Meditation is an excellent way to tap into your body by focusing on your breath. There are guided meditations to help realign your chakras, and several hand positions called mudras. Mudras are a set of physical movements that can alter one’s mood, energy, and concentration. When meditating, a simple mudra for the Root Chakra is called the Muladhara Mudra. To perform the Muladhara Mudra.

Open your left hand, palm side up with your arm straight out, relaxing over your knee. Gently connect the pointer finger and the thumb tips and relax the rest of your hand. To fully embody the mudra, inhale through your nose and use your exhale to call out the Root Chakra sound “L-A-A-A-A-M.”

This chant will help send vibrations to your Root Chakra, helping clear out any blockages. This is a form of sound therapy. When chanting LAM, you are calling in energy, a sense of belonging, and security.

Using Your Other Senses to Balance the Root Chakra

Your other senses can also be beneficial to balancing your chakras. If you are out and about or do not have the time to practice yoga or meditation, you can use your taste buds and sense of smell as help.

Eating red fruits and veggies will help nourish the chakra such as:

• Strawberries
• Red Apples
• Red Peppers
• Pomegranate
• Tomatoes
• Cherries

You can also light up candles, incense, or essential oils to activate and calm the Root Chakra, such as:

• Cinnamon and Frankincense to Activate
• Cedarwood, Myrrh, and Sandalwood to Calm

Connect with the Root Chakra Outside

If you recall at the beginning of the blog, the Root Chakra is our connection to Earth. If you want to connect with mother nature and your Root Chakra truly, try these examples:

• Gardening - What better way to connect with Earth than plant trees and flowers and get your hands dirty in the soil. If planting trees and helping The National Forests is something you’d like to contribute to, I have a surprise for you at the end!
• Go on a hike - Hug some trees while you’re out there to feel the transfer of energies between you and the tree’s life.
• Sit under a tree at its roots and journal - Take a few minutes to connect to yourself mentally, emotionally, and spiritually and connect your Root Chakra into the ground! Close your eyes and take a breath. Smile and send away all which no longer serves you.
• Go outside and walk on the ground barefoot. This is simple, it is free and so easy to do! Think of it as plugging yourself into the most powerful battery charger in the world - Mother Earth.

The Root Chakra color is red. Simply wearing the color red as a shirt or carrying crystals such as Red Jasper, Smoky Quartz, or Hematite can also help align yourself to your Root Chakra. Metaphysical shops also have bracelets, necklaces, and rings designed to help you balance your chakras or a particular chakra.

Having your chakras opened and aligned brings a constant flow of energy. In addition, negative feelings, thoughts, and physical ailments are less likely to manifest. When you sense that a chakra may be blocked, know that you can balance and align your chakra(s) with yoga, meditation, wearing the color of the chakra or eating a food item that is the color of the such blocked chakra. When you sense that your Root Chakra may need some tender loving care, set the intention to rebalance it and state out loud the Root Chakra Affirmation: I am Grounded!

How can you connect with your chakra and the community?

Here at Hadobody, we are all for giving back to mother nature, as well as giving back to foundations that help bring more sustainability and life to Earth. We hand selected The National Forest Foundation, which leads forest conservation efforts, as our Root Chakra Impact Partner. The National Forest Foundation offers programs in local communities and national programs to help rebuild and curate healthy national forests. With a goal of planting 50M trees, as of 2021, they have planted 7.3M trees across more than 21,000 acres! How can you help? When shopping at Hadobody, 1% of the profits from the Root Chakra Collection will go to the National Forest Foundation. You may also make donations at Nationalforests.org. We must all plug into and connect with Mother Earth. She is the battery of life and we energetically need to recharge ourselves by plugging into Mother Earth. Take a stand and plant a tree! Help to preserve our national treasures through supporting our national forests.

Featured Root Chakra Product: Luxury Candle: Woods and Petals

With Love & Light