Working with the Sacral Chakra - Part 1

Let’s move on to the sacral chakra. If you haven’t read the Base chakra entries, you might like to work with these first. You can find them here:  part 1 and part 2.

Working through the chakras, at the base, we found balance in nurturing our bodies, accepting ourselves, and finding safety and security in our lives. In the sacral chakra we begin working on movement, and starting to bring our energy outwards to others. The energy of the sacral chakra is about creative action, movement and joyful vitality. This is the center of reproduction, but also other kinds of creativity. We feel the urge to create in many ways, and our hands and feet are important in this energy too. It is also a center of nurturing, caring for others, such as parenthood or other caring activities in relationships. It is our sensuousness and relates to physical pleasures and sensations. Sacral chakra activities include dancing, yoga, friendship and relationships, loving cozy sex (in contrast to more lusty sex which is a base chakra action), touch and taste, taking baths (like being in the womb) or swimming in natural places, looking after children and/or caring for others, as well as any other activity in the physical world. It is also about our vitality, enthusiasm and joy for life.

The sacral chakra is our ability to move, act, feel, create and sense. It is to “DO”.

Overactive

If the sacral chakra is overactive it often means we have not set up our boundaries for the expansion of our energy into activities or towards other people. Resulting often from an inability to kindly say “no”, we may take on too much, spread ourselves too thin, and end up simultaneously buzzing with nervous energy and worn out. Insomnia or restlessness can often be related to an overactive sacral chakra, as can issues with the reproductive organs, which react to the imbalance in the area. Another manifestation of an overactive sacral chakra is a tendency to over-nurturing others, giving attention where it might not be needed or wanted. Boundaries for both yourself and others are important to recognise when calming an overactive sacral chakra.

Underactive

If the sacral chakra is underactive it often manifests as a lack of energy, vitality, or motivation to get up and moving. Lethargy, procrastination, shyness or inhibition can stop us from wanting to get out and move, take action, make friends or show affection and nurturing to others. A tendency towards oversleeping, watching a lot of TV or going through an anti-social phase are common. Feeling embarrassed about what people will think of you when you take action (eg. being shy to dance in front of others, or do a yoga class or go to the gym if you’re not feeling in shape) is also a common issue.

Balanced

A person with a  balanced sacral chakra is full of motivation, energy and vibrance. They are creative and lively and seem to glow with that exuberance. They seem to be very busy and active, but also have a calm nature about them and are able to give their energy to others in nurturing kindness in a way which does not deplete their own energy, but adds to it. Every action in their life is like a part of a dance, flowing freely and joyfully.

Questions to ask:

How do I feel about my activities in life right now?

Do I have too much or not enough activity?

Am I currently feeling lethargic, shy or unmotivated?

Am I feeling creatively motivated generally?

What activities do I do right now that express my dance of life?

- Is there any negativity in this chakra I need to let go of?

- Is this chakra in need of more energy?

In the last blog there was an exercise for a meditation to assess the energy of your chakras. You might like to do this meditation again to check in with your progress. Hopefully now your base chakra energy has improved and now you can pay attention to the sacral chakra to see if your intuitions about where you are at match the messages your subconscious mind will bring you through meditative imagery. Often our subconscious can surprise us and give us added insight into our chakra energy.

So, last time I let you know a little about my own personal journey on the chakras, so I will continue! In making the amulets I can’t help but connect with their energy, and I have a full set of chakra amulets that I regularly work with myself, as this is a process you can visit again and again to get a deeper understanding of yourself, and for personal development through life.

My sacral chakra journey has seen me head out to a dance meditation night, where we worked on dancing in a “real” way, without inhibitions about how we looked, or expectations of what others might think of us. We danced out our emotions, we cried, we let go, we re-empowered ourselves and energised our bodies, we danced with ecstasy and joy and felt the unity of life in a that beautiful heightened state that can be reached through dancing for a couple of hours. We finished with deep breathing and meditation, a blessing of water and a shared prayer. I recommend this kind of experience to anyone, and there are many such events in most major cities.

I have also upped my yoga game a bit. Last month, with the base chakra I started doing a short yoga session each morning, but I decided I wanted something a bit more dedicated. I have set a goal of doing yoga teacher training in the next year sometime, (I’m not physically fit enough for it just yet), and have started going to yoga and pilates classes a few more times a week.

I’m still going with the diet from last month, which I have to say has me feeling really great with a lot more energy to move. It has made me realise the sense in working through the chakras one at a time as they build on one another in many different ways.

In the next blog post I am going to get more into some other ideas about how you can work with your sacral chakra. It will cover rituals, meditations, affirmations and other activities. In the meantime, you might like to have a look at the Pinterest board I have made for the sacral chakra which has a lot of ideas.