I just started working with my chakras, beginning with the root chakra. So far I've done a series of daily excercises to open up my root chakra and I've also spent time cleaning my house, which grounds me and makes me appreciate my home even more. Besides that, I've found that putting my hands in the ground and working in the garden also really helps.

I've been finding that these areas are needing sexual healing, but it still seems to be a 'vodou' topic to most.

Hey, the weirdest thing happened to me tonight - I think this is somehow related. I was having sex, and the half second after I came, I felt . . . A stirring - there's no other way to explain it, in my root chakra. I've always been interested in chakras, but never really got into the effort to do anything about it (other than armchair viewing such as joining groups like this), but I think I finally felt . . Something. it was different to any other sexual sensation, and it stirred, and was about to move up my body, but faded away. What does everyone have to say to this?

a few other good things for your base chakra
holding a stone like jet (anyhing black or red)
I like to lie on myback with my legs in butterfly position and feel the weight of my knees release tension in my base and sacrel chakra!
meditate and one you get comfy and relaxed picture a grounding corn from your base chakra down to the center of the earth and let it ground out anything you want it to back into neutral energy, back to the earth!

p.s.
eat red food
go outside on lots of hikes and stuff
stay physically active!

Namaste

i've been focused on these two chakras for the past month or two.

i'm a visual artist so i like to pay attention to the reds and oranges i see around me (whether eating foods those colors or wearing clothing of those hues).....I spend a lot more time doing chakra yoga than I used to so it helps overall with those areas.

Cleaning my home helps my root chakra...or meditating on the grass...just being near to the earth and feeling it consciously.

Dancing helps my sacral chakra!!! ..I've found movement helps these two areas the best for me.

I'm still working on new ideas everyday to balance these areas more.
Everyone's suggestions and techniques are very helpful too!

gentle massage of the pelvic floor/perineal area--preferably by a trusted intimate--
Breathe into the area, humm, moaning, chanting LLLLAAAAAMMMMMMM,
I am currently working on opening these two chakras, as notice energy gets stuck in my sacrum sometimes...

iv always had issues with my root and sacral shakra and the mantras really helped i felt it right away

Wow! I'm sooo sooo soooo glad i posted this topic. the responses have been phenominal...

You're all great.

Thank you thank you thank you.

Intersting I heard no one make mention of money in reference to their root chakra/survival as our survival modes today are very different than that of our more tribal and farming ancestors before the industrial revolution...

Any thoughts???

Good Morning G-

This is just a quickie before work, but I want to publicly say that I thank you for posting this topic as many of us are stuck here.

Before you posted this I, posted a piece called, "America stuck in 1st and 2nd" and didn't realize that this extends to the world.

Nonetheless, I wanted to let you and others know that what really kicked off my healing was the Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Massage Work I received. I believe their are a couple practitioners in Australia (I think Sydney and Adelaide - 2 lovely places I've been to and have not met the practitioners). Anyone can go to www.arivgomassage.com and find a practitioner. I must say that not all practitioners practice the sacred and spiritual component of this work. However, if you set your intention for the work and learn the self-care massage, you will receive the benefits. I certainly did and love that I can provide a nice healing space for my clients to heal in this area as well and facilitate their healing.

I am off to work now! Have a fabulous day!

Lots of love to you and again, thank you for being my mirror!

Loving energy,

G~

I use use crystals such as garnet and carnelian and sound therapy (tuning forks)

What I forgot in my muladhara post was …. a reminder that my thoughts here are just additions to all of the other excellent suggestions already posted in this and similar threads. They’re not intended to be complete or final, but just more options. I think it’s beautiful that we can all approach the chakras and energetic aspects of ourselves from so many foundations of learning and experience. I think all the sharing is really wonderful.

In regard to the balance poses I mentioned above, I forgot to add that they strengthen our connection to the ground below our feet. So to enhance this as you practice, envision the great red line that ties you firmly to the earth so that you can rise up more effortlessly. Engaging root lock gently during balance poses and drawing the energy long through your body (in both directions up and down, through all the chakras and beyond) increases your grounding. As we become more internally balanced, balancing in asanas gets easier, too. A bonus gift.

NOW THEN, SECOND CHAKRA:
Since loving sexual and creative expression are natural extensions of feeling good about ourselves, it makes sense that the second chakra is really related to emotions about the self. In fact, swadisthana means “one’s own place.” Here we hold our desires about ourselves, like our desire to love ourselves and to be happy. When our second chakra is strong, we have a good emotional relationship with ourselves. We may have some negative feelings, but we like and love ourselves and can allow negative self-directed thoughts to flow through in the moment without holding onto them.

When we get stuck on negative self-thinking, it creates stagnation in this chakra’s corresponding level of the auric field. The 2nd chakra’s shadow emotion is guilt, probably not surprising since guilt and sex are so often linked, especially in Western culture. But harbored guilt in this chakra can be related to anything at all, not just sex.

Guilt is really an expression of disliking ourselves, maybe aspects of our personality or particular actions and choices from the past. Yogi Bhajan said, “Faith is something someone else tells you. Guilt is something you tell yourself.” It's true. When we hold onto negative feelings about ourselves it leads to a negative contract where we end up feeling “less than.” If we don’t believe we’re worthy, we can’t celebrate the creative pleasures of the second chakra. Creative expression can’t flow when it is blocked by this kind of self-hatred. The second chakra confirms that in order to truly share love with someone else, we must also love ourselves.

HOW CAN WE HEAL?
Loving ourselves, exploring negative contracts we’ve created through self-criticism, uncovering and releasing buried guilt and letting go of the past are all ways to help heal the second chakra by restoring emotional flow through the area.

Also, because it is a water chakra, acknowledging flow in ALL forms in our lives helps to strengthen the second chakra. Sounds simple, but staying properly hydrated helps it function well, too. And in keeping with this theme of flow, cultivating your passion for living creatively helps, too, because this chakra is about creativity in terms of artistic expression, too.

Many yoga asanas that work the first chakra also work the second and third, too. The whole lower torso area (and the legs) benefit from janu sirsasana (one-legged seated fold) and paschimottanasana (seated forward fold) www.yogadancer.com/Pattra/P...Parivrtta . Doing these in combination with each other is even better. All forward folds, and especially seated ones, stretch the life nerves in the legs and ground it down through the tailbone and the feet, and they also open the root and sacrum. Adding the bandhas (though not necessary) enhances these benefits even more.

Standing forward bend (uttanasana) and half forward-bend (ardha uttanasana) draw energy up through the torso and massage the organs and glands in the lower torso, which benefits the lower chakras.

Seated twists are also very helpful in moving stagnant energy in the lower chakras and are especially helpful for cleansing the second chakra. Ardha matsyendrasana is excellent in all variations because you can really anchor through your sit bones and activate the 1st chakra energy, too: www.yogadancer.com/Pattra/A...a.shtml#I
Lying spinal twist is beneficial, too, as it lets you really relax and breath into the back of the second chakra. Here’s one variation I found, but the legs don’t need to be crossed: www.planetfieldhockey.com/PFH/I...011-57

Hip openers are also great for releasing tension and old emotions and imprints in the lower energy centers. While practicing pigeon pose/eka pada rajakapotasana (even the most basic stage of this pose does the job) …: www.yogadancer.com/Pattra/R...ml#Kapota …and/or warrior II (virabhadrasana II), you might try holding the pose for at least five slooooow breaths each side, guiding your breath gently into the space of the pelvic bowl. Explore how large this space really is. Get curious. Seek openness here in the area between your hip bones, pelvic bones and tailbone. With each breath, see if you can expand your experience of the space just a little bit more. Explore the sensations that arise. Your physical posture may shift, or it may not, and your sense of the sacral space may be totally mental or energetic. All ways are fine.

The same space-seeking awareness of the pelvic bowl can be done in tadasana and in low or high lunge (anjaneyasana): www.yogadancer.com/Pattra/A...ana.shtml . Even though it’s not a true hip opener, lunge pose opens the psoas (especially low lunge with the knee on the floor) and creates space from the front side of the legs and in the spread between them (especially high lunge).

***
And to add an extra bit about mantras and sound, I just read that Barbara Brennan tones the note G (below middle C) to shift a distorted 1st chakra back into shape. D reshapes the 2nd chakra. So you could try toning these notes and envisioning color infusing the chakra, either white healing light or dark red for the root and orange for the sacral chakra, or green for healing and love. You’ll probably feel it vibrating like you’re hitting the sweet spot if you tone it right. She also says drum music is good for grounding and for opening the first and second chakras, and that rock music is good for the sex chakra (that one figures, doesn’t it?).

***
Finally, when you do work on any of the chakras 2-6, remember to visualize the front and the back of each chakra. Each half of the chakra is responsible for different aspects, and they work together create the whole health.

And honestly, simple stuff works really well, like chanting the bija mantras. But these are some more ways you can approach things. Hopefully, you’ll find some things here that resonate for you.

Peace and love,
~claude.

Here's a good meditation:

Sit on a chair with your feet on the ground, and your hands resting comfortably on your thighs or knees, palms facing up. Start by doing some deep cleansing breaths. Surround yourself with a protective shield of divine white or golden light.

Now, picture a grounding cord running from your root chakra to the center of the earth. Think of the opening to your root chakra as a chute with the cord attached on the outside. Open the chute and release all negative energies, thoughts, and beliefs that are accumulated in your root chakra down the grounding cord into the center of the earth. Trust the earth - it will transmute all those thoughts, beliefs and energies and transform them into positive energy. Keep releasing all the dense energy. You can picture the energy as water or sand running down the cord into the earth. When you feel the density leaving your root chakra, move your focus up to your sacral chakra. Picture a chute from your sacral chakra to your root chakra. Open the chute of your sacral chakra and release the negative dense energies down to your root and down your grounding cord - keep in mind, the chute to the root chakra will remain open during the entire meditation so that you can release all negative energies from all of the chakras down the grounding cord into the earth. You'll know when it's working. There's a physical feeling of release - you'll feel the weight of those dense energies leaving you as you release them down your grounding cord into the earth. Do the same for each chakra (going up from the sacral to the solar plexus, then to the heart, then the throat, then the third eye, and finally the crown), keeping the chutes to the chakras you've already worked on open so that the negative energies continue to release down into the earth through your root grounding cord. When you feel all the weight and negative energies have been released picture divine golden light filling your body and your aura. Draw the divine light up through the soles of your feet , up your body, filling every cell of your body with divine healing light. Draw up the brilliant and sparkling light so that it overflows from your crown chakra, sprinkling divine light like a waterfall of light energy, over your aura, cleansing and energizing you completely. You are now completely filled and surrounded with divine light. All negative thoughts and energies have been released down your grounding cord into the earth. You can feel all your chakras spinning in perfect harmony (spinning clockwise, as if you're the clock - so spinning to your left). Breathe in the divine light. When you are ready to end the meditation, go down each chakra, one by one, gently and lovingly closing each chute. Then focus your attention on your grounding cord. Feel yourself grounding to the earth. This grounding cord is always with you. Take a few more deep breaths as you ground yourself. Feel yourself in harmony with the earth.

This meditation can take as much or as little time as you wish. I use music to help me - my personal choice is "Healing Earth (Earth Frequency Meditation)" by Anugama. It's 25 minutes long which I find is perfect for this meditation.