Healing The Root Chakra

The root chakra is all about being grounded, feeling secure that your basic needs are being met, and feeling connected to your family and tribal consciousness in healthy ways. The following meditations, crystal techniques, essential oil applications, and yoga postures will help you connect with what you may be holding in that chakra. Most importantly, they’ll help you initiate the connection with the energy vortex within you, so you may open into the wisdom it holds.

1. Meditations

Here’s an easy, tried-and-true meditation and visualization to connect with the root chakra:

1. While sitting or lying comfortably, take three slow, deep breaths. Each time you inhale, imagine the breath energizing your perineum—the area between the genitals and the anus. Each time you exhale, release anything you may be holding in that area. This might be fears, pain, or even expectations of how you’re supposed to feel while doing this meditation. Personally, I find that holding my hands over my heart as I meditate on each chakra helps me connect to the chakra I’m concentrating on more quickly. You may want to put one hand over the heart chakra, and the other hand over the pubic bone—the bony area where your pubic hair begins. Another hand position is placing both hands at the lower aspect of your hips.
2. “Wake up” the connection with the root chakra by gently tapping at the top of the pubic bone or both sides of your lower hips, or by gently massaging the area in a small, circular motion with your first two fingers.
3. With each following breath, inhaling and exhaling through the nose, continue directing your breath to your root chakra. Imagine a red sphere of light in that area, pulsing and growing larger. Those who identify most with male energy should whirl the sphere clockwise, and those who identify most with female energy should whirl the sphere counterclockwise.
4. As you drop deeper and deeper into a calmer state, ask your root chakra what it needs right now. Allow yourself a few more breaths to see if you receive any feedback. It could be in the form of a word, sound, song, image, color, feeling, or intuition. Then act on the feedback you get. If you don’t have any yet, not worry! It will come as you continue practicing.
5. If you don’t receive any of the intuitive hints listed previously, but instead feel an awareness in that area, similar to a pulsing anywhere at your lower hips and even traveling down to your feet, you are connecting with your root chakra!
6. At the end of your meditation, take three slow, deep breaths, directing the energy of your inhale into the soles of your feet, to ground yourself. Gently open your eyes.
7. Caution when doing this meditation/visualization: Because this practice takes some time to cultivate, be patient with yourself. If you find yourself starting to feel pain in the lower back or legs, you are pushing yourself too hard. It’s time to take a break and revisit when you’re more rejuvenated. Also, as you perform your meditation, understand that even seasoned meditation practitioners get what’s aptly termed monkey mind, where other thoughts begin to enter your mind and may momentarily distract you. Just take this as a chance to observe the thought without judgment, let it pass through, and gently bring yourself back to the center.

2. Crystals

Ruby, garnet, black tourmaline, bloodstone, hematite, obsidian, onyx, red jasper, lodestone, smoky quartz, and fire agate are the crystals that resonate with the root chakra. To use crystals to connect with your root chakra, make sure that they are first cleansed from the energies of others who may have handled them before you, and that your intention for how they will be used is set. You can clean your crystals by:

• Smudging with white sage. Simply light the tip of a white sage bundle until it begins to smoke, blow out the flame, and hold your crystal in the rising smoke for a few seconds, setting the intention that you’ll be using the crystal to help you connect with your root chakra. This is my favorite method because after you cleanse your crystal, you can also cleanse your body by directing the smoke toward your chakras (and the rest of your body) with your free hand.
• Laying them out overnight under the moonlight to soak up the moonbeams.
• Running water over them or soaking them in saltwater. When cleaning with water, use caution. Any stones that rate low on the Mohs hardness scale (a scale that helps identify mineral specimens and compares the resistance to being scratched) may get damaged or dissolve as a result.
• Now that you’ve cleansed and charged your crystals, you can work with them in a few ways:

1. Get into a comfortable seated or lying down position. Hold the crystal in your left hand—the receiving hand—so you can receive the crystal’s healing energy. Notice what you pick up from the crystal. Does it feel like a throbbing in your hand? Like static prickles? Or do you just have a simple awareness of its energy? If you don’t feel any of these things, that’s okay. Sometimes it takes a while to create awareness with a stone’s energy. You may ask the crystal to help you connect with the wisdom of your root chakra. Allow your mind and heart to open to feedback in the way of images, colors, sounds, words, memories, emotions, or other impressions that may flow through. Keep in mind that working with crystals can take some getting used to. If your root chakra doesn’t open into an epiphany right on the spot (which is unlikely on a first try, but anything is possible!), understand that you are still one step closer to being more connected with it. Be compassionate with yourself and know that it is on its way.
2. Alternately, while lying down, place your selected root chakra crystal on top of your pubic bone. Take three slow and deep breaths. Allow yourself to drink in the energy of the crystal. As with the preceding holding technique, you may feel the energy in the area pulse, like a gentle heartbeat. You may feel slight static energy traveling anywhere from your lower hips to your feet. Or you may have an awareness that the crystal’s energy is interacting with your energy. If you don’t feel any of these things, that’s okay. Consider saying the affirmation listed in the last paragraph of the Essential Oils section (below) to more intentionally connect with your root chakra.

3. Essential Oils

Myrrh, vetiver, sandalwood, patchouli, and spikenard are the essential oils that correspond with the root chakra.
To use a single oil (or a blend of oils) to help you connect with the root chakra, add 5 or 6 drops maximum per oil to a dime-size portion of carrier oil (such as jojoba oil). Usually, I recommend applying essential oils to the chakras themselves. However, because of the location and sensitivity of the skin in the root chakra area, it is better to activate the oils another way.
First, put the oil mixture in your hands and rub your hands together. Through friction, you will release the scent and energy of the oils. Open your palms to release the fragrance. Deeply inhale the scent. Place your open palm over your pubic bone, allowing the energy of the oils to sink into the area. You might also try placing both hands at the lower aspect of your hips.
Whether you choose to anoint your root chakra directly or activate the properties of the oils by rubbing them between your palms, take the time to intentionally create a connection with your root chakra. Say something like, “I now intend to create a connection with my root chakra. May I feel grounded and secure in my being and existence. I release all fear that keeps me from feeling safe in my life. I ask to be supported in the trust that all of my basic needs in life are met, that I am connected in healthy ways to my family and tribal consciousness, and that allows me to move with the ebb and flow of life. And so it is.”

4. Yoga

The root chakra is about stability and support. Corresponding asanas would be standing poses that strengthen the legs and ability to ground. Standing balancing poses to regulate this chakra include Warrior I, Warrior II, Tree Pose, and Chair Pose. Seated postures relate to grounding as well. Making sure to stretch the back of the legs is helpful with Standing Forward Bend and Head-to-Knee Pose. Restorative poses such as Reclining Bound Angle Pose, Supported Corpse Pose, and Supported Child’s Pose can help us surrender to the gravity and groundedness of this chakra. (For illustrations of yoga poses, see the Appendix here.)

5. Other Tips

• Eat root vegetables, which will help ground you.
• Take some time to do activities where your bare feet are planted into the earth, soil, or sand.
• Spend some time in nature.
• Make pottery (this will help your sacral plexus chakra, too).
• Stomp your feet to connect with the earth or ground (even if you’re in a building).
• Chant the mantra sound for this chakra: “LAM.”