A Complete Guide to Balance and Heal Your Root Chakra

A Complete Guide to Balance and Heal Your Root Chakra

In part one of this series, we begin our journey with the root chakra. The root chakra, known as Muladhara in Sanskrit, is associated with stability, grounding, and security — its core issue is survival. This chakra has an association to the element of Earth. Problems with this chakra can manifest in several emotional and physical symptoms. Let’s look at some of the most obvious indications that your root chakra needs attention.

Emotional & Psychological States

  • Fear: Fear is the demon associated with the root chakra.

  • Anxiety or Insecurity: You often feel anxious, fearful, or insecure. Your worries may centre around basic needs such as money, safety, or your home.

  • Feeling Jittery or Nervous: You may live in a state of constant apprehension or you appear to have an inability to feel inwardly calm.

  • Poor Self-worth: Self-worth often mirrors the state of our basic needs. You may feel stuck in a negative cycle of low self-worth, poverty (whether physical or emotional), and unsafe relationships (whether emotional or physical).

  • Feeling Ungrounded and Disconnected: You constantly daydream or feel spaced out. You struggle to feel connected to your body. You don’t feel connected to nature or its natural cycles.

  • Fight or Flight Activation: You are easily triggered and react disproportionately to events, comments, or other external stimuli.  

Physical Manifestations

  • Emotional or Financial Poverty: Emotional poverty can arise from several sources. You could be unknowingly isolating yourself from support because others are reluctant to deal with your hair-trigger responses. A lack of trust in others can also limit your potential to expand outwards into the world. Persistent financial issues or difficulties in managing money can be linked to not valuing yourself or your time.

  • Addictions: Food and gambling are the main ones, but also anything else done to excess which is connected to food, money, or grounding.

  • Inability to Plan or Go with the Flow: Anxiety is often connected to a fear of the future which affects the ability to plan effectively. You can’t plan anything without ending up in a state of mental overload trying to consider all potential outcomes. Basic trust and feelings of security and stability are necessary to be able to go with the flow. 

  • Emotional Dysregulation: Living on a hair trigger makes it hard to keep emotions in check. Emotions are often extreme due to oversensitivity and living in a state of fear.     

  • Chronic Distrust of Others: An overactive fight or flight impacts our ability to correctly distinguish between real and imaginary threats.   

  • The Body: Problems within the body can include lower back pain, hip issues, digestive problems, or issues with the legs and feet. I’d pay closest attention to the feet, and the elimination of waste.  

Balancing the root chakra can help restore inner stability, and help you to feel grounded and safe. It does not matter who or what caused the problem in the first place. The beginning of your healing journey begins with you taking back control of your basic needs. It also doesn’t matter whether you think your chakra is blocked or too open — the following exercises focus on restoring balance

A Simple Meditation

The Root Chakra Lotus

To begin, I want you to take the time to connect to your body. No tools are necessary here other than a pen and a piece of paper. Although, if you need help to direct your focus you can light a black, red, or white candle. Burning incense or oils can help create a healing atmosphere. For some suggestions, see further down this post, or use something that you know you find comforting. It’s better if you can lie down on your back. If this is uncomfortable for you, grab yourself some pillows and cushions, or lay on the sofa to prop yourself up a little. Take a few deep breaths until you feel relaxed and able to focus — breathe in for a count of 6, and exhale for a count of 8. The goal here is to become aware of your body through your breathing. Once you feel calm, visualise the root chakra as a four-petaled red lotus at the base of your spine. Ask the chakra to show you why it's unbalanced. You may see a symbol, a face, or an object. If you are sensitive you may see something more complicated. Don’t analyse or judge what you see or feel; simply acknowledge the signs and refocus on your breathing. Once you feel you have brought yourself back to your centre, ask the chakra what you need to heal. Again, you may see a single object or something more complicated. And again, don’t analyse or judge what you see or feel. Stay in your body for another six breaths or longer if you are comfortable. When you feel ready, open your eyes and move slowly until you are upright. You can now write down any thoughts and feelings you experienced during your meditation.

The next bit is really important — you need to park that shit to one side until tomorrow or even the day after that. If you want further insight you can take the piece of paper to bed and put it under your pillow. Ask yourself to have a dream that tells you anything further you need to know — ‘give me a dream to help balance and heal my root chakra’ is perfectly adequate. The point is to set the intention. You may or may not remember it on waking. Write down anything you can recover from memory, including how you felt when you woke up. 

You can now analyse any signs and symbols you were given. I can’t possibly give suggestions as to what you might find because this is an incredibly personal journey. Whatever you see will most likely make sense to you and should at least give you a place to start. Try not to hold on to your insights too tightly — the goal in the upcoming weeks is to gradually let go of old feelings so you can heal and move forward. Letting go does not mean forgiving and forgetting. It’s just a necessary step to free your body from the memories causing you problems. 

Your Root Chakra Medicine Bag

I am recommending specific crystals, incense, and oils, but if you don’t have these and can’t afford them you can still use the other methods found under the Time & Energy Investment heading. Healing doesn’t always have to cost money; sometimes it’s more about the energy and time you invest, rather than what you can buy. 

Lighting the Way

Candles have a seemingly magical way of helping to create a calm and peaceful atmosphere. They can be great at helping to reduce stress and anxiety. Many rituals and spiritual and religious practices wouldn’t feel complete without them. Lighting a candle with intention can help us focus energy and gain a sense of control over an emotion or situation. Those of us with witchy ways see them as an absolutely essential tool and can barely go a day without lighting one for some reason or other — even if it’s just to power up the oil burner. As a relatively cheap item, they’re affordable to most people. For root chakra healing, the colours used are either black or red. Black candles do not need to be feared. They are primarily used in spells and rituals for protection. If your problems centre around you not feeling safe, I would choose black over red. Black is also used for healing and honesty. If you need help to see a deep truth, use black. Red candles are probably better to use if you feel the problem is rooted in a lack of confidence or the fear of taking action. If your energy feels sluggish and you want to get things moving or increase your passion for life, use red. Red is also a great colour for increasing courage and bravery.

Scent

Using scents to heal goes back thousands of years and remains a popular healing tool. Incense, wax melts, and scented candles can all be great cost-effective mediums for filling our space with healing aromas. The essential oils used in aromatherapy are a pricier but worthwhile option for those who have a healthy enough bank balance. This is a post about the root chakra — many with problems in this department may well be struggling financially, and I need to stress that cheaper options do not mean they do not work as well. It usually comes down to time, practical effort, and. . . packaging. 

The strongest smells will generally come from burning incense. It’s absolutely fine if you don’t like the smoke and ash it produces (that time and effort of cleaning up afterwards, or dropping the ash collector on the way to the bin) — candles anointed with oil or an open-flame oil burner can offer a cleaner way to enjoy the benefits of scent-based healing. The newer electric wax melt burners are available as a lamp, and also as a plug-in. The electric mist diffusers are another great way to disperse aromatherapy oils. You can of course use a few drops of oil on a tissue, and creating a scent pouch with herbs or crushed-up incense will also work. Blending a personalised combination of essential oils into a base oil such as avocado oil or jojoba oil would mean you can apply the scent directly to your body. 

Each of the following essential oils is said to be beneficial for the issues associated with the root chakra, and you can usually find them as incense sticks too:

  • Cedarwood: Cedarwood helps create a sense of stability and security by reducing anxiety. It can calm the mind and promote feelings of inner strength. Good for clearing emotion that pulls you back into the past.  

  • Frankincense: Frankincense is one of my go-to oils when I’m stressed. It can support a sense of inner peace and security by reducing anxiety and feelings of despair. It's also useful during meditation and works well on negative emotions. Frankincense is often used in magical blends that offer protection and healing. 

  • Patchouli: A scent that is usually loved or loathed, patchouli is earthy and grounding. It can help with feelings of anxiety and promote a sense of connection to the earth. Often used in money spells, it may be particularly useful when self-worth or personal finances need increasing.  

  • Sandalwood: Sandalwood is wonderfully soothing, and like frankincense, it reduces anxiety by calming the mind. It is emotionally stabilising and it can help to lift heavy moods. It has been used in rituals for thousands of years as a way to connect to the spiritual self and increase spiritual awareness.

  • Vanilla: Often dismissed as too common to be valuable, vanilla has been shown to help reduce tension in the body. Yes, it’s another one that is good for grounding and reducing anxiety, although this one is also known to induce a sense of euphoria in some. A heady and sensual scent with a strongly feminine vibe. Could be a good choice if you need to increase your sense of feeling connected to your body.

  • Vetiver: Vetiver is deeply grounding and calming. Yes, it can help quiet an overactive mind, reduce stress, and promote feelings of stability. It can be a useful scent when dealing with shock or emotional trauma and may help to steady extreme emotions. Its magical uses include protection and attracting money.

You can also use ready-made blends, whether incense or essential oil, that are created specifically for grounding, protection or the root chakra.  

L-R (back) Raw Whitby jet, raw hematite, raw obsidian, tumbled onyx, red jasper buddha, (front) raw black tourmaline, tumbled black tourmaline, hematite buddha, tumbled obsidian, tumbled garnet, tumbled red jasper, and two pieces of tumbled carnelian.

Crystals

I love crystals, and spending time in Rowan’s Closet has reawakened my passion for working with the stones in several ways. I’ve spent a fair bit of time thinking about how crystals can be used in conjunction with chakra healing and understand why they pair well. One issue I had while pulling this post together is that I know many people recommend stones such as Tiger’s Eye for the root chakra. I spoke to Kelly at Rowan’s Closet about her thoughts on crystal colour and chakras, and she was pretty much in agreement that it's better for the next one up (the sacral chakra). If we are working on the root chakra, it needs to be red or black. You can get red tiger’s eye, and this may be helpful for some, but I honestly wouldn’t use the regular orange stuff. A valuable point she did mention concerned stone density. The heavier stones tend to give a better sense of grounding. Kelly loves obsidian and garnet (among others) for root chakra stuff. As I sit here holding a piece of garnet with arfvedsonite I bought last weekend, I can perfectly understand why. 

The colour black is used for protection and healing, whereas red is the colour associated with the root chakra. 

  • Jet: Jet is a very light stone and almost feels like a piece of plastic. I am familiar with this stone because I lived near Whitby for a few years during my twenties. It’s a popular one with the goths due to its Victorian connections, and the fact that it’s black! The Victorians valued jet as a stone to help the wearer overcome grief. Medieval Christians used it to ward off evil. Contemporary uses include protection, especially psychic protection, dispels fear, activates kundalini energy, alleviates anxiety, and draws out negative emotions that block emotional growth. I don’t personally find it grounding, but some people say otherwise.

  • Hematite: Hematite is very grounding and stabilizing. Some claim this stone is the most grounding available. It absorbs negative energies and helps create a sense of balance and security. It can alleviate anxiety and restlessness in those who are nervous. Its magnetic qualities are said to promote balance between opposing energies.   

  • Black Obsidian: This volcanic glass is a strong protective stone that can help cleanse your aura and protect against negativity. It also supports grounding and feelings of stability. Clears the way and strengthens the path it carves. A fantastic stone to carry or wear if you have weak boundaries. Used to make scrying mirrors due to its reflective surface — all obsidian has a habit of showing its ‘owner’ any hidden truth that needs to be acknowledged. It’s the ultimate caller of bullshit. If this stone were a bloke it’d win in a fight against Chuck Norris. 

  • Onyx: This may sound a little odd, although possibly not because it’s a post about the root chakra, but. . . onyx feels friendlier and less aggressive than black obsidian. It offers the usual grounding and protection of a black stone, but it is also said to help with self-control and developing stamina. It could be a useful ally when healing old emotional trauma.  

  • Black Tourmaline: A personal favourite. Known for its protective qualities, black tourmaline helps to repel negative energies and enhance feelings of security. It can also aid in grounding excess energy.  

  • Carnelian: If you feel drawn to a carnelian try and get a piece that is on the browner side of red, rather than the light salmony-orange shade. A lovely soft stone that can help strengthen courage and boost creativity. Carnelian helps to soothe angry feelings and calm other potentially harmful emotions. Some use it to increase stamina, attract luck and clear energy.

  • Garnet: Garnet is associated with strength, stability, and security. It can help promote a sense of safety and groundedness. It feels very dense and heavy. The Romans associated garnet with love, courage, and bravery. The Victorians believed it could bring back a lost love. Contemporary uses lean towards garnet for building courage, strengthening healthier relationships, and a stronger life force. 

  • Red Jasper: This is a powerful grounding stone that can help stabilize your energy and enhance feelings of security and stability. It's especially good for promoting a sense of safety. Jasper encourages the inner warrior to grow stronger and braver. Brings a sense of wholeness, vitality, and protection. 

Take Control of Your Diet

Food is generally important for any kind of healing. On the physical level, red foods tend to be those that help fight infection, reduce the risk of heart disease, and reduce inflammation. For root chakra healing and balance restoration, we look to red foods, those that are grown underground, and the foods which bring us emotional comfort. Alas, there will be no encouragement for the consumption of cakes, cookies or chocolate here. So, no. Eating a whole twelve-portion red velvet cake to yourself probably won’t balance and heal your root chakra.

Here are some healthier foods that can help balance your root chakra:

  • Red Fruits and Vegetables: Strawberries, chillis, pomegranate, cherries, tomatoes, red peppers, and raspberries. Juice and smoothies also count! 

  • Root Vegetables: Because the root chakra is associated with the body and its connection to the earth, eating root vegetables can be very grounding. Try foods like carrots, potatoes, beetroot, radishes, onions, and garlic. 

  • Whole Grains: Whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, and oats can help you feel grounded and centred. Try switching to wholemeal bread if you’re usually a fan of the white stuff. 

  • Nuts and Seeds: Nuts and seeds are rich in healthy fats and protein. Almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds can all help strengthen a feeling of connection to the natural world. 

  • Spices: Add red spices like paprika and cayenne pepper to your meals.

  • Herbal & Fruit Teas: Warm herbal teas can be soothing and grounding. Try teas made from roots like ginger, turmeric, or liquorice root. Many fruit teas are a rich red colour. Or try herbal blends that promote relaxation and stability.

  • Cooked Foods: Eating warm, home-cooked meals can be more grounding than raw or cold foods. Soups, stews, and roasted vegetables can be particularly comforting and grounding.

Food will generally help you to feel grounded if you are spaced out. Eating mindfully and with intention can help support the healing and balance of your root chakra. Try and avoid stress at mealtimes which may exacerbate overall anxiety and negatively influence your food choices. Paying attention to the quality of your meals can go a long way to help improve your sense of self-worth. If you fancy treating yourself, have a tandoori with a red berry sorbet for dessert.

Time & Energy Investment

Yoga

Grounding usually involves connecting to reality by doing something that brings the physical body into awareness. I know I’m expected to say that yoga is one of the strongest weapons here, and it is. But honestly, if you want to increase your sense of personal safety and you have the energy — have a serious think about martial arts or self-defence classes. Depending on the style of yoga, that too can involve a high level of energy. I like Hatha and Yin. I especially like Yin. Practising specific yoga poses can help soothe, balance, and activate the energy associated with the root chakra by promoting feelings of stability, security, and grounding. Some of the beneficial poses include:

  • Mountain Pose (Tadasana): helps develop a sense of stability and connection to the earth.

  • Tree Pose (Vrksasana): improves balance, concentration, and grounding.

  • Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1): strengthens the legs and core which helps to create a sense of strength and stability.

  • Child's Pose (Balasana): A calming and grounding pose that promotes relaxation and surrender.

  • Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana): strengthens the legs and opens the chest. This pose promotes stability and confidence and allows for an easy flow of energy from the base chakra upwards.

  • Seated Forward Fold (Paschimottanasana): This pose helps to calm the mind and promote introspection. 

  • Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose (Viparita Karani): Legs-up-the-wall pose is deeply relaxing and helps to calm the nervous system. It can also help energy to flow freely through the hips.

  • Corpse Pose (Savasana): promotes deep relaxation and helps integrate the benefits of previous poses — it is often done at the end of a practice. 

Holding each pose for several breaths (between three and five minutes for a yin style approach) will encourage your inner body to slow and calm down. The following three videos all focus on the root chakra and include many of the poses listed above. I find both Adriene and Kassandra to be forgiving and encouraging teachers. Don’t worry too much about whether you’re getting everything right. And don’t think you have to do any of the poses exactly as shown if you can’t physically do so — all yoga needs practice, and plenty of it, to develop the flexibility and balance required for a pose. 

Mantras, Affirmations, & Sound Baths

The final healing methods I want to include involve the use of sound and voice. Mantras can be a single word or phrase and are believed to carry magical properties. One of the most well-known mantras is probably ‘OM’, which is often used to balance and heal the third eye chakra. Nowadays we use the word ‘mantra’ to also cover popular sayings or slogans that have taken on an almost cultish form. The mantra ‘LAM’ is a one-syllable Sanskrit word used as the sacred sound for the root chakra. Some people say it helps with feeling grounded and connected to the earth. Others claim it can eliminate feelings of fear, or increase the feeling of security and prosperity. You can chant this however you like, but some say it needs to be done 108 times because that number is sacred in Hinduism. It represents the number of spiritual completion — or the distance between our body and the god within.

Affirmations can be used like mantras but differ in that what we are doing with an affirmation is vocalising what we need with the intention we can manifest what we are chanting. Some useful affirmations are already included in the yoga videos above. If you skipped over that part, the more common ones associated with the root chakra are:

  • I am safe

  • I am protected

  • I am grounded and stable

  • My needs are valid

  • All of my needs are met

  • Friends and family love and support me

  • I trust the process of life

  • I attract abundance in all areas of my life

  • There is enough for everyone, including me

You can create personalised versions, just make sure to keep them related to the theme of grounding, feeling safe, or increasing abundance. Being aware of how an affirmation makes us feel can be extremely helpful when they may identify an underlying issue. Experiencing discomfort or a feeling of desire to avoid the affirmation altogether are signs we should pay close attention to the words. Affirmations can also be written down and pinned somewhere as a reminder. Affirmations are also great to chant in your head if you find yourself spinning out emotionally. Sometimes we need to engage in a little rewiring of our brains, and replacing the voice of an angry or insecure inner child with that of a nurturing inner parent is essential.

Sound baths can be a great way to relax for an hour, and if you are sensitive to this method it could work wonders for you. There is some disagreement on the best frequency for the root chakra — some sources say 256 Hz, while others say 396 Hz. It is not an area of expertise for me, and therefore I cannot say which is better. However, most sources do agree that the root chakra is associated with the C note. The following two videos are examples of the kind of contemporary sound produced for alternative healing. I will mention that I have found using headphones helps enormously when listening to binaural beats and other sound therapies. There is a link in the description box of the first video to an 8-hour-long black screen version for use during sleep. The sound is created using a crystal singing bowl. The bowls are made by heating crushed crystals, and then forming the bowl in a mould. The second video is an hour long with pure tone — I’m not sure how it was produced, it could’ve been a tone generator or it could’ve been created online. You can use the sound bath videos when doing your meditation because they are not jarring and will not interfere with your inner journey. If you prefer to download and listen offline, Binaural Beats Meditation has one available called Chakra Healing. I have a copy of this myself and have used it during sleep. Other products are available online and easy to find. 

Is It Healed Now?

It’s important to remember that healing is a process and not an event. Along with the exercises in this post, you may find it helpful to keep some written notes. I am a big fan of journalling, and I don’t think it matters how you do it. Whether you write it online in a blog or on scraps of paper thrown into a spare drawer, having a record serves as evidence of progress. No matter how small the steps, you will move forward. While writing this post it occurred to me that self-soothing, or the ability to self-nurture if you prefer, is an important aspect to consider when healing the issues highlighted in this post. It may be worth your while to think about the ways you reassure yourself when things in life go wrong. Be kind to yourself on your journey!

 

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A Complete Guide to Balance and Heal Your Sacral Chakra

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The Chakras: An Introduction