One who meditates on muladhara chakra shines with the brilliance of ten million suns.

Shat Chakra Nirupanam – Schlokas 13

Metaphysics of Muladhara

The muladhara chakra is located at the base of the spine. This is the most basic chakra in the body, meaning that it is the foundation of the energy body and therefore also the physical body. It is like a seed out of which our physical existence has emerged, a belief found in various spiritual traditions.

In the Islamic tradition for instance, the Prophet Muhammad said that human beings were created from the coccyx, which looks like a coiled up snake. And after humans die, we will be recreated from it. It is the one part of us that never decays, meaning, our connection to the Earth remains even after death.

In the vast array of the Yogic tradition, the root chakra is the storehouse of Kuṇḍalinī energy, which it is held to be a kind of “cosmic energy” that accumulates at the base of the spine. It is represented by Shakti, the female embodiment of the Divine. Kuṇḍalinī Shakti therefore is understood as the Divine Feminine energy that is at the root of our creation and Being. It is described as “the innate intelligence of embodied Consciousness”. It is also called boghavati, which has the double meaning of “enjoyment” and being “coiled”. Kuṇḍalinī Shakti therefore is often translated as “Serpent Power” because of how it is understood as being coiled up like a snake, and through spiritual rebirth and the shedding of the old skin of the false self, it springs forth through embodied Being. This imagery signifies the nature of the Divine Feminine as being strongly connected to bliss and pleasure, both to mundane physical pleasure as well as to the bliss of spiritual liberation (moksha), which is the enjoyment of the creative activity and ultimate union with the Divine Masculine, represented by Shiva. Awakening our Kuṇḍalinī energy is about liberation and enlightenment, but it can only begin to happen when we cultivate the root chakra.

Without a strong foundation, one cannot flourish, one cannot know health, wellbeing, and a sense of completeness and being rooted. What that means for the other chakras is that their full potential cannot be realized until this root chakra is first made stable and sound. For that reason, in the Yogic system, muladhara is focused on more than anything else. When the Divine Feminine spiritual force is able to manifest more powerfully through embodied being, then the embodied self also becomes more powerful and open to bliss. 

The physical body is like a receiver and a transmitter. We are swimming in the ocean of consciousness, and so, grace is all around us. But unless we have conditioned our bodies to both receive it and to transmit it, we will be unaware of it. When muladhara is cultivated, we feel more deeply connected to nature and find that being in its presence is nourishing to the heart. We learn to hear the wisdom of the trees and find insight while in nature.

Element

With muladhara being likened to a seed, it is understood as our connection to the Earth element, represented by the yellow square. It is said that man shall reemerge from it after being buried into the Earth after some time. Because of that, its element is Earth.

Characteristics

Muladhara keeps us grounded and embodied in the physical dimension through the physical body, and thus, keeps us physically strong and secure. Because it is the root of physical Being, it is the basis of the ego and the animal self. It holds our instinctual survival urges for food, sleep, sex, and fighting (self-preservation). Because of the impermanent nature of the ego that defines the animal self, of physical Being, it is the realm of our avoidances and fears as well.

Symptoms of Blockage

When muladhara is blocked or out of balance, we become dominated by the energy of fear and exist in a state of ego. We become dominated by the animal self and its lower desires or impulses, all of which revolve around insecurity. It is characterized by low self-esteem and anxiety, and thus also the need to compensate through the process of comparison. The nature of the physical world is that of comparison, that for something to be big, something else must be small in relation to it; that to be strong one thinks they must be stronger than others, to be wealthy one thinks one must be wealthier than others, to be successful one thinks that one must be more successful than others, and so on.

Trauma pertains to disconnection, and disconnection is what leads to overcompensatory emotions and behavior. When we are disconnected from the energy of the root chakra, we become dominated by the ego and overcompensate through an obsession with sex, food, laziness, and violence.

Depending on our social conditioning, we can become deeply avoidant or attached, and become characterized by neuroticism and self-destructive behaviors in relationships, especially in romantic ones where our attachment systems are activated. We become obsessed with the animal oriented social dominance hierarchies and the need to acquire higher and higher levels of status, especially through wealth and sexual resources.

When we are connected to our root energy, we feel content within ourselves and our instinctual urges become ordered and disciplined according to wisdom.

Signs of Openness

When muladhara is sufficiently open, we feel strong and confident in our own Being. Qualities such as courage and determination come to the forefront, along with all manners of expressions of the will to survive and to overcome. The need to compensate for our lack of internal strength through climbing status hierarchies diminishes. When the energy of fear is mastered, and the animal spirit is disciplined, because muladhara holds our most powerful latent spiritual potential (Kuṇḍalinī Shakti), then the true spiritual power that emanates from the root of Being may invigorate us. Through meditation, both as a practice as well as a lifestyle, we begin to breathe life into the sleeping power that sits in our root.

Color

The color that is commonly used to activate and cultivate the root energy center is red, and in the Yogic tradition, the sound vibrations associated with activating it is Lam.

The color red is a warm and positive color associated with our most physical needs and our will to survive. It exudes a strong and powerful masculine energy, but it is only made strong and powerful because of the feminine basis of it. Red is energizing. It excites the emotions and motivates us to take action. After all, it is the feminine that excites and moves the masculine. It signifies a pioneering spirit and leadership qualities, promoting ambition and determination.

It is also strong-willed and can give confidence to those who are shy or lacking in will power. Being the color of physical movement, the color red awakens our physical life force.

It is the color of sexuality and can stimulate deeper and more intimate passions in us, such as love and sex on the positive side when fear is mastered, or revenge and anger on the negative side when fear and animality has dominated us.

Healing Stones

The root chakra healing stones include bloodstone, tiger’s eye, hematite, agate, and Black Tourmaline.

Activating the Chakra

Activating this chakra will put one in touch with what feels like one’s primal energy. At this early stage, it is difficult to discern between the energy of the ego and the energy of the spirit until the animal self is disciplined. Cultivating muladhara is important through not only meditation but also through a disciplined lifestyle where one guards one’s thoughts and behavior as well. 

There are various traditional ways for cultivating muladhara, particularly through the use of sounds in the form of bīja (बीज) mantras. A bīja means seed, and as a Yogic concept, is a metaphor for the origin or cause of things. The term bīja is used for mystical “seed syllables” contained within mantras. Each chakra has an element, and each element has a specific seed syllable or frequency that activates it. The seed syllable for muladhara is “Laṃ” (लं). The vibration created when chanting “Laṃ” (लं) is said to resonates in the chakra and purify the nāḍī (नाडी) thereby allowing the prana at the root to activate and rise. As we become aware of this vital life force, the chakra becomes purified.

The recitation and contemplation of verses, and engaging in practices such as aswini mudra and the various asanas also helps to purify and activate our chakras. Many of these practices, however, are about increasing one’s awareness of the corresponding physical coordinates of the muladhara chakra. What is important here is that one is able to focus the mind onto its coordinates and bring one’s awareness to it. Purification is also about realization, and therefore, self-knowledge.

Another way that is more available to people is by meditating upon the color red while focusing on the location of the root chakra, either through visualization or through focused concentration on the color red, such as a light or an object.

As we concentrate, our physiology will respond to the perceived color, and it will cause emotions to stir within. This is the entry point. A skilled meditator will be able to enter into deeper states of consciousness while meditating upon the manifested experience within consciousness. By exploring this deeper experience within consciousness, one will travel deeper into the depths of consciousness through this psycho-emotional pathway, through muladhara. In doing so, one is cultivating the root chakra and its energy by becoming more connected to it and intimate with it.

References

[1] Muladhara Chakra: Stabilizing the Foundation

[2] Empowered by Color – The Color Red

[3] Yoga Journal

[4] Complete Description & Activation of Muladhara from Shat Chakra Nirupanam

[5] Yogapedia – Lam