The Real Connection Between Your Sense of Self and Your Freedom of Expression
Begin to Unlock Hidden or Undiscovered Keys From Your Childhood to Reframe and Reclaim Your True Potential
The development of the Root Chakra during the early years of our lives gives us a sense of security. It is primal in nature. For a child’s survival, it is important for her to understand that she is secure. Humans, much like all other species, are primally wired to provide security to their young ones. It is at this time that a child understands her security blanket. But once this stage of development passes, a child stands at the cusp of the next stage of her life. This is when the next chakra begins to blossom—the Svadhishthana or the Sacral Chakra.
Svadhishthana derives itself from the Sanskrit conjugation of two words: ‘sva’ meaning ‘self’ and ‘adhishthana’ which means ‘to establish’. Put together, they become the chakra which is about the establishment of the Self in an individual. This meaning, going forth, we shall be able to guide our yogic practice for the rest of our lives. We must remember that Svadhishthana means the establishment of the Self.
Before we move further on our quest to understand the Sacral Chakra, I must clear a few points. First, it is not so that a chakra starts forming at a specific stage in our lives. Chakras are always there and when a child is born, chakras are active. But as a child assimilates into the world, most of the chakras get unbalanced or blocked. This is the reason why children find it easy to manifest things for themselves. They are already in alignment with the universe. As they grow up, the lessons and the skepticism they learn from the world diminishes their belief systems, and the magic disappears.
Secondly, with the yogic path that I teach, I do not emphasize placing stress on your body and mind. I believe our intentions must all rest in our heart and come naturally. Because the practices of yoga require meditation and abundant visualization, it is important we should let the chakras, their location and their manifestations (physiological and psychological), rest in our hearts. To channel our energies well, for unblocking or balancing the chakras, we must see them in our mind’s eye. Thus, once we’ve read these books and moved on to practice these learnings, this knowledge must be settled in our minds.
The Svadhishthana, or the Sacral Chakra, blossoms once an individual has fully understood the primary security of their lives and are at the next phase. This stage occurs around the age group of eight to fourteen years. These years encompass many major shifts within a child. She is now ready to grow outside the bonds of the family and look outward towards forming bonds for herself. It is at this time a child develops friendships which are a part of a social circle and not just play mates. It is also the time when a child starts to develop a sense of self.
This sense of self is different from the one defined in development psychology. This is a primal development within a child where she understands that she is an entity in herself. When a child looks at the mirror and is able to recognize herself, that it is she who stands in the mirror, and not some other person, she has developed a sense of self. This psychological development happens much earlier, around the ages of three to five.
The sense of self that the Sacral Chakra addresses is a sociological construct. This is a stage when a child becomes an individual who looks towards getting acknowledged as one. It is often accompanied by rants like “Don’t call me sugar pie/angel/muffin.” The ages eight to fourteen, are in fact, a combination of two stages. The first half of these years is when a child seeks acknowledgement of herself from the same gender as friends. And as the chakra blossoms further, the latter half is the phase where this acknowledgement is sought from the opposite sex.
This period is basically characterized by a child coming out of the obeyance of the family as an authority and becoming their own person. As a child looks outward, she attempts to discover satisfaction in relationships that she forms on her own. This period is also accompanied by changes in the body. She goes through puberty, development of genitals, and the beginning of sexual hormones as adolescence hits. Since this progress happens right in the zone of the Sacral Chakra, the individual’s sexuality is governed.
The ‘establishment of the self’ is a defining tenet of this chakra. Control over the sexual organs and the development of sexual urges in a person confers the power of sexuality to this chakra as well. Since an individual is blended with these two factors while the Sacral Chakra blossoms, creativity as a part of expressionism is linked to this chakra too.
To summarize, the Sacral Chakra controls the following aspects of your personality:
The ability to engage with the world outside of the self. This manifests as our relationships with people outside of our family.
Sexuality—the sexual energy and urges. The exploration of our own pleasure points through our engagement with the self and others.
Creativity—the ability to express ourselves with our surroundings in the form of hobbies, crafts, pursuits, and passions.
And as a culmination of the above three, the emotions. As we begin to associate with others, our emotions begin to develop a range.
You should commit these to your memory as it will help you to continue your journey of chakra awakening.
Situated a little below the navel, along your spinal column, this chakra’s position gives it authority over your menstrual cycles, sexual organs, your kidneys, and your bladder. It affects the hormones of estrogen and testosterone, both of which are present in both genders. An overactive or an underactive chakra is the cause of excess or deficit of hormonal production.
Blocked chakras cause a state of freeze in us, psychologically. An unbalanced chakra means it is either overactive or not active enough and we find the physiological and psychological manifestation in hypo or hyper states. As we will progress further, I shall uncover step by step the ways to manage the energy of your chakra and bring it to a balanced state.
Excerpted from my book– Harness Secrets of the Second ‘Sacral’ Svadhisthana Chakra and Its Crystal Healing Stones to Activate Game-Changing Innovation and Creativity