What I’m Teaching…the Root Chakra

The first chakra is the root chakra. The sanskrit name is Muladhara, with mula meaning root or base and ahara meaning grounding. The root chakra is located at the base of your spine and includes the low back, spine, kidneys and bladder. Its job is to help provide a strong foundation and establishes us on earth.

The root chakra is often represented by the color red and its element is the earth. Often times, we associate this chakra with meeting our basic needs, such as safety and security. We often see chakras represented by essential oils and crystals, which we have been experimenting with in class. Essential oils paired with the root chakra are often earthy, including sandalwood, cedarwood, patchouli, cloves, and cinnamon. Many times, muladhara is represented by a red crystal or stone, but not always. We selected red jasper, which promotes connection to the earth and carries a grounding energy.

Each chakra can be improved by focusing on activities and poses. Actions that you can take to improve your root chakra include a walking meditation, walking outside barefoot (connecting to the ground), and spending time in nature to connect with the earth. When selecting poses to include in our asana, I made sure to include grounding poses, such as mountain, goddess squat, warrior and child’s pose. As we went through the practice, we made sure to build a strong foundation and took time to imagine that we were rooted to the earth.