What Is the Sacral Chakra?
The Sacral Chakra is known as the Svadhishthana, and it translates to “sweetness.” In contrast to the Root Chakra, the Sacral Chakra is less concerned about the physical body and security, and more about creativity, sexual expression, emotional fluidity, and transformation. Through the Sacral Chakra, an individual learns how their emotions and feelings connect, how they choose to interact with others, how they demonstrate their creativity, how they express themselves sexually, and how they find joy in day-to-day routines.
Where is the Sacral Chakra Located?
The Sacral Chakra is the second chakra out of the seven-chakra system, and, as stated above, it is responsible for how a person experiences their emotions, creativity, and pleasure. It is located two inches below the naval, and it is linked to a nerve plexus called the sacral plexus, which is responsible for extensive functions throughout the pelvis and legs. The nerve branches of the sacral plexus receive motor and sensory messages for the back of the thigh, the lower leg, the foot, and the pelvis. The Sacral Chakra is associated with the color orange, and the dominant element is water to symbolize the fluidity of our emotions.
Characteristics of the Sacral Chakra
The Sacral Chakra is responsible for how the body’s emotions flow and how a person relates to themselves and to others. It is the main center of creativity, emotional intelligence, and sexuality. The Sacral Chakra’s symbol is an orange-red-colored lotus flower with six petals that hold a crescent moon inside. The orange-red color is associated with creativity and passion in color therapy. The six petals represent the six negative qualities that a person needs to overcome to purify the Sacral Chakra, i.e., rage, envy, malice, hatred, conceit, and desire. The circles represent the cycles of birth, death, and rebirth. The moon is symbolic of the moon’s cycle that takes 28 days to complete and that is echoed in the feminine menstrual cycle. This is a reminder that life contains constant movement and change, so it is important to become fluid and move with it.
How Does the Sacral Chakra Function?
The Sacral Chakra is governed by passion and the need to creatively explore, experience, and engage in life. A healthy Sacral Chakra fosters a healthy respect for personal boundaries. A person with a healthy Sacral Chakra understands their relationships with others, can identify how much information is appropriate to share with others, and can open up emotionally to those they are close to. Psychologically, the Sacral Chakra is concerned with sexual impulses and sensory pleasure. It is responsible for creativity. Physically, the sacral chakra governs the entire pelvic region, and it is responsible for the hydration of every cell in the body. A healthy functioning Sacral Chakra will enhance the body’s ability to remove toxins through the skin, urine, and lymphatic system.
A Balanced Sacral Chakra
When the Sacral Chakra is balanced, an individual is free to enjoy life’s earthly pleasures, i.e., sex, entertainment, food, and other pleasurable human activities, with joy and without shame, overindulging, or being deprived. When the Sacral Chakra is out of balance, the individual feels out of balance and they become ruled by their emotions, feel empty, or exhibit addictive or gluttonous behavior. Over time, an unbalanced Sacral Chakra could lead to obesity, physical dependency, emotional overreactions, co-dependency, or restlessness. Sometimes when decisions are based in fear, it deprives a person of feeling joy and pleasure; this results in an all-work state that leads to depression, impotence, decreased sex drive, and decreased activity. One way to bring the Sacral Chakra back into balance is to self-nurture, i.e., taking a hot bath while listening to music, eating a favorite food, journaling, or getting a massage. Another way to balance the Sacral Chakra is to take part in creative, playful activities that promote healthy social and emotional development because without them, our lives become repetitive.
Summary
Healing the Sacral Chakra is relevant to everyone because from the moment of birth and into adolescence and adulthood, society creates “rules” that demonize pleasure and reward “hard work” and emotional suppression. When the Sacral Chakra is in healthy alignment, there is energy for creativity, visualization, movement, desire, procreation, pleasure, and relationships. An individual is free to express their wants and needs in relationships and pleasure becomes a priority. Most importantly, the individual can gain insight into why they react the way they do, they can learn to understand their deepest emotions, and they can learn how to sit with the depth of their feelings. When individuals work to balance and ascertain how to work with the energies of the Sacral Chakra, they become aware of opportunities to enjoy life’s sweetness.
