What is your money goal this year? Is it to make a certain amount of income or reduce your debt or organize the chaos before tax season arrives? Maybe even just the thought of a money goal gives you hives. If discussing money and your financial goals bothers you, an unseen energy force may be playing a part in that situation. Your root chakra energy is affecting your financial peace and here’s what you can do about it.
Chakras are unseen but powerful centers of energy in the body. Think of chakras as you do your emotions- you can’t see them but they are real and can affect your breathing, your digestion, your heartrate and everything else in your life. The root chakra, which is responsible for your basic survival needs such as health, home, finances, feelings of safety and security, and belonging to a tribe or group, is located at the base of the spine and continues down through the legs and feet.
The root chakra is formed from conception until about age one and a half and energetic patterns are being formed continuously throughout childhood. While growing up, you are constantly receiving messages about your safety and security and wealth from your family, friends and school.
Are you safe?
Is money a friend of foe?
Is home a place that you like being or do you want to stay away from there as much as possible? All of these ideas influence your root chakra and set up energy patterns that stay with you for life. Becoming aware of them and the impact they are having on your life are the first steps to balancing the root chakra and inviting in secure, abundant, supported feelings.
Let’s take a look at your root chakra and how its energy is showing up in your life.
Do you feel deserving of material wealth? Do you generally feel safe and secure in life? Do you appreciate and enjoy money? Is your home a safe and welcoming place? Do you feel as though you belong to a group larger than yourself? Is your career fulfilling and do you feel successful?
If you answered “YES” to all of the above answers, your root chakra currently is balanced.
Now ask yourself these questions:
Does money make you feel guilty or anxious? Is it hard to keep a handle on your finances? Is it a struggle to accumulate material wealth? Do you suffer from a chronic health condition? Do you have any issues with your bones or teeth? Are you always losing and misplacing things? Do you hoard or excessively collect things? Are you over- or under-weight? Do you frequently experience diarrhea or constipation? Do you have difficulty sitting still or are you more of a couch potato?
If you answered “YES” to any of the above questions, your root chakra may need to receive more charge to correct the imbalances.
Here are a few examples of what a root chakra imbalance might look like in real life.
A mom of two gets divorced and suddenly fears for her ability to provide for herself and her children. Her feelings of safety and security are completely destroyed. All that she has known is gone and her root chakra energy is completely out of whack. She stocks her pantry with large amounts of food, much more than ever before. This helps her feel more secure and that she and her children will not starve.
A young boy is told that he will have to move across the country, away from his friends and all that he knows. He breaks his leg a week later. The root chakra energy is disrupted and manifests in a weakness in the leg bone.
A man grows up in his earliest childhood in a poor, struggling family. While he later has plenty of material security, the feelings of lack and poverty stay with him. He feels guilty with even semi-luxurious things. He struggles to accumulate wealth and to even feel that he deserves it.
A yoga student enters the classroom and brings with her three bags, her mat, her own blanket, her water bottle and many other non-essential items. This is the same person that carries a huge purse filled with everything one might need for a week long voyage, “just in case”. This person does not feel provided for or secure and needs to carry her “home” with her.
A woman has a turbulent childhood, filled with fear, poverty and uncertainty. She moved frequently from home to home. As an adult, she continues that energetic pattern of moving frequently and has a career as a real estate agent and is passionate about the design and organization of her own home. Her energy is focused on the concept of a safe and welcoming home to make up for the root chakra energy that was blocked as a child.
These examples are just a few of how an imbalanced root chakra can show up in your life. Maybe you recognize yourself in these examples. Maybe you recognize someone you know. Awareness of the underlying energy that causes these reactions is the first step to bringing balance to the root chakra.
Here are some other ways to begin to bring balance to the root chakra.
- Get grounded by being outdoors, barefoot if possible.
- Take charge of your finances by tracking income and expenses daily or weekly.
- Eat more root vegetables and protein.
- Use gemstones that activate your root chakra.
- De-clutter your surroundings- home, office, inbox.
- Make your home attractive, a true expression of you.
- Practice EFT (emotional freedom technique or tapping) to deal with feelings of anxiety and fear.
- Get in your body and out of your head where fears live- exercise, run, do yoga, move!
- Educate yourself on investing and personal finance so that you can start to formulate a plan to be in control of your money rather than running from it.
- Yoga poses: bridge, any hamstring stretches, tadasana, standing poses.
- Receive reiki and other energy healing.
- Stomp your feet and bring energy to your legs.
- Receive a foot massage or do it yourself by rolling your foot on a golf ball.
- Visualize your “roots” connecting deep in the Earth during meditation.
- Use affirmations like “I am safe”, “I am supported”, “Money loves me”.
- Use the bija mantra, or seed sound, in meditation.
These simple steps will focus your attention on the root chakra and increase the energetic charge going there. As you continue to put your attention on the root chakra, the charge increases and the energy begins to flow in a balanced manner. You will begin to notice small changes in your feelings surrounding your fears and wealth. Each small step forward is a step moving from fear and lack towards abundance, health and feeling safe and secure.
Thanks for this very comprehensive and informative article – i found the examples of how an imbalance in the root chakra might show up in someone’s life very helpful.
Thanks Joy for this article and the many areas of root chakra that we all can benefit from. As we become more aware of these intimate connections with Chakras the important work of our evolution has begun…