Passion
Svadhisthana Chakra
The second Chakra, Svadhisthana, is also known as the creativity and sexual Chakra. It is located above the pubic bone and below the navel, and encompasses the genital region and the hypogastric plexus. The word svadhisthana can be translated as “the dwelling place of the self,” and the element of the second Chakra is water, which equals cohesiveness.
A balanced second Chakra leads to feelings of wellness, abundance, pleasure, and joy. When this Chakra is out of balance, a person may experience emotional instability, fear of change, sexual dysfunction, depression, or addictions.
You can open this Chakra with creative expression and by honoring your body. The energy of this Chakra is feminine, passive, and lunar.
Creativity: The Focus of The Second Chakra
As humans, it is part of our nature to create. This creativity can be expressed as procreation but the second Chakra energy is certainly not limited to making babies. When we cook, bake, or garden, we are creating. We create when we find a new solution to an old problem. Any time we take raw materials, physical or mental, and transform them into something new, we are using our creative energy.
The problem with creativity is that we are often discouraged from creative efforts, starting with education. Once we pass through the phase where coloring, painting, or cutting paper is completely acceptable, it seems that we must mold into less creative beings. In order to conform, follow the rules and fit in, we sometimes lose our creative energy and thus, our unique ideas in the process. Adults become used to following what’s right, the latest trend, or what’s acceptable to others. Then, when asked to abstractly invent something new, we might have a difficult time doing it.
Play Like a Child to Awaken Your Creative Energy
We might feel open and creative in some aspects of life, while self-conscious in others. Ask me to write a book or essay and I can perform with ease. But if you ask me to draw a picture, paint, or even create a great meal without a recipe to follow, I feel much less than skilled. But, if you told me I had to paint a nice picture because my life depended on it, I would most likely rise to the occasion. Why? Because I would take the risk to get the job done.
The reason, that we stopped being creative or stopped taking risks creatively, is because along the way, someone told us that we weren’t good or that we couldn’t do it. In opening your second Chakra energy, you must take risks and not be afraid of failure.
Play is a great way to begin this opening. Have you ever watched a child play? A child will spend several hours building a Lego tower, a sandcastle, or an exquisite dollhouse. Then, the same child will smash their masterpiece in an instant and start over from scratch as if it was no big deal.
Start to play like a child. If your gourmet meal doesn’t turn out, so what? If your potted plant dies in a week, plant another one. And yes, if your work project is a flop, it doesn’t mean your career is over. Like the child at play, start again. You have an infinite amount of creative energy within you, so use it.
How to Balance Svadhisthana
Besides being open to creativity in your daily life, you can balance the second Chakra by maintaining a healthy sexual life and honoring and respecting your body. Get in touch with your emotions and see if there are any feelings you’re holding onto. Make a commitment to process those emotions in a healthy way.
Left nostril breathing called Ida Nadi breathing will help to open up the second Chakra as it brings forth lunar energy. Simply close your right nostril with the first two fingers of your right hand and inhale and exhale through the left nostril, only for 8 to 10 breaths.
Meditation with focus on the second Chakra brings about personal magnetism, refinement in behavior, freedom from diseases, and longevity.
Asanas, Sounds, Colors, and Gems
Other ways to open a blocked Chakra include using yoga, mantras, colors, and gems.
Yoga asanas that help to open and align Svadhisthana are …
- Seated pelvic circles: Sitting in a cross-legged or half-lotus pose with your hands on your knees, make circles with your torso. Go around in one direction 5 or 6 times and then switch directions.
- Baddha konasana (butterfly pose) with forward fold: In a seated position, bring the bottoms of your feet together. Let your knees drop to the sides and bring your heels in close to your pelvis. Lengthen the torso and fold forward.
- Bhujangasana (cobra pose): Lie on your stomach with your feet flat on the floor. Place your hands under your shoulders and slowly lift your head, chest, and abdomen while keeping your naval on the floor. Be sure to press down through the pubic bone toward the mat.
The mantra sound that corresponds to the Sacral Chakra is the sound VAM. By chanting VAM, the vibrations will open and align this Chakra. The color for the second Chakra is orange and the gemstones for this Chakra are amber, calcite orange, carnelian, or hematite.
Symbolism of the Image
Svadhisthana, the second Chakra, is situated in the genital region, it has six vermillion lotus petals. The moon-shaped crescent is the yantra of this Chakra. The Chakra governs the principle of taste, Its element is water.The vital relationship between water and the moon is shown by the crescent yantra within the white circle of the water Chakra.
The seed mantra is Vam and the vital breath of the Chakra is Prana.
Above the mantra is seated the presiding deity Vishnu, the lord of preservation, the all-pervading life-force in the universe. Vishnu is in shining dark-blue, and he wears a dhoti of golden yellow. A green silk scarf covers his four arms. He is seated on a pink lotus, four-armed, holding a conch, a mace, a wheel and a lotus. He is ornamented with the crown, jeweled earrings, anklets and wears the wanamala on his neck.
- Number of petals: 6
- Location: Above the genitals
- Name: Dwelling place of the self
- Plane: The Astral plane
- Sense Organ: Tongue
- Work Organ: Genitals
- Sense: Taste
- Element: Water
- Shape: Circle
- Sound: Vang
Vishnu is seated on the Garuda, the king of birds. Garuda is the concentrated vayu power developed from the highest form of kumbhaka (breath-suspension) which is under full control of Vishnu. Garuda represents the five vayus within us: Apana, Prana, Samana, Udana and Vyana. From the Garuda process has been developed the practice of Uddiyana control, the control of the lower abdomen.
This means the Great bird of Prana, the life force is constantly forced to fly upward, ascending along Sushumna nadi the central channel. By concentration, control over the five prana forces is increased through the release of Kundalini Power, and consequently pranayama develops. Then Lord Vishnu begins to be awakened.
His energy is Rakini or Chakini Shakti, two-headed, four armed, holding an arrow, a skull, a drum, and an ax, seated on a red lotus. Rakini is one of the forms of Kundalini Shakti. She wears a red sari, and jewels encircle her neck and four arms.
The Chakra’s associated animal is the light grey or green makara (crocodile), an emblem of the waters and the vehicle of the god Varuna, lord of the sea. Varuna has full control over the water principle and the celestial ocean (the milky way), the medium through which the five prana forces exhibit their functional activities.
This subtle water in its essence is Amrita, the deathless substance, and in its gross form is blood and various external and internal secretions.
Sources:
Heart Chakra Love Meditation
From love were we made.
On Passion’s waves our spirit sparked
and down we came into our
mothers …
mater …
matter …
The pull of love calling us, deep into the Earth
As deep into the mother father pushed.
Deep into the womb, we crawled –
the warm dark womb
of earth and water.
The womb of love –
safe, dark, cradled, quiet.
We grew.
In the dark there was but one sound –
the sound of life, the sound of love, the sound of the heart.
Beating …
Beating …
Beating …
Beating …
Hear it now in your own heart.
Its rhythms pumping life and air and breath
through every part of you,
renewing you;
Bathing you in air, in space, in breath, in life.
Feel it now at the core of you, embrace it with your hands.
Feel it yearning, crying, loving, hoping, healing.
Feel it within you, old as you are,
beating since the days from deep in the womb,
feel how long it’s been there,
Always beating. Never stopping.
Always beating. Never stopping.
Always beating. Never stopping.
Always beating. Never stopping.
Do you love that heart?
Breathe in deeply, drawing in the air … as softness, depth and wisdom.
As you breathe, spirit comes within your heart and touches you …
moving you … changing you.
Deeply, you accept as thirstily you drink.
Be thankful for this vessel that receives.
Faster now on waves of flame,
we fling with joy up to the sky,
above the Earth, above the water,
beyond the fire, into the air.
We reach and spread our wings and fly, free to ride the winds.
But soon get tossed about and cry:
Where is the heart?
Where is the heart?
Where is my home?
We listen for the beat and fly, deep unto its sound.
We reach for ground, slowing down.
We still ourselves to listen deeper, quiet is the sound.
Gently we reach, for the heart is tender.
Softly we touch, for the heart is afraid.
We open our hands to the love inside, to unite, to touch, to heal.
Offer that love now. Ask for entry to your own heart.
Listen deep and hear inside, a silent sound.
Anahata,
Anahata,
Anahata,
Anahata.
Listen deep and breathe into the sound,
the breath, the winds of healing.
In … and out … in …
and out … in … and out …
Inhaling that which is new,
exhaling the old,
each breath renewing
Each breath a wind within you and around you,
gentle zephyr, storm of life, winds of change.
For what does your heart cry?
For what does it long?
In what does it find peace?
Release its hopes and dreams to fly upon the wings of change
and then return on wings of love, fulfilled beyond your dreams.
You are not alone. Your cries are echoed in
a thousand hearts the same.
If you listen, you can hear them:
beating
beating
beating
beating
Deep within each person find the heart.
Everywhere around you find the heart.
Deep within ourselves we find the heart.
Every time we touch, we touch the heart.
Within each one is love, awaiting sweet unfoldment.
Release that love upon the winds of breath, and reach beyond.
Touch the hearts inside the ones you love,
And listen to their breath that whistles
in … and out …
in … and out …
Like you, they laugh and cry and play,
Ceaseless rhythm through each day.
Feel the heart so like your own:
Hoping, healing, breathing, feeling.
Let there be no sound of striking,
Only that of love and liking.
Each unto the dance of love,
That joins the Earth to worlds above,
And joins ourselves unto each other,
Each one seen as sister, brother.
Within our hearts the seeds of peace
Lie, awaiting sweet release.
Upon the winds of change they fly
As deep within our hearts we cry:
Anahata,
Anahata,
Anahata,
Anahata.
The sound of love.
From: Wheels of Life
Sacral Chakra Water Meditation
Quietly you lie at peace, alive against the Earth. The Earth that is still, solid, unmoving. You are still, yet for every ebb and flow of breath there is movement in your body. There is change. From inner to outer and outer to inner, the path between the worlds is woven through you. The path of change.
As your chest rises, the breath moves through your nose, throat, and lungs. It ebbs and flows, as evenly and gracefully as waves upon a shore. Back and forth … empty and full … in and out.
Inside, your heart beats, your blood pulsates, a river of life connects each and every cell within you. Blood flows outward … blood flows in toward the center again. Your cells expand and contract, ever reproducing, dying. Wiggle a finger back and forth. Impulses of nerves run down your arms. Your breathing continues … in … out … in … out.
Deep in your belly you become aware of a warm glow of orange, pulsing through your pelvis, through your abdomen, through your genitals. Pulsations of orange light move in rivulets down your legs, up again through your thighs, flowing through your belly, and up through your back to nourish all of you.
You are alive. You are a wave of motion. Nothing within you is truly still. Nothing around you is still. Everything is constantly changing at each and every moment. Every sound, every ray of light, every breath is an oscillation, back and forth, constantly moving, swaying, flowing. A flow of constant change, changing every moment from the last. By the time you finish this meditation, both you and the world will be different.
Within your body is a river of change. Find the subtle inner flows of movement and thought, moving up, down, around, and through. Find them and follow them. Allow them to gain momentum – removing obstacles by easing any tension you may find. Exaggerate their flow with outward movements: sway in your chair, rock back and forth, creating a rhythmic motion. Let the rhythm build until you feel like getting up – get up and move around, swaying on your feet, circling with your hips, bending your knees, always keeping the flow even and steady … remembering roots below. You sway, back and forth … up and down … in and out … expanding, yet ever returning to your core self once again.
You move with the flow of water, sometimes slow like a great river, sometimes quickly like a spring stream, sometimes languishing like a quiet lake, sometimes passionate like the waves of the sea. Raise an arm and imagine water flowing down through it. Feel the wet fluid run down your back, your buttocks, your toes.
Think of the water as it flows from the sky, caressing the mountains, running in rivulets to its various pools. Imagine water raining down on you, caressing your body, running in rivulets down your pelvis and legs, down to soften the Earth below. You are the rain as you fall effortlessly from Heaven to Earth.
You are many droplets as your thoughts fall from your mind. In tiny movements, the tides within you grow and move – faster as they plunge downward, cascading over pinnacles of earth – then slowly as they slither serpentine across great valleys of your fertile fields.
Until, as one, you ebb and flow with the ties of the sea, pulled by the moon in its dance of dark and light. Your oceans, vast and deep, abound with life. Your passion reaches outward, spills onto the shore, and returns again within you. You drink in all the change around you, pulling its movement through you as your life ebbs and flows. In … and out … you breathe.
From the vast depths of ebb and flow, you reach. You touch. You find your body. Sensation flows into your hand across your skin. Sensation known to none but you. Your hand moves across curves of flesh and follows lines of movement. You sway to the sensuality of your touch. Inside you rise emotions – churning, yearning, flowing, bubbling. They reach and touch and rise, becoming movements, waves change, the water flows, within, without.
You are alone, yet others are around you. They, too, ebb and flow, and change and touch and yearn. Your movements flow to join them, desiring to unite, to merge, to move toward something new. Your hands long to touch, to pull the oceans closer, to feel the flow of other tides mixing with your own.
Your belly heaves, your sex awakes, you thirst for touch, and reach beyond yourself. You find your “other” – different yet the same. Exploring, you begin to merge. The movements build within you, exalting you, expressing you, caressing you. Your passions swell in ocean waves to crash upon the shore and satisfy your needs. The waters ebb and flow, nurture, cleanse and heal, as they flow with each yearning, each movement, each breath. Ecstatic in uniting, you merge complete within yourself and completed once again within another. You dance, and rise and fall … and rest.
You are water – the essence of all forms, yet formless. You are the point from which each direction flows, and you are the flow. You are the one that feels, you are the one that moves. You are the one that embraces the other.
Shall we flow together and join our souls in this journey down the river of life? Shall we flow together to the sea?
From: Wheels of Life