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As a life-long learner, I’m always interested in the “why” of things. I have tended to be more practical than esoteric about my yoga practice. I can attest that yoga grounds me, moves the agitation from my mind, relieves my anxiety, and helps me sleep better. I can easily get behind all of those things, as I know this from my direct experience.
But then, even as a yogi, with years and years of daily practice under my belt, when I started to hear about the importance of chakras, energy wheels, and balancing them… well, I was skeptical. You see, I am a full blooded, true blue Australian: we are born skeptics. It’s in our blood.
Cut to a few years into a daily yoga and meditation practice, and I started to notice that when I did practices that worked on my throat chakra, I communicated with more courage, and was much less worried what others would think.
When I engaged in breathwork, specifically working on the heart chakra, I was less armored, more open and receptive… kinder to myself, even.
I started to admit that there was something deeper going on. Something that was a little bit mysterious to me, and I was curious. I began a deeper exploration into these energy centers.
This is how my love affair with the chakras began. Healthy skepticism that gave way to wonderful experiences and results that I knew were affecting me at a much deeper level than just my physical body.
So, why do we do practices that align and balance our chakras? Well, because they work! Don’t just take my word for it though, try these experiences for yourself. Practice along with me in Root to Rise: A Journey Through the Chakras (a 14-day Wanderlust TV free trial will give you two weeks to sample all 7 classes).
What results will you expect on this journey?
Start at The Root: The First Chakra (Mūlādhāra)
When this chakra is out of balance, it often feels like you lack stability. You likely feel ungrounded, uprooted, insecure. You don’t feel a sense of home within yourself or within the world. You may feel like money always slips through your fingers, or that you’re always struggling to make enough of it to get by.
The truth is, you cannot grow and change unless you feel safe and secure, and this starts at our own roots, our first chakra.
In balance, you feel confident, safe, and financially secure within your own being. You’re able to take effective, inspired action without overdoing things.
In balance, it allows you to manifest what you desire. It allows you to finish tasks, to follow through on your intention, while being present and embodied when doing so. You can only connect fully to your creativity, your intuition, and get quiet enough to listen to the voice of your soul when you feel safe and secure. This is only possible with strong roots, with a stable first chakra.
How To Ground Down & Stabilize Mūlādhāra
To get this chakra into alignment, it is best to do grounding practices. Grounding orients us in time and space. We move from being out of our bodies, into making them feel safe enough to fully inhabit again.
Abdominal work and leg work (like squats) and frog pose help us balance our root chakra. I suggest 26 repetitions of frog pose every day to keep this chakra balanced. I have done this pose almost every day now for 20 years. It gave me a stability within myself that I never knew before.
Walking is one of the other keys for strong roots. Walk every day, at least 30 mins. This is essential to stay grounded, connected to the earth, to your body and to your inner security. Especially try walking barefoot in nature, this is super nurturing for this chakra. Eat grounding foods. Root vegetables, like sweet potatoes, bring even the most etheric person back into their bodies, back to the earth. I love a combo of sweet potato, brown rice and tahini when I want to balance my roots and feel nourished.
To ground this information for yourself, try the 26 repetitions of Frog pose for 40 days, and journal about how you feel. Don’t forget you can also practice along with me on Wanderlust TV, balancing the root chakra in my Muladhara class, and then follow up your practice with this 10-minute journalling exercise:
And feel free to check in with me anytime too. I am here, practicing with you, and cheering you on, as you balance these powerful energetic centers, all in the name of feeling good! We are doing this together.
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Rachel Dougherty (Sat Siri) is a trailblazing, next generation, Kundalini Yoga teacher and trainer. She travels the world teaching Kundalini Yoga in places like Bali, Maui, Mexico and India. She has been practicing Yoga and Meditation for over twenty years and teaching Kundalini Yoga for fourteen. She practiced Iyengar Yoga, Vipassana Meditation, and many other modalities before finding Kundalini Yoga. A former ballet dancer with the Australian Ballet, Rachel found ballet meditation in motion, a creative expression that renewed her perspective with each step, turn or jump.
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