Mudra. Image courtesy of the author

Working on the understanding that there is an energy, an electromagnetic one, flowing throughout the body, one can easily envisage the creation of a closed circuit when holding the hands and fingers in certain gestures. Each set of fingers met, every posture of the hand creates a subtle difference in the effects of the flow. This mudra focuses bio-electrical energy to the root.

It can be tempting for some of us to feel like we want to skip to the higher octaves of frequency, bypassing all the mundane static to tune straight in to the cosmic source for guidance. The brighter lights “up there” are far more interesting and appealing than the boring “down here” stuff of earthly existence. After all, isn’t it “up there” where we can tune our “radio receivers” for clearer communication with our own spirit and higher consciousness? Isn’t this where the information streams in from the subtle universe?

While the latter may be true, if we’re not properly grounded the information being received may strike us like a lightning bolt charging through a golf club left standing on the green. It will send the club flying.

To handle such a powerful charge, we must first be grounded. The root is associated with the color and frequency of red. It is the chakra of physicality, passion, power, providing, and survival. It is represented by the elephant. It is the archetypal masculine rage, yet also matriarchal compassion and gentleness. The elephant is unstoppable in its strength and power, its inner resolve a representation of our higher self. The elephant is at home in Neptune, so, as we create our reality, we must remember to discriminate, to follow our true highest dreams but not to succumb to illusions, whims, and fantasies.

The root chakra’s petal formation is fourfold, representing stability, calmness, and endurance. It is home. It is all of the raw energy channeled and grounded constructively within our own basic physical survival. Left unbalanced, we will remain indecisive and disconnected from reality, which can manifest stressfully or leave us feeling like a nebular space cadet, treading water in a thick fog of marijuana. On the other hand, it can result in the most typical of today’s humanity: purely focused on the physical drives of society and without relation to the subtle. In this state, we’re more likely to become reactionary than responsive.

But there’s more . . .

The root is what connects us to this beautiful Earth of which we are a part. We are born of the organic matter of the universe and physically recycled at this frequency until such time that we evolve sufficiently to move beyond known reality.

As we connect with others sexually, we connect our roots. This is different from the sacral chakra; if the roots connect while unbalanced in either party, the domino effect of rising energy from intercourse, typically Kundalini energy or Shakti energy, will be enough to unsettle all the other subtle energy centers, leading to emotional unbalance if nothing else. Here we can see the downward spiral of love that includes attachment, hunger, need, clinging, control, anger, resentment, disassociation, and so on. This is the basis of the emotional drama that so many people consider normal these days. During sex, intimate or animal, energy is exchanged as much as fluid. If we are not in balance, sex can leave us with all our fears and negative traits triggered. In other words, be mindful of unconscious engagement and with whom you share your root, as they in turn share theirs with you, for your own sake as well as for the sake of the other.

Mudra. Image courtesy of the author

A balanced and grounded root chakra is primarily feeling at home within ourselves. It is the compassionate caregiver and provider for the rest of the emotional body. It is the mother elephant protecting her baby. It creates the bedrock, the nest, and the home from which the children, higher chakras, emotional body can feel loved and grow.

The Buddhist teachings speak of the marriage of compassion and wisdom. Compassion is represented by the masculine and wisdom by the feminine. From this we can even call the root, the earthly manifesting male, the inner masculine lover engaged in the sacred embrace with the inner wisdom of higher chakras. This practice lovingly holds that golf club, the inner energy channel, as the lightning streams in with all its cosmic glory, facilitating a fully embodied active earthly existence with higher wisdom. We ground the circuit board to the Earth so that the electricity can flow freely and safely.

​The seed syllable associated with the root is LAM. As everything is frequency, reciting this sound will help clear and recalibrate the stuck-ness of an unbalanced chakra, like morphing the mud that can keep us bogged down, into living fertile soil from which all else can grow healthily.

There are many grounding meditations to be found, none simpler than sitting quietly in nature (if possible) holding this mudra and reciting the seed sound mantra with slow deep breaths deep down to the base of your torso. If possible, see this breath as red, vibrating with vitality, and feeling the connection with the energy of all organic matter. We can also do the tree meditation, as above with the addition of imagining roots that extend deep into the Earth. These are two really simple yet effective practices that can be carried out at any moment, especially when we’re feeling spacey, unfocused, angry, desperate, or lost.

So, there you go: a little reminder of why we should not forget our root. It is the vital force connecting us to all earthly existence. It is home from which we can fly.

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Tilly Campbell-Allen (Dakini as Art)

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