A Beginner's Guide To The Sacral Chakra (How To Open + Balance It)
The Sacral Chakra in Sanskrit is called Svadhisthana. Broken down, swa means "one's own" and adhisthana means "home or abode."
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The Sacral Chakra is often talked about in relation to sexuality because of its connection to passion and pleasure. However, the need to feel passion and pleasure extends to family, work, daily life, our past-times, relationships, and (especially) our relationship with ourselves. How we flow is how we go, and that is true for feminine and masculine energy.
Because the Sacral Chakra is our source of creative expression, the work we do with this chakra will help to know what fulfills us. It's creativity, creation, emotion, flow, reproductive and digestive movements. It helps us absorb what we need and eliminate what no longer serves us.
Having this chakra in balance is key to the expressive force of your nature. How we flow is how we go.
Before I dive in, it’s important to note that the Sacral Chakra varies between men and women. Lisa Erickson, chakra-based energy worker and blogger at Mommy Mystic, wrote a blog post series on women and the Sacral Chakra which I highly recommend reading. But for now, you can read about our beginner’s guide to tools, materials, and processes which can help you to restore and balance your Sacral Chakra.
AFFIRMATION: I Express My Creative Power
Whether we’re being wildly-creative or we’re being dull and mundane, we are still creating. Knowing your creative power and owning that creative power is key to reclaiming your power and your life. Nevertheless to reclaiming the energy and function of the chakra!
MANTRA: Vam
The beauty of this mantra is that it’s just as helpful in sitting in traffic as it is in meditation. That’s because the benefits of the mantra aren’t in going blank, but rather, they are within the sound. Strive to say this mantra with a slow and deep vibration. This vibration produces a frequency which resonates with the frequency of the Sacral Chakra. If you find yourself feeling uninspired or anxious, try vibrating this mantra to see how it affects your mental/emotional state. Sitting in 5 o’clock traffic is the perfect place for this.
GEMSTONES: Orange Calcite, Tiger’s Eye, Carnelian, Moonstone, and Pyrite
There are a number of crystals and gemstones which benefit the Sacral Chakra. If you want to get a comprehensive understanding of what stones to use and how they interact with the chakra, I recommend reading The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall.
To work with your crystals and stones, you can simply wear them as pendants or place one in your pocket. If you want to go deeper with your Sacral Chakra work, you can mediate with them, or simply lie down with the stones placed on the energy center. As you hold or lie with your stones contemplate, “What inspires me? What do
I have to express? What is holding me back from being passionate and from expressing myself in all my true and unique and enthusiastic splendor?”
Our mala prayer bracelet--I Am Fierce-- is made with pyrite, tiger’s eye and carnelian to magnify the strength that comes from the sacral chakra.
ESSENTIAL OILS: Bergamot, Cardamom, Neroli, Orange, Patchouli, Rose, Sandalwood, and Frankincense
A number of essential oils can benefit the Sacral Chakra. The ideal oil for you will vary because they posses different properties that offer different benefits. Soothing oils like Ylang Ylang, Neroli, and Rose can be used to calm and nurture while an oil like Cardamom, Bergamot, Sweet Orange and Rosemary can be used to stimulate the energy center.
Essential oils can be applied to the soles of the feet for overall benefits, or they can be applied topically by rubbing them over the Sacral Chakra region (remember to dilute oils with a carrier oil as needed) or adding them to a diffuser, like our Fierce Mala Aromatherapy Bracelet.
For essential oil treatment plus some chakra-boosting self-care, you can try our soothing I Am Abundant Salt Soak and energizing Focused Intentions Aura Mist. There’s also our Frankincense and Neroli Body Oil which will nourish skin and the sacral chakra center. A bath soak followed by self-massage is a powerful self-care tool, especially when extra focus is paid to the womb area.
HERBS: Calendula, Hibiscus, Ginger, Licorice, Mint, and Cinnamon
Tea and herbal infusions are two of the easiest (and healthiest and cheapest) ways to treat your Sacral Chakra with herbs. We created our Sacral Balance Herbal Tea for this reason. It’s a blend of shatavari, calendula, cinnamon, ginger, and chicory root which acts to activate, soothe, and restore the Sacral energy center, sip after nutritive-and-energetic-sip.
ELEMENT: Water
With water being the element of the Sacral Chakra, this is the perfect opportunity to tap into this chakras creativity by developing your own practices for healing, balancing, and maintaining the Sacral Chakra.
Some of the many practices you could try include:
- Meditate to rain tracks
- Go swimming
- Drink a glass of water that has been charged by the Full Moon or blessed with a prayer
- Drink tea infused with Sacral Chakra herbs (like, say, our Sacral Balance Tea)
- Take a bath (why not toss in crystals, herbs, or essential oils for extra Sacral Power?)
MUDRA: Shakti Mudra
The concept of Shakti is so vast and complex to cover here, but if there’s one thing we know, it’s that Shakti is power. Shakti is the creative instinct which makes things manifest, and Shakti is also the lifeforce energy within all things. Shakti Mudra is said to act upon the pelvic region. This can be as especially powerful mudra for women because we connect our womb and all of its creative powers with the womb and creative powers of Shakti. Alternatively, it can be a powerfully-balancing mudra for men. Check out Yogapedia’s Shakti Mudra tutorial and see what it does for you.
POSE: Butterfly Pose
Marlene Smits of Ekhart Yoga recommends using Baddha Konasana (Butterfly Pose) for balancing the Sacral Chakra, as well as Upavista Konasana, Pelvic Tilts, Kundalini Lotus, and Sufi Grind. Triangle Pose is also Sacral-worthy.
FEELING: Passion
A balanced sacral chakra enables us to be passionate, creative, and to take pleasure in life. This passion can be seen in our sexual expression and our creativity in our work, but it can just as well be seen in how we spend our free time, the new things we try (and the old things we let go), our ability to be flexible and have fun, the healthy boundaries we have for our lives, and the fulfilling standards we are (always) developing for ourselves and our relationships with others. Get the passion flowing back through you with things like:
- Activities: What desires or passions do you have and how can you channel them? What projects or activities make you feel creative? What activities have you always wanted to try? Do the things that light your inner fire!
- Dancing: Dance like no one (or everyone) is watching. Turn up some tunes and move your body to a random playlist.
- Sexuality: Take a break from worry and insecurity and have some fun expressing your sexuality. Plan a romantic and tantalizing evening with your partner or YOURSELF, take a sexy dance class, put on some smoldering eyeliner, or get yourself an outfit that lights your fire. Be expressive, be unafraid, and BE YOU.
- Journaling: Write down all your hopes, dreams, desires, and jot down moments of fun and laughter. Take this time to contemplate what doesn’t have you feeling inspired too. Learning what to say “No” too will free up the time and space for the things that have us bellowing, “YES!”
Need more support to begin healing through your Sacral Chakra? Check out our Creative Expression Sacral Collection as the perfect care package to begin your journey.