Mooladhara or Root Chakra

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Chakra is the psychophysical center within the body and mind structure. Vritti is distortion or alteration of the originally peaceful state of consciousness or state of mind— longings, desires, emotions, or any kind of  movement away from the original silent state of mind.

Chakras perform many vital functions within the body and mind. Every emotion and state of mind is controlled by a respective Chakra.

Mooladhara Chakra is the first center which means root and base. It is located at the base of the spine at Coccyx. Since the entire body is supported by this point, it is also called the Root Chakra. Mind sprouts from this point– when energy unfolds itself, it gives rise to the various expressions of mind. 

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What is Mooladhara or Root Chakra?

Mooladhara is connected to solid matter. It controls the solid components of the body like nails, hair, and bones. When balanced, at the physical level, it gives good health, added glow, and a pleasant scent. On the mental level, it gives the feeling of steadiness, stability, and down-to-earth nature. Four emotions or desires that are fundamental to the human mind are associated with it: physical desire, psycho-physical desire, psycho-spiritual desire, and spiritual desire.

The four human desires

The feeling of happiness is met through the four desires. When you recognize these desires and find a medium to satisfy them, you attain a deeper sense of happiness. 

Self-preservation is a basic physical desire. Through evolution, we have been trained to either run or freeze in a spot out of fear during danger. The fear can also turn into aggression or into a position of power to safeguard ourselves. 

At the next level, you recognize that there are no enemies outside but inside your own mind— you turn inwards and fight your imperfections and weaknesses. The final realization is the desire to attain psychic expansion. This is similar to the physical expansion where you crave external control, however, this is directed inwards towards spirituality. 

Basic physical desires are self-preservation, sleep, food, and procreation instincts but the psychological desires can be different. For instance, wanting healthy food is the body’s physical desire but your mind may crave a pizza. These differences often lead to a  conflict between these two– the psychophysical desire often wins because we seem to receive much more happiness when we satisfy the desire of the mind than of the body.

 In Sanskrit, the desire of the mind for physical objects is called “Artha” which means money or any medium to satisfy physical desires. Many people get so stuck in these two levels of desires that they are unable to think at the psycho-spiritual and spiritual level, which is why they struggle to feel completely happy with life.

We try to fulfill all our physical and psychophysical desires through materialistic pleasures like eating, traveling, possessing things but it cannot give the infinite happiness that we crave. If your desires are well channelized through deeper aspects like arts and spirituality,  you can open up and flourish while the lack of it can turn your desires to become destructive leading to negative traits including addiction, aggression, or deception. 

The desire for infinity and unity is ‘Dharma’. One desire is ‘Vistara’ or expansion– when we achieve something, we feel satisfied as it is an expansion. The second desire is ‘Rasa’, a feeling of connectedness, or wanting to connect to something bigger and be in harmony with it. The next desire that comes is the wish to do something noble- for instance, you may like to eat but instead spend your resources to feed, clothe, and house poor people. 

Then, there is a desire for psychospiritual longing– to go beyond the movement within the mind to serenity. Finally, there is a spiritual longing of the soul for the infinite by being liberated from the bondage of the mind. This is similar to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid wherein one desires to meet physiological needs and safety needs first, followed by belongingness needs. They further move towards wanting to fulfill esteem needs and finally want to achieve self-actualization.

How To Activate Your Mooladhara Or Root Chakra?

When the Mooladhara Chakra is developed there is multilateral development of the human personality, just like the growth of a flower from a seed. Spiritual awakening can be attained from activating the Mooladhara Chakra through sound: spiritual sound energy can awaken the seed which is dormant in us and open all six petals to direct the consciousness upwards. 

Mantra meditation, asanas that open hip, like Yog mudra, Dirgha pranam, Gomukhasana, Bhujangasana, Katapaschimotanasana, Vajrasana, are beneficial for mooladhara awakening. Practice breathing while lying down and focus on the coccyx to activate your root chakra.

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