Every foundation rests upon the earth - the universal ground for all that we do. What is the foundation to your spirituality?
When we connect with the body, we connect with the earth.
Our body is the home of our spirit. At the base of the spine, the first energy center of our root energy centers, is the very foundation for the entire energy center system. Without a strong, rooted foundation, very little else can be accomplished.
The first or root energy center is called “muladhara” in Sanskrit which means “root support.” It is also the house where events that have occurred to us during our most formative years between zero and seven years old reside. The root energy center gives us ground, a home, an anchor point for our experience. This root determines the structure above but it also determines what it can hold and what kind of stresses it can withstand. So it stands to reason that damage to this energy center is reflected in each and every other center above it.
To build a strong foundation in spirituality is to gain solidity. Solidity allows us to be firm and make boundaries. Solidity has consistency, repetition, accountability. Our body is the solid form of our existence. When we have a solid foundation, it allows us to face whatever is in front of us without flinching, to remain anchored in truth in the face of opposition, and to remain calm and secure.
The underlying element of consciousness that forms this foundation is the instinct to survive. It’s our primal instinct, it’s fundamental and it literally runs the baseline maintenance program of our physical existence. When it is threatened, it dominates all other functions of consciousness.
Where are your thoughts when you are suddenly being threatened by someone or something? At these times, it makes sense that all of your available psychic energy is routed to survival and very little is available for anything else.
When our survival threats are frequent, then our consciousness becomes fixed at this level. This keeps our body then in a state of hyper-vigilant readiness flooded with stress hormones that instantly and routinely throw us into fight-flight-freeze response.
When I meet with clients for energy healing, one of the first things I do is test each of their energy centers to determine which one or ones may be operating in a counterclockwise direction. When any of our centers are moving in this direction, it signals that the body is out of balance in that area. More often than not for my new clients, it is typically the first, second or third energy centers that are out of alignment. This is because our body has been kept in this constant state of survival, stress and overdrive for too long, sometimes for years or even decades at a time.
It is not until the lower three energy centers are balanced that we have access to the upper ones which help us manage our ability to love unconditionally, speak and create freely, intuit and ultimately engage fully on a spiritual level.
When the first energy center is damaged, we are overwrought with issues of survival including money, health, housing or job problems. We may even feel as though our basic feeling of safety and security seems to elude us no matter what we do even if there are no real threats to our survival. And when we feel our survival is threatened, we feel afraid. This fear then heightens our awareness and actually floods the body with natural chemicals like adrenalin to energize it for action. If danger (or even perceived danger) is a frequent presence when we are growing up, fear pervades our baseline program for survival.
This energy center roots us into our bodies, the physical world, and the earth. A plant cannot survive without its roots and neither can the psyche of the human being.
In order to create a solid foundation, we have to sort out the roots of our childhood. (This is when it might be advisable to meet with Maggie for a spiritual counseling or life coaching session) These are the roots that nourished and sustained us in our most formative years. The root energy center (the muladhara chakra) corresponds to the element of earth which is the ground of our roots. Our own roots are the way our entire system plugs into the larger system of the planet, which is our source, the origin from which all things grow.
“Standing on our own two feet” is the perfect expression for how we ground our root or first energy center. Being grounded gives us a source of strength through our connection to our body and the environment. This physically happens through our legs and feet.It’s only when we draw up energy from the base that we can create a liberating current that flows all the way up through our entire energy center system and body to our crown and our spiritual selves.
When we are grounded we can be present and focused. Our attention is concentrated in the here and now. Without grounding, we are unstable. We lose our center, fly off the handle, get swept off our feet. We lose our ability to contain the boundaries we need to build up our inner power.
Being able to establish a healthy ground is the essential work of the first energy center and it is vital to the foundation of any further growth in any of the other centers above it. Without healing the wounds of the first energy center, it is impossible to grow and evolve emotionally or spiritually.
Join us each Sunday to practice the foundation to our spirituality through connection and meditation at Satsang House.