Self-Care Techniques to Treat Root Chakra Imbalance

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• acceptance
• belonging
• law and order
• rootedness
• survival (fight/flight/freeze/fawn patterns)
• will to live

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A Balanced Root Chakra

If your Root Chakra is balanced and healthy, you will generally feel safe, accepted, and grounded as you make your way through life. Things don’t throw you off much, and you feel comfortable being present with what is.

We’re not born with either a balanced or imbalanced Root; this center’s energy can change quite regularly based on our conditions (read: Nature + Nurture). By paying attention to our emotional landscape, thoughts and choices, we can learn to recognize when our Root Chakra is out of balance.

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Imploding

A deficient Root Chakra might manifest in one’s feeling insecure, unable to say no to others, feeling withdrawn or generally fearful. It’s the sensation of having no anchor with which to buoy life.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text block_with_background=””]

Exploding

If your Root Chakra energy is excessive compared to that of the other energy centers, you might find it difficult to say yes to things, to change with the times, or find you tend towards aggression, pride or relying on dogma.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text block_with_background=””]

Unchecked

While it’s fair to say the chakra itself is imbalanced if it’s exploding or imploding, it’s more often than not that the cause of a Root Chakra imbalance is its lack of communication with the other energy centers, most commonly the Heart and/or Crown.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row block_with_background=”yes” add_default_margin=”” css=”.vc_custom_1442622295889{background-color: #eaeaea !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text block_with_background=””]

Treating a Root Chakra Imbalance

There are so many ways to balance your Root energy — it would be impossible to list them all. A great place to start is with intention work, diet, gemstones, and music therapy. For more support, I recommend Reiki and energy work classes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_empty_space height=”52px”][vc_text_separator title=”Affirmations for Root Chakra Imbalance” separator_style=”double-bordered-thick” title_align=”separator_align_center” align=”align_center”][vc_column_text block_with_background=””]

Affirmations are a way to keep your intention on what you’d like to manifest in your life. The best affirmation is the one that speaks to your concern(s). If you’re  working to remedy a physical ailment, I love Louise Hay’s Heal Your Body for a starting point. For more information on how an affirmation mala can keep your practice regular and effective, read my earlier post, “How to Use an Affirmation Mala.”

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row block_with_background=”yes” add_default_margin=””][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text block_with_background=””]Suggestions from  The Book of Chakra Healing and the 7 Healing Chakras Workbook include:

• My body is becoming more important to me. I nurture it constantly.
• I recognize the abundance of love, trust, and care surrounding me.
• I am taking responsibility for my life. I can cope with any situation.
• I deserve the best that life has to offer. My needs are always met.
• I connect with the earth and am nurtured by it.
• I am secure and stable and happy with who I am.
• I am content to be incarnated here on earth.

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To work with these, simply bring more of them into your life: Foods, gemstones and/or music to support the Root, Heart or Crown respectively. Even those deficient at the Root may very much benefit from incorporating more Heart or Crown energy aids to reinforce the message of love, compassion, and connection to Spirit in their lives.

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Imploding

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• Root vegetables
• Red-colored foods
• Meats, dairy, eggs

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• Petrified wood
• Black obsidian
• Hematite

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• Toning note: Middle C
• Rhythm/Drums/Bass
• Syllable “U” (e.g. boot)

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Exploding / Heart Imbalance

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• Cruciferous vegetables
• Green-colored foods
• Raw Foods

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• Rose quartz
• Kunzite
• Pink Tourmaline

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• Toning note: F
• Melody/Harmony/Woodwinds
• Syllable “A” (e.g. play)

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Exploding / Crown Imbalance

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• Sun-and-fruit water
• Organic, clean foods
• Fresh juices/broths for detox

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• Amethyst
• Clear quartz
• Selenite

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• Toning note: B
• Harmony/Harps/Wind Chimes
• Syllable “E” (e.g. ease)

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Your Practice

You might start with some reflection. How are you with groups — whether family, religion or other? Do you feel able to provide for life’s necessities? Do you feel out of place?

As you explore the related Root Chakra themes, try taking up one self-care technique. Commit to a daily practice for a week. What do you notice?

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References

• Andrews, Ted. The Healer’s Manual.
• Davies, Brenda. 7 Healing Chakras Workbook
• Minich, Deanna. Chakra Foods for Optimum Health.
• Myss, Caroline. Anatomy of the Spirit.
• Simpson, Liz. The Book of Chakra Healing

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Caring for Diabetes with Reiki and Energy Work

Article on Reiki Treatment of Type I, II and Gestational Diabetes

Living with Diabetes the Reiki Way

Author’s Key Points

• Diabetes is one of the most prevalent chronic health conditions we face in the US.
• Contrary to the common assumption, the condition is not just a nutritional disorder of glucose (sugar), but of carbohydrates as a whole, fats and proteins. (All need insulin to work properly.)
• There are three major types: Type I, Type II, and Gestational.
• Reiki treatment or self-care can help with the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of caring for diabetes.

Energy Work’s Take on Diabetes

Louise Hay, pioneer of energy work and affirmations, describes the negative mental patterning behind this condition as: “Longing for what might have been. A great need to control. Deep sorrow. No sweetness left.” (Hay, 164). Fundamentally, diabetes is a dysfunction of the Solar Plexus or Navel Chakra.

Role of the Solar Plexus

The Solar Plexus, or Navel, chakra is the seat of our personal power. When it is balanced we feel:

• Powerful
• Willful
• Driven
• Responsible
• Prosperous
• Able to accommodate differences

When it is out of balance, it can manifest in our life as power-struggle, misuse of power, helplessness, anger, bitterness, and digestive complaints (among other things).

Affirmation Work for the Solar Plexus

To counter the negative cycle of sorrow and perceived powerlessness, Hay recommends an affirmation I’ve adapted to incorporate Solar Plexus attributes from Davies (50):

“I am open to joy in my life. I now take command of my life, respecting others to command their own. I now choose to experience the sweetness of today.”

For more on affirmation work, see: How to Use an Affirmation Mala.

Supporting the Solar Plexus through Diet

When it comes to regulating blood sugar with diet, I always start by looking at everything else:

• Fiber: How much are you getting?
• Protein: Are you getting enough protein at each meal? The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine suggest pregnant moms consume 1.1 g/kg/day (71 g). The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day for (an adult) average joe. Athletes are looking more at 1.2 to 1.7 g/kg/day. It’s my experience when folks lack sufficient protein, they crave sugars to compensate for low energy.
• Hydration: Are you drinking enough water throughout the day? There’s no easy answer for how much is enough. To quote the Mayo Clinic: “Generally, if you drink enough fluid so that you rarely feel thirsty and your urine is colorless or light yellow — and measures about 6.3 cups (1.5 liters) or more a day if you were to keep track — your fluid intake is probably adequate.”
• Lastly, simple sugars: What kinds of simple sugars are you consuming, how often, and with what other foods? Simple sugars can be sneaky — including milk, soda, white breads, white-bread relatives, white rice, all-natural and artificial sweeteners, fruit juices, and starchy snacks (e.g. corn chips, crackers, potato chips). It’s not just calories that are concerning — saccharin (a.k.a. Sweet‘N Low), sucralose (a.k.a. Splenda) and aspartame (a.k.a. NutraSweet and Equal) have all been found to raise blood sugar.

In addition, aimed to specifically promote slow sugar metabolism, Dr. Minich in Chakra Foods for Optimum Health suggests the following (102):

Low-Glycemic Foods to Support the Solar Plexus

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Supplements for Blood Sugar Regulation

There are a number of natural options when it comes to blood sugar regulation and supplementation: Vitamins, minerals, herbs, medical mushrooms, antioxidants, etc. However, most of them have not been studied in pregnant populations. For this reason, few are considered safe to take during pregnancy. You may consider talking to your healthcare provider about:

• Chromium (found safe in study at 4-8mcg/kg in pregnancy)
• Magnesium (considered safe in pregnancy in doses below the tolerable upper intake level (UL) of 350 mg daily)
• Vitamin B6 (some but not all studies have shown women with gestational diabetes who also have a pyridoxine deficiency improved glucose tolerance and blood glucose levels when taking 100 mg of vitamin B6 daily for 2 weeks)

For everyone else, talk to your healthcare provider about choosing additional supplements that would be right for your constitution and condition.

Need more help?

Consider trying a Reiki session (they can even be conducted over the phone!) to unpack any emotions or thoughts that are contributing to your condition. Did you know electroacupuncture can also help regulate glucose?

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References

• Davies, Brenda. The 7 Healing Chakras Workbook. 2004.
• Hay, Louise. You Can Heal Your Life. 2004.
• Minich, Deanna. Chakra Foods for Optimum Health. 2009.

How do affirmation malas work?

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You provide the healing power

You are the one you’ve been waiting for; you have always been your healer. More often than not, it is ultimately doubt that gets in the way, making it difficult to trust in one’s ability to create positive change in one’s life. How do we build trust? With practice, determination, perseverance, and proof.

Affirmation malas provide the support

There are many ways and many tools to help us along our way as we dedicate ourselves to change, each unique and equally valuable. Working with an affirmation mala is only one way, but a comprehensive way at that, as it integrates the:

• mind with repetitive thought and speech
• emotions as drivers for meaningful intention and inspiration
• body with physical holding and movement of the beads

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CHANGE YOUR MIND

How we perceive the world is integral to our experience of it. It is powerful to learn we do not need to change circumstance to change our mind. And in consciously changing our mind, we intentionally direct our experience. What experience are you hoping to create in your life?[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” style=”vc_box_shadow_circle” image=”1997″ img_link_large=””][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text block_with_background=””]

Welcome Experience

When you feel clear on what it is you are ready to welcome in your life, it becomes easier and easier to let go of what stands in the way. We broadcast our message to the world around us every time we declare our intention and allow ourselves to imagine the experience of what we are creating.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” style=”vc_box_shadow_circle” image=”1957″ img_link_large=””][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text block_with_background=””]

STATE YOUR INTENTION

The benefit of using an affirmation mala is it allows people to dedicate time and energy to the practice of setting one’s intention. In spending time enough to run the rounds of one’s mala once to three times a day, one can fall into a groove, a kind of surrender to what one is creating.

Over time, what might have started out as just words becomes more intimate. We start to imagine, what does this really look like — my intention? How does it feel to imagine it as true? We can even start to refine our intention, changing our words slightly here and there to better reflect what is truly in our hearts. Most importantly, we start to feel our intentions.

This is the magnet — our emotions — when it comes to Law of Attraction; this is where we start to sing to the world, and hearing our song, the world sings back to us. The longer you stay with the sense experience of what you are intending to create and welcome in your life, the stronger your magnet.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” style=”vc_box_shadow_circle” image=”1958″ img_link_large=””][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text block_with_background=””]

BENEFIT FROM PRACTICE

When we run our fingers over the same mala time and time again, we leave an energetic imprint on the stones, just as they leave an imprint on us. They become a carrier for the energy we have summoned. The more we use our mala, the more energy it carries towards our intention.

For this reason, the mala can be used both during recitation for counting repetitions, and also as a tool for staying in touch with the energy behind your intention when worn around the neck or wrist.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Affirmations: “How a password changed my life” (Article, Medium)

 

Say what you mean

Our words carry an intention, a vibration. Our speech and our actions are often preceded by a thought. In this way our thoughts are constantly striking us like tuning forks, causing our bodies to resonate with the sound of their intention. “I love you, no matter what.” Just saying and hearing those words can be transformative as they deliver the message of acceptance, forgiveness, and hope. “You should [fill in the blank].” Immediately, before we even get to the ‘what’ of that sentence, the vibration can come in strong sending the message of rejection, shame and insufficiency. Our choice of words can have a big impact! With this all in mind (no pun intended!) I loved an article I read relatively recently: How a password changed my life.

Change your life

In the article, author Estrella writes about the bane that is constantly changing password requirements. His frustration, I think, is known by all at this point — ‘this site requires 7 letters, this one 8, this one a special character, this one only these special characters, an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, a new one every 30 days — that’s different from your last 5.’ The list of requirements go on and on and on! I loved the simplicity of his new approach: Turn this aggravation into an opportunity to change your life. Let your password be your affirmation.

Intention is direction

I tell my Reiki students one of the most important things you can do is be mindful of the path — don’t let fear tactics distract you from your intention to walk the path of love. I tell them it’s like riding a bicycle or driving a car: As soon as you start rubbernecking, you’ve already started to drive off the road. So reminding yourself of what’s true for you, what’s important for you, and/or simply what you wish the world would say to you, this is one of the most important and helpful things you can do for yourself. Author Estrella used his passwords to direct his attention and intention towards forgiveness, quitting smoking, a trip to Thailand, and more. Every time he used the password, he affirmed his intention to do just that:

• “Forgive@h3r”
• “Quit@smoking4ever”
• “Save4trip@thailand”

It’s such a simple technique for such powerful outcome! (If you’re wondering, yes, he successfully did all those things and more!)

Your practice

What’s something you wish the world would say to you more often? Put it in a password and let yourself hear it over and over and over again until it sinks in!

Have a success story you’d like to share? Put it in the comments!