When I had just moved out to Hebden Bridge, the issues that are to do with the base chakra were very current for me. Even though I really wanted to move out here, and I love it here, at the time I was feeling very "wobbly" and ungrounded - unsurprising in that I have literally "uprooted" myself and all my possessions!
I realised there's a lot to say about this chakra, so this first post will give a description of the base chakra, and the kind of conditions it is associated with. The next post will then look at activities and practices that can heal and balance the base chakra, and how energy healing, the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and reiki can help that process.
The base chakra is located at the base of the spine, and governs the spinal column and the kidneys. It is here that we hold our issues around survival; if we are strong in this chakra, we will step forward in life with confidence and ease, certain that the earth and the universe will provide for us.
When we are strong in this chakra, we create a flourishing, nurturing home, we manage our finances with ease, we love and respect our bodies and look after them, and we function well in the world.
People who are weak in this chakra are often very talented, maybe even brilliant, and yet they will find it hard to manifest in line with their talents. They tend to feel a lot of fear; this may manifest in their lives in many different ways, but at its root is often a fear of really being fully alive.
Our society, with its emphasis on the mind and intellectual ability and achievement, and our general dislocation from the land and the earth, leads to a lot of us being disconnected from our roots, and out of touch with our body and its wisdom.
The type of illnesses and conditions that can be associated with an imbalance in the base chakra are: anorexia nervosa (a classic illness of not really wanting to be here), depression, food addictions (often food, particularly heavy food can be used unconsciously to make the person feel more grounded and more "here"), constipation and other issues to do with elimination such as Crohn's disease, diarrhoea or piles, lower back pain, sciatica, and issues with the hands, feet and legs.
I also think that having a depleted base chakra can be part of many chronic illnesses. I know myself that it was part of what I worked on in my healing journey to do with chronic fatigue syndrome (M.E.). All the years of using my brain a lot in analytical and computing work (academia and accounting) meant that my energy was very high in my body, away from my base chakra. I also think that my meditation practice led to a strong connection with the divine in my higher chakras, but sometimes at the expense of being really rooted in this world (and in a way this is unsurprising - I was struggling so much with my physical life that it was more enjoyable being connected to the heavens!)
Please note that I am not saying there is anything wrong with "brain" work or meditation. It is more that my approach to them at the time was not balanced. It is certainly possible to integrate computer and academic work in a balanced life that includes body awareness practices. Similarly, many meditation teachers emphasise the necessity of meditation practice being "embodied". In this respect, I have found chakra balancing and chakra toning meditations really helpful, as they automatically bring the focus down in the body when working on the lower chakras.
That's an overview of the base chakra, and the conditions associated with it. The next post will focus more on how we can heal the base chakra, including how energy healing, the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and reiki can help with that.
Fiona Cutts is an energy healer who specialises in working with clients suffering from ME. You can see more about her work with people struggling with this debilitating condition at http://www.treatmentforme.net/. She has herself recovered from ME using a combination of energy healing, the Emotional Freedom Technique, nutrition, graduated exercise, meditation, chi kung and dance. She is an Integrated Energy Healing, in the tradition of Barbara Brennan, an Advanced Emotional Freedom Technique Practitioner and a reiki practitioner. You can read more about her and the way she works with people suffering from ME at http://www.treatmentforme.net/#/my-story.