The First Chakra in Joy

chakraclearing1 Last month we looked at the energy of joy and how to live your life on purpose every day. We discovered that joy is not something you strive for or find in the outside world of activities and events. Joy develops on the inside of you. It’s a feeling of the soul.

Yes, we are soulful beings inhabiting this vehicle called a body. Because of this, we need to care and tend to our essence, our Spirit-self. That’s what makes us happy – when our body and Spirit are working in unison. That’s when our soul is full of joy, peace, and contentment.

So how do we accomplish this? We can’t see our energetic body, so it’s sometimes difficult to understand its messaging. This is where chakras, the endocrine system, and hormones come in – they are the link between the energetic body and the physical body.

I think of chakras as energetic way stations connecting our Spirit to our physical body. Chakras are wheels of spinning energy located along the central axis of your body that house the energy of your thoughts and feelings. These bands of vibrating energy connect your spirit body to your physical form. They provide information to your endocrine system, regulating your hormones and balancing the energy within your body.

The ancients were well aware of the chakra system and wrote about life force flowing throughout the body. (In Chinese medicine, life force is called chi; in Sanskrit it is prana.) Western medicine is slowly coming to grips with the idea that energy flows through the body and affects our emotions and physical health.

There are seven major chakras housed inside our physical body, and they each have a part to play in manifesting a life full of happiness and inner contentedness. If your chakras are full of other peoples’ energies, then you might be living the life of someone else’s dreams. If your life is similar to your siblings, or if you drive the same type of car as a neighbor, it may be that their energy is in your chakras, blinding you to what would bring you (not them) joy.

The First Chakra: Survival

The first chakra, located at the base of the spine in our center of safety and security. This energy center is associated with the adrenal gland and the hormone adrenaline. We all know that feeling of flight or fight, when adrenaline courses through the body alerting us to potential danger.

When this happens, the chakra flares open, and we might feel this as a physical sensation in the base of the spine or tailbone area. We are figuratively on fire from all the adrenaline causing us to go into a heightened state of alert; which is great if there’s an actual emergency. But in today’s world, especially here in America, we seem to be in a constant state of hyper-vigilance. Our system is on full alert all day every day, overtaxing our adrenal glands and sometimes sending us into states of adrenal fatigue and illness. It’s very hard to be full of inner peace and gratitude when we are on hyper-alert.

Breath Work – The First Chakra in Joy

One of the easiest ways to calm your adrenals is to use your breath to calm your first chakra. Most of us take very shallow breaths, especially during times of stress. But if we become conscious of how we breathe and choose to take deep breaths, we bring more air into our bodies, slowing our heart rate. This in turn lowers our blood pressure and allows our bodies to relax and our adrenals to calm. The next time you are in a stressful situation become conscious of your breaths. Try to make your exhalation twice as long as your inhalation. Consciously fill your belly with air first, then your chest. Exhale through your mouth with your lips slightly parted. As you breathe this way your heart rate will slow and your blood pressure will soften.

In the coming posts, we will work with the other chakras in manifesting the life of joy, but bringing our first chakra back from the brink of overload is a huge help in living a life of joy.

Thanks for reading, and if this post resonated with you, please share it on your favorite social networks. Every share, like or tweet helps me reach more people who crave support in living a life full of joy and inner peace. So glad you’re here!