Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:11] Hello, and welcome to Deep in your Yoga Practice podcast. I'm Lauren Leduc, the owner and founder of True Love Yoga in Kansas City, Missouri. And today I'm going to talk about the root chakra. So if you go a few episodes back, I have a whole episode on the chakra system, or chakra system. We talk about about whether they're real or not, whether we see them as map or metaphor. And I definitely recommend going back and listening to that before going into this episode. It's also okay just to sit back and relax and take in this info and then maybe revisit that later. I will be doing an episode on each of the seven major chakras. So this is a series, but they'll come once every few weeks, so we'll have other types of episodes sprinkled in along the way. So welcome to this chakra series. Starting at the foundation, at the root, from the ground up. The chakra system, in brief, is your body's energy system. Imagine there are these highways of prana, or energy, flowing through the system. And. And everywhere these highways intersect creates a whirling vortex of energy called a chakra. Would be many in the body, but we're focusing on the seven major chakras that align with the spine. Each one associates with a different part of the body, with a different element, with different physical, psychological, emotional qualities. So we'll dive deep into each one.
[00:01:51] How to form a relationship with it in your life, how to work with it in your practices on and off the mat, and how to feel more embodied through this system. Like I said in a previous episode, we talk about whether these chakras are quote unquote real, and I'll just say, I don't think that it matters. They are beautiful tools, whether metaphor or rather real, to deepen our understandings of who we are. So think of it however you'd like and let's dive in. So first, what is the root chakra? The Sanskrit term for this chakra is muladhara, muladhara, which means root support. This chakra is located at the base of the spine and the pelvic floor and also governs the legs and feet. It's associated with things like survival, stability, safety, belonging, trust, our relationship with our physical body, with our homes, even with childhood, and with things like money. So it's about survival. It's about what grounds you to this earth. And it would be considered the densest or most physical out of all of the chakras. It's also associated with the developmental stage of early childhood. And our primal needs. And if we're to correlate this to Maslow's hierarchy, which is very similar to this system, it is associated with physiological needs and safety. So each chakra is associated with a color of the spectrum, with an element, with a sound and a symbol. So, so we'll go into what Muladhara root chakra looks, sounds and feels like. So the color associated with this chakra is red.
[00:03:52] Think earthy, vital, protective.
[00:03:57] Its element is earth. So dense, thick soil and earth. Its sound or mantra is lam L A M.
[00:04:11] And when you're using these sounds or mantras, you can chant them very similar to how you would chant Om. And I also recommend as you're chanting them to bring your focus or awareness to the space of this chakra. So you would bring your awareness to the base of the spine, enchant lum. They're even associated with, with the major scale. So if you want to get really granular with it, you could chant lum at a C. The symbol for this chakra is a four petaled lotus with a square and a downward pointing triangle. And we can think of this chakra in a balanced state when we are feeling secure, when we're feeling grounded, connected to our physical bodies, when, when we have healthy boundaries, when we have really good rest, when we feel safe and good in our homes, when we have a respectful and realistic relationship with our money and finances. And this can feel really imbalanced when we're feeling a lot of anxiety or fear or vigilance, even the spaciness or dissociation, financial or home insecurity, maybe when we have physical injuries in any of these areas. Also things like disordered relationships with food or your body and feelings of scarcity in general. It can also feel like a big disconnect from your inner child and even from nature itself self. If you are indoors all of the time, maybe on screens, it's very easy to get disconnected from the earth element. So that being said of what it might feel like balanced or imbalanced, we can talk about practices that we can do to help feel more in balance in this chakra, in this area, both on the mat and off the mat. So on the mat we can think of standing poses that are very strong and rooted.
[00:06:23] Tadasana comes to mind. Or mountain pose. Mountain is literally rock, literally earth. So we imagine ourselves as super strong and stable and balanced in this posture. We can think of our warrior poses, warrior one and two, where both feet are rooted on the ground, even molassana as we draw our root down toward the ground and find a downflow of energy and and even tree pose. Even though one leg is on the ground, we practice rooting to rise in that posture. Additionally, we can think of feet and legs work in our practice in particular.
[00:07:00] And you can practice this in those poses I just named is pada banda. Padabanda is our foot lock. So when you're finding this particular foot position, really in most, if not all standing poses, we are spreading our toes out wide, pressing into all of the corners of the foot. So the ball of the foot aligned with the big toe, the ball of the foot aligned with the pinky toe, the center of the heel. We might even be engaging our lower leg such that the soles of the feet or the arch of the feet, pardon, might slightly lift. Or we can at least imagine that happening within our body. So that's padabandha. And we can also think of standing stabilization through our legs. So as we are in poses like a low lunge, for instance, we're finding pada or pressing down through both feet to ground. And then we might be drawing our inner thighs toward each other to create stability through our root. And other postures, such as triangle, we might think of finding padabanda, but then really engaging through the back leg and engaging through the glutes as well, just to create again this sense of deep stability. Even while we are putting our body into postures that require some sort of balance, we can also practice on the mat in our seated poses and even hip openers. And that goes up into the sacral as well, which we'll talk about in the next episode of this series. But postures like sukhasana or sidasana, so sitting, prepping for meditation or grounding at the beginning of class can be a really nice way. Maybe imagining roots even growing from your body into the ground, maybe paschimottanasana as well, which is a seated forward fold with the legs extended out in front of you.
[00:08:55] That way you are lengthening the whole back of the leg, maybe strengthening the front of the leg and feeling the whole back of the leg root down into the ground. In yin, we might feel root chakra balancing in postures like butterfly and caterpillar dragonfly. One of my favorite mudras for the root chakra is called Bhu mudra. I like to practice it when I'm in sukhasana or sidasana. So sitting crisscross applesauce, and you use your peace fingers, so index finger and middle finger together, and then you just set them onto the ground. And you might even imagine, like, as you're inhaling, you're drawing energy up from the earth into your being. And as you're exhaling, you're releasing anything that is not serving you back down to the earth. And we think of earth as this really nurturing mother who is able to handle all of you.
[00:09:52] And anything you give to the earth, she recycles into new, fresh energy. So I love feeling that connection with the earth during my practice, feeling like I can really let it all go and that she can handle it just like any strong mother would. We might practice with somatic exercises on the mat, Even things like bouncing, shaking, shaking, dancing at times. Anything that allows you to release anxious energy from the body and just feel more in your body in general. And we can also access this. I talked about patabanda, but through the next banda up, which is mulabanda. Notice they have the same root word, mulabanda and muladhara, which is root, and mulabandha is the root lock. So for that, that is awareness of your pelvic floor muscles. So this kind of basket of muscles at your pelvic floor. And as we use melibandha, we gently lift those muscles. It's a gentle contraction. One of my teachers, Jenny Lee, says it's like pulling a tissue from a tissue box. So that's how gentle the contraction is. We can also practice not only contracting mulabanda, but relaxing it as well, which can is just as important as being able to strengthen through that particular area. And we need that flexibility to do both. So those are different ways on the mat, we might explore the root chakra, and here are a few things that you can do off of the mat. So I talked about connecting with nature as a really important part of the health of this chakra. So walking barefoot or earthing can be really soothing. Really just getting outside, maybe spending time with trees, hiking in the forest, things like gardening, where you're getting your hands in the dirt, or even if you're an artist, working with clay can be a really beautiful way to work with the root chakra. You might be cooking grounding meals for yourself. We can look to Ayurveda for what that might mean. But think things that grow in the earth and that are somewhat dense, like sweet potatoes, are such a grounding food. One of my very favorite ones, root vegetables in general, you might think of creating safe spaces in your home.
[00:12:13] That might mean decluttering. It might mean even redecorating at times. Can you bring in colors that help you Feel soothed? That help you feel safe? Are we overwhelmed with too many things? Is there energy that needs to be cleared in the house? House? Maybe there's a space where you can set up a little altar, whether that's with objects of nature or just anything that reminds you of the beauty of life, of the beauty of nature, the beauty of who you truly are. That could be a little shelf or just a small area in your house where you can feel more connected. Maybe it's time to get financially organized. So that's budgeting, paying bills, asking for support in whatever form you need it. It's looking at things in black and white and even deal with our emotions around money.
[00:13:04] This can include nervous system work, which we also absolutely can do on the mat. But I'll name off the mat things like so breathing, slow breathing, anything that helps you feel oriented to the here and now. So that might mean taking a moment and connecting with your five senses. So noticing what you feel, what you see, what you taste, what you smell, what you hear. That also might mean seeking support for your nervous system system, whether that's through trauma, informed yoga, or finding a therapist to work with. Maybe a somatic therapist, if that's something available to you. And an Ayurvedic practice you can use is bodily oiling or abhyanga. So that's massaging your body with oil and giving yourself a nice massage. So those are just a few exercises you can use for the health of your root chakra. There's so many different ways to connect with this particular area. So I really encourage you to use your intuition to notice where you might not feel grounded and to be really honest with yourself as to how you might connect or reconnect with the space inside yourself that needs tending to what seeds need to be planted or tended, what roots need to grow deeper within ourselves.
[00:14:28] So I'm going to leave you with a couple of reflections that you're more than welcome to pause and write down and take a few moments to journal on. The first is where in my life do I feel ungrounded? The second is what does safety mean to me? The third is what roots me when I feel disconnected? I'll put these in the show notes as well so that you can come back and reference them. I also encourage you to choose one grounding practice for the week, whether that's tidying up a space in your home, giving yourself a massage, getting out into nature, looking at your bank statement, whatever it might be. Choose one, that's your assignment for the week, and see how you feel. And if you are loving this journey through the chakras, I invite you to check out my book Embody your inner Goddess. I can also link it to the show notes. Each chapter of the book dives into different chakras. It offers guided practices and helps you integrate yogic wisdom into your life. So I have seven seven different days in the book dedicated to the Root Chakra and each one has associated reflections and associated embodiment practices. So things you can actually do to create more balance and more self love in your life. And the Root Chakra week really supports feeling at home in your own body and in your power. So if that sounds like something you're needing, I definitely encourage you to dive into that. And also if you are a 200 hour certified yoga teacher and you're ready to go deeper into philosophy Energetics Embodied Leadership My 300 hour advanced yoga teacher training through True Love Yoga starts January 2020. We have one class per year, so if you're listening to this at a later date, know you can join us in a different year. And it is organized by this chakra system so we learn lots of different techniques and tools as teachers to work with these different chakras in our own leadership, in our the way we design our classes and workshops and retreats and offerings and such. So if you want to dive deeper into these energetics, that is such a great way to do so and I invite you to apply early because it's very limited and at the time of recording this it's actually almost full for 2026.
[00:16:52] So if this is calling to you, I definitely invite you to join us and we'll close here. Just to recap a couple key points, the Root Chakra invites us to slow down, to settle in, to trust, to feel more stable and grounded in our lives. If this episode spoke to you, I'd love your feedback or shares. Feel free to tag me on Instagram. It's Iamlauryn, Leduc and Rueloveyoga as well. Let me know how you like to ground yourselves. And the next chakra episode in a few weeks will be on the Sacral Chakra or Swadisthana, which is all about creativity and pleasure and fluidity. Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you have a beautiful, grounded, safe, nourishing week. Om Shanti, Om Peace.
