Aligning Your Chakras: Balance, Heal, and Open the Root Chakra

Chakra re-alignment exercises to heal an underactive root chakra. Connect with nature, get your hands in the dirt, and dance like nobody's watching!

Why It's Important to Heal an Underactive Root Chakra

Our root chakra acts as the foundation of our entire energetic body. And, just like we need a sturdy foundation to build a house, it’s also very important to have a strong connection to our root chakra in order to live a happy and aligned life.

The root chakra is ruled by our most primal instincts, which means these energies run deep.

To some of us, an unbalanced root chakra can feel very dark, sticky, tar-like. Emotions like fear, insecurity, and disconnectedness could be a sign that you have an imbalance down there in your root. And I get it, feelings like this can make us super intimidated to do the healing work needed to clear this space. But I’m here to tell you, please don’t be afraid of your root chakra.

All of our chakras carry super valuable information that we need in order to grow and expand our consciousness and our root is no exception. In fact, the more energy you put into healing this specific chakra, the easier it will be to bring the rest of your body into alignment.

Now, don’t get it twisted. Healing this energy center can be very intense. In addition to holding memories of our own past lives, our root chakra also holds a lot of ancestral trauma. If you’re not familiar with this concept, ancestral trauma or intergenerational trauma is defined by the American Psychological Association as

"A phenomenon in which the descendants of a person who has experienced a terrifying event show adverse emotional and behavioral reactions to the event that are similar to those of the person himself or herself."

Unfortunately, pretty much all of us carry some form of ancestral trauma. With that being said, I do not think that any kind of trauma work is meant to be an inside job. If you think you are experiencing severe symptoms of any type of trauma, please call a therapist to help you through it.

The biggest thing that slowed me down on my own spiritual healing journey was not asking for help when I needed it. Just because we have God, The Universe, Source Energy on our side, does not mean we have all the answers.

HEALING THE ROOT CHAKRA

Okay on a bit of a lighter note, like we discussed in the introduction, our chakras can affect both our physical and emotional/energetic bodies. Physical symptoms of a blocked root chakra could look like weight gain, insomnia, bowel issues, low libido, or even weird problems with your legs. Luckily for us, if you feel your root chakra is out of whack, there are tons of things you can do to help restore balance.

GROUNDING

One of my favorite practices is called “grounding” or “earthing” which is really just a fancier word for going outside barefoot. I like to think of this practice as making a loving and intentional connection to our Mother Earth. For you academics out there, this phenomenon can actually be explained scientifically, as we are physically connecting with the earth’s plethora of electrons.

While doing this practice, it’s important to really make a point to feel the earth beneath your feet. I imagine a surge of mother nature’s energy flowing up through the soles of my feet, up through my legs, and swirling throughout my entire body.

To take it a step further, position yourself into a cute little yogic squat and rest there for a few minutes. Our little girl here is doing it and as you can see, this pose opens up that bottom chakra perfectly to allow that energy from momma Gaia to flow straight up through the rest of our energetic body. Love it.

GARDENING

Gardening is another fantastic way to help balance your root chakra. You might think I’m getting a little too literal here, get it, roots, but it’s totally a thing.

If you don’t have any outdoor space of your own, even tending to a small basil plant on your windowsill is enough to give you that grounding connection to the earth.

Hiking is another fun option that will help knock that root chakra back into alignment, and it’s also really good for your physical body, too. And then, of course, yoga is like the magical, mystical cherry on top when it comes to the mind-body connection.

Dancing is great, too, especially if you know how to twerk. Basically, any activity you can do that connects you closer to mother nature, connects you to your physical body is going to feel so good to your root chakra.

DIET & NUTRITION

Diet and nutrition also plays a significant role in balancing our energy centers, which is something we’re going to continue to talk about in our later sections, as well.

To support a well-balanced root chakra, we need the type of fruits and vegetables that come straight from the earth. Root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips are all known to help balance this specific area.

Red foods are also great, since the root chakra is associated with red hued light, so tomatoes, strawberries, even red meat in small quantities can help here.

CRYSTALS

Crystals! Okay, just a little disclaimer here, I am actually a big believer that we are all we truly need during meditation, but if gemstones and crystals are your jam, here’s a list that may help your root chakra healing.

• Garnet

• Red Jasper

• Black Tourmaline

• Bloodstone

Just remember: it’s all about you setting the intention to heal. A beautiful, shiny new crystal isn’t going to fix all your problems just because some seller on Etsy told you that on a sales page. So yeah, they can be excellent tools to support you on your path, but totally not a necessity.

Final Thoughts

What’s next! In the Root Chakra 101 Workbook, you’ll find journal prompts to help integrate your root chakra healing as well as some of my personal favorite guided meditations that you can find for free on Youtube or the Insight Timer app.

Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments below!

So much love,

Haley