Svadhisthana: that mysterious energetic center of sex and sensuality, emotions and creativity, known sometimes as the “black sheep of the chakra family” or even just the “secret chakra.”
What’s really the deal with the second chakra?
Svadhisthana is a portal to the infinite, to the sacred dimension of your being, just like all the other chakras. However, it has its own particularities and often requires a special approach.
Svadhisthana is the home of the Water element and everything associated with it. Sexuality, yes, but also emotionality, artistic expression, social connectivity and much more. It’s an intense energy, not always the easiest to deal with, and one that we’re all living closely with on a daily basis.
Do You Need to Work on Your Svadhisthana Chakra?
An easy test to see if you need to balance and harmonize your Svadhisthana is to check whether or not you are human.
If the answer is yes, you should probably work on Svadhisthana!
Svadhisthana is the dominant chakra of humanity in general. It’s where most people are living most of the time. You might sometimes have trouble recognizing its frequency, but only because we’re all swimming in it like fish in water.
The twist with the second chakra is that usually the best way to improve it is to bring energy out of it. Moving energy from Svadhisthana to the heart, to the upper chakras or even just to Manipura will already bring a huge sense of lightness and freedom from the contractions and dramas of life at the level of Svadhisthana.
Of course, this isn’t to say that svadhisthana is bad or that you shouldn’t welcome and embrace this energy, when it comes naturally and harmoniously. The “problem” is just that most of the time, most people have:
- Too much heavy energy in Svadhisthana
- Too much attention in Svadhisthana
- Identification with the world of Svadhisthana (especially emotions, sensuality and social trends), believing that you are these things and only these things
So moving the emphasis out of this realm can be a liberation from many of the conditions that tend to dominate our everyday experience.
Practice for Balancing Svadhisthana
Here are a few ideas of how to work with Svadhisthana and bring harmony to this level of your being. Svadhisthana chakra is nothing less than a beautiful, refined expression of the Water element: it’s only a question of purifying it and recognizing its divine nature.
- Sublimation. Hatha yoga practices of sublimation (inverted asanas, uddiyana bandha or nauli kriya, for example) are classic for moving energy from the lower to the upper chakras.
- Detach From the Matrix. Periods of solitude and “media fasting” will help bring perspective and some space from the collective subconscious, which in our time is mostly a source of limitation and unhealthy beliefs.
- Witnessing. Learn to observe and be present with your emotions, no matter how intense, without rejecting them or getting swept away by them. Meditation is the best teacher for this.
- Creative Expression. Svadhisthana is a source of creative energy, not just sexual but in art and self-expression. If your emotional energy is intense, try to channel it into a more harmonious manifestation: art, music, dancing, or any other form.
- Tantric Sexuality. A sacred approach to sexuality, with all the practices involved for both men and women, will go far to purify this energy and can bring deep transformation.
Sexuality on Svadhisthana Chakra
Svadhisthana is often known as the “sexual chakra.” In fact, sexuality exists on all the chakras in some form, becoming increasingly refined and abstract as you move into the higher chakras. And the raw vital energy that gives power to sexual expression is based in Muladhara.
Still, Svadhisthana is home to sexuality par excellence, sexuality as we understand it in our human form: this dance of masculine and feminine in its greatest polarity, the creativity, playfulness, fluidity and the love of pleasure…
Sexuality in Svadhisthana is all about pleasure, giving and receiving, from all directions. It’s the full expression of sensuality, in all the senses: touching but also tasting each other, enjoying each other’s beauty, enjoying music and sweet smells as part of making love.
Flirting and playing games with your partner is an expression of Svadhisthana. So is love as romance: infatuation, that sense of sweet intoxication with the other. Take a walk hand in hand on the beach under the full moon and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
It’s all a very beautiful expression of sexuality and one that’s more easily accessible to most people. Go fully into it and enjoy every moment! Svadhisthana chakra has its own depth, its own mysteries to reveal. Just take care not to get lost in it. Keep your awareness. Keep your aspiration. Hence, you can use the fun, flowing world of Svadhisthana as a gateway to real love.
If you would like to know more about chakras and sexuality then we invite you to sign up for our masterclass “Journey through Chakras and Elements”
