The 2nd chakra is the sacral chakra located three fingers below the belly button. It opens front and back. It is related to the gonads (testes or ovaries) that produce the various sex hormones involved in the reproductive cycle and which can also cause dramatic mood swings.
Color: orange
Sensorial function: taste
Symbol: six-petaled lotus
Fundamental principle: an individual desire to exercise our power of choice based on our individual beliefs and values and freed from group or tribal constraints
Physical organs: genitals, bladder, kidneys; everything that is liquid such as blood, lymph, gastric juices, sexual fluid
Endocrine gland: gonads (ovaries, testes), glands which determine the sex of an individual; ovaries control the female menstrual cycle.
Purpose and function: primal individual emotion; more than the desire for survival of the tribe, sexual desire propels creative relationship and love of the other. This energy corresponds to the element of water in Ayurveda, the source of all biological life. This chakra generates the energy that causes us to develop a sense of our personal identity shaped by the choices we make.
Harmonious functioning: An open sacral chakra is demonstrated by a natural and unencumbered expression of emotion. Sexual union with a partner we love helps us live in harmony with nature and each other while maintaining our individual integrity. We are challenged and supported to learn to consciously communicate with others.
Disharmonious functioning: The origin of a blockage in the sacral chakra begins in puberty. A lack of tenderness and body contact during infancy and early childhood may result in a refusal to accept healthy adult sexuality. It impedes a sense of personal power by closing the door to the expression of inner emotions and creative energies.
Dysfunction: Parents who have repressed their own sensuality may inspire dysfunction in the child’s sacral chakra. Their actions which include the withholding of parental touch and affectionate embrace may have limited the experience of normal sensual expression. This may result in an adult who is deeply sensually disconnected. Feelings and behaviors of separateness and alienation arise in order to avoid being vulnerable to energies we are uncomfortable with.
