Swadhishtan (sacral) chakra

Introduction

In this post, I will write about swadhistan chakra. Swadhistan chakra is the second chakra in series of the seven chakras of human subtle energy system. Swadhistan is a Sanskrit word. ‘Swa’ means self or own, ‘adhistan’ means abode or place of residence. So it’s called ‘self abode or own place of residence.

Location

Swadhistan chakra is located at the root of the reproductive organ, two fingers width above muladhar chakra. It is located along the spine within sushumna nadi. At the second junction of ida, pingala and sushumna nadis.

Structure

Six yoga nadis emanate from this chakra. So it looks like a six-petalled lotus flower.  It has a bright orange colour in its clear state. It is rotating clockwise. It is connected with the physical element of water, more subtle and more powerful than the element of earth. At this chakra, energy is vibrating at a higher frequency and has more power than energy at root chakra. Its seed mantra or sound to activate it is ‘vam’.

Working

It is associated with reproductive and urinary system. Body organs controlled by this chakra are kidney, bladder, genitals, lower abdomen, and lumbar region of spine. Endocrine glands associated with it are testes and ovaries, producing hormones, testosterone or estrogen, important for sexual behavior or reproduction.

The union of male sperm and female egg produces fertilization, the little most body part called zygote. Zygote is the first master cell. Later it divides into two cells. In astral body, they form muladhar chakra and swadhistan chakra. The spermatozoa and eggs are locations where latent genetic information is stored.

The swadhistan chakra contains unconscious desires, especially sexual desires and unconscious memories of this life and previous lives. It is a place of residence of all human mental impressions or sanskaras. For this reason, it is extremely difficult to raise kundalini energy, the energy of consciousness, above this chakra. Many yogis or practitioners have to face sexual temptations associated with this chakra.

It is associated with creativity and sexuality. The energy of creativity is generated here. It supplies us with energy of creativity of thinking. The energy of creativity fuels our thinking process by breaking down fat particles into brain cells. It connects us with the inner source of inspiration and pure knowledge.

The person with a well-balanced swadhistan chakra has a lot of joy in their life. They are creative, energetic and dynamic in all their activities. They understand needs of others. They continuously learn new techniques through their experiences. Any technique they learn, they transform and improve it,  and put into practise to improve quality of life of oneself and others. As this chakra is associated with water, a person with balanced chakra has inventive and flexible nature. Like water, he or she can adjust under obstacles of life and adapt to any situations.

As this chakra fuels our thinking process, excessive thinking exhaust this centre. Exhaustion of this centre affects functioning of some organs like liver, kidney, pancreas, lower abdomen which are associated with it.

Some of the physical symptoms of malfunctioning of this chakra are bladder and kidney problems, menstrual trouble, impotency etc. The emotional symptoms are nervousness, desire to hide, depression, emotional overflow etc.

Unbalanced swadhistan chakra can be balanced or healed by certain yogic practices such as shakti chaalan mudra (contraction and relaxation of anus and perineum), ashvini mudra (contraction of anus), yogic asanas and pranayamas.