On Relationships
“One molecule said yes to another molecule and life was born.”
The other morning, I sat by the ocean and watched a flock of seagulls attempt to swallow the seastars washed up by the tide.
While living on the sailboat, I wrote a poem about gulls choking down starfish many years ago.
It’s an awkward process to witness, given the shape and texture of the seastar, but seagulls are relentless birds. And not that bright.
At that moment, I knew the editor I was waiting to hear from would accept my poetry manuscript.
Three days later, I received the reception email from the editor agreeing to take on my work.
Over the past two years, I’ve been reshaping my poems and looking for someone to review my project.
After considerable rejection letters, a few published pieces, and dedicated hours of research, I finally found someone aligned with my vision.
I can tell whether a person is a good fit for me to work with from a photograph, tone of voice, or sentence.
Relationships can magnify our best qualities, strengthen our weak points, and enhance our capacity to learn about ourselves and how we engage the world.
What or with whom do you say yes? What does yes feel like in your body? How does saying yes create space for collaboration? How does yes allow you to express yourself?
These are questions for the Sacral Chakra, Svadhisthana.
What is the Sacral Chakra?
The sacral chakra is the second of the seven main chakras aligned along the spine. Chakras are energy points that balance the nervous and endocrine systems, thereby affecting mood, behavior, and thought processes.
Svadhisthana is part of the lower triangle of chakras.
In Kundalini Yoga, the lower triangle consists of the root, sacral, and navel chakras.
The lower triangle is affected by mula bandha, the root lock. We engage mula bandha by squeezing the perineum and sphincter muscles. Mula bandha works on the adrenals, sex glands, and the solar plexus to bring the energy (blood) from the lower body to the brain.
Sacral Chakra Themes
Sound: Vam
Color: Orange
Balanced: Imaginative, Fluid, Collaborative
Blocked: Rigid, Repressed, Remorseful
About the Sacral Chakra
The sacral chakra is located below the reproductive organs in females and the sex organs in males.
Svadhisthana is the Sankrit name for the sacral chakra. It translates as 'to dwell in the self' and expresses the need to learn to be in oneself and express oneself. The lessons at the sacral chakra include experiencing emotions, creating our way of being in the world, establishing boundaries between self and others, and discovering the line between acceptance and resistance.
Water is the element of the sacral chakra. We began our process at the root, where the element is earth. At the second chakra, we learn to be more accepting, flexible, responsive, receptive, and curious. When we enter Svhadisthana, we move from the single source of identity (the self) and become two.
The second chakra is expressed by the sex organs, where life is created and held. Testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen are produced and distributed through the blood to the body. The hormones produced at the sacral chakra affect our identity and how we establish relationships with others.
When balanced, the second chakra is vital, creative, and collaborative. Whatever we create at the second chakra ripples and resonates within us, radiating outward into the world. It affects our position in our homes, careers, and intimate relationships.
Desire is one of the main themes of the second chakra, as we must cooperate to reproduce and collaborate as a community to encourage significant changes in the world we share. When balanced, passion can be very motivating; however, its shadow side is clinging, grasping, and, in extreme cases, never satiated.
The Glands of the Sacral Chakra
Ovaries create the egg, the largest cell in the human body. During the one-month cycle, only a few eggs ripen and are released.
Hormones, estrogen, and progesterone are released to aid fertility.
Water provides movement and allows for fluidity, which aids in protecting the ovaries and releasing hormones.
Women's reproductive hormones are slow and heavy compared to men.
The testes are the smallest cells in the body; they are small, travel light, and bear genetic messages. Sperm moves through a sixty-four-day cycle of Life/Death; men ejaculate over two hundred million sperm in their semen.
The pituitary, thyroid, and parathyroid create the conditions for the ovaries and testes to produce the hormones that create and sustain life.
The pituitary is located at the base of the brain in line with the nose. It is known as the master of all glands. It is a tiny pea-shaped gland taht oversees the growth, development, and function of sex hormones. The pituitary is the gland of the sixth (third eye) chakra.
The thyroid and parathyroid are located at the front of the neck. Though close in proximity, they are distinct in function.
The thyroid regulates metabolism, growth, and development. The hormones produced by the thyroid directly affect the ovaries and testes. Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism (when too much or too little hormone is produced) can affect sexual desire and reproduction.
The parathyroid regulates and releases calcium and phosphate into the bloodstream. Too much or too little (imbalance) directly affects the ovaries and testes, causing irregularities in sex drive and satisfaction. The thyroid and parathyroid are of the fifth (throat) chakra.
Meditation works on the pituitary, thyroid, and parathyroid, affecting all the associated glands and hormone release. One thing is not separate from the other, so meditating is one way to create balance in the sacral chakra, which is regulated and controlled by the activity at the fifth and sixth chakras.
Ways to Observe the Sacral Chakra
The following are some of the guidelines I use to work with the second chakra.
Where will I place my yes in the world?
What do I want to contribute, and who does it serve?
Where do I feel the most creative: what are the conditions to create this environment?
Who supports my creative endeavors, and is there the potential to collaborate?
What activities allow me to express myself and feel good in my body?
What people motivate me and inspire me to keep moving forward?
What are my deepest desires and aspirations? Why do I have this desire, and what good may I produce?
Time to reflect on what I feel and perhaps explore my origin story around the sensation.
Time to sit in the unknown to allow the next phase to arrive organically.
Time to write or meditate on my observations of feeling big emotions move through me.
Time to observe where I overstepped a boundary or did not uphold a boundary with others.
Kriya for the Sacral Chakra.
Thank you for reading! The sources for this article are noted below.
