Hooked On A Feeling - Understanding Your Sacral Chakra

March is a month of transitions. And transitions are often, well,….challenging, messy and uncomfortable.

Right now, we’re shifting from winter (let’s dream by the fire) to spring (let’s make shit happen!) We feel the urge to purge old things and create space (and not just because we’re all obsessed with Marie Kondo’s show on Netflix.) And we’re soooo ready to shed the layers that have been keeping us warm and cosy and instead begin shifting our focus to birthing those ideas in our brains and connecting with our loved ones (hopefully on a sunny patio.)

Navigating transitions such as winter/spring, or health/illness, or life/death often brings up a host of uncomfortable emotions that challenge us to let go and ask us to move forward with greater confidence and clarity. As we stand on the edge of spring it’s the perfect time to talk about the Sacral Chakra, aka the emotional junk drawer of the soul, and begin a little compassionate spring cleaning.

Sacral Chakra 101

Your sacral/ second chakra is located just below your belly button. It’s associated with the element of water because our emotions are always moving and shifting like the ocean. I like to think of emotions as just “energy in motion”. The sacral chakra brings change and growth (oh, hello spring!) that are necessary for moving through our experiences. Know that all of your emotions are welcome in this ocean because every emotion deserves to be seen and processed.

Transitions often bring up feelings of grief over what you’re letting go of or losing. This is natural because we can’t say with absolute certainty what we’re moving towards, or what will happen next. We’ve come to know this ‘thing’ but we’ve outgrown it, or it no longer serves us or works for us. We know deep in our soul that it’s time to move on. That we need to instead choose courage over comfort.

Offloading The Uncomfortable

Now, we humans can get hella creative in side-stepping our uncomfortable emotions like grief. Below are some common I-don’t-want-to-feel-this avoidance strategies. Do you recognize any of your favourites in here? I’m guilty of doing ALL of these at one time or another.

Completely avoid the hurt and focus on taking care of everything and everyone else instead (because being busy means these emotions can’t catch up to you.)
Blaming others, or circumstances, or timing, or heck, even the weather!
Say ‘whatever!’ and try to convince ourselves we don’t care (when we really do).
Numbing the pain with everything from food, social media, sex, shopping, booze, drugs and throwing ourselves into work or a Netflix marathon.
Willfully ignoring our emotions until we end up sick, burnt out, or they come bursting out in unhealthy ways (I’m looking at you, anger disguised as road rage).
We freeze. Unable to move forward and unable to go back to the way things were.

Grieving is essential if you want to move forward.

There is no single “right” way to grieve.

Grief is a storyteller. The anger, fear, despair, sadness, love, beauty, loss and hope that show up alongside grief arise because they need our attention and care. It’s okay to feel all the feels when we’re navigating death and grief. We need to witness all of our emotions so they can be healed.

It’s only by allowing our emotions the room to breathe and express themselves that we can move from…

Heavy

Sad

Frustrated

Numb

Ashamed

Wretched

Lighter

Hopeful

Calmer

Vibrant

Compassionate

Purposeful

Death shows up to teach us how we REALLY want to live. For the sacral chakra, Death asks us if we have the courage to feel every emotion life brings our way. Because when we allow ourselves to feel the grief, anger and despair we also open ourselves to deeper love, greater joy and more hope.

Three of my Favourite Tips for Supporting Your Sacral Chakra and Witnessing Your Grief

Honour what you need

Consider this your big ol’ permission slip to honour what you need right now. Cry if you need to. Go for a walk if you need to. Ask for support (and a hug) if you need to. Scream into a pillow if you need to. Write it all down and burn the words if you need to. Take a nap if you need to (naps are amazing and usually my go-to.)

Move your body

Remember when I told you emotions are energy in motion? Well, moving our bodies helps us to process our emotions. Run. Dance. Walk. Swim. Do yoga if you want more gentle movement. Take a kickboxing class if you’re feeling fierce. Choose the type of movement that will nourish you – and it doesn’t have to look like the same thing every day.

Invite colour and water in

The sacral chakra has the element of water. So, find the perfect blue hue and bring it into your space. A blanket, pillow, painting, flower, sweater, or scarf. A rain-scented candle. A table-top fountain. It doesn’t need to be extravagant or expensive (unless that’s how you roll). Keep it simple and meaningful. Bring in water (literally) by drinking more water. Take a bath or a shower, go for a swim, visit a hot tub or float tank, or incorporate seaside elements into your space (like seashells or other nautical reminders or pictures of your favourite sea creatures.)

Allowing ourselves to fully experience and heal from all the emotions surrounding grief is exactly what grief coaching is all about. We’ll talk about what grief is, how what we’ve been taught about grief keeps us feeling stuck, and how to process all the emotions so you can move forward.

p.s. Want to continue on your chakra journey? Read more about the solar plexus chakra here.