As you may know, the chakras are a system of energy centers that run along the spine of the body. They are a great tool in measuring our spiritual growth and what steps we should take to help us reach enlightenment, but they can at times be a little hard to understand, especially if the idea is new to you.
Relating the chakras to the different stages of development that we will experience in our lifetime is the perfect way to get to know each one. It can also shed some light on what we can do to balance and cleanse them if they are imbalanced or unaligned.
Today, we will be discussing how the root chakra, the foundation, and beginning of the chakra system, relates to life as we know it and to give more insight into what it is.
What is the Root Chakra?
Before we get down to what part of our lives the root chakra is commonly associated with, we need a little background on what it means. The root chakra, also known as Muladhara in Sanskrit, is the foundation of the chakra system and represents our sense of security and awareness of the world we live in.
It is home to our primal instincts, our need for survival, and our safety and
trustworthiness. The root chakra is our connection to the earth and represents who we are as humans at our core. Like all the chakras, it has a color that is associated with it, which is red.
The root chakra keeps us connected to the physical realm; it is the awareness that we have for our bodies and takes care of us when we are in danger. Our basic emotions such as happiness, anger, and sadness all originate here and determine whether or not we trust our surroundings, those around us, and ourselves.
What Stage of Life is Most Commonly Associated with the Root Chakra?
The stage of life that coincides with the root chakra is our earliest stage of development, infancy to the age of eight. This is the time of our lives when we are learning about the world, our bodies, and our connection to both and those around us. What happens during this time of our lives sets the foundation for who we are and our innate awareness.
During infancy, our only goal in life is to survive, and this can only be done with the help of others. We are completely dependent on our parents and caregivers, and it is through them that we make out what emotions we feel, our needs and if we have the ability to trust.
On the opposite side of trust is fear. They are two sides of the same coin, and both play a huge role in what keeps us away from danger. Both these feelings are cultivated in the root chakra, and the development of them done through our toddler years. We begin to explore our environment and learn what to do and not to do to keep us safe.
Our sense of connection and harmony in the world comes around age 4 and 5, and this is where we start to come into our physical bodies and our awareness deepens. This stage of our life is where the question of whether or not it is okay to be who we are arises, and this is answered through our interactions with others.
If those around us stop us from partaking in our interests and exploring our likes and dislikes, other emotions such as guilt and shame come to the surface. These two emotions are directly linked to the root chakra and are the first feelings to come up and become an issue when we get older if it is imbalanced.
When we get to the ages of 6-8, the fear that the root chakra creates in us is also the driving factor of the knowledge that we begin to seek out. The fear and desire of wanting to understand the world is what motivates us to learn more about it, explore our curiosity, and pass the information along to those that will listen.
Are There Other Ages Where the Root Chakra Matters?
Because the main feelings that belong to the root chakra are fear and trust, it leaks into other vital stages of life outside of our childhood. When the other stages of our lives are going through a transformation and new beginnings, fear is always there. Depending on how these feelings were handled in your youth will determine the impact they will have during these times.
For instance, when adolescence starts, the chakra that dictates this time of our lives is that of the solar plexus, the chakra that represents transformation. This is a time when we start to branch off from the dependence that we had on our caregivers during our childhood and try to figure out who we are.
Naturally, there is a lot of fear that comes up. There’s so much pressure from those around us, our teachers, parents, and friends, that it can create a lot of anxiety and uneasiness if we are not careful in who we put our trust in. It is also vital to be able to trust ourselves, which all circles back to the root chakra.
The root chakra is there at the beginning of every stage of our lives as it is a time of new beginnings, confusion, and relying on the ones that we trust to help us get to where we need to be. It collaborates with whatever chakra is present during that stage to help us on our journey to keep what our brains perceive as harm, out of our way.
Conclusion
The root chakra is the foundation of who we are at a core level and represents our fears and survival instincts. To help us become balanced and to make this energy center healthy and aligned with who we want to be, we have to understand it. There’s no better way to do it than to align it with what we already know about cycles and flows of life.
