The first and second chakras balance each other. One is all about earth and stability. The other is the element of water, movement and fluidity. They are closely interconnected as without a solid base it is hard to move and without movement there is no growth and life can be dull.
Svadhisthana, the second chakra stirs up desire, awakens emotions and delights us with pleasure. When in balance, it gives us healthy boundaries, the capacity for enjoyment, comfort with intimacy and sexuality and balanced emotions.
The developmental stage of this chakra is roughly 6 months to 2 years of age. As a child begins to explore the world reaching out with all its senses, it experiences pleasure and pain. Each experience shapes the way she or he will see life. During this time any kind of abuse, whether physical, sexual (covert or overt) or emotional can deny it the basic right to feel.
These sensations of pleasure and pain over time evolve into more complex emotions. As its emotional needs are brushed aside by parents who are too busy and later by a school system that fails to comprehend the concept, the individual may become very needy. But because this is seen as wrong or bad, he or she begins to deny his or her own needs. Suppressing stuff that we think will make us unlovable compromises our capacity to feel.
This results in a deficient second chakra which translates into frigidity, emotional numbness, rigidity in body and in life. Prana is frozen and it becomes difficult to move, to change, to flow.
In an excessive second chakra on the other hand, emotions run loose. Exaggerated sensitivity, emotional dependency and all kinds of addictions whether to sex, alcohol or other drugs or anything else the individual seeks to fill the void, replace a healthy sense of self. Because we are dealing here with a fluid and ever changing element, someone may very well fluctuate from one extreme to the other. Bi-polar mood swings, hysteria and poor social skills are characteristic of this imbalance.
On the physical plane, strong emotions or their denial become sexual dysfunctions, disorders of the urinary system and reproductive organs, low back pain, knee troubles and a general lack of flexibility. And since E-Motions (e meaning out and movere to move) like water are connected with movement, something has to move out or change in order for the body to heal.
Moving emotional blocks in this area involves work with the hips, pelvis, inside of the thighs, lower belly and knees. Bringing attention into sensations made more visible through the mindful holding of asanas guides energy into areas that are blocked and in crisis. Pigeon, bridge, frog and happy baby are very helpful in exploring feelings here at an edge. Focusing on an area for a few breaths with complete awareness of sensation, begins to move the emotional holdings in the form of energetic blocks. Poses that are fluid, movement from cobra to child and back, cat and cow, circling of the hips, flowing with breath facilitate this release. As blocks are dissolved there is ease and grace in the movements.
Dance is also a wonderful activity to get things moving. Dancing to a certain kind of music which evokes the emotion being addressed, helps one to feel it fully and so process and release anything that is ready to go.
These two lower chakras allow for the physical manifestation of reality through the senses. A strong sense of trust allows movement to be bold and daring, soaring with imagination and creating an amazing life.
