Often, people writing about the second chakra, swadhisthana, discuss its correlation with creativity and judgment. This concept relates to physical body parts as well. In my personal experience, the second chakra about understanding our self-worth. It is often our self-worth that we use to judge information and making choices. This has an impact on our health, relationships, and finances.
What Is Swadhisthana?
Use your hands to trace from your navel to the top of your front hip, around back to your lumbar spine, opposite hip, and back to your navel. Now, trace from you pubic bone to the front low hip crease around back to tailbone and sacrum, to opposite front low hip crease, and back to the pubic bone. This is the area of your second chakra. Internal organs affected by this chakra include the appendix, bladder, and lower intestines, as well as the uterus, fallopian tubes, vagina, cervix, and ovaries in women and prostate gland in men.
Discernment and the Second Chakra
Think about how you value money. What is your trend? Do you tend to spend indiscriminately or are you more frugal? Do you hoard money? Do you loan it out frequently, never to see it again? How do you decide what to do with money?
Discernment is the big theme here. Knowing our own self-worth helps us to establish and maintain personal boundaries. Know when the time is appropriate to say “no” and hold this boundary strong.
What do you value about yourself? How did you establish this sense of value? Did people tell you or did you come to discover this on your own? Does it relate to your truest sense of self? Answering these questions can bring clarity to understanding how we create ourselves into who we are.
Your Digestive System and the Second Chakra
Examine how you discern information. We need to have a good filtering system to keep what is relevant and right for us – and let go of what is not ours to hold. If our filtration and elimination system is compromised, our body may become constipated and riddled with a backlog of toxins. This holding harms us. When digestion moves freely, our body naturally lets go of the unwanted, indigestible, innutritious particles.
Having too rigid of rules and expectations about relationships or money is like having retentive bowels. We may try to control the world around us. Personal growth is not possible because development requires flexibility and an open mind. Conversely, loose boundaries have a laxative effect. When too lax, we spend our time, money, energy, and voice indiscriminately and can become appetizing to hungry predators or drained from giving ourselves away to anyone that comes along.
Connecting to the second chakra can help you feel the feedback from how this area responds to your boundaries around food, sexuality, beliefs, and finances. Use the feedback to discern what needs to stay and what needs to be eliminated. Become balanced by valuing your self and from this place, you will make more wise decisions.
Read about the other chakras:
Chakras Demystified: Sahasrara – The 7th Chakra
Chakras Demystified: Ajna – The 6th Chakra
Chakras Demystified: Vishudda – The 5th Chakra
Chakras Demystified: Anahata – The 4th Chakra
Chakras Demystified: Manipura – The 3rd Chakra
Chakras Demystified: Muladhara – The 1st Chakra
Look for future “Chakras Demystified” articles as we work our way through each of the seven chakras. If you have any questions about swadhisthana, please post to the comments below.
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