The Root Chakra and Trauma

Shai Tubali, Ph.D., Cognitive Enhancement Expert

Even if you have only been briefly introduced to the tantric Hindu chakra system, you probably know that the root chakra is related to the instinctive aspect of longing for security and stability. The root chakra (in Sanskrit, Muladhara, literally “root of existence”) is the chakra that we develop already as a fetus in our mother’s womb and until around the age of seven, when it is finally replaced by the pleasure-seeking sacral chakra. Governed by our instinctual center, it is so primordial that it precedes all our complex feelings and thought processes. Think of it as your most elementary relationship with life—the most basic impression that you have of your experience of life.

For exactly this reason, the root chakra is the energy center that is most related to traumatic experiences and memories. Of course, all seven chakras store traumatic and difficult memories that correspond to their unique life themes and emotional lessons. In this sense, we should consider seven types of trauma. However, all traumas are fundamentally root chakra experiences and memories, and as such, their impressions accumulate inside it.

But why is that so?

To elucidate this connection, we must first understand what trauma is—not as a clinical definition, but trauma in its broadest sense. Trauma is any unforgettable (or even unconsciously unforgettable), deep-seated memory whose impressions have become engraved in you, transforming into imprints and irrational conclusions about life and other people. The reason that the impressions seem almost unerasable is the fact that in those moments, events, or periods, the stable and familiar picture of your life as you had known it was severely disrupted and shaken in some unexpected ways. Unprepared, your body and mind became frozen, and you sank into a state of powerlessness. During such moments in which life gets out of hand, we tend to be only minimally present to avoid the uncontainable feelings, either abandoning the body as it were or being reduced to bodily sensations. As a result of this absence of presence and consciousness, this passing experience becomes permanently fixed inside you.

Some difficult memories can be described more specifically as root chakra traumas. In such experiences, the disruption of the familiar structures of our lives has been directly related to physical dangers, life-threatening situations, and, more generally, upheavals and their resulting profound insecurity. Physical traumas may involve serious diseases or debilitating chronic conditions (the feeling that our strong body suddenly becomes completely foreign and misunderstood to us); times in which our loved ones were exposed to great danger; the deaths of people around us, perhaps even deaths we closely witnessed; our own near-death experience; violent attacks or physical abuse turned toward us or others; facing natural disasters, wars, and terror attacks; and physical shocks while in the womb or during birth. This range of experiences can lead us to conclude that it is not safe to be embodied.

In addition, consider incidents in which the seemingly solid structures of our lives were undermined, from financial traumas (perhaps facing the danger of being deprived of food or shelter) to the loss of one’s home or land and unwanted relocations. Since our past and present are also shaped by collective events, our root chakra may be burdened by the physical traumas of our nation or ethnic group. These kinds of traumas often lead us to the conclusion that the world is a dangerous place to be, sometimes even regretting coming into this world. We may feel ourselves as life’s victims and experience difficulty handling overwhelming challenges, interpreting any changes, such as the crumbling of a marriage or the loss of a job, as life-endangering threats. Consequently, our mind and body send false danger signals and prepare us for the worst. We may also have different forms of anxiety and a wish for an extremely repetitive and predictable life, doing our best to avoid many of life’s experiences and adventures.

Despite this long list of typical root-chakra traumas, bear in mind this principle: all traumas are by nature a root chakra phenomenon. The very sense of shaky ground under our feet is a root chakra experience. This becomes even clearer when we consider the fact that the root chakra is our predominant energy center throughout our early childhood, when we are most susceptible to shocks.

From an unconscious “no” to a conscious “yes”

The unbalanced root chakra generally harbors the not-so-realistic hope that it will never have to undergo sudden and unpredictable changes. Thus, all these traumatic incidents accumulate in it, gradally crystallizing into a “no” to life—a fundamental quarrel with life that keeps us one foot in, one foot out, refusing to fully incarnate and settle into life’s experience. This can sometimes even develop into all sorts of escapism and fantasy. A significant portion of our mental turbulence is actually the result of untreated traumas stored in our root chakra. But more often than not, these unresolved memories also transform into physical pains that spread throughout areas governed by the root chakra: legs and feet, the muscular and skeletal systems, including lower back and muscle pain.

Along its process of maturation, our root chakra should develop a different relationship with life. This involves learning to stand firmly on the ground, both metaphorically and physically, say a lucid “yes” to life, and finally declare that “I am here!” A good and necessary starting point would be a maturer relationship with those traumatic incidents. After all, the root chakra’s main life lesson is realizing that its search for permanent stability in a world whose nature is constant change is futile. Thus, traumas, as disruptions of our sense of security, ultimately encourage us to accept life’s true nature and seek stability within.

Some meditation techniques can serve as important aids in root chakra healing by soothing our wounded instinctual center. These include standing meditation (Zhan Zhuang, as practiced in Taoism and Qigong), Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Body Scan, and the Buddhist walking meditation and mindfulness of breathing. However, any form of meditation can benefit our beaten root chakra since it helps us establish inner stability within life’s stormy waters. Above all, we require spiritual therapy to transform our traumas—not just heal them but fully release the tremendous life force that has been trapped in our frozen memories. To transform a trauma, one has to be willing to return to the event, as difficult as it may be, and imbue it with consciousness and presence. What keeps the memory in a frozen condition is our resistance to experiencing it and our understandable wish to flee from it. Transformation begins when we maturely accept that these terribly shaky moments are a part of life’s reality too.