What exactly does the second chakra, also known as the sacral chakra, entail? You might have heard that this is the chakra responsible for the person you become as you grow from childhood into adulthood. In a way, that’s true. While it would be irresponsible to say that your sacral chakra is solely responsible for the person that you eventually decide to be, it is responsible for things like the level of your creativity, your sense of sexuality and even the sense of freedom that you eventually develop. Some people might even go as far as saying that this is a chakra responsible for the amount of power that you feel and subsequently put on display for the whole world to see.
Read on to learn about the second chakra known as the sacral chakra, and discover why it’s associated with the color orange.
Your Sacral Chakra and Its Color
If you’ve done a little research about chakras, you probably already know that every one of them has a particular color associated with them. In this particular case, the sacral chakra is associated with the color orange. More will be discussed about the reasons that this chakra and the color orange go so well together later on. For now, it’s important to gain a greater understanding of what exactly the sacral chakra is responsible for, how you know if it’s open or blocked and what to do about it in order to keep it operating smoothly. Once you understand these factors more completely, it will become much easier to see how the color orange goes hand-in-hand with this particular chakra.
Where Is Your Sacral Chakra Located?
The sacral chakra is located just underneath your belly button. Find your navel and then put two to three fingers directly underneath it, without veering to either the right or the left. This is precisely where your sacral chakra is located. Have you ever noticed that you get a jittery feeling in that part of your abdomen when you feel like your ability to make the decisions or create the life you really want for yourself is threatened? Some people describe it as having butterflies in their stomach. It’s interesting to note that this is the chakra responsible for you making the life choices you need to make in order to create the life you want, and that is precisely where you get this feeling any time that you feel like some portion of that control might be threatened.
What Does the Sacral Chakra Do?
Now that you know where it is, what exactly is it responsible for doing? If you’ve read this far, you already know that it is essentially your powerhouse chakra. It is the energy center of your body that allows you to stop making decisions solely because that is what someone else wants or because that’s what you’ve been told to do. In short, it is the chakra that allows you to begin deciding what you want for yourself out of life and then make decisions that move you in that general direction.
Think about it this way. Imagine that you grew up wanting to please your parents, like so many other people in the world. Now, imagine that they wanted you to become a doctor. Throughout your entire childhood, everything was geared toward that goal. Perhaps no one ever really asked you what you wanted out of life, but merely pointed you in that direction and expected you to follow it willingly. Chances are, you might have done exactly that, for a time. However, as you got older, you might have decided that there were other things in life that you were far more interested in. This is your sacral chakra kicking in and helping you move toward the decisions in life that are more likely to make you happy as opposed to making someone else happy because you’re simply doing what they tell you to do.
The Creative Side of Things
Your sacral chakra isn’t just responsible for helping you find your own voice and do your own thing. It’s also responsible for helping you find your creativity. Of course, everyone expresses their creativity in their own way. Whether it’s through acting, singing, painting, writing or completely redecorating your house, a balanced and active sacral chakra can help you find a creative means of expressing your personality like nothing else. Everyone is creative in one way or another. While it’s true that not everyone can be a rock star or paint a beautiful painting that will be hung in a museum for future generations to see, it is true that every individual has creative moments that they express in their own unique ways. When you are most creative, your sacral chakra is essentially taking charge of things and allowing you to express that creativity because that is the energy that is strongest in your body at that particular point in time.
Personal Relationships
This is the chakra that is also responsible for the types of relationships that you create throughout your life. In other words, how do you interact with other people? There is no doubt that the sacral chakra can help you or hinder you when it comes to making friends inside and outside of work. However, that isn’t the only place where it plays an important role. It’s also responsible for the way that you view intimate relationships. In fact, it plays a direct role in your attitude toward a number of personal decisions that you make with regard to what many people consider pleasurable activities.
The question is, how do you know when it’s operating as it’s supposed to? Conversely, how do you know if it’s too active or not active enough? Last but certainly not least, how does the color orange relate to any of this?
Dealing With an Underactive or Blocked Sacral Chakra
Now that you know what this particular chakra is responsible for, how do you know if it’s blocked? Perhaps it’s not fully blocked, yet it’s not really operating exactly as it should be. What types of things clue you in to these potential situations so that you can do something about it? Much of it comes down to the way you feel. However, it’s important to remember that in any instance regarding your chakras, it’s not just about the way you feel emotionally or physically. Any chakra that is underactive or overactive will cause both emotional and physical symptoms. It is by putting these two things together that you can often hone in on which of your chakras need work.
In this particular case, a sacral chakra that isn’t open enough is going to result in you having difficulty making decisions that are solely your own. Perhaps you still find yourself going to other people and asking them for their advice in an excessive manner. If you are a fully grown adult, you might have a hard time making decisions for yourself, always looking for the approval of other people instead. While there is certainly nothing wrong with asking other people for their advice or even hoping that they will approve of your decisions, it is important to empower yourself as an adult by making solid choices for yourself. If you’re not doing that, it could very well mean that you have a blocked sacral chakra that needs work. Some other ways that an underactive sacral chakra may present itself include a markedly decreased desire for any type of intimate relationships. In fact, some individuals who struggle with an underactive sacral chakra find themselves struggling to forge any type of relationships whatsoever, whether they are of an intimate nature or not. By the same token, you may feel like you are simply bowing to the desires of other people because you’re not making those decisions for yourself or taking control of your own life.
From a physical standpoint, a blocked sacral chakra may manifest as pain in the lower back or hips, infertility, pain in the genitalia, and even some digestive issues. By the same token, you may find yourself struggling with issues surrounding sexual desires, more accurately the lack thereof. Clearly, all of these things can culminate to make you both unhappy and physically unwell. Unfortunately, most people end up going to counseling or getting prescription medications to deal with these types of physical and emotional issues. The truth of the matter is that it may all come down to a blocked sacral chakra that simply needs some healing and an opportunity to open back up.
How Do You Heal Your Sacral Chakra?
Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to heal your sacral chakra. Of course, meditation is always a good place to start, as it can go a long way toward cleansing and healing this and all of your other chakras. It’s also a good way to make sure that you keep your chakras balanced and operating correctly once you get everything that may be holding you back cleared out. A good diet is also of paramount importance. You don’t want to find yourself gorging on junk food and anything else you can get your hands on when your sacral chakra is already blocked. Instead, try eating a lot of fruit like oranges, apples and strawberries. Incorporating cinnamon into your diet is also a good idea. These foods can help you strengthen this particular chakra and then keep it in good working order thereafter.
You might even try doing some work with healing stones. In this particular case, the best options are carnelian and orange calcite. If you want to add some essential oils to this particular step, consider sandalwood, jasmine or rose. By combining the essential oils and the healing stones, you are increasing the potential positive effects that both can have on your mental, emotional and physical well-being. Of course, you can also do yoga, as this is as effective as regular meditation. Above all, you should be drinking a lot of water. While more information about the color associated with the chakra will be discussed within the next few paragraphs, you might have noticed by now that orange calcite was mentioned, as was eating oranges. Therefore, it might be a good idea to wear things that are orange in color as well. This can help re-energize your sacral chakra and get you back on the road to better health much more quickly.
What if Your Sacral Chakra Is Too Active?
Just like every other chakra in your body, it is possible for this one to be too active as well. While you certainly don’t want it to be underactive, having a sacral chakra that is overactive is not much better. What happens to you if this is the case? For starters, you will probably have a difficult time maintaining those friendships and other interpersonal relationships. You might make friends easily, but it could be a friendship that is just as easily lost. By the same token, you may find yourself struggling to keep yourself in check when it comes to things that bring you pleasure. This could manifest itself with a desire to be sexually promiscuous, to indulge in drink and drugs or to become addicted to gambling. In short, it could result in an addiction to practically anything.
What Does a Balanced Sacral Chakra Feel Like?
When your sacral chakra is balanced, you feel at peace with yourself and the world around you. You don’t feel the need to become addicted to any particular activity, but you do have a healthy respect for various activities and the desire to participate in the ones that bring you the most fulfillment in a healthy manner. The key word is healthy. You want something that is going to allow you to develop fulfilling, mature relationships with other people. By the same token, a balanced chakra gives you the opportunity to develop intimate relationships that are healthy without putting yourself in a position where you could potentially be making decisions that are harmful to your own well-being. At the end of the day, it’s all about doing things in moderation and effectively regulating the activities that you decide to participate in. If you’re able to make those types of choices and have solid relationships without allowing things to go a step too far, then there is a better than average chance that your sacral chakra is balanced and functioning normally. This is especially true in the absence of the physical symptoms that have already been discussed.
How Does the Color Orange Affect Your Sacral Chakra?
How exactly is the color orange related to your sacral chakra? It’s important to remember that the color orange is often associated with life itself. If you stop and think about it, orange is a component of both red and yellow. Yellow is often associated with the sun, meaning rebirth or the renewal of each day. By the same token, red often symbolizes power, passion and love. Therefore, the combination of these two colors can become extremely powerful, indeed. When they’re combined, the power within them can be so strong that it is almost overwhelming at times, in the best possible sense.
By the same token, people often associate the color orange with a certain sense of vitality. After all, it isn’t exactly a mundane color that has a tendency to blend in, is it? Instead, it stands out, head and shoulders above the crowd. That is precisely what your sacral chakra allows you to do when it is open and balanced. You have the strength, the power and the vitality to make your own choices, be creative and stand out in all the best ways possible. Therefore, it only makes sense that you can activate this chakra by wearing things that are orange in color, surrounding yourself with some household decorations that are orange, or even eating foods that are orange. Think about eating carrots and oranges in such a manner that they become incorporated into your regular diet. Of course, you can also keep this chakra open and balanced by doing everything that has already been discussed regarding healing stones, essential oils, yoga and meditation.
Final Thoughts on the Sacral Chakra
It’s important to remember that each of your seven chakras has a job to do. At the end of the day, both your physical and mental health is at its best when all of them are open, balanced and working together. Your sacral chakra may have become blocked at some point in your life, especially if you were in an abusive or traumatic situation where you simply were not allowed to make choices for yourself without fear of repercussions. That said, it doesn’t mean that you have to live the rest of your life that way. By taking steps to heal this and your other six chakras, you can become the person that you truly are at your core and then put that amazing personality on display for the rest of the world to enjoy. In this particular case, you might even decide to do it while wearing a bit of orange.
If you want to learn more about chakra colors, here’s our complete guide on the seven chakras and their meanings.
