Second Chakra - Water Element Associations - Part I
© 2008 Richard J. Chandler, LMT, PTP, CA
Lets now explore a few second Chakra concepts as they relate to our physical, mental and emotional lives as well as to our relationships. First…location. While the 1st Chakra with its earth element associations shares much of the same physical region including the pelvic area, the genital area and the bony structure of the pelvic area including the sacrum, it is the fluid watery quality of the pelvis that differentiates these chakras.
As we said in the First Chakra article, the colon or large intestine has an earth element function, in that it extracts the water from the watery slurry received from the small intestine, transforming what remains into the earth element just prior to its elimination. Prior to reaching our 5-foot long colon, the foods and beverages that we have consumed travel through the 30 or so feet of the small intestine, where they remain in a watery state while our small intestine extracts out the nutrients.
Traditional Asian systems of healthcare talk about this nutrient extraction process metaphorically as the “minister’s function.” The small intestine acts like a king and queen’s minister, in that it intelligently chooses what is worthy of presenting to the king and queen – in other words, ‘the nutrients’ - and leaves the rest to pass along, eventually exiting out the back door of the castle. The small intestine sorts through the castle’s many visitors, and only keeps the most usable and high-priority ones, letting the rest go.
Lets take a look at our lives analogously as it relates to our intestinal function. In much the same way as we take food and liquids into our bodies, we are taking information and experience into our psyche through our senses. We see, hear, touch, smell and taste the world. Much of this information and experience is digested, (and sometimes not digested all that well), providing us with energy, direction, insight and purpose.
If we don’t eat healthy foods and beverages to begin with, it is too much to expect our small intestines to extract out nutrients that were missing in the first place. Likewise, if our lives consist primarily of low quality relationships, stressful work life or personal life experiences, or if the way we take in life’s experiences is chaotic, unbalanced or mimics gorging or starving ourselves, then we simply cannot expect to end up with all that we need to operate our body in a way that provides sufficient energy to feel successful and happy with our lives.
Good questions to ask might include:
- Are the inputs that I presently have in my life of high enough quality?
- What do I need to sort through?
- What am I holding on to that does not in fact nourish me and that would better serve my life’s aspirations if I let it go?
A second aspect of the water nature of our pelvic area is the urinary fluid function that takes place in the lower abdomen. In addition to our intestines and their fluid contents, we have water storage within our bladder. After our kidneys filter out waste products from our bloodstream, they are sent to our bladder for storage. We don’t feel this process as it is taking place. Only at the time when our bladders are full enough so that we are prompted to urinate do we notice that our kidneys have once again cleaned our blood of waste.
Likewise, on a psychological level, it is not unusual for stressful inputs, minor irritations and physical, mental or emotional fatigue to go unnoticed until a sufficient quantity of it has stored. Only then are we prompted by a sense of psychic discomfort of our need to get rid of this accumulated emotional waste.
And like the very natural cycle of taking a restroom break, we are best off not to ‘hold it’, but to instead take a break and empty our stored toxicity and take the pressure off. Not letting go simply increases our stress levels by the increasing toxic buildup through holding on to emotional waste products like worry, petty complaints and overblown concern about every little thing we are thinking or feeling or every little thing we imagine others might be thinking or saying about us.
A third water element process within our pelvic area is sexual function in men and women and its fluid component. Starting with arousal, fluids build, culminating in fluid release through orgasm. It is this actual function and the very intimate nature of sharing this experience with another that most ties our second chakra emotional center to our partner relationships.
It is my belief that this deep connection between sexual sharing with another and the emotional and energetic ties that invariably ensue is what leads to bonding to another with stability and happiness when the relationship is long-term, and conversely, contributes to confusion, emotional chaos and instability in many other aspects of a person’s life if there are a good many sexual relationships that are casual, short term and based on something other than a commitment to a long term loving partner relationship. Examples of sexual relationships that lack partner commitment include sex for money arrangements, including prostitution or even those entered into where one person is financially well off and the other is much younger and viewed as a sexual prize.
Those who have experienced sexual abuse including rape and forced sexual activity propagated by pedophiles commonly result in trauma to the second chakra area. The lingering feelings of not feeling safe in the world and relaxed within one’s body most often continues until the persons who have had these traumas work through them with the help of a qualified talk therapist along with a bodyworker who has training and experience in working with clients who have had sexual trauma.
A fourth aspect of this second chakra area is the procreative organs themselves - the testes in men and the fallopian tubes in woman - as they relate to second chakra function. Here we have the germ, the seed of creation of a new life. The uterus in woman constitutes a related function as the organ that provides the evolving environment for the transformation of a fertilized egg into a fully functioning being, able to live in our world.
When we speak of our creative functions, (to procreate is surely linked to this aspect), the language we commonly use is to get “our creative juices flowing.” This relationship of creativity to sexual function and the literal formation of new life is why we often refer to the second chakra pelvic area as a center for creativity.
In my article about the first chakra, I gave examples of how strong first chakra earth boundaries help to make second chakra emotional issues less difficult. I have included them in this article as they relate so directly with this article. After this segment, I will conclude with how our third chakra fire center also assists in second chakra water element function.
Second Chakra - Water Element Associations - Part II Continued Here |
