Second Chakra - Water Element Associations - Part II
© 2008 Richard J. Chandler, LMT, PTP, CA
Continued from Part I - Link for Part I Here
The second chakra, or water element, is a center for emotions, creativity and our closest and most intimate relationships. As we think of these qualities, we find that in order for them to function optimally, they need to be channeled through structure.
Here are several examples of water patterns that have insufficient earth energy to be sustained in a healthy way:
- Example 1: You may have observed a friend, co-worker or relative who has a recurring pattern of quickly entering into strong emotional relationships, by meeting a potential mate, very quickly becoming intimately involved and only later on discovering that the person they have become so intimate with is not a good match for a long-term relationship. Many celebrities exhibit this pattern, which often includes brief engagements and marriages that quickly fall apart.
With sufficient earth energy the people involved would put much more emphasis on building a structure for their relationship, moving much more slowly, deliberately and cautiously. The focus would be less on infatuation and more on doing routine things together… especially more mundane ones like cooking, cleaning and yard work to discover if they really liked hanging out together while doing chores and not just while on romantic outings. These routine day-to-day activities that we must do to take care of our lives are first chakra earth events. Not all that exciting, but necessary.
If the feelings of attraction, of really liking the person and of feeling intimate (water) continue while doing grounding earth activities, then we can be much more certain that what we have is not just short-term infatuation but real, committed, authentic and deep love.
- Example 2: We have a strong desire to create something in an artistic realm. It could be writing, visual arts or perhaps music. We devote a good deal of mental time to musing about someday doing our art. Occasionally we become inspired by a creative idea and perhaps actually capture some of that idea as a sketch, a bit of writing or a session with our musical instrument. But nothing much amounts from this. Mostly, we just feel frustrated and think about a ‘someday future’ that gets perpetually postponed.
If this second chakra water inspiration was channeled through the first chakra of earth, we would be less infatuated with our inspirations and focus instead on creating routine structure in our lives to allow the inspiration to develop into real art in the real world.
If a musician, we would:
- Make sure we had an instrument that played.
- Find a music teacher and schedule lessons.
- Carve out regular blocks of time to practice.
- Seek out venues to perform and commit to actual performance times to give focus to his or her practicing.
A visual artist would do much the same. Buy the paints or other art supplies, set up a room in the house, set aside the time to work and develop the technical skills required to transform one’s interior vision into actual art that others can look at.
A writer must write…frequently, routinely, and with a utilitarian mindset. In other words a successful writer simply makes a decision that they will write regardless if inspiration happens to currently be visiting them or not. Writers know that as long as they write, inspiration and creative ideas will eventually present themselves. They ground into the earth structure of writing, committing themselves to writing projects with fixed completion dates.
Notice that whatever emotions we experience, if they become too strong it is as if the water flowing down a river has increased to such an extreme extent that the banks can no longer contain it and it floods, often causing damage to the surrounding area. On the other hand, if the banks are high and strong, which is another way of saying that the energy of the earth element is strong and well supported in us, then even strong emotions may be appropriately channeled leading to a constructive rather than a destructive outcome.
Another way to think of this is to take strong emotions like anger and ground them into doing something practical in the physical world in order to channel them and turn the energy of the emotion into stronger structure for your life. Perhaps you are feeling hurt, frustrated and angry with your mate. Rather than flooding your being with these emotions or letting them overflow your own banks of restraint, you might choose to let these strong emotions process by doing a project, like cleaning and reorganizing a cluttered room in your house.
By doing so, you might find that the intensity of the emotion becomes more manageable and you feel good about increasing the order and infrastructure of your home, so that room now supports the room’s function and therefore better supports you in your life. Working with earth and building additional practical support in our physical world mirrors the digestive and elimination process that we described above. Water is transformed into earth and at the same time a good deal of what no longer serves us is let go.
Our third chakra fire center provides the heat needed for the second chakra to function most optimally. If there is not enough heat radiating into our water element function, it becomes more like very cold or even frozen water. Our intimate relationships become lame and distant, our creative function goes into hibernation and it would not be uncommon for us to have intestinal dysfunction including diarrhea or constipation.
If there is too much fire energy, we find that creativity can become manic. People who experience this often have intense spells of creativity and then seem to burn out. In new intimate relationships, the passion may overwhelm the other aspects of a person’s life, and we see people getting married after only a few months of knowing each other. The most frequent result of this, of course, is a crash that suddenly ends the intense passionate fling.
In conclusion, you can see that a great deal is happening in the second chakra water element center, much of which involves the very private and intimate functions in the sexual and toileting realms. So having increased understanding of this area and its function, good boundaries with our private and intimate lives and healthy relationships with healthy people will help you to have the full resources of your second chakra water element area of your life functioning in ways that consistently support your aspirations in creating the life you wish to have.
© 2008 Richard J. Chandler, LMT, PTP, CA
Richard is a yoga teacher, licensed massage therapist, Polarity Therapy practitioner and certified Acupressurist. He is beginning his 17th year in practice. Along with his life partner, Bonnett Chandler, a Reiki Master, they own AcuPolarity Wellness Center and AgeLess Yoga, both located in Saint Cloud, Minnesota.
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