Sunday, August 8, 2010

Muladhara Chakra and Chuugi

The root chakra, or Muladhara Chakra, is located at the base of the spine. Its energy is concerned with survival and groundedness...especially to mother earth. When it is out of balance there is fear. Fear, in early development, is about being part of a group or tribe. In a lot of ways, this Chakra is our Tribal Loyalty Chakra.

Take a look at Mixed Martial Arts right now. These are young men and women who are extremely tribal. Check out the tattoos, the t-shirts, caps, etc. Their concern is how they fit into the tribe...and how the tribe helps care for them. Loyalty is key in tribal survival.

The Muladhara Chakra is also the seat of an energy called Kundalini. This is a life energy that begins at this Chakra and coils its way up your spine through all the chakras. It does this through three meridians, called inga, pingala and shushumna.. If your energy gets stuck here you will tend to operate your life from fear and having to be the baddest ass on the block.  Martial Artists who get stuck here are usually young and loud-mouthed, as well as surrounded by their tribe or gang. They rule through preying on fear...and loyalty to the gang or tribe becomes paramount for survival.

One of the basic virtues of the Samurai was Loyalty or Chuugi. Loyalty to their feudal lord and clan. It was also very important for a Samurai to have this affiliation. His survival depended on it. As a Samurai you were awarded land, food and relationships. Without a lord, the Ronin, who were Samurai with no clan or tribe, had no land, food and relationships were mostly mercenary at best. They lived a lonely, meager existence. Chuugi was needed for the basics of living. Food, Shelter, Clothing.

To awaken the Kundalini that will spin your root Chakra, or throw this Shuriken safely, meditation and training in various Kiko or Qigong were practiced. As this energy rises, it allows for awakening the next in line Chakras...and provide awakening to the other virtues. Keeping this chakra spinning in a healthy manner allows for growth from blind loyalty to the tribe to other wonderful virtues.

Well, that's all for now. Any feedback or comments are greatly appreciated...even if it is to say,'this makes sense' or 'I have no idea what the hell your talking about'...'or 'can you please expand on xyz'.

Hands palm to palm,
Shinzen

7 comments:

  1. Can you please expand on xyz?

    LOL!!!

    I wonder if Muladhara Chakra relates to tribal loyalty... what other chakras relate to in Samurai world?

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  2. Hi Rizal...there are six more chakras and six more Samurai virtues...two sort of divergent systems with more similarities than differences. I am posting short ideas on these similarities to stimulate some feedback and insights.
    Thanks for commenting.

    (side note: I have been having computer trouble commenting on your blog...been have been reading.)

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  3. Life has a natural succession. Does it seem to be broken as we are bombarded with stimuli that tends to be intent on keeping us in an animistic frame of mind?
    Interesting stuff, I have been studying and practicing for quite some time, presenting new insights and deep problems.

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  4. ZenHG...am exploring chakras and bushido virtues. working on some ideas for my next book...theme is recovering those wounded parts of the warrior that have been broken off...how to go back, retrieve those parts, heal them and return whole. am working with a shamanic healer on these concepts and themes...fun stuff.

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  5. LOL! LOVE THIS DAVE! In my LMT schooling, (although I have not made time to explore more YET), we covered much with personalities and chakras, energies and where they get stuck, when, how and how to encourage them and the meridians to flow again. It was particularly relevant as my teacher covered a just a few martial art moves (she has no formal training in any "system") and blew my mind out on a whole different take on kata interpretation pertaining to chakras and meridians. My instructor was Janie Chandler and she is an advanced instructor in Donna Eden's Energy Medicine, it might be something interesting for you to check out, you can google it/her. This is a path I working on making more time for, as it was all so closely integrated into massage too. Keep us posted on your enlightenments!!!

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  6. Thanks Steph and Vince...I will google her. I know of Donna Eden, but haven't read her work. I'll be posting the next chakra/bushido comparison soon. Just been real busy.

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  7. nice piece of imformation .. thank you so much

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