Sensuality & Sexuality:
Second Chakra
by Julie Tallard Johnson
Editor's Note: While this article addresses teenagers, its contents can be
"enlightening" and healing for adults as well.
This
chakra is located below your navel and above the genitals. It is often called
the body chakra because it is where you connect with the physical body through
your senses. The second chakra is the chakra of sensuality, sexuality, and
pleasure. It is also the chakra of emotions. From this chakra you are able to
tune into others emotionally. When it is unblocked, this chakra allows for the
free flow of your emotional, sensual, and creative energy throughout your body.
It is through our feelings and our senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, and
hearing) that we feel and interact with the world around us. Without a clear
connection to your senses, you may have a "numbness" in your body and difficulty
interpreting (understanding) your environment.
In our culture we are often taught to repress our natural pleasure states. We
are not supposed to be emotional in public, and we are not to exhibit too much
pleasure or energy at school. Often, adults in our culture are uncomfortable
with teenagers coming into their own sexual energies. Because of these cultural
attitudes, to "be good" and "behave" can often translate into shutting down and
denying some of your important senses.
When basic pleasures are denied, such as your healthy sexuality, emotional
expression, and sensual curiosity, you may find yourself choosing substitute
"pleasures" such as drugs, drinking, video games, television, and overeating.
You may also resort to negative behaviors including avoiding responsibility,
blaming others for your troubles, and sexually acting out. Because substitute
pleasures are not truly fulfilling, you find yourself having to keep doing them
again and again. It's like eating one marshmallow when what you really crave is
a big fresh strawberry sundae. Anodea Judith, author of
Eastern Body, Western Mind, sums it up nicely: "Healthy pleasure
brings satisfaction; addictive pleasure brings a craving for more." This is a
time to explore healthy ways to be a sensual, feeling individual.
Sexual energy is a sacred, vital, and intimate energy that connects us to
someone else in a very special way. Sexual energy flows through everything that
is alive. In the springtime we can see this energy come alive in animal and
plant life.
Discovering your sexual energy in your teen years is part of claiming and
opening the second chakra. This does not necessarily mean having sex (although
it can). It does mean feeling your sexuality and your sensuality as a vital and
sacred part of your humanness. It includes enjoying the scent of someone's
cologne, the touch of a friend, the taste of your favorite food, the feel of
tears on your cheek, the sound of a really good laugh, and the stunning colors
of autumn leaves.
Healthy expression of your sexual energy may mean simply enjoying the way
your body heats up when you think about or stand near a particular person. When
you value and find real pleasure in your sexuality, you won't need to get caught
up in substitute pleasures. Be very conscious of how you use this energy and
whom you choose to share it with. Honor it as the sacred energy that it is. If
you choose to be sexual with someone, be conscious about the reasons for your
choice, and be realistic about what you can expect from that shift in your
relationship.
TARA'S STORY
Tara was only fourteen when she was overheard in study hall saying she was
"giving boys blow jobs at the party on Saturday." The nurse at the school was
asked to talk with her. She asked Tara, "What were your reasons for doing this,
and what did you want from it?" Tara told the nurse that she did it because she
was "curious" and had heard that others did it. Then she had bragged about it
because she thought other kids might think she was cool.
The nurse explained some basics to Tara -- for instance, the fact that you can
get transmittable diseases, some of them fatal, through oral sex (because it is
an exchange of mucus). She asked Tara to think about the idea that each time we
have sex with someone we give part of ourselves to this person, and if we do
this all through our high school years, how much of ourselves will be left? The
nurse asked her to think about how she will feel when this boy ignores her or
when she sees him flirting with another girl. And then she asked Tara how she
had felt when she was casually having oral sex with a boy. Tara couldn't
actually recall feeling anything -- she said she was pretty numb and was just
"doing it. " At age fourteen, Tara was already giving herself away and shutting
down from her precious sensual body.
Both the boys and the girl in this situation gave vital energy away. They
were not treating the sexual interaction as sacred, and were treating each other
as objects. The energy body knows when it is being treated carelessly. Such an
experience leaves scars on the Rainbow Body, and drains vital energy.
The affirmations for the second chakra are:
I have a right to feel and have pleasure.
My sexuality is sacred.
- The color of this chakra is orange.
- The Bach Flower remedies for this chakra are Larch, Sweet pea, and
Pomegranate. You can blend all three together or use just one.
- Stones to help heal the second chakra are obsidian and black tourmaline.
Obsidian is volcanic glass. It is another grounding and protective stone.
Because it holds stabilizing energies, helping balance and protect you
emotionally, it is a good stone for anyone who has been emotionally or
otherwise abused. Many shamanic traditions use black obsidian in healing
ceremonies to help in the removal of a disease from the body. The healer takes
the obsidian to the wound, visually brings the illness outside the body, and
transforms it into white light.
- The element of this chakra is water.
Medicine from the Natural World
Find a clean, moving body of water such as a river, stream, or creek. If it
is warm enough, sit in the moving water and let it flow over you. If you choose
a river, make sure you can sit in the water without having to fight the current.
If the weather is too cold to get in the water, simply sit next to a body of
moving water, and listen to the movement of the water.
Healing Meditation for the Second Chakra
Notice (or imagine) the water moving around you ... notice how this feels.
Allow this movement of water to remind you that you too are like water ...
moving, changing, strong yet fluid . . . Allow all the senses to awaken to the
flow of the water ... Let it carry away anything that is ready to leave you,
such as negative thoughts, depression, worries, addictions . . . let the water
baptize you in its powerful medicine. Allow as much time as possible for this?at
least fifteen minutes. Let the water awaken your sensations and pleasures.
Imagine it moving through you ... and around you, carrying away your worries
and bathing you in its pleasures and powers.
If you have been sexually abused, Myron Eshowsky, a shamanic healer from
North America, recommends that in addition to therapy (psychotherapy, massage
therapy) you find a way to "bathe in the earth." You can do this by burying your
lower torso (from your belly button down) in the sand or in the earth. Dig a
hole in the sand or dirt and cover up your bare legs and stomach with the earth.
(If you have access to a safe, private place, doing this unclothed would be
ideal.)
Ask that the healing properties of the earth absorb the pain and trauma from
your body. Imagine that the earth is taking away all the pain and abuse, while
your sexual and reproductive organs are getting renewed. Rest there for about
five minutes and let the natural and spontaneous healing properties of the earth
heal you.
This
article was excerpted from:
 Teen Psychic
by Julie Tallard
Johnson.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher, Bindu Books, a division of Inner
Traditions Intl. ©2003.
http://www.innertraditions.com
Info/Order this book.
More books by this author.
About the Author
JULIE
TALLARD JOHNSON is the author of The Thundering Years and I Ching for Teens. She
is a psychotherapist and mentor of teens and young adults. She lives in Spring
Green, Wisconsin. Visit her website at www.julietallardjohnson.com.
Other articles by this author.
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