Guilt-Free Pleasure: The Second Chakra & Eating Disorders
By Ashley Paige, Yoga for Eating Disorders Writer
Svadhishthana, the second chakra also known as the sacral or water chakra, governs our sense of pleasure and enjoyment in life, and our right to express ourselves. It’s located just below the naval and symbolizes our creativity and sensuality. We feel nurtured and at peace with ourselves and the world when this chakra is balanced. However, it can become unbalanced by certain habits and imbalances in the body and mind.
How the Sacral Chakra Relates to Eating Disorders
Our bodies are designed to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Eating is one of many ways our bodies experience pleasure. Unfortunately, society tells us we should feel ashamed or guilty for finding pleasure in food. This internalized message can create a vicious cycle. We believe we are ‘bad’ for eating certain foods, need comfort for the shame we feel, turn to food for soothing, and the cycle starts over. When we struggle with an eating disorder, our relationship to food is far from pleasurable. Instead, the thoughts we have about eating usually revolve around guilt and shame and are often rooted in emotions that have been burried or denied by self, family, peers, and/or culture.
Emotions and the Second Chakra
You are not your emotions. Your emotions are simply energy moving through your body. Emotions manifest in achiness, buzzing, clammy, clenched, cold, constricted, expanded, fluttery, heavy, hot, pulsing, radiating, tense, vibrating, and other felt sensations. In order to process big and challenging emotions, we must feel them instead of distracting or numb them. The willingness to feel all emotions will empower you to handle anything life throws your way.
Start by identifying the sensations you’re feeling. Anxiety, loneliness, boredom, and anger are part of the human experience. The simple act of acknowledging emotions by naming them has the power to lessen their intensity. Your brain will know you are present because it wants your attention.
Each emotion has a specific trigger and preferred appeasement. Stay curious and ask yourself: what would feel nurturing given the circumstance? Do I need to change my environment? Talk with a friend? Sit with the feeling for 10 minutes? Journal? Talk with a therapist or trusted support person?
Emotions are feedback about your thoughts. If you’re too overwhelmed by them, or make certain feelings mean something about you, you’ll never know what needs changing. You separate yourself from the emotion when you become the observer of the sensation. If you’re not willing to feel your feelings, they’ll keep coming back stronger. Understanding the way our brains work allows us to change our thoughts, which change our feelings, and consequently our actions, so that we get the results we want in life.
Freedom in Self-Expression
When we practice feeling our emotions, we gain self-awareness that supports a peaceful relationship with ourselves, our bodies, and food. Finding this inner peace takes time, and ebbs and flows. Knowing we can express our emotions in these times, leads us back to ourselves, rather than resorting to eating disorder behaviors to cope. We have direct access to flow, flexibility, and freedom of expression. By overcoming old patterns, we discover our creative power, and freely express our wants, needs, and emotions. With a balanced sacral chakra, pleasure is a guilt-free priority.
Interested in learning more about the chakras and eating disorders? Search the word “chakra” on the Yoga for Eating Disorders Community Facebook group to learn more and do the free yoga practices and guided meditations we share.
Raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Ashley is a yoga instructor and body image coach on the Pacific Southwest coast of Nicaragua. Through her recovery of orthorexia she transitioned from a rigorous asana practice to now healing, accepting, and connecting with her body through yoga philosophy. She’s rediscovering hobbies like psychology, baking, music and art, as well as pursuing new interests such as writing and surfing. She believes her healing journey can support others to overcome their own struggles with body image. Ashley writes for our blog and is founder of Ashley Paige Coaching.