The root chakra is a powerful energy center indeed — it’s said to be the driving force that gives you the ability and energy to live your daily life and tend to your basic needs.
Heady stuff, right? In this post, we’ll explore all things root chakra — what it is, why it matters, and how to keep yours in balance with grounding routines, mantras, and Big Heart Tea Co.’s Chai.
But first, a little background…
Big Heart Tea Co. + The Chakras = What’s the Connection?
We’re proud to announce a brand-new product: Big Heart Tea Co.’s Chakra Tea Boxed Set. This is a product near and dear to our hearts, and it’s been a long time coming!
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Did you know that Big Heart Tea Co. came about just as founder Lisa was coming out of ashram life?
Tea became one of the key manifestations of her goal to integrate the hatha / kundalini into her life.
💡 Here’s a fun fact: Big Heart Tea Co.’s original line of 7 teas was organized and inspired by the chakra system. And one of our foundational brews — Big Heart Tea Co.’s Chai — was designed with the root chakra in mind. This earthy and grounding brew has calming qualities that do your root chakra good. (We’ll get to why — and how to put it to work — in a little bit.)
Chakra Basics
Not familiar with the chakra system? Don’t worry — That’s what this series of blog posts will explore by unpacking each chakra, one by one. We’ve also put together this nifty little primer on the chakras for you:
Check out our Chakra Basics post here
But here’s the nutshell version: Chakras are a series of energy systems throughout your body. Moving beyond just your body, this system can be used as an organizational tool to help you live a more integrated and connected life with yourself, others, and your surroundings.
Think of the chakra system as a ladder. It walks you through the basic feelings and senses that we have as humans. You can apply this to any creative process or any process in life. It is a model to connect within our human experience.
Circling back to tea, Big Heart Tea Co.’s chakra inspiration isn’t just about delivering yummy stuff in appealing packaging (though yes, that mattered too) — the herbs and message behind each tea are aligned with bringing a specific chakra into balance.
In this series of blog posts, we’ll dig deep into each of the chakras, including exploring its meaning and how to keep yours in balance with suggested practices, mantras, and yes — the perfect tea.
The Root Chakra
You can’t build wellness from a weak foundation. If you want to build a healthy chakra system, you’ve got to start with the root of it all — the root chakra.
At-a-Glance: Root Chakra Basics + Associations
Here’s your little root chakra cheat sheet.
What it is: The root chakra is all about safety and stability.
Sanskrit Name for the root chakra: Muladhara (mula = “root”; adhara = “base” or “support”).
Where it is: Physically, this energy center is located at the base of the spine, right at the perineum, between your bits and your other bits.
Associations:
The root chakra is associated with the earth element.
The root chakra is associated with the color red.
The root chakra is associated with the sound “lam” (rhymes with “mom”)
It’s also associated with the yogic path of hatha yoga.
Hatha is a basic, foundational piece of yoga — it’s all about aligning breath with movement. Hatha is all about knowing your body and how it moves through the world.
Best tea for the root chakra: Big Heart Tea Co.’s Chai — a deeply grounding brew with calming qualities.
Now, let’s explain all of this in a little more detail.
What is the Root Chakra All About?
The root chakra is about grounding and security.
It’s associated with manifestation and having a foundational building block to build upon. It holds the weight of all of the other chakras. So when we talk about it being foundational, we mean it!
Digging Deeper: The Root Chakra
The root chakra is all about Mother Earth.
You can go down a lot of rabbit holes with the root chakra. For instance, it could be used to explain why the world is the way it is: with factors like the environment, global warming, and climate change, we’re experiencing not only planetary panic but a massive root chakra disruption.
Taking that concept back home (to you), the root chakra is associated with grounding, stability, and safety. It’s all about your basic needs.
The Importance of Keeping the Chakra Balanced
If your root chakra is balanced, you feel a sense of safety and security. You’ve got your basic needs taken care of.
If your root chakra is out of balance, you may experience instability and anxiety that affect every facet of your life.
Here is how you might feel with a balanced root chakra:
- Focused and present
- Stable and secure
- A sense of belonging
- The ability to care for yourself
- Feeling connected to yourself and others.
If it’s out of balance, you might feel:
- Ungrounded, unsafe, insecure
- Anxious and jumpy
- Chaotic and unsettled in everyday life
- Feeling stuck in life / inflexible in thinking
- Distracted and unfocused
- Easily cold/physically uncomfortable
- You may feel pain or stiffness in your lower body
- Alternatively, you may have extreme flexibility in the hamstrings, to the point of instability
But don’t worry — if your root chakra is out of balance, there are ways to bring it back into a state of equilibrium.
How to Balance Your Root Chakra
First up, some basic practices that can help get you back in balance:
- Get grounded (literally). Walk barefoot on the grass or in the sand. Go for a hike. Garden. Connect with nature.
- Eat foods from the earth — fruits and vegetables, especially root vegetables
- Practice grounding breathing.
- Wear the color red.
- Strengthen your lower body.
- Wear or surround yourself with the color red.
- Practice calming rituals, like drinking tea.
Now, if you need more ideas, we’ve got some more specific rituals to help nourish the root chakra:
Chakra Ritual
Step 1: Brew up some Chai. Be intentional in the way you brew the tea, from how mindfully you fill the tea kettle to carefully choosing a vessel to drink from. Drink it in a calm atmosphere without distractions (gold star if it’s in a calming, nature-based place like a garden!)
Step 2: Do some yoga. While a gentle yoga class will work wonders on your chakras, one of the best ways to get connected directly to the root chakra is through primal dance, also called ecstatic meditation.
Wanna try? Here’s what to do: Root your feet on the ground. Now, erratically move your body in whatever way you’re feeling called to. Don’t worry about how you look! Move your whole body. Listen to where your body needs/wants to move and follow its lead. Let yourself go into a trance.
Step 3: Soothe yourself with mantras:
- You have the right to be here, you have the right to take up space.
- You’re safe. You’re secure. You have a space here.
Why We Coordinated Chai with the Root Chakra
- Holistically, chai means “tea.” Chai is the foundation, the root, the home. The beginning. Tea is the beginning of it all.
- Just as chai is a “mother” tea blend, the root chakra is the mother chakra. Big nurturing energy!
- Chai isn’t just a “mother” tea blend in the world — it is a foundational tea for Big Heart Tea Co. It’s the first tea that founder Lisa learned how to blend while working in the kitchen at an ashram in Arizona; she has fond memories of making chai at 4 a.m., and chopping ginger and other herbs grown locally.
Ready to chai — er, try — your own root chakra-balancing ritual? Grab some Chai now and let the root chakra soothing begin.
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Important note from BHT founder Lisa Govro:
In offering our Chakra set, I feel it is important to acknowledging my own cultural background. As a white, cis-gendered woman of European descent teaching about the chakra system and tea, I must recognize that my cultural background might influence how I approach and present this knowledge. Please see this blog post for more information.
Click here to read the full letter.