Yoga and the Chakras–Svādhiṣṭhāna: The 2nd Chakra, Sex, Satisfaction, Desire and Brhamacharya

Warning: If you are prudish about people talking about sex then you may want to leave now.

So, all of you non-prudes, here we go…

The 2nd cahkra is the sex chakra.

(It also deals with desire, guilt, lust, addiction…and, hold on because we are just getting started…)

Gulp!

…passion, creativity, reproduction, water, the sense of taste, emotional identity, self-gratification, power, control issues, and money.

In my opinion all the ‘biggies’ on a very emotional/physical plane.

Svadhisthana means “dwelling place of the self.”

If you think about its location which is about 1 inch below the navel approximately it is quite literally where all creative life springs from so “Dwelling Place of the Self” makes perfect sense.

That is where you (Yes, you!) came from, I came from, and for that matter everyone else came from.

So yes, this is the beginning of all creativity so to speak, on a very basic level.

When I think about the 2nd chakra I think about Brahmacharya which is one of the Yamas (moral observances in the yogic tradition which pertains to sexual restraint)

Now when I was first learning about the Yamas and Niyamas I immediately dismissed Brahmacharya thinking “Oh, here we go again…!” I felt annoyed, a little angry and let down that yoga being as ‘cool’ and seemingly ‘open-minded’ so far, was now trying to impose the same rules and regulations on sex that every other religion was trying to impose. (albeit with a much different approach)

However, what I see now is that Brahmacharya is really a way to balance our desires, and ultimately satisfy them, not deny their existence.

Now, the 2nd chakra deals with control, lust, desire and taste which brings me to a little story about when I was younger and my parents had left town.

(and no, it’s not that kind of story so relax!)

Excited to not have our mother “controlling”

(and I use the term control with humor of course, my mom is probably the least controlling person I know,…except of course when it comes to eating your vegetables at dinner time and then she can be a tyrant!)

what we ate for dinner me and my sister each ate what we desired and decided on an entire apple pie for dinner!

It tasted sweet at first,… and even though the first piece satisfied my lust for the juicy apple pie I continued to eat,

and eat

and eat,

and eat!

…until I got sick!

The moral of this story and how does this pertain to our relationships with the opposite sex?

What I am suggesting, is that at times we may be so thrilled to relinquish all control over ourselves in a quest to satisfy our hunger to be desired or feel an emotional, sexual, and/or spiritual bond with someone we sometimes fill ourselves up with meaningless, unsastisfying sexual relationships.

We end up feeling drained, sick, unsatisfied and let down. We settle for sexual and emotional “junk food” for which we ultimately pay a price.

And just like the little girl who ate an entire  apple pie,

… Guess what?

You feel sick..

Bleh..

It is not that sex is bad, or apple pie is bad, it is how we go about fulfilling our desires.

Can you be satisfied with just one delightful piece?

Or, do you really need to have the whole pie?

Will that satisfy you?

Or, will it actually leave you unsatisfied and drained like a bad sugar hangover?

Perhaps we need to learn to savour, taste, and enjoy…the right way. Take our time finding out who this person really is…

Could it be, we are over-sexed and under-satisfied as a whole?

hmmmm…?

When we lose sight of what is sacred, beautiful and redemptive about sex, and it becomes sexual gluttony at its best and depressing at its worst.

I am not speaking about the act itself, I am talking about the machine that is sexual obsession that leads to unhealthy dysfunction instead of meaningful, healthy, relaxed, satisfying interaction that is a sacred act between two human beings.

That’s all I’m sayin.

Related articles

• Yoga and Chakras – Anahatasana “The Heart Chakra” (kukhahnyoga.com)
• 7 Yoga Poses For The Second Chakra: A Simple Yoga Sequence To Open Your Hips (kukhahnyoga.com)
• The Heart Chakra ~ Center of Love and Nuturing (newjessica.wordpress.com)