Sacral Chakra Healing: Open & Balance the Sacral Chakra

In this post, discover 14 powerful sacral chakra healing practices that will help you to open and balance your sacral chakra, your body’s energy center for creativity, passion, prosperity, joy, and sensuality. Plus, sign up to download 35 affirmations and 30 journal prompts for the sacral chakra below!

What is the Sacral Chakra?

Located in your lower abdomen, your sacral chakra is your energy center for creativity, joy, prosperity, passion, openness, and playfulness. An open and balanced sacral chakra means you embrace your creativity, have high self-esteem, and are able to relax, have fun, and play. Pleasure is a word often associated with the sacral chakra, as having an open sacral chakra means you find delight in all of life’s pleasures.

This is also the energy center for sensuality and sexuality. When energy is flowing freely through this chakra, you’re more likely to have a strong, positive relationship with your body. You honor your desires and have healthy intimate relationships with others.

The sacral chakra is about more than creativity and high self-esteem, though. When this energy center is balanced, you feel more open, adaptable, compassionate, and forgiving. You’re honest with yourself and others, and you’re able to let go of grudges that don’t serve your well-being.

Additionally, because you have a strong and healthy relationship with yourself, you know that holding onto negative emotions such as anger, resentment, and bitterness only harms you in the long run, so you’re able to release these feelings (in a healthy way) in order to take care of your mind, body, and spirit.

In this post, we’ll look deeper into the sacral chakra and discuss 14 powerful practices for opening, balancing, and healing your second energy center.

First, here are some of the key attributes of the sacral chakra:

Sanskrit Name: Svadhishthana (Sva = “self”; shthana = “place”)
Location: Lower abdomen (below your navel)
Color: Orange
Body Parts: Womb, Bladder, Lower Back, Reproductive Organs
Symbol: Six-petaled lotus with a moon crescent in the center
Element: Water
Mantra: VAM
Affirmation: I feel
Balanced Attributes: Creative, Joyful, Playful, Prosperous, Stable, Sexual, Sensual, Passionate, Open, Energetic, Honest, Forgiving
Imbalanced Attributes: Lack of Creativity, Unstable, Insecure, Anxious, Scattered, Lazy, Fearful, Disconnected, Depressed, Unmotivated, Negative, Lack of Sensuality
Fundamental Need: Emotional flow, desire, sexuality

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Sacral Chakra Healing

If you live in a culture that prioritizes work over play, sacral chakra healing can be an especially important and profound self-care practice. It’s also important if you grew up with a negative relationship your own body, or if you’re not fully comfortable with your sensuality and sexuality.

So how does sacral chakra healing really work? First, it’s important to understand your chakra system and the energy within your body.

While you often only hear about the seven main chakras, there are actually 114 chakras throughout your body. (And some believe there to be more.) These chakras are connected by energy channels called nadis. Just like cars travel on roads to get from one place to another, energy travels through these energy channels to get to each of your chakras.

In a perfect system, your energy is flowing freely all the time. Unfortunately, energy often becomes stuck inside this system, causing your chakras to become either overactive or underactive. Ignoring these blockages won’t make them go away. To get energy moving again, you need to engage in healing practices to help stimulate your life force (prana).

The type of healing you need will depend on the level of blockage you’re experiencing.

For instance, if you’re experiencing some writer’s block or feeling excess negativity within, but this isn’t normal for you, meditation and gentle movement through yoga may help to get the energy flowing again.

But if your blockage goes deeper, you may need to engage in profound inner child healing practices in order to get to the source of the blockage so that you can work with it, release it, and stimulate the free flow of energy within.

Below, you’ll find 14 powerful healing practices to open, balance, and activate your sacral chakra. You can use any of these practices as part of your daily routine, or you can choose a few when you feel like your sacral chakra is blocked and imbalanced. I encourage you to try a few of the healing practices that resonate with you most and, whenever possible, practice them consistently in your daily life.

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Get Creative

How often do you make space in your life for creativity?

Actually, let me rephrase that.

How often do you make space in your life for creativity that has absolutely no end goal? It’s not meant to be productive. It’s not meant to be good. And it’s definitely not meant to be perfect. It’s just pure, unrestricted, joyful creativity.

This is the type of creativity you feel when you’re in a total flow state. And there’s a good chance it’s not the type of creative outlet you’re best at.

For instance, I’m a writer. I’m writing blog posts and articles every single day, and I also often work on fiction stories in my spare time. But even then, I have a difficult time letting go of my inner perfectionist. So when I’m working with my sacral chakra, I never turn to writing to stimulate my creativity.

Rather, I often do something that I’m not very objectively good at, like painting. I embrace the fun and play of it all, and I let go and allow my inner creative being to guide me wherever she wants to go.

Embracing your creative flow is one of the most beneficial practices you can do when working with your sacral chakra. Do something you feel good about that isn’t related to your job and that you don’t feel the need to be perfect when doing. Let it be both messy and beautiful!

Spend Time In Water

The sacral chakra’s associated element is water, and there are several powerful ways you can use water to connect with this energy center. My personal favorite practice is to take a luxurious bubble bath. When your sacral chakra is open and balanced, that means you have a positive relationship with your body and embrace your own divine sensuality. A warm bubble bath is the perfect way to honor your body.

I also love to pair this practice with aromatherapy and crystal healing, which you’ll read more about below. Turn off the lights, place your sacral chakra healing crystals around the tub, and use cinnamon-scented candles or essential oils to set the mood for profound sacral chakra healing.

(Not a bath person? Get some ideas for shower meditations here.)

Of course, you can also find water all over nature, which is one of our greatest teachers and healers of all. Oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams all offer opportunities to connect with your sacral chakra. If you’re not too keen on getting in the water, that’s okay! Even sitting near the water while meditating, journaling, or simply sitting in silence can offer meaningful healing.

Mirror Work

Mirror work can be a beneficial practice for your entire chakra system as a whole, but I especially like it for sacral chakra healing because it can help build self-esteem and connect you to your body, which are all important aspects of the sacral chakra.

So what is mirror work exactly? First, stand in front of a mirror and look yourself in the eyes. If possible, try to use a mirror that shows at least half your body. Bring a gentle smile to your lips. As you’re looking yourself in the eyes, start complimenting yourself. Affirm all the things you love about yourself, both inside and out. If you’re complimenting your arms, you can gently brush your fingertips against your arms in loving reverence. The same goes for your face, chest, legs, and all the rest of your divine being.

And if you’re feeling super confident, you can even start dancing in front of the mirror. Your dancing can be fun and joyful or sultry and sensual; do what feels most comfortable to you! When you’re about done, look yourself in the eyes and tell yourself I love you. Repeat this practice as often as you need.

Uplifting Affirmations

Positive affirmations are a powerful way to lift your vibrations and align yourself with the energy you want to attract. For sacral chakra healing, focus on words that affirm your joy, creativity, passion, prosperity, openness, sensuality, and sexuality. Use these affirmations throughout your day.

Below, you can find some sacral chakra affirmations to get you started. And you can click here for more sacral chakra affirmations.

I am open to the flow of creativity.
I am creative, passionate, and inspired.
I feel joyful, energetic, and alive.
I am pure, positive energy.
My emotions flow freely in a balanced and healthy way.
I allow the flow of positive energy to effortlessly move through me.
I live a creative, vibrant, passionate life.
I am vibrating pure joy, abundance, and prosperity.
Endless prosperity flows to and through me.
I am cultivating a beautiful life free of stress, worries, or fear.
I deserve absolute and unconditional bliss.
Unconditional joy is my birthright.

Dance

When your sacral chakra is blocked, you may feel withdrawn, tense, negative, and/or fearful. Dancing is one of the best ways to allow energy to flow freely throughout your body as you release any tension you may be holding onto within.

Does the idea of dancing in front of people feel too overwhelming? That’s okay! This practice can often be most beneficial when you’re completely alone. If you’re at home or somewhere safe, play some music that resonates with you. It can be fast and upbeat or slow and sensual. You can set the mood by turning off lights, lighting candles, and/or changing into clothes that make you feel your best.

Then, all you have to do is simply dance. Let loose, knowing you are completely safe. You can move in any way that feels right to you, but I do recommend connecting to your hips and lower abdomen in order to stimulate the energy in and around your sacral chakra.

Meditation

There are several ways you can use meditation to connect with your sacral chakra and guide you toward profound healing. One sacral chakra healing practice is to envision a bright orange glowing orb in your lower abdomen. As you breathe in, see the orb getting bigger. As you breathe out, see it growing brighter. You can also recite some uplifting affirmations as you do this.

You might also choose to envision living a day in the life as your truest, most authentic self with an open and balanced sacral chakra. How do you feel when you wake up in the morning? What do you do during the day? How do you speak to yourself and others? How do you incorporate play, fun, creativity, and joy into your day? How do you feel about your body? See all the details play out in your visualization, and feel the positive feelings of having an open sacral chakra.

Write a Letter to Your Inner Child

When you were a child, was using your imagination encouraged or discouraged? Did you engage in creative activities? Did you find creativity to be fun, or were you often preoccupied with being perfect? Did anyone ever say anything to discourage your creativity? Were you forced to grow up too fast?

Take some time to sit and write a letter to your inner child. Affirm to this part of you that it’s safe to be creative. Encourage them to play more and to do things that bring them joy. Tell your inner child everything he or she needs to hear regarding play, fun, creativity, and joy. Build up their self-esteem. Was there something you always wished an adult would tell you? Tell it to yourself now.

Journaling

Journaling is one of my personal favorite practices for connecting with all of my chakras. If you can, I recommend making journaling a sacred time in which you’re not interrupted. If you have a quiet spot in your home, set some time aside to go there so you can connect with your inner self. You might even choose to surround yourself with crystals, essential oils, and other healing tools.

To work with the sacral chakra, you can use journal prompts that are dedicated to connecting with the sacral chakra. To get started, you can find sacral chakra journal prompts here.

Another powerful journaling practice is to write down sacral chakra affirmations, feeling the uplifting and positive emotions of the words as you write them.

You can also make your journaling a time to get creative. Do you have an awesome idea for a movie, book, or TV show? Write down the story in your journal! (Just make not to edit yourself as you write. Have fun with it!)

Visualization

Visualization is a powerful tool in connecting to your inner self, healing your energy, and manifesting the life you desire. One reason it can be especially powerful for sacral chakra healing is that it allows you to engage with your imagination. If you haven’t used your imagination much since you were a child, this can be an especially profound healing method for you.

There are several ways you can use visualization to connect with the sacral chakra. You can use any of the exercises outlined in the Meditation section above, or you can simply allow your imagination to take over your visualization and see where it leads.

Since water is the element connected to the sacral chakra, you might also visualize yourself playing beneath a waterfall or floating in a river. Imagine that the water is rinsing away all negative and blocked energy and healing your life force within.

Yoga

Yoga is a profound healing practice for all of your chakras, but I especially love it for working with the sacral chakra because it allows you to connect with your body in a personal and powerful way. For sacral chakra healing, make sure to incorporate hip-opening poses into your practice. During your practice, breathe into your lower abdomen and focus on connecting with your sacral chakra. Let this practice be a sacred time in which you honor your body and treat it with respect and reverence.

Here are some poses (asanas) you can incorporate into your practice when working with the sacral chakra:

Pigeon
Butterly
Cobra
Frog
Goddess squat

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is the practice of using natural plant extracts for therapeutic healing. This is one of my favorite underutilized healing practices, and it’s super easy to incorporate into your daily routine. For sacral chakra healing, use citrusy and/or spicy scents such as Orange, Tangerine, Cinnamon, Bergamot, Neroli, Cypress, Cardamom.

For more information on how to use essential oils to heal the chakras, you can read my guide to essential heals for chakra healing here.

Color Therapy

In chakra healing, color therapy is the practice of surrounding yourself with the corresponding color of the chakra you want to open, activate, and/or heal. For sacral chakra healing, that means immersing yourself in all things orange.

You can eat orange food, write in orange pen, wear orange clothing, and surround yourself in orange items. One of my favorite color therapy practices is to write empowering affirmations on colored post-it notes. So for sacral chakra healing, you might write uplifting sacral chakra affirmations on orange post-its.

One of the most important things to remember here is to be intentional with this practice. Choose your items with the intention of healing your sacral chakra. You might find it helpful to play an affirmation game with your color therapy practice. For instance, if you decide to wear a piece of jewelry that has an orange gemstone, say an uplifting sacral chakra affirmation every time you touch or see this item.

You can also decide that anytime you see an orange item while you’re out and about during the day, you’ll internally say a sacral chakra affirmation or express gratitude for an aspect of yourself related to the sacral chakra.

Food

Food can have a profound influence on your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual self. While we often think of food as primarily affecting the body, it also affects the mind and spirit as well. For sacral chakra healing, add your favorite spices (such as cinnamon) to drinks and meals. Add orange produce such as carrots, mangoes, and oranges to your snacks or meals. You can also add sweet, antioxidant-filled honey to your tea, yogurt, or toast. (Or however you best like to savor it.)

Crystals & Gemstones

Each chakra is linked to powerful crystals that help you to connect to your energy centers and stimulate the effortless flow within. For sacral chakra healing, you can use crystals that stimulate creativity and passion, such as Orange Calcite, Jasper, Carnelian, Red Tiger’s Eye, Coral, and Fire Opal. Use these crystals in meditation, as jewelry, in crystal grids, in a sacred space, or keep them with you throughout the day.

New to crystals? Learn how to cleanse, program, and use crystals here. And for more on chakra healing crystals, click here.

What practices have served you in opening, balancing, and healing your sacral chakra? Leave your questions and tips in the comment box below. And for more more chakra resources, plus uplifting affirmations and self-love encouragement, be sure to follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!