Root chakra — Muladhara
The first chakra, and the one Sunita's notebook calls simply the base. Foundation.
It is also the one most people skip. Root work is not glamorous — no visions, no insight, no opening of the heart. It is about whether you feel safe in your own body and steady on the ground you are standing on. Everything above it rests on that, which is why it comes first.
By the end of this lesson you will have the root chakra's full card, be able to hold Gyana mudra, and have completed a Sunday root session.
The card
| Sanskrit | Muladhara — mula, root · adhara, support |
| Statement | I am |
| Location | Base of the spine |
| Medical location | Perineum |
| Body parts | Legs, bones, large intestine, teeth |
| Symbolises | Your sense of safety and security |
| Function | Safety, security, survival |
| Element | Earth |
| Note | C — Do — सा — 131 Hz |
| Mantra | Lam |
| Mudra | Gyana mudra |
| Colour | Red |
| Day | Sunday |
| Metal | Lead |
| Ruling planet | Saturn |
What the root chakra is about
The name says it. Mula is root, adhara is support or base — the root support. Not a metaphor for something spiritual, but the literal foundation, the thing everything else is built on top of.
Its function is given as safety, security and survival. These are the concerns that come before everything else: do I have somewhere to live, is my body sound, am I safe here. When those questions are unsettled, nothing higher up works properly — a person worrying about rent does not have much attention left for unconditional love, and it would be a strange practitioner who tried to open their heart chakra first.
This is why sessions in this tradition end at the root rather than beginning there. Working downward, everything you have moved through the body finally settles and grounds out through the legs. The root is where the session lands.
Where it sits
The location is the base of the spine. The medical location — the precise point — is the perineum.
In practice, and especially when you begin working on other people in Course Three, you do not place a bowl there. Root work is done at the feet, the legs, the base of the spine and the hips. The perineum is the reference point, not the target.
Body parts: legs, bones, large intestine, teeth. Notice they are the structural, weight-bearing, mineral parts of the body — the parts that hold you up. Bones and teeth are the hardest things you own, and this is the earth chakra. The mapping is consistent.
As in Lesson 1.5: this is a traditional mapping, not a medical one. It does not mean a bowl treats bone disease or bowel conditions, and anyone telling you otherwise has left the tradition. What it does mean is that root work is where you would begin with someone who feels physically unsteady or ungrounded.
Working with the root
The bowl. C, 131 Hz. As Lesson 1.3 explained, low notes come from big bowls — so a genuine root bowl is a substantial object, often heavy enough to want a cushion rather than your palm. Our large standing bowls are where most root bowls live, and if a seller offers you a small light bowl and calls it a root bowl, that is a reason to look elsewhere.
The mantra. Lam. Pronounced closer to lum than lamb — a low, short, closed sound that you feel in the base of the body rather than the head. Lesson 2.10 covers chanting properly.
The mudra. Gyana mudra — the knowledge gesture, and the most recognisable hand position in the tradition. Tip of the thumb touching the tip of the index finger, the other three fingers extended and relaxed, palms resting upward on the knees.
The colour. Red. Held in mind, at the base of the body, while the bowl sounds.
The affirmation
I am connected with the energy of Mother Earth. My body, mind and spirit are grounded, centred and purified.
Spoken once, quietly, at the start of the root's turn — not repeated, not chanted. Then silence and the bowl.
Practice: a Sunday root session
The notebook gives five verbs for working a chakra: play, listen, feel, chant, imagine — and one more word underneath, patient. Use them in that order.
- Sit on the floor if you can, or in a chair with both feet flat. Bare feet. Hold Gyana mudra, palms up on the knees.
- Say the affirmation once.
- Play — strike the bowl and let it run completely out.
- Listen — the whole tone, including the part where you are no longer sure you can hear it.
- Feel — attention at the base of the spine, the sit bones, the weight of you pressing down.
- Chant — Lam, once per strike, low and quiet, on the outbreath.
- Imagine — red at the base of the body, and the weight of you going down through the floor.
- Repeat for seven or eight strikes, then sit in silence for two minutes.
Do this on a Sunday if you are following the seven-day cycle. And do it more than once — the root is slow. Nothing about it announces itself, and people usually notice the effect a few days later rather than during the session.
Common mistakes
- Skipping the root because it seems basic. It is the foundation. Skipping it is why other people's chakra practice never quite settles.
- Expecting something to happen. Root work feels like nothing at the time and like steadiness afterwards.
- Chanting Lam too high. It is a low sound. If you feel it in your face, drop it.
- Working the root when the person needs the crown. Someone anxious and overthinking needs settling from above first — Lesson 1.6.
- Buying a small "root bowl". 131 Hz needs mass. Small red-stickered bowls are not root bowls.
- Sitting on a soft sofa. Grounding practice wants a firm surface under you.
How do you know you got it right?
You can recite the root card from memory — Muladhara, base of the spine, perineum, earth, C at 131 Hz, Lam, Gyana, red, Sunday — and you have held Gyana mudra through a full session without your hands drifting.
The longer test is the one that matters: after a week of root sessions, do you feel any steadier? Not happier or more insightful. Steadier.
Something to sit with
The root is about safety. Sit for a moment with the plainest version of that question: where do you feel safe? Not comfortable, not entertained. Safe.
Some people answer instantly. Some cannot think of anywhere. Both answers tell you something worth knowing before you carry on up the body.