Conecting with the Base Centre

Connect with this chakra and its energy through:

• the Earth,
• the colour red – in the colour spectrum, the longest wavelength and lowest frequency,
• the sense of smell,
• the sense of the mould, the foundation, the structure of things,

Breath: Inhale and exhale through the Base centre, receiving the experience that opens with the breath. At first, without any associations (eg colour). Then, amplifying the experience with the colour red in the Base centre, and filling the aura with red.

Note: It is wise to work with the centres with moderation: since one purpose of working with them is to release and purify them, practices may open awareness to experiences that have been covered over or suppressed. This work needs to be done with gentleness.

Going into nature, walking, gardening. Yoga. Earth dances eg to drumming, with awareness in the feet, like Native American dancing.

Practices for Muladhara chakra and Kalabiya latifa

1. Earth Breath ‑ part of Element Purification practice
2. Downplaying all other senses, emphasise the sense of touch. Rediscover the mystery of physical contact. ‘Talk of mysteries – Think of our life in nature, – daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it, – rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! the solid earth! the actual work! the common sense! Contact! Contact! Who are we? Where are we?’

3. Sense the pleasure of the soles of your feet against the ground. Gravity is a species of passionate attraction (ishq). Feel palpably the divine love in its physical dimension as it reveals itself in the boundary between your body and the planet. ‘[The Sufi’s] soul is where his foot is, and his foot is where his soul is.’‑’Hujwiri.

4. For progress in life, direct breath to the feet while in fikr (internal recitation of a divine Name).

5. Lying down, inhale and exhale subtle breath through the soles of the feet. The fikr of Ya Shafi (inhaling) and Ya Kafi (exhaling) may be used.

6. Keep up the fikr of la ilaha illa’llah while walking: either slowly (one recitation per footstep), at a moderate pace (la ilaha in the first step, illa’llah in the second), or rapidly (la in the first step, ilaha in the second step, illa in the third step, and llah in the fourth step). Do this in a park or field, rather than in proximity to traffic.

7. Place the head against the ground, feel the magnetism. Lie directly on the ground, face up, absorbing chthonic fragrance and magnetism.

8. Practice Zikr with tightened body sitting on ground with legs straight out in front, fists clenched.

9. Practice of the corpse: lying down doing Fikr without going to sleep:
   Inhale thinking Allah. Visualize the disintegration of the physical body while identifying with the subtle underpinning of the physical body.
   Hold. Experience the subtle body independent of its physical expression. The subtle body experiences the potentiality, or horizon, of ones unfolding incarnation, with its qualities and creative capacity.
   Exhale thinking Hu. The subtle body endows the mould with a new and clearer expression of ones physical body.

10. Practices for the Tailbone:
    Practice 1
    Sitting cross‑legged, feel the tailbone tethered to the centre of the earth. As you inhale, draw telluric magnetism up from the depths below. As you exhale, let the earth resorb the incongruities in your life field.

11. Practice 2
    Focus on the tailbone while in fikr (using Ya Fattah, or another Name). This supports the general organization of the body.

12. Wazaif:
    Ya Muid – The divine Restorer
    Ya Mawjud – Making God a reality in life

Questions and themes for contemplation

1. How do I ground myself?
2. Explore your relationship to the earth.
3. What images do you have of the roots, the foundation, of your being?
4. Can you find in your body and psyche the urge to survive in this body and mind?
5. Find symbols for the qualities of security and stability in your life.
6. Writing, drawing, painting, dancing or singing: Describe yourself as you feel when you are well grounded in your Base Chakra.
7. Emotions: work with the relation of Earth to other emotions:
   Earth is often the repository of emotions of other chakras, eg
   Air: worry
   Fire: anger, frustration
   Water: emotionally disturbed (water gets heated up)
   Earth: all empties into earth. How does Earth release the emotions and clear the build‑up of emotions?