Sacral chakra: meaning, blockage signs and the body

The sacral chakra is the second of the seven chakras, placed in the lower belly, just below the navel. It stands for pleasure, desire, creativity and the way you relate to other people. In the body it is linked with the reproductive organs, the bladder, the kidneys, the hips and the lower back, and among feelings with guilt, shame, dependence and jealousy. When people say their sacral chakra is "blocked", they usually mean they have lost their taste for pleasure, their creativity or their ease with intimacy.

That idea belongs to spirituality, not medicine: there is no scientific evidence that chakras exist, and nothing can measure one. What you feel is still worth listening to, and this guide points to the pages on our site that go further. For the whole system, start with the seven chakras and the body.

Where is the sacral chakra, and what is it called?

• Sanskrit name: Svādhiṣṭhāna (Svadhishthana, often spelt Swadhisthana). Sva means self, and the name is translated as "one's own base", "self-standing" or "where your being is established".
• Location: traditional texts place it two finger-widths above the root chakra, at the level of the sexual organs, with its point on the front of the body just below the belly button.
• Colour: orange in the modern Western system. Traditional images show a white lotus with six vermilion petals and a white crescent moon.
• Element: water. Its seed syllable is vam.

In the tantric tradition, Svadhishthana is associated with pleasure, sensuality, relationships and procreation, with the sense of taste, and with unconscious desires. The orange colour and the modern lists of emotions and "symptoms" came much later, as part of the Western synthesis described in the seven chakras and the body.

Which parts of the body are linked with the sacral chakra?

The sacral chakra sits in the bowl of the pelvis, where the body holds water, makes life and moves from the hips. In the modern map, and in the French tradition our site draws on, it is linked with:

• The reproductive organs: the womb and ovaries, the testes and prostate. Western systems match this centre with the ovaries and testes among the glands. See reproductive system, menstrual pain and prostate.
• The bladder, the organ of water and of letting go. See bladder problems, cystitis and incontinence.
• The kidneys, which balance the body's water. See kidneys and kidney stones.
• The hips and groin, which carry movement and opening. See hips, hip pain and groin pain.
• The lower back and sacrum. The sacrum, the triangular bone at the back of the pelvis, is tied to this second centre. See lower back pain.
• The lower belly, below the navel, read as a place of intuition and creativity, where cramps can feel like a refusal to let go. See stomach pain.

Not every map agrees. Some French-language sources place the genital organs with the base centre instead, and give the sacral centre the sacrum and the relationships you have with the people around you.

Which feelings are linked with the sacral chakra?

The sacral chakra concerns the right to enjoy: pleasure, rest, play, touch and creation. The feelings tied to it are those that get in the way.

• Guilt: the feeling most often named. Modern descriptions of Svadhishthana go as far as saying this centre is "blocked by guilt". Spiritually, the sacrum reacts when you call yourself lazy for resting, judge your own desires, or feel you must keep sacrificing yourself.
• Shame: about your body, your desires or your sexuality, which can lead you to hide, to stay silent, or to turn pleasure off altogether.
• Dependence: looking to one person, one relationship or one habit for all your pleasure or comfort, and feeling lost without it.
• Jealousy: one of the "negative qualities" traditionally listed for this centre, along with anger, desire and pride.

Close to these sit timidity, especially with intimacy, and the tendency to hold back what you feel so as not to hurt or disturb anyone.

Emotions stored in the sacral chakra

Emotions are not literally stored in a chakra or an organ. "Stored" is a figure of speech for feelings that stay with you and seem to live in one place. These are the themes most often placed at the sacral centre:

• Pleasure that feels forbidden. Rest, leisure and enjoyment that you deny yourself out of duty, or allow yourself only with guilt. Spiritually, you have the right to do things for yourself, as long as escape does not become a way of avoiding your life.
• Desire held down. Sexual energy that has been pushed aside, often because of moral or religious rules, or a sense of being betrayed. Spiritually, this is read in pain in the lower back.
• A conflict with what is sacred. The sacrum carries the word "sacred". It can hold the feeling of going against your own values, or guilt at having put your spiritual life aside.
• Holding on to the familiar. Wanting to move forward while clinging to people, places or habits that give a false sense of stability.
• Protection. Spiritually, extra weight around the lower belly is sometimes read as a need to protect a very sensitive self: needing love and distrusting it at the same time. See excess weight.
• Creativity kept in. Fear of following your intuition or of letting your creativity out. The sacral centre is said to work closely with the throat centre: creating with the body and creating with words.

If shame or guilt in this part of your life is linked with something that was done to you, it is not yours to carry. Please speak to your GP or a trained therapist; you do not have to work through it alone.

Signs people describe as a blocked sacral chakra

In the chakra tradition, a sacral chakra out of balance is said to show in the mood and in the lower body. People commonly describe:

• feeling flat, joyless or cut off from pleasure;
• low desire, or difficulty with closeness and intimacy;
• feeling stuck creatively, with ideas that never come out;
• guilt whenever they rest or do something for themselves;
• clinging relationships, or swinging between too much and too little;
• tension in the hips, lower back or lower belly, period pain, or bladder trouble.

These are the tradition's way of naming an experience, not a list of health signs. The physical ones all have medical causes, and some need prompt care. The NHS advises calling 999 or going to A&E for pelvic pain that is severe, getting worse or hurts when you move or touch it, or that comes with feeling faint, shoulder-tip pain or heavy vaginal bleeding. Pain when peeing, blood in your pee, a high temperature, unusual discharge or bleeding, or pelvic pain when you are or may be pregnant need NHS 111 or an urgent GP appointment. Low desire, low mood and fertility worries also deserve a GP, not a chakra explanation.

A gentle practice for the sacral chakra

These practices are about feeling at ease in the lower body and making room for pleasure. They do not treat any illness, and they need no belief in chakras.

Breathe into the belly

Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat, or sit with both feet on the floor. Rest your hands just below your navel. Let the breath go down into your belly without forcing it, so your hands rise and fall. The NHS suggests breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, counting gently to five each way, for at least five minutes.

Let the hips move

Water is the element of this centre, and gentle, flowing movement suits it: slow circles of the hips while standing, swaying to music, swimming, walking with loose hips. Keep within what is comfortable and stop if anything hurts.

Write about pleasure and guilt

Take a page and finish these sentences:

• "Something I enjoy but rarely allow myself is…"
• "When I rest, the voice in my head says…"
• "If I did not feel guilty, this week I would…"

Notice whose voice the second sentence sounds like. Guilt about pleasure is often borrowed from someone else's rules.

Make something with your hands

Creativity is one of this centre's themes, and the simplest way to meet it is to make something with no aim at all: cooking, drawing, clay, music, a garden. The point is the pleasure of doing it, not the result.

If you like sound

The traditional seed syllable of Svadhishthana is vam. Some people hum or chant it slowly on the out-breath; a soft hum works just as well.

What the sacral chakra asks of you

Spiritually, the turning point at the sacral centre is permission: to feel, to want, to enjoy, to rest, and to name your emotions honestly so that they can change rather than settle. In balance, it is described as a life that flows like water, with room for pleasure, creativity and warm relationships, without losing your own shape in them.

You might ask yourself:

• Which pleasure do I refuse myself, and why?
• Where am I holding my desires or my creativity back?
• Whose rules about pleasure am I still following?

Below this centre is the root chakra, the seat of safety. Above it is the solar plexus chakra, the seat of will and self-esteem. To see all seven at once, go back to the seven chakras and the body.

This guide is for reflection and general information. It does not diagnose or treat any condition. If you have a symptom that worries you, please see a doctor. In an emergency, call your local emergency number (999 in the UK).