The Root of it All: The Muladhara Chakra and Vaginismus
If you've hit a wall with purely physical approaches to vaginismus — or if you sense there's something deeper going on beneath the tension — the chakra system might offer a way forward. The seven chakras* provide a framework for addressing the mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, and energetic blocks that may be keeping us stuck: unable to release tension or numbness, unable to experience positive sensations.
Each chakra is associated with a color, element, physical location on the body, sounds, postures, and more. They can also be mapped to psychological and developmental stages, as well as different ways of relating to ourselves and others. If you want to dive deeper into the intersection of chakras and psychology, Anodea Judith's work is a wonderful resource.
In this post, we'll explore the Muladhara Chakra, also known as the root chakra.
Color: Red
Element: Earth
Location: Base of spine, pelvic floor
What Does the Muladhara Chakra Represent?
The root chakra represents our most foundational needs — safety, security, survival, reproduction. Think of the base of Maslow's pyramid: food, water, shelter. It's our ability to care for ourselves in the most basic, essential way, and it's also where our deepest fears about survival live.
Developmentally, Judith connects the Muladhara chakra to our earliest stage of life — from the womb to about 12 months — and to our emerging sense of trust or mistrust. It's tied to a fundamental feeling of having a "right to be here."
The root chakra is also associated with the beginning of a creative act: the initial spark before movement and action, or the desire to produce or reproduce (to survive or live on in some way). This can relate to sex and biological reproduction, but it can also relate to starting a new project, a new chapter, or leaving a legacy.
How Might the Muladhara Chakra Relate to Vaginismus?
The Muladhara chakra is a significant one for people with vaginismus — after all, it lives right where all of our action (or lack thereof) seems to be happening. Our vaginismus may be a physical response to feeling a lack of safety or security, or to other basic needs going unmet.
Think about the potential causes of your vaginismus. Do you have a history of unmet basic needs? Instability in relationships? Fear of pain, pregnancy, abuse, or abandonment? If the answer is yes, exploring the root chakra may benefit your healing process.
The Muladhara Chakra and the Nervous System
The themes of the Muladhara chakra — safety, survival, trust — map closely onto the language of the nervous system. In fact, the sacral nerve, which is connected to the organs in our pelvic region, is part of the parasympathetic nervous system. When our nervous system detects a threat, it triggers a cascade of protective responses, including muscle guarding. In vaginismus, this often manifests as involuntary contraction of the pelvic floor muscles — a freeze response designed to protect us.
The practices associated with the root chakra — slow breathing, grounding visualization, connection to the body — are also well-established tools for nervous system regulation. That being said, it’s important to take a nuanced approach to navigating your own unique nervous system responses. What might feel safe and grounding when we are in a regulated state might be activating or encouraging freeze when we’re in a highly disregulated state. This topic will be explored in future posts.
Questions to Ask Yourself
These questions are designed to help you explore your relationship with the themes of the Muladhara chakra. These topics might feel triggering to think about; if that is the case, you can save these for another time or make sure you are in a space where you can help yourself regulate. Also, you don't need to answer them all at once, and they might not all resonate with your experience — take what does resonate and leave the rest.
Safety and Environment
Do I have a history of feeling unsafe in my environment? In my body?
Do I currently feel safe and secure in my environment? In my body?
What was my experience like from the womb to 12 months? Was I safe? Were my needs met? If not, what was lacking?
Trust and Body
What is my relationship with trust? Do I trust my environment? The people in it?
Do I trust my body? Do I trust myself?
Do I feel I have a right to be in my environment? In my body?
Nourishment and Boundaries
Am I providing stability and nourishment for my body through food, water, shelter, and rest? If not, what can I change to make it easier to nourish myself?
Am I honoring my most foundational boundaries and needs — with myself and with others?
Am I honoring my instinctual desire and need for reproduction and survival (sex, creating something that leaves a legacy).
How can I provide myself with more safety and security — or more of a sense of safety and security — in my environment or my body? What will I do to make that happen?
Mantras for the Muladhara Chakra and Vaginismus
Mantras can help rewire the messages we carry about safety, stability, and belonging.** Try repeating these to yourself during meditation, breathwork, or simply as part of your day:
I am safe in my environment. I am safe in my body.
I am stable. I am rooted.
My basic needs are met. I have everything I need.
I trust myself. I trust my body.
I have a right to be here. I have a right to take up space.
I honor my instincts. I honor my human need for creation.
Breath work for the Muladhara Chakra and Vaginismus
Choose slow, steady breathing exercises to connect with the Muladhara chakra and ground the body. Start by simply noticing where your breath goes. If it stays high in your chest, see if you can "send" it down into your pelvic floor, low back, and lower ribs. Think of your breath like water filling a vessel from the bottom up.
Once you've practiced noticing your breath, try these variations:
Slow, Steady Breath: Inhale for 4 counts through the nose, exhale for 4 counts through the nose or mouth. After a couple of rounds, start to lengthen your exhales so they are 2–4 counts longer than your inhales. You can also explore holding for a couple of counts between each inhale and exhale.
Box Breathing: Inhale for 4 counts through the nose, hold for 4 counts, exhale for 4 counts through the nose, hold for 4 counts. Repeat 4–6 times.
Visualization for the Muladhara Chakra
Meditation and visualization exercises can be surprisingly powerful in helping to ground and relax the body. Find a comfortable seat or reclined position. You can read through the following visualization — it will still work just fine — or, once you get the gist, close your eyes and imagine.
Get comfortable wherever you are. Soften your eyes in their sockets. Notice your surroundings — what can you see, hear, smell, and feel around you?
Draw your attention to where you are connected to the surface beneath you. Let your body sink down into that space.
Imagine roots growing from your feet or your seat, reaching down deeply into the ground, solidifying your stance. Now watch your roots connect to the underground root network of the surrounding trees, plants, and people — some blocks or miles away from you.
Imagine glittering nutrients being passed from the other roots in your network to yours, traveling up through them and into your body.
Let yourself be nourished by these nutrients for as long as you need.
As you gain a sense of stability and connection, soften your pelvic floor. Let it relax, knowing you are grounded and secure.
Breathe here for as long as you need.
Yoga Postures for the Muladhara Chakra
As mentioned above, if your nervous system has long been in a state of disregulation, you may need to take a nuanced approach to physical practices.
That being said, a variety of standing and seated postures can help you connect with your Muladhara chakra and support your vaginismus healing. As you practice, use the visualization exercise above to deepen your sense of grounding.
Seated Postures
Child's Pose: Let your forehead rest on the ground (or a block or pillow). Feel the earth supporting you. With each exhale, let your hips grow heavier and your pelvic floor soften.
Dandasana (Staff Pose): Sit tall with your legs extended. Press your sitting bones into the ground and imagine your roots anchoring you downward as your spine grows upward.
Simple Cross-Legged Seat: Close your eyes and notice the weight of your body settling into the floor. Let gravity do the work.
Standing Postures
Mountain Pose (Tadasana): Press all four corners of your feet firmly into the ground. Imagine the roots from your visualization anchoring you through the soles of your feet, deep into the earth.
Tree Pose (Vrksasana): As you balance, feel your standing foot rooting down. Let the subtle wobble remind you that stability isn't about being rigid — it's about being grounded enough to sway without falling.
Interested in guided yoga practices to support the root chakra? Check out this 15-minute Cozy Vibes Yin-ish practice from Yoga for Vaginismus on YouTube.
The Muladhara chakra reminds us that healing doesn't always start where the symptoms are — sometimes it starts beneath them, in the soil. Safety, trust, nourishment, the quiet conviction that you have a right to be here — these are the roots that allow everything else to grow.
Start small. Try one visualization, sit with one question, repeat one mantra until it starts to feel true. And when you're ready to keep exploring, the other chakras are waiting.
*At Yoga for Vaginismus, we'll explore the seven chakra system, but please keep in mind that different traditions hold different perspectives on the number of primary chakras. I encourage you to do your own research if this intrigues you, and find a system that aligns with you.
**If you are presently unsafe in a relationship or your environment, please seek support.