#18. Svadhisthana – The Sacral Chakra

The joyful rides during winter mornings in Chennai's autorickshaws are a wholesome experience. The canopy of trees overhead filters the early light as we wind through familiar streets toward the beach road. Same routes, yet never quite the same—each morning brings its own texture, its own quiet revelations.

One such morning, I read a saying painted on a wall: "Creativity is about connecting disconnected things and crafting them beautifully." The words stayed with me long after the autorickshaw had passed.

Svadhisthana—the sacral chakra—is the second energy center, located just below the navel. It represents creativity, emotions, and the delicate balance between them. This orange glowing flower of energy is where our creative impulses are born and nurtured. As a stage artist, I live with this energy daily. The play of creativity isn't optional; it's essential to everything I do.

During a recent rehearsal, I found myself telling my students something important: "Creativity isn't just about making the best of yourself. It has a direct and progressive connection with the wellbeing of yourself and the people around you."

We are social animals. We navigate our own struggles and joys, but in between those moments, we have the capacity to reach toward someone else and make them better. This requires empathy—and empathy, I've realized, can be deeply creative. It asks us to imagine another's experience, to connect with what seems disconnected, to craft understanding where there was none.

Someone once told me: "Don't take appreciation too much to your head—it transforms into ego. Don't take criticism too much to your heart—it makes you weak." Balance, my friend, is all we need. This is what the chakras teach us: the art of alignment, of joining the dots with intention and drawing a straight line through the chaos.

Svadhisthana unfolds when we give it attention—a little tapping, a little love, a little nurturing. It reveals the talented, beautiful self that resides within all of us, waiting to be met each day with kindness and courage. 

So, I visualize that orange glowing light,

Shining through my internal sight,

Unfolding with empathy, caressing what's true,

Revealing the artist I'm becoming, ever new.

Vam, Vam, Vam! – The Chant vibrates within us.

The mantra resonates. The autorickshaw moves forward. Another morning, another chance to create, to connect, to balance. The beach road awaits, and so does the work—always the work of becoming.